Mike Nartker
NS&D Monitor
6/13/2014   

Work underway to set up the Department of Energy’s new Office of Independent Enterprise Assessment (IEA) is slowing down ongoing DOE enforcement investigations, IEA Director Glenn Podonsky said late this week. The new office, which was created as part of a reorganization of DOE’s safety and security functions, contains the oversight and enforcement  capabilities that had previously existed within the Department’s Office of Health, Safety and Security. “The actions that are in place are still going on, and by definition they’re slow,” Podonsky said at a meeting the Energy Facility Contractors Group (EFCOG) held in DOE headquarters. “Rather than have a complete stand-down of the program, I determined that it would be beneficial to go forward and make the changes as we move,” Podonsky said, adding, “It is at a slower pace.”

DOE is currently in the midst of five investigations, which could result in financial penalties for contractors, within the Department’s cleanup program. Three of the investigations are tied to incidents that have occurred at the Portsmouth site, while two relate to concerns at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, according to information DOE has released. Podonsky also noted at this week’s meeting that four actions are “sitting on Frank Klotz’s desk,” referring to the new Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. Podonsky did not say, though, which NNSA sites have been the subject of investigations.

Podonsky also said his new office would work to shorten the time it currently takes to complete an enforcement investigation. Of the five investigations underway to DOE cleanup sites, two are related to incidents that occurred in 2012, while one stretches back to a complaint made in 2011. ‘While I think enforcement is a very necessary part of managing and this Department has been given those authorities by Congress, Congress didn’t tell us how to do it and we’ve been using the same model since 1995. And while the efficacy of the model is really quite good, the time frames in which actions are taken is counterintuitive to me as the head of the organization and it has been for quite some time,” he said. “If you have an event that takes place, and a contract is appropriately … hit with award fee issues and then three years later the enforcement comes by on the same issue, it’s just counterintuitive that that’s helpful. That has to be readdressed and that’s one of thing we’re doing.”