DoD submitted 55 percent of its agency comments, 88 percent of its sensitivity reviews, and 67 percent of its security reviews after the 30-day deadline, GAO said. Image: Frontpage/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffDespite a law designed to prod DoD into responding more quickly to GAO findings by requiring GAO to monitor the timeliness of those responses over two years, the department’s performance in that area “decreased significantly” in that period, GAO has said.
“Delays in DoD submitting agency comments and sensitivity/security reviews result in our issuing products later than congressionally directed or requested,” GAO said in the what is to be the last of the monitoring reports, covering the second half of 2024.
In the period, DoD submitted 55 percent of its agency comments, 88 percent of its sensitivity reviews, and 67 percent of its security reviews after the 30-day deadline, GAO said. Looked at another way, over the two years the average number of days DoD took to provide agency comments on draft GAO reports increased by 23 percent, and the average for sensitivity and security reviews, increased by 58 and 138 percent, respectively.
In its response—GAO did not specify whether it fell within the 30 days—DoD said that meeting that target remains difficult due to the time it takes to conduct sensitivity or security reviews, the need to coordinate responses among multiple components and the time required for senior leadership reviews, among other reasons.
The report however did credit the DoD with improving timeliness in scheduling and holding entrance conferences at the beginning of a GAO review.
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