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Recommendations Database

GAO’s recommendations database contains report recommendations that still need to be addressed. GAO’s priority recommendations are those that we believe warrant priority attention. We sent letters to the heads of key departments and agencies, urging them to continue focusing on these issues. Below you can search only priority recommendations, or search all recommendations.

Our recommendations help congressional and agency leaders prepare for appropriations and oversight activities, as well as help improve government operations. Moreover, when implemented, some of our priority recommendations can save large amounts of money, help Congress make decisions on major issues, and substantially improve or transform major government programs or agencies, among other benefits.

As of October 25, 2020, there are 4812 open recommendations, of which 473 are priority recommendations. Recommendations remain open until they are designated as Closed-implemented or Closed-not implemented.

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Results:

Federal Agency: "Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary"

5 publications with a total of 13 open recommendations
Download these results in CSV format or XLSX format.
Sexual Harassment in STEM Research: Agencies Have Taken Actions, but Need Complaint Procedures, Overall Plans, and Better Collaboration
GAO-20-187, Mar 19, 2020
Director: John Neumann
Phone: (202) 512-6888

4 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity to publicize promising practices for Title IX compliance on its websites for their university grantees. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: DOE agreed with the recommendation. In its February 2020 formal comment letter, the department stated that the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity (OCRD) has identified promising practices on an ongoing basis in its Title IX compliance review reports. OCRD will develop and publicize a promising practices guide on its website for reference by university grantees. The estimated completion date is June 1, 2020. GAO will review this action once it receives documentation from DOE.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity to finalize and publish Title IX complaint procedures, consistent with DOJ's regulations. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: DOE agreed with the recommendation. In its February 2020 formal comment letter, the department stated that the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity (OCRD) has developed a draft outline of complaint procedures. OCRD is benchmarking these procedures against NASA and NSF external civil rights complaint procedures. OCRD will finalize and publish Title IX complaint procedures, consistent with the Department of Justice's regulations. The estimated completion date is October 31, 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity to assess the feasibility of receiving and reviewing concerns of sex discrimination—including sexual harassment—and communicating to individuals on agency-funded grants the option to notify the agency of these concerns, outside of the Title IX complaint process. (Recommendation 8)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: DOE agreed with the recommendation. In its February 2020 formal comment letter, the department stated that the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity (OCRD) will evaluate the feasibility of receiving and reviewing concerns of discrimination, including sexual harassment, outside of the Title IX complaint process described in DOE's Title IX regulations, as well as communicating this option to individuals on DOE funded grants. The estimated completion date is December 31, 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should establish goals and an overall plan to assess all of the agency's sexual harassment prevention efforts for their university grantees, including methods to regularly monitor and evaluate its sexual harassment prevention policies and communication mechanisms (e.g. Title IX or sex discrimination websites). (Recommendation 12)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: DOE agreed with the recommendation. In its February 2020 formal comment letter, the department stated that the Office of Civil Rights and Diversity will conduct research into best practices for harassment prevention efforts for university grantees and benchmark with other federal agencies. The estimated completion date for establishment of goals is January 31, 2021 and the estimated completion date for establishment of an overall plan is August 31, 2021.
Critical Infrastructure Protection: Additional Actions Needed to Identify Framework Adoption and Resulting Improvements
GAO-20-299, Feb 25, 2020
Director: Vijay A. D'Souza
Phone: (202) 512-6240

1 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should take steps to consult with respective sector partner(s), such as the SCC, DHS, and NIST, as appropriate, to collect and report sector-wide improvements from use of the framework across its critical infrastructure sector using existing initiatives. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: In written comments provided in February 2020, the Department of Energy (DOE) stated that it partially agreed with our recommendation. It noted that DOE will coordinate with the Energy Sector to develop an understanding of sector-wide improvements from use of the framework. The expected completion date is December 2021.
Hanford Cleanup: DOE Should Take Actions to Improve Inspections and Oversight of Contaminated Excess Facilities
GAO-20-161, Jan 21, 2020
Director: David Trimble
Phone: (202) 512-3841

1 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should ensure DOE headquarters offices responsible for the oversight of EM sites' field offices conduct an assessment of RL's management and oversight of the Hanford Site contractor's surveillance and maintenance activity for contaminated excess facilities. Based on the results of this assessment, DOE headquarters offices should consider whether such assessments should be conducted on a periodic basis. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: DOE concurs with this recommendation and the Office of Environmental Management agreed to conduct an assessment, in coordination with headquarters oversight offices, of the Richland Operations Office's management and oversight of the Hanford Site contractor's surveillance and maintenance activities for contaminated excess facilities. In DOE's October 2020 Audit Report regarding the implementation of recommendations in our report, DOE states that the Office of Environmental Management is taking action to implement this recommendation, but that action is still insufficient to satisfy the recommendation.
Federal Property: Improved Monitoring, Oversight, and Data Would Help Understand Effects of Providing Property to Non-Federal Recipients
GAO-20-101, Dec 20, 2019
Director: Lori Rectanus
Phone: (202) 512-2834

