Energy Management

In a February 1989 report (GAO/RCED-89-21), GAO pointed out significant weaknesses in the Department of Energy's (DOE) controls over the work it carries out for others, primarily other federal agencies. DOE does this work, called Work for Others, either directly or through its contractors. The program cost about $2 billion in fiscal year 1992. This report discusses (1) the problems identified in the 1989 report, (2) DOE's actions in response to these problems, and (3) other problems needing corrective actions. GAO focuses on the activities of DOE's San Francisco Field Office and its two largest facilities--the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory--which are run for DOE by the University of California.

GAO found that: (1) DOE has initiated several actions in response to the GAO report, including establishing minimum standards for overseeing contractor performance, management reviews of field offices' implementation of the program, establishing procedures to recover the full cost of Work for Others projects, establishing a steering committee to develop new policies and resolve cross-cutting issues and concerns, and increasing on-site DOE personnel; (2) one field office had not fully implemented the revised procedures for approving Work for Others projects, but has taken action to correct identified deficiencies; (3) cost overruns occurred on projects due to work beginning before DOE received the sponsors' funding documents; (4) DOE could be liable for cost overruns if the sponsor fails to fund the project; and (5) the contractor is liable for any Work for Others costs overruns under new DOE contracts for the operation of two DOE laboratories.

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.

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