Federal Reports

The OIG identified areas where the NRC should refine its travel charge card procedures and enhance its prevention and detection measures. The OIG found travel charge card accounts that remained open after employee separations, as well as accounts with credit limits exceeding policy-defined limits or operational needs. The OIG also found that the NRC does not provide charge card refresher training. Further, certain premium class travel authorizations did not have the required supporting documentation or were not properly authorized or justified, resulting in $47,791 of questioned costs. Finally, the OIG identified travel card transactions unrelated to official travel, which have been referred to our Investigations Division for further review. The report contains nine recommendations intended to help the NRC prevent and detect travel charge card misuse and payment delinquencies.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is an independent oversight organization within the Executive Branch created by Congress in 1988. The DNFSB is considered a critical oversight agency. The DNFSB’s mission involves providing independent analysis, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy, thereby helping the Secretary ensure adequate protection of public health and safety at defense nuclear facilities within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).The Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-531) requires the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to annually update its assessment of the most serious management and performance challenges facing the DNFSB and the agency’s progress in addressing those challenges.

For our final report on our audit of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) management of trademark pendency, our objective was to determine whether USPTO exercised effective oversight and management of trademark pendency. Specifically, we assessed USPTO’s development, monitoring, and reporting of trademark pendency measures, as well as the effectiveness of selected pendency reduction efforts. We found that despite some progress in reducing pendency from its highest levels, USPTO still needs to improve oversight of trademark application pendency. Specifically, we found that I. USPTO missed its pendency targets for multiple years and provided insufficient information in its reporting of pendency goals and results and II. USPTO’s projections of future pendency reduction may not be achievable.