Brian Bradley
WC Monitor
12/4/2015
The Department of Energy in fiscal 2015 “disallowed” costs of approximately $3.1 million to Washington Savannah River Co. (WSRC), the former Savannah River Site (SRS) contractor and a Westinghouse subsidiary, after the DOE inspector general found WSRC employees had inappropriately received severance payments under a SRS workforce restructuring, the IG said Tuesday in its semiannual report to Congress.
“Specifically, it was alleged that WSRC employees were subsequently rehired to perform in the same or similar functional job areas but were not required to repay the severance money,” the report states. “As a result of our review, the Contracting Officer issued a demand letter of $1.1 million to the contractor. Subsequently, due to WSRC’s delinquent response, Savannah River officials conducted a more in-depth review to include the 2006 restructuring, which was not part of the inspection, and determined the total disallowed cost totaled approximately $3.1 million.”
Additionally, the comprehensive 64-page report notes that the National Nuclear Security Administration and DOE’s Office of Environmental Management respectively failed to provide comments within 60 days on the IG’s Sept. 30, 2015, “Audit Coverage of Cost Allowability for Los Alamos National Security, LLC,” during fiscal 2013, and on the apparently yet-to-be-released “Ongoing Long Lead Procurement at the Office of River Protection." NNSA took 87 days to respond to the LANS report, and EM has taken “more than 60 days” and still hasn’t responded to the IG report on ORP, according to the semiannual report.
“Since the semiannual report captures previously released reports, I don’t have anything new to add that we wouldn’t have said when the original reports were released,” NNSA spokeswoman Shelley Laver said Tuesday by email.
Westinghouse and EM did not respond this week to requests for comment.
