Federal Research Opportunities: DOE, DOD, and HHS Need Better Guidance for Participant Activities
Published: 2016-01-20T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: The ORISE research participation program seeks to enhance the future scientific and engineering workforce by providing students, postgraduates, and faculty with hands-on research experiences in federal agencies. The program is administered by a DOE contractor, and other agencies sponsor research participants via interagency agreements with DOE. Research participants engage in a variety of projects at DOE and other sponsoring agencies, but they are not considered federal government employees and thus are prohibited from performing inherently governmental functions.
GAO was asked to review the ORISE research participation program. This report examines (1) program expenditures by all sponsoring agencies and (2) selected agencies' assessments of program effectiveness and their guidance on inherently governmental functions.
GAO reviewed program data for fiscal years 2010-2014, the five most recent years for which data were available; examined program policies and guidance at DOE, DOD, and HHS, the three agencies that sponsored the most participants in fiscal year 2014; and interviewed officials at those three agencies.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: For fiscal years 2010 through 2014, the 11 departments and other federal agencies that sponsor research participants collectively expended $776.4 million for activities carried out through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) research participation program (ORISE program). The three agencies with the highest expenditures for the program over the 5-year period were the Department of Energy (DOE), which oversees the contractor managing ORISE, and the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which both sponsor research participants via interagency agreements with DOE. Expenditures increased 73 percent over that period, and the number of appointments increased 42 percent. Stipends accounted for 82 percent of expenditures over that period, with the remainder going to other participant expenses, overhead and program support, and administrative and security charges. Agencies' expenditures per appointment varied for several reasons, such as differences in methods of setting stipends.
Components within DOE, DOD, and HHS that sponsor research participants have performed some assessments of the short-term effectiveness of the ORISE program, but provide varying levels of detail to agencies' employees and research participants about inherently governmental functions—those functions that are so intimately related to the public interest as to require performance by federal government employees.
Program effectiveness. Sponsoring agency components establish their own objectives for research participants and can decide whether and how to assess the extent to which the ORISE program meets those objectives. DOE, DOD, and HHS components have used questionnaires and other methods to assess how well the ORISE program meets the short-term needs of research participants and of the agency staff who oversee their activities. Agencies also face challenges in assessing the program's long-term effectiveness; for example, they do not have methods to track research participants over their careers to determine the extent to which participants' success is a result of the program. DOE has worked with other agencies on developing ways to address such challenges.
Inherently governmental functions. Federal guidance directs agencies to develop internal procedures to ensure that only federal employees perform inherently governmental functions. DOE, DOD, and HHS sponsoring components' guidance for research participants that GAO reviewed had varying levels of detail on inherently governmental functions. Officials at these agencies said that research participants' projects generally do not involve inherently governmental functions, but GAO found that some research participants' projects involve activities that are closely associated with inherently governmental functions, such as participating in certain policy and strategic planning meetings, which may increase the risk of the participants performing inherently governmental functions. Development of detailed guidance could help sponsoring components reduce this risk and help officials better ensure adherence to the federal guidance on inherently governmental functions.
section_title: What GAO Recommends
paragraphs: GAO recommends that DOE, DOD, and HHS develop detailed guidance to inform their employees and research participants about inherently governmental functions. DOE, DOD, and HHS concurred with the recommendation and said they will take additional measures to provide detailed guidance to relevant parties.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: Federal agencies manage an investment of about $3 billion annually in  science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education  programs to help prepare students and teachers for careers in STEM  fields and to enhance the nation’s global competitiveness. As part of this  investment, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a  contract to the nonprofit Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) to  manage and direct the programs of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science  Education (ORISE) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Among other things, the  contractor manages the ORISE research participation program (ORISE  program) to develop the STEM workforce by providing hands-on research  experiences at DOE for students, postgraduates, and faculty. In addition,  the contractor administers the ORISE program for other federal agencies  that have entered into interagency agreements with DOE for the program.  Students and postgraduates in the ORISE program at DOE and other  federal agencies engage in activities that complement their academic  programs, while faculty members learn state-of-the-art science that they  can incorporate into their teaching. These participants obtain research  experiences in various locations at federal agencies, such as  departmental offices, research centers and institutes, or military units and  commands.
In fiscal year 2014, ORAU administered close to 5,900 ORISE research  participant appointments on behalf of DOE and other federal agencies,  including the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of  Health and Human Services (HHS). Sponsoring agencies—DOE, DOD,  HHS, and other agencies that sponsor ORISE research participants—use  their respective budgetary resources to fund the research participants.
