February 19, 2016

Security Clearance Vetting at the Portsmouth Site

The Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) manages the Department of Energy’s (Department) cleanup activities at the Portsmouth and Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plants.  Due to the nature of the work at Portsmouth, the Federal Government requires contractor employees to obtain security clearances to perform tasks or services stipulated in the contract.  The Department’s Oak Ridge Office (Oak Ridge) of Safeguards, Security, and Emergency Management is the Cognizant Personnel Security Office (CPSO) having Federal personnel security adjudication responsibilities for the Portsmouth site.  During the past 3 years, Oak Ridge CPSO has granted 300 security clearances at the Portsmouth site for contractors employed through Fluor B&W Portsmouth, LLC (Fluor).

The Office of Inspector General received a hotline complaint alleging that Fluor did not resolve concerns that surfaced during the pre-employment screening process and knowingly submitted employees with derogatory information, such as criminal activity.  The submission of employees with known backgrounds that would make them ineligible for security clearances resulted in Government funds being expended on unnecessary background checks.  

The allegations were not substantiated.  We found that contract requirements did not require Fluor to determine if an individual would qualify for a security clearance based on potentially derogatory information divulged as part of the hiring process, and only Department-trained Federal employees may determine a contractor employee’s security clearance eligibility.  However, we noted that Fluor’s HR personnel were not conducting prior employment and personal reference checks, as required by the contract.

Topic: Management & Administration