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GAO-23-106461 1 (2023-05-11)

handle is hein.gao/gaooqs0001 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 May 11, 2023 The Honorable Deb Haaland Secretary Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20240 Priority Open Recommendations: Department of the Interior Dear Madam Secretary: The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the Department of the Interior's implementation of GAO's recommendations and call your continued personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high priority.1 In November 2022, 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 82 percent. As of April 2023, Interior had 115 open recommendations. Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve Interior's operations. Since our June 2022 letter, Interior has implemented one of our 13 open priority recommendations, and we removed priority status from two recommendations.3 As of December 2022, the Indian Energy Service Center established a plan to develop an inventory of pending transactions related to energy development activities at field offices and to begin meeting regularly with field offices to monitor their processing of these transactions, as we recommended in June 2015.4 According to the plan, the center will review certain transaction types (rights of way and revenue-sharing agreements) in fiscal year 2023 and additional transaction types in the following years. The center also plans to participate in monthly meetings with regional realty officers and report average processing times of key energy development activities. These actions improve the efficiency and transparency of its review process. 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 2022, GAO-23-900398 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 15, 2022). 3We removed the priority designation from two recommendations as of April 2023 because the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is finalizing modifications to its bid valuation process. We are leaving them open as not addressed and will assess BOEM's efforts once it completes the modifications. See GAO, Offshore Oil and Gas: Opportunities Exist to Better Ensure a Fair Return on Federal Resources, GAO-19-531 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 25, 2019). 4GAO, Indian Energy Development: Poor Management by BIA Has Hindered Energy Development on Indian Lands, GAO-15-502 (Washington, D.C.: June 8, 2015). GAO-23-106461 Interior Priority Recommendations Page 1

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