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Open Recommendations (156 total)

Improper Payments: Strategy and Additional Actions Needed to Help Ensure Agencies Use the Do Not Pay Working System as Intended

GAO-17-15
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget
Priority Rec.
To better monitor agency use of the DNP working system once a strategy has been developed, the Director of OMB should develop and implement monitoring mechanisms--such as goals, benchmarks, and performance measures--to evaluate agency use of the DNP working system.
Open – Partially Addressed
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) agreed with the concept of monitoring mechanisms and said it will continue to work with agencies to address this recommendation. OMB previously informed us that the Department of the Treasury conducts this monitoring and reports quarterly updates to OMB. Treasury provided us examples of reports that it provides to OMB. However, OMB still needs to provide more information on how it uses these reports, as well as documentation related to this monitoring and reporting. OMB also informed us that it will be using the information collected on paymentaccuracy.gov to meet the requirements under 31 U.S.C. ? 3354(b)(5), which requires OMB to submit an annual report to Congress on the operation of Do Not Pay (DNP). In March 2022, OMB informed us that due to policy priorities and limited resources, it was not able to completely implement this recommendation. OMB stated that DNP works closely with agencies on usage and will report to OMB as appropriate for assistance if needed. OMB needs to provide more information on monitoring and reporting of agencies' use of DNP, as well as how it plans to meet the requirements under 31 U.S.C. ? 3354(b)(5), as applicable. Without monitoring mechanisms and reliable and complete data, OMB will not be able to effectively evaluate agencies' use of the DNP working system or remediate any issues identified. As of March 2024, OMB stated that it is currently in the process of updating Circular A-123 Appendix C, which includes DNP guidance. Further, OMB stated that the update to this guidance is being written with consideration to this GAO recommendation and the need to implement improved monitoring mechanisms to evaluate agency use of DNP. We will continue to monitor OMB's actions to address this recommendation.

Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue

GAO-11-318SP
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget Until the federal government has implemented effective processes to determine the full extent to which improper payments occur and to reasonably ensure that appropriate actions are taken across entities and programs to effectively recover and reduce improper payments, the federal government will not have reasonable assurance that the use of taxpayer funds is adequately safeguarded.
Open – Partially Addressed
As of January 2024, the federal government had taken some steps to estimate improper payments for susceptible programs and to recover overpayments. However, consistent with GAO's March 2011 suggested action, further efforts are needed to help ensure that all risk-susceptible programs are included, estimates are reliable, and improper payments are reduced. Executive agencies are required by law to determine whether any of their programs and activities are susceptible to significant improper payments and annually estimate and report the amount of improper payments in any susceptible programs and activities. Federal entities have taken some steps to implement these requirements. For fiscal year 2023, federal entities reported overpayment recoveries of over $25 billion in paymentaccuracy.gov. Based on federal entity reported data, improper payment estimates totaled about $236 billion for fiscal year 2023. Federal entities reported estimates of improper payments of more than $5 billion for 9 risk-susceptible programs and activities for fiscal year 2023. In addition, federal entities reported estimated improper payment rates of 10 percent or greater for 16 risk-susceptible programs and activities, accounting for about 46 percent of the government-wide total of reported improper payment estimates. Federal entities' top management needs to provide greater attention to issues identified in the inspector general reports and ensure compliance with payment integrity provisions and related guidance to help reduce improper payments and ensure that federal funds are used efficiently and for their intended purposes. The federal government continues efforts to reduce improper payments. For example, in March 2021, OMB issued the revised Circular A-123 Appendix C, Requirements for Payment Integrity Improvement. According to OMB, the goal of this revised version of the guidance was to transform the payment integrity compliance framework and create a more comprehensive and meaningful set of requirements to allow agencies to spend less time complying with low-value activities and more time researching the underlying causes of improper payments, balancing payment integrity risks and controls, and building the capacity to help prevent future improper payments. To determine the full extent of government-wide improper payments and to more effectively recover and reduce them, continued agency attention is needed to (1) identify programs susceptible to improper payments, (2) develop reliable improper payment estimation methodologies for those programs identified as risk-susceptible, (3) report on improper payments as required, and (4) implement effective corrective actions based on root cause analysis. Absent such continued efforts, the federal government cannot be assured that taxpayer funds are adequately safeguarded.

