Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Commerce

What GAO Found

In June 2024, GAO identified 8 priority recommendations for the Department of Commerce. (This count no longer includes the recommendations addressed to the National Telecommunications Information Administration, which will be addressed by a separate letter to NTIA expected later in 2025.) In February 2025, GAO identified 1 additional priority recommendation for Commerce. In addition, GAO removed one priority recommendation related to conflict mineral rules, because it no longer warrants priority attention, leaving the total number at 8.

These remaining 8 recommendations involve the following areas:

• improving planning for the decennial census,
• protecting the nation's water quality,
• strengthening cybersecurity and mitigating privacy risks,
• improving information related to international trade,
• reducing federal fiscal exposure through resilience, and
• assessing risk and building earthquake resilience.

Commerce's continued attention to these open 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 Michelle Sager at sagerm@gao.gov.