The Subcontracting Practices of Large Department of Energy Contractors Need To Be Improved

Gao ID: EMD-82-35 April 22, 1982

GAO was requested to review the subcontracting practices of major Department of Energy (DOE) contractors, particularly those operating national laboratories of other Government-owned, contractor-operated installations. DOE officials believe that strict adherence to Federal procurement regulations could be counterproductive and prevent the contractors from efficiently and effectively carrying out their assigned tasks. However, these contractors are required to follow procedures which approximate most aspects of the Federal regulations and which are intended to guarantee open competition and reasonable prices for goods and services.

In spite of this, GAO found that DOE contractors have: (1) engaged in practices which prevent or limit competition; (2) awarded subcontracts directly for DOE program offices allowing these offices to bypass Federal and DOE procurement regulations and policies; (3) not fully complied with Federal and DOE conflict of interest regulations; (4) not been required to follow Federal and DOE guidelines relating to the use of consultant-type contracts; and (5) not established adequate controls to evaluate the utility of subcontractor work products and ensure that subcontractor efforts are not duplicated.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Daniel C. White Team: General Accounting Office: Energy and Minerals Division Phone: (301) 353-4761


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