Identity Theft Services: Services Offer Some Benefits but Are Limited in Preventing Fraud

GAO-17-254
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget The Director of the Office of Management and Budget should, to the extent feasible, conduct an analysis of the effectiveness of the various identity theft services relative to alternatives, and revise OMB's guidance to federal agencies in light of this analysis.
Open – Partially Addressed
OMB did not agree or disagree with this recommendation, but it has taken some steps to implement it. In June 2021, OMB noted that, according to the President's May 17, 2021, statement on American Rescue Plan Oversight, stolen identities of citizens is a concern, and in December 2021 OMB said it was working to provide guidance to agencies as they consider providing identity theft services to citizens. This action is a positive step, and according to the President's statement, OMB will work with a new Initiative on Identity Theft Prevention and Public Benefits to bring a whole-of-government approach to address the issue of stolen identities used to steal government benefits. However, it is not yet clear the extent to which these actions will include an analysis of the effectiveness of the various identity theft services related to alternatives. As of March 2024, OMB said it had no further update.

Identity Theft Services: Services Offer Some Benefits but Are Limited in Preventing Fraud

GAO-17-254
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget The Director of the Office of Management and Budget should explore options to address the risk of duplication in federal agencies' provision of identity theft services in response to data breaches, and take action if viable options are identified.
Open – Partially Addressed
OMB did not agree or disagree with this recommendation, but it has taken some steps to implement it. In June 2021, OMB noted that , according to the President's May 17, 2021, statement on American Rescue Plan Oversight, stolen identities of citizens is a concern and, in December 2021 OMB said it was working to identify improvements in federal agencies' provision of identity theft services. This action is a positive step, and according to the President's statement, OMB will work with a new Initiative on Identity Theft Prevention and Public Benefits to bring a whole-of-government approach to address the issue of stolen identities used to steal government benefits. However, it is not yet clear whether OMB will explore viable options to mitigate the risk of duplicative coverage of identity theft services as part of this effort, which would help OMB achieve its stated goal of reducing duplication across the federal government to improve efficiency and save taxpayer dollars. As of March 2024, OMB said it had no further update.

Data Transparency: Oversight Needed to Address Underreporting and Inconsistencies on Federal Award Website

GAO-14-476
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget To improve the completeness and accuracy of data submissions to the USASpending.gov website, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in collaboration with Treasury's Fiscal Service, should clarify guidance on (1) agency responsibilities for reporting awards funded by non-annual appropriations; (2) the applicability of USASpending.gov reporting requirements to non-classified awards associated with intelligence operations; (3) the requirement that award titles describe the award's purpose (consistent with our prior recommendation); and (4) agency maintenance of authoritative records adequate to verify the accuracy of required data reported for use by USASpending.gov.
Open – Partially Addressed
At the time of issuance in June 2014, OMB agreed with this recommendation and began taking steps to address several of the issues discussed in this recommendation that includes working with agencies to identify those required to report under the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act). As of March 2022, OMB has not taken additional action to address this recommendation. We continue to believe that OMB needs to clarify its guidance on topics including descriptive award titles and non-classified awards related to intelligence activities. Fully implementing this recommendation should help improve the reliability of the data displayed on USAspending.gov.

Reverse Auctions: Guidance Is Needed to Maximize Competition and Achieve Cost Savings

GAO-14-108
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget
Priority Rec.
To help mitigate confusion about the use of reverse auctions in federal acquisitions, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget should take steps to amend the FAR to address agencies' use of reverse auctions.
Open – Partially Addressed
In providing comments on this report, OMB generally concurred with this recommendation. In response, in December 2020, FAR Council members published a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend the FAR to provide guidance on reverse auctions. The notice required that comments on the proposed rule be submitted by early February 2021. As of December 2023, OMB had received proposed revisions to FAR guidance for its consideration.

