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GAO Finds Cost Growth, Weak Oversight Under DOE Nuclear Cleanup Contract Model
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Engineering News-Record
About half—29 task orders—included defined end states, while the remainder covered transition, support or cleanup work that had not yet established them.
At the Nevada National Security Site, an environmental operations order covering groundwater testing and facility closure cost grew by nearly 150%, largely through planned extensions rather than new task orders.
The firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-incentive-fee task orders it reviewed averaged slightly more than 2% growth, while cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-plus-award-fee task orders averaged roughly 50%, reflecting the greater financial risk retained by the government under those structures.
Of six completed task orders with defined end states that GAO reviewed, only two achieved those outcomes as originally planned.
The audit also found "headquarters did not provide adequate oversight" to ensure task orders achieved their defined end states.