Performance Evaluation: Energy Information Administration
PART-84-1
Published: Jun 15, 1984. Publicly Released: Jun 15, 1984.
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Highlights
The Professional Audit Review Team's (PART) report presented its evaluation of the performance of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), as required by law.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, to control and document the quality of the EIA data, should take actions to develop guidance to ensure that specific quality assessment and quality control activities are clearly understood to be the responsibility of the Office of Statistical Standards (OSS) or of the program offices. |
Closed – Implemented
Written guidance was issued in April 1984 and October 1984.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, to control and document the quality of the EIA data, should take action to have the directors of program offices develop broad, officewide written procedures for performing their quality control functions to guide the further development of detailed quality control procedures for specific data collection forms, systems, and publications. |
Closed – Implemented
EIA took action consistent with the GAO recommendations. However, its actions limit quality control to only three of six areas needing coverage. A new report contains recommendations in this area.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, to control and document the quality of the EIA data, should take action to have the Directors of the Office of Planning and Resources and the Office of Statistical Standards evaluate the comparative effectiveness and efficiency of the various quality control strategies employed by the program offices. |
Closed – Implemented
EIA took actions consistent with the GAO recommendations. However, its actions limit quality control to only three of six areas needing coverage. A new report contains recommendations in this area.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, to control and document the quality of the EIA data, should take action, when a report based on an analytical model is issued, to have the directors of the program offices have documentation for the model available to the public which meets the EIA standards for model documentation. |
Closed – Implemented
Although EIA improved model documentation since 1984, the latest GAO report indicates that work remains to be done. The new report contains two recommendations in this area.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, to control and document the quality of the EIA data, should take action to have the Director of the Office of Statistical Standards develop a plan for expediting its audits of the quality of the EIA data and for providing more current and detailed coverage in assessing the quality of EIA major data series. |
Closed – Implemented
A new report contains a recommendation in this area. EIA has made some improvements in quality audits but has no systematic plan for doing them.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, to control and document the quality of the EIA data, should take action to have the Director of the Office of Statistical Standards continue the development of the concept of quality audits by: (1) issuing guidelines which describe quality audits, including recognition of the quantitative measures that result from the statistical process and can be used to describe the level of quality; and (2) request that an independent statistical professional group, such as the American Statistical Association's Committee on Energy Statistics, evaluate the concept of quality audits and the frequency and scope of coverage of accuracy controls. |
Closed – Implemented
The contractors' statement of work was reviewed and a checklist was developed in December 1984. The quality audit concept was revised by the American Statistical Association in April 1984.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, should obtain the recommendations of the Director of the Office of Statistical Standards on the findings noted in the "Frames Status Report," dated May 31, 1983, and have the program office directors develop a plan for correcting the problems in the quality of the frames. |
Closed – Implemented
OSS made recommendations to EIA on "Frames Status Report" and action was taken in June 1984. Plans developed on the frames projects were included in the operating plans through fiscal year 1986.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, should have the Director, Office of Planning and Resources, ensure that a central process and uniform procedures are used to record the assumptions that requesters want to have incorporated into EIA forecasts and analyses and that the resulting products clearly describe the requesters' specifications. |
Closed – Implemented
In October 1985, EIA issued an order formally implementing a tracking system.
|
| Energy Information Administration | To ensure that each EIA office has the capability to carry out its specialized functions as effectively and efficiently as possible, the Administrator, EIA, should have the Director, Office of Planning and Resources, assess the number and types of skills EIA needs to meet its overall requirements and to determine whether staffing allocations to each office are appropriate. |
Closed – Implemented
A staffing study, completed in March 1984, indicated that the majority of EIA programs required little adjustment.
|
| Energy Information Administration | The Administrator, EIA, should have each director of the three program offices develop a plan for conducting a comprehensive data requirements study in his energy topic areas and for periodically updating these studies. |
Closed – Implemented
The new report concluded that, through its recently completed, in process, and planned reviews of data requirements, EIA had implemented this recommendation.
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Agency missionsEnergy researchEvaluationGovernment information disseminationInternal auditsInternal controlsPersonnel managementProgram managementQuality assuranceQuality control