A regional group that promotes communities around the U.S. Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico could be forced to reimburse the U.S. government up to $300,000 in federal grant money absent documents showing the funds were not spent on lobbying or other improper expenses.
That’s the bottom line of a just-released report from the Energy Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) on activities by the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities (RCLC).
The report from Assistant Inspector General Bruce Miller, dated Sept. 27 and released to the public Wednesday, also faults the business center for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management for lack of proper oversight over the five-year, $500,000 grant awarded to the RCLC in September 2015.
The purpose of the DOE grant is to “promote environmental protection, economic development, and regional planning, and to allow the RCLC to evaluate policy initiatives and legislative impacts on its members,” according to the OIG report.
The regional coalition is not prohibited from lobbying, but it cannot use its federal money for that purpose, the OIG noted. “The RCLC comingled Department funds with funds received from other sources and subsequently engaged in activities prohibited” under the grant agreement, according to the report.
The regional coalition could not show that it filed the required quarterly financial reports on the grant with the contracting official at the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). The EMCBC contracting officer “did not ensure technical oversight of the RCLC grant,” by failing to ensure reports were filed and reviewed, the OIG said.
Prior state reviews have noted that Los Alamos County served as the ill-defined fiscal agent for the regional group. The Office of Inspector General said the RCLC did not ensure the county segregated the DOE grant money from its other funding sources. Due to that sloppy bookkeeping, “we are questioning $300,000 in Department of Energy grant funds,” the OIG said.
The onus now shifts to to RCLC to provide specifics on disputed funds, or refund what was spent on unapproved activity.
In addition to seeking reimbursement, the OIG report said the Office of Environmental Management should provide guidance to its contracting officers and other staffers to clarify duties for monitoring grants.
The Energy Department inspector general conducted its review between September 2018 and May of this year. It used documents from and interviews with the Regional Coalition of LANL Communities, Los Alamos County, the New Mexico State Auditor’s Office, the EMCBC, and the general counsel for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The Energy Department said in the report it agrees with the OIG recommendations. On Aug. 15, the agency requested the RCLC provide a detailed list of allowable costs incurred under the grant. It gave the coalition until Sept. 13 to respond.
The OIG report is the latest outgrowth of a controversy over travel reimbursement policy and record-keeping under former executive director Andrea Romero, now a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. The organization did not renew her contract in February 2018 after she led the RCLC for four years.
Romero came under criticism over $2,600 in costs incurred for pricey meals, alcoholic drinks, and baseball tickets provided for stakeholders during a trip to Washington, D.C. Although the expenses were approved in advance by the RCLC, Romero subsequently reimbursed the organization after questions were raised in local newspaper reports.
Current RCLC Executive Director Eric Vasquez said in a press release Wednesday the organization has taken many steps in the past year to put its fiscal house in order. This includes setting up a separate account for Energy Department grant funding, an explicit ban on buying gifts for federal employees, and more layers of review for travel and reimbursement.
The group is pleased to see the anticipated OIG report and is “working with the Department of Energy to provide them with the information they need to complete this process,” Vasquez said, seemingly referring to answering DOE questions about use of the federal money.
“Because the lab is part of our community, it is vital that our local leaders be a part of that conversation,” Vasquez said. “As such, we are pleased that this process is wrapping up and look forward to reenergizing that voice for our local communities.”
