Allegations Concerning Quality Assurance Over Glovebox Procurements at Los Alamos National Laboratory
July 9, 2024
minute read time
July 3, 2024
Allegations Concerning Quality Assurance Over Glovebox Procurements at Los Alamos National Laboratory
The National Nuclear Security Administration has designated Los Alamos National Laboratory as one of two sites to produce plutonium pits for the Nation’s nuclear weapons. Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Infrastructure Engineering Division supports the plutonium national security mission by providing a diverse set of engineering resources to the infrastructure modernization and production capabilities. Within the Division is the Procurement Engineering Group (PIE-1). PIE-1 personnel develop procurement packages and solutions for nuclear and non-nuclear equipment and materials, including gloveboxes. Gloveboxes are sealed containers that protect workers from special nuclear materials and are used in the production of plutonium pits.
We initiated this audit to determine the validity of the five allegations related to quality assurance over glovebox procurements at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
We did not substantiate the five allegations pertaining to Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Division, PIE-1 quality assurance over glovebox procurements. We did not substantiate that: (1) PIE-1 did not have documented procedures that prescribed job functions; (2) PIE-1’s determination and identification of required qualifications and training for Procurement Engineers was not formally determined or documented; (3) procurement packages for three subcontracts were found to contain uncontrolled documents, documents that were not the latest revision, and documents that did not have required approval signatures; (4) one subcontract was issued without resolving open action items or obtaining commitments to resolve the open action items; and (5) a procurement package Statement of Work contained conflicting technical requirements with respect to Commercial Grade Dedication.
Management agreed with our report, and there are no recommendations based on our audit. Therefore, no management response was required.