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Selected slides Presented to GAO

Jeff Weiner

August 2008

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General Observations

• WFO it is not a helpful or descriptive term

• Does not sufficiently capture the outstanding work we do in support of non-DOE customers

• Does not communicate the fundamental nature of work to those who fund our enterprise

• It is does not convey the fundamental nature of partnering, nor the mutual benefits that accrue to the sponsor, DOE or the Lab

• Suggests that we are a “body shop”

• Really problematic for foundations and State agencies

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General Observations

• We need a new name (Work with Others, Sponsored Research, Partnership Program etc)

• Non-DOE sponsored research complements LBNL’s mission for DOE and strengthens the Lab’s distinguishing competencies.

• LBNL considers that its WFO portfolio is in effect

“Work With Others”

as it is largely a collaborative effort that strengthens DOE’s capabilities for research as well as providing basic and applied research with other sponsors.

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Terms and Conditions

• DOE has very inflexible terms and conditions in its WFO agreements.

– The liability clauses, especially general indemnity, are problematic for many partners.

– No mutuality as in University agreements

• Conflict between DOE WFO requirements and federal flow-down terms and conditions

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Terms and Conditions (cont.)

• Federal Agencies issue grants and contracts to Universities and small businesses that contain terms and conditions that require flow-down to subcontractors.

• Conflicts arise between the prime contract flow-down requirements and the DOE WFO Order requirements that the DOE Lab must follow…. DOE’s requirements such as

• advance payment, • no outside audit, and • indemnification

is sometimes in direct contradiction to these flow-down requirements.

• This results in protracted negotiations and much time spent by Lab, DOE and the sponsor agencies staff in trying to resolve the issues.

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Financial

• Advance Payment Requirements –

• For non-federal sponsors, DOE requires a 90 day advance payment be maintained throughout the life of the project.

• In order to meet this requirement, LBNL and other DOE Laboratories must receive a 4 month advance from its non-federal sponsors.

• This requirement frequently is an issue to sponsors especially for small businesses or universities who are being funded by a federal or state agency who will only pay them for costs incurred.

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Financial

• The requirement to manage “cash” at the individual award level is time consuming and very labor intensive.

• The old requirement of managing at the B&R level would be a cost saving and eliminate stopping and starting work.

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Financial

• Allow the Labs to accept work on less than full cost recovery for Foundations, non profits and federal agencies that have published program rules which limit OH recovery.

• Many foundations , for example, do not permit OH or limit OH and the Labs cannot apply

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Level of Non-DOE Funding

• A significant effort is undertaken each year to predict the amount of future WFO funding and/or justify why current predictions and achievements are in excess of previous predictions.

• LBNL is encouraged to leverage DOE funds, work with industry yet DOE expresses concern on the amount we do.

• DOE should, by policy and action, encourage the Lab to do valuable scientific work limited only by the resources available and programmatic direction of Lab management.

• Instead of questioning the amount of WFO, the Lab should be rewarded for optimizing its work force and satisfying the research needs by its private and federal sponsors.

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Alternate Funding Mechanisms for Tech Transfer

• Not all non-DOE funding is “Work For Others” wherein the sponsor is requesting specific work to be performed.

• More and more work is “sponsored research” where the Lab is seeking funding from non-profit foundations and other organizations to support ideas and projects of interest to LBNL and DOE.

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Alternate Funding Mechanisms for Tech Transfer (continued)

• We are not performing work for these agencies, but using their funds to support research, training or education that is in the national interest.

• DOE should allow for alternate funding mechanisms using sponsor terms.

• If a funding agency has standard grant or contract terms, those should be the starting place for negotiation rather than insisting on their accepting DOE terms

• Not a one size fits all for Sponsored work

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SPO Funding by Technology Transfer Type

$0

$20,000,000

$40,000,000

$60,000,000

$80,000,000

$100,000,000

$120,000,000

$140,000,000

Fu

nd

ing

CRADAs $612,298 $150,000 $696,427 $713,573 $322,149

Users Facilities* $2,518,376 $1,740,664 $2,199,349 $1,463,285 $1,585,265

Work For Others $99,263,868 $122,650,578 $121,849,160 $120,229,210 $122,029,215

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007

*Includes 88 Inch Cyclotron (Lost Descignation as a National User Facility in FY2004

