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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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Subject Term: "Royalty payments"

8 publications with a total of 22 open recommendations including 2 priority recommendations
Download these results in CSV format or XLSX format.
Federal Oil and Gas Revenue: Actions Needed to Improve BLM's Royalty Relief Policy
GAO-21-169T, Oct 6, 2020
Director: Frank Rusco
Phone: (202) 512-3841

2 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: The Director of BLM should evaluate its temporary royalty relief program, including the extent to which the policy met BLM's objectives—conserving oil and gas resources from becoming unrecoverable—and likely costs, such as forgone revenues—to inform any royalty relief decisions it may make in the future under the ongoing regulatory authority. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: The Director of BLM should update BLM's 1995 royalty handbook to provide specific, consistent, and transparent policies and procedures for royalty relief. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Offshore Oil and Gas: Opportunities Exist to Better Ensure a Fair Return on Federal Resources
GAO-19-531, Sep 25, 2019
Director: Frank Rusco
Phone: (202) 512-3841

4 open recommendations
including 2 priority recommendations
Display
Recommendation: The BOEM director should develop a documented plan for determining whether and how to develop a progressive royalty structure that clearly defines what is to be achieved, who is to achieve it, how it will be achieved, and the time frames for achievement. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Status: Open

Comments: Interior agreed and indicated that BOEM will develop such a plan.
Recommendation: The BOEM director should enlist an independent third party to examine the extent to which the bureau's use of delayed valuations assures the receipt of fair market value, and make changes—such as terminating the use of delayed valuations or amending its model's assumptions—as appropriate. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: Interior stated it did not agree with our characterization of BOEM's delayed valuations and stated that BOEM believes it is neither necessary nor cost effective to enlist an independent third party. However, BOEM agreed to (1) examine its delayed value calculation, particularly as it relates to the impact of biannual lease sales, (2) develop a plan to perform a comprehensive internal review of delayed value calculations and make appropriate changes, and (3) institute a peer-review process for all potential changes.
Recommendation: The BOEM director should take steps to ensure that BOEM's bid valuation process is not biased toward adjusting valuations downward based on their proximity to bids. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: Interior partially agreed. Specifically, Interior stated it agreed with the recommendation, but did not agree with our characterization of BOEM's bid valuation process.
Recommendation: The BOEM director should implement a systematic process for comprehensively evaluating its tract valuations, such as by expanding the scope of the bureau's "lookback studies" effort, and remediating any identified deficiencies. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Status: Open

Comments: Interior partially agreed. Specifically, Interior stated it agreed with the recommendation, but did not agree with our characterization of BOEM's bid tract evaluation process and review procedures.
Federal Oil and Gas Royalties: Additional Actions Could Improve ONRR's Ability to Assess Its Royalty Collection Efforts
GAO-19-410, May 31, 2019
Director: Rusco, Franklin W
Phone: (202) 512-3841

7 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: The Director of ONRR should establish an accuracy goal (e.g., identifying the number of companies or percentage of royalties subject to compliance activities over a set period of time) that aligns with the agency's mission of collecting, accounting for, and verifying royalty payments. In doing so, ONRR should track the extent to which each compliance activity (audits, compliance reviews, and data mining) contributes toward achieving this goal. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2020, ONRR officials stated they were on track towards implementing the recommendation by December 31, 2021.
Recommendation: The Director of ONRR should develop a documented case selection process that includes procedures for how to select all compliance cases. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2020, ONRR officials stated they were on track towards implementing the recommendation by April 30, 2021.
Recommendation: The Director of ONRR should develop performance measures (e.g., having a specified percentage of compliance cases identify findings of royalty noncompliance or total additional royalties) that assess whether the cases the agency is selecting are helping it achieve its compliance goals. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2020, ONRR officials stated they were on track towards implementing the recommendation by December 31, 2022.
Recommendation: The Director of ONRR should periodically analyze whether the risk model is effectively identifying potential royalty noncompliance and whether the model's results are being effectively used to assist in case selection, and should use this analysis to make changes to the model (e.g., updating it) or develop a new model. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2020, ONRR officials stated they were on track towards implementing the recommendation by June 30, 2021.
Recommendation: The Director of ONRR should include requirements in ONRR's agreements with State and Tribal Royalty Audit Committee (STRAC) members to develop a documented case selection process, including procedures for how to select compliance cases and how to document which factors were considered in selection decisions. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2020, ONRR officials stated they were on track towards implementing the recommendation by November 30, 2020.
Recommendation: The Director of ONRR should require STRAC members to describe in their annual work plans how their compliance activities would align with ONRR's current compliance goals. (Recommendation 6)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2020, ONRR officials stated they were on track towards implementing the recommendation by November 30, 2020.
Recommendation: The Director of ONRR should track the performance of the compliance work of each state STRAC member and the contribution that each state makes to ONRR's compliance goals. (Recommendation 7)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Status: Open

Comments: In August 2020, ONRR officials stated they were on track towards implementing the recommendation by March 31, 2021.
Federal Research: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Licensing of Patented Laboratory Inventions
GAO-18-327, Jun 19, 2018
Director: John Neumann
Phone: (202) 512-3841

4 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Commerce should instruct NIST to fully report the range of challenges in federal patent licensing, such as those outlined in this report, by, for example, leveraging its survey of practices at federal technology transfer offices, past Federal Laboratory Consortium studies, and agency reports and including that information in its summary reports to Congress. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Commerce
Status: Open

