Audit: DOE-OIG-26-34

April 30, 2026

Improvements Are Needed in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Management of Professional and Consultant Services Agreements

Battelle Memorial Institute manages and operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. PNNL's research priorities concentrate on three principal missions addressing major challenges of national and global consequence: scientific discovery, energy resiliency, and national security. In support of these missions, PNNL acquires consultants to perform certain tasks and uses subcontracts to commit resources and formalize its relationships with consultants.

We initiated this audit to determine if PNNL managed its professional and consultant services agreements in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements.

We found that PNNL did not fully comply with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements in managing its professional and consultant services agreements. Specifically, we found that PNNL: (1) did not always obtain required conflicts-of-interest disclosures; (2) accepted and paid invoices from consultants that lacked sufficient detail to support the services rendered; and (3) may not have ensured segregation of duties within the procurement and oversight of professional and consultant services agreements.

We attributed these issues to weaknesses in PNNL's policies and procedures. Specifically, we found PNNL policies that conflicted, did not incorporate or address requirements, or allowed procedures that did not follow best practices.

These weaknesses limit PNNL's ability to provide reasonable assurance that other consultant and professional services agreements comply with applicable laws and regulations and that only allowable costs are incurred and claimed.

To address the issues identified in this report, we made five recommendations that, if fully implemented, should help ensure that PNNL manages its professional and consultant services agreements in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements.

• DOE-OIG-26-34.pdf (1.14 MB)