U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inspector General report on audit of Department of Energy support service contracting

The purpose of this audit was to review the Department`s acquisition and use of support service contractors and subcontractors. The audit objectives were to determine if the Department (1) paid fees to both support service contractors and subcontractors for services exclusively performed by subcontractors, (2) used support service contractors to perform inherent government functions, and (3) rolled over unearned award fees to subsequent evaluation periods and had adequate management controls to ensure that contractor performance would be evaluated. The Department did not always obtain support services in the most economical and effective manner. The Department negotiated and paid four of six support service contractors an estimated $5.1 million in fees for services exclusively provided by subcontractors because the Department did not have a policy which addressed the inclusion, at the pre-award phase, of subcontract labor in the support service contractors` fee determinations. Furthermore, while the authors found no instances where support service contractors performed inherent government functions, they did note that the Department maintained minimal administration over major portions of contracted-for services on three of six support service contracts. This occurred because contractors subcontracted extensively for support services. Consequently, the Department may have decreased their ability to control cost growth on these three contracts. As discussed in Part 4, the Department`s process was sufficient in five of six cases to evaluate support service contractor performance. However, one of six cost-plus-award-fee contractors received award fees that exceeded its performance ratings by $89,000 because one Departmental office elected to rollover unearned portions of fees from prior evaluation periods and make them available in the next evaluation period