Federal Reports

The Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) assists low-income families in reducing energy costs by increasing the energy efficiency of dwelling units while ensuring health and safety. WAP provides billions of dollars in grants to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Native American tribes, and U.S. territories. These entities then contract with local weatherization providers to offer WAP services to their communities. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act added $3.5 billion to WAP program appropriations.

Due to the importance of WAP and the risk areas we previously identified, we selected one state for review. We performed this audit to determine the extent to which Wisconsin’s Division of Energy, Housing and Community Resources (DEHCR) officials managed WAP in accordance with applicable requirements.

Wisconsin’s DEHCR officials did not always manage WAP in accordance with applicable requirements. We found that DEHCR officials did not: (1) maintain all supporting documentation necessary to support costs claimed by their subgrantees and lower-tier subcontractors, and (2) identify a potential conflict of interest. Lastly, we identified two areas for improvement related to DEHCR’s internal control system that, if addressed, should help its officials administer WAP in accordance with applicable requirements.

These issues occurred because DEHCR officials did not have a policy to maintain all supporting documentation, including copies of invoices, from their subgrantees. In addition, DEHCR’s conflict of interest policy lacked the rigor to identify potential conflicts of interest. Further, DEHCR officials did not have a formal documented procedure for their Performance Evaluation tool or their process for receipt and resolution of complaints. The Department is responsible for overseeing activities performed under the award. However, its oversight did not ensure compliance with the terms and conditions of the award or identify the issues in our report.

An effective internal control system is necessary to help ensure the overall effectiveness of WAP funding and to demonstrate costs are allowable, allocable, and reasonable.

To address the issues identified in this report, we have made two recommendations and one suggested action that, if fully implemented, should help DEHCR officials improve their administration of WAP and ensure compliance with applicable requirements.  

Battelle Memorial Institute manages and operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. PNNL’s research priorities concentrate on three principal missions addressing major challenges of national and global consequence: scientific discovery, energy resiliency, and national security. In support of these missions, PNNL acquires consultants to perform certain tasks and uses subcontracts to commit resources and formalize its relationships with consultants.

We initiated this audit to determine if PNNL managed its professional and consultant services agreements in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements.

We found that PNNL did not fully comply with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements in managing its professional and consultant services agreements. Specifically, we found that PNNL: (1) did not always obtain required conflicts-of-interest disclosures; (2) accepted and paid invoices from consultants that lacked sufficient detail to support the services rendered; and (3) may not have ensured segregation of duties within the procurement and oversight of professional and consultant services agreements.

We attributed these issues to weaknesses in PNNL’s policies and procedures. Specifically, we found PNNL policies that conflicted, did not incorporate or address requirements, or allowed procedures that did not follow best practices.

These weaknesses limit PNNL’s ability to provide reasonable assurance that other consultant and professional services agreements comply with applicable laws and regulations and that only allowable costs are incurred and claimed.

To address the issues identified in this report, we made five recommendations that, if fully implemented, should help ensure that PNNL manages its professional and consultant services agreements in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and contract requirements.

The 2026-2030 strategic plan outlines the vision and priorities that guide EAC OIG as it carries out its mission.

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 controls for Russia and Belarus in fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

BIS prevents the diversion or misuse of export-controlled items abroad by conducting pre-license checks and post-shipment verifications—collectively known as end-use checks—on foreign end users for individual export transactions, to help ensure that U.S. exports are being used as intended and to assess the legitimacy of end users.

Overall, we found that BIS needs to strengthen its end-use check process to prevent restricted shipments to Russia and Belarus. Specifically, we found weaknesses in BIS methods to identify and select high-risk shipments for end-use checks; document results and assign final ratings of compliance with export control regulations; and complete enforcement actions to hold potential violators of export controls accountable. These weaknesses undermine the transparency and accountability of BIS’s regulatory oversight and underscore the need for improvements to strengthen and modernize the end-use check process.

We made six recommendations to strengthen and modernize the end-use check process.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.