Fresh off Another Cover Up(/lousy football season) UT pushes forward Los Alamos bid

"And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:4

We knew this was coming, but the arrogance of the timing still astonishes:

The University of Texas System Board of Regents today authorized submission of a formal bid on a federal contract to manage and operate Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Los Alamos is the nation’s preeminent national laboratory in the areas of nuclear weapons, nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards and security, environmental management, energy and other programs, one among the U.S. Department of Energy’s 17 national laboratories. Los Alamos, located about 30 miles outside of Santa Fe, N.M., operates under the auspices of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semi-autonomous agency within the Department of Energy.

The Board’s action authorizes Chancellor William H. McRaven and Deputy Chancellor David E. Daniel, Ph.D., with the support of others as the Chancellor may determine, to respond to the Department of Energy’s final request for proposals (RFP) to manage and operate the Lab.

The Department of Energy’s RFP was published Oct. 25. Formal responses are due on Dec. 11, and the award of the contract is anticipated to be announced mid-spring 2018.

While the Regents’ vote was not unanimous, Chairman Sara Martinez Tucker expressed appreciation for the Board’s deliberation and views.

“It is understandable that there may be differing perspectives on a matter as complex as this, but this rare opportunity is too important for the University of Texas System to not actively seek,” Tucker said. “Healthy discussion in an atmosphere of transparency demands that we get all points of view among Board members out on the table. I appreciate the diversity of perspectives in this discussion and am grateful to the Regents for their thoughtfulness, commentary and diligence in reviewing the comprehensive materials presented to them.

“Los Alamos requires exceptional leadership and management. Our nation deserves no less. Therefore, we are directing Chancellor McRaven and the UT System to prepare the strongest possible case to assume this role,” Tucker added. “We want to put the System’s best foot forward and pursue the opportunity vigorously.”

Tucker also recognized McRaven for his efforts to identify appropriate opportunities to advance multiple UT institutions’ scientific and service missions, including an opportunity to generate additional resources for them.

Thoughts:

• We wrote back in August about how the University's cover-ups related to the Wallace Hall case should instantly disqualify them from this bid; we bring this up because they literally engaged in a new cover up six hours before the regents approved this bid.

• The bullet point above makes the fact that this bid has to go through Rick Perry all the more ironic.

• No idea what it means, but interesting that the vote wasn't unanimous.

Bottom Line: If you haven't had a winning football season in five years, you aren't competent to manage nuclear weapons....