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As of May 16, 2024, there are 5143 open recommendations that still need to be addressed. 413 of these are priority recommendations, those that we believe warrant priority attention. Learn more about our priority designation on our Recommendations page.

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381 - 400 of 413 Recommendations

Federal Real Property: DHS and GSA Need to Strengthen the Management of DHS Headquarters Consolidation

GAO-14-648
Diana Maurer, David Wise
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
General Services Administration
Priority Rec.
In order to improve transparency and allow for more informed decision making by congressional leaders and DHS and GSA decision-makers, before requesting additional funding for the DHS headquarters consolidation project, after revising the DHS headquarters consolidation plans, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Administrator of the General Services Administration should work jointly to develop revised cost and schedule estimates for the remaining portions of the consolidation project that conform to GSA guidance and leading practices for cost and schedule estimation, including an independent evaluation of the estimates.
Open – Partially Addressed

The Department of Homeland Security Headquarters Consolidation Accountability Act of 2015 (Pub. L. No. 114-150) was enacted on April 29, 2016. Among other things, the act requires DHS, in coordination with GSA, to submit information to Congress about DHS headquarters consolidation efforts not later than 120 days of enactment. Required information includes a comprehensive assessment of property and facilities utilized by DHS in the National Capital Region, and an analysis that identifies the costs and benefits of leasing and construction alternatives for the remainder of the consolidation

Medicare Advantage: CMS Should Fully Develop Plans for Encounter Data and Assess Data Quality before Use

GAO-14-571
James Cosgrove
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Priority Rec.
To ensure that MA encounter data are of sufficient quality for their intended purposes, the Administrator of CMS should complete all the steps necessary to validate the data, including performing statistical analyses, reviewing medical records, and providing MAOs with summary reports on CMS's findings, before using the data to risk adjust payments or for other intended purposes.
Open – Partially Addressed

HHS generally agreed with this recommendation. As of February 2024, CMS has made progress in examining the completeness and accuracy of Medicare Advantage encounter data, but more work remains to fully validate these data. For example, CMS has established some performance metrics for MA encounter data completeness and accuracy and conducted associated analyses. CMS has communicated findings from these analyses to MAOs, with the expectation that MAOs provide plans within 60 days to address identified concerns. In addition, CMS stated in February 2024 that the agency has conducted various

Human Capital: OPM Needs to Improve the Design, Management, and Oversight of the Federal Classification System

GAO-14-677
Robert N. Goldenkoff
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Office of Personnel Management
Priority Rec.
To improve the classification system and to strengthen OPM's management and oversight, the Director of OPM, working through the Chief Human Capital Officer Council, and in conjunction with key stakeholders such as the Office of Management and Budget, unions, and others, should use prior studies and lessons learned from demonstration projects and alternative systems to examine ways to make the GS system's design and implementation more consistent with the attributes of a modern, effective classification system. To the extent warranted, develop a legislative proposal for congressional consideration.
Open

Although OPM originally partially agreed with this recommendation, it later reported that it concurred with the recommendation. In March 2024 , OPM reported that it is preparing to modernize the GS classification system into a skills-based system. For example, it plans to update work fields such as artificial intelligence, information technology, cybersecurity, and human resources, among others . First, OPM plans to develop a white paper and a modernization plan that will include resource needs and a timeline. OPM also reported it is partnering with stakeholders such as OMB, the Office of the

Space Launch System: Resources Need to be Matched to Requirements to Decrease Risk and Support Long Term Affordability

GAO-14-631
Cristina T. Chaplain
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
To provide the Congress with the necessary insight into program planning and affordability, and to decrease the risk of cost and schedule overruns, NASA's Administrator should direct the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to take the following action: Provide decision makers with an informed basis for making investment decisions regarding the SLS program, NASA should identify a range of possible missions for each future SLS variant that includes cost and schedule estimates and plans for how those possible missions would fit within NASA's funding profile.
Open

NASA agreed with this recommendation. As of February 2023, NASA stated that as it implements the new organization of the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, it will develop a manifest for missions beyond Artemis IV, including the hardware available for the missions. Additionally, NASA is developing Moon to Mars objectives, which will outline anticipated capability and mission needs. To fully address this recommendation, NASA needs to provide documentation that it established cost and schedule estimates for each future SLS variant and its plan for how possible missions would
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
To provide the Congress with the necessary insight into program planning and affordability, and to decrease the risk of cost and schedule overruns, NASA's Administrator should direct the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to take the following action: To allow for a continued assessment of progress and affordability, NASA should structure each future increment of SLS capability with a total cost exceeding the $250 million threshold for designation as a major project as a separate development effort within the SLS program. In doing so, NASA should require each increment to complete both the technical and programmatic reviews required of other major development projects, per the agency's acquisition and system engineering policies.
Open

