Audit Report: OAS-RA-09-04

The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)
was to jumpstart the U.S. economy, create or save millions of jobs, spur technological
advances in health and science, and invest in the Nation's energy future. The Department
of Energy will receive an unprecedented $38 billion in Recovery Act funding to support a
variety of science, energy, and environmental initiatives. The Recovery Act requires
transparency and accountability over these funds. To this end, the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) issued guidance requiring the Department to compile and report a
wide variety of funding, accounting, and performance information.
The Department plans to leverage existing information systems to develop accounting
and performance information that will be used by program managers and ultimately
reported to Recovery.gov, the government-wide source of Recovery Act information, and
to OMB. The Department's iManage iPortal, a system that aggregates information from a
number of corporate systems, will serve as the main reporting gateway for accounting
information. In addition, the Department plans to implement a methodology or system
that will permit it to monitor information reported directly to OMB by prime funding
recipients. Furthermore, performance measures or metrics that outline expected
outcomes are being developed, with results ultimately to be reported in a recently
developed Department-wide system.
Because of the significance of funds provided and their importance to strengthening the
Nation's economy, we initiated this review to determine whether the Department had
taken the steps necessary to ensure that Recovery Act funds can be appropriately tracked
and are transparent to the public, and whether the benefits of the expenditures can be
properly measured and reported clearly, accurately, and in a timely manner.