Lessons Learned from the Assessment of Software Quality Assurance Program Implementation at U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities – March 2025

July 2025,

Lessons Learned from the Assessment of Software Quality Assurance Program Implementation at U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Facilities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) conducted a two-phase independent assessment of software quality assurance (SQA) program implementation across the DOE enterprise. The phase 1 comparative analysis was conducted from July 2022 through January 2023, and phase 2 assessments were conducted at five selected DOE sites with nuclear facilities from March 2023 through May 2024. By comparing the contractor SQA programs and associated DOE field element oversight strategies, and by performing assessments to evaluate the implementation of those programs, lessons were learned related to SQA program and process implementation. This lessons-learned report identifies best practices, strengths, and weaknesses observed during the assessments and analysis of collected data. In addition, this report provides recommendations to promote organizational learning and improve performance throughout the DOE enterprise.