Department of Commerce OIG

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) administers and enforces U.S. export regulations to control the export of goods and technologies for national security and foreign policy purposes. Our objective for this audit was to assess the effectiveness of BIS actions to detect violations of export...

This report describes the most serious management and performance challenges facing the Department and its bureaus in FY 2026, categorizing them under three overarching topic areas: Modernizing Technology and Operations, Providing Core Services and Data, and Managing Spending.

Our objective was to determine whether NTIA has an adequate review process to ensure that states’ and territories’ plans meet the BEAD program’s planning phase requirements. We found that NTIA did not have an adequate review process to ensure that states’ and territories’ plans met the BEAD program...

On July 4, 2025, flash flooding occurred in Kerr County in central Texas when water levels along the Guadalupe River rose rapidly, causing widespread and severe property damage, injury, and loss of life. Given the catastrophic nature of the flash flood event, plus ongoing concerns about staffing...

We determined whether the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) is ensuring that the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) is achieving service availability requirements. We found that overall, FirstNet Authority did not ensure that the NPSBN met service availability...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is overseeing the construction of new ships, known as Class B ships, to replace hydrographic survey ships that are nearing the end of their planned service lives. Shipbuilding is a complex...

The 2026 Census Test is the bureau’s next major test to prepare for the 2030 census. The bureau planned in-field operations at multiple sites to evaluate new and enhanced processes and methods for improving the design of the census, and bureau officials stated that they used a new, innovative data...

Our objective was to determine whether the U.S. Census Bureau has implemented adequate data collection procedures to ensure that American Community Survey (ACS) estimates are reliable. We found that the bureau did not effectively implement its data collection and quality control procedures to ensure...

Our objective was to assess the progress of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in implementing the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) weather satellite program. We also evaluated NOAA’s efforts to address the risk of a future gap in geostationary observations, and we...

Our objective was to assess the Space Weather Follow-On (SWFO) program’s progress in preparing the SWFO-L1 satellite for launch and operations. To meet our objective, we reviewed SWFO-L1 satellite environmental testing, planning for integration onto the launch vehicle as a rideshare, and operational...