Comments: According to the Department of Commerce, NIST actions in response to the recommendation are in process. In August 2020, Commerce officials stated that the next annual report to the President and Congress was in the review process and is expected to be published this fall.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Commerce should instruct NIST to clarify the link between establishing patent license financial terms and the goal of promoting commercial use, through appropriate means, such as the upcoming rule-making process and updating relevant guidance. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Commerce
Status: Open

Comments: According to the Department of Commerce, NIST actions in response to the recommendation are in process and the purpose of licensing royalties will be addressed through a related initiative. The expected completion date for this action has been revised to November 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Commerce should instruct NIST to facilitate formal information sharing among the agencies to provide federal labs with information on financial terms in comparable patent licenses, as appropriate. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Commerce
Status: Open

Comments: According to the Department of Commerce, NIST actions in response to the recommendation are in process. The actions to address it have been discussed by the Interagency Workgroup for Technology Transfer and the FLC, including adding a licensing guide and community of practice for licensing terms to the FLC website. In August 2020, Commerce stated that the expected completion date for this action has been revised to September 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the agency or its labs document processes for establishing license financial terms, while maintaining flexibility to tailor the specific financial terms of each license. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: DOD officials stated that DoDI 5538.08, which would require military departments and defense agencies to instruct their laboratories to document their licensing processes as appropriate, is in the review process as of August 2020.
Oil and Gas Lease Management: BLM Could Improve Oversight of Lease Suspensions with Better Data and Monitoring Procedures
GAO-18-411, Jun 4, 2018
Director: Frank Rusco
Phone: (202) 512-3841

1 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Director of BLM should require cognizant officials in headquarters and state offices to conduct top-level reviews of field offices' monitoring of oil and gas lease suspensions, as well as of official lease files and databases to ensure they are current and complete. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of the Interior: Bureau of Land Management
Status: Open

Comments: BLM concurred with this recommendation. However, the Bureau has yet to provide information concerning the current status of this recommendation. We will update the recommendation's status when we receive such information.
Oil and Gas: Interior Could Do More to Account for and Manage Natural Gas Emissions
GAO-16-607, Jul 7, 2016
Director: Frank Rusco
Phone: (202) 512-3841

2 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: 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.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: In November 2018, BLM's "Waste Prevention, Production Subject to Royalties, and Resource Conservation; Rescission or Revision of Certain Requirements" rule (43 C.F.R. 3179.301) took effect, revising the 2016 rule. According to BLM in July 2020, the revision satisfies the intent of the recommendation because the rule specifies the acceptable means of estimation or measurement of vented or flared gas. The rule says the operator may estimate or measure vented gas in accordance with applicable state or tribal regulatory agency rules or regulations, estimate using the gas to oil ratio (GOR) test (which, during GAO's review, some BLM officials said was not accurate), or to "measure" the volume of the flared gas. We do not believe the revised rule provides sufficient additional specificity on how natural gas emissions should be estimated by operators.
Recommendation: 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.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: In July 2020, ONRR reported that it developed and implemented two disposition codes--one for the royalty-bearing flaring of gas and another for the royalty-bearing venting of gas volumes. ONRR did not develop additional disposition codes because, according to BLM, other disposition codes would not be required due to BLM's 2018 revision of the methane rule. However, we do not believe the measurement provisions in the revised methane rule contain any specific provisions requiring reporting for combusted and non-combusted lease use gas. Gas could be used on lease in pneumatic valves, which is released into the atmosphere as methane; or combusted to power up generators, where it's released as carbon dioxide. Knowing whether the emissions are in the form of methane or carbon dioxide is critical to helping Interior accurately estimate greenhouse gas emissions.
Indian Energy Development: Interior Could Do More to Improve Its Process for Approving Revenue-Sharing Agreements
GAO-16-553, Jun 13, 2016
Director: Frank Rusco
Phone: (202) 512-3841

1 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and, as appropriate, the Director of the Bureau of Land Management to establish required time frames for the review and approval of Indian CAs to ensure a more timely CA process.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: In a meeting in December 2019, the Indian Energy and Minerals Steering Committee (IEMSC) members agreed that BIA should complete the review and approval of Indian communitization agreements (CA) within 120 days. This 120 days includes the requirement that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) complete its review in 30 days and that this review occurs concurrently. IEMSC is a committee within Interior that includes senior managers from BIA, BLM, and other agencies with a focus on Indian trust energy and mineral policies and issues. To fully implement this recommendation, BIA should formally establish required time frames for the review and approval of CA, such as including the time frames in its Onshore Energy and Mineral Lease Management Interagency Standard Operating Procedures. We will continue to monitor BIA's response to this recommendation.
Oil and Gas Resources: Interior's Production Verification Efforts and Royalty Data Have Improved, but Further Actions Needed
GAO-15-39, Apr 7, 2015
Director: Frank Rusco
Phone: (202) 512-3841

1 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: To further improve its production verification efforts and to provide greater assurance that BLM staff are consistently applying the new guidance to commingling agreement requests and determine whether the guidance corrected deficiencies and produced improvements, the Secretary should direct BLM to schedule and complete the internal review as expeditiously as possible.

Agency: Department of the Interior
Status: Open

Comments: In July 2019, Interior officials stated BLM will not be conducting a separate internal review of the guidance for commingling agreement requests issued in July 2013. However, officials stated they are committed to performing the internal review as part of the internal review on its inspection and enforcement program and believed their pending actions related to implementing the recommendations in the GAO report "Oil and Gas Development: Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of the Inspection and Enforcement Program" (GAO-19-7) would also address this recommendation. Interior officials stated the target date for implementing this recommendation is June 30, 2021.