from January 23, 2003, News-Sentinel
original URL:
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_1692462,00.html
ORNL operation wins highest rating
UT-Battelle's top marks by Energy Department put lab 'among the elite'
By Frank Munger, munger@knews.com
January 23, 2003
OAK RIDGE - UT-Battelle received unprecedented high marks for its management of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2002.
The overall rating from the U.S. Department of Energy is the highest possible,and the federal contractor scored 100 percent on two of the three main performance categories.
"You and your staff are to be congratulated on this achievement,'' George Malosh, DOE's site manager, said in a letter sent Wednesday to ORNL director Bill Madia.
For the ratings period, Oct. 1, 2001, to Sept. 30, 2002, UT-Battelle received a management fee of $6.65 million out of a total possible fee of $6.85 million. This reportedly is the first time the Oak Ridge lab has received the highest overall rating from DOE.
"It is difficult to overstate what this accomplishment will mean to the laboratory's reputation,'' Madia said in a statement released Wednesday.
"This ranking puts us among the elite, and I want to thank the entire laboratory staff who made it possible.''
UT-Battelle, a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle, assumed management of the federal laboratory in April 2000, replacing Lockheed Martin Energy Systems.
In the appraisal by federal sponsors, UT-Battelle was rated "outstanding'' for its work in science and technology and community service, with an "excellent'' mark in operations and environment, safety and health.
Among the science and technology programs drawing praise were neutron scattering; materials and engineering physics; advanced vehicles work; high-temperature superconductivity; fusion energy; molecular optical physics; environmental biotechnology; and computational sciences.
Malosh noted that the ORNL contractor got improved marks in certain research areas, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Despite the high marks, there is room for improvement, according to the DOE evaluation.
The human-resources program was rated good, but it was marked down because of the lab's failure to improve its "diversity profile'' in the past year.
Although the lab's work in environment, safety and health was cited for a "notable and significant'' improvement over the previous year, evaluators also noted weaknesses. Particularly disappointing was the lab's self-assessment effort, Malosh said in his letter.
Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.