$102,394,542

$124,541,242 $124,744,936 $122,406,068 $123,936,629

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SPO Award Portfolio by Technology Transfer Type

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Nu

mb

er o

f A

war

ds

CRADAs 6 26 2 19 6 18 3 11 2 13

User Facilities* 48 109 56 154 44 154 132 267 138 384

Work For Others 226 656 243 716 270 761 256 770 215 718

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007

New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total

*Includes 88 Inch Cyclotron (Lost Designation as National User Facility in FY2004)

280

791

301

889

320

933

391

1,048

355

1,115

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007

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SPO Technology Transfer Fundingby Sponsor Type

$0

$20,000,000

$40,000,000

$60,000,000

$80,000,000

$100,000,000

$120,000,000

$140,000,000

Foreign $3,278,109 $3,518,127 $4,137,037 $6,321,140 $5,805,610

State/Local Government $5,620,746 $13,520,021 $4,386,881 $6,257,810 $6,333,093

Nonprofit $5,966,834 $6,478,278 $6,390,052 $11,763,974 $7,582,329

Industry $6,194,060 $5,218,907 $10,430,571 $8,769,657 $10,989,048

Universities $20,755,564 $18,345,114 $26,284,182 $25,139,530 $12,182,124

Federal $19,385,233 $28,804,010 $29,459,716 $26,737,857 $28,838,510

NIH $41,193,996 $48,656,785 $43,656,497 $37,416,100 $52,205,915

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007

Fu

nd

ing

$102,394,542

$124,54,242 $124.844.936 $122,406,068 $123,936,629

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SPO Award Portfolioby Sponsor Type

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Nu

mb

er o

f A

war

ds

State & Local Gov't 4 21 6 22 8 22 7 27 11 32

Nonprofit 26 69 17 72 28 79 38 95 24 98

NIH 34 114 25 118 15 94 23 101 19 99

Foreign 20 61 31 79 41 101 51 120 63 151

Federal 52 188 81 214 64 209 59 196 39 170

Industry 68 135 47 156 81 186 62 193 62 193

Universities 76 203 94 228 83 242 151 316 137 372

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007

New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total

280

791

301

889

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005

320

933

FY2006 FY2007

391

1048

355

1115

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SPO Technology Transfer Fundingby Major Research Area

$0

$20,000,000

$40,000,000

$60,000,000

$80,000,000

$100,000,000

$120,000,000

$140,000,000

Operations $21,800 $1,800 $1,800

Computing Sciences $3,371,817 $3,652,696 $3,647,700 $2,990,797 $3,531,639

General Sciences $9,660,324 $15,342,524 $23,687,847 $18,059,172 $10,099,340

Physical Sciences $44,949,630 $56,979,361 $41,199,605 $43,221,101 $41,023,152

Lif e & Environmental Sciences $44,390,971 $48,564,861 $56,209,784 $58,133,198 $69,282,498

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007

$102,394,542

$124,541,242 $124,744,936 $122,406,068 $123,936,629

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SPO Technology Transfer Fundingby Top 5 Research Divisions

$0

$20,000,000

$40,000,000

$60,000,000

$80,000,000

$100,000,000

$120,000,000

Material Sciences $8,614,409 $7,712,702 $7,542,047 $7,034,627 $8,038,257

Genomics $13,881,028 $9,195,192 $10,574,737 $11,418,057 $9,092,461

Physical Biosciences $17,459,169 $22,285,829 $15,507,900 $12,152,973 $13,780,605

Environmental Energy Technologies $18,050,517 $26,171,966 $16,335,630 $23,045,146 $17,119,424

Life Sciences $27,763,029 $34,161,076 $37,008,069 $39,367,621 $55,150,696

FY2003 FY2004 FY2005 FY2006 FY2007

Represents 80%

of Funding

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Work for other DOE Labs

• LBNL has a portfolio of work for other DOE Labs

• Not considered WFO but is a mechanism to transfer knowledge to other Labs and prime funders

• Averages $15-20 mill/year

• No DOE approval needed unless over $1 mill

• Largest project is:–Yucca Mountain- site characterization studies aimed at

understanding the barrier function of the unsaturated zone above the water table.