Government Performance and Accountability: Tax Expenditures Represent a Substantial Federal Commitment and Need to Be Reexamined

GAO-05-690
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget To ensure that policymakers and the public have the necessary information to make informed decisions and to improve the progress toward exercising greater scrutiny of tax expenditures, the Director of OMB, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, should require that tax expenditures be included in the PART process and any future such budget and performance review processes so that tax expenditures are considered along with related outlay programs in determining the adequacy of federal efforts to achieve national objectives.
Open – Partially Addressed
OMB made some progress in including tax expenditures along with related outlay programs in the executive branch's budget and performance review processes, as GAO recommended in September 2005. However, as of March 2024, OMB had not developed a systematic approach for conducting such reviews. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) requires OMB and the agencies to identify the relevant tax expenditures that contribute to each crosscutting priority goal (31 U.S.C. Sec. 1115(a)(2)). Beginning with its August 2012 update to Circular No. A-11 with guidance for implementing GPRAMA and continuing in subsequent annual updates, OMB has directed agencies to identify tax expenditures that contribute to each of their agency priority goals. Beginning with the July 2013 update, OMB expanded its guidance to include identifying these contributions to agency strategic objectives. In both July 2013 and July 2014 OMB guidance, OMB stated that it planned to work with the Department of the Treasury and agencies to facilitate alignment of tax expenditure information with agency priority goals and strategic objectives. However, in its June 2015 update of this guidance, OMB removed the language about working with Treasury and agencies to align tax expenditures with agency goals. OMB's August 2023 guidance still directs agencies to identify tax expenditures that contribute to their agency priority goals and strategic objectives. Coordinated reviews of tax expenditures with related federal spending programs that are consistent with GPRAMA requirements could help policymakers reduce overlap and inconsistencies, and direct scarce resources to the most effective or least costly methods of delivering federal support. Ensuring the inclusion of tax expenditures in the GPRAMA crosscutting goals along with other related programs would be an important step toward providing policymakers with the breadth of information needed to understand the full federal effort to accomplish national objectives.

Federal Buying Power: OMB Can Further Advance Category Management Initiative by Focusing on Requirements, Data, and Training

GAO-21-40
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2 Open Recommendations
2 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget
Priority Rec.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget should ensure that designated Senior Accountable Officials have the authority necessary to hold personnel accountable for defining requirements for common products and services as well as contracting activities. (Recommendation 4)
Open – Partially Addressed
OMB agreed with the substance of our recommendation, and provided an update on efforts to address it in May 2023. Of the 28 agencies tracked under the category management initiative, 25 agencies have designated Senior Accountable Officials with authority over requirements personnel. To address this recommendation, OMB should complete actions it plans to take in the coming year to designate Senior Accountable Officials with authority over requirements personnel at the remaining three agencies.
Office of Management and Budget
Priority Rec.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget should report cost savings from the category management initiative by agency. (Recommendation 5)
Open – Partially Addressed
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) agreed with this recommendation and in May 2023, the Government-Wide Category Management Program Management Office (PMO) provided an update on planned actions to address it. The annual key performance indicator definition for cost avoidance-reported by OMB as savings-was updated to include savings beyond those calculated when agencies use Best-In-Class (BIC) contracts. Officials were also assessing which BIC contracts could provide agency-specific savings reporting and agencies' capabilities to report non-BIC cost savings to the PMO. In addition, the PMO was developing a process for standardizing how agencies would submit savings data and plans for how to report that information visually. Going forward, PMO officials said they will work to improve cost avoidance data and to report on cost avoidance. These actions may meet the intent of GAO's recommendation if future savings reporting includes agency-specific breakdowns for BIC savings, as well as savings achieved by activities other than using BIC contracts. Reporting on cost savings by agency should increase agencies' support for the initiative by more clearly demonstrating the benefits of category management to key agency leadership. Further, reporting on savings beyond BIC savings will more comprehensively account for the billions of additional dollars in savings that agencies are identifying through the use of non-BIC contracts and other category management activities, which OMB does not currently report on.

Federal Buying Power: OMB Can Further Advance Category Management Initiative by Focusing on Requirements, Data, and Training

GAO-21-40
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Office of Management and Budget
Priority Rec.
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget should work with the Category Management Leadership Council and the Performance Improvement Council to establish additional performance metrics for the category management initiative that are related to agency requirements. (Recommendation 6)
Open – Partially Addressed
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) agreed with this recommendation, and in March 2023, the Government-Wide Category Management Program Management Office (PMO) explained steps it plans to take to further analyze requirements related data it recently collected from federal agencies. The PMO previously updated the annual agency plan it uses to collect key category management information from agencies to include requirements related information that could be used to identify new requirements-related metrics. GAO believes these actions may address the recommendation if OMB establishes new metrics related to its ongoing requirements assessments. Until OMB establishes requirements-related metrics, agency officials responsible for category management implementation will continue to focus on contracting activities at the expense of activities addressing requirements, and miss opportunities to achieve greater savings and efficiencies.
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