Sandia Labs chief expects budget rise
Five N-weapons projects underway
Sandia National Laboratories’ annual budget is expected to grow slightly in fiscal years 2017 and 2018, lab Director Jill Hruby told the Albuquerque Economic Forum on Wednesday morning.
The budget already grew by about $100 million this year, to $2.9 billion. It’s expected to reach $3.1 billion for the 2017 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, and then $3.15 billion next year, Hruby said.
The increase, in part, reflects the lab’s heavy involvement in nuclear weapons modernization programs, including the air-launched B61 nuclear bomb, the W88 missile designed for submarine launch, and the groundlaunched Mk21 intercontinental cruise missile. The lab is also involved in initial design conceptualization for the W804 life extension program, and modernization of the Mobile Guardian Transporter used for ground transportation of nuclear weapons.
“It’s the biggest nuclear program in 20 years,” Hruby said. “We’re instituting the daylights out of it ... All the programs are on schedule, on cost and on requirements.”
Adding in lab involvement in energy-related research and development, plus other national security programs such as cyber defense, it’s a busy time for Sandia, Hruby said.
“We’re busy at the lab when the world is a crazy place, and the world is a crazy place, so we’re doing well,” she said.
The lab currently employs about 10,600 regular staff, although about 600 more contract employees and postdoctoral researchers work at the lab as well. In the last five years, the lab has hired about 3,300 people to replace retiring workers or to staff-up programs.
More than 1,000 of those came from New Mexico universities, Hruby said.
About $1.7 billion, or nearly 61 percent of the lab’s annual budget in FY 2015, went toward payroll. Another $980 million was spent on contracts outside the lab, with nearly $382 million, or 38 percent of total contracts, going to New Mexico businesses.
Most of that went to smallsized businesses, accounting for about $259 million, or 68 percent, of the money channeled to in-state companies last year.
The lab plans to upgrade some aging infrastructure in coming years, particularly facilities connected to Sandia’s Microsystems and Engineering Sciences and Applications, or MESA, complex, which is now being retooled. On average, most buildings at the 70-year-old lab are nearly 40 years old.
“MESA is reaching the end of its life,” Hruby said. “We’re looking to rebuild it.”
Sandia also stepped up its efforts in recent years to commercialize new, innovative
technologies. From FY 2012 to FY 2015, invention disclosures by Sandia scientists grew 27 percent, Hruby said. Patent filings rose 70 percent, open-source software downloads 21 percent, and commercial licenses for Sandia technology 18 percent.
The lab administration could face major changes next year, after the National Nuclear Security Agency awards a new five-year contract to run Sandia. Lockheed Martin, which currently operates the lab, is bidding on the new contract in partnership with three universities. The Boeing Co. and Battelle are also competing for the contract in partnership with UNM and two Texas universities.
The NNSA is expected to announce the winner by year-end, but Hruby did not discuss the bidding process.