Components within sponsoring agencies assign research participants in  the ORISE program (ORISE research participants) to various research  projects. For example, DOE sponsors research participants in the Office  of Science, as well as in other components within DOE. Other federal  agencies with components interested in sponsoring research participants  can enter into interagency agreements—known as Strategic Partnership  Projects agreements—with DOE. These agreements permit DOE,  through ORAU, to administer the ORISE program for other federal  agencies on a reimbursable basis. The agreements provide for the  sponsoring agencies to pay DOE for the cost of the ORISE program at  the sponsoring agencies and for specified administrative costs.
ORAU and sponsoring agencies each have specific responsibilities for  the ORISE program. Pursuant to ORAU’s contract with DOE and DOE’s  interagency agreements (including statements of work) with other  sponsoring agencies, ORAU provides support services, such as handling  administrative activities related to participant’s stipends and travel  reimbursements. Sponsoring agency components perform other tasks,  such as selecting participants, providing project descriptions, and  designating coordinators to manage research participants’ overall  participation in the program and mentors to direct research participants’  day-to-day activities.
As with all nonfederal employees, ORISE research participants are  prohibited from performing inherently governmental functions—functions  within the federal government that are so intimately related to the public  interest as to require performance by government employees. This  prohibition ensures that the act of governance is performed, and  decisions of significant public interest are made, by officials who are  accountable to the President and bound by laws controlling the conduct  and performance of federal employees that are intended to protect or  benefit the public and ensure the proper use of appropriated funds.  Inherently governmental functions include activities that require either the  exercise of discretion in applying federal government authority or the  making of value judgments in making decisions for the federal  government. Guidance issued by the Office of Management and  Budget’s (OMB) Office of Federal Procurement Policy regarding the  performance of inherently governmental functions directs agencies to  develop agency-level procedures, provide training, and designate senior  officials to be responsible for implementing policies on inherently  governmental functions.
You asked us to review the ORISE program, including expenditures. This  report examines (1) expenditures for the ORISE program by all  sponsoring agencies and (2) selected agencies’ assessments of the  ORISE program’s effectiveness, and their guidance on ensuring research  participants do not perform inherently governmental functions.
To examine federal agency expenditures for the ORISE program, we  reviewed data on ORISE program overhead, stipend, and other research  participant expenditures and on the number of appointments for fiscal  years 2010 through 2014, the most recent years for which data were  available. ORAU officials compiled this data from three databases: (1)  ORAU’s Program Information Entry System (PIES)/Applicant and  Participant Status System (APSS), for information on appointments for  fiscal years 2010 through 2014; (2) ORAU’s Oracle financial system, for  expenditure data for fiscal years 2010 through 2014, including federal  administrative charge data for fiscal years 2013 and 2014; and (3) DOE’s  Standard Accounting and Reporting System (STARS), for federal  administrative charge data for fiscal years 2010 through 2012. We  assessed the reliability of the data by interviewing ORAU officials  regarding the systems from which they obtained the data and their data  collection and verification practices, reviewing documentation of audits,  reviewing other reports on the data, and manually testing the internal  consistency of the data; we determined that the data were sufficiently  reliable for the purpose of reporting on program expenditures and  numbers of appointments. To identify how sponsoring agency  components determined stipends and other expenses for research  participants, we reviewed agency components’ guidance; for further  detail, we requested responses to a standard set of questions from  officials at selected DOE, DOD, and HHS components that sponsor  research participants. We analyzed the data to determine expenditures  per appointment at DOE and other sponsoring agencies and to analyze  program statistics and trends, and we interviewed ORAU officials and  officials at sponsoring agency components to determine the factors that  affect expenditures per appointment.
