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Open Recommendations

Military Financial Education: DOD Should Improve Oversight to Ensure Trainings Effectively Support Service Members
GAO-25-107666
Apr 08, 2025
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3 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should take additional steps to ensure the military services modify administrative systems to increase the accuracy of tracking service member completion of the financial readiness common military training. (Recommendation 1)
Open
DOD agreed with this recommendation. The Department noted that it has multiple competing needs for system modification and updated resources, including financial literacy training. The Department plans to work with the Services to establish timelines for modifying administrative systems to increase the accuracy of tracking service member completion of the financial readiness common military training and hold the Services accountable to those timelines through existing annual updates to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure the military services identify and address causes of financial readiness common military training non-completion. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOD agreed with this recommendation. The Department stated it plans to work with the Services to identify and address causes of financial readiness common military training non-completion. We will monitor the progress of these efforts.
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should establish a timeline for determining which standardized performance measures, if any, are needed to measure the effectiveness of DOD's financial education efforts. If any performance measures are selected, DOD should also establish a timeline to implement those measures. (Recommendation 3)
Open
DOD agreed with this recommendation. In April 2025, the Department stated that, within the next six months, they plan to evaluate performance measures to determine which, if any, are needed. If any performance measures are found to be necessary, they will also establish a timeline to implement those measures. We await the completion of these efforts.

Retirement Investments: Agencies Can Better Oversee Conflicts of Interest Between Fiduciaries and Investors
GAO-24-104632
Aug 28, 2024
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Internal Revenue Service The Commissioner of the IRS should develop and implement a process independent of DOL referrals for identifying non-exempt prohibited transactions involving firms or financial professionals who are fiduciaries to IRAs and assessing applicable excise taxes. For example, IRS could check Form 5330 filing compliance during income tax audits of financial services firms. (Recommendation 1)
Open
IRS agreed with this recommendation and stated that it would examine the processes and consider implementing additional measures to identify prohibited transactions as appropriate. We await progress on these efforts.
Internal Revenue Service The Commissioner of the IRS should coordinate with DOL through a formal means, such as a memorandum of understanding, on non-exempt prohibited transactions involving firms and financial professionals who are IRA fiduciaries and owe excise tax. (Recommendation 2)
Open
IRS agreed with this recommendation. IRS stated it will explore opportunities to develop more formal means for coordination between IRS and DOL for prohibited transactions related to investment advice provided to IRA owners from financial services firms. We await progress on these efforts.

Thrift Savings Plan: Investment Board Needs to Greatly Improve Acquisition Management and Contractor Oversight
GAO-24-106319
Aug 01, 2024
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7 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board The FRTIB Executive Director should develop a process to ensure that any future requirements developed for the new TSP recordkeeping system are consistent with the board's objectives, including applicable federal requirements, defined for the system. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In January 2025, FRTIB informed us that all contract modifications for the new TSP recordkeeping system will include a compliance check performed by the Office of General Counsel before those modifications are deployed. The agency did not provide an estimated date for implementing this change. We will continue to follow up on FRTIB's progress in completing this action.
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board The FRTIB Executive Director should develop a process that requires FRTIB to review testing documentation to ensure planned testing is complete, the evidence for testing outcomes is clear, and that the solution meets the desired outcome for participants for any new system enhancements or upgrades. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In January 2025, FRTIB informed us that it will perform better monitoring of testing documentation to confirm that all testing is completed before they approve contract milestones. Additionally, the agency stated that it will build user acceptance testing milestones that demonstrates the final solution into the acquisition phase. FRTIB did not provide an estimated date for implementing these changes. We will continue to follow up on FRTIB's progress in completing these actions.
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board The FRTIB Executive Director should develop a process that requires FRTIB to review milestone-related documentation to ensure that it fully addresses the milestone requirement. (Recommendation 3)
Open
In January 2025, FRTIB informed us that it was developing standard operating procedures to describe documentation that will be required for each milestone to be approved. The agency stated that the procedures will be for all new initiatives and projects, but did not provide an estimated date for implementing this change. We will continue to follow up on FRTIB's progress in completing this action.
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board The Executive Director of FRTIB should expedite negotiations with its contractor to modify, where feasible, the TSP services contract to ensure that all pertinent data necessary for performance oversight is provided by the contractor. (Recommendation 4)
Open
In January 2025, FRTIB informed us that it is now receiving all pertinent data to conduct performance oversight of the Accenture Federal Services contract for TSP services. According to the agency, additional data sets beyond what the initial contract required have been codified in the contract as of July 2024. The agency also stated that additional data that it needed to conduct oversight of compliance with regulations, statutory authority, and the contract were codified in the contract in November 2024. We have requested documentation of these contract changes from FRTIB and will review the documentation once received to determine if the recommendation has been implemented.
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board The FRTIB Executive Director should negotiate with its contractor to modify, where feasible, the TSP services contract to include a requirement that FRTIB is notified of any new staff assigned to the contract, including the name and title of the staff, to help ensure appropriate background investigations are conducted. (Recommendation 5)
Open
In January 2025, FRTIB informed us that it was working to finalize a contract modification and revise a standard operating procedure to ensure proper vetting of staff assigned to the TSP services contract. The agency did not provide an estimated date for completing these actions. We will continue to follow up on FRTIB's progress in completing these actions.
Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board The Executive Director of FRTIB should establish a documented procedure to ensure any future third parties providing services for the TSP are able to provide transactional data needed for oversight prior to performing these services. (Recommendation 6)
Open
In January 2025, FRTIB informed us that it was updating its Contracting Standard Operating Procedures to include contractor requirements for future oversight activities, to include access to third-party data. According to the agency, the necessary oversight data will be incorporated into a future quality assurance surveillance plan modification to ensure ongoing oversight of the current TSP services vendor. FRTIB did not provide an estimated date for completing these actions. We will continue to follow up on FRTIB's progress in completing these actions.

