Sandia labs pumps up NM’s economy and employment

Hacienda Home Centers is like many of the family-owned businesses that are the backbone of the state’s economy — a dream made possible by hard work and perseverance.

Brothers Felix and Robert Sanchez had comfortable jobs with backgrounds in hardware and building materials when they reached for the stars in Española in 1975. Their building materials/general hardware operation now has offices in Albuquerque, stores in Española and Las Vegas.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic, and times got tough — very tough — for countless success stories like theirs. Fortunately for Hacienda, it was one of many N.M. small businesses hired by Sandia National Laboratories.

“It’s been tough lately for small businesses,” company Vice President Joe Sanchez said. “The contract with Sandia has really helped us to continue to grow. It gives us confidence to expand.”

Sandia’s total spending in fiscal 2020 was $3.76 billion, including $1.4 billion for goods and services. About $482.6 million of that went to N.M. businesses, with $349.7 million going to small businesses like Hacienda Home Centers.

And while most Sandia contracts go through a bid process, N.M. small businesses get a 5% pricing preference.

“New Mexico businesses are meeting the call,” Sandia’s small-business program manager, Paul Sedillo, told the Journal. And then there’s the direct employment. Back in May 2019, officials at Sandia, already one of the state’s largest employers, said they expected to go on a hiring spree, mostly to fill newly created positions. Sandia hired nearly 1,200 people in the recent fiscal year, bringing its total workforce to 14,454 employees — 12,697 in New Mexico. That equates to a whopping $1.67 billion payroll.

“We had a really, really good year in terms of the impact we had from an economic perspective. We did this during a very uncertain time where we had multiple pressures because of the pandemic,” said Scott Aeilts, Sandia’s associate labs director for Mission Services.

The surge in jobs largely reflects national efforts to modernize and extend the life of the country’s nuclear weapons.

And much of Sandia’s workforce is local, many of whom are graduates of New Mexico universities.

“In general, when we look at the New Mexico employee base, we’re roughly at 50 to 60% of employees who come from (New Mexico universities),” Aeilts says. “It’s extremely important for us to partner with the state’s universities so those employees can come to us better prepared.”

The lab also offers a summer internship program with an aggressive local outreach. It works with N.M. universities to ensure students in science, technology, engineering and math fields acquire skills to compete for jobs at Sandia.

Sandia is also growing physically outside the boundaries of Albuquerque’s Kirtland Air Force Base. The lab is now leasing office space at two Albuquerque properties — the Gibson Medical Center and office space on Buena Vista SE.

And Sandia pays local and state taxes, to the tune of a record $98 million in gross receipts taxes in New Mexico.

Through the years, Sandia National Laboratories, the Air Force Research Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory have contributed much to the state’s economy through the sheer number of jobs they provide — thus attracting some the world’s best and brightest while keeping many of our own best and brightest right here at home.

And at the same time they help grow our private sector — the backbone of any successful economy — with programs that help businesses like the home-grown Hacienda Home Centers.