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Human Service Programs: Demonstration Projects Could Identify Ways to Simplify Policies and Facilitate Technology Enhancements to Reduce Administrative Costs

GAO-06-942 Published: Sep 19, 2006. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 2006.
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Highlights

The cost of administering human service programs has been a long-standing concern among policy makers interested in ensuring that federal programs are run in a cost-efficient manner so that federal funds go directly to helping vulnerable people. Little is known about how administrative costs compare among programs, or about opportunities to better manage these costs. GAO looked at (1) how administrative costs are defined and what rules govern federal and state participation in funding these costs; (2) what is known about the amounts of administrative spending and how they have changed over time; and (3) what opportunities exist at the federal level to help states balance cost savings with program effectiveness and integrity. GAO's review included seven programs: Adoption Assistance, Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Child Support Enforcement (CSE), food stamps, Foster Care, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Unemployment Insurance (UI). To address the questions, GAO reviewed laws, analyzed spending data, and visited five states.

Recommendations

Matter for Congressional Consideration

Matter Status Comments
Evaluations of the projects should include an analysis of whether administrative cost savings were indeed achieved in the long-run, which specific laws or regulations were waived to facilitate the project, and whether the effectiveness and integrity of program services were maintained. To enhance the information from each of the projects, Congress may wish to consider authorizing a capping report that would compile information from each the individual demonstration projects and identify lessons learned.
Closed – Implemented
In 2009, Congress enacted the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L.111-117), providing $37.5 million to create a Partnership Fund for Program Integrity Innovation to carry out pilot projects to demonstrate ways to streamline administration or strengthen program integrity while balancing cost neutrality and preserving beneficiary eligibility and participation. Specifically, the law calls for these efforts to "save at least as much money as they cost; demonstrate the potential to streamline administration or strengthen program integrity; and do not achieve savings primarily by reducing the participation of eligible beneficiaries." The law also requires the program to report semiannually with detailed information on the goals, objectives, performance measures, and evaluations of the program and each pilot undertaken.

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Topics

Administrative costsBudget administrationEligibility determinationsFederal aid programsFederal fundsstate relationsLocally administered programsPolicy evaluationProgram managementRegulationState-administered programs