ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is being credited with saving the Department of Energy $439 million as part of a more efficient way of doing business with suppliers. That’s more than any other DOE site nationwide.
The savings were facilitated through the Supply Chain Management Center, created by DOE in 2006 to improve supply chain efficiency and reduce costs. SCMC works with prime contractors to establish purchasing agreements that can be shared by multiple sites across the DOE complex. This eliminates the need for each site to negotiate individual contracts and secures volume pricing, early payment discounts, rebates and other cost-saving incentives.
“At Sandia, we take seriously our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Labs Director Laura McGill. “This contract approach reflects our commitment to deliver on the Department of Energy’s mission as efficiently and effectively as possible.”
The program recently reached $2 billion in total savings since 2013, with $1 billion of that in the last five years.
“Collaboration is key. This achievement is proof of what happens when prime contractors work together for the benefit of the enterprise,” said Scott Bissen, senior director of SCMC.
Among the 26 DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration sites participating in the program, Sandia contributed the most total savings of 22%.
“We’ve been more successful because our management team and staff are passionate about it,” said Candice Montoya, procurement manager at Sandia. “We truly care about saving money and have built this process into our policies and procedures. It’s at the core of our organization.”
“These savings directly strengthen our national security mission,” said Louis Griego, director of Integrated Supply Chain Management at Sandia. “By managing resources wisely and partnering strategically, we ensure more funding goes to the science, engineering and innovation that matter most.”
Through the program, Sandia and the other participating sites have access to 117 established agreements with contractors that have strong reputations and good working relationships with DOE.
Each month, SCMC collects and analyzes purchasing data from prime contractors to calculate and report total cost savings. The center previously achieved $1 billion in enabled savings in 2020.