The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., needs better oversight of its consultants, the DOE’s Office of Inspector General said recently.
“We found that PNNL did not fully comply with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements in managing its professional and consultant services agreements,“ the DOE Office of Inspector General said in an audit report dated May 5.
The report found PNNL did not always obtain required conflicts-of-interest disclosures on its professional and consulting agreements. The Office of Inspector General also said the laboratory sometimes did not collect enough details from invoices from these subcontractors, and paid those bills anyway, resulting in about $2.7 million in questionable payments.
Also, some PNNL employees performed two or more jobs in dealing with subcontractors when each job should have been performed by separate people, according to the DOE audit.
The report recommended that PNNL improve certain policies and procedures, and concentrate more on ensuring these are followed more strictly. The audit, done between February 2025 and February 2026, said PNNL agreed to all of the recommendations.