Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s BioEnergy Science Center, one of three established by the Department of Energy in 2007 to up the effort on biofuel production, recently got a pretty good review by auditors of the DOE Office of Inspector General.
After taking at look at the Oak Ridge operations, as well as similar labs at Lawrence Berkeley and Great Lakes (University of Wisconsin/Michigan State), the auditors said nothing came to their attention that suggested mismanagement by DOE’s Office of Science. The bioenergy centers were “generally satisfying” programmatic requirements, and they apparently are meeting their performance goals, too.
While the IG auditors didn’t find any major concerns, they did note that the BioEnergy Science Center at ORNL was absorbing more than its share of costs tied to the lab’s Animal Care and Use Committee.
And, as a final note, the report said ORNL’s policy for providing refreshments at meetings “exceeded the Department’s guidance for refreshment costs.” There apparently are strict rules as to how much money can be spent on cookies and other refreshments made available to attendees during a break in the meeting.
“To reduce the risk of reoccurrence, we suggest the Contract Officer review this policy to ensure that refreshment costs are reasonable,” the report stated.
In the management response, DOE said such expenses have come under greater scrutiny during the past year.
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