Priority Recommendation Round Up—Actions that Can Bring the Best Rewards

GAO makes hundreds of new recommendations each year meant to improve federal programs and policies. But within that larger group, we annually highlight a key group we call “priority recommendations.”

Priority recommendations are those that should be prioritized because addressing them would have an immediate, high impact on some of the most pressing challenges agencies and the country face.

Our priority recommendations touch on everything from opioid abuse to water quality. Today’s WatchBlog post looks at some of these actions. To see all our priority recommendations, by agency, check out our webpage dedicated to them.

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FDA: Improving food safety and medical products oversight

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays a critical role in ensuring the safety of our food supply and millions of medical products used by Americans each day. But as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, biological hazards can threaten FDA’s ability to oversee the safety of these goods. For example, during COVID, FDA postponed almost all foreign inspections of drug manufacturers. Oversight of foreign manufacturers is important because more than 50% of manufacturers supplying the U.S. market are located overseas—many in India and China.

In 2008, FDA established foreign offices to obtain better information on products from overseas, to build relationships with foreign stakeholders, and to perform inspections. However, in 2017, nearly 10 years later, we found that the agency had yet to determine whether those offices meaningfully contributed to drug safety.

We have identified three priority recommendations to, among other things, help FDA assess the effectiveness of its foreign offices. FDA has taken initial steps, but not fully addressed these recommendations. If implemented, they would help FDA ensure that medical products and food imported into the United States are safe.

FDA is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. This year, we have 35 priority recommendations for the department, including five that are new. Learn more about these recommendations by reading our letter to HHS.

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DOT: Safety of roads, air travel and natural gas pipelines

The nation’s transportation system is vital to the economy. But it faces risks to the safety of roads, airspace, and natural gas pipelines that fuel our transportation methods.

We have identified four priority recommendations that call for the Department of Transportation to take steps to improve its safety oversight. These include evaluating the effectiveness of its investigation process for commercial space travel mishaps. By implementing these recommendations, DOT can better ensure the safety of the nation’s transportation system.

In total, we have 20 priority recommendations for DOT. Learn more about them by reading our letter to DOT.

EPA: Climate change, air and water quality

We have 12 priority recommendations for the Environmental Protection Agency that fall into five areas. Our blog discusses two of these areas.

Improving the nation’s water quality. Over the past 50 years, the quality of our nation’s waters and drinking water has improved. But threats to water quality and safety remain. For example, in 2022, we reported on harmful algal blooms that can lead to hypoxia (depleted oxygen in water bodies), harming both animals and people. Implementing our five priority recommendations would improve EPA’s ability to manage these risks. 

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Ensuring cybersecurity at EPA. Federal agencies face a growing number of threats to their information technology systems and data. To protect against these threats, federal law and policies establish that agencies should adopt a risk-based approach to cybersecurity by effectively identifying, prioritizing, and managing cyber risks. Implementing our priority recommendation to establish a process for conducting an agency-wide cybersecurity risk assessment would help EPA better manage its cybersecurity risks.

Learn more about the above described and our other priority recommendations by reading our letter to EPA.

DOJ: Public safety and criminal justice

The Department of Justice currently has 15 priority recommendations that need action. These fall into five major areas—including: drug misuse, federal prisons, immigration courts, IT and cybersecurity, and countering domestic terrorism. You can read about all of them in our letter to DOJ. But below, we highlight two areas.

Efforts to Combat Illicit Opioid Use. Drug misuse—both illicit and prescription drugs—has been a persistent public health issue in the United States. So much so that we added it to our High Risk List in 2021. To help address this crisis we recommended the DOJ’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) solicit input from controlled substances distributors about their roles and responsibilities in monitoring and reporting suspicious prescription drug orders. By acting on this recommendation, DEA can strengthen its efforts to combat drug misuse.

Federal Prison System. Within the DOJ, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has faced a number of challenges in recent years—including with staffing its institutions, implementing programs meant to reduce recidivism, and overseeing its use of restrictive housing. These shortfalls affect the custody and care of incarcerated individuals. They also impact efforts to assist individuals making the transition from prison to their communities after incarceration. We made 10 priority recommendations for the Bureau of Prisons to help address these concerns. Learn more about them by checking out our letter to DOJ.

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DOD: Rebuilding readiness and protecting cybersecurity

We have 90 priority recommendations for the Department of Defense. They cover a variety of issues—including those that would better protect military service members’ health and safety, improve DOD’s financial management, and ensure the U.S. military maintains its edge on the battlefield. To read about all of our priority recommendations, check out our letter to DOD. Our blog highlights two key areas:

Rebuilding Readiness and Force Structure. Decades-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan along with the growing capabilities from adversaries like China and Russia have put new pressures on the U.S. military. As it works to rebuild readiness and modernize its forces to prepare for future threats, we have 30 priority recommendations that would help.

Among other things, we have made recommendations about Navy readiness, ship maintenance and shipyards, and actions needed to manage sailor fatigue. We have also recommended that DOD make final decisions on changes to F-35 sustainment to improve performance and affordability. By implementing these recommendations, DOD could address its F-35 program maintenance challenges and reduce costs. Additionally, given the importance of quality housing in maintaining readiness of service members, we have made recommendations related to DOD strengthening oversight of its privatized and barracks housing programs.

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Cybersecurity and the Information Environment. We have 10 priority recommendations to help DOD address malicious cyberspace activity—the scope, pace, and sophistication of which continues to rise globally. Our recommendations would provide improvements in weapon system cybersecurity requirements, work roles, cyber hygiene, personnel vetting, and privacy programs.

Additionally, we have a priority recommendation that DOD revise the development schedule for a key IT system, the National Background Investigation Services system. By implementing our recommendation, DOD could have greater confidence in the system’s timeline for completion and improved decision-making for reform efforts in the government-wide personnel vetting process.

To learn more about all our 2024 priority recommendations for federal agencies, visit our webpage dedicated to them.

• GAO’s fact-based, nonpartisan information helps Congress and federal agencies improve government. The WatchBlog lets us contextualize GAO’s work a little more for the public. Check out more of our posts at GAO.gov/blog.