National Nuclear Security Administration: Guidance Enhancements Could Improve Contractors’ Diversity Plans

What GAO Found

The National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) May 2023 management and operating (M&O) contractor employee diversity report generally included diversity and demographic information for the contractor workforce. For example, the report included information on employee race/ethnicity, gender, and disability and veteran statuses. NNSA fully addressed one of five reporting requirements in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY2021 NDAA) by including this information. The agency partially addressed the second statutory reporting requirement—to use, to the extent practical, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational classification system—because NNSA used its existing classification system rather than the Bureau of Labors Statistics' system.

Workforce Diversity for Nuclear Security Enterprise Contractors in 2022

NNSA's report included data illustrating some trends that GAO identified as areas for attention, such as a relative decline in Black or African American employees. However, the report did not substantively discuss the areas. NNSA

• partially addressed the third statutory reporting requirement by including limited information on the M&O contractors' diversity plans, but did not describe how the plans respond to trends in the report's data;
• partially addressed the fourth statutory reporting requirement by identifying the M&O contractor offices responsible for implementing the diversity plans at each site, but did not include information describing how those offices determine whether their diversity plan goals are being met; and
• did not address the fifth statutory reporting requirement to describe mandatory diversity training resources and the number of trained employees.

The FY2021 NDAA does not require additional NNSA workforce diversity reports.

M&O contractors' diversity plans identify contractors' planned actions to address diversity-related efforts at the sites. GAO reviewed the most recent diversity plans for each site against the Department of Energy's diversity plan guidance and found that all of the plans generally addressed the guidance. However, the guidance was not consistent with three of nine GAO leading practices for diversity management. The Department of Energy could better ensure NNSA's M&O contractors develop comprehensive diversity plans by fully incorporating the leading practices for diversity management into its diversity plan guidance.

Why GAO Did This Study

NNSA, a separately organized agency within DOE, is responsible for maintaining the nation's nuclear stockpile, among other missions. The agency relies on about 59,000 M&O contractor employees across eight sites.

The FY2021 NDAA required NNSA to report to congressional defense committees on the diversity of the agency's M&O contractor employees. Further, the law required NNSA's report to address five topics, including demographic data and plans to increase diversity at the sites. NNSA published its report in May 2023.

The FY2021 NDAA also includes a provision for GAO to review NNSA's report. GAO examined the extent to which (1) NNSA's report identifies diversity and demographic information for M&O contractor employees; (2) NNSA's report identifies areas for attention and addresses other reporting requirements; and (3) M&O contractor diversity plans address DOE guidance, and the DOE guidance addresses GAO's leading practices for diversity management.

GAO reviewed DOE and M&O contractor documents and interviewed NNSA officials and contractor representatives. GAO compared M&O contractor diversity plans against DOE guidance for such plans, and the DOE guidance against the leading practices.