Calendar Year 2020

The Office of Inspector General initiated a review at two U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites in response to allegations involving improper education and tuition reimbursement of Federal employees.

Management Challenges at the Department of Energy FY2004

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), located at Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos), was constructed in 1972. LANSCE is a national user facility that provices pulsed protons and spallation neutrons for defense and civilian research and related applications. Its primary mission is to support the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) stockpile stewardship activities; the Oiffice of Science in the areas of neutron scattering and nuclear physcis research; and, the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology in radioactive isotope production. NNSA provided $65 million of LANSCE's $90 million Fiscal Year 2003 budget and has overall responsibility for management of the facility.

In 1997, the Office of Inspector General began and annual effort to identify whay it considers to be the most significant management and performance challenges facing the Department of Energy. Now codified as prt of the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000, this effort highlights those programs and operations that are, in our judgment, inherently the most difficult to manage and those with demonstrated performance problems. We reach these judgments based on an assessment of the agency's progress in addressing previously identified challenges and relevant work performed by the Office of Inspector General. We also consider emerging issues facing the Department. the process is continually refined, and in 2004 we began to categorize management challenges as either mission-related or internal control oriented. We also developed as watch list that reflects operational or programmatic functions that, in our view, need to be closely monitored by Department management.