Bureau of Reclamation Needs To Improve Transparency for IRA-Funded Water Conservation in Upper Colorado River Basin

The DOI Office of Inspector General completed Audit Report 2024-WR-007 examining the Bureau of Reclamation's management of Inflation Reduction Act funding for water conservation in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The audit found that UCRC misclassified its funding agreements and did not verify subcontractor eligibility against exclusion lists prior to awarding funds. These findings indicate gaps in federal funding transparency and procurement compliance procedures. Federal agencies administering IRA-funded infrastructure programs and their subcontractors should ensure agreement classification is accurate and exclusion list verification is conducted as part of pre-award due diligence.

The three audit recommendations likely address corrective measures for agreement classification, subcontractor exclusion verification, and transparency improvements in IRA fund disbursement. Entities receiving federal infrastructure funding should review their internal controls against these specific compliance gaps identified in the Upper Colorado River Basin program.