January 12, 2012

Recovery Act Funded Projects at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

In February 2009, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) into law. The goals of the Recovery Act were to retain and create jobs, increase economic efficiency, and invest in infrastructure that would provide long-term economic benefits. The Department of Energy's (Department) Office of Science received $1.6 billion through the Recovery Act which it used to invest in various projects. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley) received approximately $333.4 million in Recovery Act funds, primarily from the Department for infrastructure upgrades and a broad array of research efforts. These funds were allocated to 130 projects related to infrastructure, energy, science, computing, and health. Berkeley is managed and operated by the University of California (University). The Berkeley Site Office (Site Office) is responsible for overseeing Berkeley, including its management of these projects. Berkeley's Internal Audit Services Department (Internal Audit) performed a considerable amount of prior audit work regarding Berkeley's Recovery Act activities. Internal Audit found that Berkeley substantially complied with all of the requirements of the Recovery Act. We reviewed the work of Internal Audit and determined that it met the Institute of Internal Audit Standards and could be relied upon. Based on the importance of the Recovery Act's investment in science projects, however, we performed additional testing on five Berkeley Recovery Act funded projects, accounting for $129.5 million, to determine if Berkeley efficiently and effectively managed its Recovery Act projects.

Topic: Management & Administration