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Open Recommendations (118 total)

Federal Research: Agencies Need to Enhance Policies to Address Foreign Influence

GAO-21-130
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should document procedures, including roles and responsibilities for addressing and enforcing failures to disclose required information, both foreign and domestic. (Recommendation 5)
Open – Partially Addressed
DOE concurred with our recommendation. DOE issued an interim conflict of interest (COI) policy for financial and organizational conflicts of interest for financial assistance awards on December 21, 2021, which includes procedures, roles, and responsibilities, for addressing and enforcing information disclosures required for all entities. In March 2023, DOE noted its intent to issue a Notice of Public Rulemaking to establish conflict of interest and conflict of commitment (COI/COC) requirements, which will replace the interim COI policy. As of April 2024, DOE reported that the Conflict of Interest Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has been drafted and is going through internal DOE review for posting to the Federal Register, but there is no estimated timeline for when the notice may be posted. DOE officials noted they would follow up with GAO by October 2024.

Nuclear Waste Cleanup: DOE Faces Project Management and Disposal Challenges with High-Level Waste at Idaho National Laboratory

GAO-19-494
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should direct the Assistant Secretary of EM to develop a strategy, including a timeline, to identify and develop a treatment approach for the disposal of the calcine waste to ensure that EM meets the milestone for completing the treatment of this waste by the target date of December 31, 2035. (Recommendation 5)
Open – Partially Addressed
In an update provided by DOE in June 2023, DOE stated that based on the results of its updated Analysis of Alternatives for the calcine waste, completed in October 2021, DOE conducted a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Supplemental Analysis in fiscal year 2023. According to DOE, the agency plans to develop a strategy for the treatment of calcine waste based on the results of the Analysis of Alternatives and the NEPA Supplemental Analysis. Once the strategy is completed, GAO will update the status of this recommendation after it has received and analyzed this information.

Small Business Research Programs: Agencies Should Further Improve Award Timeliness

GAO-22-104677
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Director of the Advanced Projects Research Agency-Energy should evaluate the effectiveness of steps taken to improve SBIR and STTR award timeliness and take any necessary additional steps in order to consistently meet SBA award timeliness guidelines. (Recommendation 2)
Open – Partially Addressed
In its January 2022 letter responding to our report, DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) concurred with this recommendation. ARPA-E stated it was evaluating its pilot to determine whether providing fixed-amount grants for some projects speeds award issuance, as well as other potential steps to accelerate evaluation, selection, and negotiation procedures for issuing larger awards (typically as cooperative agreements) that combine multiple SBIR/STTR phases. In March 2022, ARPA-E provided additional information stating that it had concluded using fixed-amount grants for certain projects up to $500,000 speeds award issuance and ARPA-E planned to continue using this award type. Additionally, the agency stated it is prioritizing the negotiation of cooperative agreements for small business awards and is developing schedules that include anticipated notification and award issuance dates that are consistent with timeliness guidelines. ARPA-E reiterated these actions in a December 2022 update. In December 2023, we obtained and analyzed publicly available ARPA-E award data for FY22. Our analysis indicated that ARPA-E did not meet SBA's award timeliness guidelines in FY22. Further, in combination with prior fiscal years, ARPA-E has not met SBA's timeliness guidelines in at least 3 of the preceding 5 years based on available data. Going forward, we will follow up to obtain data on ARPA-E's award timeliness in subsequent fiscal years to determine if actions the agency has taken have resulted in it being able to consistently meet SBA's award timeliness guidelines.

Cybersecurity: Agencies Need to Fully Establish Risk Management Programs and Address Challenges

GAO-19-384
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of Energy should develop a cybersecurity risk management strategy that includes the key elements identified in this report. (Recommendation 8)
Open – Partially Addressed
The Department of Energy concurred with this recommendation. In March 2022, DOE provided an Enterprise Cybersecurity Program Plan, which officials stated can be used as a template for its departmental elements' programs, and tailored to their needs as necessary. DOE also noted that departmental elements may choose to develop their own cybersecurity program plans, and provided several examples. However, while the Enterprise Cybersecurity Program Plan and its supplemental guidance include key elements such as how risks should be assessed, risk response strategies, and a discussion of risk monitoring, neither it nor most of the departmental element plans we reviewed discuss in detail organizational risk tolerance. As of March 2024, DOE had not provided additional evidence to show that it had incorporated a details of its approach to risk tolerance in its enterprise cybersecurity program plan. We intend to follow up with DOE regarding this recommendation and verify whether implementation has occurred.

Nuclear Waste Cleanup: DOE Needs to Better Coordinate and Prioritize Its Research and Development Efforts

GAO-22-104490
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management should develop and disseminate a common definition of R&D throughout the EM complex. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
As of February 2024, EM has partially implemented this recommendation. In September 2022, EM's Senior Advisor distributed a memo to EM site managers providing a definition of technology development. While this is a positive step for the EM Senior Advisor to acknowledge the need for a common definition and to distribute the information to site managers, this memo included the same definition of technology development that EM had previously distributed in a November 2020 memo. We found in our October 2021 report that EM sites had interpreted the definition of R&D differently. By developing and distributing a more specific and detailed common definition of R&D, EM can build on its effort and will have better assurance that it collects the quality information it needs to systematically track R&D efforts across the complex and to ensure that its R&D stakeholders are maximizing their collaborative efforts. We will continue to monitor EM's implementation of this recommendation.

