May 8, 2015

Security at the Nevada National Security Site

The Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) supports national defense as well as research and development programs for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).  Security-related activities at NNSS are primarily conducted by two contractors: National Security Technologies, LLC, (NSTec) and Centerra Group, LLC.

During the course of our audit, nothing came to our attention to indicate that security at NNSS was not generally managed effectively.  However, we identified an important security infrastructure project that experienced significant schedule delays and cost increases.  The project, Argus, is the NNSA's recommended enterprise security system, which integrates access control, intrusion detection, and video assessment of alarms to protect and control high-consequence assets.  NSTec planned to replace the aging NNSS Process Equipment and Control System with Argus.

We determined that the Argus project experienced schedule delays and cost increases as a result of inadequate project management and funding issues.  NNSA project management officials told us that action has been taken to address the project management issues and that funding for the Argus project has been requested in the fiscal year 2016 budget request.

Topic: Management and Administration