Audit Report: DOE-OIG-19-31

May 8, 2019

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Subcontract Administration

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) is the current management and operating contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site.  As such, SRNS is responsible for environmental cleanup, national security activities, and operation of the Savannah River National Laboratory.  The SRNS contract with the Department establishes requirements for purchasing goods and services.  SRNS is required to ensure the acquisition of quality products and services at fair and reasonable prices through the use of effective competitive procurement techniques.  We initiated this audit to determine whether SRNS appropriately acquired goods and services at the Savannah River Site in select subcontract procurements.

Based on our analysis of select SRNS subcontract procurements, we concluded that, in some instances, SRNS had not appropriately acquired goods and services at the Savannah River Site.  Specifically, our review of 26 judgmentally selected procurements of goods and services found issues related to proper invoicing, lease-versus-purchase procurements, and timely closeout of subcontracts.  Additionally, we found that matters identified in reviews conducted by the Department’s Savannah River Operations Office, Contracts Management Division had not been effectively mitigated. 

As noted in this report, SRNS has taken some mitigating actions to address the issues identified in our review.  However, Savannah River Operations Office has not taken formal action to address all of these issues.  Therefore, we made six recommendations to the Savannah River Operations Office to ensure the acquisition of quality products and services at fair and reasonable prices through the use of effective competitive procurement techniques.

Topic: Management & Administration