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As of May 9, 2024, there are 5108 open recommendations that still need to be addressed. 412 of these are priority recommendations, those that we believe warrant priority attention. Learn more about our priority designation on our Recommendations page.

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4901 - 4920 of 5108 Recommendations, including 412 Priority Recommendations

Defense Health Care: US Family Health Plan is Duplicative and Should be Eliminated

GAO-14-684
Debra A. Draper
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress To eliminate unnecessary program duplication and to achieve increased efficiencies and potential savings within the integrated MHS, Congress should terminate the Secretary of Defense's authority to contract with the USFHP designated providers in a manner consistent with a reasonable transition of affected USFHP enrollees into TRICARE's regional managed care program or other health care programs, as appropriate.
Open

As of March 2024, no legislation has been identified that would terminate the Secretary of Defense's authority to contract with USFHP designated providers, as GAO suggested in July 2014. DOD uses two regional managed care support contractors to administer the TRICARE program. These two contractors provide military beneficiaries the same health care benefit across many of the same service areas as the statutorily required USFHP contracts, allowing duplication and inefficiencies to persist. GAO maintains that DOD could achieve cost savings if the USFHP was eliminated because the department would

Human Capital: OPM Needs to Improve the Design, Management, and Oversight of the Federal Classification System

GAO-14-677
Robert N. Goldenkoff
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Office of Personnel Management
Priority Rec.
To improve the classification system and to strengthen OPM's management and oversight, the Director of OPM, working through the Chief Human Capital Officer Council, and in conjunction with key stakeholders such as the Office of Management and Budget, unions, and others, should use prior studies and lessons learned from demonstration projects and alternative systems to examine ways to make the GS system's design and implementation more consistent with the attributes of a modern, effective classification system. To the extent warranted, develop a legislative proposal for congressional consideration.
Open

Although OPM originally partially agreed with this recommendation, it later reported that it concurred with the recommendation. In March 2024 , OPM reported that it is preparing to modernize the GS classification system into a skills-based system. For example, it plans to update work fields such as artificial intelligence, information technology, cybersecurity, and human resources, among others . First, OPM plans to develop a white paper and a modernization plan that will include resource needs and a timeline. OPM also reported it is partnering with stakeholders such as OMB, the Office of the

Medicaid Financing: States' Increased Reliance on Funds from Health Care Providers and Local Governments Warrants Improved CMS Data Collection [Reissued on March 13, 2015]

GAO-14-627
Katherine Iritani
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services The Administrator of CMS should develop a data collection strategy that ensures that states report accurate and complete data on all sources of funds used to finance the nonfederal share of Medicaid payments. There are short- and long-term possibilities for pursuing the data collection strategy, including (1) in the short-term, as part of its ongoing initiative to annually collect data on Medicaid payments made to hospitals, nursing facilities, and other institutional providers, CMS could collect accurate and complete facility-specific data on the sources of funds used to finance the nonfederal share of the Medicaid payments, and (2) in the long-term, as part of its ongoing initiative to develop an enhanced Medicaid claims data system (T-MSIS), CMS could ensure that T-MSIS will be capable of capturing information on all sources of funds used to finance the nonfederal share of Medicaid payments, and, once the system becomes operational, ensure that states report this information for supplemental Medicaid payments and other highrisk Medicaid payments.
Open

As of February 2024, this recommendation remains unimplemented. CMS did not concur with GAO's recommendation; however, the agency acknowledged that it does not have adequate data on state financing methods and that it will examine efforts to improve data collection toward this end. In December 2021, CMS issued guidance on new supplemental payment reporting requirements beginning with information about payments made on or after October 1, 2021. States have begun reporting supplemental payments to CMS, but the new state reporting does not include information on the sources of funds used to

Space Launch System: Resources Need to be Matched to Requirements to Decrease Risk and Support Long Term Affordability

GAO-14-631
Cristina T. Chaplain
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
To provide the Congress with the necessary insight into program planning and affordability, and to decrease the risk of cost and schedule overruns, NASA's Administrator should direct the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to take the following action: Provide decision makers with an informed basis for making investment decisions regarding the SLS program, NASA should identify a range of possible missions for each future SLS variant that includes cost and schedule estimates and plans for how those possible missions would fit within NASA's funding profile.
Open

