By: Jonathan York
Daily Texan
January 24, 2003, Friday

"Sandia." To mention it last semester would draw applause from campus hawks and groans from campus pacifists. Today, the word brings silence. Since Dec. 13, 2002, in fact, there has been nothing more to say about Sandia National Laboratories at the University of Texas-Austin.

"The reaction is that there's nothing to do with Sandia any more," said Charles Sorber, interim vice chancellor of special engineering programs.

Sorber had coordinated the UT System's effort to win Lockheed Martin's expiring contract with Sandia since Feb. 1, 2002. That contract would expire in 2003, and System officials hoped the U.S. Department of Energy would open it for bids.

The laboratories developed advanced weaponry and defense equipment. They made a fail-safe minefield and the electrical components to nuclear bombs. They made the foam used to decontaminate a congressional office building that was tainted with Anthrax - an example Sorber liked to cite.

"Best I can tell, and from people I've talked to throughout the System, is that of the national laboratories, [Sandia] is the very best match of what we do well," Sorber told The Daily Texan last semester.

Sorber had an office with a view of the Austin skyline and a $171,080 yearly salary. He had a million-dollar budget with which to pursue his grail. And that amount would triple for the 2002-2003 fiscal year, when the System would make its formal bid.

But UT administration spent less than $900,000 on Sandia. And the energy department never took a bid.

Sandia and the department announced Dec. 13, 2002, on their Web sites that Lockheed Martin's contract would be extended for five more years, until Sept. 30, 2008. That was where Sorber found the news. A Sandia press release said that the bidding process would provide "distractions" to the laboratories' national service during a time of crisis. An energy department spokesman would not return calls Thursday.

Juan Sanchez, the University's vice president for research, was involved in the discussions, the presentations and the meetings between the System and Sandia.

"I don't think it's important [that the System acquires a national laboratory]," Sanchez said. "It may be an opportunity that is worthwhile exploring. I thought it was, and it was explored."

For the UT System, the cost of Sandia broke down to $642,067 for the 2001-2002 fiscal year and $186,416 for the fiscal year to date, said Alan Werchan, UT System budget manager.

Money for the Sandia initiative came out of the University's operating budget, not the System's, Werchan said. It was paid from two accounts listed as "Sandia National Laboratories," according to the budget.

Now, Sorber retains his position, finishing up duties related to the failed Sandia prospect.

"The chancellor could task us with other things to do, or I could go back on campus where I was before," said Sorber, who has been a UT engineering professor. "Either way, it's fine."

What happens to Sorber's salary "depends on how long he stays on the Sandia budget," said Randy Wallace, the System's chief budget officer. "As of right now, he's still on the Sandia budget."

Sorber and other officials noticed in summer 2002 that the energy department said nothing about accepting bids.

"We have gone about as far as we can go now," Sorber told the Texan in November 2002. "The original thought, the original estimate, was that they would have announced an intent to compete months ago, certainly no later than June or July [2002]."

The System and Sandia maintain connections, though. Sandia is part of a consortium led by UT Medical Branch in Galveston to secure grants for a national biodefense laboratory. Sorber said the alliance and the System's previous discussions with Sandia were "not related."

"There was a consortium put together with southwestern institutions. Sandia happens to be part of that consortium," he said.

Sanchez, the vice president for research, claimed ignorance about rumors that the System was looking at managing Los Alamos National Laboratory, whose leadership is in turmoil.

With regard to Los Alamos, no decision has been made," said System spokesman Monty Jones. "Right now, there is no bid process. So there's nothing going on."