Department of the Interior OIG

We reviewed three recommendations (Recommendations 2 – 4) presented in our December 2011 evaluation report titled U.S. Department of the Interior’s Video Teleconferencing Usage, to verify that the Department and its bureaus have implemented them.We confirmed that all three recommendations have been...

We reviewed six recommendations (Recommendations 3 and 5 – 9) presented in our September 2015 evaluation report titled Operation and Management of the Brinkerhoff Lodge at Grand Teton National Park, to verify that the National Park Service has implemented them.We confirmed that all six...

We audited the interim costs incurred by the Crow Tribe under two contracts (Contract Nos. R11AV60120 and R12AV60002) with the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to fund various improvements to tribal water systems. For this audit, we reviewed $13,835,511 of the $20,999,510 in costs the Tribe claimed...

We audited four agreements for law enforcement, tribal court, and the general assistance services, between the Blackfeet Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to determine whether: (1) the BIA oversaw the agreements in accordance with applicable Federal laws and regulations and BIA guidelines...

We evaluated the policies and practices of the Office of Indian Services and the Office of Self Governance, two organizations within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs (AS-IA) that manage aspects of distributing appropriated funds to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. Our...

In collaboration with the American Samoa Territorial Audit Office, we audited the American Samoa Government (ASG) executive branch to determine whether it had effective internal controls to detect and prevent unauthorized use of government-owned and -leased vehicles. We determined that the executive...

The OIG investigated allegations that Great Western Drilling Corporation (GWD) misreported mineral royalty data to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) and underpaid Federal mineral royalties.We substantiated the allegations and found that for more than 6 years, the GWD violated Federal...

The OIG investigated allegations that a senior official from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) encouraged natural resource specialists to overlook regulations so they could process Applications for Permit to Drill more quickly, and to protect any staff members who overlooked the regulations Our...

The OIG investigated allegations that a former Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) manager influenced the award of a $21 million environmental consulting contract to a firm that employed him after he left the USBR. The allegations further stated that a USBR supervisory contract specialist had a conflict of...

We focused our audit on the drawdowns made by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on Cooperative Agreement No. S16AC20034 with the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) between September 26, 2016, and December 6, 2017.Our audit focused on whether the costs claimed by the...