A new report from the Government Accountability Office raises questions about large carryover balances in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation program, though NNSA is strongly countering the GAO’s conclusions. “From fiscal years 2006 through 2010, only about half of the total annual funds available to the DNN programs were costed, or expended, each year,” the new report states, adding that while “much of the annual uncosted DNN-wide funding balances were committed for future expenditure,” three DNN programs had uncommitted balances that “frequently exceeded thresholds” during this time. “For DNN programs having difficulty committing funding on a timely basis, it is appropriate for NNSA to justify as part of its current semiannual reporting to Congress on DNN uncommitted, unobligated, and unexpended balances why uncommitted DNN program funding balances—especially those exceeding acceptable thresholds—should not be rescinded, redirected to other NNSA programs, or used to offset future DNN budget requests,” GAO wrote.
NNSA, though, strongly challenged the conclusions of the report. “Overall, NNSA is concerned with the way the draft GAO report is written, as we believe it distorts the facts, and reinforces misperceptions about DNN’s financial, procurement and performance management,” NNSA Associate Administrator for Management and Budget Ken Powers wrote in a Nov. 29 letter to GAO. “DNN’s approach, though unique, is sound. The report’s factual inaccuracies begin in the Highlights page and are carried through the rest of the document. The GAO’s approach is sure to prejudice the reader and leave the false impressions that DNN has unused funds and does not make effective program management a priority.”