Department of Energy

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Energy's (DOE) fiscal year (FY) 1999 budget requests, focusing on: (1) DOE's FY 1999 budget requests for funds that may not be needed; and (2) funding balances remaining from prior years--carryover balances--that may be available to reduce DOE's FY 1999 funding requests.

GAO noted that: (1) it questioned about $110 million in funding requested for the Environmental Management Program for FY 1999; (2) for example, $85 million in funding for three privatization projects may not be needed because either the current budget authority is adequate to cover the contractor's expected costs or DOE has decided not to privatize the project; (3) GAO questioned about $65 million in funding requested for Defense Programs for FY 1999; (4) for example, up to $20 million may not be needed for subcritical nuclear experiments at the Nevada Test Site because constraints at the site's underground facility limit the number of tests that can be performed; (5) GAO's review found that the Environmental Management program may have from a deficit of $82 million up to $94 million in potentially available carryover balances for operating funds at the beginning of FY 1999; (6) in addition, GAO found that Defense programs may have from $229 million to $341 million in potentially available carryover balances for operating funds at the beginning of FY 1999; and (7) the range of carryover balances GAO identified represents only a starting point from which to identify the amount that could be used to offset DOE's budget.