Kansas City Site’s Role in Providing Nonnuclear Parts and Components

The Kansas City site is NNSA’s primary site for procuring or producing  nonnuclear parts and components, providing over 80 percent of the parts  and components that compose a typical nuclear weapon. Projected Workload for the Kansas City Site Has Increased Significantly from 2012 Forecasts

Projected workload for the Kansas City site has increased significantly,  based on NNSA’s stockpile plan changes from 2012—when the new  modern facility was built—to the 2018 stockpile plan update. However, the fiscal year 2018 updates, based on  “what-if” capacity analyses, now show that the headcount will need to  almost double, growing to more than 4,900 administrative and production  staff by 2020. Specifically, current mitigation efforts should help the site meet currently  forecasted increased workload and capacity demands, according to  NNSA analysis and consistent with the program plan included in the  Fiscal Year 2018 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan. Workforce

Kansas City site officials and contractor representatives have identified  three management challenges in ensuring the site can achieve a  sufficient contractor workforce to meet forecasted future workload: (1)  retention of existing staff, (2) recruiting skilled staff in a competitive job  market, and (3) obtaining security clearances for new staff in a timely  manner. In addition, approximately 32 percent of the Kansas City site’s contractor  staff are eligible to retire. For example, the site is hiring hourly  production factory staff well in advance of the full production schedule for  the B61-12 and W88 Alt 370 weapons systems in fiscal year 2019, in part  to ensure these staff will be cleared in time to meet workload demands,  according to site contractor representatives. Since the site procures about 65  percent of its nonnuclear components from external suppliers, these  management challenges are highly important, according to site contractor  representatives. Further Changes to Stockpile Requirements Are Anticipated, Which May Affect Existing Workload Plans at the Kansas City Site

While current efforts to mitigate the challenges Kansas City site  contractor representatives have identified are expected to help address  the site’s anticipated future workload, as discussed previously, this  workload could further increase if certain 2018 Nuclear Posture Review  policy statements, based on nuclear weapons stockpile studies now  underway in response to the review, result in changes to production  requirements. Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Senate committee report accompanying a bill for the National  Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 included a provision for us  to review the Kansas City site’s staffing plans and capabilities to meet  national security requirements. To examine workload forecasts for the Kansas City site since 2012, we  visited the site, obtained and reviewed workload documents, and  interviewed officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s  (NNSA) Kansas City site office and headquarters offices, and NNSA  contractor representatives at the site. Because the design and capacity of the modern production facility,  completed in 2012, was based largely on the 2012 SSMP and previous  plans, we used this as the baseline plan. To examine management challenges the Kansas City site has identified  for achieving the forecasted workload, and any actions the site has taken  to mitigate these challenges, we visited the Kansas City site, obtained  and reviewed documentation, and interviewed NNSA and contractor  officials who identified management challenges in five areas: ensuring  that the site has (1) sufficient production and administrative office space,  (2) up-to-date production equipment, (3) a sufficient workforce, (4)  capable and reliable external suppliers, and (5) complete weapons  designs early enough in development to minimize production changes  and delays.
Why GAO Did This Study

Modernization of the nation's nuclear stockpile depends on timely procurement and production of nonnuclear parts and components. Such parts and components make up over 80 percent of the items in a nuclear weapon. The Kansas City site procures or produces most of these parts, under NNSA oversight. In fiscal year 2012, the site completed construction of a modern production facility. The new facility was expected to accommodate rising future workload demands, based on the forecasts that were current in 2012, according to Kansas City site contractor representatives.
The Senate committee report accompanying a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 included a provision for GAO to review the Kansas City site's staffing plans and capabilities to meet national security requirements. This report examines (1) workload forecasts for the site since 2012, and (2) management challenges the site has identified for achieving the forecasted workload, and actions the site has taken to mitigate these challenges.
GAO reviewed NNSA and contractor documents from 2012 through 2018 relevant to workload changes, and associated workload capacity, including information on infrastructure, equipment, and business processes—as well as personnel data. GAO also interviewed NNSA program and field officials and contractor representatives.

What GAO Found

Workload forecasts have significantly changed at the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) primary site for procuring or producing nonnuclear parts and components of nuclear weapons since the site's modern production facility was built in 2012. Specifically, workload projections made by the contractor operating the site, known as the Kansas City National Security Campus (Kansas City site), has increased significantly from forecasts used in planning the site's new production facility. More recent forecasts show that to meet workload requirements, production and administrative staff will need to almost double by 2020 compared to 2014 levels. For example, workload to modernize the B61-12 and W88 weapons systems will double during fiscal years 2020 through 2022.
According to NNSA officials and contractor staff, the site has identified and begun to mitigate management challenges to meeting future workload, including:
Ensuring sufficient production and office space. Because the current space is not sufficient for the increase in projected workload, the site is leasing additional space until long-term solutions, currently in planning, can be implemented.
Updating production equipment. To update aging production equipment, the site is developing a 10-year equipment strategy, among other things.
Retaining and recruiting a sufficient workforce. The site has offered rewards and benefits to retain existing staff, about a third of whom are eligible to retire. It is also recruiting skilled new staff in tight labor markets and seeking to expedite security clearances for them.
Ensuring adequate external supplier capacity. The site procures about 65 percent of its nonnuclear components from external suppliers. The site is assessing capacity and risk of existing suppliers and developing new ones.
Current mitigation efforts should help the site meet currently planned increased workload and capacity demands, according to contractor and NNSA analyses. However, the February 2018 Nuclear Posture Review—conducted by the Department of Defense under the direction of the President to determine the role of nuclear weapons in the nation's security strategy—may change requirements and add to the site's workload in ways not yet fully known because studies and plans in response to the review are not fully complete.