Skip to main content

Priority Open Recommendations: U.S. Agency for International Development

GAO-20-486PR Published: Apr 13, 2020. Publicly Released: Apr 20, 2020.
Jump To:

Fast Facts

Each year, we make more than 1,000 recommendations to help improve the federal government. We alert department heads to the recommendations where they can save the most money, address issues on our High Risk List, or significantly improve government operations.

This report outlines our 3 priority open recommendations for the U.S. Agency for International Development as of April 2020.

For example, in September 2019 we recommended that USAID improve its ability to assess the results of changes it is making to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness.

Since our previous letter in April 2019, USAID implemented 4 of our priority recommendations.

graphic

graphic

Highlights

What GAO Found

In April 2019, GAO identified five priority recommendations for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Since then, USAID has implemented four of those recommendations by taking actions to improve USAID's monitoring and assessment of costs associated with food aid projects.

In April 2020, GAO identified two additional priority recommendations for USAID, bringing the total number to three. These recommendations involve the following areas:

  • Improving management and oversight of international food assistance projects
  • Improving project performance data collection
  • Improving USAID reform efforts USAID's continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations

USAID’s continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations

Why GAO Did This Study

Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015 GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.

For more information, contact Jason Bair at (202) 512-6881 or bairj@gao.gov.

Full Report

Full Report (7 pages)
Accessible PDF (5 pages)

GAO Contacts

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

Government Operations
Data collectionFederal assistance programsFood assistance programsInternational affairsInternational food assistancePerformance monitoringGovernment operationsHigh-risk issuesSocial mediaData management