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Open Recommendations (91 total)

Biodefense: After-Action Findings and COVID-19 Response Revealed Opportunities to Strengthen Preparedness

GAO-21-513
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture, should, with input from key nonfederal partners, work through the Biodefense Steering Committee to ensure that the Biodefense Coordination Team defines the set of capabilities needed to prepare for and respond to nationally significant biological incidents. (Recommendation 4)
Open
USDA concurred with our recommendation and described Biodefense Coordination Team efforts to identify capabilities necessary for advancing the goals and objectives of the National Biodefense Strategy. In March 2022, officials from USDA reported that a prior presidential memorandum establishing processes and leadership for the biodefense enterprise, was undergoing revision. In August 2022, USDA officials reported that they were working with other interagency partners to address our recommendation. In October 2022, the White House released an updated National Biodefense Strategy and associated implementation plan. As of January 2024, we have started new work to assess the updated National Biodefense Strategy and its associated implementation plan. As part of this work, we will determine if the changes meet the intent of our recommendation, or if agencies need to take action to meet that intent.

Federal Software Licenses: Agencies Need to Take Action to Achieve Additional Savings

GAO-24-105717
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the agency compares the inventories of software licenses that are currently in use with information on purchased licenses to identify opportunities to reduce costs and better inform investment decision making for its widely used licenses on a regular basis. At a minimum, it should consistently implement its procedures for comparing the inventories of licenses in use to purchase records. (Recommendation 2)
Open
The Department of Agriculture generally concurred with this recommendation. As of March 2024, the department statement that it is in the process of developing a new enterprise-wide process to consistently reconcile purchased licenses with active usage. We will continue to monitor the department's efforts to fully implement this recommendation.

USDA Market Facilitation Program: Stronger Adherence to Quality Guidelines Would Improve Future Economic Analyses

GAO-22-468
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the Office of the Chief Economist revises its internal review process to help ensure that USDA internal reviews of future economic analyses address the transparency of its documentation of the analyses. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In June 2022, and again in September 2023, USDA reiterated that it disagreed with our recommendations. USDA stated that the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) conducted the analysis in accordance with USDA Information Quality Guidelines and published the data sources, methodology, and assumptions underlying the analysis in two methodology reports posted to the OCE website and in the rulemaking Cost Benefit Analysis. However, OCE's published documentation did not transparently describe, to the extent possible, the 2019 MFP baseline methodology or OCE's selection of the elasticity values used in its economic model from among the available estimates, as USDA Information Quality Guidelines require. In February 2024, USDA OCE stated that it had not revised, and did not have plans to revise, its internal review process to ensure the documentation of its analysis is transparent since the publication of GAO's report in November 2021.

Cloud Security: Selected Agencies Need to Fully Implement Key Practices

GAO-23-105482
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the agency provides the authorization letter to the FedRAMP PMO for its selected SaaS system 2. (Recommendation 6)
Open – Partially Addressed
In September 2023, Agriculture officials described their plans for addressing our recommendation. Specifically, the officials stated that they plan to develop procedures, including guidance, for addressing the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements. In February 2024, the agency provided its FedRAMP Standard Operating Procedures. The procedures include requirements for providing authorization letters to the FedRAMP program management office (PMO). However, the agency did not provide evidence that it had provided the letter to FedRAMP PMO for its selected SaaS system 2. We will continue to monitor the agency's efforts to address our recommendation.

Agency Relocations: Following Leading Practices Will Better Position USDA to Mitigate the Ongoing Impacts on Its Workforce

GAO-23-104709
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Research, Education, and Economics Under Secretary should require ERS to more fully follow leading practices for training and development, such as planning for, designing, implementing, and evaluating training and development programs and efforts. (Recommendation 5)
Open
As of February 2024, GAO is assessing the actions reported by the agency.

Sugar Program: Alternative Methods for Implementing Import Restrictions Could Increase Effectiveness

GAO-24-106144
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should evaluate the effectiveness of the WTO raw sugar tariff-rate quota allocation method versus other tariff-rate quota allocation methods to determine which would most effectively maintain an adequate sugar supply and minimizes costs to the government. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Biodefense: After-Action Findings and COVID-19 Response Revealed Opportunities to Strengthen Preparedness

GAO-21-513
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should work through the Biodefense Steering Committee to ensure that the Biodefense Coordination Team establishes a process to periodically assess and communicate exercise priorities among the capabilities they identify to support nationally significant biological incidents. (Recommendation 8)
Open
USDA concurred with our recommendation and described avenues that the Biodefense Coordination Team could use to help identify and communicate exercise priorities, such as creating an exercise working group. In March 2022, officials from USDA reported that a prior presidential memorandum, which established processes and leadership for the biodefense enterprise, including the coordination team, was undergoing revision. In August 2022, USDA officials reported that they are working with other interagency partners to address our recommendation. In October 2022, the White House released an updated National Biodefense Strategy and associated implementation plan. As of January 2024, we have started new work to assess the updated National Biodefense Strategy and its associated implementation plan. As part of this work, we will determine if the changes meet the intent of our recommendation, or if agencies need to take action to meet that intent.

Oil and Gas Pipelines: Agencies Should Improve Oversight of Decommissioning

GAO-24-106444
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Chief of the Forest Service should develop a documented plan to ensure the agency collects and maintains the data necessary to oversee the decommissioning of gathering lines. (Recommendation 7)
Open
The Forest Service agreed with this recommendation. We will update the status of the recommendation when we have more information.

USDA Market Facilitation Program: Stronger Adherence to Quality Guidelines Would Improve Future Economic Analyses

GAO-22-468
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the Office of the Chief Economist revises its internal review process to help ensure that USDA internal reviews assess whether future economic analyses use representative baselines. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In June 2022, and again in September 2023, USDA reiterated that it disagreed with our recommendations. USDA stated that GAO's findings with respect to the 2019 baseline and payment levels do not take into account that USDA policy makers, not the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE), made those determinations. However, though OCE did not make the policy decision, it provided options to policy makers that directly affected the program spending levels and payment rates, and we found that OCE's analysis did not meet USDA Information Quality Guidelines. OCE presented an option to policymakers that relied on an unrepresentative baseline for the 2019 MFP. In February 2024, USDA OCE stated that it had not revised, and did not have plans to revise, its internal review process to ensure the baselines in its analysis are representative since the publication of GAO's report in November 2021.

Agency Relocations: Following Leading Practices Will Better Position USDA to Mitigate the Ongoing Impacts on Its Workforce

GAO-23-104709
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Research, Education, and Economics Under Secretary should require NIFA to more fully follow leading practices for training and development, such as planning for, designing, implementing, and evaluating training and development programs and efforts. (Recommendation 6)
Open
As of February 2024, GAO is assessing the actions reported by the agency.
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