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Dr. Ernest MonizSecretary
Department of Energy (DOE)
Mission
Overview
The Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for advancing the energy, environmental, and nuclear security of the United States; promoting scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission; sponsoring basic research in the physical sciences; and ensuring the environmental cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons complex.
The Science and Energy, Nuclear Security, and Management and Performance strategic goals in the Strategic Plan are aligned with the DOE organizational structure adopted in August 2013. Three Under Secretaries manage the core functions that carry out the DOE mission with significant cross-cutting work spanning across the enterprise. The DOE enterprise is comprised of approximately 14,000 federal employees and over 90,000 management and operating contractor and other contractor employees at the Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at 85 field locations. DOE operates a nationwide system of 17 national laboratories that provides world-class scientific, technological, and engineering capabilities, including the operation of national scientific user facilities used by over 29,000 researchers from academia, government, and industry. The range, scale and excellence of science and technology (S&T) at the DOE laboratories provide strategic assets to accomplish DOE missions, support government responses to unforeseen domestic and international emergencies, and provide technical capabilities to help shape the global S&T agenda.
Science and Energy – DOE leads the nation in the transformational research, development, demonstration, and deployment of an extensive range of clean energy and efficiency technologies, supporting the President’s Climate Action Plan and an “all of the above” energy strategy. DOE identifies and promotes advances in fundamental and applied sciences; translates cutting-edge inventions into technological innovations; and accelerates transformational technological advances in energy areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical or financial risk. DOE also leads national efforts to develop technologies to modernize the electricity grid, enhance the security and resilience of energy infrastructure, and expedite recovery from energy supply disruptions. DOE also conducts robust, integrated policy analysis and regional engagement to support the nation’s energy agenda.
DOE is the largest federal sponsor of basic research in the physical sciences. DOE world-leading research in the physical, chemical, biological, environmental, and computational sciences contributes fundamental scientific discoveries and technological solutions that support the nation’s primacy in science and innovation.
Nuclear Security – DOE enhances the security and safety of the nation through its national security endeavors: maintaining a safe, secure, and effective nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of nuclear testing and managing the research, development, and production activities and associated infrastructure needed to meet national nuclear security requirements; accelerating and expanding efforts to reduce the global threat posed by nuclear weapons, nuclear proliferation and unsecured or excess nuclear materials; and, providing safe and effective nuclear propulsion for the U.S. Navy. As a result of the expertise developed to support these nuclear security missions, DOE laboratories also serve as strategic assets in support of broader national security missions.
Management and Performance – DOE leads the largest cleanup effort in the world to remediate the environmental legacy of over six decades of nuclear weapons and nuclear research, development, and production. As DOE carries out its mission, it will strengthen effective and cost-efficient management, support an engaged workforce, and provide a modern, secure physical and information technology infrastructure. DOE remains committed to maintaining a safe and secure work environment for all personnel and to ensuring that its operations preserve the health, safety, and security of the surrounding communities.
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Strategic Goals & Objectives
Agencies establish a variety of organizational goals to drive progress toward key outcomes for the American people. Long-term strategic goals articulate clear statements of what the agency wants to achieve to advance its mission and address relevant national problems, needs, challenges and opportunities. Strategic objectives define the outcome or management impact the agency is trying to achieve, and also include the agency's role. Each strategic objective is tracked through a suite of performance goals, indicators and other evidence.
Strategic Goal:
Science and Energy
Statement:
Advance foundational science, innovate energy technologies, and inform data driven policies that enhance U.S. economic growth and job creation, energy security, and environmental quality, with emphasis on implementation of the President’s Climate Action Plan to mitigate the risks of and enhance resilience against climate change
Strategic Objectives
Statement:
Advance the goals and objectives in the President’s Climate Action Plan by supporting prudent development, deployment, and efficient use of “all of the above” energy resources that also create new jobs and industries
Description:
DOE is committed to energy solutions that make best use of our domestic energy resources and help the nation achieve an approximately 17% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2020, and further reductions in the post-2020 period. We will accelerate innovation through development of technologies that make energy cleaner and more efficient, while leveraging American competitive advantages to seize market opportunities for manufacturing and deployment provided by a globally expanding clean energy industry. DOE will increase energy productivity, support safe and responsible deployment of domestic energy resources, and leverage federal credit authorities.
Priority Goal: Implement elements of the Climate Action Plan
Statement:
Implement elements of the Climate Action Plan, including
- Supporting the goal of reducing cumulative carbon pollution by 3 billion metric tons by 2030 through standards set since 2009 and promulgating new standards for consumer products and industrial equipment by the end of calendar year 2016.
- Providing up to $8 billion in loan guarantees for advanced fossil energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of FY 2017.
Description:
Overview of the appliance standards part of the goal:
The Appliance Standards Agency Priority Goal is to reduce cumulative carbon pollution by 3 billion metric tons by 2030 through standards set since 2009 and to promulgate new standards for consumer products and industrial equipment by the end of calendar year 2016.
Residential and commercial buildings consume approximately 40 percent of the primary energy consumed in the United States. This amounts to over 39 Quads of primary energy used by the buildings sector per year, an amount that is greater than the yearly energy consumption of either the industrial or the transportation sector. By developing minimum energy efficiency standards, the Energy Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program helps reduce energy costs for consumers and businesses, as well as reduce associated energy use and emissions.
By covering a broad range of equipment—appliances, refrigeration, space heating and cooling, water heating and other electrical equipment—the Department's work with standards development and implementation increases energy efficiency in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. National standards that eliminate the least energy-efficient products from the market ensure that energy saving technologies are accessible to all consumers, provide manufacturers with a single set of requirements rather than an array of potentially conflicting state and local regulations, and drive technology innovation.
The Department uses three strategies to promote building energy efficiency, focused first on research and development of the most promising emerging technologies, followed by industry support activities such as Better Buildings and ENERGY STAR, and then the implementation of equipment energy efficiency standards.
As mandated by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1978 (as amended), the Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program is developing and enforcing efficiency standards and test procedures to cover at least 75 percent of the energy used in the building sector. Under current law, covered products are responsible for 82 percent of residential building energy consumption, 67 percent of commercial, and approximately half of industrial. DOE is required to promulgate energy conservation standards that are technically feasible and economically justified, subject to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act’s (EPCA) seven factors. In determining whether a standard is economically justified, DOE determines whether the benefits of the standard exceed its burdens by considering these seven factors (to the greatest extent practicable):
(1) the economic impact of the standard on the manufacturers and on the consumers of the products subject to such standard;
(2) the savings in operating costs throughout the estimated average life of the covered product in the type (or class) compared to any increase in the price of, or in the initial charges for, or maintenance expenses of, the covered products which are likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(3) the total projected amount of energy, or as applicable, water, savings likely to result directly from the imposition of the standard;
(4) any lessening of the utility or the performance of the covered products likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(5) the impact of any lessening of competition, as determined in writing by the Attorney General, that is likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(6) the need for national energy and water conservation; and
(7) other factors the Secretary considers relevant.
To maximize energy savings subject to EPCA, the Standards subprogram first meets all statutory and other legal deadlines for completing standards and test procedures. The Department is also committed to streamlining the process for developing and issuing rulemakings in partnership with industry and other stakeholders. To determine which products should be added through coverage determinations, DOE conducts analyses that examine the energy savings potential of various unregulated residential appliances, electronics, and commercial equipment while considering the impact of non-regulatory energy-efficiency programs currently available in the market. In addition to these actions, DOE also develops test procedures for ENERGY STAR, which is an effective non-regulatory program that saves consumers energy.
The Department is working to address a variety of different challenges associated with this work, including:
Standards require a robust test procedure to be effective.
Changes to the statute or its legal interpretation and the need for additional information in response to public comments on the draft rulemakings are factors that can affect the schedule for final issuance of the standards.
Energy price, product cost and consumer use projections vary and must be factored into the rulemaking process.
Stakeholder Engagement: Energy conservation standards are established by a four-phase rulemaking process: a framework phase, preliminary analysis phase, notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), and final rule. The Department actively encourages stakeholder participation and interaction at all stages of the process. Early and frequent interactions among stakeholders have been useful for providing a balanced discussion of critical information required to conduct the analysis to support any standards. Stakeholders include equipment manufacturers, building owners, State energy agencies, utilities, trade associations and other interested parties.
The Department also coordinates with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on key certification and compliance issues with the Energy Guide Label and ENERGY STAR, respectively. The Department of Energy has also engaged with non-governmental organizations, such as the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, on international harmonization with respect to certification and compliance requirements.
Overview of the loan guarantees part of the goal:
As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Loan Programs Office (LPO) issued the Advanced Fossil Energy Projects Solicitation, which makes up to $8 billion in loan guarantees available to support innovative, advanced fossil energy projects in the U.S. that reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases.
Fossil fuels currently account for more than 80 percent of U.S. energy production and are projected to remain a significant energy source in the future. As a result, President Obama’s Climate Action Plan announced that LPO would issue this solicitation to accelerate the deployment of cleaner fossil energy technology. This is an important part of the Administration’s long-term plan to achieve a cleaner and more secure energy future as part of its “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.
