DOE; Staffing woes frustrate stimulus disbursement -- IG

Katherine Ling, E&E reporter /314 words/9 December 2009/Greenwire/GRWR/English/© 2009 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved

The Energy Department's ability to hire, train and retain a sufficient number of employees to disburse and monitor the almost $33 billion in stimulus funds remains a problem, DOE's inspector general said in a report released today.
The report found program staffing inadequate to ensure stimulus funds could be distributed in a timely manner and monitored for abuse or fraud. DOE has awarded almost $19 billion so far, of which $1.6 billion has been spent.
"While we recognize that it takes time to address inadequate staffing levels, we believe that this will continue to be a challenge encountered by most programs in the foreseeable future," the report says. "The effort to date has strained existing resources. As has been widely acknowledged, any effort to disburse massive additional funding and to expeditiously initiate and complete projects increases the risk of fraud, waste and abuse," it says.
The report acknowledged that DOE has made some progress in identifying risks and preparing mitigation plans by establishing the Risk Management Office within the Chief Financial Office. DOE also reported that programs are set to submit staffing requirement plans in January and have hired some contractors and reallocated personnel.
The report also recommends that performance measures be tied to accomplishing goals. "In this way, contractors' performance on Recovery Act projects may directly affect the fees they can earn," the report says.
DOE should also give extra scrutiny to larger projects -- for example, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) projects for coal-fired power plants -- that include multiple partners, the report says. "Given the complexity and substantial costs of these projects, business arrangements between teaming partners should be subject to extensive coordination and rigorous Department review," it says.
DOE management generally concurred with the report's findings.