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Audit of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Management and Oversight of Research and Development Grants

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
OIG-NRC-25-A-08
Report Type
Audit
Description
The audit objective was to determine if the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is effectively managing and monitoring selected research and development grants in accordance with applicable federal requirements, agency policies and guidance, and award terms and conditions. The OIG found that the NRC was not effectively managing or monitoring selected research and development grants.  Specifically, the OIG found that staff in the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research assumed grants officer responsibilities without a grants officer appointment or through a delegation as a grants officer representative.  We also found that NRC staff did not request or review source documents to support equipment purchased using grant funds.  Additionally, we found that the NRC does not have a public repository for final performance reports or other means to share the results of federally funded research grants. The OIG further determined that the grants officer had not ensured that all relevant documents were contained in the official grant files; 11 grants were not closed out within one year of the performance end date and the NRC had not deobligated more than $321,000 in funds that could have been put to better use; and, grants awarded through the Integrated University Program (the predecessor to the University Nuclear Leadership Program) with periods of performance ending in 2021 and 2022 had more than $920,000 of funds that were not deobligated and could be put to better use.  The report contains nine recommendations to improve management and monitoring of research and development grants. 
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$1241000
View report on Oversight.gov

Recommendations

The OIG recommends that the Executive Director for Operations validate the completeness of grant files past their period of performance and deobligate the more than $920,000 specified in this report, or provide documentation to the OIG to justify not deobligating the funds.

Agency Response July 17, 2025: The NRC staff agrees with this recommendation. From the list provided by OIG, RES has validated the completeness of all 43 education grant files past their period of performance totaling $920,000. As of July 2, 2025, ADM has closed thirty-nine of the forty-three expired awards, totaling $756,819.80 in deobligated funds. RES has submitted requests to ADM to close out an additional two grant awards, which will deobligate $2,588.55. The remaining two awards from the list are with RES, staff are actively working with the grantees to resolve outstanding issues so requests for closeout can be submitted to ADM. The total remaining deobligation amount for these two awards is $160,760.12. Enclosure 2 contains a detailed breakout and status of the grant award closeouts.<br />
Target Completion Date: October 31, 2025<br />
OIG Analysis: The NRC’s planned actions meet the intent of the recommendation. The OIG will close the recommendation after verifying the deobligation of the remaining open awards. This recommendation remains open and resolved.<br />

The OIG recommends that the Executive Director for Operations implement a policy that requires periodic reviews to ensure compliance with 2 C.F.R. Part 200 requirements related to the allowability of costs.

Agency Response July 17, 2025: The NRC staff agrees with this recommendation. The NRC will develop and implement a process requiring grantees to submit supporting documentation—such as receipts, invoices, or purchase records—for actual purchases of supplies and equipment. In accordance with 2 CFR 200.1, “Definitions,” the NRC will establish a mandatory documentation threshold of $10,000 for equipment purchases. Additionally, the agency will set a separate threshold of $5,000 for mandatory documentation of supply purchases. The NRC will develop and implement<br />
internal desk procedures to formalize this process. Target Completion Date: December 31, 2025<br />
OIG Analysis: The NRC’s planned actions meet the intent of the recommendation. The OIG will close the recommendation after reviewing the new internal procedures and verifying that they address compliance with 2 C.F.R. Part 200<br />
requirements pertaining to allowability of costs. This recommendation remains open and resolved.

The OIG recommends that the Executive Director for Operations develop a method within existing agency resources to optimize public access, in compliance with all relevant laws and policies, to the results of research funded by NRC grants.

Agency Response July 17, 2025: The NRC staff agrees with this recommendation. The NRC grant staff has developed and implemented a standardized process to capture all publications resulting from research grants and upload them to the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) as public documents. As part of the Research and Development (R&amp;D) grant closeout procedure, the RES grant staff will now prepare a summary document listing all publications cited in the final report for each award. This document will serve as a publicly accessible record of the research outputs generated under each grant. As of April 8, 2025, all 11 R&amp;D awards currently undergoing closeout have been updated accordingly. The associated publication summaries have been uploaded to ADAMS and are also available on the NRC grants public website, https://www.nrc.gov/aboutnrc/grants/awards/index.html,<br />
under the corresponding Notice of Funding Opportunity year. RES grant staff will apply this process to all future<br />
R&amp;D awards. <br />
Target Completion Date: Completed April 8, 2025<br />
OIG Analysis: The OIG reviewed and verified that research summaries and a list of final publications are available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), and on the NRC grants public website for the closed research grants noted above. This recommendation is now closed.

The OIG recommends that the Executive Director for Operations train SBCR staff to ensure they are aware of the communication and documentation requirements related to grant periodic reviews.

Agency Response July 17, 2025: The NRC staff agrees with this recommendation. SBCR will provide training to all SBCR staff involved in grant management that emphasizes requirements associated with communication and documentation for periodic grant reviews.<br />
Target Completion Date: December 31, 2025<br />
OIG Analysis: The NRC’s planned actions meet the intent of the recommendation. The OIG will close the recommendation upon review of training completion records. This recommendation remains open and resolved.