American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at the Department of Energy. Special Report

摘要

Our report is based on a body of work that has been used, over time, by Department officials to improve operations and management practices in a number of areas. Considered in today's light, our work should once again be useful in helping to avoid problems encountered in the past. To that end, this report provides the Department with 'lessons learned' and suggests approaches for reducing the risks associated with the extraordinary level of Recovery Act funding. The report also outlines ongoing and planned Office of Inspector General activities designed to help ensure that the Recovery Act programs are well managed and that funds are protected from waste, fraud and abuse. Specifically, in this report we have: Identified specific risks that we discovered during past reviews and investigations in areas such as fund accountability and reporting, grant and cooperative agreement execution, contract management, and the management of loan guarantee efforts; Suggested actions that should be considered during Recovery Act planning and program execution to help reduce the likelihood that historical problems will recur; Described the Department's initial efforts to identify risks and to develop strategies to help ensure that Recovery Act goals and objectives are satisfied; and, Outlined the Office of Inspector General's risk-based approach to oversight and planned means of satisfying our Recovery Act review and investigative responsibilities.