The Energy Department has made only limited progress in addressing problems related to contract employees being sent to work at the department temporarily on Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignments, according to the Energy IG’s office.
IPA assignments are designed to facilitate sharing of expertise among agencies and contractors. In a 2007 report, the IG found problems including failure to collect all funds owed to the department under cost-sharing agreement, saying the department had not adequately monitored such arrangements.
In the recent follow-up audit, the IG said that while the department had made some progress in those areas, it still lacks needed controls on IPA assignments of employees of DoE’s contractor-operated laboratories to other federal agencies. It said some contractor employees had been on assignments for as long as six years, when the maximum is two years, that some were performing specific tasks that defeat the purpose of knowledge sharing, and that the department incurred excessive costs in travel and relocation expenses.
DoE management agreed and said it has corrective actions underway.
The report is here: http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/11/f19/DOE-IG-0928_0.pdf
