ACADEMIA

The Department of Energy has awarded UT-Battelle an overall performance rating of "Outstanding" for the company's management of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The rating is the highest awarded by DOE and comes after an evaluation of ORNL's performance from October 2003 through September 2004. In a letter to Laboratory Director Jeff Wadsworth, DOE's Oak Ridge Manager Gerald Boyd said UT-Battelle received the maximum fee for the laboratory's overall performance in Science and Technology, including continued progress of the Spallation Neutron Source on time and on budget. DOE also awarded the maximum fee in Community Service, noting UT-Battelle's leadership role in efforts to rebuild Oak Ridge High School. UT-Battelle received 90 percent of the maximum fee in the category of Operations. UT-Battelle's total fee for operating Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2004 is $6,619,000, or 96.4 percent of the maximum fee. Wadsworth said the outstanding rating is "a tremendous statement about the quality of the ORNL staff who performed so well over the last year. They could not have brought us a higher grade on our report card." DOE will be conducting negotiations with UT-Battelle in March for a five-year contract extension to continue the management and operation of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.