Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Energy
Fast Facts
Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to the recommendations where they can save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations.
This report outlines our 18 priority open recommendations for the Department of Energy as of April 2019.
For example, we made 3 recommendations to strengthen planning for the future of the strategic petroleum reserve by conducting relevant reviews and providing results to Congress.
Since our previous letter in April 2018, DOE has not implemented any of our priority recommendations.
Graphic showing that this report discusses GAO's 2019 priority recommendations for the Department of Energy
Highlights
What GAO Found
In April 2018, GAO identified 13 priority recommendations for the Department of Energy (DOE). Since then, DOE has not implemented any of those recommendations. However, GAO closed as not implemented one recommendation identified in the 2017 and 2018 letters on the quality of DOE’s financial and cost information, since NNSA did not implement it and it has been superseded by one of this year’s additions.
In April 2019, GAO identified six additional priority recommendations for DOE, bringing the total number to 18. These recommendations involve the following areas:
- Improving project and program management.
- Improving contract management.
- Improving financial and cost information.
- Strengthening planning for the future of the strategic petroleum reserve.
- Addressing nuclear modernization challenges.
- Addressing DOE’s environmental liability.
- Addressing aging legacy information technology systems and cybersecurity.
DOE’s continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.
Why GAO Did This Study
Priority recommendations are open GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015 GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.
For more information, contact Mark Gaffigan, Managing Director, Natural Resources and Environment, at (202) 512-3841 or gaffiganm@gao.gov.