The U.S. Department of the Interior Is Making Progress in Its Management of Geospatial Data but Improvements Are Needed

Date Issued

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Submitting OIG

Department of the Interior OIG

Other Participating OIGs

Department of the Interior OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Department of the Interior

Report Number

2024-ER-003

Report Description

DOI made progress in complying with 9 of the 13 responsibilities in the Geospatial Data Act. We found deficiencies impacting 4 responsibilities.

Report Type

Audit

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

Funds for Better Use

Additional Details

Open Recommendations

This report has 4 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
2024-ER-003-01	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, as the delegated Federal Geographic Data Committee Chair, conduct an analysis to identify the root cause(s) of the geospatial dataset unavailability on GeoPlatform.
2024-ER-003-02	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, as the delegated Federal Geographic Data Committee Chair, conduct an analysis to determine the costs, benefits, and feasibility of resolving the root causes identified with GeoPlatform.
2024-ER-003-03	Yes	$0	$0
We recommend that the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, as the delegated Federal Geographic Data Committee Chair, implement appropriate changes based on the root cause and cost benefit analyses to address dataset availability issues.
2024-ER-003-06	No	$0	$0
We recommend that the Office of the Chief Information Officer, in the absence of Federal Geographic Data Committee standards, identify relevant best practices and develop requirements for specific data fields for National Geospatial Data Assets in alignment with best practices.