See how Battelle stacked up this year running our national laboratory

Battelle had a stellar year as manager of the Department of Energy national laboratory in Richland, earning its highest annual review marks in five years.

For a second fiscal year in a row, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was the best performing DOE Office of Science lab among the 10 in the nation, said Steven Ashby, director of PNNL, in a message to employees Thursday.

“Well done!” he told employees.

The strong performance rating means that Battelle will receive $12.13 million in incentive pay for fiscal year 2017, which is 97 percent of the $12.5 million that was available.

For the previous year PNNL earned $11.75 million, or 94 percent available, the same percentage it had earned in other recent years.

The Tri-City area will benefit from the strong performance in 2017 as Battelle invests part of its incentive pay into the community for the arts; for science, technology, engineering and math education; and for organizations helping people in need.

Battelle received two As, four A-minuses, and two B-pluses. The grades are listed as a report card, with no overall grade given.

“The department is very pleased with the performance,” said Julie Erickson, deputy manager of the DOE Pacific Northwest Site Office in Richland.

Project management was one of Battelle’s strengths, both for DOE programs and those of other agencies and departments that rely on the Richland lab for work, he said.

She also praised the continued work to modernize the PNNL campus in Richland, with new buildings being added.

Battelle also has helped PNNL set standards in some areas for other DOE national labs, Erickson said. It has shared its best practices, such as a training program for new supervisors.

The breakdown of grades for Battelle included an A awarded for mission accomplishment, or the quality and productivity of its research and development, which was given the most weight among eight categories receiving grades.

The other A was for its science and technology projects and program management.

Battelle received an A-minus both for leadership and for its construction and operation of research facilities.

The remaining four grades were for its management and operation of PNNL . It received two more A-minuses for facilities maintenance and infrastructure and for security.

The two B-pluses were for its business systems and for its performance in environment, safety and health.

The B-plus for business systems came despite a $530,000 payment being sent to a fraudulent account rather than the company constructing a new PNNL building. Battelle covered the cost of its error.

“While the contractor’s subsequent compensatory measures and proactive efforts to alert other DOE laboratories to external fraud risks were laudable, the significant financial loss coupled with the potential impact on the reputation of the laboratory was clearly an unprecedented event,” the review said.

PNNL earned some of its highest marks in the review for its energy and environment research, Ashby said.

The DOE Office of Science called PNNL a world leader in several research areas, including certain molecular sciences, geochemistry and energy storage.

PNNL manages two national DOE facilities available to researchers worldwide, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement climate research facility.

DOE said PNNL exceeded expectations in operating the two “user” facilities.

“This feedback is particularly gratifying since we have made an effort over the past few years to elevate our stature as a world-class scientific research institution,” Ashby told employees.

Other agencies and offices that rely on PNNL for research also weighed in on the the evaluation.

The Department of Homeland Security, which considers PNNL its “go-to” laboratory, gave Battelle its highest performance rating for the ninth consecutive year.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 12:38 PM with the headline "See how Battelle stacked up this year running our national laboratory."