2017 ANNUAL 

REPORT:

Additional 

Opportunities to 

Reduce 

Fragmentation, 

Overlap, and 

Duplication and 

Achieve Other 

Financial Benefits

Report to Congressional Addressees

April 2017

GAO-17-491SP

United States Government Accountability Office

Page 1 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

April 26, 2017

Congressional Addressees

The federal government faces a long-term, unsustainable fiscal path 

based on an imbalance between federal revenues and spending.1 While 

addressing this structural imbalance will require fiscal policy changes, in 

the near term opportunities exist to take action in a number of areas to 

improve this situation, including where federal programs or activities are 

fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative. To call attention to these 

opportunities, Congress included a provision in statute for GAO to identify 

and report on federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives—either 

within departments or government-wide—that have duplicative goals or 

activities.2

We have presented 645 actions in 249 areas for Congress or executive 

branch agencies to reduce, eliminate, or better manage fragmentation, 

overlap, or duplication; achieve cost savings; or enhance revenue from 

2011 to 2016.3 Congress and executive branch agencies have addressed 

329 (51 percent) of those actions resulting in about $136 billion in 

financial benefits.4 We estimate tens of billions more dollars could be 

saved by fully implementing our open actions.5 Figure 1 outlines the 

 1

GAO, The Nation’s Fiscal Health: Action is Needed to Address the Federal Government’s 

Fiscal Future, GAO-17-237SP (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2017), and Financial Audit: 

Fiscal Years 2016 and 2015 Consolidated Financial Statements of the U.S. Government, 

GAO-17-283R (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 12, 2017). GAO’s analysis of the federal fiscal 

outlook can be found at http://www.gao.gov/fiscal_outlook/federal_fiscal_outlook/overview.

2

Pub. L. No. 111-139, § 21, 124 Stat. 8, 29 (2010), codified at 31 U.S.C. § 712 note. See 

app. I for the list of congressional addressees for this work.

3

See GAO’s Duplication and Cost Savings webpage for links to the 2011 to 2016 annual 

reports: http://www.gao.gov/duplication/overview.

4

In calculating these totals, we relied on individual estimates from a variety of sources, 

which considered different time periods and utilized different data sources, assumptions, 

and methodologies. These totals represent a rough estimate of financial benefits and have 

been rounded down to the nearest $1 billion.

5

In calculating this estimate, we relied on individual estimates from a variety of sources, 

which considered different time periods, and utilized different data sources, assumptions, 

and methodologies. These individual estimates are subject to increased uncertainty, 

depending on whether, how, and when they are addressed. This amount represents a 

rough estimate of financial benefits.

Letter
Page 2 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

definitions we have used since 2011 for fragmentation, overlap, and 

duplication for this work.

Figure 1: Definitions of Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication
Page 3 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

This report is our seventh in the series and it identifies new areas where a 

broad range of federal agencies may be able to achieve greater efficiency 

or effectiveness. For each area, we suggest actions that Congress or 

executive branch agencies could take to reduce, eliminate, or better 

manage fragmentation, overlap, or duplication, or achieve other financial 

benefits. In addition to identifying new areas, we have continued to 

monitor the progress Congress and executive branch agencies have 

made in addressing actions we previously identified (see sidebar).

This report is based upon work we previously conducted in accordance 

with generally accepted government auditing standards or our quality 

assurance framework. See appendix II for more information on our scope 

and methodology.

In this report, we present 79 new actions that Congress or executive 

branch agencies could take across 29 new areas.6 Of these, we suggest 

26 actions to address 15 areas in which we found evidence of 

fragmentation, overlap, or duplication in government missions and 

functions (see table 1).

 6

Ten of the new actions were added to six existing areas.

GAO’s online Action Tracker

GAO’s online Action Tracker allows Congress, 

executive branch agencies, and the public to 

track the progress the government is making 

in addressing the issues we have identified. 

To improve search functions, we added a 

downloadable spreadsheet in November 2016 

of all actions listed in the Action Tracker. With 

the release of this report, we are concurrently 

releasing the latest updates to these 

resources.

GAO’s online Action Tracker and

downloadable spreadsheet

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

New Opportunities 

Exist to Improve 

Efficiency and 

Effectiveness across 

the Federal 

Government
Page 4 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 1: Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication Areas in This Report

Mission Fragmentation, overlap, and duplication area identified Page

Agriculture 1. Federal Actions to Protect Pollinators and Improve Agricultural Production: Through 

better coordination with other federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture could 

reduce the potential for fragmentation among efforts to monitor the population and health 

status of wild, native bees that provide valuable pollination services to agriculture and the 

environment.

37

Defense 2. Army and Air Force Virtual Training: The Army and Air Force need to improve the 

management and oversight of their virtual training programs to avoid fragmentation and more 

efficiently and effectively acquire and integrate virtual devices into operational training and 

potentially save tens of millions of dollars.

39

3. Construction for Military Contingency Operations: By improving oversight of contingency 

construction projects, the Department of Defense (DOD) could potentially reduce duplication 

and save millions of dollars.

41

4. Defense Weather Satellites: DOD could reduce the risk of gaps in weather satellite 

capabilities by establishing formal mechanisms for coordination and collaboration with the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

43

5. Department of Defense Advertising: DOD should improve coordination and information 

sharing across its fragmented advertising programs for more efficient and more effective use 

of resources.

45

General 

government

6. Federal Critical Raw Materials Activities: To better manage fragmentation of agencies’ 

critical raw materials activities, the Office of Science and Technology Policy should enhance 

interagency collaboration and take full advantage of agencies’ expertise and resources.

47

7. Federal Grant Awards: The National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Food and 

Nutrition Service, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have not established 

guidance and a formal process to ensure their grant-management staff review applications for 

potential duplication and overlap among grants in their agencies before awarding competitive 

grants and cooperative agreements.

49

8. Federal Hiring: The Office of Personnel Management and agencies should identify 

opportunities to refine federal hiring authorities, expand access to specific authorities found to 

be highly efficient and effective, and eliminate those found to be less effective.

51

9. Grants for Transit Resilience: To mitigate the negative effects of fragmentation across 

federal funding streams, the Department of Transportation should examine the $3.6 billion in 

funding the Federal Transit Administration awarded toward transit resilience projects for 

potential duplication with other resilience efforts.

53

10. Recovery Operations Center Closure: A proposal for centralized analytics and investigative 

support for the oversight community would help Congress decide whether to authorize such 

an entity to mitigate the risk of potential duplication and fragmentation and provide valuable 

tools for targeting resources to help reduce improper payments.

55

11. Use of the Do Not Pay Working System:a The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

needs to develop a strategy and additional guidance on the use of the Do Not Pay working 

system, and Congress should consider amending the Social Security Act to explicitly allow the 

Social Security Administration to share its full death file through the system to reduce improper 

payments and mitigate the risks associated with potential duplication.

57

Homeland 

security / law 

enforcement

12. Missing and Unidentified Persons Data: The Federal Bureau of Investigation and National 

Institute of Justice could reduce overlap and fragmentation of data on missing and unidentified 

persons by evaluating and implementing options to improve data sharing, thereby helping to 

solve these cases more efficiently.

59
Page 5 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission Fragmentation, overlap, and duplication area identified Page

13. Sexual Violence Data: OMB should convene an interagency forum to better manage

fragmentation of efforts to collect sexual violence data that can improve the overall 

understanding of the scope of this problem in the United States.

61

International 

affairs

14. Foreign-Assistance Data Quality: As a key step to address the potential overlap in the 

collection and reporting of foreign-assistance information, the Department of State, in 

consultation with the U.S. Agency for International Development and OMB, needs to improve 

data quality to ensure consistency in published information.

63

Science and the 

environment

15. Administrative Requirements on Federal Research: To reduce universities’ workload and 

compliance costs, the multiple agencies that award federal research grants should better 

coordinate and manage fragmentation and address variation in grants’ administrative 

requirements.

65

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

a

The Do Not Pay Working System is a centralized data-matching service that allows agencies to 

review multiple databases to help verify a payee’s eligibility to receive the funds before making a 

payment.

Appendix III provides more detailed information about these new areas.

In addition, we present 43 opportunities for Congress or executive branch 

agencies to take action to reduce the cost of government operations or 

enhance revenue collections for the U.S. Treasury across 14 areas of 

government (see table 2). See appendix IV for more detailed information 

about these new areas.

Table 2: Cost Savings and Revenue Enhancement Opportunities Identified in This Report

Mission Cost savings and revenue enhancement area identified Page

Defense 16. Department of Defense (DOD) Commissaries: By managing its commissaries more 

efficiently, DOD could position itself to better achieve its cost savings target of $2 billion. 

68

17. DOD Special and Incentive Pays: DOD needs to incorporate key principles of effective 

human capital management in its special and incentive pay programs, which could lead to 

program improvements that could save tens of millions of dollars annually.

70

18. Navy Shipbuilding: The Navy could achieve cost savings from improved use of warranties 

and guarantees in shipbuilding.

72

Energy 19. Storage of Defense and Commercial Nuclear Waste: The Department of Energy could 

potentially save tens of billions of dollars by improving its analysis of options for 

permanently storing defense high-level nuclear waste and commercial spent nuclear fuel.

74

General 

government

20. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Facility Construction: VA could better avoid 

cost increases and schedule delays on its medical facility construction projects by improving 

management of facility construction.

76

21. Government Purchase Cards: An increased focus on analyzing agency-wide purchase card 

use would provide federal agencies with opportunities to leverage the government’s buying 

power and potentially obtain substantial cost savings on the billions spent annually using 

purchase cards.

78
Page 6 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission Cost savings and revenue enhancement area identified Page

22. Inland Waterways Fuel Tax: The Internal Revenue Service could enhance revenue and 

better gauge whether vessel operators are complying with the inland waterways fuel tax by 

obtaining access to proprietary data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

80

23. Land Mobile Radio Procurement: The Office of Management and Budget could improve 

agencies’ communication abilities and reduce the hundreds of millions of dollars spent 

annually on land mobile radio equipment by including this technology in its initiative to manage 

spending across government for commonly purchased goods. 

82

24. Refundable Tax Credits: The Internal Revenue Service could potentially realize hundreds of 

millions of dollars in cost savings by improving the administration of three large refundable 

tax credits.

84

Health 25. Federal Payments for Hospital Uncompensated Care: By better aligning federal payments 

for hospitals’ uncompensated care—services provided to uninsured and low-income patients 

for which hospitals are not fully compensated—with hospitals’ costs, the Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services could potentially save over a billion dollars annually. 

86

26. Medicaid Personal Care Services Data: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

needs timely, complete, and consistent data on Medicaid personal care services so it can 

effectively monitor these services, which could lead to savings of tens of millions of dollars 

annually.

88

27. Medicare Advantage Improper Payments: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

could recover hundreds of millions of dollars in improper payments by improving its 

processes to audit payments made to Medicare Advantage organizations. 

