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. Agency Expenditures for the ORISE Program Increased from 2010 through 2014, with Stipends Making Up the Largest Portion of Expenses

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. 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). Methods of setting stipends. Responsibility for ensuring research participants do not perform  inherently governmental functions is also dispersed among sponsoring  agencies. 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. 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. 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. Documents Used by DOE, DOD, and HHS for Research Participants and Mentors Provide Varying Levels of Detail on Inherently Governmental Functions

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. 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. DOE and other sponsoring agency officials noted that ORISE research  participants are assigned to research projects that generally do not  involve 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. 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. 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. In their written comments, DOE, DOD, and HHS described the measures  they will take to implement our recommendation on inherently  governmental functions. Appendix II: Federal Expenditures for and Appointments in the ORISE Research Participation Program

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. 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.
Why GAO Did This Study

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.

What GAO Found

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.

What GAO Recommends

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.