Some offices within the Department of Energy as well as the National Nuclear Security Administration do not always seem to review lessons learned from previous acquisitions when planning new ones, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office.
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Benefits of Applying Lessons Learned
Lessons learned is one of the 10 acquisition planning practices that GAO said Thursday it had assessed during its review of 20 DOE contracts from fiscal years 2017 through 2022. According to GAO, reviewing and using knowledge gained from prior contracts, as well as enacting a process that would put those lessons into effect, would help the DOE avoid past mistakes and improve the planning of future acquisitions.
Rationale for the Review
GAO carried out the review in light of congressional and industry concerns regarding inadequate contract management at the DOE as manifested by the prolonged nature of some the agency’s acquisitions as well as the sudden cancellation of some awards.
GAO Recommendations
To address the issue of lessons learned, GAO recommended that policies be formulated by the DOE and the NNSA to make sure that acquisition offices consistently document the lessons learned they may have identified during the planning of acquisitions.
It was also recommended that the DOE’s Acquisition Guide be revised to give contracting officials instructions on what information they must include in the contract file to show which and how prior lessons learned were taken into consideration during acquisition planning. The guide should also be revised to update the source evaluation board lessons learned process so that it incorporates leading practices.