GAO has said that agencies would save money, better serve the public and be more secure in their operations if they were more responsive to recommendations of its audit reports.
In a blog post, GAO expanded on information presented at a recent Capitol Hill hearing at which it said there are now some 4,800 outstanding recommendations affecting the 24 largest departments and agencies.
“We continuously engage with executive branch agencies to ensure they implement our recommendations, following up with agencies and posting the status of their recommendations online,” it said. “This year, we also sent letters to the heads of key executive branch agencies identifying unimplemented recommendations that warrant priority attention. In addition, we work with Congress to make further progress on our recommendations, including incorporating GAO work into legislation.”
Still, it said, agencies are missing opportunities to save billions of dollars in programs ranging from Medicare benefits to Navy ship construction. Services to the public including food safety also are the subject of unresolved recommendations, and the same is true of more than 800 of 2,000 recommendations over the last five years to improve federal cybersecurity.
