The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) failed to follow federal best practices for acquisitions prior to ordering its $600 million El Capitan high-performance computing system, a congressional watchdog said in a report this week. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) urged NNSA to do a more detailed analysis of alternatives in the future, and ensure vetting is done by an independent entity, according to the report published Thursday. Here NNSA “had a predetermined solution,” acquiring the high-performance computer setup, before doing…