90

28. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Enrollment: By strengthening enrollment 

controls and better managing fraud risk for health-insurance coverage provided under the 

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

could realize cost savings associated with subsidies and related spending, which were 

estimated to cost $56 billion for fiscal year 2017.

92

Income security 29. Disability Insurance: The Social Security Administration could recover tens of millions of 

dollars annually in Disability Insurance (DI) overpayments by increasing withholding rates of 

individuals’ ongoing monthly DI benefit payments.

94

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

In addition to the new areas presented in this year’s annual report, we 

identified 10 new actions that relate to 6 existing areas presented in our 

2011 to 2016 annual reports. See appendix V for more information.

As shown in figure 2, Congress and executive branch agencies have 

made progress in addressing or partially addressing many actions we 

identified from 2011 to 2016. As of March 2017, 82 percent of the 645 

total actions we had identified since 2011 have been addressed or

partially addressed. See GAO’s online Action Tracker for the status of all 

actions.

Congress and 

Executive Branch 

Agencies Continue to 

Address Actions That 

Span the Federal 

Government
Page 7 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Figure 2: Progress in Addressing 2011 to 2016 Actions as of March 2017

Congress and executive branch agencies have addressed 329 (51

percent) of the 645 actions we identified from 2011 to 2016 (see table 3).7

We found that these efforts have resulted in roughly $75 billion in financial 

benefits from 2010 through 2016, with at least an additional $61 billion in 

estimated benefits projected to be accrued in 2017 or later.

8

 7

Of the 329 actions that have been addressed, 83 of them were closed (addressed or 

consolidated) since our last annual report in April 2016. Actions were assessed as of 

March 2017, when we completed the assessment of the status of previously identified 

actions.

8

In calculating these totals, we relied on individual estimates from a variety of sources, 

which considered different periods and utilized different data sources, assumptions, and 

methodologies. These totals represent a rough estimate of financial benefits and have 

been rounded down to the nearest $1 billion.

Benefits Related to 

Actions Taken by 

Congress and Executive 

Branch Agencies
Page 8 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 3: Status of 2011–2016 Actions Directed to Congress and the Executive Branch, as of March 2017

Status

114th Congressa

(number of actions 

[percentage])

115th Congress 

(number of actions 

[percentage])

Executive branchb

(number of actions 

[percentage])

Total 

(number of actions 

[percentage])

Addressed 36

(38%)

36

(38%)

293

(53%)

329

(51%)

Partially addressed 12

(13%)

9

(9%)

192

(35%)

201

(31%)

Not addressed 47

(49%)

50

(53%)

65

(12%)

115

(18%)

Total

95

(100%)

95

(100%)

550

(100%)

645

(100%)

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: “Addressed” includes 30 actions categorized as “consolidated or other” and three actions 

“closed-not addressed.” Actions categorized as “consolidated or other” and “closed-not addressed” 

are no longer assessed. In most cases, these actions were replaced or subsumed by new actions 

based on additional audit work or other relevant information. For example, actions categorized as 

“consolidated or other” may have been consolidated into other actions that we track based on 

subsequent audit work or significant changes in agency circumstances, or they may have been 

redirected from a congressional to an executive branch action, or vice versa. Actions may be “closednot addressed” if the action is no longer relevant or applicable. Six actions were categorized as 

“consolidated or other” and 1 as “closed-not addressed” this year.

a

In assessing actions suggested for Congress, we applied the following criteria: “addressed” means 

relevant legislation has been enacted and addresses all aspects of the action needed; “partially 

addressed” means a relevant bill has passed a committee, the House of Representatives, or the 

Senate during the current congressional session, or relevant legislation has been enacted but only 

addressed part of the action needed; and “not addressed” means a bill may have been introduced but 

did not pass out of a committee, or no relevant legislation has been introduced. At the beginning of a 

new congressional session, we reapply the criteria. As a result, the status of an action may move 

from partially addressed to not addressed if relevant legislation is not reintroduced from the prior 

congressional session. 

b

In assessing actions suggested for the executive branch, we applied the following criteria: 

“addressed” means implementation of the action needed has been completed; “partially addressed” 

means the action needed is in development, or started but not yet completed; and “not addressed” 

means the administration, the agencies, or both have made minimal or no progress toward 

implementing the action needed.

The progress Congress and executive branch agencies have made in 

addressing our open actions has resulted in significant financial benefits. 

Table 4 highlights examples of these results.
Page 9 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 4: Examples of Addressed or Partially Addressed Actions with Associated Cost Savings and Revenue Enhancements

Area name (annual report 

year, area number)a Actions taken Financial benefit

Farm Program Payments (2011, 

Area 35)

Congress passed the Agricultural Act of 2014, 

which eliminated direct payments to farmers.

Savings of approximately $44 billion from fiscal 

year 2015 through fiscal year 2023, of which $10

billion has accrued and $34 billion is expected to 

accrue in fiscal year 2017 or later, according to 

the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Domestic Ethanol Production 

(2011, Area 13)

Congress allowed the Volumetric Ethanol 

Excise Tax Credit to expire at the end of 2011, 

which eliminated duplicative federal efforts 

directed at increasing domestic ethanol 

production. 

Reduced revenue losses by $29 billion from fiscal 

year 2012 to fiscal year 2016, according to GAO 

analysis.

Tax Policies and Enforcement 

(2015, Area 17)

Congress amended the audit procedures 

applicable to certain large partnerships to 

require that they pay audit adjustments at the 

partnership level. 

Increase revenue of $9.3 billion from fiscal years 

2019 to 2025, according to the Joint Committee 

on Taxation.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve 

(2015, Area 15)

The Department of Energy completed a longterm strategic review of the Strategic Petroleum 

Reserve in August 2016, as Congress required 

in 2015. 

Savings of $8 billion from selling crude oil from 

the reserve from 2018 through 2025, according to 

CBO.

Combat Uniforms (2013, Area 

2)

The Army chose not to introduce a new family 

of camouflage uniforms into its inventory. 

Cost avoidance of about $4.2 billion over 5 years, 

of which $2.5 billion has accrued since fiscal year 

2014 and $1.7 billion is expected to accrue in 

fiscal year 2017 or later, according to agency 

estimates.

Agencies’ Use of Strategic 

Sourcing (2013, Area 23)

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 

evaluated strategic sourcing opportunities and 

set goals and metrics such as increasing 

managed spending for information-technology 

(IT) products and services.

Cost avoidance of about $3.6 billion from fiscal 

years 2013 through 2015, according to agency 

estimates. 

Real Estate-Owned Properties 

(2014, Area 18)

The Department of Housing and Urban 

Development implemented improvements to its 

property custody approach including reducing 

the number of foreclosed properties that it 

acquires by using other means of resolving 

troubled mortgages. 

Savings of as much as $3.4 billion from July 2013 

through June 2016, according to GAO estimates.

Overseas Defense Posture 

(2012, Area 37)

United States Forces Korea conducted a series 

of consultations with the military services to 

evaluate the costs and benefits associated with 

tour normalization, and the Department of 

Defense (DOD) decided not to move forward 

with the full tour normalization initiative because 

it was not affordable. 

Savings of an estimated $3.1 billion from fiscal 

years 2012 through 2016, according to agency 

estimates.

Homeland Security Grants 

(2012, Area 17)

Congress limited preparedness grant funding 

until the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency completes a national preparedness 

assessment of capability gaps. 

Savings of $2.55 billion from fiscal years 2011 

through 2013, according to GAO estimates.
Page 10 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Area name (annual report 

year, area number)a Actions taken Financial benefit

Overseas Military Presence 

(2011, Area 36)

DOD removed two brigade combat teams from 

Europe beginning in fiscal year 2013, as well as 

a number of support units that were no longer 

strategically necessary on a permanent basis.

Savings of approximately $2.3 billion in 

operations and support costs over 5 years, of 

which $1.8 billion has accrued since fiscal year 

2013 and $500 million is expected to accrue in 

fiscal year 2017 or later, according to agency 

estimates.

Treasury’s Foreclosure 

Prevention Efforts (2016, Area 

17)

The Department of the Treasury (Treasury) 

updated its analysis of estimated future 

expenditures for the Making Home Affordable 

program, reducing the estimated lifetime cost of 

the program. 

Savings of $2 billion as a result of deobligating 

funds in December 2016, according to agency 

estimates. 

Information Technology 

Investment Portfolio 

Management (2014, Area 24)

Seven agencies consolidated commodity IT 

areas to shared services in response to OMB’s 

2012 guidance to review their portfolios and 

identify duplicative, low-value, and wasteful 

investments, contributing to savings.

Savings of an estimated $1.4 billion from fiscal 

years 2012 through 2015, according to agency 

estimates.

Defense Headquarters (2012, 

Area 34)

As required by Congress, DOD took steps to 

issue a plan to reduce the size of headquarters 

organizations and Congress appropriated less 

than DOD requested for its fiscal year 2016 

appropriation.

Cost savings of approximately $609 million as a 

result of Congress reducing DOD’s 2016 

operation and maintenance appropriation from the 

amount of DOD”s budget request, according to 

GAO analysis.

Children’s Disability Reviews 

(2015, Area 21)

SSA has increased the number of Continuing

Disability Reviews (CDRs) for children receiving 

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and 

expects to eliminate the CDR backlog for SSI 

children by the end of fiscal year 2017, ensuring 

that only child SSI recipients who are eligible for 

benefits receive them.

Cost savings of about $467 million as a result of 

the additional reviews conducted in fiscal year 

2013 and savings of more than $3 billion over 

time, according to GAO analysis.

Unobligated Balances (2016, 

Area 24)

The Department of Energy’s Western Area 

Power Administration (WAPA) finalized a 

strategy to identify appropriate levels of 

unobligated balances within its Construction, 

Rehabilitation, Operation, and Maintenance 

(CROM) account, which focuses on maintaining 

reasonable and appropriate funding to ensure 

sustainability of the primary purposes of the 

account.

Cost savings of $92 million, as a result of 

decreasing the level of unobligated balance as of 

fiscal year 2016 and returning the funds to 

Treasury, according to agency estimates.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.

a

Click the area name to go to GAO’s online Action Tracker for additional information..

Congress has also implemented a number of key government-wide 

statutory requirements in recent years that could help identify areas of 

fragmentation, overlap, or duplication, or help address issues we raise in 

this report, including the following:
Page 11 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

• The Program Management Improvement Accountability Act.9 The 

act seeks to improve program and project management in certain 

federal agencies. Among other things, the act requires the Deputy 

Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to adopt and 

oversee implementation of government-wide standards, policies, and 

guidelines for program and project management in executive 

agencies. It further creates a Program Management Policy Council to 

act as an interagency forum for improving practices related to 

program and project management. This interagency collaboration and 

strengthened program management could help reduce fragmentation, 

overlap, and duplication among federal agencies.

