GAO SAYS DOE OVERSIGHT OF WFO AT NAT’L LABS IS LACKING

Department of Energy oversight of Work For Others activities at its 17 national laboratories is lacking, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued yesterday that suggests DOE didn’t do enough to control costs or ensure the programs met requirements. The report, titled “DOE Needs to Improve Oversight of Work Performed for Non-DOE Entities,” was commissioned by the House Energy and Commerce Committee as part of its oversight of DOE’s national laboratories. The report recommended that DOE strengthen its control over the Work For Others process at the labs by shoring up compliance with project approval requirements, mandating that project costs be established through written procedures, denoting what annual program reviews should include, creating annual reports on WFO work, and establishing performance measures for the WFO program. In response to the report, DOE said it agreed with the recommendations and said it would remind federal employees of WFO guidelines through “policy flash” reminders. The GAO, however, said DOE’s actions don’t go far enough to address the issues. “We believe that many of the proposed actions, while good first steps, fall short of our recommendations, however, and may not fully address the  issues we discussed in our report,” GAO Natural Resources and Environment Director David Trimble said.