Congressional Request: Review of the Secretary of Energy’s Electric Vehicle Road Trip Travel Expenses
January 8, 2025
minute read time
Friday, January 3
Congressional Request: Review of the Secretary of Energy’s Electric Vehicle Road Trip Travel Expenses
The Office of Inspector General initiated an inspection of the Secretary of Energy’s June 2023 electric vehicle road trip travel expenses based on a request from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Accountability. The request contained examples of staff lodging exceeding per diem rates, travel expenses not included in the original authorization, potential misuse of Government-issued travel cards, and inadequate justifications for potential policy deviations.
We initiated this inspection to determine whether travel expenses for the Secretary of Energy’s electric vehicle road trip complied with Federal travel requirements.
We determined that 36 of the 42 travel vouchers (86 percent) contained lodging expenses that exceeded Government per diem rates. Additionally, we identified seven travel vouchers for which travel expenses exceeded 15 percent of the authorized cost. Further, we found four travel vouchers for which Government-issued travel cards were not used for expenses, as required. Moreover, travel voucher warnings addressing potential policy deviations and issues were unaddressed or inadequately justified. We also identified other issues separate from the concerns expressed by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Accountability that included: travelers being reimbursed for amounts that exceeded the Department’s 15 percent tip policy; travel vouchers with inaccurate temporary duty locations and dates; and cost comparisons for travel to and from alternate locations that were not submitted with the travel authorizations, as required. These issues occurred because of inadequate reviews of travel vouchers and insufficient knowledge of Federal travel requirements.
This report contains two recommendations that, if fully implemented, should help to ensure the accuracy of travel authorizations and vouchers. Management fully concurred with our recommendations.