To examine agency assessments of the ORISE program’s effectiveness  and agency guidance on inherently governmental functions, we focused  on DOE, DOD, and HHS because these three agencies were the largest  sponsors of research participants in terms of numbers of appointments  and amount of expenditures in 2014. We examined relevant statutes,  contracts, and agreements to obtain a general understanding of DOE,  DOD, and HHS responsibilities for assessing the ORISE program and for  ensuring the prohibition on nonfederal employees performing inherently  governmental functions is being followed. These documents included  ORAU’s contract with DOE and the Economy Act of 1932, as amended.  In addition, we examined documents developed by ORAU and used by  DOE, DOD, and HHS to set forth the terms governing research  participant appointments. In particular, we examined examples of  statements of work, research participant appointment letters, and terms of  appointments to determine the extent to which they included information  or guidance on inherently governmental functions. In addition, we  reviewed websites for the ORISE program, as well as other documents,  such as participant handbooks, that ORAU and sponsoring agency  officials provided to us. We interviewed ORAU officials, as well as officials  at a nongeneralizable sample of 27 DOE, DOD, and HHS components  involved with the program (including program coordinators and mentors at  sponsoring agency components) and requested responses to a standard  set of questions from the 27 components to determine how they manage  and assess the effectiveness of their program and how they ensure the  prohibition on inherently governmental activities is being followed. We  selected the 27 sponsoring agency components by using data on the  number of all research participant appointments at DOE, DOD, and HHS  in fiscal year 2014. In particular, we selected components that had both  relatively large and small numbers of research participants and that, in  total, represented over half of all federal agency research participant  appointments in fiscal year 2014. As part of interviews with these  components, we also requested written guidance related to those aspects  we examined, including inherently governmental functions. We also  reviewed questionnaires that sponsoring agency components  administered to research participants and interviewed ORAU and agency  component officials involved with the program to determine how  questionnaires were used to assess the effectiveness of the ORISE  program.
For general context on the types of projects sponsoring agency  components assigned research participants to, we interviewed two  research participants and two mentors about their experiences with the  program. In addition, we obtained examples of research participant  project subject areas from ORAU officials.
We conducted this performance audit from November 2014 to January  2016 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing  standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to  obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for  our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe  that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings  and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: The purpose of DOE’s contract with ORAU is to provide management and  direction of programs through ORISE that maintain and advance science  and education capabilities supporting DOE’s strategic goals in the areas  of defense, energy, science, and the environment. To support these  goals, ORAU carries out a range of activities for DOE, including  administering workforce development programs to help ensure the future  availability of scientists and engineers. These workforce development  programs are intended to encourage individuals to enter STEM careers,  complement students’ academic programs, and provide faculty with state- of-the-art information to use in the classroom, as well as developing a  pool of talent from which federal agencies can draw for future  employment. ORAU groups its workforce development activities into the  following three categories:
Research participation program: This program provides research  experiences to students, postgraduates, faculty, and other  participants. These activities make up the ORISE program.
Fellowships and scholarships: Among other things, these programs  provide financial assistance for students to obtain academic degrees  in areas related to the sponsoring agency’s mission.
Events, academies, and competitions: These programs, such as  the National Science Bowl, a nationwide middle- and high-school  science and mathematics competition, are designed to encourage  participation in scientific and technological fields.
In fiscal year 2014, most of the federal agency expenditures on workforce  development activities administered by ORAU were for the ORISE  program. In that year, federal agencies expended $193.8 million on the  ORISE program, followed by $3.2 million for fellowships and scholarships,  and $1.7 million for events, academies, and competitions. These  expenditures supported 5,854 research participation appointments, 72  scholarships and fellowships, and 1,191 special event participants.
ORISE research participants engage in a variety of subject areas, such  as climate change, weather impacts on military projects, infectious and  chronic diseases, computer simulations of potential terrorist attacks or  natural disasters, and conservation measures for fish and wildlife. (See  app.I for additional examples, by sponsoring agency, of project subject  areas in fiscal year 2014.) Research participants may also be involved in  developing briefing materials on their research for agency leadership,  publishing the results of their research, participating in conferences, and  obtaining other research-related experiences. Research participants are  not considered federal employees or federal contractors and do not  receive a salary. They instead receive stipends and certain other  expenses to defray their costs of living during their appointments.  Participant appointments can be full- or part-time and can last for weeks,  such as in the case of a 10- to 12-week summer program, or years, such  as in the case of a 1-year postgraduate program renewable for up to 4  additional years.
section_title: Agency Expenditures for the ORISE Program Increased from 2010 through 2014, with Stipends Making Up the Largest Portion of Expenses
paragraphs: From fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2014, DOE and other  sponsoring agencies expended a total of $776.4 million for the ORISE  program, with DOD, DOE, and HHS accounting for the majority of the  expenditures. Over that period, annual program expenditures increased  by 73 percent, and the number of annual appointments rose by 42  percent. Stipends accounted for the largest portion of agencies’  expenditures. Sponsoring agency expenditures per appointment varied,  affected by factors such as the length of research participants’  appointments and the program support services sponsoring agencies had  ORAU perform.
