March 21, 2016

Procurement Administration and Human Reliability Program Revocations Within the Office of Secure Transportation

The Department of Energy’s (Department) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Secure Transportation (OST) uses a professional force of Federal agents to transport nuclear weapons, weapon components, and special nuclear material.  These agents participate in the Human Reliability Program (HRP), a security and safety reliability program designed to ensure that agents meet the highest standards of reliability and physical and mental suitability.  OST’s HRP is administered through its Federal and contractor workforce.  The OST Federal workforce is responsible for procedure and policy development, procurement administration, and identification of control weaknesses.

We received an allegation that (1) an OST Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) modified an existing contract to circumvent the need for a sole source or competitive bid procurement, (2) the Department did not receive all of the deliverables specified in the contract modification, and (3) the Department contracted for duplicative services currently being provided under an existing Interagency Agreement.  Further, we received another allegation concerning the lack of time constraints or deadlines for reinstating or revoking an agent’s HRP status when an agent is temporarily removed from HRP duties.

Although not part of the allegation, we found that an Interagency Agreement was not properly modified.  This occurred because the COR did not fully satisfy her responsibilities.  Specifically, although required to do so, we found that the COR did not notify the then NNSA’s Contracting Officer (CO) of the four OST-approved policy changes or request that the CO modify the Interagency Agreement.  The COR told us that her failure to notify the CO was an inadvertent oversight.

Our review did not substantiate the allegations that OST officials circumvented the bid process, that contract deliverables were not received, or that a contract was awarded for services already provided under an existing Interagency Agreement.  However, we confirmed that while an agent is temporarily removed from HRP duties, there are no time constraints or deadlines for reinstating or revoking an agent’s HRP status.

Topic: Management and Administration