DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE) AND NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF BUILDING SCIENCES RECORDS WERE REVIEWED. ON SITE VISITS WERE MADE TO 10 STATES AND 16 LOCAL JURISDICTIONS REPRESENTING A CROSS SECTION OF POTENTIAL PROBLEM AREAS. THE INVESTIGATION FOUND THE EFFICIENCY STANDARDS PROGRAM OF QUESTIONABLE EFFECTIVENESS. IN MANY STATES THE STANDARDS HAD NOT BEEN IMPLEMENTED BY THE TARGET DATE, JANUARY 1, 1978. GAO ESTIMATES THAT THESE DELAYS COULD REDUCE THE PROJECTED 1980 ENERGY SAVINGS BY THE EQUIVALENT OF ABOUT 46,000 BARRELS OF OIL PER DAY. WHILE 41 STATES HAD ADOPTED SOME TYPE OF THERMAL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS, 14 OTHERS DID NOT HAVE STANDARDS FOR ALL BUILDING CATEGORIES AND THE STANDARDS WERE NOT MANDATORY IN ALL JURISDICTIONS OF THE STATE. FURTHERMORE, DOE HAS NOT APPLIED THE MANDATORY CRITERIA OF COMPLIANCE CONSISTENTLY TO ALL STATES. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT DOE ALLOW MORE TIME FOR COMPLIANCE INSTEAD OF WITHDRAWING PROGRAM FUNDS. DELAYED IMPLEMENTATION OF BUILDING ENERGY STANDARDS IS PREDICTED FOR STATES WITHOUT PRIOR STANDARDS OF THEIR OWN. MOREOVER, STATES ARE NOT FULLY INFORMED ABOUT THE TYPE OF STANDARDS IN EXISTENCE IN THEIR LOCAL JURISDICTIONS. A JOINT FEDERAL - STATE EFFORT SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN TO MONITOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EFFORTS IN MEETING THERMAL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS. THE DOE NEEDS TO DEVELOP A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PROVIDING A DATA BASE FOR EFFECTIVE EVALUATION OF STANDARDS IMPLEMENTATION. (MRK)