Scientific Integrity Policies: Additional Actions Could Strengthen Integrity of Federal Research

GAO-19-265
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should develop documented procedures for identifying and addressing alleged violations of its scientific integrity policy. (Recommendation 9)
Open – Partially Addressed
In January 2024, DOE issued a revised scientific integrity policy. The policy states that the scientific integrity official(s), once appointed, will develop procedures for the reporting, evaluation, and resolution of allegations of compromised scientific integrity. These procedures will provide clear guidance on how covered personnel can report concerns and allegations of scientific integrity policy violations. We will continue to monitor and update status of this recommendation.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant: Construction Challenges Highlight the Need for DOE to Address Root Causes

GAO-22-105057
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should ensure that the Director of the Office of Project Management assess the extent to which all corrective actions taken in response to various SSCVS project reviews have addressed the root causes and significant contributing factors identified in the root cause analysis and determine whether there is reasonable assurance that the root causes will not persist. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
DOE has taken some actions to start addressing this recommendation. In October 2022, DOE's Office of Project Management published a project peer review of WIPP's SSCVS project which assessed the effectiveness of all corrective actions taken and conducted the root cause analysis. While these actions were helpful, the project review concluded there is not reasonable assurance that these root causes will not persist. Unless DOE identifies corrective actions that address the root causes, WIPP's SSCVS project will continue to be at risk of exceeding its approved budget. As a result, as of February 2023, we will keep this recommendation open and will continue to monitor its implementation.

Department of Energy: Use of Leading Practices Could Help Manage the Risk of Fraud and Other Improper Payments

GAO-17-235
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy To help DOE take a more strategic approach to managing improper payments and risk, including fraud risk, the Secretary of Energy should implement leading practices for managing the department's risk of fraud, including designing and implementing specific control activities, including fraud awareness training and data analytics, to prevent and detect fraud and other improper payments.
Open – Partially Addressed
In its comments on the draft report in March 2017, DOE stated that it concurred in principle with the recommendation, but that it had implemented the recommendation. In our January 2021 report on DOE contractor fraud risk (GAO-21-44), we found that DOE's Office of the Chief Financial Officer offers annual training to DOE employees and contractors on fraud awareness. Additionally, we found that DOE plans to survey organizations about their current use of data analytics and plans widespread use of data analytics beginning in fiscal year 2022. As of October 2023, DOE is continuing to develop and implement its data analytics strategy.

Nuclear Waste Cleanup: Actions Needed to Determine Whether DOE's New Contracting Approach is Achieving Desired Results

GAO-22-105417
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Assistant Secretary of DOE's Office of Environmental Management should develop and implement a structured process to systematically assess the ESCM, including processes for formally documenting and sharing lessons learned and identifying, analyzing, and addressing challenges to ensure that future ESCM contracts are effectively implemented. (Recommendation 2)
Open – Partially Addressed
As of February 2024, DOE is taking steps to address this recommendation. For example, DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM) established new procedures for overseeing End State Contracting Model contracts and their associated task orders, and developed and implemented a new program for identifying and sharing lessons learned. These represent positive steps toward ensuring that EM has a process for assessing its End State Contracting Model initiative. However, a systematic assessment of this initiative must also include specific performance measures and goals for use in measuring EM's progress toward achieving them. Developing and implementing such performance measures and goals would provide EM with better assurance that the End State Contracting Model is performing as intended to improve its overall acquisition efforts.

Environmental Liabilities: DOE Would Benefit from Incorporating Risk-Informed Decision-Making into Its Cleanup Policy

GAO-19-339
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should direct DOE's Office of Environmental Management to revise EM's 2017 cleanup policy to establish how the EM program and DOE sites should apply the essential elements of a risk-informed decision-making framework into their current decision-making requirements and guidance. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
DOE concurred with this recommendation and has taken some actions necessary to implement it. Since 2020, EM has issued several planning documents that describe how the EM program and its sites should apply some of the essential elements of a risk-informed decision-making framework. For example, its November 2020 Cleanup Program Management Protocol, which replaced its 2017 cleanup policy, provides a summary of EM's overall approach for prioritizing work. In addition, its September 2022 Program Plan identifies objectives that EM will consider when making cleanup decisions, including risk reduction, cost, worker safety, and workforce diversity, among others. However, these planning documents are missing some essential elements of risk-informed decision-making. For example, the 2022 Program Plan does not identify the decision-making method that EM or its sites will use to make trade-offs among these different objectives. As a result, as of December 2023, we will keep this recommendation open and will continue to monitor its implementation.
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