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Recommendations Database

GAO’s recommendations database contains report recommendations that still need to be addressed. GAO’s priority recommendations are those that we believe warrant priority attention. We sent letters to the heads of key departments and agencies, urging them to continue focusing on these issues. Below you can search only priority recommendations, or search all recommendations.

Our recommendations help congressional and agency leaders prepare for appropriations and oversight activities, as well as help improve government operations. Moreover, when implemented, some of our priority recommendations can save large amounts of money, help Congress make decisions on major issues, and substantially improve or transform major government programs or agencies, among other benefits.

As of October 25, 2020, there are 4812 open recommendations, of which 473 are priority recommendations. Recommendations remain open until they are designated as Closed-implemented or Closed-not implemented.

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Results:

Subject Term: "Broadcasting standards"

6 publications with a total of 16 open recommendations including 1 priority recommendation
Download these results in CSV format or XLSX format.
Emergency Alerting: Agencies Need to Address Pending Applications and Monitor Industry Progress on System Improvements
GAO-20-294, Feb 6, 2020
Director: Andrew Von Ah
Phone: (202) 512-2834

3 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: The Chairman of FCC should develop specific, measurable goals and performance measures for its efforts to monitor the performance of new WEA capabilities, such as enhanced geo-targeting and expanded alert message length. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Federal Communications Commission
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: The Director of the IPAWS program should document how it plans to address key actions needed to educate alerting authorities in their use of IPAWS and implement a mechanism that will allow FEMA to regularly and systematically obtain and analyze feedback on alerting authorities' educational needs. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Emergency Preparedness and Response: Federal Emergency Management Agency
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: The Director of the IPAWS program should establish procedures to prioritize pending IPAWS applications and to follow up with applicants to address these applications. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: Directorate of Emergency Preparedness and Response: Federal Emergency Management Agency
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Special Operations Forces: Additional Actions Are Needed to Effectively Manage Air Reserve Component
GAO-20-90, Dec 16, 2019
Director: Cary Russell
Phone: (202) 512-5431

3 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: The Secretary of the Air Force, in coordination with ANG and AFR, should ensure that AFSOC has the organizational capacity to effectively initiate, coordinate, and execute ARC mobilizations, to include ensuring timely and reliable notification of requirements to those units. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Air Force: Office of the Secretary of the Air Force
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that the ANG and AFR develop a method for providing AFSOC with consolidated information regarding units available for immediate and future mobilizations to support special operations activities, such as the Air Force provides to its units with its force-generation model. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Air Force: Office of the Secretary of the Air Force
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Recommendation: The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that the ANG and AFR develop a mechanism for tracking volunteer deployments to better manage ARC force utilization. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Air Force: Office of the Secretary of the Air Force
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Aviation Safety: Opportunities Exist for FAA to Improve Airport Terminal Area Safety Efforts
GAO-19-639, Aug 30, 2019
Director: Heather Krause
Phone: (202) 512-2834

5 open recommendations
including 1 priority recommendation
Display
Recommendation: The Runway Safety Manager should develop a process to identify and remove duplicate excursion records. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: Open

Comments: As of December 2019, FAA concurred with this recommendation. FAA noted that it will include actions to identify and remove duplicate excursion records in its Runway Safety Evolution Plan, which is scheduled to be completed by September 30, 2020. We will review the Runway Safety Evolution Plan when it is available.
Recommendation: The Runway Safety Manager should take steps to analyze data on ramp area incidents in FAA's new surface safety metric. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: Open

Comments: As of December 2019, FAA concurred with this recommendation. FAA noted that it will identify actions to implement this recommendation in its Runway Safety Evolution Plan, which is scheduled to be completed by September 30, 2020. We will review the Runway Safety Evolution Plan when it is available.
Recommendation: The Runway Safety Manager should establish a plan to assess the effectiveness of all of FAA's terminal area-safety efforts, including Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X) and the Runway Safety Program. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: As of December 2019, FAA has concurred with the recommendation, but needs to take additional steps to address the recommendation. FAA noted that it would identify actions to assess the effectiveness of all of its terminal-area safety efforts in a Runway Safety Evolution Plan, which the agency expects to complete by September 30, 2020. We will review the Runway Safety Evolution Plan when it is available.
Recommendation: The Administrator of FAA should require Flight Standards to share the results of its investigations with the Runway Safety Group, in a timely manner. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: Open

