Recommendation: The Secretary of Commerce should direct BIS to identify, analyze, and respond to factors in the process that may cause submission errors. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Commerce
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 Commerce should direct BIS to identify, assess, and make program changes to address issues that have impeded timeliness and created the backlog of exclusion requests. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Commerce
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 Commerce should assign responsibility for regularly reviewing the impact of the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, including tariff exclusions, and document the results. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Commerce
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Acting Commissioner of CBP should better communicate to stakeholders the types of information stakeholders could collect and submit to CBP to help the agency initiate and investigate forced labor cases related to seafood and, as appropriate, other goods. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
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 Homeland Security should direct the Director of ICE to develop a strategy for the TTU program to ensure that ICE has a plan to guide its efforts to effectively partner with existing TTUs, and to expand the program, where appropriate, into additional countries. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: Office of the Secretary
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 Homeland Security should direct the Director of ICE to develop a performance monitoring framework for the TTU program that would enable the agency to systematically track program results and how effectively it is achieving the program's goals. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should establish a process to monitor whether the agency is meeting its audit goals and expectations for sampling and inspections to support its removal decisions for seafood import alerts. This could be done through regularly analyzing data that FDA collects, such as those in CMS, FACTS, and OASIS. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open

Comments: FDA agreed with our recommendation. In August 2020, FDA told us that the agency is working to review and modify appropriate sections of its Regulatory Procedures Manual to better reflect the importance of foreign suppliers' corrective actions when making decisions to remove a firm from an import alert and identify higher-risk problem areas where more robust information may be needed. In addition, a checklist for import alerts and associated Compliance Management System (database) functionality are under development. According to FDA, the agency is also working to refine internal communications to better assure that firms which have recently been removed from an import alert are also considered for an inspection. Additionally, in November 2019, FDA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on accreditation of laboratories that conduct food testing to support removal from import alert and other purposes. We will continue to monitor FDA's planned actions to determine if they satisfy our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should establish a time frame for developing performance goals and measures for its imported food safety program. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open

Comments: FDA agreed with this recommendation. In August 2020, FDA told us that the agency has published some performance metrics and plans to develop additional performance measures and outcome indicators for imported food safety, to support FDA's Strategy for the Safety of Imported Food (Strategy). In addition, after publishing these initial metrics for the Strategy, the agency will develop additional performance metrics. FDA stated that the COVID-19 situation is quite fluid and the agency is unable to project timelines for developing additional performance measures at this time. We will continue to monitor FDA's planned actions to determine if they satisfy our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should, as the agency develops goals and measures for its imported food safety program, develop performance goals and corresponding performance measures specific to seafood import alerts. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open

Comments: FDA agreed with this recommendation. In August 2020, FDA told us that the agency remains committed to developing additional performance goals and measures for its imported food safety program. FDA is still reviewing the Import Alert Effectiveness Program and will consider metrics, as appropriate, based on the outcome of that review. FDA stated that the COVID-19 situation is quite fluid and the agency is unable to project timelines for developing additional performance measures at this time. We will continue to monitor FDA's planned actions to determine if they satisfy our recommendation.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should supplement the agency's 2016 long-term strategic review by conducting an additional analysis that takes into account private-sector response, oil market projections, and costs and benefits of a wide range of different SPR sizes. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Energy
Status: Open

Comments: In May 2018, DOE partially agreed with the recommendation to supplement the 2016 long-term strategic review with an additional analysis that takes into account private-sector response, oil market projections, and costs and benefits of a wide range of different SPR sizes. In September 2018, the agency agreed to conduct two additional studies related to the future size of the SPR. According to DOE, the first study is currently underway and will determine the future configuration of the SPR at the end of all sales currently enacted into law. The SPR post-sale configuration study is expected to be completed by the end of calendar year 2018. DOE is beginning another study designed to assess the purpose, goals, and objectives of the SPR, which would ultimately lead to an optimal size of the SPR. To complete this study, DOE will focus on analyzing future requirements of the SPR rather than analyzing the benefits of various SPR sizes. As of December 2019, according to DOE, the Office of Fossil Energy, Office of Petroleum Reserves, presented a draft of the SPR post-sale configuration study to the Office of Fossil Energy for review. A draft of the requirements study, which assess the purpose, goals, and objectives of the SPR, was also presented to the Office of Fossil Energy for review.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should take actions to ensure that the agency periodically conducts and provides to Congress a strategic review of the SPR that, among other things, takes into account changes in crude oil and petroleum product market conditions and contains additional analysis, such as the costs and benefits of a wide range of different SPR sizes. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Energy
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: In May 2018, DOE agreed with the recommendation for periodic strategic reviews of the SPR and providing this information to Congress. In September 2018, DOE stated that a 5-year time interval between reviews is an appropriate timeframe. According to DOE, 5 years is sufficient time to allow current strategic plans to be implemented and assessed; the time period would also allow for adjustments as necessary. Given that the agency completed the SPR Long-Term Strategic Review in 2016 as the first of such strategic plans, the next strategic review of the SPR should be completed by the end of fiscal year 2021, according to DOE in December 2019.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should conduct or complete studies on the costs and benefits of regional petroleum product reserves for all U.S. regions that have been identified as vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions, and the Secretary should report the results to Congress. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Energy
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: In May 2018, DOE disagreed with the recommendation to conduct or complete studies on the costs and benefits of regional petroleum product reserves. DOE stated that the agency's position is that government-owned and -operated regional petroleum product reserves are an inefficient and expensive solution to respond to regional fuel supply disruptions. In September 2018 and December 2019, DOE noted that given the inefficient and expensive nature of storing refined petroleum products in above-ground tanks, it would be an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds to conduct any additional studies on the use of federal government owned storage of refined petroleum products. However, the Quadrennial Energy Review of 2015 recommended that similar analyses be completed for other areas deemed by DOE to be vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions. Therefore, we continue to believe that conducting these analyses, as recommended in the Quadrennial Energy Review of 2015, will provide Congress with information needed to make decisions about regional product reserves.

Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy, in completing DOE's ongoing study on the effects of congressionally mandated sales, should consider a full range of options for handling potentially excess assets and, if needed, request congressional authority for the disposition of these assets. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Energy
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: DOE agreed with GAO's May 2018 recommendation and has taken steps to implement it. As of December 2019, according to DOE officials, the agency completed its analysis of leasing storage (e.g. excess assets) and is including this analysis in a broader study of the reserve's configuration, which is currently under review. However, DOE has not provided documentation of its analysis or study to GAO. DOE stated that it is having discussions with at least one country that may be interested in leasing storage from the United States to meet its international obligations. In September 2018, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 6511, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Reform Act, which would provide the Secretary of Energy with the authority to establish a program to lease certain underutilized Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage facilities to the private sector, or a foreign government or its representative, and would require that the Secretary of Energy establish and carry out a pilot program to make available for lease (1) up to 200 million barrels of petroleum products at Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage facilities and (2) related facilities. The bill was not passed by the Senate and had not been reintroduced in the 116th Congress as of February 18, 2020. Without examining a full range of options for handling potentially excess reserve assets, DOE risks missing beneficial ways to modernize the Strategic Petroleum Reserve while saving taxpayer resources.

Recommendation: Congress may wish to consider setting a long-range target for the size and configuration of the SPR that takes into account projections for future oil production, oil consumption, the efficacy of the existing SPR to respond to domestic supply disruptions, and U.S. International Energy Agency obligations. (Matter 1)

Agency: Congress
Status: Open

Comments: On July 18, 2019, S. 2175-Acting on the Annual Duplication Report Act of 2019-was introduced and referred to the Senate, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The bill would require the Secretary of Energy to conduct a review of options for a long-range target for the optimal size and configuration of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and report to Congress no later than 180 days after enactment of the legislation. The report is to describe the findings of the Department of Energy's review and recommendations for legislation needed to optimize the size and configuration of the reserve. No further action has been taken on this bill in the 116th Congress. Congress setting a long-range target for the size and configuration of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as GAO recommended in May 2018, could better position DOE to ensure the efficiency and efficacy of federal funds spent on the reserve.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of CBP should develop a monitoring system to help ensure that CBP officials comply with license verification policies and procedures. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: CBP agreed with our recommendation and said they would complete their corrective actions by April 30, 2020. To fully implement it, CBP should develop a monitoring system that observes agency verification of licenses for imported radiological materials to ensure CBP officials are complying with existing policies and procedures.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of CBP should develop a system that better identifies shipments of radiological material that pose the greatest risk and revise CBP's policies and procedures as necessary to verify licenses for these shipments. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: CBP agreed with our recommendation and said they would complete their corrective actions by April 30, 2020. To fully implement it, CBP should develop a system to better identify which shipments of radiological material pose the greatest risk and revise their policies and procedures for verification of the licenses for these shipments accordingly.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should pursue formal agreements with countries exporting seafood to the United States that commit these countries to test for drugs of concern to FDA and the corresponding maximum residue levels (MRLs) that FDA established for these drugs. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open

Comments: FDA partially agreed with our recommendation. According to FDA, the agency is working on a plan to explore the viability of reaching cooperative arrangements with foreign regulatory bodies concerning imported aqua-cultured seafood. In exploring such arrangements, FDA stated that it will seek to explore a means by which the agency can leverage foreign regulatory bodies' seafood safety programs to provide additional oversight for seafood destined for the United States. According to FDA, such arrangements would be negotiated depending on the country's specific situation. We will continue to monitor FDA's specific efforts to implement this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Administrator of FSIS should require as part of an equivalence determination that countries exporting catfish to the United States include in their residue monitoring plans the drugs of concern to FSIS and the corresponding maximum residue levels. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Agriculture: Food Safety and Inspection Service
Status: Open