subsections: section_title: DOD, DOE, and HHS Expended the Most for the ORISE Program from 2010 through 2014, as Overall Expenditures and Participation Increased
paragraphs: During fiscal years 2010 through 2014, sponsoring agencies, which  included 11 departments and other federal agencies, expended a total of  $776.4 million for the ORISE program. DOD, HHS, and DOE collectively  had the highest expenditures for the program (over 87 percent) over that  period and had the highest number of appointments in fiscal year 2014  (over 88 percent). Within DOD, the Army was the primary component  that sponsored ORISE research participants, accounting for 77 percent of  DOD expenditures over the 5-year period and 70 percent of appointments  in fiscal year 2014. Within HHS over the same time periods, the Food and  Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention (CDC) accounted for about 59 percent and 32 percent of  expenditures, respectively, and about 53 percent and 36 percent of  appointments. See figure 1 below and appendix II for further information  on agencies’ expenditures and numbers of appointments.
Sponsoring agencies’ total annual expenditures increased from $112.3  million in fiscal year 2010 to $193.8 million in fiscal year 2014, a 73  percent increase (61 percent when adjusted for inflation), and the number  of appointments grew from 4,128 to 5,854, a 42 percent increase (see fig.  2 below and app. II for further information).
An ORAU official who maintains data on appointments attributed the  growth in the number of appointments to an increase in the program’s  popularity, which led to the addition of new sponsoring agencies and  increases in the number of appointments per sponsoring agency. Agency  component officials we interviewed cited a variety of reasons for wanting  to sponsor ORISE research participants, including: access to the ORISE program’s recruiters and network of connections administrative support from the ORISE program that the sponsoring  agencies could not easily supply themselves, and the speed, flexibility, and relatively low overhead cost of the ORISE  program.
For example, an official who managed the research participation program  at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases told us  that the cost of hiring and managing staff to administer their own program  would cost more than the overhead that they pay for the ORISE program.
The average total expenditure per appointment in the ORISE program  also increased from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2014, from about  $27,200 per appointment in fiscal year 2010 to about $33,100 per  appointment in fiscal year 2014. Expenditures per appointment may  have risen for a variety of reasons, such as changes in the average  education level of research participants and the average length of their  appointments. For example, the proportions of appointments at different  education levels in fiscal year 2014 shifted compared to the proportions in  fiscal year 2010, with recent graduate and postdoctoral appointments  increasing 65 percent and 68 percent, respectively, while undergraduate  appointments increased 12 percent. An ORAU official said that  postgraduate appointments generally command higher stipends than  undergraduate appointments. For example, according to information  provided by FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, monthly  stipends at their center could be as high as $2,897 for currently enrolled  undergraduate students and as high as $7,569 for postgraduates with  PhD degrees. The official said that postgraduate appointments at their  center also last longer than undergraduate appointments, resulting in  higher expenditures per appointment.
section_title: Most Expenses Were for Stipends, and Several Factors Contributed to Variations in Agencies’ Expenditures per Appointment
paragraphs: From fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2014, stipends—funds paid to  research participants to defray their costs of living during their  appointments—comprised the majority of agencies’ expenditures for the  ORISE program. Sponsoring agencies’ other expenditures for the  program included the following categories of expenses:
Travel and other research participant expenses: Funds paid to  research participants to cover particular expenses not covered by  their stipends, such as expenses for travel to conferences or other  appointment-related destinations.
Program support and overhead: Funds paid to DOE to cover  ORAU’s expenses for administering the appointment of research  participants at agencies. These expenses included (1) program  support expenses—direct expenses for services ORAU provides to  agencies, such as managing recruitment activities, and (2) general  and administrative expenses—indirect expenses such as building  expenses, paid by agencies as a fixed percentage (negotiated by  DOE and ORAU) of total expenditures on the ORISE program.
Federal administrative and security charges: Fees paid to DOE by  other sponsoring agencies, including (1) a federal administrative  charge of 3 percent of an agency’s total expenditures on the ORISE  program to offset DOE’s administrative expenses for work conducted  on behalf of other agencies and (2) a charge applied to Strategic  Partnership Projects to supplement DOE support for safeguards and  security expenses.
Figure 3 shows the percentage of expenditures for each category of  expense.
