June 22, 2012 

Alleged Procurement and Hiring Practice Irregularities within the Office of Policy and International Affairs

The Office of Policy and International Affairs (PI) has primary responsibility for the Department of Energy's international energy activities including international emergency management, national security and international cooperation in science and technology.  To accomplish its mission, PI has contracts with various subject matter experts such as Rhodium Group, LLC (Rhodium).  Rhodium combines policy experience, quantitative economic tools and research to analyze global trends.  The Rhodium contract, valued at approximately $992,000, was executed in September 2010, as a 2-year contract.

The Office of Inspector General received a complaint alleging inappropriate actions taken by senior PI officials concerning the Rhodium contract and inappropriate personnel practices related to hiring and promoting of Federal employees within PI.  We initiated an inspection to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations.

We found no evidence to support the allegations regarding inappropriate procurement and hiring actions taken by senior PI officials and no recommendations were made in this report.

Topic: Human Resources