National Nuclear Security Administration: Information on Implementation of Contractor Commuting Authority

What GAO Found

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is taking steps to implement the legal authority it was granted in fiscal year 2025 to reimburse management and operating (M&O) contractors for certain transportation services for their employees. According to NNSA, the new contractor commuting authority will help address recruitment and retention challenges and improve transportation safety and congestion at NNSA’s sites. Agency officials identified some potential challenges the agency faces in implementing the authority.

NNSA is reviewing a proposed transportation services plan for fiscal years 2025 to 2030 from the M&O contractor for Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of NNSA’s eight sites that compose the nuclear security enterprise. As of July 2025, contractor representatives at NNSA’s other seven sites said they did not plan to submit proposed transportation plans for the contractor commuting authority. The Los Alamos contractor estimates total costs of transportation services for its employees, such as park-and-ride shuttles and public transit subsidies, at about $74.4 million over the 6-year period.

Officials said NNSA plans to use its existing contractor and subcontractor oversight framework to oversee the services:

• The M&O contractor is expected to have primary oversight responsibility for these subcontracts. The transportation plan’s proposed subcontract costs are not expected to meet the minimum threshold for NNSA to review the subcontract prior to award.
• NNSA plans to ensure program integrity by taking certain steps to monitor the contractor’s reporting and performance, including reviewing the contractor’s costs and benefits of the transportation services on a monthly basis, as well as its annual reporting

NNSA officials identified two challenges the agency could face in implementing the authority:

• assessing some of the intended benefits of proposed transportation services because of difficulties with obtaining quantifiable data on all benefits, and
• having sufficient capacity for oversight because of NNSA’s longstanding human capital constraints.

Why GAO Did This Study

NNSA faces significant challenges with recruiting and retaining qualified staff, including contractor employees, particularly as its nuclear modernization workload increases. To carry out its work, NNSA relies on and oversees about 70,000 M&O contractor employees who execute NNSA’s missions at its eight government-owned, contractor-operated sites.

NNSA’s efforts to address these challenges include implementing its new legal authority to reimburse M&O contractors for transportation services for their employees. According to NNSA, this authority will also help address challenges related to transportation safety, traffic congestion, and worker productivity.

The Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 provides NNSA authority to reimburse contractors for approved transportation services after reviewing proposed plans that include certain required information.

Senate Report 118-188 accompanying a bill for the act includes a provision for GAO to review NNSA’s implementation of the contractor commuting authority through fiscal year 2027 and provide an annual briefing to the relevant congressional committees. This first report discusses NNSA’s actions to implement this authority and challenges the agency anticipates facing. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed relevant statutes, agency requirements and guidance, the Los Alamos M&O contractor’s proposed transportation services plan, and prior GAO reports, among other documentation. GAO also interviewed NNSA officials and M&O contractor representatives.

Figure 1: Traffic Congestion Driving to Los Alamos National Laboratory, June 2025