Inspector General releases ARRA audit findings

June 27, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General has released the results of its audit report on the DOE's interconnection transmission planning program funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act).

Under the Recovery Act, the Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability received approximately $4.5 billion to modernize the electric grid, $80 million of which was designated for the Interconnection Transmission Planning Program to facilitate the development or strengthening of capabilities in each interconnection -- Western, Eastern and Texas. The Department also allocated $60 million to five organizations under cooperative agreements to perform work for the interconnections and $20 million to the Department's national laboratories to provide technical support to those organizations. The cooperative agreements covered interconnection-level analysis and planning, and coordination and cooperation among states on electric resource planning and priorities.

The Office of Inspector General has found that the Department had generally established and implemented a system of internal controls for managing the announcement, review and selection of cooperative agreement funding recipients. Also, the recipients had released the required planning studies to the public in 2011. However, the Office found that the Department had not adequately managed reimbursements to recipients for consultant compensation to the tune of $86,000. Based on recommendations from the Office, the Department provided acceptable corrective actions.

This is the third in a series of reports on the Department's funding to modernize the electric grid. A January 2012 report identified weaknesses in financial management, and incomplete and insufficient cybersecurity plans. A January 2013 report identified weaknesses in reimbursement requests, cost-share contributions, and coordination efforts with another Department program.

For more:
- see the Audit Report

http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/inspector-general-releases-arra-audit-findings/2013-06-27