The Pentagon lacked “visibility” on more than $7.2 billion in funds provided to the Department of Energy starting in Fiscal Year 2010 and didn’t follow procedures to track the spending, according to a recently released Department of Defense Inspector General report. The Feb. 15 report does not suggest that any of the money was misspent, but notes that DOE and Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) officials did not fully implement the terms of a 2010 agreement governing the spending transfers. The funding is dubbed Work For Others in the IG report, but it is believed to include Pentagon budget authority that was transferred to NNSA’s Defense Programs and Naval Reactors accounts for modernization work that included life extension programs, major infrastructure projects, and efforts to revitalize science across the weapons labs.
In all, the DoD IG said that more than $7.2 billion had been spent since FY 2010: approximately $2.2 billion in FY 2010 and FY 2011 and $2.5 billion in FY 2012. However, the DoD IG said that Defense officials did not develop a system to track funds provided to DOE, didn’t issue guidance requiring technical project managers performing oversight of projects using DoD funds to meet training requirements, and didn’t formally meet quarterly with DOE officials about the money. “These conditions occurred because DPAP officials did not place a high priority on implementing the terms” of the 2010 Memorandum of Agreement and corrective action plan agreed to by DoD and DOE, the IG said in the report.