Statement:
Support a more economically competitive, environmentally responsible, secure and resilient U.S. energy infrastructure
Description:
The nation’s transformation to a clean energy economy requires a modern energy infrastructure that can integrate a diverse energy portfolio, respond to and recover rapidly from disruptions, and deliver highly reliable and affordable energy. As called for in the Climate Action Plan, a modernized energy infrastructure also must become more resilient to prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change. In a clean energy economy, communications and control technologies that support the development and integration of variable energy resources become more critical, and DOE will seek pathways that expand the use of dispatchable renewable energy including hydropower, energy storage, and demand response capabilities. While advanced intelligent devices and communications networks improve the visibility, response, and control of energy systems, they also can increase the exposure to cyber attacks. DOE will focus on addressing and helping to manage the increased vulnerability of the nation’s energy infrastructures due to climate change, cyber vulnerabilities, physical vulnerabilities, and infrastructure interdependencies.
DOE will facilitate the market-readiness of DOE-supported technologies and address non-technical barriers that will enable the marketplace to better understand the cost-saving and environmental benefits of these energy solutions, including engaging the future clean energy workforce.
Priority Goal: Enhance desirable characteristics and diminish vulnerabilities of the U.S. energy infrastructure to meet goals of economic competitiveness, national security, and environmental responsibility
Statement:
Support the first installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) through early 2015 and begin implementation of relevant recommendations within DOE’s existing authorities.
Description:
Support the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER):
Innovation and new sources of domestic energy supply are transforming the nation’s energy marketplace, creating economic opportunities at the same time they raise environmental challenges. To ensure that federal energy policy meets our economic, environmental, and security goals in this changing landscape, the Administration will conduct a Quadrennial Energy Review which will be led by the White House Domestic Policy Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy, supported by a Secretariat established at the Department of Energy, and involving the robust engagement of federal agencies and outside stakeholders. This first-ever review will focus on infrastructure challenges, and will identify the threats, risks, and opportunities for U.S. energy and climate security, enabling the federal government to translate policy goals into a set of analytically based, clearly articulated, sequenced and integrated actions, and proposed investments over a four-year planning horizon.
Statement:
Deliver the scientific discoveries and major scientific tools that transform our understanding of nature and strengthen the connection between advances in fundamental science and technology innovation
Description:
The Department of Energy manages a portfolio of basic research that spans exploring the origins of the cosmos to addressing emerging challenges in energy, environment, and national security. The scale and complexity of this research portfolio provide a competitive advantage to the nation as multidisciplinary teams of scientists, using some of the most advanced scientific instruments in the world, are able to respond quickly to national priorities and evolving opportunities at the frontiers of science.
Priority Goal: Support and conduct basic research to deliver scientific breakthroughs and extend our knowledge of the natural world by capitalizing on the capabilities available at the national laboratories, and through partnerships with universities and industry.
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will, by the end of FY 2015:
- Incorporate science user facility prioritization into program planning efforts
- Identify programmatic drivers and technical requirements in coordination with other Departmental mission areas to inform future development of high performance computing capabilities and in anticipation of capable exascale systems
Description:
The Office of Science (SC) mission is to deliver the scientific discoveries and major scientific tools that transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. The Office of Science accomplishes its mission and advances national goals by:
- Supporting a balanced research portfolio that invests in discovery science—research that probes some of the most fundamental questions in high energy, nuclear, and plasma physics; materials and chemistry; biological systems and earth system components; and mathematics. The Office of Science supports about 24,000 investigators at over 300 U.S. academic institutions and at all of the DOE laboratories.
- Providing the Nation’s researchers with over 30 state-of-the-art national scientific user facilities, the most advanced tools of modern science, enabling the U.S. to remain at the forefront of science, technology, and innovation. The Office of Science also supports targeted research and development (R&D), to determine the technical feasibility and design options for future facilities and facility upgrades to deliver desired capabilities and maximize scientific potential. Nearly 27,000 researchers from universities, national laboratories, industry, and international partners are expected to use the Office of Science scientific user facilities by FY 2015.
Strategic Goal:
Nuclear Security
Statement:
Strengthen national security by maintaining and modernizing the nuclear stockpile and nuclear security infrastructure, reducing global nuclear threats, providing for nuclear propulsion, improving physical and cybersecurity, and strengthening key science, technology, and engineering capabilities
Strategic Objectives
Statement:
Maintain the safety, security and effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear deterrent without nuclear testing
Description:
In order to reassure allies and deter potential adversaries as long as nuclear weapons exist, the U.S. must sustain a safe, secure, and effective nuclear arsenal. NNSA will continue to work closely with the Department of Defense (DoD), through the Joint DoD/DOE Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC), to modernize the stockpile through timely execution of approved life extension programs, as outlined in the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan (SSMP). The SSMP, which is updated annually, details the 25-year program of record for activities supporting the nuclear weapons stockpile. The SSMP, as well as the NWC, is informed by NNSA technical scoping studies, cost and risk analysis, and resource allocation modeling of alternatives.
As the nation’s nuclear weapons age and exceed their stockpile design life, the NNSA must extend their lifespan. The 2010 NPR report, an extensive review of the nation’s nuclear posture, recommended that study options for weapon life extension programs (LEP) consider three approaches: refurbishment of existing warheads, reuse of nuclear components from different warheads, and replacement of nuclear components. The NPR report recommended fully funding the ongoing LEP for the W76 submarine-based warhead, the LEP study and follow-on activities for the B61 bomb, and to initiate a study of LEP options for the W78 intercontinental ballistic missile warhead, including the possibility of reusing the warhead on submarine-launched ballistic missiles to reduce the number of warhead types.
Without recourse to nuclear testing, NNSA will deliver the scientific capability to assess weapon performance as well as the component and manufacturing technologies and supporting infrastructure required to execute the SSMP. NNSA will ensure the safe and secure transportation of nuclear materials and weapons components. At the same time, NNSA will advance the President’s vision for reductions in nuclear weapons by dismantling retired weapons.
Priority Goal: Maintain and modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and dismantle excess nuclear weapons to meet the national security requirements, as assigned by the President, through the Nuclear Posture Review.
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will:
- Each year through FY 2015 and into the future, maintain 100% of the warheads in the stockpile as safe, secure, reliable, and available to the President for deployment.
- Conduct activities necessary to complete planned W76-1 production in FY 2019 and achieve the first B61-12 production unit in FY 2020, as reported in the FY 2013 Selected Acquisition Reports.
Description:
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ensures that nuclear warheads and bombs in the United States (U.S.) nuclear weapons operationally-deployed stockpile are safe, secure, reliable (effective), and available to the President for deployment. Until the world is free of nuclear weapons, the U.S. will assess and maintain a safe, secure, and effective stockpile that deters adversaries and assures allies that they are covered by the U.S. nuclear deterrent umbrella. However, because these weapons will exist for an indefinite period, the U.S. must manage its stockpile while meeting the overarching objectives of: 1) Providing no new military capabilities; 2) Conducting no underground nuclear tests; 3) Requiring no production of new fissile material for warheads; and 4) Contributing to U.S. nonproliferation goals. The NNSA shares responsibilities with the Department of Defense (DoD) for the implementation of actions that follow from the President's Nuclear Weapon Stockpile Memorandum and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. Our nation's nuclear weapons are exceeding their stockpile design life and their lifespan must be extended while maintaining the weapons’ safety, security, and effectiveness. At the same time, the NNSA must confront challenges arising from the loss of original manufacturing capabilities, specialized labor skills, and certification without returning to underground nuclear testing. These life extensions cannot be allowed to degrade the historically high confidence levels that underpin our nuclear deterrent.
Key Barriers and Challenges:
- The NNSA is committed to the national security requirement to meet the immediate needs of the stockpile while maintaining the basic research and development, technology, and production infrastructure to respond to technical and geopolitical surprise. The NNSA underpins both confidence in the stockpile and reinforcement of the DoD and other national security interests.
- To fulfill NNSA's commitment to DoD and the nation, the NNSA works together with its DoD partner to identify priorities and make the appropriate adjustments to scope and schedule that will achieve the goals of the President and the NPR.
- NNSA must conduct surveillance and annual assessments as the nuclear weapons stockpile ages. If technical surprises were to occur, the nation must have safe and secure facilities and the science and engineering base to respond. Infrastructure modernization delays continue to challenge NNSA's ability to maintain nuclear surveillance and assessment capability.
- NNSA must continue to meet facility safety and security requirements and work to achieve efficiencies where possible.
- The nation must maintain an unequaled capability to understand the design and physics of any nuclear device. This understanding extends beyond the stewardship of our own stockpile and includes an ability to analyze and effectively respond to any nuclear threat.
- The highly-skilled workforce that designed, tested, produced, and manufactured weapons which entered the stockpile needs to be replaced with the next generation of designers, engineers, and scientists trained in the unique capabilities required and armed with adequate tools and production facilities to steward the nuclear weapons stockpile as it evolves.
