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 58220 Reports
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Financial Services Regulations: Improvements Needed to Policies and Procedures for Regulatory Analysis
After the 2007-2009 financial crisis, regulators issued rules to help banks withstand financial and economic stresses. In doing so, they should have assessed the potential and actual effects—such as costs and benefits—of proposed and final rules. But bank regulators didn't consistently document their analyses of proposed rules and did few reviews of existing rules. The Federal Reserve also hasn't updated its policies for assessing rules...
Medicaid: Federal Oversight of State Eligibility Redeterminations Should Reflect Lessons Learned after COVID-19
States must determine whether everyone on their Medicaid rolls is still eligible for the program each year. To do so, states should check paperwork, verify income data, and more. Full redeterminations were paused during the pandemic but resumed in April 2023. Millions are expected to lose coverage, including some eligible people. Our Q&A reports that federal Medicaid officials found many states didn't do them properly...
Nuclear Waste Cleanup: Changes Needed to Address Current and Growing Shortages in Mission-Critical Positions
The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management relies on federal staff to oversee its nuclear waste cleanup from decades of nuclear weapons production and research at locations across the country. Staff at this office oversee cleanup activities such as remediating soil and groundwater and treating radioactive waste. However, we found that this office continues to be understaffed. At the end of FY 2023, it...
Spectrum Management: Key Practices Could Help Address Challenges to Improving Receiver Performance
The FCC and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration regulate use of radio-frequency spectrum in the U.S. to help ensure there's enough for airplane equipment, cell phones, and other wireless devices. Improving the devices that receive radio signals could reduce interference, allowing more devices to share spectrum. Why has it been so hard to improve receivers? As an example, older receivers were not designed to...
Weapon Systems Annual Assessment: DOD Is Not Yet Well-Positioned to Field Systems with Speed [Reissued with revisions on Jul. 18, 2024]
Our 22nd annual assessment of DOD's weapon systems acquisition finds DOD still struggling to deliver new technologies quickly, even while faced with constantly evolving threats. DOD acknowledged it needed a new approach—creating acquisition pathways to speed up processes. But some programs in the new pathways likely won't deliver much faster than traditional programs. Also, DOD only reported plans to take full advantage of leading product...
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Army Corps of Engineers: Rental Rates for Concession Operations Need Biennial Review
Private businesses sign leases with the Army Corps of Engineers for the right to sell food, fuel, and other concessions at its public recreational facilities like marinas and campgrounds. This Q&A report explores the Corps' review of such agreements. When it set rental rates back in 1994, the Corps considered opportunities for concession operators to make a fair profit. But it has no documentation to...
Army Corps of Engineers: Additional Steps Needed to Implement Acceleration Reforms
The Army Corps of Engineers conducts feasibility studies to determine whether and how to do water resources projects—e.g., manage flood risks. These studies are to be completed within 3 years, but have often been delayed. A 2014 law set forth 19 reforms to speed up these studies. This Q&A reports that the Corps has taken steps to address 15 of these reforms, but not the...
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DOD and VA Health Care: Actions Needed to Better Facilitate Access to Mental Health Services During Military to Civilian Transitions
Thousands of service members transition from military to civilian life each year. To help those who may need mental health support, DOD automatically enrolls service members who had a mental health appointment in the year prior to separation in its "inTransition" program. In 2022, inTransition identified 85% of its enrollees this way. But inTransition doesn't conduct outreach to these enrollees until 2-3 months after their...
Army Modernization: Actions Needed to Support Fielding New Equipment
The Army has been trying to develop weapons and equipment and put them into use faster. Since FY 2021, the Army has used new approaches to rapidly develop multiple types of modernized equipment. It has fielded 6 new equipment priorities, including upgraded air and missile defenses. It has invested $46.5 billion in these efforts. But sometimes, the Army has put new equipment into the field...
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IT Systems Annual Assessment: DOD Needs to Strengthen Software Metrics and Address Continued Cybersecurity and Reporting Gaps
DOD spent, or planned to spend, $9.1 billion on IT business programs in FYs 2022-24. In our annual assessment, we reviewed 21 of those programs and found 10 are developing software and using an Agile approach. This is an iterative development process in which software is delivered in increments throughout the project, letting program staff catch errors quickly and get continual user feedback. But 4...