NASA agreed with this recommendation. NASA established an updated baseline commitment of the Orion system for Artemis II to include a docking capability in August2021. As of February 2023, NASA had not established separate cost and schedule baselines foreach additional SLS and ground systems block, though the agency previously stated it plans to. To fully implement this recommendation, NASA needs to provide evidence that it established separate cost and schedule baselines for each additional SLS and ground systems block exceeding the $250 million threshold for designation as a major project

New Markets Tax Credit: Better Controls and Data Are Needed to Ensure Effectiveness

GAO-14-500
James (Jay) R. McTigue, Jr
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Treasury should issue guidance on how funding or assistance from other government programs can be combined with the NMTC including the extent to which other government funds can be used to leverage the NMTC by being included in the qualified equity investment.
Open – Partially Addressed

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has not issued guidance on how funding or assistance from other government programs can be combined with the NMTC, as GAO recommended in July 2014. However, Treasury has taken steps toward addressing this action. The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), which administers the NMTC program, completed new empirical research assessing the extent to which other government programs are being combined with the NMTC. The findings of this research (issued in August 2017) indicate that some NMTC projects, especially those using other

Management Report: Improvements Needed in Controls over the Processes Used to Prepare the U.S. Consolidated Financial Statements

GAO-14-543
Gary T. Engel
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, working in coordination with the Controller of OMB, to establish a formalized process to require the performance of additional audit procedures specifically focused on intragovernmental activity and balances between federal entities to provide increased audit assurance over the reliability of such information.
Open

As of the completion of our fiscal year 2023 audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government (CFS), this recommendation remained open. We noted that Treasury included corrective actions in its remediation plan and included a goal of completing them by fiscal year 2025. For example, Treasury added questions to the CFO Representation Form effective in fiscal year 2023 and plans to analyze the responses. While certain actions were taken, we continued to note that amounts reported by federal entity trading partners to Treasury were not in agreement by significant amounts. A
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, working in coordination with the Controller of OMB, to establish and implement policies and procedures for accounting for and reporting all significant General Fund activity and balances, obtaining assurance on the reliability of the amounts, and reconciling the activity and balances between the General Fund and federal entities.
Open

As of the completion of our fiscal year 2023 audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, this recommendation remained open. Treasury continued to implement corrective actions to (1) obtain and review support for material accrual balances provided by federal entities for inclusion in the General Fund's general ledger and (2) review federal entity audited financial statements and conduct data calls for unrecorded activity to include in the General Fund's general ledger. In addition, Treasury continued to work with federal entities to ensure proper usage of newly

NASA: Actions Needed to Improve Transparency and Assess Long-Term Affordability of Human Exploration Programs

GAO-14-385
Cristina T. Chaplain
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
To provide the Congress with the necessary insight into program affordability, ensure its ability to effectively monitor total program costs and execution, and to facilitate investment decisions, because NASA intends to use the increased capabilities of the SLS, Orion, and Ground Systems Development and Operations efforts well into the future and has chosen to estimate costs associated with achieving the capabilities, the NASA's Administrator should direct the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to establish separate cost and schedule baselines for each additional capability that encompass all life cycle costs, to include operations and sustainment. When NASA cannot fully specify costs due to lack of well-defined missions or flight manifests, forecast a cost estimate range -- including life cycle costs -- having minimum and maximum boundaries. These baselines or ranges should be reported to Congress annually via the agency's budget submission.
Open

NASA partially agreed with this recommendation, stating that it had established separate programs for SLS, Orion, and the ground systems and adopted a block upgrade approach for SLS. In August 2021, NASA established an updated baseline commitment of the Orion system for Artemis II to include a docking capability. In February 2023, NASA reported SLS and the ground systems have begun annually reporting a 5-year cost estimate of operational costs. NASA officials also stated they are still in the process of establishing baselines for SLS's Exploration Upper Stage and associated capabilities and
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
To provide the Congress with the necessary insight into program affordability, ensure its ability to effectively monitor total program costs and execution, and to facilitate investment decisions, the NASA's Administrator should direct the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate to establish a separate cost and schedule baseline for work required to support the SLS Block I Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) and report this information to the Congress through NASA's annual budget submission. If NASA decides to fly the SLS Block I beyond EM-2, establish separate life cycle cost and schedule baseline estimates for those efforts, to include funding for operations and sustainment, and report this information annually to Congress via the agency's budget submission.
Open