Comments: As of December 2019, FAA concurred with this recommendation. FAA noted that it will include an initiative in its 2020 Aviation Safety Business Plan Goal to make information from Flight Standards more accessible to the Runway Safety Group. FAA said the 2020 Aviation Safety Business Plan Goal is scheduled to be completed by September 3, 2020. We will review the Aviation Safety Business Plan Goal when it is available.
Recommendation: The Administrator of FAA should require air traffic control managers to share information on terminal area incidents, such as operational incidents and pilot deviations, with airport operators, in a timely manner. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration
Status: Open

Comments: As of December 2019, FAA concurred with this recommendation. FAA noted that it will identify actions to implement this recommendation in its Runway Safety Evolution Plan, which is scheduled to be completed by September 30, 2020. We will review the Runway Safety Evolution Plan when it is available.
Tribal Broadband: FCC Should Undertake Efforts to Better Promote Tribal Access to Spectrum
GAO-19-75, Nov 14, 2018
Director: Mark Goldstein
Phone: (202) 512-2834

3 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: The Chairman of FCC should collect data on the extent that tribal entities are obtaining and accessing spectrum and use this information as FCC implements ongoing spectrum initiatives. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Federal Communications Commission
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, FCC said it will consider ways to collect data on the extent that tribal entities are obtaining and accessing spectrum, including updating application forms to provide for voluntary submission of this information. FCC noted that this is an ongoing activity with no specific completion date.
Recommendation: The Chairman of FCC should analyze data to better understand the extent that unused spectrum licenses exist over tribal lands, such as by analyzing the data for a sample of tribal lands, and as appropriate use this information to inform its oversight of the secondary market. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Federal Communications Commission
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, FCC indicated that they believe this was implemented by the tribal priority window for the 2.5 GHz spectrum bands, but has yet to provide documentation to GAO. We will continue to monitor FCC actions in this area.
Recommendation: The Chairman of FCC should make information on spectrum-license holders more accessible and easy to understand for interested parties, including tribal entities, to promote their ability to purchase or lease spectrum licenses from other providers. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Federal Communications Commission
Status: Open

Comments: As of July 2020, FCC said it was engaged in a multi-year project to modernize the Universal Licensing System (ULS), which is the online system that contains electronic records of all wireless spectrum licenses. FCC said it would transition ULS to a new platform that will provide more consistent performance, easier access to information, and enhanced functionality; the ULS modernization is an ongoing activity that FCC believes will be completed by December 2021.
U.S. Postal Service: Enhancing Procedures Could Improve Product Scanning
GAO-18-638, Sep 28, 2018
Director: Lori Rectanus
Phone: (202) 512-2834

1 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Postmaster General should identify and adopt a set of internal control standards that can be used as the basis for operational internal-control activities, such as those for scanning competitive products. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: United States Postal Service
Status: Open

Comments: USPS has completed a cost study to adopt an operational internal control framework. USPS has targeted December 31, 2020, for completion and implementation of this new internal control framework.
Earthquakes: Additional Actions Needed to Identify and Mitigate Risks to Federal Buildings and Implement an Early Warning System
GAO-16-680, Aug 31, 2016
Director: Chris Currie
Phone: (404) 679-1875

1 open recommendations
Display
Recommendation: To strengthen efforts to mitigate earthquake risks to federal buildings, the Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of GSA should (1) Define what constitutes an exceptionally high risk building, identify such buildings, and develop plans to mitigate those risks, including prioritizing associated funding requests as needed; and (2) To the extent practicable, prioritize and implement comprehensive seismic safety measures which could include earthquake drills, seismic safety inspections, and non-structural retrofits to decrease risks and reduce damage in federally-owned and -leased buildings in earthquake hazard areas.

Agency: Department of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: DOD concurred with our recommendation. In June 2019, DOD reported that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had developed a sophisticated risk assessment tool which could potentially be used to both define and assess exceptionally high risk buildings in a cost-effective manner. DOD said that it was in the process of determining the suitability of the tool for use by its components, and potentially other federal government partners. According to DOD, further action to address this recommendation will depend on both a favorable determination of the tool's suitability and the availability of funding to conduct assessments and complete the mitigation actions identified by the assessments. We will continue to monitor DOD's efforts to address this recommendation.