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Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Energy

GAO-24-107308 Published: Jun 28, 2024. Publicly Released: Jul 08, 2024.
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Fast Facts

Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help the federal government save money, address issues on our High Risk List, and significantly improve government operations.

This letter to the Department of Energy outlines 27 open recommendations that it should prioritize. For example, DOE should coordinate processes for providing oversight of large nuclear energy demonstration projects, which involve new types of nuclear reactors. These projects are vital for the future of the nation's electricity generation.

DOE implemented 7 priority recommendations we identified last year.

We regularly update priority recommendations here.

Graphic that says, "GAO's Priority Open Recommendations" and includes the DOE seal.

Highlights

What GAO Found

In May 2023, GAO identified 30 priority recommendations for the Department of Energy (DOE). Since then, DOE has implemented seven of those recommendations by, among other things, taking actions to identify strengths and weaknesses in the energy sector's cybersecurity framework, managing fraud risks, and efforts to better measure project progress to better inform funding decisions.

In June 2024, GAO identified four additional priority recommendations for DOE, bringing the total number to 27. These recommendations involve the following areas:

  • improving project, program, and portfolio management;
  • improving contract management;
  • addressing insider threats and cyber security;
  • enhancing energy reliability, security, and resilience;
  • addressing nuclear modernization challenges;
  • reducing DOE's environmental liability;
  • improving financial management; and
  • addressing worker protections.

DOE’s continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.

What GAO Did This Study

Priority open recommendations are the 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 at (202) 512-3841 or Gaffiganm@gao.gov.

Full Report

Full Report (27 pages)
Accessible PDF (25 pages)

GAO Contacts

Mark E. Gaffigan
Managing Director
Natural Resources and Environment
gaffiganm@gao.gov

Media Inquiries

Sarah Kaczmarek
Managing Director
Office of Public Affairs
media@gao.gov

Topics

Energy
Contract managementCybersecurityEnergy securityFinancial managementProgram managementWorkforce protectionHigh-risk issuesNatural resourcesNuclear securityRisk management