February 26, 2015

Argonne National Laboratory Infrastructure Projects

Our special report Management Challenges at the Department of Energy – Fiscal Year 2014 (DOE/IG-0899, November 2013) included infrastructure modernization as a watch list item warranting special attention. Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) maintains 99 buildings with 4.7 million total square feet of floor space. The age of buildings, about 40 years on average, along with historically low maintenance budgets, has created a large backlog of buildings and systems in need of revitalization or modernization. From October 2009 through January 2014, Argonne spent about $127.2 million on 243 major repairs and minor construction projects that cost less than $10 million. Some of these activities were accomplished through the use of direct funded General Plant Projects and indirect funded (funded through assessments of all programs) Institutional General Plant Projects (IGPPs).

Argonne, for the most part, implemented appropriate controls over infrastructure projects. We found, for example, Argonne prioritized infrastructure projects; capitalized cost, if required; and ensured subcontracts complied with requirements of the Davis-Bacon and Buy American Acts. However, we found that Argonne may have inappropriately used, or planned to use, indirect funding to complete 4 of 10 minor construction projects funded as IGPPs contrary to Department of Energy (Department) Order 430.1B Change 2, Real Property Asset Management.
The use of indirect funds for these program-specific construction projects occurred because Science did not clearly communicate to its laboratories the availability of direct program funding for program-specific infrastructure projects. We also found that there were differing interpretations of the Department's IGPP requirements.

Topic: Management & Administration