Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Management of Controlled Substances

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is 1 of 17 national laboratories operated by the Department of Energy. PNNL carries a broad portfolio of scientific activities within chemistry, earth science, biology, and data science. PNNL conducts research utilizing controlled substances in contributing to fentanyl standards establishment and detection technology. The Pacific Northwest Site Office oversees PNNL for the Department’s Office of Science. We initiated this inspection to determine the extent that PNNL effectively manages controlled substances. Based on our inspection, we found that PNNL’s management of its controlled substances was incomplete. Specifically, PNNL did not incorporate all applicable Federal property regulations into its management of controlled substances, as it did not classify them as personal property, did not categorize them as sensitive personal property, and did not follow prescribed inventory standards. This occurred because PNNL and the Pacific Northwest Site Office misclassified controlled substances as chemical assets. However, nothing came to our attention to indicate that PNNL’s safeguarding, use of, and record-keeping for controlled substances were not effective. Failure to address all applicable Federal requirements resulted in PNNL not properly tracking and reporting controlled substances inventories, not sending disposition reports to the Pacific Northwest Site Office, and improper segregation of duties for physical inventory counts. Moreover, the lack of additional mechanisms for identifying lost, misplaced, or stolen controlled substances could pose a danger to public health and safety. To address the issues identified in this report, we made one recommendation that, if fully implemented, should help ensure that PNNL properly manages its controlled substances.