Summary

In response to a congressional request, GAO examined: (1) the Department of Energy's Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) investigations into allegations of improprieties involving high-level employees at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); and (2) FERC responses to the OIG reports.

GAO found that: (1) OIG issued 8 reports covering the 34 allegations, 7 of which went to the FERC chairman; (2) OIG developed recommendations which called for FERC to take actions relating to specific employees and to improve its operations, policies, and procedures; (3) although OIG requested that FERC respond in writing within 30 days, FERC responses to five of the seven reports took over 150 days; and (4) FERC lacks internal directives covering responses to OIG investigative reports.