• The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA 

Act).10 The DATA Act expands on previous federal transparency 

requirements to link federal agency spending to federal program 

activities so that taxpayers and policymakers can more effectively 

track federal spending.11 Full and effective implementation of the act 

offers the promise of a much more complete and accurate 

understanding of federal spending by enabling—for the first time—the 

federal government as a whole to track these funds at multiple points 

in the federal spending life cycle, and significantly increasing the types 

and transparency of data available to Congress, agencies, and the 

general public. In what will be the first reporting of data in compliance 

with the act’s requirements, agencies must submit second-quarter 

fiscal year 2017 data in compliance with the act’s requirements for 

inclusion on USASpending.gov in May 2017. This information could 

potentially help identify areas of fragmentation, overlap, or duplication.

• Information Technology (IT) acquisition reform, known as the 

Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act 

(FITARA).12 The effective and efficient acquisition and management 

of IT investments has been a long-standing challenge in the federal 

 9

Pub. L. No. 114-264, 130 Stat. 1371 (2016).

10Pub. L. No. 113-101, 128 Stat. 1146 (2014). The DATA Act amended the Federal 

Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. Pub. L. No. 109-282, 120 Stat. 

1186 (2006), codified at 31 U.S.C. § 6101 note.

11GAO, DATA Act: OMB and Treasury Have Issued Additional Guidance and Have 

Improved Pilot Design but Implementation Challenges Remain, GAO-17-156 (Washington, 

D.C.: Dec. 8, 2016).

12FITARA was enacted into law as a part of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon 

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, Pub. L. No. 113-291, div. A, title 

VIII, subtitle D, §§ 831-837, 128 Stat. 3292, 3438-3450 (2014).
Page 12 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

government.13 FITARA holds promise for improving agencies’ 

acquisition of IT and enabling Congress to monitor agencies’ progress 

and hold them accountable for reducing duplication and achieving 

cost savings. FITARA includes several specific requirements related 

to existing areas in our fragmentation, overlap, and duplication work, 

such as implementing the federal data-center consolidation initiative, 

enhancing transparency, improving risk management, and maximizing 

the benefits of government-wide software purchasing and the federal 

strategic sourcing initiative.

• The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement 

Act of 2012 (IPERIA).14 Improper payments are a long-standing, 

widespread, and significant problem in the federal government—

totaling over $1.2 trillion since reporting requirements first began at 

some agencies in 2003.15 IPERIA requires agencies to ensure that a 

thorough review of available databases occurs prior to the release of 

federal funds. We have identified numerous actions to reduce 

improper payments in several areas, such as Medicare improper 

payments, Medicaid improper payments, and refundable tax credits.

While Congress and executive branch agencies have made progress 

toward addressing the 724 total actions we have identified since 2011, 

further steps are needed to fully address the 395 actions that remain 

open (i.e., partially or not addressed).16 We estimate that tens of billions 

of dollars in additional financial benefits could be realized should 

Congress and executive branch agencies fully address open actions.17 In 

 13GAO, Information Technology: OMB and Agencies Need to Focus Continued Attention 

on Implementing Reform Law, GAO-16-672T (Washington, D.C.: May 18, 2016).

14Pub. L. No. 112-248, 126 Stat. 2390 (2013), codified at 31 U.S.C. 3321 note, as 

amended by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, Pub. L. No. 113-67, § 204, 127 Stat. 

1165, 1181 (2013), and the Federal Improper Payments Coordination Act of 2015, Pub. L. 

No. 114-109, §§ 2-4,129 Stat. 2225, 2225-27 (2015).

15GAO, Improper Payments: Strategy and Additional Actions Needed to Help Ensure 

Agencies Use the Do Not Pay Working System as Intended, GAO-17-15 (Washington, 

D.C.: Oct. 14, 2016).

16The 724 total actions include the 79 new actions we identified in 2017.

17In calculating this estimate, we relied on individual estimates from a variety of sources, 

which considered different time periods, and utilized different data sources, assumptions, 

and methodologies. These individual estimates are subject to increased uncertainty, 

depending on whether, how, and when they are addressed. This amount represents a 

rough estimate of financial benefits.

Action on Remaining 

and New Areas Could 

Yield Significant 

Additional Benefits
Page 13 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

addition to producing financial benefits, these actions make government 

more efficient; improve major government programs or agencies; reduce 

mismanagement, fraud, waste, and abuse; and increase assurance that 

programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent.

Congress has used our work to identify legislative solutions to achieve 

cost savings, address emerging problems, and find efficiencies in federal 

agencies and programs. Our work has contributed to a number of key 

authorizations and appropriations. Congressional oversight has been 

critical in realizing the full benefits of our suggested actions, and it will 

continue to be critical in the future. In our 2011 to 2017 annual reports, we 

directed 97 actions to Congress, which include 2 new congressional 

actions we identified in 2017. Of the 97 actions, 61 remained open (9 of 

which were partially addressed and 52 were not addressed) as of March 

2017.18 Table 5 highlights areas with significant open actions directed to 

Congress.

 18See app. VI for information on open congressional actions.

Significant Open Actions 

Directed to Congress
Page 14 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 5: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to Congress

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2011 Social Security Offsets (Area 80): The Social Security Administration (SSA) needs data on pensions from noncovered 

earnings to better enforce offsets and ensure benefit fairness, which could result in estimated savings of $2.4 billion to 

$7.9 billion over 10 years if enforced both retrospectively and prospectively, according to the Congressional Budget 

Office (CBO) and SSA. The estimated savings would be less if SSA only enforced the offsets prospectively as it would not 

reduce benefits already received.

2012 Excess Uranium Inventories (Area 40): Giving the Department of Energy authority to sell or transfer excess uranium 

could provide substantial revenue for the government. In 2014, GAO estimated that actions in this area could increase 

revenue by about $1 billion. 

2012 Stabilization, Reconstruction, and Humanitarian Assistance Efforts (Area 6): Improving the Department of Defense’s 

(DOD) evaluations of stabilization, reconstruction, and humanitarian assistance efforts, and addressing coordination 

challenges with the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, could reduce overlapping 

efforts and result in the more efficient use of taxpayer dollars. Specifically, Congress should consider amending the 

legislation that supports the Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid-funded humanitarian assistance program—

DOD’s largest humanitarian assistance program—to more specifically define DOD’s role in humanitarian assistance, 

taking into account the roles and similar types of efforts performed by the civilian agencies.

2013 Crop Insurance (Area 19): To achieve up to $2 billion annually in cost savings in the crop insurance program, 

Congress could consider limiting the subsidy for premiums that are provided on behalf of individual farmers--as it limits 

the amount of payments to individual farmers in many farm programs—or reducing the subsidy or some combination of 

limiting and reducing these subsidies.

2013 Tobacco Taxes (Area 31): Federal revenue losses ranged from as much as $615 million to $1.1 billion between April 

2009 and 2011 because manufacturers and consumers substituted higher-taxed smoking tobacco products with similar 

lower-taxed products. To address future revenue losses, Congress should consider modifying tobacco tax rates to 

eliminate significant tax differentials between similar products. 

2014 Disability and Unemployment Benefits (Area 8): Congress should consider passing legislation to prevent individuals 

from collecting both full Disability Insurance benefits and Unemployment Insurance benefits that cover the same period, 

which could save $1.9 billion over 10 years in the Social Security Disability Insurance program, according to CBO.

2014 Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (Area 13): Unless the Department of Energy can 

demonstrate demand for new Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loans and viable applications, 

Congress may wish to consider rescinding all or part of the remaining $4.2 billion in credit subsidy appropriations.

2015 Medicare Payments to Certain Cancer Hospitals (Area 19): To achieve almost $500 million per year in program 

savings, Congress should consider modifying how Medicare pays certain cancer hospitals.

2015 DOD US Family Health Plan (Area 6): To potentially save millions of dollars and eliminate duplication within DOD’s 

health care system, Congress should terminate the statutorily required US Family Health Plan because it offers military 

beneficiaries the same health care benefit offered by other DOD health care contractors.

2016 Medicare Payments by Place of Service (Area 30): Medicare could save billions of dollars if Congress were to 

equalize the rates Medicare pays for certain health care services, which often vary depending on where the service is 

performed.c

2017 Use of the Do Not Pay Working System (Area 11): The Office of Management and Budget needs to develop a strategy 

and additional guidance on the use of the Do Not Pay working system, and Congress should consider amending the 

Social Security Act to explicitly allow the SSA to share its full death file through the system to reduce improper payments 

and mitigate the risks associated with potential duplication.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive-branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.
Page 15 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to GAO’s online Action Tracker, which shows the current status of 

the key action and any other actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open 

actions for every area.

c

In 2015, Congress took some steps to address this by excluding services furnished by off-campus 

hospital outpatient departments from this higher payment, effective January 1, 2017. However, this 

exclusion will not apply to services furnished by providers billing as hospital outpatient departments 

prior to enactment of the legislation—that is, all providers billing as hospital outpatients during our 

study—who would continue to be paid under higher rate or to services provided by on-campus 

hospital outpatient departments. Congress later added providers meeting a mid-build requirement to 

the list of providers to which the exclusion would not apply.

In our 2011 to 2017 annual reports, we directed 627 actions to executive 

branch agencies, including 77 new actions identified in 2017. Of the 627 

actions, over half—334—remained open (192 were partially addressed 

and 142 were not addressed) as of March 2017. While these open 

actions span the government, a substantial number of actions are 

directed to seven agencies that made up 84 percent—$3.6 trillion—of 

federal outlays in fiscal year 2016; see figure 3.

Significant Open Actions 

Directed to Executive 

Branch Agencies
Page 16 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Figure 3: Fiscal Year 2016 Outlays and Number of Open Actions since 2011, by 

Agency

Notes: Number of open actions includes actions that are partially addressed and not addressed.

a

Treasury’s percentage of fiscal year 2016 outlays includes interest payments on the national debt.

As shown in figure 4, 10 agencies have at least 20 open actions.
Page 17 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Figure 4: Number of Not Addressed and Partially Addressed Actions since 2011, by Agency

Notes: Action status is as of March 2017. Individual actions are counted multiple times when they are 

directed to more than one federal department or agency. As a result, the number of open actions

shown in this figure totals 576 instead of 334: 334 is the total number of open actions directed to the 

executive branch as of March 2017.
Page 18 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The number of actions “partially addressed” means the action needed is in development or started 

but not yet completed. The number of actions “not addressed” means the administration, the 

agencies, or both have made minimal or no progress toward implementing the action needed. Actions 

that were introduced in this 2017 annual report are counted as “not addressed.”

a”

Other entities” reflects open actions directed to the following federal entities: The Executive Office of 

the President, National Security Council, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of 

National Drug Control Policy, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Homeland Security Council, 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Reserve, U.S. Commission on International Religious 

Freedom, National Transportation and Information Administration, and the Federal Communications 

Commission.

The following sections highlight selected open actions across several 

major agencies.

