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 58052 Reports
Released on
Ukraine: Status of Foreign Assistance
In response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, four U.S. agencies have allocated $44.1 billion from supplemental funding and other funds to address the economic and humanitarian needs of people affected by the crisis. This Q&A report examines the status of these funds and State's role in coordinating it. State doesn't have a systematic, comprehensive approach to specifically track this funding. For example, State...
Driver Assistance Technologies: NHTSA Should Take Action to Enhance Consumer Understanding of Capabilities and Limitations
Driver assistance technologies are increasingly included in new vehicles. But drivers who don't understand these technologies may increase their risk of accidents by turning off safety features or over-relying on convenience features. The New Car Assessment Program is one way the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration educates drivers on vehicle technology. NHTSA's proposed updates to the program could help people better understand these technologies, but...
International Mail: Effects of Rate Increases and Other Factors on USPS and Domestic Stakeholders
The United States Postal Service delivers mail to and from countries around the world. In 2017, we reported that USPS lost money delivering international mail to U.S. customers. USPS has been able to cover its costs by increasing certain international mailing rates. But USPS has handled significantly less international mail since 2017. Stakeholders said that higher mailing rates, COVID-19 restrictions, and new customs laws contributed...
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute: Review of the Audit of the FY 2023 Financial Statements
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute is a federally funded, nonprofit corporation that was established to fund and evaluate research aimed at helping patients, doctors, and policymakers make better health care decisions. PCORI is required to have its financial statements audited annually, and we're required to review those audits. PCORI's auditor issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on its fiscal year 2023 financial statements, concluding that these...
Veterans Community Care Program: Additional Information on VA Statutory Appointment Timeliness Measurements is Needed
VA's community care program refers eligible veterans to a health care provider in their community if they can't access care at a VA facility. VA has had challenges scheduling community care appointments in a timely way. So, Congress required VA to measure elapsed time between and across points in the care process, specifically when: Care is requested A referral is sent to a community care...
Army Corps of Engineers: Actions Needed to Better Align Management of Real Estate Administrative Fees with Key Practices
The Army Corps of Engineers manages the real estate at its infrastructure projects nationwide that businesses, state governments, and others can work with the Corps to use. For example, a business can lease land on a lake to run a marina. Users pay fees to the Corps to cover the costs of reviewing applications and overseeing uses. We testified about concerns with the fees' consistency...
Released on
Veterans Health Care: Improvements Needed in Patient Tracking for Non-Biological Implantable Medical Devices
What happens when there's a recall of a pacemaker, hip implant, or other implantable medical device—after it's already in a patient? If the patient is a veteran, the Veterans Health Administration needs to ensure that health care providers can contact them for follow-up care. But VHA's policies don't ensure that all such devices are effectively trackable. For example, if VHA needed to identify all patients...
Maternal and Infant Health: HHS Should Strengthen Processes for Measuring Program Performance
The U.S. has the highest rates of maternal and infant death of developed countries. The Healthy Start program tries to address this with 3 goals: Reduce infant death rates Improve maternal health Reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes The Department of Health and Human Services collects data to measure the program's progress on reducing infant deaths and improving maternal health. HHS said it...
Bureau of Indian Education: Improved Oversight of Schools' COVID-19 Spending is Needed
The Bureau of Indian Education and its schools used $1.5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds to Give students laptops and resources for distance learning Buy COVID tests and supplies The bureau monitors schools' COVID spending in several ways, such as reviewing financial reports and collecting financial information from school visits. The bureau's policy calls for additional oversight of schools at high risk for financial...
Released on
Improper Payments: Information on Agencies' Fiscal Year 2023 Estimates
Improper payments—those that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount—have consistently been a government-wide issue. Since fiscal year 2003, federal agencies reported about $2.7 trillion in total improper payments. In FY 2023 alone, federal agencies made $236 billion in improper payments, a decrease of about $11 billion from the prior fiscal year. This Q&A report shows that this estimate doesn't...
