Strengthened whistleblower protections approved by Congress are now written into most but not all major contracts at the Energy Department, according to a DOE Office of Inspector General report dated Nov. 4.
The office reviewed 30 of DOE’s largest contracts, together worth about $386 billion – or 94% of the agency’s $411 billion in current contract spending as of January 2019.
Only two agreements don’t yet have the added protections language. One is Bechtel’s contract for construction of the $17 billion Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) at the Hanford Site in Washington state. The other is held by AECOM-led URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), which has the $3.2 billion business through July 2020 for remediation of the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee.
Congress enacted expanded whistleblower protections for employees of DOE contractors and subcontractors in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2013. The changes include the ability to take complaints against employers directly to the Office of Inspector General rather than going through Energy Department field office or headquarters.
The Energy Department was supposed to insert the language into existing contracts of at least $250,000 by September 2018. The clause is only mandatory for new contracts issued after the 2013 enactment. However, the Energy Department issued guidance in October 2013 encouraging vendors to add the new Federal Acquisition Regulation language into existing deals when major modifications are made.
Both the Bechtel WTP contract and the UCOR award predate the law. Energy Department contracting officers contacted the companies in 2016 and 2015, when the contracts were modified, but were unable to have the language included at that time, according to the IG report.
Employees at these two contractors are still covered under the existing DOE whistleblower program, but they have not been given the expanded rights, such as the increased statute of limitations from 90 days to three years for filing a complaint for employer retaliation, the OIG said.
“We are committed to maintaining a work environment that encourages employees to raise concerns without fear of retaliation,” said Bechtel spokeswoman Staci West in an email. “Our employees have multiple ways to raise concerns, including anonymously, under the existing contract.”
