Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A Texas congressman has received "most of the materials'' he requested about why the U.S. Energy Department awarded a contract for Los Alamos National Laboratory to a team that includes the University of California, his spokeswoman said.
Lisa Miller, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee that Joe Barton heads, said discussions between DOE and the committee were continuing.
She had no details about Barton's reaction.
Barton, R-Texas, demanded the information last month when the DOE awarded the contract to run the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab to UC and three corporations instead of to a team that included Lockheed Martin and the University of Texas.
Barton has been a frequent critic of UC's management of the lab. The university has run Los Alamos since it was created during World War II, but after a series of management and security lapses, the DOE decided to put the management contract up for bid.
Government and UC officials have emphasized that even though the university is part of the winning team, the new management group is a different organization.
Barton, however, said after the announcement Dec. 21 that he had "minimal hope and no belief that UC can reverse its record of consistent failure.'' He asked for documents detailing how the selection had been made.
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