A recent audit conducted by the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General found concerns with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s consultant agreements, including paying more than $1.1 million in consultant invoices that “lacked sufficient detail.”
Ten recommendations were made to support continued compliance with the applicable regulations, which will come into effect in quarters two and three of fiscal year 2026.
The audit, conducted between February and November 2025, found multiple issues in a number of professional and consultant service agreements, including with Berkeley Lab entering agreements with former employees, missing conflict-of-interest disclosures and more.
“We initiated this audit to determine whether LBNL managed its professional and consultant services agreements in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements,” said the Office of Inspector General in the audit.
Berkeley Lab consultants are intended to provide external advisory services or technical assistance, according to the report.
Thirty-three subcontracts spanning over $6 million in costs were reviewed in the audit, limited to fiscal years 2020 to 2024.
More than $1.1 million in invoices and more than $17,000 in travel costs were questioned in the report. Of the 162 invoices paid to contractors reviewed, 62 lacked sufficient detail, including 40 that contained only total hours billed, 20 with identical descriptions and more.
Consultants were also reimbursed for travel expenses that failed to meet Federal Travel Regulations requirements, such as $2,400 in mileage and hotel charges for a consultant who lived 18 miles from the Berkeley Lab. Federal Travel Regulations require that travel reimbursement be for more than 50 miles.
“We attributed these issues to weaknesses in LBNL’s internal policies and procedures, failure to adhere to internal policies and procedures, and misalignment of internal policy to Department policies,” said the Office of Inspector General in the audit release.
Additionally, five of the consultant service agreements reviewed did not meet the Federal Acquisition Regulation definition of professional and consultant services, which are intended to provide “information, advice, opinions” and other work. Instead, some consultants were running bench work chemical experiments and preparing samples, which the Office of Inspector General believes may be “better suited for a contract worker.”
Some of these consultant agreements also exceed the maximum term of 5 years allowed for consultant service agreements, according to Berkeley Lab policy. Eighteen of the 33 agreements were with former LBNL employees.
“While we do not fully agree with the way that some findings have been presented, SC (Office of Science) concurs with the recommendations,” wrote acting manager of the Office of Science Hanley Lee in response to the draft report.
Recommendations made by the Office of Inspector General include policy manual revisions, additional communications to all invoice certifiers and additional employee training for procurement specialists, who handle subcontracts and other finances.
Additionally, Berkeley Lab established an Independent Contractor Review Board to oversee contract requests in October 2025.
The Office of Inspector General did not respond to comment as of press time.