UT announced on January 20, 1999, that it would team with Battelle to bid for the $2.5 billion five-year management contract of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The UT-Battelle team was awarded the contract and assumed responsibility for the multipurpose lab on April 1, 2000. A separate limited liability company was formed by UT and Battelle Memorial Institute, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, to make the bid. Battelle has operated the DOE Pacific Northwest National Laboratory since 1965 and is a partner in managing both Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. The UT-Battelle bid was submitted in August 1999. In 2005 the UT-Battelle contract was extended for an additional five years by the US Department of Energy and was extended again in 2010.
The UT-Battelle bid was not the first time UT considered bidding for management of the lab. In June 1982 Union Carbide informed the Department of Energy of its intent to withdraw from the management contract of the Oak Ridge Complex (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 Plant, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant) when its contract expired on October 1, 1983. Union Carbide agreed to continue management until October 1, 1986, if necessary to effect a smooth transition. UT Chancellor Jack Reese appointed a 40-member task force, with himself as chair, to begin a feasibility study to ascertain whether it should bid to manage the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In June 1982 the board of trustees was informed that the consideration was taking place. On October 16, 1982, UT sent a formal letter of expression of interest in managing the laboratory to the Department of Energy, stating also its willingness to enter into a joint management with one or more private organizations or to be the sole contractor for the four facilities. UT suggested a joint venture with Eagle-Pitcher Industries Inc., with UT having primary responsibility for ORNL and Eagle-Pitcher having primary responsibility for Y-12 and the gaseous diffusion plants. Other corporations that UT named as potential partners included Ebasco Systems, Burns and Roe, Lockheed, Bendix, and Sverdrup. Expressions of interest came from groups in 22 states.
DOE decided to choose a single contractor for all facilities, and UT turned its attention to solidifying and expanding its relationship with ORNL. On December 13, 1983, Martin Marietta was selected by the Department of Energy as the new contractor, to assume control in April 1984. Prior to its selection, Martin Marietta had expressed interest in expanded programs with UT. Soon after its selection, it committed to the development of the Center for Manufactured Systems Engineering with UT; to placing more than $1 million in a biotechnology research program jointly staffed by UT and company scientists; and pledged to support multiyear, undirected research grants and aerospace research and development contracts with UT.