Sponsoring agencies’ expenditures per appointment in the ORISE  program varied among agencies. In each year from fiscal year 2010  through fiscal year 2014, the lowest average expenditure per appointment  for a sponsoring agency was $14,396 or less, and the highest average  expenditure per appointment was $42,996 or more. For example, in fiscal  year 2014, the Department of the Interior expended an average of  $12,246 per appointment, while the Environmental Protection Agency  expended an average of $44,099 per appointment. The proportions  expended for different categories of expenses also varied. For example,  data provided by ORAU showed that the proportion agencies expended  on stipends ranged from 69 percent to 88 percent in fiscal year 2014.
We identified the following factors that contributed to per-appointment  expenditures varying among agencies:
Research participants’ appointment terms. Differences in the  terms that sponsoring agency components set for research  participants’ appointments contributed to variation in expenditures per  appointment. Some appointments lasted for days, weeks, or months,  while others lasted for a full year or more. For example, FDA’s  National Center for Toxicological Research’s Summer Student  Research Program placed research participants in a 10-week summer  program. In contrast, the National Library of Medicine’s Associate  Fellowship Program placed research participants in 1- or 2-year  residency programs. In addition, some appointments were full-time,  while others were part-time.
Methods of setting stipends. Officials at sponsoring agency  components reported that they used differing methods to set research  participants’ stipends. ORAU officials said that they sometimes  provided advice to the agencies, but that the agencies ultimately set  their own stipends. Almost all of the officials we interviewed at  sponsoring agency components said that they considered applicants’  education levels when setting stipends, but they varied in the other  factors they considered. For example, some used the Office of  Personnel Management’s General Schedule pay scale, but others did  not. The officials also differed in the extent to which they considered  other factors, including prior work experience, salaries in the private  and government sectors, stipends received by research participants in  other programs, and geographic location. Some of the officials said  that they set fixed stipends for all research participants, but others  said that they determined stipends individually or made exceptions to  fixed stipends when attempting to fill particular appointments.
Other expenses covered. Sponsoring agency components chose to  reimburse their research participants for different types and amounts  of expenses not covered by their stipends. For example, in fiscal year  2014, the Air Force expended an average of $492 per appointment to  pay for participants’ travel expenses, while the Environmental  Protection Agency expended an average of $1,387 per appointment  for that purpose. Other expenses that can vary among sponsoring  agency components include payment of research participants’ tuition  and fees at their academic institutions; reimbursement for the costs of  moving to a research site; allowances for housing at research sites;  payment of visa processing fees for foreign research participants; and  purchase of safety equipment, books, and research supplies.
Services performed by ORAU. Sponsoring agency components  selected from and paid for many different services performed by  ORAU. These services included managing recruitment activities,  processing applications, making and monitoring appointments,  designing and implementing program enhancements, paying stipends,  administering other research participant expenses and insurance,  managing domestic and foreign travel, analyzing and providing  financial reports, developing and administering program goals and  objectives, handling immigration status issues, and other tasks.  Agencies’ selections of these services determined the amount that  they paid in program support expenses for each of their appointments.
section_title: Assessment of the ORISE Program and Guidance on Inherently Governmental Functions Varies Among Sponsoring Agency Components
paragraphs: According to DOE officials, the ORISE program consists of a set of  distinct activities, or separate programs, that ORAU carries out on behalf  of DOE and other sponsoring agency components. As a result, DOE  considers responsibility for assessing the effectiveness of ORISE  program activities to be dispersed among the sponsoring agencies, each  of which may have separate objectives for sponsoring research  participants. Sponsoring agency components we reviewed use  questionnaires and other methods to assess how well the program is  working. Responsibility for ensuring research participants do not perform  inherently governmental functions is also dispersed among sponsoring  agencies. However, documents provided by DOE, DOD, and HHS  components to research participants, coordinators, and mentors contain  varying levels of detail on the prohibition on nonfederal employees  performing inherently governmental functions. Without detailed guidance,  sponsoring agencies have limited assurance that the prohibition is being  followed.
subsections: section_title: Sponsoring Agency Components Chose Whether and How to Assess the ORISE Program
paragraphs: In May 2013, the National Science and Technology Council, which  coordinates executive branch science and technology policy, released its  5-year strategic plan for STEM education, which stated that federal  agencies would focus on building and using evidence-based approaches  to evaluate the federal investment in STEM education. DOE officials told  us that, because the ORISE program consists of separate activities that  ORAU carries out on behalf of DOE and other sponsoring agencies,  these agencies choose whether to assess the effectiveness of ORISE  program activities as part of their other investments in STEM education.  As a result, other than periodically evaluating ORAU’s performance (with  input from sponsoring agencies) under its contract to determine ORAU’s  award fee, DOE does not assess the overall effectiveness of the activities  that ORAU carries out under the ORISE program, according to a DOE  official. For example, the official said DOE does not assess how ORISE  program activities at other sponsoring agencies contribute to the ORISE  program’s objective to enhance the quantity, quality, and diversity of the  future scientific and engineering workforce and to increase the scientific  and technical literacy of the U.S. citizenry.