In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 168 actions to DOD in areas that 

contribute to DOD’s effectiveness in providing the military forces needed 

to deter war and to protect the security of the United States. As of March 

2017, 95 of these 168 actions remained open. DOD represented about 15 

percent of federal spending in fiscal year 2016, with outlays totaling about 

$637.6 billion. Our work suggests that effectively implementing our open 

actions, including those related to areas listed in table 6, could yield 

substantial financial benefits.

Table 6: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to the Department of Defense

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2011 Weapon Systems Acquisition Programs (Area 38): Employing best management practices could help the Department 

of Defense (DOD) save money on its weapon systems acquisition programs. Given the trillion-dollar size of the portfolio, 

GAO estimates potential savings from addressing the remaining actions could be in the tens of billions of dollars over 

time. 

2013 Agencies’ Use of Strategic Sourcing (Area 23): Selected agencies—including DOD—could better leverage their buying 

power and achieve additional savings by directing more procurement spending to existing strategically sourced contracts 

and further expanding strategic sourcing practices to their highest spending procurement categories. GAO estimates that 

savings of 1 percent from selected agencies’ procurement spending alone would equate to over $4 billion.

2015 DOD Headquarters Reductions (Area 14): DOD could potentially achieve hundreds of millions of dollars in cost 

savings and help to ensure that headquarters organizations are properly sized to meet their assigned missions by 

reevaluating its ongoing headquarters-reductions efforts and conducting periodic reassessments of workforce 

requirements.

2017 DOD Commissaries (Area 16): By managing its commissaries more efficiently, DOD could position itself to better 

achieve its cost savings target of $2 billion.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to GAO’s online Action Tracker, which shows the current status for 

all actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open actions for every area.

More Efficiently Targeting 

Defense Resources
Page 19 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 98 actions to the Department of 

Health and Human Services (HHS) in areas that contribute to HHS’s 

mission to enhance the health and well-being of Americans. HHS 

administers Medicare, which in fiscal year 2016 financed health services 

for over 57 million beneficiaries at an estimated cost of $696 billion. HHS 

also administers Medicaid, which covered an estimated 72.2 million lowincome people in fiscal year 2016 at a cost of $575.9 billion.19 HHS 

represented about 28 percent of the fiscal year 2016 federal budget, with 

outlays totaling about $1.2 trillion. As of March 2017, 56 of HHS’s 98

actions remained open. Our work suggests that effectively implementing 

these actions, including those related to areas listed in table 7, could yield 

substantial financial benefits.

Table 7: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to the Department of Health and Human Services

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

Medicare

2012 Medicare Advantage Payments (Area 45): To help ensure appropriate payments to Medicare Advantage plans, CMS 

should take steps to improve the accuracy of the adjustment made for differences in diagnostic coding practices 

between Medicare Advantage plans and traditional Medicare providers. We previously reported that these 

shortcomings in CMS’s adjustment resulted in excess payments to Medicare Advantage plans totaling an estimated 

$3.2 billion to $5.1 billion over a 3-year period from 2010 through 2012. 

2013 Medicare Prepayment Controls (Area 25): More widespread use of prepayment edits could reduce improper 

payments and achieve other cost savings for the Medicare program, as well as provide more consistent coverage 

nationwide.

2015 Medicare Postpayment Claims Reviews (Area 7): To prevent inappropriate duplicative postpayment claims reviews 

by contractors, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should monitor the Recovery Audit Data Warehouse—

the database developed in part to prevent duplicative reviews.

2017 Federal Payments for Hospital Uncompensated Care (Area 25): By better aligning federal payments for hospitals’ 

uncompensated care—services provided to uninsured and low-income patients for which hospitals are not fully 

compensated—with hospitals’ costs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could potentially save over a 

billion dollars annually.

Medicaid

2014,

2016

Demonstration Spending (Areas 21, 27): Federal spending on Medicaid demonstrations could be reduced by billions 

of dollars if the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) improved the process for reviewing, approving, and 

making transparent the basis for spending limits approved for Medicaid demonstrations, including better ensuring that 

valid methods are used to demonstrate budget neutrality and implemented other actions and recommendations, such 

as establishing specific criteria for assessing whether demonstration spending furthers Medicaid objectives.

2016 Payments to Institutional Providers (Area 29): CMS should take steps to improve the oversight of state Medicaid 

payments to institutional providers and better ensure that the federal government does not provide funds for excessive 

state payments made to certain providers, which could result in savings of hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

 19Of the $575.9 billion, $363.4 billion was financed by the federal government and the 

remainder by states.

Improving the Efficiency of 

Health Care Programs
Page 20 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2017 Medicaid Personal Care Services Data (Area 26): CMS needs timely, complete, and consistent data on Medicaid 

personal care services so it can effectively monitor these services, which could lead to savings of tens of millions of 

dollars annually. 

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive-branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to GAO’s online Action Tracker, which shows the current status for 

all actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open actions for every area.

In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 83 actions to the Internal 

Revenue Service (IRS) in areas that contribute to effectively and 

efficiently providing high-quality service to taxpayers and enforcing 

the law with integrity and fairness to all. As of March 2017, 43 of these 83 

actions remained open. The funding of the federal government depends 

largely upon IRS’s ability to collect taxes—in fiscal year 2016, IRS 

collected about $3.3 trillion. Our work suggests that effective 

implementation of our open actions, including those related to areas listed 

in table 8, could increase revenues and result in other financial benefits.

Table 8: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to the Internal Revenue Service

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2013,

2015

Tax Policy and Enforcement (Areas 22, 17): By using more-rigorous analyses to allocate enforcement resources and 

using data to improve management of enforcement programs such as large partnership and correspondence audits, 

among other things, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can increase revenue collections by billions of dollars.

2014 Online Taxpayer Services (Area 17): IRS could potentially realize hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings and 

increased revenues by enhancing its online services, which would improve service to taxpayers and encourage greater 

tax-law compliance.

2016 IRS’s Public Referral Programs (Area 6): IRS could potentially collect billions of dollars in tax underpayments through 

its nine public referral programs and save resources by better managing fragmentation and overlap, improving 

communication, and streamlining processes. 

2016 Identity Theft Refund Fraud (Area 22): IRS and Congress could potentially save billions of dollars in fraudulent 

refunds by improving the agency’s efforts to prevent refund fraud associated with identity theft.

2017 Refundable Tax Credits (Area 24): IRS could potentially realize hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings by 

improving the administration of three large refundable tax credits (the Earned Income Tax Credit; the Additional Child Tax 

Credit, which is sometimes combined with its nonrefundable counterpart, the Child Tax Credit; and the American 

Opportunity Tax Credit).

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive-branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.

Enhancing Federal Revenues
Page 21 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to GAO’s online Action Tracker, which shows the current status for 

all actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open actions for every area.

In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 78 actions to the Department of 

Homeland Security (DHS) in areas that contribute to the effective 

implementation of its mission to, among other things, prevent terrorist 

attacks from occurring within the United States, reduce U.S. vulnerability 

to terrorism, and help the nation recover from any attacks that may occur. 

In fiscal year 2016, DHS spent about $57.6 billion, about 1.3 percent of 

federal outlays. As of March 2017, 37 of the 78 actions to DHS remained

open. Fully implementing these actions, including those related to areas 

listed in table 9, could result in financial benefits and substantial 

improvements in operations.

Table 9: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to the Department of Homeland Security

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2012 Homeland Security Grants (Area 17): The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs better project information 

and coordination among four overlapping grant programs and needs to establish a framework for assessing preparedness 

capabilities to identify gaps and prioritize investments.

2012 Domestic Disaster Assistance (Area 51): The Federal Emergency Management Agency could reduce the costs to the 

federal government related to major disasters declared by the President by updating the principal indicator on which 

disaster funding decisions are based and better measuring a state’s capacity to respond without federal assistance.

2012 Border Security (Area 47): Delaying proposed investments for future acquisitions of border surveillance technology until 

DHS better defines and measures benefits and estimates life-cycle costs could help ensure the most effective use of 

future program funding.

2015 Vulnerability Assessments of Critical Infrastructure (Area 9): DHS could mitigate potential duplication or gaps by 

consistently capturing and maintaining data from overlapping vulnerability assessments of critical infrastructure and 

improving data sharing and coordination among the offices and components involved with these assessments.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated to reflect more recent analysis.

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to GAO’s online Action Tracker, which shows the current status for 

all actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open actions for every area.

Many of the results the federal government seeks to achieve require the 

coordinated effort of more than one federal agency, level of government, 

or sector. OMB manages and coordinates many government-wide efforts. 

In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 64 actions to OMB in areas to 

improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government-wide programs 

Improving the Efficiency and 

Effectiveness of Homeland 

Security Operations

Advancing the Implementation 

of Government-Wide Policies 

and Performance
Page 22 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

and activities. As of March 2017, 34 of the 64 actions to OMB remained

open. Fully implementing these actions, including those related to areas 

listed in table 10, could yield substantial financial benefits and program 

improvements.

Table 10: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to the Office of Management and Budget

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2011 Tax Expenditures (Area 17): Periodic reviews could help identify ineffective tax expenditures and redundancies in 

related tax and spending programs, potentially reducing revenue losses by billions of dollars.

2011 Government-Wide Improper Payments (Area 46): Efforts to address the reported estimate of over $144 billion in

government-wide improper payments for fiscal year 2016 could result in significant cost savings.

2012 Federal User Fees (Area 43): Regularly reviewing federal user fees and charges can help the Congress and federal 

agencies identify opportunities to address inconsistent federal funding approaches and enhance user financing, thereby 

reducing reliance on general fund appropriations.

2013 Geospatial Investments (Area 11): Better coordination among federal agencies that collect, maintain, and use 

geospatial information could help reduce duplication of geospatial investments and provide the opportunity for potential 

savings of millions of dollars.

2014 Information Technology Investment Portfolio Management (Area 24): The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

and multiple agencies could help the federal government realize billions of dollars in savings by taking steps to better 

implement PortfolioStat, a process to help agencies manage their information-technology investments.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive-branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to our online Action Tracker, which shows the current status for all 

actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open actions for every area.

In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 28 actions to the Social Security 

Administration (SSA) in areas that contribute to SSA providing financial 

assistance to eligible individuals through Social Security retirement and 

disability benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. As 

of March 2017, 25 of these 28 actions remained open. In fiscal year 2016, 

SSA spent about $979.7 billion, roughly 23 percent of federal outlays. 

While most of SSA’s funding is used to pay Social Security retirement, 

survivors, and disability benefits from the Old-Age and Survivors 

Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, 

our work suggests that effective implementation of these actions, 

including the examples listed in table 11, could yield substantial benefits.

More Efficiently Administering 

Services to Retirees and 

Citizens with Disabilities
Page 23 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 11: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to the Social Security Administration

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2012 Social Security Benefit Coordination (Area 27): Benefit offsets for related programs help reduce the potential for 

overlapping payments but pose administrative challenges.

2016 Disability Insurance Overpayments (Area 32): To help prevent the loss of billions of dollars, the Social Security 

Administration (SSA) should take steps to prevent overpayments to beneficiaries of the Disability Insurance program and 

improper waivers of beneficiaries’ overpayment debt.

