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GAO-24-107308 1 (2024-06-28)

handle is hein.gao/gaoqkd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States June 28, 2024 The Honorable Jennifer M. Granholm Secretary U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20585 Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Energy Dear Secretary Granholm: The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the Department of Energy's (DOE) implementation of GAO's recommendations and to call your continued personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high priority.' In November 2023, we reported that, on a government-wide basis, 75 percent of our recommendations made 4 years ago were implemented.2 DOE's recommendation implementation rate was 58 percent. As of June 2024, DOE had 203 open recommendations. Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve agency operations. Since our May 2023 letter, DOE has implemented seven of our 30 open priority recommendations. * In December 2023, the Under Secretary of Science and Innovation approved a performance baseline for the U.S. fusion program's International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project that included cost and schedule estimates. By approving a performance baseline with final cost and schedule estimates and communicating that information to Congress, DOE is better able to measure the project's progress and allow Congress to make more informed funding decisions. These actions implement our June 2014 recommendation.3 * In an effort to better evaluate priorities, tradeoffs, and alternatives when making budgetary decisions about nuclear modernization programs and projects, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) developed an analytical tool to help make affordability tradeoffs that were reflected in NNSA's recent budget justifications. Specifically, in both its fiscal years 2024 and 2025 budget justifications, NNSA reported its decision to pause three infrastructure projects and prioritize allocating funds to high-priority projects experiencing cost overruns, but which provide greater support to the delivery of warheads on the 1Priority recommendations are those that GAO believes warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies. They are highlighted because, upon implementation, they may significantly improve government operations, for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue. 2GAO, Performance and Accountability Report: Fiscal Year 2023, GAO-24-900483 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 15, 2023). 3GAO, Fusion Energy: Actions Needed to Finalize Cost and Schedule Estimates for U.S. Contributions to an International Experimental Reactor, GAO-1 4-499 (Washington, D.C.: June 5, 2014). GAO-24-107308 DOE Priority Recommendations Page 1

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