P R E S S   R E L E A S E

Secretary of State DENNIS RICHARDSON The State of Oregon

CONTACT: Debra Royal / Chief of Staff / 503-986-2361 / debra.royal@oregon.gov

DATE: December 18, 2018

Report Following Up on Recommendations made to

Oregon Department of Transportation

SALEM, OR — Today, the Secretary of State released a report stating that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has made some progress implementing the recommendations made in Report 2017-18, “The Oregon Fuels Tax System Accurately Assesses and Collects Fuels Taxes for State and Local Jurisdictions.”

In the 2017 Oregon Fuels Tax System audit report, auditors issued nine recommendations, all of which ODOT agreed with. Implementation of these recommendations would see ODOT addressing weaknesses in the refund review processes, fixing system design flaws, testing backups, and correcting security weaknesses.

“We commend ODOT for implementing two of our recommendations that ensure refund claims are appropriately calculated and paid,” said Secretary of State Dennis Richardson. “However, more work needs to be done to fully implement the remaining seven recommendations, including addressing significant security weaknesses.”

Auditors assessed evidence to determine the status of each recommendation and assigned it one of three categories: Implemented/Resolved, Partially Implemented, or Not Implemented. Two of the recommendations from the original audit report are Implemented/Resolved, and five are Partially Implemented. ODOT has made significant progress toward resolving these five, but some recommendations cannot be resolved without appropriate vendor support.

Auditors found no progress has been made on two security recommendations. ODOT can complete these recommendations to improve security by implementing processes for alerting staff about potential security violations and changing password requirements to comply with statewide IT standards.

Read the full report on the Secretary of State website.

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