Reports & Testimonies

For the last 5 years, our work yielded an average of $145 in financial benefits for every $1 invested in us, as well as an annual average of more than 1,300 other benefits. In this testimony before the House Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro discusses GAO's FY 2024 budget request. Meeting Congress's growing demand for GAO's services...

Protecting critical infrastructure that helps provide necessities like water, electricity, and food is a national priority. Events like natural disasters or cyberattacks can disrupt services Americans need for daily life. We testified that many federal agencies work to protect the nation's critical infrastructure and look to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for leadership on how to do it. A 2021 law expanded these agencies'...

Regenerative medicine and advanced therapies—such as stem cell transplants—seek to repair, replace, or restore function to damaged cells, tissues, or organs. These therapies aim to address the causes of and cure previously untreatable conditions. The development of such therapies depends on an educated, well-trained workforce—often requiring advanced degrees and specialized lab training. Stakeholders identified workforce shortages for lab and manufacturing technicians, data scientists, and others...

This testimony examines some Department of Homeland Security challenges with Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection operations. In prior work, we reviewed how DHS assessed the costs and benefits of consolidating Coast Guard and CBP maritime stations. DHS developed a way to compare these costs in September 2021. We also review Coast Guard and CBP's workforce challenges. We recommended that Coast Guard analyze its...

VA's health care system offers services to more than 9.5 million people. But VA's facilities are aging, and upgrading them to meet veterans' needs will be a massive undertaking that could cost up to $76 billion. VA developed more than 1,400 recommendations for modernizing and realigning its health care infrastructure, such as closing some medical facilities and establishing new ones. However, we found gaps in...

Nursing home residents are among the most vulnerable populations for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Proper infection control practices—like handwashing—remain critical to the safety of over 1 million U.S. nursing home residents. We convened a panel of infectious disease specialists, nursing home staff, advocates, and other experts to examine infection control practices in nursing homes. These experts identified 14 actions for the Department of Health...

About 45% of people released from federal prison are re-arrested or return within 3 years. The First Step Act of 2018 requires the Bureau of Prisons to regularly assess incarcerated people's needs and their risk of reoffending. But the Bureau doesn't have reliable data on the timeliness of completing such assessments and lacks clear, measurable goals and milestones to evaluate whether its programs are working...

To see the version of this page in English, see GAO-23-105211. L'Agence des États-Unis pour le développement international (USAID) a fourni 2 milliards de dollars pour soutenir la reconstruction et le développement en Haïti pendant les exercices budgétaires 2010-2020. Elle a achevé la moitié des projets d'infrastructures que nous avons examinés—comme la construction d'une centrale électrique—mais la plupart des projets ont été retardés, ont coûté...

Treasury's Fiscal Service issues debt to borrow money for federal operations, and reports the debt on financial statements called the Schedules of Federal Debt. We audit and issue opinions annually on the Schedules and on related internal controls (e.g., processes to reasonably assure that transactions are properly authorized and recorded). In FY 2022, Fiscal Service addressed 8 of our previous recommendations to correct weaknesses in...

Pour la version française de cette page, voir GAO-23-106250. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided $2 billion to support reconstruction and development in Haiti during FYs 2010-2020. It completed half of the infrastructure projects we reviewed—such as constructing a power plant—but most projects were delayed, cost more than planned, or had to be scaled back. USAID developed unrealistic estimates of costs and timeframes...

Veterans Affairs is in the process of replacing its IT system used to maintain veterans' health records—and has deployed its new system to a few locations. We testified that the new system has presented issues for some users. For example, many users said that they weren't adequately trained to use the new system. Users also said that the new system had decreased morale and job...

The federal government provides billions of dollars to help people before, during, and after disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. This Snapshot covers our work on disaster-related federal efforts. We've found ways to improve federal efforts, including: Making it easier to get FEMA grants for disaster resilience projects Communicating better about FEMA assistance eligibility requirements Ensuring that HUD's housing-related disaster assistance reaches affected communities quickly We...

For the last 5 years, our work yielded an average of $145 in financial benefits for every $1 invested in us, as well as an annual average of more than 1,300 other benefits. In this testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro discusses GAO's FY 2024 budget request. Meeting Congress's growing demand for GAO's services...

The Orange Book is a list of FDA-approved drugs. It helps generic drug companies identify when patents for brand name drugs will expire so they can market generic equivalents. For makers of brand name drugs, listing patents gives them time to resolve patent disputes before a generic can be offered for sale. Views varied, but some stakeholders had concerns that certain patent listing practices can...

Women remain underrepresented in management roles in the U.S. workforce. Female managers continue to earn less than male managers, but the pay gap varies by industry and demographics. Our analysis of Census data showed that in 2021: 42% of managers were women, but overall women make up 47% of the workforce Female managers were more likely to be younger and more educated, and less likely...

Smoke from increasingly frequent catastrophic wildfires has created unhealthy air quality for tens of millions of Americans. The EPA has partnered with other federal agencies to help communities deal with the smoke. One effort with the Forest Service produced an online map showing air quality, fire locations, and smoke direction. But, EPA's actions have been ad hoc and spread across program and regional offices. Better...

The Food and Drug Administration has promoted advanced manufacturing—i.e., innovative technologies—as a way to address drug shortages. For example, it approved 2 drugs made using advanced manufacturing to treat a COVID-19 complication. But we found that few drugs are manufactured using this technology, and the FDA doesn't know if all of its efforts to increase the technology's use are working. The agency hasn't formalized performance...

The National Biodefense Strategy outlines how the federal government should prepare for and respond to biological incidents. The pandemic exposed shortcomings in federal response efforts. This snapshot highlights federal biodefense challenges and opportunities for improvement that we've identified. For instance, agencies have developed response plans and conducted interagency exercises to prepare for biological threats. However, they don't routinely work together to monitor exercise results in...

As it modernizes the U.S. nuclear stockpile, the National Nuclear Security Administration is working to ensure its continued safety and reliability. NNSA assesses the weapons prior to releasing them to the military services to ensure that they meet DOD's requirements for safety and performance. NNSA documents any exceptions and limitations that may be found as the weapons age and their parts need to be replaced...