Stakeholder Engagement:
Management of this priority goal will require close coordination with the Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD and the NNSA share joint responsibility for all U.S. nuclear weapons. Part of keeping the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile safe, secure, and reliable includes working with the DoD to maintain the quantity and quality of weapons necessary for U.S. national security needs. From the earliest days of the Manhattan Project, the DoD and NNSA have maintained a set of joint programs to maintain the U.S. nuclear stockpile and counter the threat of nuclear proliferation.
Statement:
Strengthen key science, technology, and engineering capabilities and modernize the national security infrastructure
Description:
In the National Security Strategy, the President renewed the Nation’s commitment to being the global engine of scientific discovery and innovation. DOE helps prepare the Nation for a range of potential national security challenges by strengthening science, technology and engineering capabilities, and providing a modernized, responsive infrastructure. The Nuclear Posture Review notes that our specialized workforce is essential to managing the deterrent and supporting the full range of the President’s nuclear security agenda. DOE provides the experimental and computational capability and infrastructure required to execute the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program and other DOE national security missions. By working at the leading edge of multiple scientific and technical disciplines, the DOE nuclear security programs integrate scientific principles, address theory, field physical experiments, and conduct complex modeling and simulation to support not only the assessment and certification of the Nation’s nuclear weapons, but also nonproliferation, counter-proliferation, nuclear counterterrorism, and intelligence activities. DOE will bolster the capabilities of the U.S. government to address cyber and other related security threats through research and development, vulnerability analyses, testing at physical and virtual ranges, and modeling and simulation.
NNSA will modernize the Department’s infrastructure to safely and securely manage special nuclear materials, with priority on executing plans to ensure continuity of plutonium capability at Los Alamos National Laboratory and highly enriched uranium processing capability at the Y-12 Plant. NNSA will also ensure the safety and security of its facilities, which will include modernizing its infrastructure and added emphasis on site security across the nuclear security complex.
NNSA stewards the NNSA national laboratories and sites as an enterprise to deliver DOE programs, provide critical capabilities to support other national security missions, and drive innovation. Talented researchers, engineers, and technicians work across a range of national-level challenges and enhance their skills and expertise by working concurrently on stockpile stewardship and other national priority missions. For example, supercomputers are key to stockpile stewardship, but also have been used to provide foreign threat assessments and to open up the field of nanotechnology. NNSA relies on key capabilities at other DOE national laboratories to deliver its nuclear security missions, and works closely with DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.
By sponsoring research programs at universities and student internships at DOE labs to secure a pipeline of national security professionals, DOE plays a critical role in ensuring the intellectual vitality of the national security technical enterprise. DOE also pursues strategic interagency partnerships with the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, and the U.S. Intelligence Community to ensure that our technical capabilities are accessible and applied to meet the needs of the broader national security community.
Statement:
Reduce global nuclear security threats
Description:
Preventing nuclear terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons-related materials, technology, and expertise is a key U.S. national security strategic objective defined in Presidential statements and national security strategy and policy documents. The Department pursues this objective by: providing policy and technical leadership to remove and eliminate, or secure and safeguard the most vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide; limiting or preventing the transfer and trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, WMD-related materials, technology, and expertise; advancing national and international technical capabilities to understand and detect foreign nuclear weapons production and detonation; and developing a comprehensive science-based predictive model for a broad range of nuclear threat devices. DOE also works to strengthen regulatory, safety, security and safeguards infrastructure in countries new to nuclear power; provide and maintain a technically trained-and-ready response to radiological or nuclear incidents worldwide; and provide technical and analytical support, and capability development, for meeting and monitoring compliance with nuclear nonproliferation, counter-proliferation, nuclear forensics, and arms control treaties.
In pursuing this objective, NNSA works in partnership with the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Intelligence Community, and other U.S. agencies. Internationally, DOE has a strong and long-established partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and actively conducts bilateral program coordination, as well as multilateral consultations through fora such as the Nuclear Security Summit, the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, and the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. These exchanges, as well as a variety of domestic and international workshops, tabletop and national-level full-field exercises, provide a real-time capability to reduce nuclear security threats, and validate improvements to that capability. DOE also uses the knowledge gained from these information exchanges to inform its regular program strategy evaluations and assessments. For example, the Second Line of Defense program strategic review resulted in adjustments of program scope and priorities and the Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) Reconciliation report identified additional nuclear materials for potential removal or elimination.
Priority Goal: Continue to make progress toward securing the most vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide.
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will:
Remove or confirm disposition of an additional 315 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for a cumulative total of 5,332 kilograms by the end of FY 2015.
Description:
In his April 2009 Prague speech, President Obama stated that “we must ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear weapon. This is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. One terrorist with one nuclear weapon could unleash massive destruction. Al Qaeda has said it seeks a bomb and that it would have no problem with using it. And we know that there is unsecured nuclear material across the globe. To protect our people, we must act with a sense of purpose without delay. So today I am announcing a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years. We will set new standards, expand our cooperation with Russia, pursue new partnerships to lock down these sensitive materials.” The Joint Statement from the Moscow Summit between Presidents Obama and Medvedev in July 2009, the September 2009 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1887, and the Nuclear Security Summits in April 2010 and March 2012, reinforce that this is a pressing global security issue.
Key Challenges include:
• Host country’s commitment to implement and sustain their nuclear security/removal activities.
• Additional agreements need to be negotiated with foreign governments before all work can be completed as planned.
Stakeholder Engagement: The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) works with other U.S. government agencies, multilateral institutions, foreign governments, and commercial contractors. Policy issues are coordinated with the National Security Council and the Department of State. NNSA nonproliferation programs maintain close coordination with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction Agency.
This priority goal supports the nuclear security strategic goal and the strategic objective to reduce goal nuclear security threats.
Statement:
Provide safe and effective integrated nuclear propulsion systems for the U.S. Navy
Description:
DOE provides the design, development, and operational support required to provide militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants and ensure their safe, reliable, and long-lived operation. DOE is responsible for the reactor plant design and development for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement, which will include new technology to allow lower-cost construction while enhancing plant safety and survivability and reducing life-cycle costs. It also will refuel its land-based reactor plant prototype in support of essential research and development efforts, and work toward the recapitalization of the program’s 50-year old used nuclear fuel infrastructure to ensure the flexibility needed to adjust to future mission demands.
Strategic Goal:
Management and Performance
Statement:
Position the Department of Energy to meet the challenges of the 21st century and the nation’s Manhattan Project and Cold War legacy responsibilities by employing effective management and refining operational and support capabilities to pursue departmental missions
Strategic Objectives
Statement:
Continue cleanup of radioactive and chemical waste resulting from the Manhattan Project and Cold War activities
Description:
DOE has been working for nearly 25 years to clean up the radioactive and chemical contamination left by six decades of weapons production and energy research during the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. While much has been completed, some of the highest risk and most technically complex work still lies ahead. The challenges include designing, building, starting up, and operating complex, hazardous, and unique nuclear facilities. These facilities include the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant in Hanford, Washington; the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho National Laboratory; and the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Successful cleanup depends on overcoming technical, quality assurance, schedule, regulatory, and management challenges. The Department will leverage past experience, applying best practices and lessons learned; identify, develop, and deploy practical technological solutions derived from scientific research at the national laboratories; and look for innovative and sustainable practices that make cleanup more efficient.
Statement:
Manage assets in a sustainable manner that supports the DOE mission
Description:
Investment in world-class physical assets will continue, from brick and mortar facilities to cutting edge technology systems, to enable the United States to remain a world leader in scientific and technological advances. Sites and laboratories will address current and future use of land and facilities including sustainable operations and post-closure responsibilities. DOE efforts to operate more efficiently, perform cleanup, and address post-closure responsibilities are resulting in sites and laboratories with a smaller footprints and more efficient and effective infrastructure. Mission objectives, energy efficiency, and sustainability principles will drive decisions on capital infrastructure, real property, and information technology. This includes planning, divestiture, acquisition, and sharing of assets with other governments, communities, academia, and industry; supporting conveyance and reuse of unneeded land and facilities; and performing long-term surveillance and maintenance of legacy sites.
Statement:
Effectively manage projects, financial assistance agreements, contracts, and contractor performance
Description:
Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of DOE’s financial assistance agreements, contract and project management performance remains a top priority. These efforts are central to delivering mission critical facilities and capabilities on time and within original budget. Contract provisions are being incorporated into contracts that will enhance the oversight of contractor cost and technical performance systems and ensure contractors are not rewarded unless performance standards and requirements are met. The use of small business vehicles and strategic sourcing for both federal and contractor management and operating procurements will be expanded.
Statement:
Operate the DOE enterprise safely, securely, and efficiently
Description:
The employees of DOE are its strongest asset. When employees’ health and safety are protected and they are well trained, empowered, and free from discrimination, they will ensure mission success efficiently and effectively. DOE is entrusted with a unique mission to protect the nation’s federal nuclear industrial operations, and thus holds a special responsibility to maintain oversight of the safety and security of those hazardous operations. Rigorous self-analysis is employed, including performance evaluations and testing conducted independent of site or headquarters line management. Because public trust is vital to success, DOE emphasizes openness, transparency, and collaboration with workers and their representatives, and the communities in which DOE operates. The DOE enterprise—including government-owned, contractor-operated sites—is also being strengthened to address a range of cyber threats that can adversely impact mission capabilities.
