In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress appropriated $4.8 trillion in emergency assistance for people, businesses, the health care system, and state and local governments.
On October 27, we issued our eighth comprehensive, non-partisan, fact based report on the ongoing federal pandemic response and our recommendations for continued improvement. The latest report highlights areas such as health care, the recovery of pandemic funds, and risk management. Read more about our latest report in our press release and below.
We are issuing 16 new recommendations in this latest report. We have previously made 209 recommendations, 33 of which have been fully implemented, and raised four matters for congressional consideration. Download a spreadsheet of recommendations from GAO's COVID-Related Work as of Sept 30, 2021: Excel Workbook (XLSX, 235KB) or Comma-Separated Values (CSV, 84KB).
Among our findings:
A total of $178 billion has been appropriated to the Provider Relief Fund to reimburse eligible providers for health care–related expenses or lost revenues related to COVID-19. GAO is urging the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Services and Resources Administration to establish time frames for completing post-payment audits for this fund to promptly identify and recover payments made in incorrect amounts, payments made to ineligible providers, or payments that were improperly used.
GAO is recommending that the Treasury develop timely and sufficient policies and procedures to ensure that those receiving funds from the $350 billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund are managing their allocations according to regulations.
GAO continues to have concerns about potential fraud in the unemployment insurance program. GAO is recommending that the Department of Labor designate a dedicated entity to oversee fraud risk management activities and document its responsibilities for assessing fraud risks to this program.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) faced challenges in enforcing workplace safety and health standards during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inspectors from area offices have indicated that they had issues related to resources, effective communication, and a lack of timely guidance from OSHA headquarters. GAO is recommending that OSHA assess and address these challenges.
The CARES Act required GAO to issue bi-monthly reports on the impact of COVID-19 for a year, with periodic reports after that. We are now issuing periodic reports quarterly.
Additional COVID-19 Reports
COVID-19 is having far-reaching effects on federal programs and operations. For example, we have recent pandemic-related reports on topics such as the postal service, student aid, nursing homes, and global health.
You can see our published reports and congressional testimonies that are relevant to the pandemic here:
When it passed the CARES Act in March of 2020, Congress allocated $10 billion to the Operation Warp Speed (OWS) program to accelerate vaccine production and distribution. OWS—a partnership between the Departments of Health and Human Services and Defense—aimed to help accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. GAO analyzed the readiness of each company’s vaccine technology.
In February, we released an online dashboard that provides an interactive view of vaccine development data. We released a report that looks at how the vaccine companies accelerated and combined some steps in the development process to meet unprecedented timeframes. It also looks at manufacturing challenges and what is being done to address them. For example, agencies have worked to expedite procurement and delivery of critical manufacturing equipment to address manufacturing challenges.
Our published reports and congressional testimonies that are relevant to the Coronavirus pandemic are available below. The list will be updated with new reports as they are published.
The CARES Act requires GAO to issue bi-monthly reports on the impact of COVID-19 for a year, with periodic reports after that. We have made a total of 88 recommendations and 4 matters for congressional consideration to improve the COVID-19 response in these reports. You can view each report and its recommendations here:
Federal agencies will be responsible for ensuring that all the funds from the record $2 trillion stimulus package end up where they’re supposed to. GAO has been tasked with tracking that money. If you suspect waste, fraud, or abuse of stimulus funds, you can help us out by using FraudNet to report your concerns. Read April 10 press release.
FraudNet is a GAO program for the public, government workers, and contractors to report allegations of improper activities in the federal government—including fraud, waste, or abuse of funds provided under the CARES Act.
View a summary (PDF, 2 pages) of the COVID-19 work we’ve done as of September 2021.
Download a spreadsheet of recommendations from GAO's COVID-Related Work as of Sept 30, 2021: Excel Workbook (XLSX, 235KB) or Comma-Separated Values (CSV, 84KB).
External Federal Resources Related to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Coronavirus.gov: Public information provided by the U.S. government related to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
