ML18271A062
| ML18271A062 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 10/11/2018 |
| From: | Dan Dorman NRC/EDO/DEDCM |
| To: | Baker B NRC/OIG/AIGA |
| Michalak P | |
| References | |
| OIG-18-A-18 | |
| Download: ML18271A062 (3) | |
Text
B. Baker UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20555-0001 October 11, 2018 MEMORANDUM TO: Dr. Brett M. Baker Assistant Inspector General for Audits Office of the Inspector General FROM: Daniel H. Dorman /RA/
Acting Deputy Executive Director for Materials, Waste, Research, State, Tribal, Compliance, Administration and Human Capital Programs Office of the Executive Director for Operations
SUBJECT:
STAFF RESPONSE TO THE OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL FINAL REPORT: AUDIT OF U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSIONS PROCESS FOR REIMBURSING AGREEMENT STATE PERSONNEL TRAINING EXPENSES (OIG-18-A-18)
This memorandum provides the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff response to the Office of the Inspector Generals (OIGs) final report, Audit of NRCs Process for Reimbursing Agreement State Personnel Training Expenses, dated September 12, 2018. The response includes the staffs planned actions and the target date for completing the planned actions.
In its report, the OIG makes one recommendation related to the NRCs process for reimbursing Agreement State staff who attend NRC-sponsored training. Specifically, the OIG recommended that the NRC staff:
Conduct a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate alternative Agreement State reimbursement options, such as establishment of contracts with individual Agreement States to facilitate reimbursement at the State per diem rate not to exceed the Federal per diem rate.
NRC Staff Response and Planned Action The NRC staff agrees in part and disagrees in part with the recommendation. Consistent with the staffs response to the OIGs Final Draft Report on this audit, the NRC staff disagrees that multiple options are available for which the NRC could perform a cost-benefit analysis in the interest of using NRC funds more efficiently.
CONTACT: Paul Michalak, NMSS/MSST (301) 415-5804
B. Baker Two reimbursement options have already been evaluated and eliminated (i.e., reimburse directly at the State per diem rate, and continue to reimburse at the Federal per diem rate and request that Agreement States with travel reimbursement policies that require their employees to only receive the State per diem rate on official work-related travel, send the difference in per diem rates to the NRC). In its response to the NRC staff comments on the draft report, the OIG stated that it strongly believes that there are other options employed by other Federal agencies that NRC can evaluate, in addition to establishing contracts between the NRC and Agreement States to enable States to reimburse travelers at the State per diem rates (OIG-18-A-18, page 18). In addition, the OIG further stated that, OIG believes it is reasonable to request that the NRC staff reach out to other Federal agencies and conduct additional research with regard to State employee reimbursement options for the benefit of future cost savings (OIG-18-A-18, page 18).
Acknowledging that conducting such outreach was not included in the OIGs recommendation related to this audit, the NRC staff does not plan to conduct further outreach beyond that conducted by OIG in the context of performing the audit. The OIG has not provided a basis for its strong belief that there are other reimbursement options employed by other Federal agencies that the NRC can evaluate, and given the need to focus staff efforts on the most safety and security-significant work in a time of limited resources, the NRC staff does not believe that such a survey would be an efficient use of resources.
As discussed in the staffs response to the OIGs Final Draft Report, the NRC staff agrees to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the feasibility of establishing travel expense reimbursement contracts with individual Agreement States.1 The analysis will be conducted in a phased approach and will include:
a) A survey of all 38 Agreement States to determine their individual per diem rates and other information germane to the cost-benefit analysis.
b) Conducting a cost-benefit analysis of establishing travel expense reimbursement contracts with all 38 Agreement States. The analysis would include an estimate of the funds saved/expended (i.e., monetarized full time equivalent resource estimates) by establishing and maintaining the contracts, including the monitoring of the Agreement State travel expenditures and annual Agreement State travel per diem rates.
Target date for completion:
Complete action by June 2019 Staff point of contact:
Paul Michalak, NMSS/MSST/ASPB, (301) 415-5804 1
The NRC staff acknowledges that establishing NRC-funded grants to Agreement States for the training of their personnel could be an option; however, the NRC staff believes that the cost-benefit analysis involving the establishment of contracts with Agreement States would bound an option related to NRC-funded grants, thus, a separate cost-benefit analysis will not be performed.
ML18271A062 *concur via e-mail OFFICE MSST/ASPB NMSS/MSST OGC* OCFO*
NAME P. Michalak D. Collins M. Norris G. Peterson DATE 9/26/2018 9/28/18 9/28/18 9/28/18 OFFICE Tech Ed NMSS DEDM NAME C. Goode M. Dapas D. Dorman DATE 10/ 4/18 10/9/18 10/11 /18