The Department of Energy’s inspector general has issued a report identifying six management challenges facing the department: contract administration, cyber security, energy supply, environmental cleanup, safeguards and security, and stockpile stewardship.
According to DOE-IG-0808, the department and its $24 billion budget has come to focus in recent years on energy efficiency and conservation, environmental cleanup, nuclear nonproliferation, and weapons stewardship.
However, the challenges can’t be addressed in the short term, and must be addressed through a concentrated, persistent effort over time, the IG said.
It also developed a watch list consisting of issues that do not meet the threshold of being classified as management challenges, yet warrant continued attention by the department.
The watch list includes human capital management, infrastructure modernization, and worker and community safety.
The department has undertaken a significant effort to address long-standing problems with project management, the IG said.
Energy employs nearly 110,000 federal and contractor personnel and manages assets valued at more than $134 billion, including a complex of national laboratories, but the IG removed project management as a standalone challenge.
It said that although Energy’s new project management initiatives are untested, its remediation plan has the potential to resolve many of the problems identified in the past.