University of California Regents gave President Robert Dynes broad powers Thursday to prepare for stiff competition in the system's bid to continue running three national research labs.

The most wide-reaching move will allow UC to team up with private-sector companies to manage part of the labs' operations, from business practices to security to competition itself.

By the end of January, UC will announce partnerships with two companies to run parts of Los Alamos Laboratory, including security and work in high-hazard facilities, said Bob Foley, UC vice president for labs. That is just the beginning of partnerships UC is considering; discussions are just beginning for companies to oversee parts of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.

While this is not the first time UC has brought in outside help at its labs, it signals the seriousness of UC's bid to continue running its three labs, the weapons research sites Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore and the multidisciplinary Lawrence Berkeley research lab.

"If we compete, we want to compete to win and we want to sweep the board on all three laboratories," Foley said, emphasizing that these first steps are needed to keep UC's options open.

The companies will work inside the lab's management chain, in some cases reporting to the lab's director. They will work in areas where the labs have had problems and UC has no special expertise.

Dynes emphasized that UC remains in charge of the labs' operations.

"It is our contract and, for better or for worse, we're the manager and will take the responsibility," Dynes said after the meeting.

UC has run all three labs since their creation more than a half-century ago, and this is the first time it will have to compete to continue operating the labs. They run the labs on a "no gain, no loss" philosophy, so no state money is used to run the labs. The current state budget crisis should not directly affect the competition.

Los Alamos' competition was spurred by business problems at the labs, which prompted the lab's federal overseer, the Department of Energy, to put it up for a bid for the first time in 60 years. Its contract expires in September 2005.

For Lawrence Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore, the agency's hand was forced by a congressional amendment requiring that all lab contracts that had not faced competition for 50 years or more go up for a bid.

The Berkeley lab contract, which has already been extended several times, expires Jan. 31 and will undoubtedly be extended until DOE can mount a competition. Livermore lab's contract expires at the same time as Los Alamos', but the agency could extend either contract for up to two years. The agency could decide to place the lab contracts up for bid together or separately.

In addition to the business agreement, Thursday's decision gives UC managers, with agreement from the regents' chairperson and labs committee chairperson, power to extend the current contracts, submit UC as part of any "expression of interest" by DOE and hire an outside firm to help put together UC's bid.

But the ultimate decision still lies with the regents.

"None of what we're doing currently commits the University of California to competing," Foley said.

UC has long said that whether it will compete depends on the specifics of a DOE "request for proposal." But the timing of that request remains uncertain. UC officials said they could have as little as 45 days between learning those details and submitting their lab proposal.

Several regents expressed concern there might not be enough time to consider the wide-ranging questions raised by a competition. Those include big-picture issues, such as whether UC should be associated with a weapons lab, and details, such as whether science is given enough emphasis in any bid.

"I think before I would make an intelligent decision, I would need much more information," said Regent Sherry Lansing. "This is a very, very big decision."

As the meeting began, several speakers talked to the regents about the opposition to UC's continued involvement with the nuclear weapons labs.

"Nuclear weapons do not increase our security. They threaten it," said Urs Cipolat, a lecturer at UC Berkeley who was presenting a letter to Dynes on the issue.

Dynes said he had received up to 100 letters, many from outside the United States, asking UC to separate itself from the lab. But that decision will wait until more details emerge about the competition, he added.

The Energy Department is still deciding on many major questions, including whether it will extend some or all contracts, when a competition might take place, and what structure that competition will take. The DOE did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.

"There is an awful lot that we don't know," Foley said.