Open GAO Recommendations: Financial Benefits Could Be Between $106 Billion and $208 Billion
GAO routinely makes 1,200 or more recommendations each year to assist Congress and improve government performance. Typically, over 75% of GAO's recommendations are implemented—i.e., "closed." Many of these recommendations are intended to save money and enhance revenue. Because GAO makes recommendations on an ongoing basis, there is always an inventory of open recommendations. As of March 2024, 5,480 GAO recommendations were open. We estimate that...
DOD Financial Management: FY 2023 Financial Statement Audit Progress and Challenges
We found that DOD made progress toward achieving a "clean" audit opinion in FY 2023—i.e., when auditors find that financial statements are presented fairly in accordance with accounting principles. This Snapshot summarizes the progress DOD has made. For example, the Marine Corps received a "clean" opinion on its FY 2023 financial statements. However, challenges remain. DOD's Office of Inspector General issued a disclaimer of opinion...
Rental Housing: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight of Assistance to Survivors of Domestic Violence or Sexual Assault
The Department of Housing and Urban Development partners with public housing agencies and private property owners to provide housing assistance that allows families to pay affordable, income-based rent. HUD requires that its housing providers have emergency transfer plans to move survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault from their current subsidized housing unit to one in a new location. Most housing providers we reviewed had...
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Federal Fisheries Management: Efforts to Reduce and Monitor Unintentional Catch and Harm Need Better Tracking
The National Marine Fisheries Service tries to minimize bycatch—marine life unintentionally caught or harmed by fishing. Fisheries observers deploy on fishing vessels to count bycatch and NMFS uses this data to make bycatch estimates. But the percentage of fishing trips with observers varies, and estimates are less reliable for fisheries with fewer observers. For instance, only 2% of the fishing trips in the Gulf of...
U.S. Consolidated Financial Statements: Continued Improvements Needed in Treasury and OMB Preparation Process Controls
We audit the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements annually. Ongoing problems prevent us from determining whether the statements fairly present the government's finances. In our FY 2023 audit, we found that Treasury and OMB improved processes for preparing the financial statements, including addressing three of our recommendations related to the analysis of agencies' financial data. We did not make any new recommendations in this report...
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Disaster Relief Fund: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Could Improve FEMA's Estimates
This Q&A report looks at FEMA's oversight of the Disaster Relief Fund, which provides federal assistance for emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. As of March 2024, FEMA had committed to spend $125.3 billion from the fund for COVID-19-related assistance like vaccinations, testing sites, and more—and had spent $103.6 billion of it. But FEMA underestimated its COVID-19-related costs. When the fund runs low, FEMA might have...
National Nuclear Security Administration: Actions Needed to Improve Integration of Production Modernization Programs and Projects
The National Nuclear Security Administration plans to invest tens of billions of dollars in its decades-long effort to modernize the facilities and infrastructure needed to produce nuclear weapons. To achieve its modernization goals, NNSA must integrate 8 key programs and 16 related projects managed by separate offices within the agency. But NNSA doesn't follow certain best practices to ensure this integration occurs—specifically for schedules and...
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Financial Audit Manual: Volume 3, July 2024
The Financial Audit Manual (FAM) presents a methodology for performing financial statement audits of federal entities in accordance with professional standards. It is a tool for enhancing accountability over taxpayer-provided resources. This July 2024 revision replaces Financial Audit Manual, Volume 3 (June 2023 version) and contains the Federal Financial Reporting Checklist. The FAM also consists of: Volume 1: the audit methodology Volume 2: detailed implementation...
Forest Service: Fully Following Leading Practices for Agency Reforms Would Strengthen Prescribed Fire Program
The Forest Service is reforming its prescribed fire program. Prescribed fire—or deliberately burning specific areas under managed conditions—is used to mitigate wildfire risk. The agency plans to use prescribed fire more and has been following leading practices to reform its program, but not fully. We found gaps in these areas: Establishing outcome-oriented performance measures Planning to address staffing needs Implementing a reform plan Dedicating staff...