Appendix VIII: Comments from the 

 Department of Energy 



Department of Energy 



Washington. DC 20585 

 June 29, 2004 



Ms. Cornelia M. Ashby 

 Director for Education Workforce 

 And Income Security 

 General Accounting Office 

 441 G Street, NW 

 Washington, DC 20548 



Dear Ms. Ashby: 



The Department of Energy has reviewed the proposed report, "Gender Issues; Women's 

 Participation in the Sciences Has Increased, but Agencies Need to Do More to Ensure 

 CompHance with TiUe DC'. We provide the followmg comments on behalf of the Department 



GAO Finding: 



That compHance reviews which are required by Title IX regulations have been largely 

 neglected by agencies. Officials at three of the four agencies told us that they have not 

 conducted any Title DC compliance reviews of their grantees. 



DOE COMMENT: 



Over die last several years, the Departinent of Energy (DOE) has acted aggressively to 

 ensure that applicants and recipients of Federal financial assistance are in compliance 

 widi Title IX, as well as other civil rights statutes and regulations that prohibit 

 discrimination by recipients of Federal financial assistance. DOE's Office of Civil 

 Rights and Diversity (OCRD) has developed a comprehensive compliance monitoring 

 and oversi^t program consisting, among other things, of issuing a DOE policy, 

 providing policy guidance, training, pre-award reviews, and outreach and publication. 



DOE has sixteen (16) field Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Offices which 

 are responsible for Title DC civil rights enforcement ^plicable to recipients of financial 

 assistance fiom DOE. The Headquarters OfQce of Civil Rights and Diversity (OCRD) 

 has oversi^t responsibility of the 16 field offices DOE's actions to ensure compliance 

 with Federal law in this area include the following. 



First, in January 2000, the Secretary issued a policy statement to all Department Heads 

 setting forth DOE's Policy of non-discrimination in Federally assisted programs and 

 Activities. The policy reaffirms DOE's commitment to ensuring that recipients of 

 assistance ftom DOE do not discriminate, and tasks each departmental element with 

 taking steps to ensiu^ that recipients of departmental assistance comply with all 

 applicable laws pertaining to financial assistance, including widi Title IX of the 



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P^e42 



GAO-04-639 Gender Issues 