NASA agreed with this recommendation. As of February 2023, NASA stated that as it implements the new organization of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, it will develop a manifest for missions beyond Artemis IV, including the hardware available for the missions. Additionally, NASA is developing Moon to Mars objectives, which will outline anticipated capability and mission needs. To fully address this recommendation, NASA needs to provide documentation that it established cost and schedule estimates for each future SLS variant and its plan for how possible missions would
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
To provide the Congress with the necessary insight into program planning and affordability, and to decrease the risk of cost and schedule overruns, NASA's Administrator should direct the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to take the following action: To allow for a continued assessment of progress and affordability, NASA should structure each future increment of SLS capability with a total cost exceeding the $250 million threshold for designation as a major project as a separate development effort within the SLS program. In doing so, NASA should require each increment to complete both the technical and programmatic reviews required of other major development projects, per the agency's acquisition and system engineering policies.
Open

NASA agreed with this recommendation. NASA established an updated baseline commitment of the Orion system for Artemis II to include a docking capability in August2021. As of February 2023, NASA had not established separate cost and schedule baselines foreach additional SLS and ground systems block, though the agency previously stated it plans to. To fully implement this recommendation, NASA needs to provide evidence that it established separate cost and schedule baselines for each additional SLS and ground systems block exceeding the $250 million threshold for designation as a major project

New Markets Tax Credit: Better Controls and Data Are Needed to Ensure Effectiveness

GAO-14-500
James (Jay) R. McTigue, Jr
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Treasury should issue guidance on how funding or assistance from other government programs can be combined with the NMTC including the extent to which other government funds can be used to leverage the NMTC by being included in the qualified equity investment.
Open – Partially Addressed

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has not issued guidance on how funding or assistance from other government programs can be combined with the NMTC, as GAO recommended in July 2014. However, Treasury has taken steps toward addressing this action. The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), which administers the NMTC program, completed new empirical research assessing the extent to which other government programs are being combined with the NMTC. The findings of this research (issued in August 2017) indicate that some NMTC projects, especially those using other

Data Transparency: Oversight Needed to Address Underreporting and Inconsistencies on Federal Award Website

GAO-14-476
Carol R. Cha
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget To improve the completeness and accuracy of data submissions to the USASpending.gov website, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in collaboration with Treasury's Fiscal Service, should clarify guidance on (1) agency responsibilities for reporting awards funded by non-annual appropriations; (2) the applicability of USASpending.gov reporting requirements to non-classified awards associated with intelligence operations; (3) the requirement that award titles describe the award's purpose (consistent with our prior recommendation); and (4) agency maintenance of authoritative records adequate to verify the accuracy of required data reported for use by USASpending.gov.
Open – Partially Addressed

At the time of issuance in June 2014, OMB agreed with this recommendation and began taking steps to address several of the issues discussed in this recommendation that includes working with agencies to identify those required to report under the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act). As of March 2022, OMB has not taken additional action to address this recommendation. We continue to believe that OMB needs to clarify its guidance on topics including descriptive award titles and non-classified awards related to intelligence activities. Fully implementing this

401(K) Plans: Improvements Can Be Made to Better Protect Participants in Managed Accounts

GAO-14-310
Charles Jeszeck
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To help sponsors who offer managed account services or who are considering doing so better protect their 401(k) plan participants, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for EBSA to require plan sponsors to request from record keepers more than one managed account provider option, and notify the Department of Labor if record keepers fail to do so.
Open

DOL agreed to consider this recommendation in connection with a regulatory project on standards for brokerage windows in participant-directed individual account plans. However, in Spring 2017, DOL removed this project as an active project on its regulatory agenda. GAO believes requiring plan sponsors to ask for more than one choice of a provider may be an effective method of broadening plan sponsors' choices of managed account providers. In April 2018, DOL reported that it was not able to allocate staff time and resources to this recommendation and does not yet have a specific timeline for any
Department of Labor To help sponsors and participants more effectively assess the performance of managed accounts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for EBSA to amend participant disclosure regulations to require that sponsors furnish standardized performance and benchmarking information to participants. To accomplish this, EBSA could promulgate regulations that would require sponsors who offer managed account services to provide their participants with standardized performance and benchmarking information on managed accounts. For example, sponsors could periodically furnish each managed account participant with the aggregate performance of participants' managed account portfolios and returns for broad-based securities market indexes and applicable customized benchmarks, based on those benchmarks provided for the plan's designated investment alternatives.
Open

