YAKIMA — Battelle Memorial Institute, a nonprofit that has operated the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory since its inception in 1965, plans to team up with Washington’s two leading universities in bidding for the new operating contract.

Since the U.S. Department of Energy announced last year that it would open the contract up for bids, Battelle officials have maintained their intentions to compete for the contract to operate the south-central Washington laboratory.

Battelle announced Friday that it will partner in the bid with the University of Washington, Washington State University, and Babcock and Wilcox Technical Services Group Inc., an engineering company formerly known as BWXT Services Inc.

The arrangement will “greatly expand opportunities to collaborate on joint research programs as well as further build staff and faculty exchanges,” Battelle President and Chief Executive Carl Kohrt said in a statement. “Having these two widely respected research universities linked with us certainly strengthens our position as the best choice for PNNL.”

John Gardner, WSU’s vice president for economic development and extension, said a successful bid would enhance the research and education opportunities in south-central Washington and throughout the state.

“We see this bid as an important way for the state’s principal research institutions to focus our joint efforts on issues of energy and the environment and become national and global leaders in this regard,” Gardner said.

Officials at the University of Washington could not immediately be reached for comment.

Babcock and Wilcox will work with Battelle to manage high-hazard facilities and operations.

The laboratory, located in Richland, has an annual budget of more than $725 million. Its research areas include science and environment, energy, defense and national security.

Nearly 60 percent of the laboratory’s research is for the Energy Department, with about 25 percent for the departments of Homeland Security and Defense. Private work accounts for about 10 percent of the laboratory’s business.

Battelle, based in Columbus, Ohio, has operated the laboratory under a series of extended contracts since 1965. Its current contract, which expired Sept. 30, has been extended while the government seeks new bids.

Since 1965, the laboratory has received a total of 1,466 U.S. and foreign patents. It employs about 4,300 people and has a payroll of $327 million.

The Energy Department’s decision to put the lab contract out for bid for the first time in more than 40 years came after PNNL was criticized for a high-profile research error involving cleanup of the highly contaminated Hanford nuclear reservation.

In 2005, 11 percent of the work conducted at the laboratory for the Energy Department, or an estimated $76.5 million, was related to Hanford, a nuclear weapons facility created during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb.

Energy Department officials said the decision to seek bids was a prudent management decision not related to performance, and Battelle officials have said the problems have since been corrected.

In another case, four laboratory workers received minor radioactive contamination earlier this year while conducting research. The laboratory improved training and initiated new procedures for handling sources of sealed radiation.