Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
12/4/2015
Investigations by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Inspector General’s Office (IG) from an April 1 to Sept. 30 reporting period resulted in nine criminal convictions, the recovery of $30.2 million in fines, and 12 suspensions and debarments, according to the IG’s semiannual report to Congress released this week.
The IG’s findings during the reporting period resulted in administrative disciplinary actions including the resignation or retirement of four federal employees, the suspension of three contractor employees and one federal employee, the termination of four contractor employees, and the suspension of clearances for two former contractor employees. The IG said the DOE also finalized actions debarring some entities from contracting with the agency, including the case in which two former employees with Los Alamos National Security were debarred for 50 years each for “knowingly converting and communicating Restricted Data to another individual with reason to believe such data would be utilized to secure an advantage to a foreign nation.”
The IG found “86 reports with a total of 1961 recommendations which were agreed to by the [DOE] but for which corrective actions have not been implemented as of September 30.” The completion of these corrective actions would offer total potential cost savings of over $1 billion, the IG said. These reports include cost allowability assessments for Sandia National Laboratories contractor Sandia Corp. from fiscal 2007 to fiscal 2013 and the same assessments for the Los Alamos National Laboratory contractor from fiscal 2011 to fiscal 2013. The IG found a total of seven open recommendations from the Sandia assessments resulting in a potential monetary benefit of $31.4 million, and three open recommendations in the Los Alamos assessments with a potential benefit of $1.2 million.