Statement:
Attract, manage, train, and retain the best federal workforce to meet future mission needs
Description:
DOE faces serious workforce challenges over the coming decade, with 15-25% of its federal employees projected to retire, including many of its most experienced and highly skilled professionals. To meet these challenges, the Department must engage in workforce planning and improve its outreach and recruitment programs in order to maintain a federal workforce with the technical skills and experience required to accomplish its science-driven missions. The Department must also significantly improve the quality and efficiency of its human resource operations. DOE is committed to improving human capital policies, programs, and systems through a corporate approach that reduces organizational redundancies and uses capable and cost-effective information technology systems. Since implementation of the President’s Hiring Reform initiatives in FY 2010, the recruitment process for general schedule positions has been reduced from an average 174 days in FY 2009 to 97 days in FY 2013. Efforts are also underway to improve hiring quality and on-boarding processes and outcomes, with a continued focus on promoting diversity and inclusion within the workforce. There are plans to implement a strategy for leadership development across all levels of the organization. Skill gaps will be addressed by using such tools as employee skill assessments and individual development plans. Employee accountability will be addressed through employee performance plans and organizational annual action plans resulting from employee surveys. DOE will also advance its Women in Clean Energy, and Minorities in Energy programs to draw upon the entire American talent pool.
Priority Goals
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will:
- Retrieve tank waste, close tanks, and dispose of transuranic waste within cost and schedule through FY 2015
- On a three-year rolling basis, complete at least 90% of departmental projects baselined since the start of FY 2008 within the original scope baseline and not to exceed 110% of the cost as reflected in the performance baseline established at Critical Decision 2 through FY 2015
- Achieve full operational capability of the Joint Cybersecurity Coordination Center (JC3), including TS-SCI operations, by the end of FY 2015
Description:
Overview of the Environmental Management part of the goal:
The Department and its predecessor agencies generated radioactive liquid waste as a by-product of the production of nuclear weapons. The EM Program has an estimated 88 million gallons of highly radioactive waste from the legacy of the Cold War stored in 239 tanks at Idaho, the Savannah River Site and the Office of River Protection. By reducing and disposing of the liquid waste tank wastes, EM is demonstrating tangible evidence of the program's goal to reduce the highest risks in the complex. By eliminating high-risk material, corresponding life-cycle cost reductions are achieved for an activity that is a major cost driver to the EM program.
Management and removal of legacy Transuranic (TRU) waste across the EM complex directly supports risk reduction and the goal of reducing the EM site footprint. The EM Program also coordinates with all DOE sites that generate transuranic waste to retrieve, repackage, characterize, ship, and dispose of transuranic waste resulting in cleaning up sites, reducing risks, and decreasing the Department’s nuclear footprint.
Challenges for meeting EM’s Agency Priority Goal (the retrieval of tank waste, closing waste tanks and disposing of transuranic waste) include designing, building, starting up, and operating complex, hazardous, and unique nuclear facilities. These facilities include the Waste Treatment Plant in Hanford, Washington; the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho National Laboratory; and the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Successful completion of these cleanup goals depends on overcoming technical, quality assurance, schedule, regulatory, and management challenges. The Department will leverage past experience, applying best practices and lessons learned; identify, develop, and deploy practical technological solutions; and look for innovative and sustainable practices that make cleanup more efficient.
Overview of the Project Management goal:
The Department of Energy (DOE) is the largest civilian contracting agency in the Federal Government and spends approximately 95% of its annual budget on contracts to operate its scientific laboratories, engineering and production facilities, and environmental restoration sites and to acquire capital assets. The Department has been challenged, both externally and internally, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its contract and project management processes. The Department remains committed to making continuous improvements in contract and project management performance.
DOE has been on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) High-Risk List since 1990. During the past several years, the Department has launched and completed several initiatives to address its challenges including a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and associated Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in 2008, Contract and Project Management Summit-related corrective actions, and issuance of several Deputy Secretary policy directives. Many measurable improvements have been implemented resulting from these efforts to include: improving front-end planning by requiring sufficient design maturity prior to establishing performance baselines; defining required project staff-size and required skill-set across the project lifecycle and enhancing training and qualifications of project and contract management personnel; stabilizing project funding and affordability by adhering to baseline funding profiles for incrementally funded projects in annual budget requests; strengthening DOE Order 413.3B inclusive of new independent cost estimating requirements at Critical Decision (CD) gateways; deploying a new and more robust Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II), which allows for direct upload of contractor project performance data; and implementing Project Peer Reviews, a best practice successfully employed by the Office of Science, across the Department to better monitor project development and execution and foster sharing of design, procurement and construction lessons learned.
Based on the Department’s progress, GAO narrowed the scope of the high-risk designation in 2009, removing the Office of Science and focusing on the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Office of Environmental Management (EM). GAO issued a scorecard with five criteria for removing all DOE programs from the High-Risk List:
- Demonstrate strong commitment and leadership;
- Demonstrate progress in implementing corrective measures;
- Develop a corrective action plan that identifies root causes, effective solutions, and a near-term plan for implementing the solutions;
- Have the capacity (people and resources) to resolve problems; and
- Monitor and independently validate the effectiveness and sustainability of corrective measures.
GAO acknowledged the Department met the first three of these criteria in February 2011. In GAO’s February 2013 High-Risk List update, GAO acknowledged the Department’s continuing improvement in contract and project management by shifting the focus of DOE’s high-risk designation to major contracts and projects executed by NNSA and EM with values of $750 million or greater.
Progress toward achieving this goal, project success, is tracked in the Department’s Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II) and reported to Program Offices, GAO and OMB on a quarterly basis.
Overview of the JC3 part of the goal:
The Joint Cybersecurity Center (JC3) is a Departmental enterprise asset designed to improve information sharing and coordinated incident response for all cybersecurity events. Accordingly the DOE Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for developing and maintaining the Department’s overall cybersecurity strategy in coordination with the Undersecretaries of Science & Energy, Nuclear Security, and Management & Performance.
Statement:
Restructure the relationship and interactions between the Department and the national laboratories and sites to ensure the continued status of the national laboratories as world-class research institutions best able to achieve DOE’s mission, maximize the impact of federal R&D investment in the laboratories, accelerate the transfer of technology into the private and government sectors, and better respond to opportunities and challenges. In support of this goal, DOE will:
- Establish the National Laboratory Policy Council to address high-level policy challenges and develop initiatives to build and focus the laboratory system on critical economic, research and national security priorities
- Establish the National Laboratory Operations Board to address operational and administrative issues and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of DOE’s management of the national laboratories
- Improve stewardship of national assets across the national laboratories and DOE operating sites to assure that DOE physical plants and their operating practices comply with DOE Directives and achieve Administration priority initiatives by end of FY 2015
Description:
Cross-cutting initiatives that leverage the science, technology and engineering capabilities in program offices and the DOE national laboratories will enhance and provide opportunities for economic growth by strengthening the Department and supporting the Department’s missions and other national missions.
The Department of Energy National Laboratories are engaged in a broad program of scientific research and technological innovation supporting the Department’s mission responsibilities in energy, nuclear security, science and environmental management.
The National Laboratory Policy Council will provide a forum for the National Laboratories to provide strategic advice and assistance to the Secretary in the Department’s policy and program planning processes and for the Department to provide strategic guidance on National Laboratory activities in support of Departmental missions.
The objectives of the National Laboratory Operations Board are to strengthen and enhance the partnership between the Department and National Laboratories, and to improve management and performance to more effectively and efficiently execute the missions of the Department and the National Laboratories.
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FY16-17 Agency Priority Goals
An Agency Priority Goal is a near-term result or achievement that agency leadership wants to accomplish within approximately 24 months that relies predominantly on agency implementation as opposed to budget or legislative accomplishments. Click below to see this agency's FY16-17 Priority Goals.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Environmental Management & Nuclear Waste Disposal: To support the long-term goal of safely managing cleanup and storage of nuclear materials consistent with the President’s March 2015 determination to dispose of nuclear waste separate from civilian used nuclear fuel while achieving efficiencies
Management
- Resume waste emplacement at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant by the end of calendar year 2016
- Meet production milestones at the Defense Waste Processing Facility at Savannah River of 120 canisters of vitrified high-level waste in FY 2016 and 110 canisters in FY 2017
- Complete demolition to achieve slab on grade of the Plutonium Finishing Plant at Richland by the end of calendar year 2016
- Begin treatment of radioactive liquid waste at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho by the end of fiscal year 2016
Storage, Transportation, and Disposal
- Complete the Deep Borehole Field Test (DBFT) Characterization Borehole by February 2017
- Develop and publish the phased and adaptive consent-based siting strategy for the first Phase of the siting process by the end of FY 2017
- Initiate engagement with communities and stakeholders interested in developing a consent-based siting process for integrated waste management system facilities; complete and publish a report that reflects the inputs received, documenting the priorities, comments and concerns expressed throughout the development process by Dec 2016.