Sponsoring agency components establish their own objectives for  sponsoring research participants and decide whether and how to assess  the extent to which the ORISE program meets those objectives,  according to DOE officials. Some but not all DOE, DOD, and HHS  components have used questionnaires, and some components have used  other methods to assess how well the ORISE program is working in the  short term, such as over the course of a research participant’s  appointment. In particular, some components use questionnaires  developed with assistance from ORAU and administered to research  participants, and sometimes to mentors. ORISE program coordinators  and other officials at sponsoring agency components described other  methods they use to assess the program, such as asking research  participants about their experiences and monitoring the progress of  research participants’ research projects, research participants’  publications and presentations related to their research, and the number  of current agency employees who were past ORISE research  participants. In addition, one of the program support functions that ORAU  can offer to sponsoring agencies at the cost of the service is performing  an assessment of ORISE program effectiveness. In response to a request  from the sponsoring agency component, ORAU performed such an  assessment for the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting  Command and issued a report in August 2014.
The methods being used by the sponsoring components we reviewed  assess how well the program is meeting the short-term needs of research  participants and mentors. For example, some research participant  questionnaires included questions about research participants’  satisfaction with their assignment, training, mentoring, stipends, and  program administration. DOD mentor questionnaires include questions on  reasons for renewing a research participant’s appointment and research  participants’ skills and knowledge.
A DOE Office of Science official told us that DOE is working with other  agencies to develop methods for assessing the long-term outcomes of  STEM education efforts, such as the ORISE program increasing the  diversity of the STEM workforce. The official noted that, without such  methods, they face challenges in assessing the long-term effectiveness of  the ORISE program. For example, according to the official, such  challenges include developing methods to track research participants  over the course of their careers and determining the extent to which a  participant’s degree of success in a STEM field is a result of the ORISE  program as opposed to other educational experiences.
section_title: Documents Used by DOE, DOD, and HHS for Research Participants and Mentors Provide Varying Levels of Detail on Inherently Governmental Functions
paragraphs: In 2011, OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued guidance to  assist agency officers and employees in ensuring that only federal  employees perform work that is inherently governmental or otherwise  needs to be reserved to the public sector. This guidance directs  agencies to develop and maintain internal procedures; take appropriate  steps to help employees understand and meet their responsibilities; and  periodically evaluate the effectiveness of their internal management  controls for reserving work for federal employees. In accordance with  OMB’s guidance, agencies that sponsor ORISE research participants are  responsible for ensuring that research participants at their agencies do  not perform inherently governmental functions.
Documents we reviewed that are issued by DOE, DOD, and HHS,  regarding research participants at their agencies, and that are used by  sponsoring agency components’ coordinators, mentors, and research  participants varied in level of detail on activities considered inherently  governmental functions. For example, within HHS, ORISE program  handbooks from FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine and Center of  Drug Evaluation and Research included examples of activities research  participants should not perform, such as serving as a drug, device, safety,  or facilities reviewer. Similarly, within DOD, the research participant  appointment letters used by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense  for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics included detailed guidance,  such as a statement that research participants should not accept policy,  budget, or program management authority. In contrast, sample  appointment letters that we reviewed used by HHS’s CDC and DOD’s  U.S. Army Environmental Command stated only that the research  participant will not enter into an employee/employer relationship with  ORISE, DOE, or any other office or agency, and did not specifically cite  the inherently governmental activities prohibition. The terms of  appointment developed by ORAU and used by DOE, DOD, and HHS to  make research participant appointments states only that the appointment  is an educational experience and not a contract of employment.
Statements of work agreed upon as part of interagency agreements  between DOE and sponsoring agencies also varied in their level of detail  about activities considered to be inherently governmental functions. For  example, a statement of work for the CDC stated that ORISE research  participation projects should not include activities reserved for federal  employees, such as those involving budget or program management  authority. In contrast, a statement of work for the National Institutes of  Health did not include this level of detail, stating only that individuals  selected for appointments do not become employees.