Space Acquisitions: Analysis of Two DOD Reports to Congress
The Department of Defense plans to spend billions on space technology, such as satellites, that could help the U.S. Space Force contribute to national security and more. But in its space acquisitions, DOD has historically struggled with ballooning costs, schedule overruns, and fragmented leadership. This Q&A report discusses two reports that DOD and the Air Force, which oversees the Space Force, released in 2020 and...
Military Readiness: Comprehensive Approach Needed to Address Service Member Fatigue and Manage Related Efforts
When service members don't get enough sleep, it can affect their performance. Fatigue has led to fatal accidents and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to ships, vehicles, and aircraft. For over a decade, Department of Defense surveys have found that the majority of service members report sleeping less than 6 hours a night—despite DOD recommending 7 or more. DOD has developed guidance on...
Released on
Clinical Research: FDA Should Evaluate Its Efforts to Recruit and Retain Its Inspection Workforce
The FDA oversees clinical trials and other research involving human subjects, mostly for drugs trying to get FDA approval. This includes conducting inspections in hospitals and other healthcare settings in the U.S. and abroad. Recruiting and retaining investigators for these inspections has been a challenge—partly due to low compensation and heavy travel. This has resulted in fewer inspections and a less experienced workforce. FDA has...
Science & Tech Spotlight: At-Home Tools to Diagnose Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Related Diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases affect about 7 million people in the U.S., with cases expected to increase. This Spotlight covers cognitive assessment apps and wearable sensors designed for home use. They can collect data on patients' cognitive and motor abilities and help detect symptoms of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Doctors can use data from these tools to diagnose diseases earlier and more accurately, and these tools...
Released on
Service Members Transitioning to Civilian Life: Agencies Can Improve Warm Handovers for Additional Assistance
Transitioning from military to civilian life can be difficult for some service members as they may lose access to housing, pay, healthcare, and more. DOD provides certain at-risk service members with a person-to-person connection—known as a "warm handover"—to support agencies like VA. But DOD doesn't ensure that warm handovers take place. From April 2021-March 2023, more than 4,300 at-risk service members didn't receive this assistance...
Vehicle Repair: Information on Evolving Vehicle Technologies and Consumer Choice
"Right-to-repair" is the ability to repair your own vehicles or get repairs at auto dealerships or independent repair shops. In this Q&A report, we looked at the effects of changing technologies on the right-to-repair. For example, the use of technology to wirelessly transfer vehicle health and repair data with automakers could give dealerships an advantage. If independent repair shops don't have access to this data...
Released on
Army Modernization: Production Challenges for Stryker Upgrade Reinforce Need to Follow Acquisition Leading Practices in Future Efforts
The Army's Stryker combat vehicle is an 8-wheeled armored vehicle that transports infantry into combat. To respond to increased competition from Russia, the Army tried to rapidly upgrade its existing Strykers to have increased firepower. But in doing so, the Army didn't fully analyze and address potential production risks. As a result, it had hardware and software issues with the upgraded Strykers. Our leading practices...
Weapons of Mass Destruction: DHS Has Made Progress in Some Areas, but Additional Improvements Are Needed
This testimony discusses DHS's work to combat chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats from weapons of mass destruction. For example, DHS's Securing the Cities program works with federal, state, and local partners to address radiological and nuclear threats by providing detection technologies, leading training, and more. In a recent report, we found that the agency hasn't clearly communicated to these partners how it plans to...
Border Security: Border Patrol's Missing Migrant Program
U.S. Border Patrol's Missing Migrant Program helps rescue migrants in distress, prevent migrant deaths, and recover human remains along the southwest border. Border Patrol must submit annual reports to Congress on this issue, including data on migrant rescues and deaths. In April 2022 , we found that Border Patrol hadn't collected, recorded, or reported to Congress complete data on migrant deaths. As of March 2024...
Nuclear Terrorism Prevention: DHS Has Strengthened the Securing the Cities Program, but Actions Are Needed to Address Key Remaining Challenges
The Department of Homeland Security's Securing the Cities program is trying to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks in high-risk urban areas. This program helps state and local agencies in 13 regions detect radiological and nuclear materials that could be used in such attacks—such as by funding the purchase of wearable radiation detectors for police officers. The agency regularly meets with the regions to check...