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GAO-20-289PR 1 (2020-04-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaeaxk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States April 6, 2020 The Honorable David Bernhardt Secretary Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20240 Priority Open Recommendations: Department of the Interior Dear Mr. Secretary: The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the Department of the Interior's (Interior) implementation of GAO's recommendations and to call your personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high priority.1 In November 2019, we reported that on a government-wide basis, 77 percent of our recommendations made 4 years ago were implemented.2 Interior's recommendation implementation rate was 84 percent. As of March 2020, Interior had 141 open recommendations. Fully implementing all open recommendations could significantly improve Interior's operations. Since our April 2019 letter, Interior has implemented one of our seven open priority recommendations. In doing so, Interior's Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) completed safety inspections of all BIE schools and its inspection information was complete and accurate. Interior has six priority recommendations remaining from those we identified in the 2019 letter. We ask for your continued attention to these remaining priority recommendations. We are also adding four new recommendations related to improving oversight of offshore oil and gas activities and improving cybersecurity, bringing the total number of priority recommendations to 10. (See enclosure for the list of recommendations). The 10 priority recommendations fall into the following five areas. Improve Oversight of Offshore Oil and Gas Activities. As discussed below, management of federal oil and gas resources is one of the highest risks facing the government. Offshore oil and gas production, while an important energy source, poses risks to the environment and human safety. We have four priority recommendations to improve oversight in this area. In July 2012, we recommended that Interior take a risk-based approach when identifying and evaluating offshore oil and gas drilling operations. A risk-based approach would allow Interior to adjust and evaluate its oversight by, among other things, developing clear criteria to 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 operation, 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 2019, GAO-20-1 SP (Washington, D.C.: Nov.19. 2019). GAO-20-289PR Interior Priority Recommendations Page 1

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