- Complete a review of the existing transportation cask Certificates of Compliance (COC) by FY 2017 in order to identify items for confirmation and/or resolution prior to transportation of spent nuclear fuel.
Description:
Overview of the Management part of the goal:
Fifty years of nuclear weapons production and energy research generated millions of gallons of liquid radioactive waste, millions of cubic meters of solid radioactive waste, thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel and special nuclear material as well as the deactivation and decommissioning of thousands of excess facilities. The Environmental Management (EM) program was established in 1989 to manage the successful cleanup of this Cold War legacy.
Management and removal of radioactive transuranic waste across the complex directly supports risk reduction and the goal of reducing the EM site footprint. The EM Program coordinates with all Department sites to retrieve, repackage, characterize, ship, and dispose of transuranic waste. The only facility where transuranic waste can be disposed is the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Currently, the repository is recovering from accident events and is not accepting any waste for emplacement. Department sites generating and processing transuranic waste are storing these inventories requiring disposal until waste emplacement operations are resumed which is currently anticipated by the end of calendar year 2016.
The EM Program has an estimated 88 million gallons of highly radioactive waste from the legacy of the Cold War stored in 239 tanks at the Hanford, Savannah River and Idaho sites. The treatment and disposal of liquid tank waste demonstrates a tangible reduction in some of the greatest risks in the EM Complex. Lastly, through the elimination of high-risk material, corresponding life-cycle cost reductions are achieved for an activity that is a major cost driver to the EM program. The Agency Priority Goal involves initiating treatment of tank waste at the Idaho Site at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit as well as retrieving and processing tank waste at the Savannah River Site through the Defense Waste Processing Facility. The Defense Waste Processing Facility is targeted to produce 120 and 110 canisters of vitrified high-level waste in FY 2016 and FY 2017, respectively.
The decontamination and decommissioning of excess legacy facilities are an excellent indicator of EM’s progress towards the reduction of environmental, safety and health risks in a safe, secure, compliant, and cost-effective manner as well as reducing monitoring and maintenance life-cycle costs and liabilities. For example, at the Plutonium Finishing Plant complex, at the Hanford Site: several buildings previously used for defense production of plutonium nitrates, oxides and metal from 1950 through early 1989, are being cleaned out; special nuclear materials and fuels have been packaged and shipped to storage facilities; and the facilities are scheduled to be demolished to slab-on-grade by the end of calendar year 2016.
Overview of the Storage, Transportation, and Disposal part of the goal:
In March 2015, President Obama authorized the United States Energy Department to move forward with planning for a separate repository for high-level radioactive waste resulting from atomic energy defense activities. Additionally, in remarks before the Bipartisan Policy Center, Secretary Moniz discussed this path forward for defense waste as well as a parallel path for storage and disposal of commercial spent fuel, consistent with the Administration’s January 2013 Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste, which built upon the work of the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future completed in January 2012. Secretary Moniz announced three specific actions that the Department will undertake (1) Planning for a defense-only repository, (2) Moving forward with planning for interim storage of commercial spent fuel, and (3) Moving forward with a consent-based siting process for both types of facilities.
In support of these actions, the Office of Environmental Management and the Office of Nuclear Energy are working together to complete the safe cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from five decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research and to lay the groundwork for implementing interim storage and disposal, including associated transportation.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Nuclear Security: To modernize the nation’s existing nuclear weapons stockpile, make progress toward the completion of life extension programs consistent with the Nuclear Posture Review and manage nonproliferation actions to prevent, counter, and respond to global nuclear and radiological threats
Life Extension Programs
- Complete at least 70% of W76-1 cumulative production unit builds by the end of 2016, and 80% by the end of 2017
- Achieve B61-12 Phase 6.4 authorization to initiate production-engineering activities by the end of FY 2016, and achieve B61-12 First System Qualification Flight Test by the end of FY 2017
Prevent, Counter, and Respond to Nuclear and Radiological Threats
- Complete delivery and installation of a cumulative total of 755 fixed, mobile, and man-portable radiation detection systems by theend of FY 2017
Description:
Overview of the Life Extension Programs part of the goal:
Following the Department of Energy Strategic Plan for 2014-2018, the DOE/NNSA Enterprise Strategic Vision (August 2015) provides the framework for integrating our missions and a future direction in pursuit of DOE’s strategic goals. The highest priority for the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile mission pillar is the sustainment and life extension of reduced weapons currently in the stockpile, which demands a careful and balanced execution of maintaining a safe, secure, reliable, credible and responsive nuclear weapons stockpile, without underground nuclear explosive testing. DOE/NNSA has successfully sustained the deterrent since the unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosive testing in 1992, and will continue to do so through the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program. This has been accomplished through the capabilities, vision, and determination of DOE/NNSA’s world-class scientists, technicians, and engineers, as well as significant investments in scientific tools, facilities, and people. Sustaining the nuclear weapons stockpile includes a range of priority activities that are interdependent. As weapons systems age, life extension, alteration, and modification programs are addressing aging and performance issues, enhancing safety features, and improving security. DOE/NNSA will meet strategic deterrence requirements with a reduced stockpile size while retaining reliability. To meet national policy for a safe, secure, and effective stockpile as long as nuclear weapons exist, sustainment is necessary to maintain the operational capability. The “3+2” Strategy is the program of record that guides DOE/NNSA’s sustainment efforts, which will eventually downsize the stockpile through the sustainment process. Consistent with the Nuclear Posture Review (DoD 2010) objectives, ongoing sustainment efforts include the production of the W76-1 LEP which will enable reduction of W76 warheads by a factor of two, and the B61-12 LEP which will consolidate four families of the B61 into one and improve both the safety and security of the oldest weapon system in the U.S. arsenal.
Key Barriers and Challenges:
- The NNSA is committed to the national security requirement to meet the immediate needs of the stockpile while maintaining the basic research and development, technology, and production infrastructure to respond to technical, and geopolitical surprise. The NNSA underpins both confidence in the stockpile, and reinforcement of the DoD, and other national security interests.
- To fulfill NNSA's commitment to DoD and to the nation, the NNSA works together with its DoD partner to identify priorities and make the appropriate adjustments to scope, and schedule that will achieve the goals of the President and the NPR.
- NNSA must conduct surveillance, and annual assessments as the nuclear weapons stockpile ages. If technical surprises were to occur, the nation must have safe, and secure facilities, and the science and engineering base to respond. Infrastructure modernization delays continue to challenge NNSA's ability to maintain nuclear surveillance and assessment capability.
- NNSA must continue to meet facility safety and security requirements and work to achieve efficiencies where possible.
- The nation must maintain an unequaled capability to understand the design and physics of any nuclear device. This understanding extends beyond the stewardship of our own stockpile, and includes an ability to analyze and effectively respond to any nuclear threat.
Overview of the Radiological Threats part of the goal:
The NNSA's strategy incorporates a threat-based, defense in depth approach to illicit trafficking that recognizes:
- Smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive materials is an ongoing global enterprise
- Even a single, viable trafficking network constitutes a serious U.S. national security risk and global threat
- There are existing gaps in the global nuclear and radiation detection architecture
- International coordination is imperative to meeting global nuclear security needs
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Energy Policy: To enable cost-competitive, clean energy technologies and resilient energy infrastructure consistent with the Climate Action Plan, Quadrennial Energy Review (QER), and Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR)
Efficiency Standards
- Issue final energy standards that meet the Climate Action Plan goal of 3 GT total cumulative CO2 reduction by 2030
Loans Guarantees
- Issue new conditional loan guarantee commitments, as appropriate, of up to $8.5 billion for advanced fossil energy and $4.5 billion for renewable energy and efficient electricity technologies that include distributed energy and storage systems by the end of FY2017
- Solicit additional applications, and as appropriate, issue new conditional loan commitments to increase fuel efficient vehicle and advance vehicle component manufacturing
Quadrennial Energy Review (QER)
- Issue semi-annual implementation reports on Transforming U.S. Energy Infrastructures in a Time of Rapid Change
- Develop and issue the second installment of the QER on the electricity system as a whole by the end of CY 2016
QTR
- Develop a clean energy technology R&D portfolio reflecting the analysis and assessments of the QTR for the President’s FY 2017 Budget
Description:
Overview of the Efficiency Standards part of the goal:
Residential and commercial buildings consume approximately 40 percent of the primary energy consumed in the United States. This amounts to over 39 Quads of primary energy used by the buildings sector per year, an amount that is greater than the yearly energy consumption of either the industrial or the transportation sector. By developing minimum energy efficiency standards, as mandated by legislation, the Energy Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program helps reduce energy costs for consumers and businesses by billions of dollars, as well as associated energy use and emissions. Savings from these standards free up money to be spent elsewhere, spurring economic growth.
By covering a broad range of equipment—appliances, refrigeration, space heating and cooling, water heating and other electrical equipment—the DOE's work with standards development and implementation increases energy efficiency in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. National standards that eliminate the least energy-efficient products from the market, ensure that energy saving technologies are accessible to all consumers, provide manufacturers with a single set of requirements rather than an array of potentially conflicting state and local regulations, and drive technology and cost improvements.
