Unsubstantiated DOE Travel Payments

Since the Secretary of Energy took office, she has taken more than 100 domestic and foreign trips. Because of concerns about the extent of her trips as well as their expense, GAO reviewed the Energy Department's (DOE) expenditures for selected foreign trips. GAO found that DOE lacked written procedures at the time of these trips that specified either the types of records to be kept or the process to follow in obtaining support for foreign travel from U.S. embassies. During GAO's audit of the Secretary's trip to India, DOE officials could not provide records to substantiate about $80,000 of DOE's total cost of $730,000. In addition, DOE inappropriately shifted the source of funding for some security travel costs from one appropriation account to another during fiscal year 1995. DOE has taken several steps, including efforts to substantiate all travel payments, and Congress has clarified which appropriation DOE is to use for security travel costs. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Energy Management: Some Unsubstantiated Payments for the Secretary's Foreign Travel, by Victor S. Rezendes, Director of Energy, Resources, and Science Issues, before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Commerce. GAO/T-RCED-96-59, Jan. 4 (seven pages).