Recovery.gov - Track the Money

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Recovery Act website is at www.energy.gov/recovery. The public can also get help in navigating the DOE Recovery Act opportunities by calling 1-888-DOE-RCVY (1-888-363-7289).

The passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) began a new era at DOE. Our commitment charter is clear: move the funds out quickly to projects with enduring value, ensure unprecedented transparency and accountability, and make a meaningful down-payment on the nation’s energy and environmental future.

The bill provides DOE with the funding and responsibilities to help lift our country out of an economic recession through strategic investments in technologies that increase energy efficiency, expand renewable generation, improve electric transmission, reduce our dependence on oil, accelerate transformational sciences, reduce our legacy footprint, and lower greenhouse gas emissions—investments that will create and protect jobs that will energize our economy.

The Recovery Act investments will be strategic and focused:
- Promote Energy Efficiency
- Deploy Renewable Power
- Modernize the Grid
- Reduce Oil Consumption
- Restore America’s Scientific Leadership
- Reduce Legacy Environmental Footprint
- Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

These goals will be refined and further detailed as specific projects are approved and proposals accepted.

To achieve these goals, the Department has outlined three broad phases for most of the Recovery Act projects: 1) Project Planning, Announcements, and Solicitations (Feb. 17 – May 15, 2009), 2) Proposal Evaluation, Procurement, Contracting, and Obligation (May 16 – Sept. 7, 2009) , 3) Implementation, Project Monitoring and Impact Evaluation (Sept. 8, 2009 – Sept. 30, 2010)

As reported in the Federal Procurement Data System (www.fpds.gov), DOE is the largest federal civilian procuring agency in terms of annual contract obligations. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, 91 percent of DOE contract obligations were in competitively-placed contracts. From the period of FY 2004 - 2008, DOE competitively awarded an average of 77 percent of total contract obligations.

The Recovery Act provides approximately $38.7B in budget authority to DOE. The majority of that funding, an estimated $25B, will be distributed by DOE through the award of financial assistance instruments, e.g., grants and cooperative agreements, rather than through procurement contracts. Approximately $13B, or 52 percent, of the estimated $25B to be distributed will be awarded through competitive financial assistance processes. An additional $12B, or 48 percent, will be awarded non-competitively, largely through formula grants to state and local governments and statutorily specified non-profits, including the community action funds and community redevelopment agencies.

The amount of Recovery Act funding currently expected to be obligated under procurement contracts is approximately $7.9B. Based on DOE’s internal assessment of all potential contract awards to be made using Recovery Act funds, DOE expects approx. $7.3B, or 92.1 percent, will be obligated for new competitively-placed contracts or obligated to existing contracts that were originally awarded using competitive procedures. Obligations against non-competitively awarded contracts are expected to be $620 M, or approximately 7.9 percent of total Recovery Act obligations for procurement contracts. DOE does not expect a decline in the rate of competition because DOE’s internal assessment considered the full cadre of expected contract awards.

The Recovery Act requires agencies to follow government-wide laws and regulations for awarding procurement contracts. These requirements mandate the Department to maximize competition to the extent practicable in accordance with the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (Public Law No. 98-369), other applicable law and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) (Title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations). For example, DOE’s Office of Procurement and Assistance Management (OPAM) is working with each program office and field contracting office to identify appropriate contract vehicles (e.g., new awards, modifications to existing awards) and contract types (e.g., fixed-price, cost-reimbursement), assessing the adequacy of resources to award and administer Recovery Act awards, as well as on-going workload, and has developed model solicitations, contract modification templates, negotiation checklists, and special contract terms and conditions.

OPAM has also assembled a list of existing contracts and potential modifications based on Recovery activities, and developed guidance on issuing new Recovery-related contracts. OPAM’s Recovery Act guidance places special emphasis on existing statutory and regulatory requirements for competition, including the emphasis placed on competition by the provisions of the Recovery Act. Specific guidance to date has included: March 11, 2009: DOE Acquisition and Financial Assistance Implementation Guide for Recovery Act, available www.management.energy.gov/policy_guidance/1672.htm

OPAM will continue to update and supplement this guidance as appropriate. OPAM is also continuing to communicate with, and participate in government-wide procurement organizations, such as the Chief Acquisition Officers Council, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Official of Federal Financial Management, and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council, that form competition maximization strategies and guidance

Selection of the type of contract is a primary mechanism DOE contracting professionals use to manage the risks inherent in the procurement of material and services. As prescribed in the FAR (48 CFR Part 16), the contract type is determined based on the degree of risk that is allocated between the contractor and the Department and the degree to which unique government requirements are applicable to the procurement. The objective is to select a contract type that results in reasonable contractor risk with the greatest incentive for efficient and economical contract performance.

