Energy Management

Better Federal Oversight of Territories' Oil Overcharge Funds Needed Gao ID: RCED-92-24 February 21, 1992

About $68 million from two oil overcharge cases was made available to five U.S. territories--American Samoa, Guam, the Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In response to congressional concerns about whether these funds have been spent appropriately, this report examines (1) the amount of funds the territories have spent and whether this amount has been accurately reported to Congress and (2) whether the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services have adequate monitoring procedures and have taken steps to ensure that the territories' use of oil overcharge funds is in accordance with legal requirements.

GAO found that: (1) as of June 1990, the territories had developed plans for spending about $52 million of the $68 million in available funds; (2) before April 1991, DOE provided quarterly reports to Congress on the territories' planned and DOE-approved uses of funds, but the reports did not include information on the amounts actually spent; (3) both DOE and HHS have established procedures to monitor the uses of oil overcharge funds, but their monitoring practices provide limited assurance that the funds are adequately accounted for and that improper uses of funds are identified, since DOE field offices do not always follow the monitoring guidance issued by DOE headquarters, DOE does not plan to monitor nongrant projects, and HHS performs limited reviews of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program expenditures; (4) the Office of Management and Budget has taken actions to require that oil overcharge funds be included in the independent audits performed under the Single Audit Act of 1984; and (5) as of June 1990, the territories had spent about $23 million of the available funds, and the territories' plans for spending an additional $29 million were delayed by administrative, legislative, and procedural delays.

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.

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