Responsive Operations

LANL approaches its national-security mission through simultaneous excellence, achieving maximum impact by integrating research and development solutions with operational excellence and community engagement.

This Critical Outcome recognizes that our operations must be anticipatory and responsive, looking to the future as well as at our evolving mission needs. Specifically, successful delivery of our current and future missions requires that our processes, infrastructure, and facilities adapt in coordination with our research and development. This Critical Outcome supports all four of the Laboratory's Strategic Objectives in accomplishing our mission: Nuclear Deterrence, Threat Reduction, Technical Leadership, and Trustworthy Operations. This Critical Outcome also complements and leverages the investments being made under the Signature Institutional Commitment on production mission maturation.

In FY23, we provided agile and efficient operational processes and systems to meet the current and future LANL mission. Our operational capacity has increased with the growth of LANL’s workforce, the development of innovative acquisition strategies, the streamlining of the Lab’s acquisition policies and procedures, and the simplifying of numerous other processes.

In FY24, we will build on these successes through 12 Supporting Initiatives.

Supporting Initiatives

1. Improve the implementation of talent development through plans, tools, and practices, with an emphasis on providing career pathing to meet LANL requirements.
2. Improve procurement planning and increase procurement volume in support of Laboratory spending plans by leveraging commercial contracting approaches and using both forward-looking input and existing data from previous procurement cycles. Mature the delivery of procurement services by implementing a system of service-level agreements to increase visibility and accountability in delivery of service. Ensure that procurements are community-centered and achieve LANL’s small business goals.
3. Provide agile and effective construction processes to meet LANL mission needs by leveraging commercial best practice approaches and employing the proper balance of self-perform work to efficiently manage small projects.
4. Meet increased demand for space, including office and laboratory space, for critical outcomes, and to support growth in mission and support activities.
5. Develop and execute a comprehensive parking and transportation services plan that enables mission, minimizes transportation delays, increases user adoption of alternative transit, and supports net-zero emission goals.
6. Develop and execute a comprehensive facility-based five-year plan for major maintenance to improve the overall reliability and mission readiness of LANL’s facility portfolio.
7. Deliver operational tools, processes, and management systems that are modernized and integrated to provide measurable efficiencies in mission execution by leveraging NSE and industry best practices/methods. Ensure that these practices/methods are consistent with the integrated System of Management Systems online tool framework for improvement and the IT Roadmap.
8. Develop an information technology (IT) roadmap to improve and prioritize IT infrastructure investments and communications tools, including implementing wireless internet in PF-4, red net capacity in new and existing Laboratory facilities, and other capabilities to ensure modern collaboration tools.
9. Continue to develop the campus master plan (CMP) and the CMP White Board application to fully integrate facility/infrastructure requirements with mission drivers, environmental opportunities and constraints, and security requirements.
10. Deploy innovative and strategic approaches for environmental permitting and implementation to enable mission delivery.
11. Establish an Institutional Rapid Response Program to promptly rectify facility and system upsets.
12. Establish an Experimental Capability Enablement Program to support disciplined operations, address infrastructure issues, and mitigate hazards to enable safe and continuous experimental work.