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GAO-20-285PR 1 (2020-04-22)

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GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
441 G St. N.W.                                                        Comptroller General
Washington, DC 20548                                                   of the United States



April 22, 2020


The Honorable Dan Brouillette
Secretary
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20585

Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Energy

Dear Mr. Secretary:

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.1 In November
2019, we reported that on a government-wide basis, 77 percent of our recommendations made
4 years ago were implemented.2 DOE's recommendation implementation rate was 78 percent.
As of March 2020, DOE had 188 open recommendations. Fully implementing these open
recommendations could significantly improve agency operations.

Since our April 2019 letter, DOE has implemented four of our 18 open priority
recommendations.

    * Specifically, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued two directives
       in February 2019 that establish policies for conducting program management activities
       and independent cost estimates and reviews within NNSA. We believe that these
       agency actions satisfy the intent of our two November 2014 recommendations to
       improve N NSA's development of programmatic cost estimates and to improve N NSA's
       programmatic reviews of cost estimates.

    *  Further, in September 2019, DOE completed implementation of our April 2018
       recommendation that DOE revise the Office of River Protection's organizational structure
       on the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant project and assess the quality
       assurance functional reporting lines, responsibilities, and processes. Having done so, we
       believe DOE has better assurance that the quality assurance function is independent of
       the office's upper management and that it may better enhance the independence of the
       quality function from cost and schedule influences.



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-20-285PR DOE Priority Recommendations


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