401(k) Retirement Plans: Department of Labor Should Update Guidance on Target Date Funds
GAO-24-105364
Apr 29, 2024
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration updates the 2013 guidance for plan sponsors, "Target Date Retirement Funds—Tips for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries," to provide information that reflects recent TDF developments. This should include the use of collective investment trusts and differences between "to" and "through" TDF glide paths. (Recommendation 1)
Open
As of October 2024, DOL officials continue to disagree with this recommendation, stating that they believe the guidance document is balanced and provides basic information that plan fiduciaries can use to improve retirement outcomes, regardless of whether the TDF is structured as a mutual fund or collective investment trust. Our recommendation is also aimed at improving retirement outcomes and we believe that providing updated information on fundamental features of TDFs, which are the most widely used investment option in 401(k) plans, would help DOL meet this goal. For example, DOL could add targeted references to collective investment trust disclosures and include links to OCC resources to complement the specific references to mutual funds and mutual fund disclosures and help ensure that plan fiduciaries understand the applicable disclosures to inform their TDF selection and monitoring process. DOL officials also stated that this guidance notes the issue of investment risk when discussing the significance of differences between "to" and "through" TDF glide paths based on substantial evidence that many plan sponsors and participants had not understood the extent to which TDFs were exposed to this risk, including during market turbulence in 2008. While we understand DOL's focus on investment risk at the time it published this guidance document, we believe that a targeted update to add inflation risk to the discussion of the differences of "to" and "through" TDF glide paths would help plan sponsors improve retirement outcomes for their participants.
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, in consultation with the SEC and OCC as appropriate, updates the 2010 guidance for plan participants, "Investor Bulletin: Target Date Retirement Funds," to provide information that reflects recent TDF developments. This should include the use of collective investment trusts. (Recommendation 2)
Open
As of October 2024, DOL officials continued to disagree with this recommendation, stating that they believe the guidance document is balanced and provides basic information that plan participants can use to improve their retirement outcomes, regardless of whether the TDF is structured as a mutual fund or collective investment trust. Our recommendation is also aimed at improving retirement outcomes, and we believe that providing updated information on fundamental features of TDFs, which are the most widely used investment option in 401(k) plans, would help DOL meet this goal. For example, DOL could add targeted references to collective investment trust disclosures and include links to OCC resources to complement the specific references to mutual funds and mutual fund disclosures and help ensure that participants are able to identify and understand disclosures for collective investment trust TDFs in which their retirement savings are invested, particularly since even seemingly small fees can significantly reduce 401(k) plan retirement savings.
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