Department of Energy Procurement Practices, Personnel Management, Administrative Law Judge Activities, and Advisory Committee Management Operations

The results of examinations into the Department of Energy's (DOE) procurement practices, its administrative law judge activities, and its advisory committee management operations were presented. In regard to DOE's procurement policies, DOE may have been: (1) contracting with outside sources to perform basic management functions; (2) establishing employer-employee relationships with contractors; and (3) making exclusive use of sole-source contracts which in some cases appeared inappropriate. A review of Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) activities revealed that: (1) no records were kept to control how individual ALJs budgeted their time; (2) the only incentives that ALJs had to expedite the hearing process was their own sense of professional pride; (3) procedures for ALJ assignment did not allow adequate time for advance preparation before the hearing process began; and (4) no attempts were being made to evaluate ALJ productivity or performance. Finally, further improvements are needed in the management of DOE advisory committees because: (1) many of DOE's committee charters were not specific; (2) DOE did not have overall written membership selection guidelines; and (3) all applicable support costs have not been allocated to the individual users.