NASA partially agreed with this recommendation. Officials stated that NASA defined and documented life-cycle costs for SLS to a first demonstrated capability, consistent with cost estimating best practices and NASA project and program management policy. In February 2023, officials stated that following the successful launch of Artemis I, the agency is updating the schedule for Artemis II. In spring 2022, SLS and the ground systems programs provided the first 5-year operational cost estimate and NASA plans to update it in spring 2023. Additionally, NASA plans to create a cost estimate for

Reverse Auctions: Guidance Is Needed to Maximize Competition and Achieve Cost Savings

GAO-14-108
Michele Mackin
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget
Priority Rec.
To help mitigate confusion about the use of reverse auctions in federal acquisitions, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget should take steps to amend the FAR to address agencies' use of reverse auctions.
Open – Partially Addressed

In providing comments on this report, OMB generally concurred with this recommendation. In response, in December 2020, FAR Council members published a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the FAR to provide guidance on reverse auctions. The notice required that comments on the proposed rule be submitted by early February 2021. As of December 2023, OMB had received proposed revisions to FAR guidance for its consideration.

Clean Water Act: Changes Needed If Key EPA Program Is to Help Fulfill the Nation's Water Quality Goals

GAO-14-80
J. Alfredo Gómez
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Environmental Protection Agency
Priority Rec.
To enhance the likelihood that TMDLs support the nation's waters' attainment of water quality standards and to strengthen water quality management, the Administrator of EPA should develop and issue new regulations requiring that TMDLs include additional elements--and consider requiring the elements that are now optional--specifically, elements reflecting key features identified by NRC as necessary for attaining water quality standards, such as comprehensive identification of impairment and plans to monitor water bodies to verify that water quality is improving.
Open

As of April 2024, EPA officials stated that they believe this action has been implemented. Since June 2020, they said the agency has taken several actions that change the focus of the total maximum daily loads (TMDL) program to focus efforts on implementing TMDLs. First, EPA developed a TMDL Vision document to focus on integrating and implementing different efforts to restore and protect the nation's aquatic resources. Second, EPA held regional meetings to discuss different TMDL topics such as monitoring, implementation, and reasonable assurance. Included in these discussions were good

Hurricane Sandy Relief: Improved Guidance on Designing Internal Control Plans Could Enhance Oversight of Disaster Funding

GAO-14-58
Beryl (Berri) H. Davis
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget
Priority Rec.
To proactively prepare for oversight of future disaster relief funding, the Director of OMB should develop standard guidance for federal agencies to use in designing internal control plans for disaster relief funding. Such guidance could leverage existing internal control review processes and should include, at a minimum, the following elements: (1) robust criteria for identifying and documenting incremental risks and mitigating controls related to the funding and (2) requirements for documenting the linkage between the incremental risks related to disaster funding and efforts to address known internal control risks.
Open

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stated that they generally agreed with our recommendation and requested additional information on the findings to inform future guidance. In July 2016, OMB issued the revised Circular A-123, Management's Responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management and Internal Control. The Circular requires agencies to implement enterprise risk management, which includes the development of a risk profile that analyzes the risks faced in achieving strategic objectives and identifies options for addressing them. In April 2017, OMB staff stated that they believe that

Export Promotion: Better Information Needed about Federal Resources

GAO-13-644
Kimberly Gianopoulos
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Commerce
Priority Rec.
To improve the consistency, comprehensiveness, and transparency of information provided to Congress and policymakers on the federal investment in export promotion programs, the Secretary of Commerce, as chair of the TPCC, should report in its National Export Strategies on how resources are allocated by agency and aligned with priorities.
Open

The Export Enhancement Act [15 U.S.C. Section 4727(c)] states that the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee's (TPCC) strategies should establish a set of priorities for federal export promotion activities and propose a unified federal trade promotion budget that supports the plan. In written comments on GAO's report, the Director of the TPCC Secretariat generally concurred with the recommendation on behalf of the Secretary. Nevertheless, the Director noted the TPCC's limited authority over budget reporting and resource allocations and gave examples of some challenges they faced, including

Management Report: Improvements Needed in Controls over the Preparation of the U.S. Consolidated Financial Statements

GAO-13-540
Gary T. Engel
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
To improve the reliability of the information presented in the CFS budget statements, the Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, working in coordination with the Controller of OMB's Office of Federal Financial Management, to establish and implement effective procedures for identifying and reporting all items needed to prepare the CFS budget statements.
Open

