National Nuclear Security Administration: Progress Made Toward Fully Addressing Recommendations on Common Financial Reporting
Fast Facts
The National Nuclear Security Administration pays contractors billions of dollars annually to run 8 sites where the agency maintains and modernizes U.S. nuclear weapons, among other things.
Congress has had difficulty understanding the total cost of NNSA’s weapons programs because the contractors track and report costs in different ways. Without this information, Congress can't make informed budgetary decisions or provide effective oversight.
The Department of Energy and NNSA made progress on 11 of 19 of our prior recommendations on cost reporting. Fully implementing all our recommendations would improve cost information for decision-making.
The official seal of the U.S. Department of Energy on top of a stock photo of $100 bills.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy (DOE). NNSA is responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear energy, maintaining and modernizing infrastructure for the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, and supporting the nation's nuclear nonproliferation efforts, among other things. NNSA relies on management and operating (M&O) contracts to carry out its missions at eight government-owned, contractor-operated national laboratories and nuclear weapons production facilities, collectively known as the nuclear security enterprise.
NNSA and Congress have had difficulty understanding the total costs of NNSA's programs and comparing constituent costs between contractors because the M&O contractors use different methods of accounting and tracking costs. GAO has issued four prior reports on NNSA's progress in implementing common financial reporting since fiscal year 2019 and made 28 recommendations to DOE and NNSA on this topic. As of June 2023, 19 of GAO's recommendations were outstanding.
GAO now assesses that DOE and NNSA have fully implemented two of the 19 outstanding recommendations and partially implemented nine. Eight of the recommendations have not yet been addressed. NNSA needs to take additional actions to fully implement the remaining 17 outstanding recommendations.
NNSA addressing and fully implementing the remaining outstanding recommendations would provide better assurance to NNSA, M&O contractors, and other stakeholders that the data collected for common financial reporting are accurate, consistent, and standardized. Implementing GAO's recommendations would also help NNSA to reduce duplicative data requests across its offices and minimize the cost and reporting burdens on M&O contractors, while ensuring that common financial reporting provides the data needed to understand the total costs of NNSA's programs and compare costs across its M&O contractors.
GAO will continue to review NNSA's efforts to address and fully implement the remaining 17 outstanding recommendations on common financial reporting.
Status of Outstanding Recommendations from Prior GAO Reports on DOE and NNSA Common Financial Reporting Efforts, as of July 2025
| Number of recommendations by rating | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Closed – fully implemented |
Open – partially implemented |
Open – not addressed |
| Prior rating, as of June 2023 |
— |
— |
19 |
| Updated rating, as of July 2025 |
2 |
9 |
8 |
Source: GAO analysis of DOE and NNSA documents and interviews with DOE and NNSA officials. | GAO-25-107696
Why GAO Did This Study
NNSA has long faced challenges identifying the total costs of its programs and comparing costs across its M&O contractors. Congress needs this information to provide oversight and make budgetary decisions. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 required NNSA to implement a common financial reporting system, to the extent practicable.
Two Senate committee reports accompanying National Defense Authorization Act bills include provisions for GAO to review NNSA's progress in implementing common financial reporting. This is GAO's fifth report on this issue. This report assesses the extent to which DOE and NNSA have addressed GAO's prior recommendations on common financial reporting since GAO's June 2023 report on the topic.
GAO compared DOE's and NNSA's actions to implement common financial reporting since June 2023 against the 19 outstanding recommendations from prior GAO reports on this topic. To do so, GAO reviewed DOE and NNSA documents related to implementing common financial reporting. Lastly, GAO interviewed officials from DOE's Office of the Chief Financial Officer and Office of Science, as well as NNSA's Financial Integration Team and program offices.
Recommendations
Seventeen recommendations remain outstanding and still warrant action as of July 2025. DOE and NNSA generally agreed with the prior recommendations.