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news release:
U.S. Department of Energy Awards Contract for
Management and Operation of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to the Fermi
Research Alliance, LLC
Batavia, IL, November 1: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a
new $1.575 billion, five-year contract for management and operation of
Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory (FNAL) to the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC (FRA), owned jointly
by the University of Chicago (UChicago) and Universities Research Association,
Inc. (URA).
“The quality of the new contract is a direct consequence of the competition
process,” DOE Under Secretary for Science Dr. Raymond L. Orbach said today at a
ceremony at Fermilab where he made the announcement of the contractor. “The
partnership between UChicago and URA will enhance organizational depth and
capability, promising improvements in performance and accountability.”
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert also participated in the ceremony.
As a new independent entity, FRA was supported in its proposal by the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, Northern Illinois
University and the Illinois Institute of Technology.
UChicago and URA bring a combined 100 years of experience in the management and
oversight of DOE laboratories which, when combined with the contributions of
Illinois’ leading research universities, will provide a strong foundation for
continued US leadership in high energy physics and offer a strong team for
attracting the International Linear Collider (ILC) to the U.S.
FRA is led by a Board of Directors chaired by UChicago President Robert Zimmer
and comprised of university presidents and national and international science
and industry leaders. FRA provides DOE with single-point accountability at the
corporate level for laboratory performance, oversees the Laboratory Director and
his management team, and ensures that FNAL has the capabilities needed for its
scientific mission.
Under the new contract, FRA has designated industrial partner EG&G/URS as a
subcontractor to provide business management, environmental, health and safety
and quality assurance capabilities and resources needed to deliver the most
science per taxpayer dollar.
The FRA proposal to DOE contained 28 new initiatives aimed at improving
corporate governance and resources, attracting the proposed ILC to the lab,
attracting world-class scientists and engineers, strengthening communication and
collaboration between FNAL, ANL and the high energy physics community, and
improving management, assessment and performance. Within these initiatives, FRA
proposed the establishment of centers for advanced accelerator and physics
research and the creation of a center for analyzing data from the Large Hadron
Collider which will leverage FNAL’s state-of-the-art Feynman and Grid Computing
Centers.
FRA, together with its designated subcontractor and the leading Illinois
research universities, has pledged 19 commitments totaling $12.1 million over
the term of the five-year contract, primarily to enhance mission support,
business operations and educational development.
The new contract contains a number of provisions intended to provide incentives
for outstanding performance. The contract contains award term provisions under
which the department may recognize outstanding performance through phased
extensions of the contract for up to a total of 20 years, if the contractor
meets specific performance levels established by DOE. The contract also
contains incentive fee provisions under which FRA can earn a maximum total fee
of up to $3.55 million a year for outstanding performance during the initial
five-year term and the first five years of any award term extensions.
The initial contract term will be January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2011.
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