Contractor Performance Data for NNSA Will No Longer Be Immediately Accessible to Public

Amid the roar of excitement surrounding last week's release of the Open Government Directive, the Obama Administration's promising new step towards transparency, news quietly trickled out that an agency in the Department of Energy (DOE) recently tiptoed back in the opposite direction.

In their latest issue, the Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor reported that DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will no longer provide immediate public access to Performance Evaluation Plans (PEPs) and Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs) — two critical pieces of information for holding NNSA and its contractors accountable.

In response, POGO has sent a letter to President Obama requesting that he instruct DOE to reverse the move to keep the documents under wraps.  Our take on the PEPs and the PERs from the letter:

"This information is perhaps the single most important information available to hold NNSA accountable. These evaluations assess the performance of the contractors who manage the laboratories and production facilities that comprise the national weapons complex. Additionally, this information demonstrates how effectively the government uses the power of the purse to hold the contractors accountable for their performance. Keep in mind that at least 90 percent of DOE's work is performed by contractors."

The decision to keep the Performance Evaluation materials from immediate public access was proposed in an October memo by David Boyd, Director of Acquisition and Supply Management at NNSA. In the memo, Boyd explains that the PERs and PEPs would be released after three years. The reasoning behind the decision? "Source selection information" — a feeble argument since the contractors managing the laboratories actually face little competition.

More details can be found in our letter.

-- Bryan Rahija