DOE and other sponsoring agency officials noted that ORISE research  participants are assigned to research projects that generally do not  involve inherently governmental functions. A DOE Office of Science  official said that the research focus of most ORISE appointments reduced  the risk of those research participants performing inherently governmental  functions. However, GAO found that some research participants’ projects  involve activities that are closely associated with inherently governmental  functions, such as participating in policy and strategic planning meetings,  which may increase the risk of the participants performing inherently  governmental functions. The DOE Office of Science official described  how, in such cases, DOE provided more detailed briefings on inherently  governmental functions for certain research participants, as well as  briefings for their mentors. However, officials at other sponsoring agency  components we interviewed did not describe providing such briefings as a  standard practice for coordinators, mentors, or research participants. For  example, the position description for a research participant in the DOD  Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and  Logistics included participating in policy and strategic planning meetings,  but officials at this DOD component did not describe providing briefings  on inherently governmental functions, increasing the importance of written  guidance.
Not having detailed guidance increases the risk that coordinators  responsible for managing overall participation in the program and mentors  responsible for directing research participants’ day-to-day activities may  overlook the possibility of research participants engaging in inherently  governmental functions, especially in cases where participants’ activities  are closely associated with inherently governmental functions.  Development of detailed guidance could help sponsoring agencies fulfill  their responsibilities as identified in OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement  Policy guidance on inherently governmental functions.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: By providing hands-on research experiences in government agencies for  students, postgraduates, and faculty, the ORISE research participation  program makes an important contribution to federal efforts to help  prepare students and teachers for careers in STEM fields. Responsibility  for administering the program is dispersed among agencies that sponsor  research participants. In particular, agencies are responsible for ensuring  that research participants do not perform inherently governmental  functions—for example, by developing guidance and other documents for  research participants, coordinators, and mentors. Having this  responsibility allows agencies to tailor guidance on inherently  governmental functions to the features of the ORISE program at their  agencies, such as the types of projects to which research participants are  assigned. However, the level of detail in documents currently used by  DOE, DOD, and HHS varies, with some documents describing specific  types of activities that are inherently governmental functions and others  only providing general statements that research participants are not  federal government employees. More detailed guidance can help ORISE  coordinators, mentors, and research participants ensure that they are  adhering to the prohibition on research participants as nonfederal  government employees performing inherently government functions.
section_title: Recommendation for Executive Action
paragraphs: We recommend that the Secretaries of Energy, Defense, and Health and  Human Services develop detailed guidance to ensure that ORISE  program coordinators, mentors, and research participants are fully  informed of the prohibition on nonfederal employees performing  inherently governmental functions.
section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: We provided a draft of this report to DOE, DOD, and HHS for their review  and comment. In their written comments, reproduced in appendices III  through V, DOE, DOD and HHS concurred with our recommendation.  DOE and HHS also provided technical comments, which we incorporated  as appropriate.
In their written comments, DOE, DOD, and HHS described the measures  they will take to implement our recommendation on inherently  governmental functions. In particular, DOE stated that it plans to provide  detailed guidance to all relevant parties involved in DOE-sponsored  research participation activities administered through ORISE within 180  days, following consultation with relevant DOE offices. DOD stated  detailed guidance will be developed to further ensure those connected  with the ORISE program are fully informed of the prohibition on non- federal employees performing inherently governmental functions. HHS  stated that they are developing an agency-wide policy, including a section  on inherently governmental functions that will provide guidance to agency  program coordinators, mentors, and research participants.
In its letter and technical comments, DOE stated that the draft report did  not reflect detailed discussions we had with DOE officials regarding  inherently governmental functions. In addition, DOE stated that the draft  report significantly understated the extent to which DOE communicates  the prohibition of inherently governmental functions to sponsored  participants and agency mentors. We do not believe our report  understates DOE’s efforts. For example, our report includes a discussion  of the detailed briefings that DOE Office of Science officials provide on  inherently governmental functions to research participants selected for a  program designed to expose the participants to federal policymaking.  Other DOE, DOD, and HHS sponsoring agency components we  interviewed did not describe a similar practice for their coordinators,  mentors, or research participants. Our report’s discussion of these  briefings, as well as of documents issued by DOE for the ORISE  program, reflect the extent of communications on inherently governmental  functions that DOE provided to us.