As of the completion of our fiscal year 2023 audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government (CFS), this recommendation remained open. Treasury continued to develop its process for preparing the Reconciliation Statements, such as continuing to implement procedures and encourage federal entities to fully utilize newly developed loan activity transaction codes established to improve the accounting for and reporting of General Fund transactions and balances. Treasury is also in the process of reviewing line items related to federal debt securities and other General Fund
Department of the Treasury
Priority Rec.
To improve the reliability of the information presented in the CFS budget statements, the Secretary of the Treasury should direct the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, working in coordination with the Controller of OMB's Office of Federal Financial Management, to establish and implement effective procedures for reporting amounts in the CFS budget statements that are fully consistent with the underlying information in significant federal entities' audited financial statements and other financial data.
Open

As of the completion of our fiscal year 2023 audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government (CFS), this recommendation remained open. Treasury continued to develop its process for preparing the Reconciliation Statements, such as continuing to implement procedures and encourage federal entities to fully utilize newly developed loan activity transaction codes established to improve the accounting for and reporting of General Fund transactions and balances. Treasury is also in the process of reviewing line items related to federal debt securities and other General Fund

DOD Financial Management: Significant Improvements Needed in Efforts to Address Improper Payment Requirements

GAO-13-227
Asif A. Khan
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Defense
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), with regard to estimating improper payments, to establish and implement key quality assurance procedures, such as reconciliations, to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the sampled populations.
Open

DOD agreed with this recommendation. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) developed an inventory of approximately 80 DOD systems related to disbursing functions. As of March 2024, DOD estimated that by May 2025, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and DOD components will have established financial management system agreements for improper payments testing. These signed agreements will require DOD components to affirm the completeness of the payments in each financial management system to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the sampled populations. In addition

Missile Defense: Opportunity to Refocus on Strengthening Acquisition Management

GAO-13-432
Cristina T. Chaplain
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
Department of Defense
Priority Rec.
In order to strengthen investment decisions, place the chosen investments on a sound acquisition footing, provide a better means of tracking investment progress, and improve the management and transparency of the U.S. missile defense approach in Europe, the Secretary of Defense should direct MDA's new Director to include in its resource baseline cost estimates all life cycle costs, specifically the operations and support costs, from the military services in order to provide decision makers with the full costs of ballistic missile defense systems.
Open – Partially Addressed

DOD agreed that decisionmakers should have insight into the full lifecycle costs of the Missile Defense Systems programs but disagreed with MDA's responsibility to account for the military services' portion of the operations and sustainment costs for such programs. In 2020, DOD requested that we close this recommendation as implemented, citing MDA's preparation of joint cost estimates (JCE) with the military services to capture their respective operations and sustainment costs. However, in February 2022, we found that not all applicable programs have a JCE as required by policy and the
Department of Defense
Priority Rec.
In order to strengthen investment decisions, place the chosen investments on a sound acquisition footing, provide a better means of tracking investment progress, and improve the management and transparency of the U.S. missile defense approach in Europe, the Secretary of Defense should direct MDA's new Director to stabilize the acquisition baselines, so that meaningful comparisons can be made over time that support oversight of those acquisitions.
Open – Partially Addressed

DOD agreed with our recommendation but noted that MDA has the authority to adjust program baselines to remain responsive to evolving requirements and threats. We acknowledged MDA's authority to adjust program baselines and explained that our recommendation did not intend to limit such authority, but rather address issues we found, such as shifting content and costs between baselines without clear traceability. In 2020, DOD requested that we close this recommendation as implemented based on MDA's addition of a list of significant changes to its annual baseline reporting. MDA officials said that

Climate Change: Future Federal Adaptation Efforts Could Better Support Local Infrastructure Decision Makers

GAO-13-242
David Trimble
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Recommendation Status
U.S. Global Change Research Program
Priority Rec.
To improve the resilience of the nation's infrastructure to climate change, the Executive Director of the United States Global Change Research Program or other federal entity designated by the Executive Office of the President should work with relevant agencies to identify for decision makers the "best available" climate-related information for infrastructure planning and update this information over time.
Open – Partially Addressed

As of January 2023, according to officials from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is developing a Climate Resilience Information System (CRIS) that will provide access to the "best available" climate-related information. OSTP, in coordination with USGCRP and NOAA, released the Climate Mapping for Resilience Assessments (CMRA) portal in September 2022. CMRA is an example of the type of information resource that CRIS will more efficiently enable, once fully established. In addition, On March 22, 2023, OSTP released a report
Note: the list of open recommendations for the last report may continue on the next page.

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