2016 Disability Reviews (Area 33): SSA may increase federal savings realized as a result of disability reviews by further 

considering factors that affect individuals’ expected lifetime benefits when prioritizing its reviews of Disability Insurance

and Supplemental Security Income cases.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive-branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to our on-line Action Tracker, which shows the current status for all 

actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open actions for every area.

In our 2011 to 2017 reports, we directed 44 actions to VA in areas that 

contribute to VA effectively and efficiently achieving its mission to 

promote the health, welfare, and dignity of all veterans by ensuring that 

they receive medical care, benefits, and social support. As of March 

2017, 24 of these 44 actions remained open. In fiscal year 2016, VA 

spent about $179.6 billion—about 4 percent of federal outlays—for 

veterans’ benefits and services. Our work suggests that effective 

implementation of these actions, including those related to areas listed in 

table 12, could yield cost savings and efficiencies that would improve the

delivery of services.

Improving Support and 

Services for Veterans
Page 24 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 12: Examples of Areas with Open Actions Directed to the Department of Veterans Affairs

Annual 

reporta Area descriptionb

2012 Military and Veterans Health Care (Area 15): The Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) need to 

improve integration across care coordination and case-management programs to reduce duplication and better assist 

service members, veterans, and their families.

2013 Information Technology Operations and Maintenance (Area 30): Strengthening oversight of key federal agencies’—

including VA’s—major information-technology investments in operations and maintenance provides opportunity for 

savings of billions of dollars in information-technology investments across the federal government. 

2016 VA’s Individual Unemployability Benefit (Area 34): To potentially achieve cost savings, the VA should develop a plan 

to study whether age should be considered when deciding whether veterans are unemployable due to service-connected 

disabilities. By comparison, other benefit programs, such as Social Security Disability Insurance, consider retirement age 

a cause for ineligibility and convert benefits for those reaching their full retirement age to a Social Security retirement 

benefit. If it were determined that Total Disability Individual Unemployability benefits should be provided only to veterans 

younger than their full Social Security retirement age, the agency could achieve an estimated $15 billion in savings from 

2015 through 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

2017 Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility Construction (Area 20): VA could better avoid cost increases and 

schedule delays on its medical facility construction projects by improving management of facility construction.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The estimates in this report are from a range of sources, including GAO, executive-branch 

agencies, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. Some estimates 

have been updated since GAO’s 2016 report to reflect more recent analysis.

a

Click on the year in the annual report column to go to the report in which this area was first 

introduced.

b

Click on the area identified to go to our online Action Tracker, which shows the current status for all 

actions in the specified area. See app. VII for information on key open actions for every area.

This report was prepared under the coordination of J. Christopher Mihm, 

Managing Director, Strategic Issues, who may be reached at (202) 512-

6806 or mihmj@gao.gov, and Jessica Lucas-Judy, Acting Director, 

Strategic Issues, who may be reached at (202) 512-9110 or 

lucasjudyj@gao.gov. Specific questions about individual issues may be 

directed to the area contact listed at the end of each summary.

Gene L. Dodaro

Comptroller General of the United States
Abbreviations

Page 25 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

ACTC Additional Child Tax Credit

AD/CV Antidumping and Countervailing

AOTC American Opportunity Tax Credit

ATVM Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing

BJS Bureau of Justice Statistics

CBO Congressional Budget Office

CBP U.S. Customs and Border Protection

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDE Community Development Entities

CDFI Community Development Financial Institutions

CHCO Chief Human Capital Officer

CHIPRA Children’s Health Insurance Program 

 Reauthorization Act of 2009

CIGIE Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and 

 Efficiency

CMI Critical Materials Institute

CMS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Commerce Department of Commerce

Corps U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

CROM Construction, Rehabilitation, Operation, and 

 Maintenance

CSMSC Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply Chains

CTC Child Tax Credit

DATA Act Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014

DCPAS Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service

DHS Department of Homeland Security

DI Disability Insurance

DISA Defense Information Systems Agency

DNP Do Not Pay 

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOJ Department of Justice

DOT Department of Transportation

DSAID Defense Sexual Assault Incident Database

DSH Disproportionate Share Hospital

EITC Earned Income Tax Credit

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation

FBI Federal Bureau of Investigation

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FECA Federal Employees’ Compensation Act

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

FHA Federal Housing Administration

Abbreviations
Abbreviations

Page 26 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

FITARA Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform 

 Act

FNS Food and Nutrition Service

FTA Federal Transit Administration

FWS Fish and Wildlife Service

GPRA Government Performance and Results Act of 1993

GPRAMA GPRA Modernization Act of 2010

GSA General Services Administration

HHS Department of Health and Human Services

HRIT Human Resources Information Technology

HUD Department of Housing and Urban Development

IACC Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee

ICASS International Cooperative Administrative Support 

 Services

ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Interior Department of the Interior

IPERIA Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

 Improvement Act of 2012

IRA Individual Retirement Account

IRS Internal Revenue Service

IT information technology

JROC Joint Requirements Oversight Council

LMR land mobile radio

LQA living quarters allowance

MA Medicare Advantage

MHA Making Home Affordable

MILCON Military Construction

NamUS National Missing and Unidentified Persons System

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCIC National Crime Information Center

NCVS National Crime Victimization Survey

NEISS-AIP National Electronic Injury Surveillance System–All 

 Injury Program

NEMT nonemergency medical transportation

NIH National Institutes of Health

NIJ National Institute of Justice

NIS National Inmate Survey

NISVS National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence 

 Survey

NMTC New Markets Tax Credit

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NPS National Park Service

NSF National Science Foundation

O&M Operation and Maintenance
Abbreviations

Page 27 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

OIG Office of Inspector General

OMB Office of Management and Budget

OPM Office of Personnel Management

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

PCH PPS-exempt cancer hospitals

PPS prospective payment system

PREA Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003

PTC Premium Tax Credit

R&D research and development

RADV risk adjustment data validation

Recovery Board Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

ROC Recovery Operations Center

S&I special and incentive

SBA Small Business Administration

SBEM space-based environmental monitoring

SNAP Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

SSA Social Security Administration

SSI Supplemental Security Income

SSV Survey of Sexual Victimization

State Department of State

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

TEC Transatlantic Economic Council

Treasury Department of the Treasury

TSA Transportation Security Administration

UAS unmanned aircraft system

UCR-NIBRS Uniform Crime Reporting Program–National 

 Incident-Based Reporting System

UCR-SRS Uniform Crime Reporting Program–Summary 

 Reporting System

USAID U.S. Agency for International Development

USCIS United States Citizenship and Immigration Services

USDA Department of Agriculture

USFHP US Family Health Plan

VA Department of Veterans Affairs

WAPA Western Area Power Administration

WGRA Workplace and Gender Relations Survey of Active 

 Duty Members

WSF-M Weather System Follow-on Microwave

WTO World Trade Organization
List of Appendixes

Page 28 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 13: Appendixes

Appendix Page

Appendix I: List of Congressional Addressees 29

Appendix II: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 31

Appendix III: Areas in Which GAO Has Identified Fragmentation, Overlap, or Duplication 36

Appendix IV: Areas in Which GAO Has Identified Other Cost Savings or Revenue Enhancement Opportunities 67

Appendix V: New Actions Added to Existing Areas in 2017 96

Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by Mission 98

Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission 108

Appendix VIII: Additional Information on Programs Identified 139

List of Appendixes
Appendix I: List of Congressional Addressees

Page 29 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Honorable Thad Cochran

Chairman

The Honorable Patrick Leahy

Vice Chairman

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

The Honorable Mike Enzi

Chairman

The Honorable Bernie Sanders

Ranking Member

Committee on the Budget

United States Senate

The Honorable Ron Johnson

Chairman

The Honorable Claire McCaskill

Ranking Member

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Honorable Rodney P. Frelinghuysen

Chairman

The Honorable Nita M. Lowey

Ranking Member

Committee on Appropriations

House of Representatives

The Honorable Diane Black

Chairman

The Honorable John Yarmuth

Ranking Member

Committee on the Budget

House of Representatives

The Honorable Jason Chaffetz

Chairman

The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings

Ranking Member

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

House of Representatives

Appendix I: List of Congressional 

Addressees
Appendix I: List of Congressional Addressees

Page 30 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Honorable Mark R. Warner

United States Senate
Appendix II: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 31 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Section 21 of Public Law 111-139, enacted in February 2010, requires 

GAO to conduct routine investigations to identify federal programs, 

agencies, offices, and initiatives with duplicative goals and activities within 

departments and government-wide. This provision also requires GAO to 

report annually to Congress on its findings, including the cost of such 

duplication, with recommendations for consolidation and elimination to 

reduce duplication and specific rescissions (legislation canceling 

previously enacted budget authority) that Congress may wish to consider. 

Our objectives in this report are to (1) identify potentially significant areas 

of fragmentation, overlap, and duplication and opportunities for cost 

savings and enhanced revenues that exist across the federal 

government; (2) assess to what extent have executive branch agencies 

and Congress addressed actions in our 2011 to 2016 annual reports; and 

(3) highlight examples of open actions directed to Congress or key 

executive branch agencies.

For the purposes of our analysis, we used the term “fragmentation” to 

refer to those circumstances in which more than one federal agency (or 

more than one organization within an agency) is involved in the same 

broad area of national need and there may be opportunities to improve 

how the government delivers these services. We used the term “overlap” 

when multiple agencies or programs have similar goals, engage in similar 

activities or strategies to achieve them, or target similar beneficiaries. We 

considered “duplication” to occur when two or more agencies or programs 

are engaged in the same activities or provide the same services to the 

same beneficiaries.1 This report presents 15 areas of fragmentation, 

overlap, or duplication where greater efficiencies or effectiveness in 

providing government services may be achievable. We also highlighted 

14 other opportunities for potential cost savings or revenue 

enhancements.

To identify what actions, if any, exist to address fragmentation, overlap, 

and duplication and take advantage of opportunities for cost savings and 

enhanced revenues, we reviewed and updated prior GAO work and 

recommendations to identify what additional actions agencies may need 

to take and Congress may wish to consider. For example, we used a 

variety of prior GAO work identifying leading practices that could help 

agencies address challenges associated with interagency coordination 

 1

We recognize that there could be instances where some degree of program 

fragmentation, overlap, or duplication may be warranted due to the nature or magnitude of 

the federal effort.

Appendix II: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology
Appendix II: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 32 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

and collaboration, evaluating performance and results in achieving 

efficiencies.2

To identify the potential financial and other benefits that might result from 

actions addressing fragmentation, overlap, or duplication, or taking 

advantage of other opportunities for cost savings and enhanced 

revenues, we collected and analyzed data on costs and potential savings 

to the extent they were available. Estimating the benefits that could result 

from addressing unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication was 

not possible in some cases because information about the extent of 

duplication among certain programs was not available. Further, the 

financial benefits that can be achieved from addressing fragmentation, 

overlap, or duplication or taking advantage of other opportunities for cost 

savings and enhanced revenues were not always quantifiable in advance 

of congressional and executive branch decision making, and needed 

information was not readily available on, among other things, program 

performance, the level of funding devoted to overlapping programs, or the 

implementation costs and time frames that might be associated with 

program consolidations or terminations. Appendix VIII provides additional 

information on the federal programs or other activities related to the new 

areas of fragmentation, overlap, duplication, and cost savings or revenue 

enhancement discussed in this report, including budgetary information 

when available.

We assessed the reliability of any computer-processed data that 

materially affected our findings, including cost savings and revenue 

enhancement estimates. The steps that we take to assess the reliability of 

data vary but are chosen to accomplish the auditing requirement that the 

data be sufficiently reliable given the purposes for which it is used for in 

our products. GAO analysts review published documentation about the 

data system and Inspector General or other reviews of the data. We may 

interview agency or outside officials to better understand system controls 

and to assure ourselves that we understand how the data are produced 

and any limitations associated with the data. We may also electronically 

 2

GAO, Managing for Results: Key Considerations for Implementing Interagency 

Collaborative Mechanisms, GAO-12-1022 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 27, 2012) and 

Managing for Results: Practices for Effective Agency Strategic Reviews, GAO-15-602 

(Washington, D.C.: July 29, 2015). Information on GAO’s work on the GPRA 

Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) can be found at 

http://www.gao.gov/key_issues/managing_for_results_in_government/issue_summary

and information on GAO’s work on best and leading practices in collaboration can be 

found at http://www.gao.gov/key_issues/leading_practices_collaboration/issue_summary.
Appendix II: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 33 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

test the data to see whether values in the data conform to agency 

testimony and documentation regarding valid values, or compare data to 

source documents. In addition to these steps we often compare data with 

other sources as a way to corroborate our findings. For each submission 

in this report, specific information on data reliability is located in the 

related products.

To examine the extent to which Congress and executive branch agencies 

have made progress in implementing the 645 actions in the 249 areas we 

have reported on in previous annual reports on fragmentation, overlap, 

and duplication, we reviewed relevant legislation and agency documents 

such as budgets, policies, strategic and implementation plans, guidance, 

and other information. We also analyzed, to the extent possible, whether 

or not financial or other benefits have been attained, and included this 

information as appropriate. (See discussion below on the methodology 

we used to estimate financial benefits.) In addition, we discussed the 

implementation status of the actions with officials at the relevant 

agencies. New actions introduced in this report show that progress is 

“pending” and that they are “new for 2017,” including new actions that 

were added to existing areas.

Using the legislation and documentation collected from agencies, we

assessed progress for each of the 645 actions within their areas of 

expertise.

We used the following criteria in assessing the status of actions:

3

• In assessing actions suggested for Congress, we applied the following 

criteria: “addressed” means relevant legislation is enacted and 

addresses all aspects of the action needed; “partially addressed” 

means a relevant bill has passed a committee, the House of 

 3

Since 2011, we have categorized 30 actions as “consolidated or other” and are no longer 

assessing these actions. In most cases, the actions were replaced by new actions based 

on additional audit work or other relevant information. For example, actions categorized as 

“consolidated or other” may have been consolidated into other actions that we track based 

on subsequent audit work or significant changes in agency circumstances, or they may 

have been redirected from a congressional to an executive branch action, or vice versa. In 

addition, since 2011, we have categorized 3 actions as “closed–not addressed” because 

the action is no longer relevant or applicable. In this report, we add these actions to the 

“addressed” category because we are no longer assessing these actions; we consider 

them to be closed.

Assessing the Status of 

Previously Identified 

Actions
Appendix II: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 34 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Representatives, or the Senate, or relevant legislation has been 

enacted but only addressed part of the action needed; and “not 

addressed” means a bill may have been introduced but did not pass 

out of a committee, or no relevant legislation has been introduced. At 

the beginning of a new congressional session, we reapply the criteria. 

As a result, the status of an action may move from partially addressed 

to not addressed if relevant legislation is not reintroduced from the 

prior congressional session.

• In assessing actions suggested for the executive branch, we applied 

the following criteria: “addressed” means implementation of the action 

needed has been completed; “partially addressed” means the action 

needed is in development, or started but not yet completed; and “not 

addressed” means the administration, the agencies, or both have 

made minimal or no progress toward implementing the action needed.

We provided drafts of these assessments to the agencies involved for 

their technical comments and incorporated these comments, as 

appropriate. In providing the drafts to the agencies for review, we 

communicated that we would use an “as of” date of March 2017, for all 

assessments. The progress statements and updates are published on 

GAO’s Action Tracker. In Appendix VII, GAO identified the “key open 

action” remaining to be implemented in each open area.

In order to calculate the total financial benefits resulting from actions 

already taken and potential financial benefits from actions that are not 

fully addressed, GAO analysts compiled available estimates for all of the 

actions from GAO’s Action Tracker, from 2011 through 2016, and from 

reports identified for inclusion in the 2017 annual report, and linked 

supporting documentation to those estimates. Each estimate was 

reviewed by a GAO technical specialist to ensure that estimates were 

based on reasonably sound methodologies. The savings estimates came 

from a variety of sources, including GAO analysis, Congressional Budget 

Office estimates, individual agencies, the Joint Committee on Taxation, 

and others. Due to differences in time frames, underlying assumptions, 

quality of data, and methodologies among these individual estimates, any 

attempt to generate a total will be associated with uncertainty that limits 

the precision of this calculation. As a result, our totals represent a rough 

estimate of financial benefits, rather than an exact total.

For actions that have already been taken, individual estimates of realized 

cost savings covered a range of time periods stretching from 2010 

through 2025. In order to calculate the total amount of realized financial 

Methodology for 

Generating Total Cost 

Savings Estimates
Appendix II: Objectives, Scope and 

Methodology

Page 35 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

benefits that have already accrued, and those that are expected to 

accrue, we separated those that accrued from 2010 through 2016, and 

those expected to accrue between 2017 and 2025. For individual 

estimates that span both periods, we assumed that financial benefits 

were distributed evenly over the period of the estimate.4 For each 

category, we summed the individual estimates in order to generate a 

total. To account for uncertainty and imprecision resulting from the 

differences in individual estimates, we present these realized savings to 

the nearest billion dollars, rounded down.

Estimates of potential financial benefits that could accrue from actions not 

yet taken have a higher level of uncertainty, because these estimates are 

dependent on whether, how, and when agencies and Congress take our 

recommended actions. As a result, many estimates of potential savings 

are notionally stated using terms like millions, tens of millions, or billions, 

to demonstrate a magnitude without providing a more precise estimate. 

Further, many of these estimates are not tied to specific time frames, for 

the same reason. In order to calculate a total for potential savings, with a 

conservative approach, we used the minimum number associated with

each term.5 To account for the increased uncertainty of potential 

estimates and the imprecision resulting from differences among individual 

estimates, we calculated potential financial benefits to the nearest $10 

billion, rounded down, and presented our results using a notional term.

This report is based upon work GAO previously conducted in accordance 

with generally accepted government auditing standards. Generally 

accepted government auditing standards require that we plan and 

perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a 

reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 

objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable 

basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

 4

For example, if an individual estimate was for $10 billion dollars to accrue from 2014 to 

2023, we assumed that $1 billion would be earned each year. As a result, $3 billion would 

be counted as “already accrued” through 2016, while the other $7 billion would be counted 

as “expected to accrue” from 2017 and later.

5

For example, if GAO had stated that an agency could potentially save “hundreds of 

millions,” we would use $100 million as part of our calculation of the total.
Appendix III: Areas in Which GAO Has 

Identified Fragmentation, Overlap, or 

Duplication

Page 36 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

This appendix presents 15 areas in which we found evidence of 

fragmentation, overlap, or duplication among federal government 

programs.

Appendix III: Areas in Which GAO Has 

Identified Fragmentation, Overlap, or 

Duplication
Page 37 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Through better coordination with other federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture could reduce the 

potential for fragmentation among efforts to monitor the population and health status of wild, native bees that 

provide valuable pollination services to agriculture and the environment.

Honey bees and other managed and wild, native bees provide valuable 

pollination services to agriculture worth billions of dollars to farmers, but 

government and university researchers have documented declines in 

some populations of bee species. A June 2014 presidential memorandum 

on pollinators established the White House Pollinator Health Task Force, 

made up of more than a dozen federal agencies and cochaired by the 

Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of the Environmental 

Protection Agency. The task force identified priority actions for agencies 

within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of 

the Interior to take leading and supporting roles in, among other things, 

monitoring wild, native bees.

GAO found that the White House task force did not develop a 

mechanism, such as a monitoring plan, that would establish participating 

agencies’ roles and responsibilities, establish common outcomes and 

goals, and obtain input from states and other stakeholders.

To improve the effectiveness of federal efforts to monitor wild, native bee 

populations, GAO recommended in February 2016 that the Secretary of 

Agriculture, as a cochair of the White House Pollinator Health Task Force, 

coordinate with other task-force agencies that have monitoring 

responsibilities to develop a mechanism, such as a federal monitoring 

plan, that would (1) establish roles and responsibilities of lead and 

support agencies, (2) establish shared outcomes and goals, and (3) 

obtain input from relevant stakeholders, such as states. USDA stated that 

it largely agreed with the recommendation. In November 2016, senior 

USDA officials said that the agency is planning a June 2017 conference 

on the research and methodology needed to address declines of North 

American bumble bees and that the conference will represent important 

progress in establishing a national wild bee survey. In February 2017, 

USDA provided additional information about proposed activities, including 

the June 2017 conference and subsequent actions that it believes will 

allow USDA and the Department of the Interior to provide the framework 

needed to develop authoritative native pollinator surveys in support of 

federal efforts to restore and protect native pollinator populations and 

habitats in the United States.

GAO acknowledges and supports USDA’s plans in this regard but 

continues to believe that these and further steps are needed to fully 

implement this recommendation. A coordinated approach to monitoring, 

federal agencies’ actions to understand native bee populations would 

help prevent fragmentation. GAO cannot estimate potential cost savings 

from these actions since complete and comparable cost information is not 

1. Federal Actions to Protect Pollinators and 

Improve Agricultural Production

Potential Benefit

Improve the effectiveness of federal 

efforts to monitor wild, native bee 

populations that provide valuable 

pollination services

Implementing Entities

Department of Agriculture

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to improve 

federal monitoring. See GAO’s Action 

Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-220

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Steve Morris at (202) 

512-3841 or morriss@gao.gov.
Page 38 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

available across all agencies. Nevertheless, by working with other key 

agency stakeholders to monitor wild, native bee populations, USDA can 

help agencies understand their respective roles, focus on the same goals 

and outcomes, and better solicit input from external stakeholders, such as 

beekeepers, farmers, pesticide manufacturers, state governments, 

environmental groups, and others.

Table 17 in appendix VIII lists federal programs and activities related to 

this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to USDA for review and 

comment. USDA provided information on steps it has taken in response 

to GAO’s recommendation, as discussed above. USDA also provided 

technical comments, which were incorporated as appropriate.

Bee Health: USDA and EPA Should Take Additional Actions to Address 

Threats to Bee Populations. GAO-16-220. Washington, D.C.: February 

10, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 39 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Army and Air Force need to improve the management and oversight of their virtual training programs to 

avoid fragmentation and more efficiently and effectively acquire and integrate virtual devices into operational 

training and potentially save tens of millions of dollars.

The Army and Air Force are challenged to replicate the training conditions 

that military forces may encounter during operations. Virtual training 

devices—those that involve a simulator, simulation, or computergenerated battlefield—have become increasingly important to create 

training conditions that can be difficult to achieve otherwise. The Army 

and Air Force have spent billions of dollars acquiring virtual training 

devices and plan to make further investments. For example, the Air Force 

estimates funding requirements of about $3.8 billion for its virtual training 

initiatives from fiscal years 2015 through 2019.

In 2016, GAO reported that the Army and Air Force have not fully 

integrated the development and sustainment of virtual training devices 

with service-wide training requirements and strategies because their 

management approach is fragmented. As a result, their decisions did not 

maximize available resources. In particular, GAO reported that the Army 

developed and acquired virtual training devices without basing these 

decisions on critical factors, such as soldiers’ available training time, 

training tasks and objectives, and expected usage rates for the devices. 

Further, GAO found that the Army had not consistently assessed the 

effectiveness of virtual training devices to inform decisions about which of 

its devices it should sustain. In certain cases the utilization rates for the 

Army’s virtual training devices were low, which suggests the Army would 

benefit from more consistently conducting such analyses to inform its 

decisions. For example, as of fiscal year 2015, the Army had an inventory 

of 18 Common Driver Trainers—used to train personnel to drive the Mine 

Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle—that were acquired for 

approximately $12 million with additional sustainment costs of about 

$750,000 annually, but the device was utilized only 435 hours out of 

33,222 hours available in fiscal year 2015.

GAO also reported that the Air Force acquired virtual training devices in a 

fragmented manner because it lacks a risk-based investment strategy 

that identifies and prioritizes virtual training needs and a timeline for 

addressing them, creating inefficiencies in the timing of its investments. 

For example, the Air Force expects to complete a simulator facility at 

Nellis Air Force Base in fiscal year 2017 at an estimated cost of $14 

million, but the aircraft simulators will not arrive at the facility until fiscal 

year 2019 at the earliest, leaving it potentially unused during that interim 

period, according to Air Force officials. Additionally, GAO found that the 

Air Force does not have a methodology to fully account for and track the 

costs of its virtual training program. For example, the Air Force identified 

at least 75 program elements that fund virtual training, but these program 

elements are not consistently monitored because the automation needed 

2. Army and Air Force Virtual Training

Potential Benefit

Tens of millions of dollars

Implementing Entities

Department of Defense

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to help 

the Army and Air Force improve 

management of virtual training. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-636 and GAO-16-864

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Cary B. Russell at (202) 

512-5431 or russellc@gao.gov.
Page 40 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

to monitor and conduct trend analyses on these program elements does 

not currently exist. Air Force officials told GAO that they are working to 

identify all of its virtual training funding with specific cost categories. 

These officials reported they have made some progress in tracking 

operation and maintenance costs for virtual training but none toward 

tracking investment funding.

GAO made three recommendations to the Army and Air Force, including 

that the services establish requirements and priorities for virtual training 

investments, among other actions. In response, DOD generally concurred 

with the recommendations and identified some actions the services are 

taking that would improve the management of virtual training programs 

and address GAO’s recommendations. DOD did not provide an update on 

the status of its efforts to implement GAO’s recommendation, as 

requested in February 2017.

DOD has identified virtual training as a cornerstone of the next generation 

of training for the department, and both the Army and Air Force have 

identified billions of dollars in requirements in the coming years for their 

virtual training plans. Implementation of GAO’s recommendations could 

help the Army and Air Force mitigate the negative effects of fragmentation 

by allowing the services to acquire virtual training devices based on 

sound requirements and priorities and potentially save tens of millions of 

dollars, although the exact amount of saving is unknown because funding 

for virtual training programs is dispersed across multiple appropriation 

accounts and program elements and because the Army and Air Force 

have not developed a methodology to identify their respective virtual 

training costs. Further, a more consistent approach to assessing the 

effectiveness of the virtual training devices would allow the Army to fund 

sustainment costs based on the device’s value to operational training.

Table 18 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities related to this 

issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOD for review and 

comment. DOD provided technical comments, which were incorporated 

as appropriate.

Army Training: Efforts to Adjust Training Requirements Should Consider 

the Use of Virtual Training Devices. GAO-16-636. Washington, D.C.: 

August 16, 2016.

Air Force Training: Further Analysis and Planning Needed to Improve 

Effectiveness. GAO-16-864. Washington, D.C.: September 19, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 41 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

By improving oversight of contingency construction projects, the Department of Defense could potentially 

reduce duplication and save millions of dollars.

The Department of Defense (DOD) has spent billions of dollars on 

“contingency construction” projects, such as troop housing and guard 

towers to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. DOD generally 

funds contingency construction projects costing more than $1 million from 

Military Construction (MILCON) appropriations and projects costing $1 

million or less from Operation and Maintenance (O&M) appropriations. 

DOD has routinely used O&M funding to meet requirements. Further, 

senior DOD officials stated they do not track use of O&M funds on these 

projects because it is not required. However, GAO identified records 

reflecting 2,202 Afghanistan construction projects funded with $944 

million from O&M appropriations for fiscal years 2009–2012. DOD 

reported $3.9 billion as enacted for MILCON-funded projects in 

Afghanistan for the same period.

In September 2016, GAO found that DOD’s reliance on construction 

projects using O&M funds, which officials view as taking less time for 

approval, may have resulted in unnecessary duplication because 

commanders relied on O&M funding, and in the process had created the 

risk of unnecessarily providing the same service to the same 

beneficiaries. For example, in 2015, officials decided to move a 

squadron’s facilities to alternate locations on the base because the host 

nation reclaimed the space. According to officials, because MILCON 

projects typically take up to 2 years to be approved, base officials decided 

to build eight O&M-funded, semipermanent facilities at a total cost of 

about $5.2 million at various locations on the base. During the same year, 

base officials initiated a separate request for $24 million in MILCON 

funding to construct a permanent facility for the squadron and others on 

the base. 

In another example, in 2009, DOD entered into an O&M-funded dining 

service contract that included leasing four facilities. According to DOD 

figures, the department spent $43.8 million for leasing and operating the 

facilities over 5 years. When the contract expired in 2015, officials 

requested $64 million for a new contract, including $27 million to 

construct five new dining facilities to replace the existing four. During 

GAO’s review, Army officials expressed concern that the new contract 

would be an inappropriate expenditure of O&M funds because it would 

exceed the maximum. An Army investigation found insufficient evidence 

of an Antideficiency Act violation—making an obligation exceeding 

available appropriations—with respect to the use of O&M funds under the 

2009 contract, but characterized the approach as problematic under Army 

policy. In 2016, according to an official, instead of pursuing the $64 million 

contract, DOD purchased the facilities for $7.8 million. DOD thereby 

3. Construction for Military Contingency 

Operations

Potential Benefit

Millions of dollars

Implementing Entities

Department of Defense

Link to Actions

GAO identified two actions to improve 

the oversight of contingency 

construction funded from Operation 

and Maintenance appropriations. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-406

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Cary B. Russell at (202) 

512-5431 or russellc@gao.gov.
Page 42 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

duplicated expenditures by paying leasing costs and then purchasing the 

facilities.

GAO recommended DOD (1) evaluate and improve the use of existing 

construction processes and authorities or seek additional authorities as 

appropriate and (2) track O&M-funded contingency construction projects. 

DOD partially concurred with the first recommendation, stating it already 

conducts periodic reviews of authorities. However, several officials GAO 

interviewed said the current process does not provide the needed speed 

and flexibility, and GAO continues to believe that DOD should evaluate its 

use of existing processes and authorities. DOD did not concur with the 

second recommendation, stating that it would not be cost-effective to 

develop a tracking system and that doing so would not improve decision 

making. However, GAO was not suggesting DOD develop a new tracking 

system, but instead adapt an existing system, such as the Army’s 

General Fund Enterprise Business System. GAO maintains that tracking 

the projects would improve decision making with regard to contingency 

construction projects.

Implementing the recommended actions could help DOD avoid 

unnecessary duplication and save millions of dollars in contingency 

construction. To estimate the total that DOD could realize in cost 

avoidance, DOD would need to identify and track its O&M construction 

projects. 

Table 19 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOD for review and 

comment. In March 2017, DOD reiterated its comments to the September 

2016 report described above and added that its judgment remains 

unchanged that capturing O&M-funded construction projects in 

contingency locations is not reasonable given the fluid nature of 

contingency operations and locations, which require commanders to rely 

on this authority as a tool to make expeditious decisions to improve living 

and operating conditions in very austere locations with available 

resources. GAO, however, did not recommend limiting or discontinuing 

the use of O&M-funded construction projects but instead believes that 

identifying and recording the use and occurrence will improve the 

department’s decision making given that DOD was not aware of the 

magnitude of its use of O&M funds for construction projects. This could 

also assist the department in evaluating the necessary actions to 

implement the first recommendation above.

Defense Infrastructure: Actions Needed to Enhance Oversight of 

Construction Projects Supporting Military Contingency Operations. 

GAO-16-406. Washington, D.C.: September 8, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 43 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Department of Defense could reduce the risk of gaps in weather satellite capabilities by establishing 

formal mechanisms for coordination and collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration.

As existing satellites near their estimated end of life, the Department of 

Defense (DOD) faces potential gaps in its ability to monitor weather for 

military operations. DOD uses military, U.S. civil government—including 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—and 

international partner satellites to provide critical weather data, referred to 

as space-based environmental monitoring (SBEM) capabilities. DOD and 

NOAA have different but complementary SBEM missions and 

requirements but are individually responsible for providing capabilities in 

certain areas to support continuous coverage. Potential gaps include 

cloud characterization (using imagery data to make cloud forecasts) and 

theater weather imagery data (collecting and analyzing weather imagery 

for specific areas)—DOD’s two highest SBEM priorities. In September 

2014, DOD completed an analysis of alternatives to compare the most 

cost-effective solutions for potential gaps and identified increased reliance 

on international partner satellites as one of the potential solutions.

