The chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Darrell Issa, R-Calif., called the findings shocking and pledged to continue oversight of DoE and the BPA to ensure veterans preference laws and whistleblower retaliation laws are upheld.
In response to a July management alert issued by the IG, the committee asked DoE deputy secretary Daniel Poneman for documents related to the alleged personnel actions. The committee alleges Poneman then issued a gag order on employees to prevent them from talking with anyone regarding the allegations.
The committee held a hearing on the matter in August and will keep the spotlight on BPA, which generates over $3.3 billion in revenue and provides about one third of the power used in the Northwest U.S.
Damage to affected veterans aside, DoE estimated in September that it would cost about $1.7 million through fiscal 2014 for the department and contractor staff to reconstruct and/or review approximately 1,200 delegated examining and merit promotion cases.
"In total, the immediate costs to quantify the extent of the problem and design corrective action, not including the actual costs needed to remedy the erroneous appointments and discriminatory practices, will likely exceed $3 million – a cost that will have to be absorbed in large part by Bonneville’s ratepayers," the IG concluded.