The Department of Energy uses three strategies to drive building energy efficiency, focused first on research and development of the most promising emerging technologies, followed by industry support activities such as Better Buildings and ENERGY STAR, and then implementation of equipment energy efficiency standards.
As mandated by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1978 (as amended), the Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program is developing and enforcing efficiency standards and test procedures to cover at least 75 percent of the energy used in the building sector. Under current law, covered products are responsible for 82 percent of residential building energy consumption, 67 percent of commercial, and approximately half of industrial. DOE promulgates energy conservation standards that are technically feasible and economically justified, subject to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act’s (EPCA) seven factors. In determining whether a standard is economically justified, DOE determines whether the benefits of the standard exceed its burdens by, to the greatest extent practicable, considering these seven factors:
(1) the economic impact of the standard on the manufacturers and on the consumers of the products subject to such standard;
(2) the savings in operating costs throughout the estimated average life of the covered product in the type (or class) compared to any increase in the price of, or in the initial charges for, or maintenance expenses of, the covered products which are likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(3) the total projected amount of energy, or as applicable, water, savings likely to result directly from the imposition of the standard;
(4) any lessening of the utility or the performance of the covered products likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(5) the impact of any lessening of competition, as determined in writing by the Attorney General, that is likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(6) the need for national energy and water conservation; and
(7) other factors the Secretary considers relevant.
To maximize energy savings subject to EPCA, the Standards subprogram first meets all statutory and other legal deadlines for completing standards and test procedures. The Department is also committed to streamlining the process for developing and issuing rulemakings in partnership with industry and other stakeholders. In order to expand coverage to new products, EPCA requires that these products consume at least 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per household per year. To determine which products should be added through coverage determinations, DOE conducts analyses that examine the energy savings potential of various unregulated residential appliances, electronics, and commercial equipment while considering the impact of non-regulatory energy-efficiency programs currently available in the market. In addition to these actions, DOE also develops test procedures for ENERGY STAR, which is an effective non-regulatory program that saves consumers energy. By taking these actions, the Department’s Equipment Standards subprogram will contribute to the Department’s broader efforts to help buildings and industrial facilities reduce energy use and save costs.
The Department is working to address a variety of different challenges associated with this work, including:
Standards require a robust test procedure to be effective.
Changes to the statute or its legal interpretation and the need for additional information uncovered during the review process are factors that can affect the schedule for final issuance of the standards.
Energy price, product cost and consumer use projections vary and must be factored into the rulemaking process.
Stakeholder Engagement: Energy conservation standards are established by a four-phase rulemaking process: a framework phase, preliminary analysis phase, notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), and final rule. The Department actively encourages stakeholder participation and interaction at all stages of the process. Early and frequent interactions among stakeholders have been useful for providing a balanced discussion of critical information required to conduct the analysis to support any standards. Stakeholders include equipment manufacturers, building owners, State energy agencies, Utilities, Trade Associations and other interested parties.
The Department also coordinates with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on key certification and compliance issues with the Energy Guide Label and ENERGY STAR, respectively. The Department of Energy has also engaged with non-governmental organizations, such as the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, on international harmonization with respect to certification and compliance requirements.
Overview of the Loans Guarantees part of the goal:
As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Loan Programs Office (LPO) issued the Advanced Fossil Energy Projects Solicitation, which makes up to $8.5 billion in loan guarantees available to support innovative, advanced fossil energy projects in the U.S. that reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases.
Fossil fuels currently account for more than 80 percent of U.S. energy production and are projected to remain a significant energy source in the future. As a result, President Obama’s Climate Action Plan announced that LPO would issue this solicitation to accelerate the deployment of cleaner fossil energy technology. This is an important part of the Administration’s long-term plan to achieve a cleaner and more secure energy future as part of its “all-of-the-above” energy strategy
Overview of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) part of the goal:
In January 2014, President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum that initiated a review process to provide a multi-year roadmap for U.S. energy policy known as the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER).
The QER is envisioned as a focused, actionable document designed to provide policymakers, industry, investors, and other stakeholders with unbiased data and analysis on energy challenges, needs, requirements, and barriers that will inform a range of policy options, including legislation. Each installment of the QER will analyze and make recommendations for a key component of the energy value chain.
As directed by the President, the Department of Energy (DOE) provides analytical support for the QER and helps manage the interagency process through a Secretariat. These activities are consistent with DOE’s statutory responsibilities and reinforce the objectives of DOE’s Strategic Plan by supporting the first two components of Goal 1:
- Advance the goals and objectives in the President’s Climate Action Plan by supporting prudent development, deployment, and efficient use of “all of the above” energy resources that also create new jobs and industries; and
- Support a more economically competitive, environmentally responsible, secure, and resilient U.S. energy infrastructure.
Overview of the Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) part of the goal:
The 2015 Quadrennial Technology Review (QTR) describes the Nation's energy technology landscape and the changes that have taken place since the first report in 2011. The 2015 QTR approaches the analysis from a systems perspective to explore the integration of science and technology.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
High Performance Computing: Contributes to implementation of the President’s Executive Order establishing the National Strategic Computing Initiative including accelerating delivery of a capable exascale computing system that integrates hardware and software capability to deliver approximately 100 times the performance of current 10 petaflop systems across a range of applications representing government needs, and establishes a viable path forward for future High Performance Computing systems even after the limits of current semiconductor technologies are reached.
- By Q2 FY 2016, establish a multiyear exascale research program plan in support of DOE’s contribution to the President’s high performance computing initiative
- By the end of FY 2017, identify software technology investments needed to accelerate delivery of a capable exascale system
- By Q1 FY2017 establish a plan for DOE’s contribution to research of new progressive technologies that perform beyond Moore’s Law
Description:
Contribute to implementation of the President’s Executive Order establishing the National Strategic Computing Initiative including accelerating delivery of a capable exascale computing system that integrates hardware and software capability to deliver approximately 100 times the performance of current 10 petaflop systems across a range of applications representing government needs, and establishes a viable path forward for future High Performance Computing systems even after the limits of current semiconductor technologies are reached.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Capital Projects: To manage DOE Capital Asset Projects effectively in support of DOE national security, clean energy, and cleanup goals and complete DOE capital asset projects within scope, schedule, and cost
- Complete 90% of DOE post-Critical Decision (CD)-3, Approve Start of Construction or Execution, capital asset projects within 110% of the cost baseline in effect as of the start of FY 2016
Description:
The Department of Energy (DOE) is the largest civilian contracting agency in the Federal Government and spends approximately 95% of its annual budget on contracts to operate its scientific laboratories, engineering and production facilities, and environmental restoration sites and acquire capital assets. The Department has been challenged, both externally and internally, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its contract and project management processes. The Department remains committed to making continuous improvements in contract and project management performance.
Since 1990, the Department has been on the GAO High-Risk List for inadequate contract and project oversight and management. In its February 2013 High-Risk List update, GAO acknowledged the Department’s continuing improvement in contract and project management by shifting the focus of DOE’s high-risk designation to major contracts and projects executed by NNSA and EM with values of $750 million or greater. This focus continued in GAO’s update provided in February 2015.
In November 2014, a working group of DOE’s most senior project managers produced an in-depth analysis of project management in a report entitled “Improving Project Management” which resulted in a Secretarial policy memorandum, “Improving the Department’s Management of Projects” released by the Secretary in December 2014. Based on the report and policy memorandum, and drawing from industry and government best practices, the Department took several steps to supplement ongoing efforts to improve project management, including: strengthening the Energy Systems Acquisition Advisory Board (ESAAB), establishing a Project Management Risk Committee (PMRC), and improving the lines of responsibility and the peer review process.
Progress toward achieving this goal, project management success, is tracked in the Department’s Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II) and reported to Program Offices, GAO and OMB on a quarterly basis.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
National Laboratories: To deliver the highest quality R&D and production capabilities, strengthen partnerships with DOE headquarters, and improve management of the physical infrastructure of the national laboratories to enable efficient leadership in science, technology, and national security
- By the end of FY 2017, the percentage of assessed DOE laboratory facilities categorized as “adequate” will increase by 2 percentage points from the FY 2015 baseline
- Sponsor an annual “National Laboratory Big Ideas Summit” in FY 2016 and FY 2017
- Develop and implement a consistent, annual process to track and assess laboratory planning and evaluation
Description:
Deliver the highest quality R&D and production capabilities, strengthen partnerships with DOE headquarters, and improve management of the physical infrastructure of the national laboratories to enable efficient leadership in science, technology, and national security.
Expand All
FY14-15 Agency Priority Goals
An Agency Priority Goal is a near-term result or achievement that agency leadership wants to accomplish within approximately 24 months that relies predominantly on agency implementation as opposed to budget or legislative accomplishments. Click below to see this agency's FY14-15 Priority Goals.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Implement elements of the Climate Action Plan, including
- Supporting the goal of reducing cumulative carbon pollution by 3 billion metric tons by 2030 through standards set since 2009 and promulgating new standards for consumer products and industrial equipment by the end of calendar year 2016.
