Los Alamos

as part of the system’s bid, but they have declined to release the names of those entities or any other information about them.

In response to an open records request by the American-Statesman, the system sought and received backing from the state attorney general’s office for its position to not release the information.

Filings to establish such entities are public records, but the university argued that release of the information would undermine the system’s bidding and negotiating position. State law includes an exception for disclosure of “information that, if released, would give advantage to a competitor or bidder.”

In granting the system’s request, the attorney general’s office cited a 2015 ruling by the Texas Supreme Court involving the Boeing Co. and the Port Authority of San Antonio in which the court said the test was whether knowing another bidder’s information “would be an advantage, not whether it would be a decisive advantage.”

The UT System Board of Regents voted 4-3 in Novem- ber to pursue the Los Alamos contract.

Regent Rad Weaver was not on the line for the meeting by telephone, and Chairwoman Sara Martinez Tucker did not vote.

Tucker told the Statesman later that if it had been a tie vote or if she were not head of the board, she would have voted to go after the contract, citing opportunities for public service, research, student internships and management fees.

A&M regents voted unanimously in October to compete for the contract, which is part of the portfolio overseen by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, an A&M graduate.