From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: GAO’s Rating System for High Risk Areas Description: In 2015, GAO introduced a rating system for tracking progress in High Risk areas. See how GAO depicts each area’s rating with its five-pointed star tool. Related GAO Works: GAO-15-290: HIGH-RISK SERIES: An Update; GAO-15-371T: GAO’s 2015 High-Risk Series: An Update; and GAO-15-373T: GAO’s 2015 High-Risk Series: An Update Released: February 2015 >> [Image: GAO High Risk List icon] Every 2 years at the start of a new Congress, GAO issues its High Risk list, [Images: Animated calendar pages and High Risk List icon] calling attention to agencies and program areas that are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or are most in need of transformation. [Images: Animated binoculars looking at words: Fraud, Waste, Abuse, Mismanagement, Transformation] The biannual reports also identify what remains to be done in previously designated and new high-risk areas to bring about lasting solutions. [Images: Report book flipping through pages then High Risk Web page scrolling through existing list] GAO measures progress in high-risk areas against these five criteria. [Image: Full star with criteria topics at each tip: Leadership Commitment, Action Plan, Monitoring, Demonstrated Progress, Capacity] Has top agency leadership demonstrated its commitment to addressing problems? [Image: Leader in front of people] Does the agency have the capacity, the human and other resources, to address problems? [Image: Multiple people] Has the agency made an action plan to solve the problems? [Image: Check board with list of action plans] Does the agency have a systematic way to monitor the results from the action plan? [Image: Bar chart comparing yearly results] Has the agency demonstrated consistent progress in implementing corrective actions? [Image: Check board with check marks depicting action progress] When agencies meet all 5 of these criteria, GAO can remove them from the High Risk list. [Image: Full star showing all five criteria have been met.] [Image: GAO High Risk List icon] In 2015, GAO began illustrating progress in high-risk areas using this five-pointed star. [Image: Full star showing all five criteria have been met.] This tool visibly indicates whether the criteria have been met, partially met, or not met. [Image: Star arms are marked with "Met" at the point, "partially Met" midway from point to where it meets another arm, and "Not Met" at the point where it meets another arm] With this tool, Congress, agencies, and the public can more easily visualize continuing progress in high-risk areas. Here's an example. Mitigating gaps in weather satellite data is a high-risk issue. [Image: Earth and 15 satellites against a dark blue sky with beeping sounds] Gaps in critical satellite data would result in less accurate and less timely weather forecasts and warnings of extreme events such as hurricanes, storm surges, and floods. [Image: 10 of the satellites vanish and image zooms into earth showing an eye of a hurricane from space, then a storm surge and a flood along the coast of the United States.] In 2015, the related agencies met the criteria for leadership commitment, but had partially met the other four criteria. As a result, the area rating looks like this. [Image: Full star with criteria topics at each tip and Leadership showing as "Met" and the other four criteria showing as "Partially Met"] Continued progress could help ensure that the public [Image: Full star showing all criteria as "Met"] receives accurate and timely weather forecasts and warnings of extreme events. [Images: Showing 7-day weather forcast and zooming in on each day] The star rating will be updated every 2 years to reflect further agency progress. [Image: Full star with criteria topics at each tip and arms marked with "Met" at the point, "partially Met" midway from point to where it meets another arm, and "Not Met" at the point where it meets another arm] When the related agencies meet all 5 criteria, GAO can remove this issue from the High Risk list. [Image: GAO High Risk List icon] Find out more in the High Risk section of GAO.gov. [Image: GAO logo and Web link]