Management Controls Over Subcontract Administration by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is the primary contributor to the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Mission. This program emphasizes the advancement and adoption of renewable energy technologies and practices and seeks to decrease the nation's dependence on foreign energy sources.
Review of Selected Issues Pertaining to Vapor Inhalation Allegations at the Hanford Site
The National Nuclear Security Administration's Enhanced Surveillance Campaign
The goal if the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Enhanced Surveillance Campaign to provide advance warning of manufacturing and aging defects that could affect the nuclear weapons stockpile. Operating as intended, enhanced surveillance allows NNSA to refurbish weapons before safety, reliability, or performance is imparied. The program involves investigating changes in the atomic properties of weapons materials and anticipaing the impact such changes will have on weapon performance. The tools, methods, and technologies are designed to assist in making stockpile life-extension decisions, determining when of if a new pit facility should be buillt, and annually certifying the stockpile to the President. If this campaign does not succeed, NNSA may not be prepared to repair a weapon system that has experienced an age-related defect.
Contractor Compliance with Deemed Export Controls
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 requires that between 2000 and 2007. the President shall submit to Congress and annual report to include a review that examines export control issues by the Offices of Inspector General (OIGs) of the Departments of Energy, Commerce, State, and Defense. For 2004, the OIGs for these agencies and the Department of Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency reviewed compliance by contractors and universities with deemed export controls for access to unclassified technologies. Release to a foreign national of technology or software that is subject to the Export Administration Regulations is "deemed to be an export" to the home country of the foreign national. Release includes visual access by foreign nationals to United States-origin equipment and facilities and oral exchange of information.
Special Report to Management on “Purchase Card Transactions of a Los Alamos National Laboratory Buyer”
Los Alamos National Laboratory's Purchase Card Program Corrective Actions
The University of California operates the Los Alamos National Laboratory (Laboratory) for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Among its many vital missions, the Laboratory ensures the safety, security, and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. To carry out its various missions, the Laboratory spends nearly $2 billions annually in Federal funds of which approximately $15 million is expended on low cost items using purchase cards. The use of purchase cards permits Laboratorty employees to make small purchases in an efficient and timely manner. Whie convenient, programs of this type and scale are inherently vulnerable to misues and thus require close and continuting management attent to protect against potential fraudulent or abusive purchases.