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Open Recommendations

Veterans Affairs: Improvements Needed in Estimating Funding for Potential Future Health Emergencies

GAO-24-106359
Feb 08, 2024
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Veterans Affairs The VA Undersecretary for Health should update VHA's standard operating procedure to require documenting and sharing with internal VHA stakeholders the rationale for key decisions made when developing the EHCPM. This should include documentation of key decisions made that led from the development of the initial EHCPM scenario through the scenario ultimately used to develop the President's budget request for VA. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Veterans Affairs The VA Undersecretary for Health should enhance VA's analytical modeling capacity to better enable VHA to prepare estimates of the supplemental funding needed to address catastrophic events, such as pandemics, natural disasters, and terrorist acts. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Federal Spending Transparency: Opportunities to Improve USAspending.gov Data

GAO-24-106214
Nov 07, 2023
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Congress Congress should consider amending the DATA Act to assign Treasury, in coordination with OMB, the responsibilities to periodically assess and determine which agencies must report data to USAspending.gov and to oversee the completeness of reporting by all required agencies. (Matter for Congressional Consideration 1)
Open
As of March 2024, Congress has taken no action on this Matter.
Congress Congress should consider amending the DATA Act to include OTAs in the list of federal awards that agencies must report to USAspending.gov. (Matter for Congressional Consideration 2)
Open
As of March 2024, Congress has taken no action on this Matter.
Office of Management and Budget The Director of OMB, in collaboration with the Secretary of the Treasury, should provide guidance for agencies to ensure that the disaster and emergency budgetary data agencies report to USAspending.gov are consistent and comparable across other public sources, such as agency budget and annual financial reports. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In response to our draft report, OMB stated that it agreed with this recommendation. We will follow-up with OMB on the status of efforts to address this recommendation.

DOD Service Contracts: Actions Needed to Identify Efficiencies and Forecast Budget Needs

GAO-23-106123
Sep 07, 2023
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should revise its service acquisition policy to ensure major commands collectively prioritize service requirements valued between $10 million and under $100 million. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. We will provide an update on the agency's progress once one is available.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should revise its service acquisition policy to require an official who is responsible for the oversight of services, such as the Air Force's Senior Services Manager, to aggregate and review data on service requirements valued between $10 million and under $100 million to identify efficiencies. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. We will provide an update on the agency's progress once one is available.
Department of the Army The Secretary of the Army should revise its service acquisition policy to require an official who is responsible for the oversight of services, such as the Army's Senior Services Manager, to aggregate and review data on service requirements valued at $10 million or more to identify efficiencies. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOD partially concurred with this recommendation. We will provide an update on the agency's progress once one is available.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense, Comptroller, in coordination with other relevant offices involved in the recently established services working group, specifies the data sources and methodology for forecasting budget needs for service contracts across the Future-Years Defense Program to inform its fiscal year 2026 and future budget submission. (Recommendation 5)
Open
DOD partially concurred with this recommendation. We will provide an update on the agency's progress once one is available.

Tactical Aircraft Investments: DOD Needs Additional Portfolio Analysis to Inform Future Budget Decisions

GAO-23-106375
Dec 20, 2022
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should conduct an integrated acquisition portfolio review of all piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft platforms. This review should analyze key elements including, but not limited to, portfolio goals; potential overlap; potential tradeoffs; capability gaps; risk; and cost, schedule, and performance information on each platform within the portfolio. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOD concurred with our recommendation. In response to this report, DOD stated that it intends to conduct an integrated acquisition portfolio review of piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft programs, to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2024. In July 2023, a Senate Report Accompanying the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Secretary of Defense to provide quarterly briefings to the congressional defense committees on the status of this review, beginning no later than January 31, 2024, until the review is completed and briefed to the committees. We will continue to monitor DOD's actions related to its integrated acquisition portfolio review for piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should establish a requirement that ensures the congressional defense committees receive information underpinning DOD's integrated acquisition portfolio review of all piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft platforms. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOD partially concurred with our recommendation. In response to this report, DOD stated that the Department intends to conduct an integrated acquisition portfolio review of piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft programs, but does not intend to establish a requirement to provide information from integrated acquisition portfolio reviews to Congress. DOD noted that the information derived from integrated acquisition portfolio reviews is used for internal, deliberative purposes, and that there are other existing methods by which the Department can provide congressional defense committees with information related to budget decisions for its piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft platforms. In July 2023, a Senate Report Accompanying the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Secretary of Defense to provide quarterly briefings to the congressional defense committees on the status of this review, beginning no later than January 31, 2024, until the review is completed and briefed to the committees. We will continue to monitor DOD's actions related to its integrated acquisition portfolio review for piloted fixed-wing tactical aircraft.