Reports & Testimonies
GAO’s reports and testimonies give Congress, federal agencies, and the public timely, fact-based, non-partisan information that can improve government operations and save taxpayers billions of dollars.
Most Recent Reports
1 - 20 of 58114 Reports
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Priority Open Recommendations: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help the federal government save money, address issues on our High Risk List, and significantly improve government operations. This letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission outlines 8 open recommendations that it should prioritize. For example, we recommended that NRC improve the security of certain radioactive materials to make them less vulnerable to theft while developing a...
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F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: Program Continues to Encounter Production Issues and Modernization Delays
After nearly 20 years, the F-35 program moved into full-rate production after conducting its final simulated tests. At this milestone, DOD determined that the F-35 demonstrated an acceptable level of performance and reliability and could be manufactured faster. However, contractors continue to deliver engines and aircraft late—a trend that has worsened in the last few years. The program also faces delays in updating the aircraft's...
Decarbonization: Opportunities Exist to Improve the Department of Energy's Management of Risks to Carbon Capture Projects
Carbon capture technologies could help the federal government meet its goals to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. From FY 2018-2023, the Department of Energy provided about $1.4 billion to fund 654 research and development projects related to carbon capture, use, and storage or directly extracting CO2 from the air. However, the DOE office that handled nearly 70% of funding didn't always follow guidance...
United Nations: State Department Should Better Assess Its Efforts to Increase Employment of Americans at UN Agencies
The UN strives for equitable representation among its workforce. Many UN agencies use factors such as a country's membership status, financial contributions, and population size to set targets for its representation in certain categories of employees. American UN employees we spoke with cited challenges such as long hiring processes and unclear compensation packages as barriers to UN employment. To address recent declines in U.S. representation...
Behavioral Health: Activities of the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory
This Q&A report reviews the work of the Policy Lab—a support office within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Policy Lab works across SAMHSA to support the agency's efforts to implement policy change, coordinate its programs, and publish evidence-based information related to substance misuse and mental health. Some key efforts the Policy Lab has worked on include: Developing the agency's strategic plan...
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Financial Management: Additional Steps Needed to Improve ICE's Budget Projections and Execution
In recent years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has frequently relied on additional funding beyond its annual appropriations to enforce immigration laws and combat transnational crime. That funding often totaled hundreds of millions of dollars per year. ICE uses budget models to estimate its resource needs and is required to periodically review these models. However, ICE doesn't do so—so it can't be sure that its...
Government Efficiency and Effectiveness: Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Billions of Dollars in Financial Benefits
Each year, GAO reports on federal programs with fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative goals or actions, and we have suggested hundreds of ways to address those problems, reduce costs, or boost revenue. This testimony discusses our 14th annual report, in which we identified 112 new matters for congressional consideration and recommendations to agencies to help address these findings. Congressional and agency action in these areas has...
VA Health Care: Opportunities to Improve Access for Veterans Living in Rural Areas
About a third of the 8.3 million veterans who receive Department of Veterans Affairs health care live in rural areas. The VA has sought to improve their access to care with transportation services, mobile medical units, and more. We testified about our prior work examining these VA efforts and its responses to our recommendations. For example, VA reported it had 52 active mobile medical units...
2024 Annual Report: Additional Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Billions of Dollars in Financial Benefits
Each year, GAO reports on federal programs with fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative goals or actions, and we have suggested hundreds of ways to address those problems, reduce costs, or boost revenue. In our 14th annual report, we identified 112 new matters for congressional consideration and recommendations to agencies to help address these findings. Congressional and agency action in these areas has yielded about $667 billion...
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Military Child Care: Services Should Assess Their Employee Retention Efforts
DOD lets each military service set hourly wages within a specific range for its child care workers. For example, a service may raise entry-level pay for child care workers within the range to compete with the local civilian labor market. But military officials reported challenges recruiting and retaining these workers, including a lengthy onboarding process and stressful work environment. The services follow many recruitment and...
