Performance
Strategic Planning & Performance
We produce a strategic plan, a performance plan, and an annual performance and accountability report with information comparable to that reported by executive-branch agencies. View all of our prior year reports, and read more about current reports below.
GAO’s Strategic Plan, 2022-2027
Every 4 years, GAO publishes a strategic plan for serving the Congress that considers the full scope of operations of the federal government, as well as emerging and future trends that may affect the government and society as a whole. This plan, presented in the three documents outlined below, describes our goals and strategies to guide our efforts as we help lawmakers oversee federal operations and address some of the most important national issues facing government and society as a whole.
We invite you to explore the three components of GAO’s 2022-2027 strategic plan:
- Our Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives form the foundation of the plan and outline our long-term strategies to accomplish our goals.
- Our plan’s Key Efforts detail the agency’s near-term priorities to provide Congress with timely and fact-based analysis of the most important issues facing the nation. Over time, we may update these key efforts, as appropriate, to reflect shifts in congressional priorities and our expected areas of work.
- Trends Affecting Government and Society outline a dozen key trends, domestic and international, that will have significant effects in the next 5 to 15 years. These trends include science and technology in an innovation economy, global supply chains, racial and ethnic disparities, and global and domestic security threats in an increasingly digital world. We consulted with experts, including those in our Center for Strategic Foresight, to identify and research these trends.
Performance Plan
GAO's annual performance plan covers activities for each of our strategic goals and is included with our budget submission each year.
In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, our annual performance plan informs the Congress and the American people about what we expect to accomplish on their behalf in the coming fiscal year. It sets forth our plan to make progress toward achieving our strategic goals for serving the Congress and the American people. This framework not only shows the relationship between our strategic goals and strategic objectives, but also show major themes that could potentially affect our work.
Performance and Accountability Report
GAO's Performance and Accountability Report describes the agency's performance measures, results, and accountability processes for the fiscal year. Our 2022 work yielded about $55.6 billion in financial benefits for the federal government — a return of approximately $74 for every dollar invested. GAO’s average return on investment for the past 5 years is $145 to $1. In assessing our performance, we compare actual results against the targets and goals that were set in our annual performance plan and performance budget to help carry out our strategic plan.
Table: Agency-wide Summary of Annual Measures and Targets
| Performance measure | 2017 actual |
2018 actual |
2019 actual |
2020 actual |
2021 actual |
2022 target |
2022 actual |
Met/ not met |
2023 target |
| Results | |||||||||
| Financial benefits (dollars in billions) | $73.90 | $75.10 | $214.7b | $77.60 | $66.20 | $50.00 | $55.60 | Met | $50 |
| Other benefits | 1,280 | 1,294 | 1,418 | 1,332 | 1,239 | 1,200 | 1,262 | Met | 1,200 |
| Past recommendations implemented | |||||||||
| 76% | 77% | 77% | 77% | 76% | 80% | 77% | Not met | 80% | |
| New products with recommendations | 63% | 64% | 64% | 64% | 58% | 60% | 64% | Met | 60% |
| Client | |||||||||
| Testimonies | 99 | 98 | 97 | 59 | 67 | 100 | 72 | Not met | 90 |
| Timeliness | 96% | 97% | 95% | 93% | 97% | 90% | 97% | Met | 90% |
| People | |||||||||
| New hire rate | 83% | 85% | 89% | 76% | 80% | 80% | 76% | Not met | 80% |
| Retention rate | |||||||||
| With retirements | 94% | 94% | 94% | 95% | 96% | 92% | 93% | Met | 92% |
| Without retirements | 97% | 97% | 96% | 97% | 98% | 96% | 97% | Met | 96% |
| Staff development | N/Aa | N/Aa | N/Aa | 81% | 82% | 80% | 82% | Met | 80% |
| Staff utilization | N/Aa | N/Aa | N/Aa | 85% | 85% | 80% | 84% | Met | 80% |
| Experience with supervisors | N/Aa | N/Aa | N/Aa | 90% | 91% | 82% | 90% | Met | 82% |
| Organizational climate | N/Aa | N/Aa | N/Aa | 86% | 87% | 80% | 86% | Met | 80% |
| Internal operations | |||||||||
| Help get job done | 84% | 85% | 82% | 83% | 81% | 80% | N/Ac | N/Ac | 80% |
| Quality of work life | 82% | 82% | 82% | 86% | 86% | 80% | N/Ac | N/Ac | 80% |
| IT tools | 74% | 73% | 56% | 69% | 56% | 80% | N/Ac | N/Ac | 80% |
Note: Information explaining all of the measures included in this table appears in the Appendix II.
a In 2020, we revised our Employee Feedback Survey (now EES), based on agency-wide feedback. These revisions included the portions used to assess Staff Development, Staff Utilization, Effective Leadership by Supervisors (now Experience with Supervisors), and Organizational Climate. The nature and extent of these revisions requires establishing a new trend baseline for these four People Measures.
b The $214.7 billion in financial benefits we achieved in FY 2019 was due primarily to one large financial benefit of $136.1 billion for contributing to reductions in DOD’s procurement costs for weapon systems acquisitions.
c To more effectively time the launch of our two annual agency-wide employee surveys, we are moving the launch of our annual CSAT survey from August to October, and will report our FY 2022 CSAT survey results in next year’s PAR.
Performance and Accountability Reports
Peer Reviews
Every 3 years, independent organizations perform a peer review of GAO’s system of quality control for work done under generally accepted government auditing standards to determine whether it is suitably designed and operating effectively. For the most recent review, the peer review team commented on the very high quality of the GAO work they examined, noting various institutional strengths that enable GAO to provide Congress and the public with reliable and objective information.
The peer review includes a review of audit documentation, tests of functional areas, and staff interviews. The peer reviewers brief the Executive Committee, management, and staff members. Beginning with the 2010 peer review, an international team from supreme audit institutions performs the peer review of both performance and financial audits. Previously, the review of performance audits was conducted separately from the review of financial audits (an international certified public accounting firm conducted the peer review of financial audit engagements).