2 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Office of Asset Management to resume monitoring the Economic Development Property program, including property provided to non-federal recipients. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: As of March 2020, DOE indicated in its 180-day letter that the agency concurred with the recommendation, and will update their annual personal property reporting requirements. DOE anticipates having this recommendation implemented by September 30, 2020. GAO will continue to monitor DOE's efforts to implement this recommendation.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Office of Asset Management to update its regulations and guidance on programs that provide property to non-federal recipients to ensure regulations are current and establish a process to regularly communicate information about non-federal recipient programs to DOE program offices. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: As of March 2020, DOE indicated in its 180-day letter that the agency concurred with the recommendation, and will update internal policies, and provide personal property information on DOE's internal informational website known as Powerpedia. DOE anticipates implementing this recommendation by September 30, 2020. GAO will continue to monitor DOE's efforts to implement this recommendation.
Nuclear Cleanup: Actions Needed to Improve Cleanup Efforts at DOE's Three Former Gaseous Diffusion Plants
GAO-20-63, Dec 17, 2019
Director: David C. Trimble
Phone: (202) 512-3841

5 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Management to take steps to manage the three GDPs as an integrated program and follow relevant program management leading practices (developing a GDP-wide program management plan; an integrated master schedule; and a reliable, integrated, comprehensive life-cycle cost estimate.) (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, DOE officials told us that its Office of Environmental Management (EM) Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) is in the process of developing a program management master plan, to include site-integrated master schedules and life-cycle cost estimates, for the Portsmouth and Paducah gaseous diffusion plants (GDPs). Officials stated that the plan will incorporate program management leading practices as appropriate. According to DOE officials, EM will direct PPPO to use actual collected cost and schedule information for integration of relevant lessons learned from ETTP cleanup into integrated program plans, schedules, and estimates. DOE officials estimated that this effort would be completed by December 31, 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Management to track consistent and detailed expenditure information on cleanup activities across the three GDPs. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, DOE officials told us that its Office of Environmental Management (EM) is assessing and identifying an appropriate mechanism for tracking expenditures for both the Portsmouth and Paducah GDP sites, using a standardized approach with an Earned Value Management System (EVMS) reporting on, at a minimum, an annual basis. According to DOE officials, PPPO is in the process of using the ETTP data as a basis of comparison for contractor estimates and assessing the potential development of cost estimating tools for independent cost estimating. DOE officials estimated that this effort would be completed by December 31, 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Management to ensure the site-specific life-cycle cost estimates for the cleanup of each of the GDPs fully incorporate best practices for cost estimation. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, DOE officials told us that its Office of Environmental Management (EM) has directed the Portsmouth and Paducah GDP sites to review and incorporate the practices from GAO's Cost Estimating Guide (GAO-20-195G), as appropriate, into the next revision of each site's life-cycle cost baselines. According to DOE officials, Oak Ridge is in the process of procuring a follow-on cleanup contract, which includes the scope to complete the cleanup of ETTP. According to DOE officials, given that the cleanup of the ETTP GDP is nearly complete, the baseline for the entire ETTP GDP will not be included in the life cycle cost estimate review. Officials stated the remaining scope of work for the ETTP GDP will, however, become part of the performance baseline for the next Oak Ridge cleanup contractor. DOE officials estimated that this effort would be completed by December 31, 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Environmental Management to work—in conjunction with EPA and Kentucky and Tennessee state regulators—with an independent, third-party facilitator to help resolve disagreements over cleanup priorities, cleanup remedies, and cost estimation assumptions. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, DOE officials told us that its Office of Environmental Management (EM) has incorporated the use of an independent facilitator on a case-by-case basis to help resolve any disagreements, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Kentucky and Tennessee state regulators over cleanup priorities, remedies, and cost estimation assumptions. Officials stated that most recently, the Paducah GDP site used an independent facilitator to resolve disagreements with EPA Region IV and Kentucky state regulators. According to DOE officials, in the future, EM will continue the use of an independent facilitator, as deemed appropriate. DOE officials estimated that this effort would be completed by December 31, 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should regularly report on the status of the D&D Fund and cleanup efforts at the three GDPs with current information that contains details on challenges in reaching agreement with regulators and a clear scope of work. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of Energy: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: In June 2020, DOE officials told us that its Office of Environmental Management (EM) has prepared the triennial Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund Report, providing accomplishments through fiscal year 2019 and disclosing the most recent environmental liability estimate associated with remaining challenges and scope of cleanup at the GDPs. Officials stated that the report is being circulated for approval. DOE officials estimated that this effort would be completed by December 31, 2020.