Comments: As of December 2019, FSIS had not yet acted on this recommendation. According to FSIS officials, the agency made a request to the USDA Office of General Counsel for their opinion on the legality of the recommendation. FSIS is waiting for OGC's response to that request. FSIS maintains that the information submitted by foreign countries as part of the equivalence determination that outlines their chemical residue monitoring plans and the review by the FSIS equivalence staff to ensure these countries employ an equivalent level of public health protection as that of the US already addresses this recommendation. We will continue to monitor how FSIS addresses this recommendation.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of FDA should coordinate and communicate with FSIS in developing drug residue testing methods and corresponding maximum residue levels for imported seafood that may also be applicable to imported catfish. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services: Food and Drug Administration
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: FDA agreed with this recommendation. According to FDA officials, the agency shared its testing methods for two drugs with FSIS and as of as of April 2019, FSIS and FDA were using the same method for measuring and confirming these two unapproved drugs. In August 2020, FDA told GAO that the agencies convene quarterly to discuss emerging and ongoing research needs in laboratory method development and the establishment of drug residue limits in seafood. We commend FDA and FSIS for taking these steps to share information on testing methods. However, GAO found that the agencies continue to use different multi-residue testing methods that look for different numbers of drugs--99 for FSIS and 40 for FDA--which results in the agencies using different maximum residue levels for some drugs. FDA's method can detect drugs that FSIS's does not and can detect some drugs at lower levels. FSIS's multi-residue method can detect 59 more drugs than FDA's method. The agencies do not have any plans to work on a multi-residue method both agencies can use.

Recommendation: The Administrator of FSIS should coordinate and communicate with FDA in developing drug residue testing methods and corresponding maximum residue levels for imported catfish that may also be applicable to other imported seafood. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of Agriculture: Food Safety and Inspection Service
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: According to FSIS officials in May 2020, the agency coordinates with FDA and EPA to carry out the National Residue Program, which entails testing FSIS-regulated products, including catfish, for chemical compounds of public health concern. FSIS officials indicated that FSIS will continue to use its own test methods that meet the agency's pre-defined quality assurance criteria, are applicable to the particular commodity under its jurisdiction, and fit its business model. Thus, FSIS currently does not have plans to work on a multi-residue method that both it and FDA can use on imported seafood, including catfish, as we have recommended.

Recommendation: The Commissioner of CBP should identify and collect additional performance information on the impact of the ISF rule data, such as the identification of shipments containing contraband, to better evaluate the effectiveness of the ISF program.

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open

Comments: In March 2018, the CBP liaison informed GAO that offices within CBP are collaborating on a plan to assess additional performance metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the ISF program. On June 13, 2018, the CBP liaison stated that CBP staff continue to work on additional performance metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the ISF program and noted, in particular, are analyzing data to: (1) identify the number of unmanifested containers and determine how/if they were mitigated before arrival; (2) determine the number of times C-TPAT companies were identified and given targeting benefits, but did not receive the same treatment based on manifest information; and (3) identify the number of times potential terrorism matches were made against an ISF entities vs. the number of times not matched using the same manifest data. In March 2019, the CBP liaison stated that the new estimated completed date for this recommendation is the end of 2019. This recommendation will remain open until CBP's planned actions are completed and meet the intent of GAO's recommendation. In late February 2020, CBP liaison staff informed GAO that they are continuing to work on this recommendation, which they expect to complete by March 31, 2020.

Recommendation: To strengthen CBP's trade enforcement efforts, the Commissioner of CBP should direct the Office of Trade to include performance targets, when applicable, in addition to performance measures in its Priority Trade Issue strategic and annual plans.

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open

Comments: As of August 2019, the seven FY 2019 Priority Trade Issue (PTI) annual plans prepared by CBP's Office of Trade all included performance measures with performance targets, but some plans did not include baselines to measure it's trade enforcement efforts against. The Office of Trade reported that it was in the process of finalizing its FY2020 annual plans, which should be available in December 2019. In addition, the Office of Trade reported that it no longer develops a single strategic plan covering all of its PTIs and only prepares the PTI annual plans.

Recommendation: To strengthen CBP's trade enforcement efforts, the Commissioner of CBP should direct the Office of Trade and the Office of Field Operations to develop a long-term hiring plan that articulates how CBP will reach its staffing targets for trade positions set in the Homeland Security Act and the agency's resource optimization model.

