Reports & Testimonies

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...

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...

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...

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...

The military services and contractors use warehouses to store and distribute parts to repair weapon systems, among other things. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has 400 warehouses, but contractors also use commercial warehouses. In 2017, Congress authorized a pilot program seeking to more fully use DLA warehouses and avoid paying for commercial space. We reviewed the agency's report on this program. We found that DOD...

One option for buying health insurance plans in the U.S. is through marketplaces. The Affordable Care Act provided a tax credit in some cases to help individuals buy these plans. The U.S. government may pay this credit to insurance issuers in advance, which lowers the individual's monthly bill. We reviewed methods 5 states and the U.S. government used to keep ineligible people from using the...

When parents can't care for their children, relatives often step in as caregivers. To help these caregivers, states can access federal matching funds if they operate programs Health and Human Services determines to be evidence based. This requires states to evaluate programs to show positive impacts for families. But as of December 2022, no states have accessed these funds. Officials from all 5 states we...

Financial technology—or "fintech"—provides consumers, who may not have access to accounts or credit via traditional banks, online access to financial services. For example, "earned wage access" products aim to help consumers get a portion of their paycheck before payday—money they've already earned, but not yet received. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has clarified that some earned wage access products aren't considered "credit"—so providers of these...

Cryptography uses math to secure or "encrypt" data—helping governments, businesses, and others protect sensitive information. While current encryption methods are nearly impossible for normal computers to break, quantum computers could quickly and easily break certain encryptions and put data at risk. This spotlight looks at how to better secure data before quantum computers capable of breaking those encryption methods are ready in possibly 10-20 years...

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses data from crash test dummies to help improve vehicle safety. But the dummies may not represent diverse groups of people—like women, older people, or heavier individuals—making it hard to test whether vehicle safety features are effective for everyone. For example, the dummies may not adequately reflect females' greater risk of lower leg injuries in crashes than males. NHTSA...

The Department of Defense can't accurately account for or report on its physical assets or spending. For more than 30 years DOD has tried to modernize its business and financial systems—spending billions of dollars a year on them. That's why DOD's business systems modernization and financial management efforts have been on our High Risk List since 1995. DOD hasn't fully developed guidance for overseeing these...

By the time work ends in 2024 on the 2020 Census, it will have cost $13.7 billion—which is below the Census Bureau's original estimate of $15.6 billion. This was partly due to increased productivity during data collection—such as by using laptops instead of paper and pen to collect census data. The Bureau has collected dozens of cost and schedule lessons from its 2020 Census experience...

Federal agencies issue more regulations shortly before a president leaves office. This is often called "midnight rulemaking." We compared agency rulemaking in the last 120 days of the Trump administration to rulemaking in nontransition periods. In the Trump transition period, agencies published about 3 times more rules. During the 3 prior administrations' transition periods, agencies published about 2.5 times more rules. The Congressional Review Act...