The procurement activity of the Department of Energy (DOE) is unique in the federal government in that a significant portion of the DOE mission is carried out by industrial, academic, and nonprofit institutions operating DOE-owned plants and laboratories under a facilities management relationship. These DOE-unique contracts are called Management and Operating (M&O) contracts. Currently, DOE has 26 M&O contracts. Eighteen of the M&O contracts are for the management of DOE national laboratories, with 16 of the 18 laboratories designated as DOE Federally Funded Research and Development Centers. The regulations authorizing and governing the DOE M&O contract are prescribed in the FAR (48 CFR Subpart 17.6) and the DOE Acquisition Regulation (48 CFR Subpart 17.6 and Part 970). Additional information regarding the origin, characteristics, and significance of the DOE M&O contract is addressed in the DOE Acquisition Guide, Chapter 17.6 (http://management.energy.gov/documents/AcqGuide17pt6.pdf). Additionally, DOE has a cadre of major site and facility management contracts that perform cleanup, remediation, and waste management work for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. A large portion of the DOE funding is directed toward its major site and facility management contracts.

The Recovery Act places special emphasis on the award of competitive fixed-price contracts to the maximum extent practicable. DOE projects that a majority of Recovery Act contract funding will be obligated to existing, cost-reimbursement M&O and major site and facility contracts to fund new and existing projects critical to the Department’s mission. In most cases, these contracts were competitively awarded. It should be noted that these contracts are subject to unique subcontracting requirements which emphasize requirements for placing fixed price, competitively awarded subcontracts to the maximum extent practicable. Based on its internal assessment of potential contract obligations using Recovery Act funds, approx. $246 M, or 3.2 percent, will be obligated to fixed price contract instruments. This projection is consistent with DOE’s historical achievements.

DOE has a four-pronged approach to ensure accountability mechanisms are in place and senior leaders regularly review program progress, performance, risk, and corrective actions. The four prongs are Planning, Processes, Verification, and Management.
Planning: Planning efforts at the agency, program, and project level establish expectations and baselines against which projects will be managed and performance measured.

•Senior leadership-led planning efforts are codified in
-An Agency-Wide Recovery Plan , 12 Program-Specific Recovery Plans including program and benefit descriptions, summary of financial awards to be used, major milestones and high level performance measures, 163 Project Operating Plans including project summaries, goals, benefit and impact descriptions, planned budgets, schedules, and project specific performance measures.

Processes: DOE is augmenting existing and establishing new processes to ensure expectations are met across the DOE complex throughout the Recovery Act implementation period.

•Daily Leadership Meetings
-Senior Advisor to the Secretary for the Recovery Act, the DOE Recovery Office, DOE Senior Leadership, Progress reviews of all activities (3 per week), Detailed reviews of specific programs, issues (2 per week)

•Gated Process for releasing funds ensures
-Secretarial and Senior Leadership approvals are in place, Funds are dispersed commensurate with preparedness Risks have been identified and are being addressed

•Funds Control processes ensure funds areOnly released when ‘gate’ approvals are complete, Released on a project by project basis, Released based on risks mitigation and performance

•DOE’s Performance Measure Manager (PMM) system enabled to track project level performance, produce quarterly & annual performance reports

•Corporate Transaction Systems ensures proper tracking and reporting at the project level and use of approved identification codes
-Unique Treasury Appropriation Fund Symbol used for each named program ensures funds are effectively managed and prevents co-mingling with funds appropriated in annual budget, Unique Project Identification Codes facilitate project tracking and reporting.

•Office of Internal Review processes include
-Programmatic and cross- cutting Risk Assessments Risk Management plan developmentRecovery Oversight and On-Site Reviews Training on internal controls, avoiding fraud, and reducing risk Interfacing with the IG and GAO, working to incorporate audit recommendations as appropriate to improve DOE management and operations

Verification: DOE is augmenting existing and establishing new verification procedures including:

•Internal Control Acknowledgement Certifications
-Verifies managers understand responsibilities to ensure funds are expended for intended purposes, reported results are accurate and verifiable, internal controls are in place and effective, risk has been assessed and mitigation is underway, Verifies at year-end that expectations are met, as demonstrated by internal controls testing and operational results.

•Internal management reports produced daily through DOE’s electronic centralized data warehouse, IDW, verify project status,
-Use data pulled directly from DOE’s accounting, procurement, planning, and performance management systems, PMM system tracks project performance, providing quarterly, annual, and overall picture of progress and effectiveness

•Field audits conducted to ensure compliance and appropriate use of resources

Management: DOE uses agency-level management mechanisms to complement management at program and project levels.

•Recovery Operations Team (Recovery Office, DOE Senior Leadership, Program Senior Management, dedicated operations staff)
-Monitor project status, Evaluate cost/schedule progress, Ensure thorough reporting, Coordinate with external entities, Conduct monthly performance reviews/recommend adjustments as appropriate.