Priority Open Recommendations: Office of Science and Technology Policy
Fast Facts
Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to where they can save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations.
This report outlines our 8 priority open recommendations for the Office of Science and Technology Policy as of July 2022. For example, we recommended OSTP strengthen interagency collaboration on issues such as ensuring public access to federally-funded research results.
Since our previous letter in July 2021, OSTP has not fully implemented any of our priority recommendations.
Highlights
What GAO Found
In July 2021, GAO identified 3 priority recommendations for the Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP). OSTP has not fully implemented any of these recommendations. As of July 2022, OSTP had 13 open recommendations.
In July 2022, GAO identified 5 additional priority recommendations for OSTP, bringing the total number to 8. These recommendations involve the following areas:
- Strengthening interagency coordination.
- Managing climate change risks.
- Tracking progress toward national goals.
Full implementation of these recommendations could lead to significant improvements in government operations.
Why GAO Did This Study
Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015 GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.
For more information, contact John Neumann at (202) 512-6888 or neumannj@gao.gov.