March 17, 2014

IG RIPS PRINCETON LAB FOR EXCESSIVE PAYMENTS TO WORKERS ON TEMP TRAVEL

By ExchangeMonitor

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory paid four employees more than $1.5 million in lodging and per diem for what was supposed to be temporary work assignments that in one case lasted 14 years, the Department of Energy’s Inspector General said in a report released late Friday. The money was paid by the lab and reimbursed by the Department of Energy, which the IG said was permitted by laboratory policy but appeared to be “excessive and inconsistent” with DOE policies.

During a management audit, the IG said it revealed that two employees had been on temporary assignments working on fusion research projects at General Atomics in San Diego for 14 and nine years respectively, racking up $1.04 million in lodging subsidies. The Office of Science then self-identified two other Princeton employees that had been on extended travel for more than three years: one employee that had received lodging reimbursements of more than $400,000 for work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since June 2002, and another employee that had received lodging reimbursements of more than $95,000 while on assignment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory since October 2007. Those employees also received 12 percent premiums on their salaries due to their travel assignments. The IG said that the lab and the Princeton Site Office had not taken “what we would consider to be appropriate action to protect taxpayer interests by controlling the costs of these extended assignments. The reimbursements, from a purely technical standpoint, were not inconsistent with Princeton’s extended assignment policy. Yet, when compared with other existing Department policies, these reimbursements were unreasonable.”

In a response to the report, DOE Director of Management Ingrid Kolb said Princeton had agreed to pay back $1 million “in an offer of good faith and in recognition of its stewardship of taxpayer funds.” Kolb said the Department agreed “wholeheartedly” with the IG’s recommendations, and she said guidance had been issued to contractors “setting clear guidelines and requirements” for compensation during extended assignments. “We are committed to be good stewards of taxpayer money, and expect the contractors operating our facilities to be vigilant in ensuring that their own practices assure the most frugal and effective use of the taxpayer dollars with which they are entrusted,” Kolb wrote. She said that DOE determined that no other laboratory or site contractors had provided per diems and travel-related compensation for “excessive” durations.

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