DOL agreed to consider this recommendation in connection with (1) its regulatory project on standards for brokerage windows in participant directed individual account plans and (2) open proposed rulemaking project involving the qualified default investment alternative and participant-level fee disclosure regulations. In Spring 2017, the project on brokerage windows was removed as an active project on DOL's regulatory agenda, and the project on qualified default investment alternatives was moved to the long-term action category. In April 2018, DOL reported that it was not able to allocate staff
Department of Labor To help sponsors and participants more effectively assess the performance of managed accounts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for EBSA to amend service provider disclosure regulations to require that providers furnish standardized performance and benchmarking information to sponsors. To accomplish this, EBSA could promulgate regulations that would require service providers to disclose to sponsors standardized performance and benchmarking information on managed accounts. For example, providers could, prior to selection and periodically thereafter, as applicable, furnish sponsors with aggregated returns for generalized conservative, moderate, and aggressive portfolios, actual managed account portfolio returns for each of the sponsor's participants, and returns for broad-based securities market indexes and applicable customized benchmarks, based on those benchmarks provided for the plan's designated investment alternatives.
Open

DOL agreed to consider this recommendation in connection with (1) its regulatory project on standards for brokerage windows in participant directed individual account plans and (2) open proposed rulemaking project involving the qualified default investment alternative and participant-level fee disclosure regulations. In Spring 2017, the project on brokerage windows was removed as an active project on DOL's regulatory agenda, and the project on qualified default investment alternatives was moved to the long-term action category of DOL's regulatory agenda. In April 2018, DOL reported that it was
Department of Labor To help sponsors who offer managed account services or who are considering doing so better protect their 401(k) plan participants, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for EBSA to provide guidance to plan sponsors for selecting and overseeing managed account providers that addresses: (1) the importance of considering multiple providers when choosing a managed account provider, (2) factors to consider when offering managed accounts as a Qualified Default Investment Alternative or on an opt-in basis, and (3) approaches for evaluating the services of managed account providers.
Open

DOL agreed to consider this recommendation in connection with a regulatory project on standards for brokerage windows in participant-directed individual account plans. However, in Spring 2017, DOL removed this project as an active project on its regulatory agenda. GAO continues to believe that plan sponsors would benefit from additional guidance for selecting and overseeing managed account providers. In April 2018, DOL reported that it was not able to allocate staff time and resources to this recommendation and does not yet have a specific timeline for any next action. In June 2021, the agency

Management Report: Improvements Needed in Controls over the Processes Used to Prepare the U.S. Consolidated Financial Statements

GAO-14-543
Gary T. Engel
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, working in coordination with the Controller of OMB, to establish a formalized process to require the performance of additional audit procedures specifically focused on intragovernmental activity and balances between federal entities to provide increased audit assurance over the reliability of such information.
Open

As of the completion of our fiscal year 2023 audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government (CFS), this recommendation remained open. We noted that Treasury included corrective actions in its remediation plan and included a goal of completing them by fiscal year 2025. For example, Treasury added questions to the CFO Representation Form effective in fiscal year 2023 and plans to analyze the responses. While certain actions were taken, we continued to note that amounts reported by federal entity trading partners to Treasury were not in agreement by significant amounts. A
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, working in coordination with the Controller of OMB, to establish and implement policies and procedures for accounting for and reporting all significant General Fund activity and balances, obtaining assurance on the reliability of the amounts, and reconciling the activity and balances between the General Fund and federal entities.
Open

As of the completion of our fiscal year 2023 audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, this recommendation remained open. Treasury continued to implement corrective actions to (1) obtain and review support for material accrual balances provided by federal entities for inclusion in the General Fund's general ledger and (2) review federal entity audited financial statements and conduct data calls for unrecorded activity to include in the General Fund's general ledger. In addition, Treasury continued to work with federal entities to ensure proper usage of newly

Maritime Security: Ongoing U.S. Counterpiracy Efforts Would Benefit From Agency Assessments

GAO-14-422
Stephen L. Caldwell, Christopher P. Currie
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Office of the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs To help ensure that efforts to counter piracy and maritime crime are coordinated and prioritized to effectively address the evolving threat, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, in collaboration with the Secretaries of Defense and State, should work through the Counter-Piracy Steering Group or otherwise collaborate with the Secretaries of Homeland Security, Transportation, and the Treasury, and the Attorney General to determine whether additional actions to address counterpiracy and maritime security, such as developing an action plan that includes elements of a strategic approach, are needed to guide and coordinate activities.
Open

In June 2014, the Executive Office of the President issued the United States Counter Piracy and Maritime Security Action Plan, which includes an annex specific to activities in and around the Gulf of Guinea. While the plan outlines some of the planned indicators of effectiveness for activities in and around the Gulf of Guinea, the extent to which the agencies have assessed or plan to assess costs and benefits are not explicitly addressed. The plan states that the Counter Piracy Steering Group will coordinate, implement, and monitor the objectives outlined in the plan and will assess methods

Private Pensions: Targeted Revisions Could Improve Usefulness of Form 5500 Information

