Federal Reports

We initiated this report to address allegations on failures of the Department of Energy to provide effective oversight of travel card use by a political appointee. This report also presents findings related to a limited number of other political appointees and Department senior executives (collectively, “Executives”).

Our review substantiated four of the five items noted in the allegation regarding misuse or abuse of the rules and regulations related to the political appointee. We did not substantiate the allegation related to use of split disbursements.

Additionally, our review found that weaknesses were not just limited to the individual identified in the allegation but extended to a small number of other Executives within the Department. We found that certain Executives misused their Government-issued travel cards by making personal purchases using the cards and maintaining delinquent travel card account balances. Upon notification of travel card issues by the Office of Travel Management, we found that Executive leadership did not always act on the derogatory information provided related to travel card misuse. Notably, the misuse and lack of leadership action was not limited to any one program but identified across many Department program elements.

This report provides areas of consideration for the Department, specifically focused on enhancing controls in this area, including ensuring that timely and appropriate actions are taken in response to reported travel card misuse and delinquencies.

We conducted a performance audit of the Michigan Arts and Culture Council (Council) for the period of October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2023.  Based on our review, we determined the Council met program requirements for each award and generally complied with award criteria.  However, we identified opportunities for improvement in the Council’s subawarding and award management procedures and controls, and issues with select subrecipient costs.  We provided 12 recommendations to address the report findings – five to the Council and seven to the Arts Endowment.  We believe these recommendations, if implemented, will help ensure the Council meets Federal and Arts Endowment requirements and better manages its awards.