- Providing up to $8 billion in loan guarantees for advanced fossil energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the end of FY 2017.
Description:
Overview of the appliance standards part of the goal:
The Appliance Standards Agency Priority Goal is to reduce cumulative carbon pollution by 3 billion metric tons by 2030 through standards set since 2009 and to promulgate new standards for consumer products and industrial equipment by the end of calendar year 2016.
Residential and commercial buildings consume approximately 40 percent of the primary energy consumed in the United States. This amounts to over 39 Quads of primary energy used by the buildings sector per year, an amount that is greater than the yearly energy consumption of either the industrial or the transportation sector. By developing minimum energy efficiency standards, the Energy Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program helps reduce energy costs for consumers and businesses, as well as reduce associated energy use and emissions.
By covering a broad range of equipment—appliances, refrigeration, space heating and cooling, water heating and other electrical equipment—the Department's work with standards development and implementation increases energy efficiency in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. National standards that eliminate the least energy-efficient products from the market ensure that energy saving technologies are accessible to all consumers, provide manufacturers with a single set of requirements rather than an array of potentially conflicting state and local regulations, and drive technology innovation.
The Department uses three strategies to promote building energy efficiency, focused first on research and development of the most promising emerging technologies, followed by industry support activities such as Better Buildings and ENERGY STAR, and then the implementation of equipment energy efficiency standards.
As mandated by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1978 (as amended), the Department’s Equipment Standards and Analysis program is developing and enforcing efficiency standards and test procedures to cover at least 75 percent of the energy used in the building sector. Under current law, covered products are responsible for 82 percent of residential building energy consumption, 67 percent of commercial, and approximately half of industrial. DOE is required to promulgate energy conservation standards that are technically feasible and economically justified, subject to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act’s (EPCA) seven factors. In determining whether a standard is economically justified, DOE determines whether the benefits of the standard exceed its burdens by considering these seven factors (to the greatest extent practicable):
(1) the economic impact of the standard on the manufacturers and on the consumers of the products subject to such standard;
(2) the savings in operating costs throughout the estimated average life of the covered product in the type (or class) compared to any increase in the price of, or in the initial charges for, or maintenance expenses of, the covered products which are likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(3) the total projected amount of energy, or as applicable, water, savings likely to result directly from the imposition of the standard;
(4) any lessening of the utility or the performance of the covered products likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(5) the impact of any lessening of competition, as determined in writing by the Attorney General, that is likely to result from the imposition of the standard;
(6) the need for national energy and water conservation; and
(7) other factors the Secretary considers relevant.
To maximize energy savings subject to EPCA, the Standards subprogram first meets all statutory and other legal deadlines for completing standards and test procedures. The Department is also committed to streamlining the process for developing and issuing rulemakings in partnership with industry and other stakeholders. To determine which products should be added through coverage determinations, DOE conducts analyses that examine the energy savings potential of various unregulated residential appliances, electronics, and commercial equipment while considering the impact of non-regulatory energy-efficiency programs currently available in the market. In addition to these actions, DOE also develops test procedures for ENERGY STAR, which is an effective non-regulatory program that saves consumers energy.
The Department is working to address a variety of different challenges associated with this work, including:
Standards require a robust test procedure to be effective.
Changes to the statute or its legal interpretation and the need for additional information in response to public comments on the draft rulemakings are factors that can affect the schedule for final issuance of the standards.
Energy price, product cost and consumer use projections vary and must be factored into the rulemaking process.
Stakeholder Engagement: Energy conservation standards are established by a four-phase rulemaking process: a framework phase, preliminary analysis phase, notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), and final rule. The Department actively encourages stakeholder participation and interaction at all stages of the process. Early and frequent interactions among stakeholders have been useful for providing a balanced discussion of critical information required to conduct the analysis to support any standards. Stakeholders include equipment manufacturers, building owners, State energy agencies, utilities, trade associations and other interested parties.
The Department also coordinates with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on key certification and compliance issues with the Energy Guide Label and ENERGY STAR, respectively. The Department of Energy has also engaged with non-governmental organizations, such as the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program, on international harmonization with respect to certification and compliance requirements.
Overview of the loan guarantees part of the goal:
As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, the Loan Programs Office (LPO) issued the Advanced Fossil Energy Projects Solicitation, which makes up to $8 billion in loan guarantees available to support innovative, advanced fossil energy projects in the U.S. that reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gases.
Fossil fuels currently account for more than 80 percent of U.S. energy production and are projected to remain a significant energy source in the future. As a result, President Obama’s Climate Action Plan announced that LPO would issue this solicitation to accelerate the deployment of cleaner fossil energy technology. This is an important part of the Administration’s long-term plan to achieve a cleaner and more secure energy future as part of its “all-of-the-above” energy strategy.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Support the first installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER) through early 2015 and begin implementation of relevant recommendations within DOE’s existing authorities.
Description:
Support the Quadrennial Energy Review (QER):
Innovation and new sources of domestic energy supply are transforming the nation’s energy marketplace, creating economic opportunities at the same time they raise environmental challenges. To ensure that federal energy policy meets our economic, environmental, and security goals in this changing landscape, the Administration will conduct a Quadrennial Energy Review which will be led by the White House Domestic Policy Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy, supported by a Secretariat established at the Department of Energy, and involving the robust engagement of federal agencies and outside stakeholders. This first-ever review will focus on infrastructure challenges, and will identify the threats, risks, and opportunities for U.S. energy and climate security, enabling the federal government to translate policy goals into a set of analytically based, clearly articulated, sequenced and integrated actions, and proposed investments over a four-year planning horizon.
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will, by the end of FY 2015:
- Incorporate science user facility prioritization into program planning efforts
- Identify programmatic drivers and technical requirements in coordination with other Departmental mission areas to inform future development of high performance computing capabilities and in anticipation of capable exascale systems
Description:
The Office of Science (SC) mission is to deliver the scientific discoveries and major scientific tools that transform our understanding of nature and advance the energy, economic, and national security of the United States. The Office of Science accomplishes its mission and advances national goals by:
- Supporting a balanced research portfolio that invests in discovery science—research that probes some of the most fundamental questions in high energy, nuclear, and plasma physics; materials and chemistry; biological systems and earth system components; and mathematics. The Office of Science supports about 24,000 investigators at over 300 U.S. academic institutions and at all of the DOE laboratories.
- Providing the Nation’s researchers with over 30 state-of-the-art national scientific user facilities, the most advanced tools of modern science, enabling the U.S. to remain at the forefront of science, technology, and innovation. The Office of Science also supports targeted research and development (R&D), to determine the technical feasibility and design options for future facilities and facility upgrades to deliver desired capabilities and maximize scientific potential. Nearly 27,000 researchers from universities, national laboratories, industry, and international partners are expected to use the Office of Science scientific user facilities by FY 2015.
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will:
- Each year through FY 2015 and into the future, maintain 100% of the warheads in the stockpile as safe, secure, reliable, and available to the President for deployment.
- Conduct activities necessary to complete planned W76-1 production in FY 2019 and achieve the first B61-12 production unit in FY 2020, as reported in the FY 2013 Selected Acquisition Reports.
Description:
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ensures that nuclear warheads and bombs in the United States (U.S.) nuclear weapons operationally-deployed stockpile are safe, secure, reliable (effective), and available to the President for deployment. Until the world is free of nuclear weapons, the U.S. will assess and maintain a safe, secure, and effective stockpile that deters adversaries and assures allies that they are covered by the U.S. nuclear deterrent umbrella. However, because these weapons will exist for an indefinite period, the U.S. must manage its stockpile while meeting the overarching objectives of: 1) Providing no new military capabilities; 2) Conducting no underground nuclear tests; 3) Requiring no production of new fissile material for warheads; and 4) Contributing to U.S. nonproliferation goals. The NNSA shares responsibilities with the Department of Defense (DoD) for the implementation of actions that follow from the President's Nuclear Weapon Stockpile Memorandum and the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review. Our nation's nuclear weapons are exceeding their stockpile design life and their lifespan must be extended while maintaining the weapons’ safety, security, and effectiveness. At the same time, the NNSA must confront challenges arising from the loss of original manufacturing capabilities, specialized labor skills, and certification without returning to underground nuclear testing. These life extensions cannot be allowed to degrade the historically high confidence levels that underpin our nuclear deterrent.
Key Barriers and Challenges:
- The NNSA is committed to the national security requirement to meet the immediate needs of the stockpile while maintaining the basic research and development, technology, and production infrastructure to respond to technical and geopolitical surprise. The NNSA underpins both confidence in the stockpile and reinforcement of the DoD and other national security interests.
- To fulfill NNSA's commitment to DoD and the nation, the NNSA works together with its DoD partner to identify priorities and make the appropriate adjustments to scope and schedule that will achieve the goals of the President and the NPR.