GAO-14-441
Charles Jeszeck
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Congress To improve IRS's enforcement and compliance efforts, decrease the administrative and financial burden of maintaining both electronic and paper-based form processing systems, and reduce plan reporting costs, Congress should consider providing the Department of the Treasury with the authority to require that the Form 5500 series be filed electronically.
Open

As of March 2024, Congress has taken no action on this matter.
Department of Labor To improve the usefulness, reliability, and comparability of Form 5500 data for all stakeholders while limiting the burden on the filing community, the Secretaries of DOL and Treasury, and the Director of PBGC should consider implementing the findings from our panel when modifying plan investment and service provider fee information, including: (1) revising Schedule H plan asset categories to better match current investment vehicles and provide more transparency into plan investments; (2) revising the Schedule of Assets attachments to create a standard searchable format; (3) developing a central repository for EIN and PN numbers for filers and service providers to improve the comparability of form data across filings; (4) clarifying Schedule C instructions for direct, eligible indirect, and reportable indirect compensation so plan fees are reported more consistently and, as we recommended in the past, better align with the 408(b)(2) fee disclosures; and (5) simplifying and clarify Schedule C service provider codes to increase reporting consistency.
Open – Partially Addressed

DOL has made significant efforts to improve form 5500 reporting, including most recently in 2023 when DOL issued a third final rule and final form revisions to address consolidated Form 5500 reporting by certain defined contribution plan groups and reporting by multiple-employer plans (including pooled employer plans). The final rule and forms revisions, as well as changes, intend to improve reporting of certain plan financial information regarding audits and plan expenses and enhance the reporting of certain tax qualification and other compliance information by retirement plans. There were

Climate Change Adaptation: DOD Can Improve Infrastructure Planning and Processes to Better Account for Potential Impacts

GAO-14-446
Brian Lepore
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Defense In order to improve the military services' ability to make facility investment decisions in accordance with DOD's strategic direction to include climate change adaptation considerations and additionally, to demonstrate an emphasis on proposing projects with an adaption component to installation planners, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretaries of the military departments to clarify instructions associated with the processes used to compare potential military construction projects for approval and funding so that, at a minimum, climate change adaptation is considered as a project component that may be needed to address potential climate change impacts on infrastructure.
Open

In May 2014, DOD concurred with our recommendation. Since then, DOD has made some limited progress toward integrating considerations of climate change into the processes of certain military services' military construction programs. For example, in 2016 briefing slides presented to congressional staff, the Army noted that two military construction projects were sited in a manner specifically designed to mitigate the impacts of climate change. DOD has also incorporated guidance on considering climate change risks when planning, siting, and designing construction projects into its building

Federal Software Licenses: Better Management Needed to Achieve Significant Savings Government-Wide

GAO-14-413
Carol R. Cha
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Transportation To ensure the effective management of software licenses, the Secretary of Transportation should develop an agency-wide comprehensive policy for the management of software licenses that addresses the weaknesses we identified.
Open

As of January 2024, the department had not provided a documented policy for the management of software licenses that address the weaknesses we identified. According to department officials, they have onboarded an enterprise software license manager and expects to have an enterprise software license program plan and governance documentation published to its IT community by September 30, 2024. In July 2016, the MEGABYTE Act of 2016 was enacted, which codified this recommendation for all executive agencies (Pub. L. No. 114-210, 130 Stat. 824). We will follow up with the department to obtain
Environmental Protection Agency To ensure the effective management of software licenses, the Adminitrator of the Environmental Protection Agency should employ a centralized software license management approach that is coordinated and integrated with key personnel for the majority of agency software license spending and/or enterprise-wide licenses.
Open

In July 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency officials stated that it has a centralized governance and control for over 80 percent of software license purchases through two primary processes, including its Office of the Chief Information Officers' Working Capital Fund Shared IT services. However, as of January 2024, the agency did not provide supporting evidence to demonstrate that it has addressed the recommendation to employ a centralized software license management approach that is coordinated and integrated with key personnel for the majority of software license spending and/or
Office of Personnel Management To ensure the effective management of software licenses, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management should provide software license management training to appropriate agency personnel addressing contract terms and conditions, negotiations, laws and regulations, acquisition, security planning, and configuration management.
Open

The Office of Personnel Management concurred with our recommendations and noted actions the agency plans to take. Agency officials noted that an initial list of required and optional software management training will be in the software asset management procedures. However, as of January 2024, the agency had not provided supporting evidence to demonstrate that it had addressed this recommendation. In July 2016, the MEGABYTE Act of 2016 was enacted, which codified this recommendation for all executive agencies (Pub. L. No. 114-210, 130 Stat. 824). We will continue to monitor its progress in
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