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Open Recommendations (78 total)

Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements

GAO-24-105980
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the department updates its AI use case inventory to include all the required information, at minimum, and takes steps to ensure that the data in the inventory aligns with provided instructions. (Recommendation 22)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Computer Matching Act: OMB and Selected Agencies Need to Ensure Consistent Implementation

GAO-14-44
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To improve the implementation of the act, the Secretary of Labor should ensure the DIB performs annual reviews and submits annual reports on agency computer matching activities, as required by the act.
Open
Although department officials have stated that they are taking actions to address this recommendation, as of March 2024, we have not yet received information to validate agency actions. Subsequent to the agency sending documentation, we plan to verify whether implementation has occurred.

Unemployment Insurance: Transformation Needed to Address Program Design, Infrastructure, and Integrity Risks

GAO-22-105162
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should develop and execute a transformation plan that meets GAO's high risk criteria for transformation; the plan should outline coordinated and sustained actions to address issues related to providing effective service and mitigating financial risk, including ways to demonstrate improvements. Planned actions may include addressing audit recommendations, and determining whether legislative changes are needed, as appropriate. Planned actions may also include achieving quantifiable results in reducing improper payment rates, including those related to fraud; improving efficiency in claims processing and restoring pre-pandemic payment timeliness levels; better reaching current worker populations; and enhancing equity in benefit distribution. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
On April 5, 2024, DOL released a comprehensive transformation plan for the UI program with strategies to address our recommendation. DOL has started implementing some of the strategies in its plan which addresses combating fraud; enhancing equity in program access and benefit distribution; and improving efficiency in clams processing, among others. DOL is currently working with states and the Congress to further pursue efforts to transform the UI system. These actions, if implemented effectively would help to fully address our recommendation.

401(K) Plans: Improvements Can Be Made to Better Protect Participants in Managed Accounts

GAO-14-310
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To help sponsors and participants more effectively assess the performance of managed accounts, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for EBSA to amend service provider disclosure regulations to require that providers furnish standardized performance and benchmarking information to sponsors. To accomplish this, EBSA could promulgate regulations that would require service providers to disclose to sponsors standardized performance and benchmarking information on managed accounts. For example, providers could, prior to selection and periodically thereafter, as applicable, furnish sponsors with aggregated returns for generalized conservative, moderate, and aggressive portfolios, actual managed account portfolio returns for each of the sponsor's participants, and returns for broad-based securities market indexes and applicable customized benchmarks, based on those benchmarks provided for the plan's designated investment alternatives.
Open
DOL agreed to consider this recommendation in connection with (1) its regulatory project on standards for brokerage windows in participant directed individual account plans and (2) open proposed rulemaking project involving the qualified default investment alternative and participant-level fee disclosure regulations. In Spring 2017, the project on brokerage windows was removed as an active project on DOL's regulatory agenda, and the project on qualified default investment alternatives was moved to the long-term action category of DOL's regulatory agenda. In April 2018, DOL reported that it was not able to allocate staff time and resources to this recommendation and does not yet have a specific timeline for any next action. In June 2021, the agency reported no change in its efforts.

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Additional Steps Needed to Help States Collect Complete Enrollment Information

GAO-23-104830
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should work with the Secretary of Education to determine how to better assist WIOA core programs in collecting complete information on co-enrollment, for example, by providing additional information or technical assistance to help states better share information on participants across programs. (Recommendation 1)
Open
The Department of Labor (DOL) agreed with this recommendation. As of December 2022, DOL stated that it will continue to partner with Education to emphasize the importance of collecting complete and accurate co-enrollment information and provide additional support to states. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.

401(k) Plans: Additional Federal Actions Would Help Participants Track and Consolidate Their Retirement Savings

GAO-24-103577
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should take action to implement the ERISA Advisory Council's 2016 recommendation by issuing a Request for Information to explore how the agency can encourage and support the adoption of secure electronic data standards to facilitate the processing of plan-to-plan rollovers. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOL stated that it may be premature to assess whether or how it should act on this recommendation before Treasury issues its guidance on rollovers by January 1, 2025, as required under the SECURE 2.0 Act. We note in our report that Treasury's upcoming guidance can help standardize rollovers. However, if Treasury's guidance does not address the development of a system based on secure electronic data standards to facilitate efficient plan-to-plan rollovers, DOL should take action. DOL also stated that as part of its current work to implement a statutory prohibited transaction exemption for "automatic portability providers" under the SECURE 2.0 Act, it is considering proposing possible standards for such providers of IRA-to-plan rollovers to safeguard portability data and remedy potential security breaches. We commend this approach and believe that an initiative to develop secure standards to safeguard data for automatic IRA-to-plan rollovers would be enhanced if conducted alongside a Request for Information for secure electronic data standards for plan-to-plan rollovers. Without continued progress towards developing secure electronic standards to facilitate efficient plan-to-plan rollovers, participants will likely continue to find the process challenging and may avoid consolidating their savings altogether. We will monitor the agency's progress on this recommendation.

