When spending its $75 million share of $300 million in stimulus funds appropriated to the Defense Department for near-term energy efficiency research and development, the Army didn't always follow Recovery Act guidelines, according to the DoD inspector general.

In a review, dated August 27, of Army spending on the Near Term Energy-Efficient Technologies program, the inspector general finds that the Army didn't insert Recovery Act clauses into two NTEET project contracts.

Nor did it inform the public that for a $12.15 million research project into high temperature silicon carbide power semiconductors it intended to use existing contractors. However, of the eight total projects making up the Army portion of NTEET, the Army met transparency requirements for six of them, the inspector general states.

NTEET, according to a June 2010 program plan, seeks to reduce dependence on imported energy sources.

"Important missions and programs are at risk today from interruption of energy supplies and increasing cost," the program plan states. The plan estimates that NTEET research could reduce the cost of military operations from 5 to 25 percent while reducing security risks caused by fueling operations.

 For more:
- download DoD OIG report D-2010-RAM-019 (.pdf)
- download the NTEET June 2010 program plan

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