The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) could do a better job tracking the performance of some $300 million worth of research and development activities in its Advanced Manufacturing Development program, the Government Accountability Office wrote in a report published Friday.
The semiautonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency “may be using inconsistent measures across individual projects to evaluate performance,” Congress’ investigative arm wrote in the report that lawmakers ordered as part of the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. “This could limit the agency’s ability to determine the extent to which the portfolio provides value in the long term.”
The report considered efforts underway across all eight of the NNSA major nuclear weapons labs, plants and sites.
The agency will be “more fully developing and documenting the process for evaluating the performance of the” Advanced Manufacturing Development program, with an eye toward “developing measures to assess progress on long-term R&D goals and priorities” and reporting back to the Government Accountability office by Sept. 30, 2023, Jill Hruby, the NNSA administrator, wrote in a response to the Government Accountability Office.
Hruby’s response was appended to the report.