We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional  committees; the Secretaries of Energy, Defense, and Health and Human  Services; and other interested parties. In addition, the report is available  at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staff members have any questions about this report, please  contact me at (202) 512-3841 or neumannj@gao.gov. Contact points for  our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found  on the last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to  this report are listed in appendix VI.
section_title: Appendix I: Examples of Subject Areas for ORISE Research Participant Projects in Fiscal Year 2014
paragraphs: Appendix I: Examples of Subject Areas for  ORISE Research Participant Projects in Fiscal  Year 2014 Examples of subject areas  Improving prevention and treatments of emerging foreign animal diseases, climate change impacts on  forests, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, and sensor networks on variable rate irrigation systems.
Laser systems, nanomaterials, acoustics, neurobiology, additive manufacturing, civil engineering,  cognitive modeling, intelligent sensors, exercise science, and visual analytics.
Weather impacts on military projects, cognitive function and psychological performance of soldiers,  health promotion and wellness, environmental medicine, improving military field equipment, and  science and technology policy.
Infectious disease or deployment health surveillance, clinical and health care epidemiology, optical  coherence tomography, and aeromedical studies.
Forensic sciences, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome prevention,  public health and preventive medicine studies, and science and technology policy.
Neutron scattering, fusion energy, efficiency of renewable energy sources, computational sciences,  materials sciences, process controls of advanced power systems, gas sensors and high temperatures,  improving extraction of earth elements, quantum computing, biofilms and biotechnology, advanced  manufacturing (carbon fiber), climate change, and science and technology policy.
Infectious diseases (e.g., influenza, sexually transmitted, food borne, vector borne, respiratory), chronic  diseases (e.g., heart, obesity, cancer), environmental health, toxic substances, health statistics, and  public health preparedness.
Toxicology, food safety, drug evaluation and testing, biological therapeutics, tobacco products, blood  products, medical devices, biotechnology products, translational sciences, women’s health, vaccines,  cell and gene therapies, and regulatory science.
Localization of proteins using molecular markers, gene regulatory effects in cancer, medical informatics,  and central nervous system injuries.
Public health economics, population based model testing, clinical care models, minority health, women’s  health, tobacco prevention initiatives, national human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune  deficiency syndrome strategies, and geospatial analysis of underserved populations.
Encryption for criminal databases, improving materials for coastal bridges, computer simulations of  potential terrorist attacks or natural disasters, brain-like modeling systems, searchable databases of  potential threats, human trafficking, and detecting and identifying explosive-related threats.
Data analysis of housing and urban development impacts and value on communities.
Department of the Interior  Data collection and surveys related to conservation measures for fish and wildlife.
Clean energy and climate change policy and analyses in the international economy, and building  efficiencies.
Climate change, software codes for aerial sampling systems, urban ecosystems, nanoparticles and  surface coating, waste disposal, safety of water supply, and biomarkers for environmental contaminants.
Juvenile prostitution and child abduction, causes of postmortem hair root banding, forensic applications  of isotopes, crimes against adults, and identification of facial phenotypic markers.
Includes Office of the Secretary, Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity, National  Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Defense Prisoner of War/Missing  in Action Accounting Command, and U.S. Southern Command.  Includes Office of the Secretary and Health Resources and Services Administration, and Center for  Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
section_title: Appendix II: Federal Expenditures for and Appointments in the ORISE Research Participation Program
paragraphs: The following tables detail federal agencies’ expenditures for and  research participant appointments they sponsored as part of the Oak  Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) research participation  program for fiscal years 2010 through 2014. Table 1 identifies agencies’  total annual expenditures for their involvement in the ORISE program.  Table 2 identifies the numbers of appointments at each agency for each  year. Table 3 details each agency’s total expenditures for the ORISE  program for fiscal years 2010 through 2014 by type of expense, including  stipends, travel, other research participant expenses, program support  and overhead, and federal administrative and security charges. In each  table, the three agencies that account for the largest share of  expenditures and appointments—the Department of Health and Human  Services (HHS), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department  of Energy (DOE)—are broken out into component agencies that  sponsored research participants.
section_title: Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Energy
section_title: Appendix IV: Comments from the Department of Defense
section_title: Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Health and Human Services
section_title: Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: GAO Contact
section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the individual named above, Joseph Cook (Assistant  Director), Sherri Doughty, Ellen Fried, Tobias Gillett, Kirsten Lauber,  Gerald Leverich, Cynthia C. Norris, Stephanie Shipman, Kathryn Smith,  Jeanette Soares, Sara Sullivan, and Thema Willette made key  contributions to this report.