Retirement Savings: Additional Data and Analysis Could Provide Insight into Early Withdrawals

GAO-19-179
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To better identify the incidence and amount of loan offsets in 401(k) plans nationwide, we recommend that the Secretary of Labor direct the Assistant Secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, in coordination with IRS, to revise the Form 5500 to require plan sponsors to report qualified plan loan offsets as a separate line item distinct from other types of distributions. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOL neither agreed nor disagreed with this recommendation. The agency said it would consider the recommendation as part of its overall evaluation of the Form 5500 and work with IRS to address it. In 2021, DOL reported that a former project to improve Form 5500 data reporting was under development. As of September 2022, DOL has a project on its semi-annual regulatory agenda that involves broad consideration of improvements to the Form 5500 reporting requirements. Active work on that separate project will be delayed until work on the September 2021 proposed changes are completed. The Department issued two final rules from the September 2021 proposal to make changes to the 2021 and 2022 Form 5500 forms and instructions. The 2021 changes were a limited number of instructions changes to implement annual reporting changes for multiple-employer plans (including pooled employer plans) that result from statutory provisions in section 101 of the SECURE Act. The 2022 Form 5500 forms and instructions changes focus mainly on improvements in annual reporting by defined benefit pension plans. A third final rule based on the September 2021 proposal is under development for plan year 2023. DOL will consider this recommendation in the context of the more general Form 5500 improvement project. GAO awaits additional progress on this recommendation.

Unemployment Insurance: Data Indicate Substantial Levels of Fraud during the Pandemic; DOL Should Implement an Antifraud Strategy

GAO-23-105523
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should design and implement an antifraud strategy for UI based on a fraud risk profile consistent with leading practices as provided in the Fraud Risk Framework. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
In August 2023, DOL officials provided us with a copy of the UI fraud risk profile. This fraud risk profile provides a link to the UI Integrity Strategic Plan, which according to DOL, continuously evolves and includes strategies to address emerging fraud threats and integrity risks to the UI program. In April 2024, DOL provided us with a copy of its "Building Resilience: A plan for transforming unemployment insurance" document. This plan indicates that, in response to GAO's recommendation, DOL will regularly update its assessment of UI fraud risks and incorporate any fraud risk management activities into the Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) UI Integrity Strategic Plan. The UI Integrity Strategic Plan for fiscal year 2023--the most recent available as of April 2024--describes strategies through which DOL supports states to combat fraud. The strategies include strengthening UI systems, ID verification, and data analytics. The UI Integrity Strategic Plan for fiscal year 2023 outlines the responsibilities of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Employment and Training Administration, and states related to UI fraud risk management. It also references the UI fraud risk profile and outlines antifraud controls. However, the UI Integrity Strategic Plan for fiscal year 2023 does not explicitly link antifraud controls back to the highest residual risks. We maintain that, consistent with our Fraud Risk Framework, it is important for DOL to fully develop and document a comprehensive and unified antifraud strategy. Doing so could help state workforce agencies and DOL better manage UI fraud risks.

401(K) Plans: Improvements Can Be Made to Better Protect Participants in Managed Accounts

GAO-14-310
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To help sponsors who offer managed account services or who are considering doing so better protect their 401(k) plan participants, the Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for EBSA to provide guidance to plan sponsors for selecting and overseeing managed account providers that addresses: (1) the importance of considering multiple providers when choosing a managed account provider, (2) factors to consider when offering managed accounts as a Qualified Default Investment Alternative or on an opt-in basis, and (3) approaches for evaluating the services of managed account providers.
Open
DOL agreed to consider this recommendation in connection with a regulatory project on standards for brokerage windows in participant-directed individual account plans. However, in Spring 2017, DOL removed this project as an active project on its regulatory agenda. GAO continues to believe that plan sponsors would benefit from additional guidance for selecting and overseeing managed account providers. In April 2018, DOL reported that it was not able to allocate staff time and resources to this recommendation and does not yet have a specific timeline for any next action. In June 2021, the agency reported no change in its efforts.

401(K) PLANS: DOL Could Take Steps to Improve Retirement Income Options for Plan Participants

GAO-16-433
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To guide fiduciaries as they consider how the account balances of their participants will translate into financial security in retirement, DOL should modify its Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities publication or issue new guidance to encourage plan sponsors to use a record keeper that includes annuities from multiple providers on their record keeping platform.
Open
As of September 2023, DOL reviewed its publications to explore ways to encourage use of products and arrangements designed to provide participants and beneficiaries a lifetime income stream after retirement, and it is working on ways to build on them to better educate participants and plan sponsors about the need to think of making retirement savings last throughout retirement. The agency noted its regulatory work to help ensure plan participants receive their account balance expressed in annuity terms. DOL stated that it plans to update its "Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities" publication, which will provide it an opportunity to encourage plan sponsors to use a record keeper that includes annuities from multiple providers on their record keeping platform. We will consider closing this recommendation when this publication - or other guidance - is updated to reflect these changes.
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