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open

Comments: As of June 2019, CBP stated that both the Office of Trade (OT) and Office of Field Operations (OFO) continue to take steps to address hiring gaps which include evaluating approaches to hiring and evaluating and selecting candidates for its various trade positions. For example, OT had developed a recruitment strategy for hiring regulatory auditors. OT reported that it has brought regulatory auditors onboard as a result of its strategy but experienced attrition and challenges in attaining its staffing target for this position. OT and OFO did not provide recruitment strategies for the other trade positions. OFO's Human Capital Division, along with assistance from OT and other CBP components, reported finalizing a long-term hiring plan to meet and maintain the congressional floor for certain trade and revenue positions, including those for import specialists, by the end of fiscal year 2020.

Recommendation: To inform DOT's development of its national freight strategy and associated freight efforts, such as states' development of freight plans, newly established freight funding programs, and advancing DOT's efforts to implement national freight policies, in the development of the freight data strategy, the Secretary of Transportation should include a specific plan to identify: (1) appropriate freight data sources, information, and analytic tools for transportation modes involved in the freight network and supply chains; (2) data gaps that could help both the agency and states and local governments in the development of their freight plans, and an approach for addressing obstacles to developing high-quality, reliable supply chain information; (3) current and planned efforts that can provide insights into supply chains and their impacts on freight networks; and (4) how DOT plans to use the supply chain information and analytical tools to inform freight planning and programming.

Agency: Department of Transportation
Status: Open

Comments: DOT concurred with this recommendation. As of March 2020, DOT had not issued the National Freight Strategic Plan, but DOT officials stated that they are planning to issue it in 2020. To fully implement this recommendation, in the national strategy, DOT should include plans to identify data sources, gaps, information on supply chains and freight networks, and on how DOT will use this information.

Recommendation: To improve risk management in the collection of AD/CV duties and to identify new or changing risks, CBP should regularly conduct a comprehensive risk analysis that assesses both the likelihood and the significance of risk factors related to AD/CV duty collection. For example, CBP could construct statistical models that explore the associations between potential risk factors and both the probability of nonpayment and the size of nonpayment when it occurs.

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: As of December 2019, CBP was taking steps to conduct the type of risk analysis GAO recommended in July 2016. In November 2019 we reported that according to CBP , the agency had developed and successfully tested two models using risk factors including, but not limited to, the type of good, country of origin of the good, and whether the importer is from a foreign country. One test demonstrated that, using data from fiscal years 2007-2015, CBP could have predicted over 95 percent of the importers with delinquent antidumping and countervailing (AD/CV) duty bills in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. CBP requested $17 million in fiscal year 2020 funds to make updates to its information systems necessary to facilitate the implementation of statistical models. CBP is also working on long-term enhancements to the models that it says will leverage additional modeling techniques, such as social network and spatial analysis. Regularly conducting a comprehensive risk analysis of factors related to AD/CV duty non-collection could enhance CBP's capacity to collect additional revenue by enabling CBP to increase bonding amounts for continuous entry and single-transaction bonds for importers with a greater risk of nonpayment. In a December 2019 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee report, CBP said that it planned to begin rolling out a risk-based bonding framework in March 2020. The new framework relies on a bond formula that is in part based on risk factors identified by the statistical models .

Recommendation: To improve risk management in the collection of AD/CV duties, CBP should, consistent with U.S. law and international obligations, take steps to use its data and risk assessment strategically to mitigate AD/CV duty nonpayment, such as by using predictive risk analysis to identify entries that pose heightened risk and taking appropriate action to mitigate the risk.

Agency: Department of Homeland Security: United States Customs and Border Protection
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: As of December 2019, CBP was taking steps to develop a risk-based AD/CV bonding framework to use in conjunction with the development of an AD/CV risk assessment model. CBP is developing a supplemental AD/CV duty continuous entry bond that incorporates nonpayment risk factors identified in its statistical models and has worked with Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) to test the proposed risk based bonding formula by applying it to historical data. CBP has estimated that the collection rate under the risk-based bonding framework using the proposed formula would have been significantly higher than the collection rate under its existing bond policies during fiscal years 2007-2017, both in number and value of the bills collected; however, COAC members said the proposed bond formula would have resulted in overinsurance, which could increase cost to importers. The use of supplemental continuous entry bonds may require regulatory changes and modifications to CBP's database. CBP has also conducted an analysis of the use of single-transaction bonds using historical data, and found that this procedure would have allowed CBP to collect significantly more revenue in fiscal years 2007-2018. CBP is working with COAC members to test a risk-based application of single-transaction bonds to historical AD/CV duty entries to assess whether the bond would have reduced the amount of uncollected duties. In a December 2019 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee report, CBP said that it plans to rolls out its risk-based bonding framework in March 2020.