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Open Recommendations (59 total)

Tribal Transportation: Better Data Could Improve Road Management and Inform Indian Student Attendance Strategies

GAO-17-423
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior To best align resources allocation decisions to needs, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs to review the formula to fund transportation at BIE schools and determine, with BIA and tribal stakeholders, what adjustments, such as distinguishing between gravel and paved roads, are needed to better reflect transportation costs for schools.
Open
As of April 2024, the Department of Interior has not taken any steps to address this recommendation. Previously, Interior reiterated that the agency did not concur with the recommendation and did not plan to take action to implement it. The agency had previously conducted listening sessions with Tribes to gauge interest in reviewing and adjusting the funding formula. According to Interior, due to more pressing priorities, Tribes did not express interest during these listening sessions in engaging in the resource-intensive negotiated rulemaking process that would be needed to change the funding formula. As a result, Interior indicated that it has no plans to undertake a rulemaking process with Tribes to review and adjust the formula. GAO continues to believe that adjusting the formula to better reflect transportation costs would help to best align resource allocation decisions to needs. However, GAO recognizes that despite Interior's attempts to engage on this issue, Tribes' other priorities have tempered their interest in undertaking the rulemaking process that would be needed to make modifications to the funding formula.

Oil and Gas Pipelines: Agencies Should Improve Oversight of Decommissioning

GAO-24-106444
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Director of BLM should develop a documented plan to ensure the agency collects and maintains the data necessary to oversee the decommissioning of gathering lines. (Recommendation 1)
Open
Interior agreed with this recommendation. We will update the status of the recommendation when we have more information.

Tribal Programs: Actions Needed to Improve Interior's Management of Trust Services

GAO-23-105356
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs should collect and document the data and evidence it used in deciding to transfer OST's trust functions to BTFA and provide to Congress a report containing the information and the reasoning behind the decision. (Recommendation 2)
Open
As of October 2023, Interior believes that they have provided the information requested to Congress with the data and evidence used to transfer OST's trust functions to BTFA, although this information has not been provided through means of a formal report. GAO would like to receive confirmation from Congress that they believe Interior has provided the information requested on the transfer of OST's trust functions to BTFA.

Oil and Gas: Interior Could Do More to Account for and Manage Natural Gas Emissions

GAO-16-607
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior To help improve reporting of emissions data on the OGOR, the Secretary of the Interior should direct BLM to provide additional guidance on how to estimate natural gas emissions from federal oil and gas leases.
Open
As of March 2024, we are following up with the agency regarding this recommendation and will update when information is received. Interior officials had previously told us that BLM would work with ONRR to issue technical guidance to operators on acceptable methods for measuring or estimating natural gas emissions from these sources, including reporting on the estimation methods that operators use to generate the reported estimates.

Federal Real Property: Agencies Should Provide More Information About Increases in Deferred Maintenance and Repair

GAO-24-105485
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should ensure that the department works with its component agencies to evaluate the costs and benefits of increasing the use of models for predicting the outcome of investments, analyzing tradeoffs, and optimizing among competing investments, and employ models when the benefits outweigh the costs. (Recommendation 6)
Open
Interior agreed with the recommendation. Interior officials said they were coordinating with the bureaus to review the availability and benefits of lifecycle investment models and would evaluate implementation alternatives. As of March 2024, officials said that Interior had established a working group and had met with bureaus who utilize lifecycle models to begin identifying best practices for applicability and scalability. The officials noted plans to use predictive models in the future once these evaluations were complete. GAO will continue to monitor these efforts.

Uranium Contamination: Overall Scope, Time Frame, and Cost Information Is Needed for Contamination Cleanup on the Navajo Reservation

GAO-14-323
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior In light of the problems BIA has encountered in managing the cleanup at the Tuba City Dump site, the Secretary of the Interior should direct the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs to employ best practices in creating the schedule and cost estimates for the remedial action cleanup phase.
Open
As of February 2024, BIA had developed a dump site closure acquisition package. BIA officials stated that they followed GAO-identified best practices for cost and schedule estimating to create the cost and schedule estimates included in the acquisition package and that they would provide GAO with supporting documentation. GAO will assess BIA's actions once they are complete and we have reviewed any documentation provided.

Oil and Gas Pipelines: Agencies Should Improve Oversight of Decommissioning

GAO-24-106444
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Director of BLM should further specify when gathering lines should be decommissioned following the termination or revocation of rights-of-way. (Recommendation 2)
Open
Interior agreed with this recommendation. We will update the status of the recommendation when we have more information.

Tribal Programs: Actions Needed to Improve Interior's Management of Trust Services

GAO-23-105356
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior The Assistant Secretary–Indian Affairs should develop a strategic workforce plan for the staff responsible for carrying out functions related to Interior's management of trust funds. (Recommendation 3)
Open
As of October 2023, BTFA continues to finalize a statement of work to hire a contractor to assist with the development of a workforce plan. BTFA anticipates awarding the contract during the second quarter of FY2024 and completing the strategic workforce plan during the second quarter of FY2025.

Oil and Gas: Interior Could Do More to Account for and Manage Natural Gas Emissions

GAO-16-607
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Interior To help improve reporting of emissions data on the OGOR, the Secretary of the Interior should direct ONRR to provide additional guidance on how to differentiate between combusted and noncombusted lease use volumes reported on the OGOR, which could assist Interior in measuring its progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Open
In March 2024, Interior officials stated the target date for implementing the recommendation was August 2024.

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 the Interior The Secretary of the Interior should ensure that the agency fully implements all event logging requirements as directed by OMB guidance. (Recommendation 8)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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