Department of Energy

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO investigated various allegations against the former Director of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Minority Economic Impact (OMEI), focusing on allegations that the Director: (1) proposed a reduction in force (RIF) to retaliate against the two affected employees; (2) claimed travel expenses for trips not related to government business; and (3) misused government telephones and vehicles.

GAO found that: (1) there was no direct evidence to support the allegation that the Director proposed RIF to retaliate against employees; (2) there was substantial circumstantial evidence supporting the view that retaliation was a significant factor in her decision to propose RIF; (3) the Director failed to follow established DOE RIF procedures in proposing, conducting, and notifying the employees of RIF; (4) the Director made a number of trips to her home state and there were discrepancies between her itineraries and vouchers regarding the purposes of the trips and the length of stay necessary to accomplish official business; (5) on one occasion, an OMEI grantee improperly paid the Director's hotel bill; (6) the Director extensively used federal telephones for what appeared to be personal calls; (7) the Director used DOE vehicles and drivers for a number of trips that may have been related to personal business; (8) there was little support for an allegation that the Director used OMEI staff and supplies to conduct personal business; and (9) there was no evidence that the Director engaged in illegal contracting activities.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone: