Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan, D-N.H., speaks at a hearing in February.

Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan, D-N.H., speaks at a hearing in February. Leigh Vogel/Pool via AP

Watchdog Suggests 112 New Actions to Enhance Government Savings and Efficiency 

Taxpayer services, prison staffing and infectious disease modeling are some of the areas the Government Accountability Office listed as ripe for reforms. 

The federal government could save billions of dollars by transforming such disparate functions as taxpayer services, prison staffing and infectious disease modeling, according to a watchdog report.

The Government Accountability Office in its eleventh annual report on “New Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Billions in Financial Benefits” recommended 112 new actions in 29 new areas. 

“The federal government has made an unprecedented financial response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” GAO said. “Once the pandemic recedes and the economy substantially recovers, Congress and the administration will need to develop and swiftly implement an approach to place the government on a sustainable long-term fiscal path. In the short term, opportunities exist for achieving billions of dollars in financial savings and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a wide range of federal programs in other areas.” 

Some examples listed in the report include:

  • The Office of Management and Budget could save billions over the next five years and possibly eliminate duplicative contracts by improving how agencies buy common goods and services through addressing data management issues and establishing performance metrics;
  • The National Nuclear Security Administration could save hundreds of millions over the next five years approximately by implementing a cost savings program to increase operational efficacy at nuclear labs and production sites;
  • The Health and Human Services Department could better plan for future disease outbreaks by coordinating its infectious disease modeling work to prevent duplication;
  • The Internal Revenue Service could save millions annually by increasing business’ ability to file tax returns electronically, better serving taxpayers with limited English proficiency and more effectively managing staff overtime; 
  • The Bureau of Prisons could save millions by addressing its staffing shortages, thereby reducing its increasing reliance on overtime;
  • The Food and Drug Administration could improve its lab safety oversight by clarifying staff roles and responsibilities; 
  • The Defense Department and Small Business Administration should formalize their collaboration on providing services to clients related to federal contracting to reduce overlap. 

In previous reports, from 2011 to 2020, GAO identified over 1,100 actions and over 350 areas to help the federal government yield cost savings and increase efficiency. 

“We reported in May 2020 that actions from Congress and executive branch agencies to address many of these actions had resulted in about $429 billion in financial benefits, including $393 billion that accrued through 2019 and $36 billion that was projected to accrue in future years,” wrote Comptroller General Gene Dodaro. “While we will update total financial benefits in fall 2021, at least tens of billions of dollars in additional financial benefits have been achieved since May 2020.” 

Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs panel on Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight on Wednesday afternoon, Dodaro said there are trends among the types of recommendations over the years because of the turnover of political leadership, need for congressional coordination on oversight and “inherent fragmentation” in some areas of the federal government, such as food safety. He noted there are 15 federal agencies administering 30 laws on food safety and this issue has been on GAO’s “high-risk list” since 2007. 

Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan, D-N.H., chairwoman of the subcommittee, noted that only one of the action-items in this year’s report requires congressional action, which involves the Defense Department’s payments to privatized housing projects.

The senator said she and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., ranking member of the panel, co-sponsored two bills in the last Congress that would address reducing elimination, duplication and overlapping of government programs.

One is the Acting on the Annual Duplication Report Act, which would require agencies to implement various recommendations that GAO has made over the years in order to yield savings. The other is the Duplication Scoring Act, which would require GAO to analyze bills reported out by congressional committees in order to prevent enacting programs and initiatives that overlap with or duplicate others.

Hassan and Paul stressed the importance of these measures, but Paul said not all of their colleagues share the same “zeal.” 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.