NNSA FORMALLY RESPONDS TO GAO UPF BRIEFING

Responding formally to a recent Government Accountability Office report that sounded alarms about the growing price tag for the Uranium Processing Facility, the National Nuclear Security Administration said it has made significant efforts to improve estimating and project execution on the multi-billion-dollar project that will increase credibility when the agency eventually commits to a baseline. NW&M Monitor previously reported that a GAO briefing to Congress suggested that the project could breach the top range of its $4.2-6.5 billion cost estimate, and the GAO formally released its briefing—and NNSA’s response—on Friday afternoon. Without disputing the GAO’s findings, the NNSA emphasized the project management improvements on the project. “NNSA has made the commitment to ensure that the UPF cost baseline to be approved at Critical Decision (CD-2) reflects a credible, accurate and defensible basis to allow for accountability during the execution of the project’s final design and construction activities,” NNSA Associate Administrator for Management and Budget Cynthia Lersten said in a June 27 letter to the agency. “NNSA has made significant organizational changes and has applied dedicated resources to improve the evaluation of the project estimate prior to establishing the UPF baseline. … With these corrective actions in place, we are confident that the UPF baseline to be established at CD-2 will represent a credible basis for successful completion for the project within the established cost and schedule.”