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Open Recommendations (1 total)

Department of Energy: Performance Evaluations Could Better Assess Management and Operating Contractor Costs

GAO-19-5
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Science The Director of the Office of Science should update its policy to require that Performance Evaluation Reports include quality information on cost performance to enable an overall assessment of Management and Operating contractor cost performance. (Recommendation 7)
Open
The Office of Science (SC) partially concurred with the recommendation. In a May 2022 status update, officials stated that SC does not expect to take any additional specific action related to the recommendation. SC officials reiterated their initial response to the recommendation, stating that SC evaluates cost performance at the laboratories in multiple other ways; that cost performance is addressed in day-to-day management and oversight; and that if there are issues with cost performance, programs will take actions to correct them in real time. SC also noted that DOE is currently revising its procedures to enhance incurred cost audits by the Office of the Inspector General. As of October 2024, SC had not taken additional actions related to this recommendation. In the report, we noted that SC conducts some cost performance evaluation activities outside of the annual performance evaluation process, although we did not assess these efforts. While there may be adequate information available, SC does not commonly document this information or assessments from such activities in the Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs). We continue to believe that the PERs are important sources of information for contract management--particularly for acquisition decisions and oversight of spending on cost-reimbursement contracts--and that action is needed to improve these formal records of contractor performance. By not including quality information on overall cost performance and assessments in PERs, SC is missing a valuable opportunity to better document contractors' cost performance, improve acquisition decision-making, and strengthen oversight of billions of dollars in contracting. We continue to believe that it is important for SC to implement the recommendation and that by doing so, the office would have better assurance that Management and Operating contractor performance evaluations fully address required elements.
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