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Open Recommendations

National Institutes of Health: Monitoring of External Research Can Be Improved
GAO-25-107362
May 29, 2025
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Institutes of Health The Director of NIH should identify the contributing factors to delinquent final financial and progress reports and address these factors in revised guidance. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Institutes of Health The Director of NIH should analyze how NIH institutes, centers, and offices use offsets, extensions, and budget restructuring to manage unused balances for projects at the end of the funding period and develop an informational resource on the benefits and risks of each method. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Institutes of Health The Director of NIH should require that its institutes, centers, and offices track award recipients' unused balances across their respective award portfolios. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Defense Contract Audit Agency: Formal Assessment Needed to Determine Future Use of Independent Public Accountants
GAO-25-107558
May 19, 2025
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Defense Contract Audit Agency formally assesses the future use of independent public accountants and communicates its plans to Congress. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Federal Housing Finance Agency: Improvements Needed in Certain Internal Controls over Financial Reporting
GAO-25-107981
Apr 30, 2025
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Housing Finance Agency The Director of FHFA should update FHFA's documented procedures to provide sufficiently clear guidance for determining year-end accounts payable accruals, including clearly defining roles and responsibilities. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, FHFA agreed with this recommendation and cited actions it will take to address it. We will follow-up with FHFA on its actions to address this recommendation during our audit of its fiscal year 2025 financial statements.
Federal Housing Finance Agency The Director of FHFA should update FHFA's documented procedures to provide sufficiently detailed guidance for supervisory review of year-end accounts payable accruals. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, FHFA agreed with this recommendation and cited actions it will take to address it. We will follow-up with FHFA on its actions to address this recommendation during our audit of its fiscal year 2025 financial statements.
Federal Housing Finance Agency The Director of FHFA should develop and document policies and procedures requiring the accounting office to coordinate with applicable FHFA business units to reasonably assure that the accounting office has the necessary information to meet financial accounting or reporting requirements. (Recommendation 3)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, FHFA agreed with this recommendation and cited actions it will take to address it. We will follow-up with FHFA on its efforts to address this recommendation during our audit of its fiscal year 2025 financial statements.
Federal Housing Finance Agency The Director of FHFA should update FHFA's documented procedures to provide sufficiently detailed guidance for documentation requirements to support FHFA's lease valuations. (Recommendation 4)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, FHFA agreed with this recommendation and cited actions it will take to address it. We will follow-up with FHFA on its efforts to address this recommendation during our audit of its fiscal year 2025 financial statements.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: HHS Needs to Strengthen Oversight of Single Audit Findings
GAO-25-107291
Apr 04, 2025
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of Health and Human Services should ensure that the Administration for Children and Families revises and implements its audit resolution standard operating procedures (dated November 2021) to include steps to track and measure the effectiveness of actions to help states resolve TANF single audit findings. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, HHS disagreed with the recommendation. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) officials stated that it pertained to HHS's standard operating procedures (SOP), which was not written by ACF, and that implementing such procedures is at ACF's discretion. After receiving our draft report, ACF provided its own single audit resolution SOP. Therefore, we modified the recommendation to clarify that ACF, rather than HHS, should revise and implement its audit resolution SOP, or else it would not be able to determine how effective its processes are in helping to resolve findings and make any necessary adjustments for improvements. We will follow-up with HHS and ACF on actions to address this recommendation.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of Health and Human Services should ensure that the Administration for Children and Families develops and implements a strategy to eliminate the accumulated TANF audit backlog, to ensure that management decisions are issued within the required time frame. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, HHS agreed with this recommendation and suggested to specify that the backlog relates specifically to TANF findings, which we incorporated. HHS also cited actions that it has taken or will take to address it. We will follow-up with HHS on actions to address this recommendation.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of Health and Human Services should develop, document, and implement additional procedures to timely impose penalties or alternatively obtain corrective compliance plans for states that are not meeting TANF program requirements. (Recommendation 3)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, HHS partially agreed with this recommendation. Specifically, HHS stated that it concurred with the portion of the recommendation to develop and implement additional procedures to timelier evaluate whether to impose penalties that do not relate to TANF work participation rates. However, it did not agree with the portion to document its determinations of whether to impose penalties for states that are not meeting TANF program requirements because its decisions to impose penalties were documented in penalty notification letters sent to the states. We reviewed the evidence HHS provided after receiving our draft report and found that while its decisions were documented, HHS does not have written procedures to do so timely. Therefore, we modified the recommendation to include written procedures to document decisions to impose penalties in a timely manner. We will follow-up with HHS on actions to address this recommendation.
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