It’s the small things. It’s turning over rocks, and little by little, digging deeper and realizing that something can be done in a way that hadn’t been considered before.

That’s how Lori Belcher’s team innovated and created a new approach for commercial procurements, earning the team one of five Lab Director’s Awards at the Employee Recognition Awards event in New Mexico on May 28.

The Simplified Purchasing Pilot Team streamlined the existing procurement process, reducing purchase order placement time by about 50%, enhancing support for mission schedules. This demonstrates the team’s commitment to identifying and implementing efficiencies.

“We do this regularly,” said Lori, subcontract manager and team representative. “We continually evaluate how we can streamline our processes, enhance our efficiency, accelerate our operations and reduce costs.”

And according to Lori, the team isn’t done yet.

The Labs can expect to see even more from this team and many other individuals and teams honored as part of Sandia’s 32nd annual Employee Recognitions Awards program.

On May 21, Sandia California held its celebration at Garré Vineyard, nestled near the Labs and among the Livermore Valley hills. It was the first year that Sandia California has held the event off-site.

“We’re super excited to use this venue for the ERAs for the first time,” Acting Associate Labs Director Trish Benguerel said. “We wanted to make the event even more personal, as these are incredible accomplishments.”

Senior Manager Flo Prada emceed the awards, congratulating the winners as Labs Director Laura McGill distributed challenge coins.

“Today’s event is special because we are celebrating outstanding employees who make Sandia’s success possible and uphold the Labs’ reputation for exceptional service to the nation,” Flo said.

Both celebrations in California and New Mexico tried a new format this year based on feedback from past events. To provide honorees with a more personal experience and allow for more time for connection, division leadership distributed awards to their individual and team winners. In lieu of a formal sit-down lunch, honorees networked while enjoying appetizers and beverages.

The Employee Recognition Awards recognize individuals and teams across the Labs for going above and beyond expectations. Their contributions fuel Sandia’s progress and shape the future of national security. Award winners exemplify the dedication, expertise and teamwork that define Sandia and its culture of excellence. Read the full list of awards in the PDF version of Lab News.

Lab Director’s Award winners

Each year, every division selects one of their Employee Recognition Award honorees and nominates them for the Lab Director’s Award, which is the highest recognition in the award program. From there, the Labs Director reviews each nomination and chooses the winners based on their lasting impact. This year, recently retired Labs Director James Peery and current Labs Director Laura McGill reviewed the nominations together and chose five winners.

“These winners took on complex technical challenges, broke new ground, delivered under intense pressure and set a high bar for quality, performance and innovation,” Laura said.

Melissa Flury won an individual award for her strong leadership and collaboration in helping Sandia and NNSA develop and roll out a new supplier assessment process across the nuclear security enterprise. This streamlined how suppliers are certified to provide “mark quality” material for Sandia’s nuclear deterrence mission.

“I am honored to serve our nation and receive this award from Sandia,” Melissa said. “The award embodies our Sandia values to serve the nation, respect each other, deliver with excellence and team together.”

The Deploy New National Sensor System Technical Leadership Team won for helping the nation successfully deploy and transition two National Technical Means sensors into operation. They designed, built, deployed and validated a highly complex system on a short schedule. They also conducted an in-depth test and assessment of the newest national security sensor in the U.S., ensuring it works seamlessly with other systems and meets mission needs for the warfighters of the future.

“The caliber of work we do here at the national laboratories has always impressed me,” team member Lisa Wilkening said. “It’s one of the things that brings me here every day and why I’ve remained here for my entire professional career. The opportunity to contribute to national missions, to see our work recognized, is a wonderful achievement.”

The SandiaAI Chat Team launched SandiaAI Chat — the first secure, cloud-based generative AI tool across the nuclear security enterprise. The tool gives employees an interactive chat assistant, similar to ChatGPT, designed for Sandia’s unique needs. The team brought together experts in development, cybersecurity, data science, cloud, legal and communications to launch on time. Today, nearly two-thirds of the workforce uses SandiaAI Chat to focus more time on impactful national security work.

“It’s amazing to see the other groups that won, and to be considered part of that at Sandia is just absolutely phenomenal,” SandiaAI Chat team member Michael Vigil said.

The Simplified Purchasing Pilot Team piloted a new approach to commercial procurements for MESA and Hypersonics, streamlining pre-award practices and shortening lead times for subcontractor placement. As a result, simplified commercial purchasing policies have now been permanently adopted and are expected to improve mission support across many contract types, starting this year.

The Mk21 Arming and Fuzing Assembly QER/FPU Team delivered an acceptable quality engineering release and first production unit nearly 10 weeks ahead of schedule.

“It was an outstanding effort, and it was also a model for the entire organization — and I know it was because of the team,” Laura said.