LIVERMORE - Lawrence Livermore Laboratory officials and the public shared their visions today of what they want from organizations interested in taking control of the lab and its sister facility, Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico.

And the overriding sentiment didn't come as much of a surprise -- that whoever bids to operate the two labs had best know their science, and be passionate about it being conducted right.

The special meeting, convened by a 13-member panel of the National Academies of Science committee, was intended to develop standards for evaluating the capability of bidders to manage science and technology at the labs.

Michael Anastasio, lab director, said any bidder interested in taking charge of the lab should meet a variety of criteria, including demanding intellectual integrity and scientific objectivity, fostering an atmosphere of innovative science, promoting a culture committed to ambitious goals and nurturing a cooperative yet competitive relationship with Los Alamos.

The committee will report its findings to the National Nuclear Security Administration. The information gathered is expected to be incorporated into an official request for bids to be released by the federal Department of Energy.

It was the lab's relationship with Los Alamos that took precedence for most of the two-hour meeting this morning, with many committee members asking for differences and similarities between the two top nuclear weapons labs and whether separate contracts to two different bidders would be acceptable for both labs.

Anastasio said that while both labs have different environments -- with Los Alamos being more corporate and academic, in his opinion -- they weren't that incompatible.

"I believe the same contract is best" for operating both of them, said Anastasio. If the labs were run by different public or private groups, he added, the two facilities could run into a situation where they were competing against each other for market share.

"I think that would be to the detriment of national interest," Anastasio said.

The University of California's contracts with both labs expire in early 2005. UC had run both labs unchallenged for more than a half century. However, the federal Department of Energy last year decided to put the contract of Los Alamos up for bid after business problems were brought to light . Following that decision, a congressional amendment was executed last year that requires all lab contracts that have not faced competition for 50 years or more to be subject to competitive bidding. That action brought Lawrence Livermore, managed by UC since it was founded in 1952, into the mix.