Reps. Obernolte, Foster Re-introduce Bipartisan Department of Energy Accountability Bill

U.S. Representatives Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Bill Foster (D-IL) re-introduced their bipartisan Cost-Share Accountability Actto improve the Department of Energy’s accountability to Congress and the public when awarding grants and waiving cost-sharing requirements.

“Cost-sharing requirements exist to protect the use of federal dollars and ensure American taxpayers get the best possible return on their investment,” said Rep. Obernolte. “While cost-sharing waivers can be useful for catalyzing investment in novel technologies, they must also be exercised appropriately and carefully. As Members of Congress, it is our responsibility to ensure that agencies are acting as good stewards of taxpayer dollars when carrying out these transactions.”

“For Congress to fulfill our oversight responsibilities, we must be able to access information on how our departments and agencies are operating," said Rep. Foster. "At the Department of Energy, cost-sharing requirements are in place to help protect the use of federal funds. It’s critical Congress understands how cost-sharing is implemented in support of the department’s next-generation research and development.”

While the Energy Policy Act of 2005 establishes cost-sharing requirements for most research, development, demonstration and commercial application activities at the Department of Energy, the Office of Nuclear Energy has used its authority under the law to award sole-source grants while also waiving the cost-sharing requirements for those grants at least three times in the last several years. While these waivers are sometimes appropriate and can help enable faster investment in critical novel technologies, they also remove funding from the competitive award process and deny other prospective participants the opportunity to submit their own competing proposals.

H.R. 342, theCost-Share Accountability Act, increases accountability over the Department of Energy’s on federally funded projects by requiring the department to make public and submit to Congress quarterly reports on the use of its authority to modify or bypass the statutory cost-sharing requirement. This change will ensure better transparency and competitiveness in the Department’s awards process and improve stewardship of taxpayer dollars.