- NNSA must conduct surveillance and annual assessments as the nuclear weapons stockpile ages. If technical surprises were to occur, the nation must have safe and secure facilities and the science and engineering base to respond. Infrastructure modernization delays continue to challenge NNSA's ability to maintain nuclear surveillance and assessment capability.
- NNSA must continue to meet facility safety and security requirements and work to achieve efficiencies where possible.
- The nation must maintain an unequaled capability to understand the design and physics of any nuclear device. This understanding extends beyond the stewardship of our own stockpile and includes an ability to analyze and effectively respond to any nuclear threat.
- The highly-skilled workforce that designed, tested, produced, and manufactured weapons which entered the stockpile needs to be replaced with the next generation of designers, engineers, and scientists trained in the unique capabilities required and armed with adequate tools and production facilities to steward the nuclear weapons stockpile as it evolves.
Stakeholder Engagement:
Management of this priority goal will require close coordination with the Department of Defense (DoD). The DoD and the NNSA share joint responsibility for all U.S. nuclear weapons. Part of keeping the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile safe, secure, and reliable includes working with the DoD to maintain the quantity and quality of weapons necessary for U.S. national security needs. From the earliest days of the Manhattan Project, the DoD and NNSA have maintained a set of joint programs to maintain the U.S. nuclear stockpile and counter the threat of nuclear proliferation.
Agency Priority Goal:
Continue to make progress toward securing the most vulnerable nuclear materials worldwide.
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will:
Remove or confirm disposition of an additional 315 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for a cumulative total of 5,332 kilograms by the end of FY 2015.
Description:
In his April 2009 Prague speech, President Obama stated that “we must ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear weapon. This is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. One terrorist with one nuclear weapon could unleash massive destruction. Al Qaeda has said it seeks a bomb and that it would have no problem with using it. And we know that there is unsecured nuclear material across the globe. To protect our people, we must act with a sense of purpose without delay. So today I am announcing a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years. We will set new standards, expand our cooperation with Russia, pursue new partnerships to lock down these sensitive materials.” The Joint Statement from the Moscow Summit between Presidents Obama and Medvedev in July 2009, the September 2009 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1887, and the Nuclear Security Summits in April 2010 and March 2012, reinforce that this is a pressing global security issue.
Key Challenges include:
• Host country’s commitment to implement and sustain their nuclear security/removal activities.
• Additional agreements need to be negotiated with foreign governments before all work can be completed as planned.
Stakeholder Engagement: The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) works with other U.S. government agencies, multilateral institutions, foreign governments, and commercial contractors. Policy issues are coordinated with the National Security Council and the Department of State. NNSA nonproliferation programs maintain close coordination with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Department of Defense's Cooperative Threat Reduction Agency.
This priority goal supports the nuclear security strategic goal and the strategic objective to reduce goal nuclear security threats.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
In support of this goal, DOE will:
- Retrieve tank waste, close tanks, and dispose of transuranic waste within cost and schedule through FY 2015
- On a three-year rolling basis, complete at least 90% of departmental projects baselined since the start of FY 2008 within the original scope baseline and not to exceed 110% of the cost as reflected in the performance baseline established at Critical Decision 2 through FY 2015
- Achieve full operational capability of the Joint Cybersecurity Coordination Center (JC3), including TS-SCI operations, by the end of FY 2015
Description:
Overview of the Environmental Management part of the goal:
The Department and its predecessor agencies generated radioactive liquid waste as a by-product of the production of nuclear weapons. The EM Program has an estimated 88 million gallons of highly radioactive waste from the legacy of the Cold War stored in 239 tanks at Idaho, the Savannah River Site and the Office of River Protection. By reducing and disposing of the liquid waste tank wastes, EM is demonstrating tangible evidence of the program's goal to reduce the highest risks in the complex. By eliminating high-risk material, corresponding life-cycle cost reductions are achieved for an activity that is a major cost driver to the EM program.
Management and removal of legacy Transuranic (TRU) waste across the EM complex directly supports risk reduction and the goal of reducing the EM site footprint. The EM Program also coordinates with all DOE sites that generate transuranic waste to retrieve, repackage, characterize, ship, and dispose of transuranic waste resulting in cleaning up sites, reducing risks, and decreasing the Department’s nuclear footprint.
Challenges for meeting EM’s Agency Priority Goal (the retrieval of tank waste, closing waste tanks and disposing of transuranic waste) include designing, building, starting up, and operating complex, hazardous, and unique nuclear facilities. These facilities include the Waste Treatment Plant in Hanford, Washington; the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho National Laboratory; and the Salt Waste Processing Facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
Successful completion of these cleanup goals depends on overcoming technical, quality assurance, schedule, regulatory, and management challenges. The Department will leverage past experience, applying best practices and lessons learned; identify, develop, and deploy practical technological solutions; and look for innovative and sustainable practices that make cleanup more efficient.
Overview of the Project Management goal:
The Department of Energy (DOE) is the largest civilian contracting agency in the Federal Government and spends approximately 95% of its annual budget on contracts to operate its scientific laboratories, engineering and production facilities, and environmental restoration sites and to acquire capital assets. The Department has been challenged, both externally and internally, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its contract and project management processes. The Department remains committed to making continuous improvements in contract and project management performance.
DOE has been on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) High-Risk List since 1990. During the past several years, the Department has launched and completed several initiatives to address its challenges including a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and associated Corrective Action Plan (CAP) in 2008, Contract and Project Management Summit-related corrective actions, and issuance of several Deputy Secretary policy directives. Many measurable improvements have been implemented resulting from these efforts to include: improving front-end planning by requiring sufficient design maturity prior to establishing performance baselines; defining required project staff-size and required skill-set across the project lifecycle and enhancing training and qualifications of project and contract management personnel; stabilizing project funding and affordability by adhering to baseline funding profiles for incrementally funded projects in annual budget requests; strengthening DOE Order 413.3B inclusive of new independent cost estimating requirements at Critical Decision (CD) gateways; deploying a new and more robust Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II), which allows for direct upload of contractor project performance data; and implementing Project Peer Reviews, a best practice successfully employed by the Office of Science, across the Department to better monitor project development and execution and foster sharing of design, procurement and construction lessons learned.
Based on the Department’s progress, GAO narrowed the scope of the high-risk designation in 2009, removing the Office of Science and focusing on the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Office of Environmental Management (EM). GAO issued a scorecard with five criteria for removing all DOE programs from the High-Risk List:
- Demonstrate strong commitment and leadership;
- Demonstrate progress in implementing corrective measures;
- Develop a corrective action plan that identifies root causes, effective solutions, and a near-term plan for implementing the solutions;
- Have the capacity (people and resources) to resolve problems; and
- Monitor and independently validate the effectiveness and sustainability of corrective measures.
GAO acknowledged the Department met the first three of these criteria in February 2011. In GAO’s February 2013 High-Risk List update, GAO acknowledged the Department’s continuing improvement in contract and project management by shifting the focus of DOE’s high-risk designation to major contracts and projects executed by NNSA and EM with values of $750 million or greater.
Progress toward achieving this goal, project success, is tracked in the Department’s Project Assessment and Reporting System (PARS II) and reported to Program Offices, GAO and OMB on a quarterly basis.
Overview of the JC3 part of the goal:
The Joint Cybersecurity Center (JC3) is a Departmental enterprise asset designed to improve information sharing and coordinated incident response for all cybersecurity events. Accordingly the DOE Chief Information Officer (CIO) is responsible for developing and maintaining the Department’s overall cybersecurity strategy in coordination with the Undersecretaries of Science & Energy, Nuclear Security, and Management & Performance.
Agency Priority Goal:
Statement:
Restructure the relationship and interactions between the Department and the national laboratories and sites to ensure the continued status of the national laboratories as world-class research institutions best able to achieve DOE’s mission, maximize the impact of federal R&D investment in the laboratories, accelerate the transfer of technology into the private and government sectors, and better respond to opportunities and challenges. In support of this goal, DOE will:
- Establish the National Laboratory Policy Council to address high-level policy challenges and develop initiatives to build and focus the laboratory system on critical economic, research and national security priorities
- Establish the National Laboratory Operations Board to address operational and administrative issues and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of DOE’s management of the national laboratories
- Improve stewardship of national assets across the national laboratories and DOE operating sites to assure that DOE physical plants and their operating practices comply with DOE Directives and achieve Administration priority initiatives by end of FY 2015
Description:
Cross-cutting initiatives that leverage the science, technology and engineering capabilities in program offices and the DOE national laboratories will enhance and provide opportunities for economic growth by strengthening the Department and supporting the Department’s missions and other national missions.
The Department of Energy National Laboratories are engaged in a broad program of scientific research and technological innovation supporting the Department’s mission responsibilities in energy, nuclear security, science and environmental management.
The National Laboratory Policy Council will provide a forum for the National Laboratories to provide strategic advice and assistance to the Secretary in the Department’s policy and program planning processes and for the Department to provide strategic guidance on National Laboratory activities in support of Departmental missions.
The objectives of the National Laboratory Operations Board are to strengthen and enhance the partnership between the Department and National Laboratories, and to improve management and performance to more effectively and efficiently execute the missions of the Department and the National Laboratories.
