The Energy Department's oversight of its national laboratories involves too many managers that are trapped in an overly complex management structure, according to a report released this week by the General Accounting Office.
The report, released during a joint hearing before the House Basic Research and Energy and Environment subcommittees on Wednesday, is based on a GAO study of the DOE management of 23 national labs. The report indicates that the department's "complex organizational structure creates unclear lines of authority that dilute accountability and make reforms difficult to achieve." The report cited 20 years of past reports that detail "inadequate" DOE management.
Victor Rezendes, who headed the GAO study, said Congress might want to consider changing the relationship between the DOE and the labs by either creating a new agency to oversee the labs or shift the lab oversight to another existing federal agency (Patrick Armijo, Albuquerque Journal, 9/24).
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