Department of Commerce

For our final report on the evaluation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) patent examination process, our objectives were to (I) assess whether patents are examined in compliance with applicable statutes, regulations, and case law; (2) identify deficiencies within the...

The Semiannual Report to Congress summarizes the key audits, evaluations, and investigative works the Office of Inspector General (OIG) completed during the 6-month period ending September 30, 2021. Over the past 6 months, OIG issued 11 products related to its audit, evaluation, and inspection work...

We conducted this audit in response to allegations made to the Department’s hotline. The objective of our audit was to determine whether Enterprise Services (ES) effectively and efficiently managed contractor performance in accordance with federal regulations and Department policy. Overall, we found...

Our objectives were to determine whether WPRFMC (1) claimed allowable, allocable, and reasonable costs under the financial assistance awards and (2) received the goods and services paid for by the awards.

We contracted with KPMG LLP—an independent public accounting firm—to perform this audit of the U.S. Department of Commerce's (the Department's) Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) submission for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021. Our office oversaw the progress of this...

The Office of Inspector General is required by statute to report annually the most serious management and performance challenges facing the Department of Commerce. Attached is our final report on the Department’s top management and performance challenges for fiscal year 2022.

The Office of Inspector General is required by statute to report annually the most serious management and performance challenges facing the Department of Commerce. Attached is our final report on the Department’s top management and performance challenges for fiscal year 2021.

Our objective was to determine whether NIST is complying with the requirements of the CARES Act. Specifically, we determined (1) what steps NIST took to implement and comply with the CARES Act, (2) challenges NIST faced during implementation, and (3) NIST’s status in the processing of applications...

Our objective was to assess the cost, schedule, and technical performance of the Program’s acquisition and development effort for selected instruments. We found the following: (1) The Program exceeded contract definitization timelines and conducted late and abbreviated baseline reviews. (2) JPSS-2...

The objectives were to determine whether USPTO (1) achieved its small business utilization goals, (2) contracting officials provided small businesses with adequate contract award opportunities, and (3) took appropriate actions to ensure contracting officials met small business contracting goals. We...