ITECS News – December 8, 2011

I came across an interesting article this week concerning the consolidation of DOE national labs. The report by the Energy Inspector General, says the DOE should consider “BRAC-style” consolidation of labs to cut administrative and logistic costs.

What do you guys think?

Best,

Susan Ward

By: Andy Medici, Federal Times

The Energy Department should establish a commission like the Defense Department’s Base Closure and Realignment Commission to consolidate its laboratories, according to a report by Energy’s inspector general.

The department needs to evaluate whether it can sustain its funding for more than 23 different laboratories and research centers and how to best save money, according to the report.

The Energy Department spends 35 percent to 40 percent of its laboratory budget on support costs such as utilities, information services and security, according to the report.

“We concluded that this cost structure, specifically the proportion of scarce science resources diverted to administration, overhead and indirect costs for each laboratory, may be unsustainable in the current budget environment,” the report said.

The report highlighted options for cost savings, including:

• Consolidating all the major laboratories into the Office of Science, instead of administering them across divisions.

• Diverting funding to outside technology centers, such as universities and other nonprofits.

Energy Department laboratories are trying to reduce costs by becoming more energy efficient and by reducing the use of vehicles. For example, Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Ill., launched a sustainability program in 2009 and saved $500,000 in energy costs over the last two years, which will be reinvested in new projects. And Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., reduced the size of its fleet from 261 vehicles in 2005 to 166 in 2010.