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Open Recommendations (118 total)

Tribal Consultation: Additional Federal Actions Needed for Infrastructure Projects

GAO-19-22
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should document in the agency's tribal consultation policy how agency officials are to communicate with tribes about how tribal input from consultation was considered in agency decisions on infrastructure projects. (Recommendation 10)
Open
As of April 2023, the Department of Energy indicated the agency is in the process of revising and implementing a Consultation Action Plan that documents policies regarding how input from tribal consultation was considered in agency decisions on infrastructure projects, and how consultation and engagement can be improved. The agency is also working to make appropriate revisions to the Department of Energy's American Indian Tribal Government Interactions and Policy (Order 144.1) . The Department expects to complete this effort by October 2023.

Hanford Cleanup: DOE Should Validate Its Analysis of High-Level Waste Treatment Alternatives

GAO-23-106093
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management obtains an independent review to validate the process of the analysis of high-level waste treatment alternatives at Hanford. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In October 2023, DOE reiterated that it concurs with GAO's recommendation and noted that the recommendation encompasses actions that have already occurred or are a required part of the DOE capital asset process. However, as we note in our report, we believe further action is needed (per best practices for developing an analysis of alternatives) to provide greater assurance that all viable alternatives for optimizing the tank waste treatment mission are considered. Furthermore, alternative treatment methods for low-activity have been widely studied and reviewed by independent organizations, including the Savannah River National Laboratory and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. However, the high-level waste treatment alternatives in DOE's analysis of alternatives have not been similarly studied or independently reviewed.

Nuclear Safety: DOE and the Safety Board Should Collaborate to Develop a Written Agreement to Enhance Oversight

GAO-21-141
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy, in coordination with the Office of the Departmental Representative to DNFSB, should develop clearer and more robust training on Order 140.1A for DOE sites to ensure that DOE, NNSA, and contractor staff have a uniform understanding of the order and that those staff interacting with DNFSB implement the order more consistently. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOE disagreed with this recommendation. In its comments on our October 2020 report, DOE concluded that the department maintains adequate communication and training for DOE and NNSA staff regarding interactions with DNFSB. DOE also maintained that the previous training for DOE Order 140.1 generally targeted individuals responsible for interactions with DNFSB and noted that these individuals represent a small fraction of the employees who work at DOE's defense nuclear facilities. We disagree with DOE's assessment. We continue to believe that implementing our recommendation would address confusion experienced by DOE, NNSA, and contractor staff regarding DOE Order 140.1--issues some of these staff experienced after receiving DOE training on the order--as well as the changes to DNFSB's enabling statute and as detailed in DOE Order 140.1A and its accompanying guidance document. DOE and DNFSB signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on February 17, 2022, and finalized a supplementary document detailing how provisions of the MOU will be implemented in June 2022. As of December 2023, we continue to monitor DOE's efforts to ensure the development of clearer, more robust training for DOE, NNSA, and contractor staff engaging with DNFSB.

Cybersecurity: Federal Agencies Made Progress, but Need to Fully Implement Incident Response Requirements

GAO-24-105658
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should ensure that the agency fully implements all event logging requirements as directed by OMB guidance. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Refined Coal Production Tax Credit: Coordinated Agency Review Could Help Ensure the Credit Achieves Its Intended Purpose

GAO-22-104637
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy If Congress extends the refined coal production tax credit, the Secretary of Energy should coordinate with Treasury, IRS, and EPA to review the performance of the credit in achieving its intended purpose and identify and implement, as appropriate, any improvements towards achieving that intended purpose, such as adjustments to allowable emissions testing methods. (Recommendation 4)
Open
In an April 2022 letter, the Department of Energy (DOE) concurred with our recommendation. If Congress reinstates the credit after fiscal year 2024, we will confirm what actions DOE has taken in response to our recommendation and provide updated information.

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.

Privacy: Dedicated Leadership Can Improve Programs and Address Challenges

GAO-22-105065
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of Energy should establish a time frame for fully defining the role of the senior agency official for privacy or other designated privacy official in reviewing and approving system categorizations, overseeing privacy control assessments, and reviewing authorization packages, and document these roles. (Recommendation 16)
Open
The Department of Energy concurred with our recommendation and described planned actions to implement it. In April 2024, DOE stated that it had taken action to address this recommendation, pending internal review. Once the department states that it has taken action, we plan to verify whether implementation has occurred.

Nuclear Security: DOE Should Take Actions to Fully Implement Insider Threat Program

GAO-23-105576
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Insider Threat Program senior official should resume annual reporting and include in those reports the actions the program has taken to address findings and recommendations it receives from independent assessments. (Recommendation 2)
Open – Partially Addressed
As of April 2024, DOE produced an annual report covering calendar year 2022. However, DOE indicated in a strategy document that it planned to set a recurring due date for future annual reports and that it would meet the annual deadline. An annual report covering calendar year 2023 was not available as of April 2024.

Nuclear Waste Cleanup: DOE Could Improve Program and Project Management by Better Classifying Work and Following Leading Practices

GAO-19-223
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Management to integrate EVM data into EM's performance metrics for operations activities. (Recommendation 7)
Open
On November 6, 2020, EM issued a Program Management Protocol, which replaces EM's former cleanup policy, and among other things, discusses EM's plan to assess contractor performance on a monthly basis using contractor EVM data. We will continue to monitor EM's implementation of this recommendation. As of July 2023, EM has not yet demonstrated how it integrated EVM data into its performance metrics for operations activities.

Nuclear Waste Cleanup: DOE Needs to Address Weaknesses in Program and Contractor Management at Los Alamos

GAO-23-105665
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should direct the EM-LA Field Office Manager to work—in conjunction with the New Mexico Environment Department—with a third-party facilitator to improve the relationship and build trust. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of November 2023, we are following up with the agency and will update the response to this recommendation in the future.
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