Remarks by Dr. Raymond L. Orbach
Under Secretary for Science
U.S. Department of Energy
at the Fermilab M& O Contract
Announcement and Signing Ceremony
Batavia, IL
November 1, 2006

Mr. Speaker, President Zimmer, President Bernthal, Director Oddone, Members of the Fermi Research Alliance, Members of the Fermilab Community, Honored Guests—a warm welcome to all of you this morning.

Before I begin, Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to express—on behalf of Fermilab and the Department of Energy—our sincere appreciation that you have taken time out to honor us with your presence here today. You have been a strong and steadfast supporter and friend of Fermilab for many years. We are so honored and so glad to have you with us here this morning. Thank you.

It is my great pleasure to announce that the Department of Energy has awarded a new $1.575 billion, five-year contract for management and operation of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to the Fermi Research Alliance, LLC, owned jointly by the University of Chicago and Universities Research Association.

This is an important milestone we are marking today, in two major respects. First, Fermilab is today the top high energy physics laboratory in the world. And for us at DOE, it is the future of high energy physics in the United States. You—all of you here at Fermilab—are the keepers of the flame. You have a great history of discovery—with a major breakthrough regarding quarks and anti-quarks as recently as the past few weeks—and we foresee a great future for you. This agreement is an important foundation for that future.

But this is also an important milestone in another sense. I believe that this agreement marks a real breakthrough in DOE’s approach to management and operations contracts for our national laboratories. This breakthrough was a direct result of our new approach of holding an open competition.

We have achieved a better agreement that we had before in at least four respects:

First, the competition brought together two great partners—the University of Chicago and URA—and these partners in turn recruited other great area universities: the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana, Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University, and the Illinois Institute of Technology. This will translate into many joint appointments, and a much fuller integration of Fermilab into the intellectual and academic life of the region.

Second, in competing, FRA proposed 28 new and important initiatives aimed at improving the lab.

Third, the new contract brings commitments worth some $12 million to the table, which will leverage the taxpayers’ investment.

Finally, the “award term” provision will permit phased extensions of this contract for up to 20 years based on a clear performance assessment process that will include letter grades for performance and be available to the public on the web.

All this, I believe, will translate into a future of enhanced excellence, new collaborations, fresh discoveries, and a growing sense of intellectual renaissance in the state of Illinois. Thanks to all our DOE colleagues here who worked hard to help make this possible. And, above all, congratulations to Fermi Research Associates and all of your partners. You and Fermilab have our very best wishes for a prosperous and exciting future on the far frontiers of scientific exploration.