The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) recovered about $1.4 billion in indirect costs in fiscal 2024 from work it performed for outside partners, helping offset the costs of maintaining facilities and infrastructure, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
NNSA’s eight contractor-operated laboratories, plants and sites conducted nearly $15 billion in Strategic Partnership Projects (SPP) from fiscal 2019 through 2024, with annual reimbursed costs generally ranging from $2 billion to $3 billion, the report said.
The reimbursable projects allow other federal agencies and nonfederal entities to use NNSA’s specialized facilities, equipment and technical expertise. The Department of Defense was the largest sponsor during the period, accounting for about $7.6 billion, or 51%, of total SPP costs.
The outside work also provides a significant contribution toward the overhead costs of NNSA facilities. In fiscal 2024, SPP sponsors paid approximately $1.4 billion in indirect costs, representing about 52% of the $2.66 billion in total reimbursed SPP costs for the sites for which NNSA provided data. Those costs include expenses such as utilities, facility maintenance, security and administrative support.
At Sandia National Laboratories, SPP generated about $1.35 billion in reimbursed costs in fiscal 2024, including approximately $769 million in indirect costs. Kansas City National Security Campus generated $501 million in SPP costs, including $220 million in indirect costs.
GAO said reducing SPP work could therefore increase the costs borne by NNSA’s own programs, while also leaving some specialized infrastructure and equipment underutilized.
But NNSA’s expanding nuclear weapons workload could increasingly limit the amount of outside work its sites can accommodate.
The agency’s laboratories and production sites are facing growing demands associated with maintaining and modernizing the nuclear weapons stockpile. GAO found that some sites have already begun limiting SPP as their NNSA workloads increase.