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Cyber Personnel: Navy Needs to Address Accuracy of Workforce Data
DOD has faced numerous challenges ensuring that its workforce can respond to cybersecurity threats. For instance, the Navy has had issues with its workforce data. The Navy's civilian cyber workforce data are stored in two different data systems, and the data in both systems differ. This has caused, among other things, civilian workforce data to show inaccurately high vacancy rates. We've previously reported on similar...
Southwest Border: CBP Could Take Additional Steps to Strengthen Its Response to Incidents Involving Its Personnel
While performing their duties, Customs and Border Protection personnel may be involved in incidents. Those resulting in a serious injury or death are known as "critical incidents." In 2022, CBP disbanded Border Patrol teams that responded to and investigated critical incidents and assigned the responsibility to its Office of Professional Responsibility. The office is doubling its investigator workforce, and more than half of its new...
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Military Spouse Employment: Part-Time Workforce Characteristics and Perspectives [Reissued with revisions on May 9, 2024]
For spouses of military service members, finding or keeping a job is a top concern. This Q&A report examines the demographics, employment experiences, and well-being of military spouses who worked part time. Of approximately 270,000 military spouses who were employed, about a third worked part time in 2021, based on our estimates from DOD data. Military spouses we interviewed said they worked part time because...
U.S. Territories: Coordinated Federal Approach Needed to Better Address Data Gaps
We report in this Q&A on gaps in federal data for the U.S. territories (American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). At each agency we reviewed, a majority of statistical reports excluded at least one of the territories. Data gaps can limit the government's understanding of territory needs and how to best...
DOJ Grants Management: Further Steps Could Improve Efforts Taken to Address Early Grants IT Modernization Challenges
In 2020, the Department of Justice launched a new system—JustGrants—to modernize grants management for its offices as well as Tribal and other applicants and grantees. Some of the system's features didn't perform as expected. For example, some grant recipients couldn't access funds or submit financial reports to DOJ. DOJ has been working to address these and other issues like technical glitches. DOJ used a change...
College Athletics: Education Should Improve Its Title IX Enforcement Efforts
In 1972, Title IX required equity for women in college athletics. Yet 50 years later, women still participate in college athletics at lower rates than men—despite enrolling in college at higher rates. The Department of Education enforces Title IX. It obtains agreements from some colleges to resolve potential compliance issues and monitors their actions. In some of the 26 cases we reviewed, Education took over...
GAOverview: Understanding Waste in Federal Programs
In this "GAOverview," we discuss types of waste in federal programs and strategies to address it. Waste is when individuals or organizations spend government resources carelessly, extravagantly, or without purpose. Federal programs may be vulnerable to waste for a number of reasons, including asset mismanagement. For instance, it can be difficult to track the purchase and use of goods and services at an agency, which...
Federal Housing Finance Agency: Improvements Needed in Controls over Management Reviews and Information Systems Access
Each year, we audit the Federal Housing Finance Agency's financial statements. During our 2023 audit, we found issues with FHFA's internal controls over its review of the draft consolidated financial statements and information systems access. Internal controls are processes to reasonably assure that transactions are properly authorized and recorded. We considered one of the issues to be a "significant deficiency" when combined with a related...
Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General: Improvements Needed in Review Procedures for Payroll Accounting
Each year, we audit the Federal Housing Finance Agency's financial statements. While independent from FHFA's operations, the FHFA Office of Inspector General's financial activities are included in those statements. During our 2023 audit, we found an issue with the internal controls over the Office of Inspector General's payroll accounting. Internal controls are processes to reasonably assure that transactions are properly authorized and recorded. We considered...
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Medicare Hospice: CMS Needs to Fully Implement Statutory Provisions and Prioritize Certain Overdue Surveys
Medicare is required to monitor hospices through surveys every 3 years. Surveys can find serious quality issues, raising concerns about the adequacy of care and triggering additional monitoring. About 15% of hospices were cited with serious quality issues from 2020 through 2022. Medicare is working on, but hasn't fully implemented, enforcement tools—such as fines—to help bring hospices like these into compliance. In addition, as of...