Top Ten List

What GAO Found GAO's 2019 annual report identifies 98 new actions that Congress or executive branch agencies can take to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government in 28 new areas and 11 existing areas. For example: The Department of Energy could potentially avoid spending billions of dollars...

What GAO Found As of December 2018, the Census Bureau (Bureau) had identified 360 active risks to the 2020 Census. Of these, 242 required a mitigation plan and 232 had one; 146 required a contingency plan and 102 had one (see table). Mitigation plans detail how an agency will reduce the likelihood of...

What GAO Found Since December 2016, the Manufacturing USA network has grown from 11 to 14 manufacturing innovation institutes that are implementing a wide array of activities aimed at developing manufacturing capabilities in promising new advanced technologies, as shown in the figure. As of March 2019,...

What GAO Found The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Education (Education) provide grants, disseminate information, and fund training and technical assistance to help state and local agencies support children affected by trauma. HHS's Administration for Children and...

What GAO Found The military services collect gender information, but they do not collect and maintain consistent information about race and ethnicity in their investigations, military justice, and personnel databases. This limits their ability to collectively or comparatively assess these data to identify...

What GAO Found The cost and schedule performance of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) portfolio of major projects continues to deteriorate. For this review, cost growth was 27.6 percent over the baselines and the average launch delay was approximately 13 months, the largest schedule...

What GAO Found An estimated one in 10 Americans per year cared for a parent or spouse for some period of time from 2011 through 2017, and women were more likely than men to provide care, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics survey data. Both parental and spousal caregivers were older than the general...

What GAO Found The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) latest tax gap estimate (2016) found that taxpayers voluntarily and timely paid about 81.7 percent of owed taxes for tax years 2008-2010, leaving an annual gross tax gap of $458 billion. IRS estimated a net tax gap—after late payments and enforcement...

What GAO Found Federal law and guidance require that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the sensitive financial and taxpayer information that resides on its systems. However, taxpayer information held by third-party providers—such as paid...

This special report is GAO’s 17th annual assessment of the Department of Defense’s (DOD) $1.69 trillion portfolio of 82 major weapon systems acquisition programs. This report (1) examines changes in the portfolio since last year, (2) evaluates DOD’s actions in areas related to recent, selected...