In July 2016, GAO testified that DOD involved a wide range of DOD 

stakeholders in the analysis of alternatives but ineffectively engaged with 

NOAA, contributing to an incorrect assumption about the availability of 

critical data from a European satellite. The ineffective engagement was 

due in part to DOD’s lack of a formal mechanism for collaboration 

between the two agencies. DOD did not involve NOAA in meetings and 

reviews for the analysis of alternatives and, despite some efforts to 

communicate with NOAA representatives, DOD did not determine the full 

risks of assuming continued European coverage. DOD did not fully 

assess space-based solutions for the two highest-priority capabilities in 

the analysis of alternatives. As a result, DOD is now reassessing ways to 

meet cloud characterization and theater weather imagery needs.

DOD’s lack of coordination with NOAA reflects a broader issue GAO 

identified in previous reports on duplication, overlap, and fragmentation—

that fragmented leadership has created challenges for optimally 

acquiring, developing, and deploying new space systems. DOD recently 

announced an effort to work through NOAA to use data from international 

partners. In September 2016, a European partner moved an existing 

satellite to provide partial coverage over the Indian Ocean. In addition, 

DOD and NOAA have recently begun exploring the potential transfer from 

NOAA to DOD of spare parts that could be used to build a satellite sensor 

to provide cloud characterization and theater weather imagery data.

To ensure DOD is sufficiently informed about the availability of data from 

partner satellites as it plans for future SBEM capabilities, GAO 

recommended that DOD establish formal mechanisms for coordination 

4. Defense Weather Satellites

Potential Benefit

Reduce risk of gaps in weather 

satellite capability

Implementing Entities

Department of Defense

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to establish 

formal mechanisms for coordination 

and collaboration when planning for 

defense weather capabilities. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-252R and GAO-16-769T

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Cristina T. Chaplain at 

(202) 512-4841 or 

chaplainc@gao.gov.
Page 44 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

and collaboration with NOAA. DOD stated that existing working-level 

engagements with NOAA were consistent with the recommendation and 

that senior NOAA representatives would be invited to participate in future 

SBEM planning. GAO reiterated that DOD should formalize its efforts, to 

include clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the two agencies. 

Additionally, section 1607 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 

Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 114-328) directs DOD and NOAA to jointly 

establish mechanisms to collaborate and coordinate in defining the 

agencies’ roles and responsibilities to carry out SBEM activities and plan 

for future nongovernmental SBEM capabilities. In January 2017, the Air 

Force and NOAA signed a memorandum of agreement under which the 

parties are to establish annexes for interagency acquisitions or support on 

SBEM efforts. Though a step in the right direction, the parties have not 

yet established specific arrangements for collecting SBEM data, and the 

agreement does not cover collaboration between NOAA and DOD entities 

outside of the Air Force. In February 2017, DOD stated its response to 

the recent legislative provision was in process. Another potential vehicle 

for formalizing collaboration is the Committee for Operational 

Environmental Satellites, managed by NOAA, which is intended to help 

achieve interagency coordination on operational environmental satellites.

Establishing formal mechanisms for interagency collaboration between 

DOD and NOAA can help provide clarity about roles and responsibilities 

and support accountability. It is difficult to determine the financial impact 

of the recommended action because the costs or savings of increased 

collaboration are uncertain, but increased collaboration would mitigate 

potential inefficiencies in future efforts and reduce the need to plan 

quickly to prevent near-term gaps in critical capabilities.

Table 20 in appendix VIII provides budgetary information for the program 

related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOD and NOAA for review 

and comment. DOD did not provide comments on this report section. 

NOAA provided written comments and stated this report section provides 

a fair assessment of the challenges in interagency coordination of 

environmental satellite issues between DOD and NOAA. NOAA also 

provided technical comments, which were incorporated as appropriate.

Defense Weather Satellites: Analysis of Alternatives Is Useful for Certain 

Capabilities, but Ineffective Coordination Limited Assessment of Two 

Critical Capabilities. GAO-16-252R. Washington, D.C.: March 10, 2016.

Defense Weather Satellites: DOD Faces Acquisition Challenges for 

Addressing Capability Needs. GAO-16-769T. Washington, D.C.: July 7, 

2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 45 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Department of Defense should improve coordination and information sharing across its fragmented

advertising programs for more efficient and effective use of resources.

The Department of Defense (DOD) uses advertising as one tool to 

influence individuals to consider military service and thus meet its 

recruitment goals. DOD allotted over $516 million in fiscal year 2016 

across seven military service component advertising programs that 

compete to attract recruits.

In its May 2016 report, GAO found that DOD does not have a formal 

process for coordinating advertising activities within and among its 

components. The absence of a formal process for coordination results in 

the potential for duplication, overlap, and fragmentation. For example, 

DOD has three advertising programs within the Department of the Air 

Force and two within the Department of the Army. Industry experts and 

various military service officials stated that as each military service 

component purchases advertising space in the same media market, 

competition among the services could increase the prices of these 

purchases. They said that coordinating purchases could increase the 

buying power for certain activities. Officials from one military service 

component acknowledged that the competition for media purchases most 

likely results in a more expensive manner of doing business.

Officials from some of the service components cited examples of 

fragmentation, and stated that they do not have the necessary resources 

to follow certain best practices. For example, officials from two Air Force 

components stated that if the Air Force coordinated some advertising 

functions they could potentially afford to jointly contract for sophisticated 

modeling functions considered an industry best practice for determining 

the best use of advertising dollars. A January 2016 report from the 

National Commission on the Future of the Army recommended the Army 

establish pilot programs to align recruiting efforts of all its components to 

yield increased efficiency and effectiveness in recruiting and advertising, 

among other things.

In May 2016, GAO recommended that DOD develop a formal process for 

coordination among its components on crosscutting advertising issues to 

facilitate better leveraging of resources. In response, DOD agreed that 

improved coordination is important and stated that it is developing an 

instruction for marketing and that this guidance will formalize coordination 

among the military services and their advertising programs, which it 

stated should facilitate better leveraging of resources. A DOD official 

stated that the instruction should be finalized around August 2017.

Implementation of this recommendation could allow DOD to better 

leverage its advertising resources to meet its goals for recruiting military 

5. Department of Defense Advertising

Potential Benefit

More efficient and effective use of 

DOD’s advertising resources

Implementing Entities

Department of Defense

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action for DOD to 

improve coordination and information 

sharing. See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-396

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Andrew Von Ah at (202) 

512-4300 or vonaha@gao.gov.
Page 46 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

personnel. DOD would be better positioned to identify and better manage

unnecessary duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in its advertising 

programs and then use the identified efficiencies to more effectively 

execute the difficult task of advertising in support of recruiting. Although 

better coordination would likely result in greater efficiencies, a specific 

cost savings estimate would require additional information about these 

changes.

Table 21 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOD for review and 

comment. The department did not provide comments on this report 

section.

Public Relations Spending: Reported Data on Related Federal Activities. 

GAO-16-877R. Washington, D.C.: October 5, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 47 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

To better manage fragmentation of agencies’ critical raw materials activities, the Office of Science and 

Technology Policy should enhance interagency collaboration and take full advantage of agencies’ expertise 

and resources.

Certain metals, minerals, and other “critical” raw materials—materials that 

are subject to supply risk and important to U.S. economic or national 

security interests—play an important role in the production of advanced 

technologies across a range of industrial sectors and defense 

applications. For example, the rare-earth materials neodymium and 

dysprosium are used in the manufacture of permanent magnets, which 

are used in automotive motors, wind turbines, and a variety of other 

applications because of their unique properties, such as magnetism at 

high temperatures. The supply of some critical materials is concentrated 

under foreign control, which has renewed questions about the U.S. 

government’s and industry’s ability to address potential supply 

disruptions. In September 2016, GAO identified 12 federal agencies that 

implement critical materials activities. These activities were primarily 

focused on assessing risk and supporting research but also included a 

range of other activities, such as stockpiling or producing materials and 

reviewing and approving resource-extraction projects.

In 2010, the National Science and Technology Council chartered the 

Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply Chains 

(Subcommittee) as an interagency working group cochaired by the Office 

of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to provide advice and 

assistance on policies, plans, and procedures for mitigating mineral 

supply risks. Although the Subcommittee was chartered to facilitate a 

strong, coordinated effort across its member agencies on critical minerals 

activities, its efforts to coordinate agencies’ activities are not consistent 

with selected key practices for enhancing and sustaining interagency 

collaboration, including agreeing on roles and responsibilities; 

establishing mutually reinforcing or joint strategies; and developing 

mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report on results.

In September 2016, GAO found that the Subcommittee had not taken 

steps to actively engage all member agencies in its efforts and has not 

clearly defined member agencies’ roles and responsibilities. As a result, a 

number of member agencies did not have a clear role in the 

Subcommittee’s efforts and had limited or no involvement in its work. For 

example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was designated a 

member of the Subcommittee and analyzes U.S. dependence on foreign 

infrastructure, including foreign sources of critical materials, but had not 

identified anyone to participate in the Subcommittee. Additionally, the 

Subcommittee had not developed joint strategies to achieve a common 

outcome with regard to federal critical materials efforts and did not have a 

6. Federal Critical Raw Materials Activities

Potential Benefit

Improved collaboration in identifying and 

mitigating supply risks for critical raw 

materials

Implementing Entities

Office of Science and Technology Policy

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to help the 

Office of Science and Technology Policy 

enhance interagency collaboration in 

addressing critical materials supply 

issues. See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-699

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact John Neumann at (202) 

512-3841 or neumannj@gao.gov.
Page 48 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

mechanism to monitor and evaluate progress across all areas of its 

activities.

GAO recommended that the Director of OSTP, working with the 

Subcommittee and agency leadership, as appropriate, take actions to 

strengthen the federal approach to addressing critical materials supply 

issues through enhanced interagency collaboration, including defining 

Subcommittee member roles and responsibilities, developing joint 

strategies and identifying contributing agencies’ efforts, and developing a 

mechanism to evaluate and periodically report on these efforts. OSTP 

neither agreed nor disagreed with the recommended actions. As of 

February 2017, OSTP stated that an increasing number of agencies 

participate in Subcommittee discussions and activities, including agencies 

that had not previously been involved such as DHS and the Department 

of Agriculture’s Forest Service. OSTP further stated that when the 

Subcommittee’s charter is considered for renewal in spring 2017, OSTP 

will reach out to all federal agencies with relevant responsibilities to 

discuss their roles in the Subcommittee’s efforts and to encourage them 

to name a lead representative and regularly participate.

By ensuring that all relevant member agencies are engaged in its efforts 

and have agreed-upon and clearly defined roles and responsibilities, the 

Subcommittee will have more reasonable assurance that it can effectively 

marshal the potential contributions of all member agencies to take full 

advantage of their expertise and resources in addressing critical materials 

supply issues. Further, developing joint strategies and identifying 

contributing agencies’ efforts, and developing a mechanism to evaluate 

and periodically report on its efforts, could help the Subcommittee better 

coordinate agencies’ critical materials activities to ensure they are 

mutually reinforcing and effectively implemented.

Table 22 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities related to this 

issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to OSTP for review and 

comment. OSTP provided written comments. OSTP neither agreed nor 

disagreed with the actions identified, but stated that it welcomed 

opportunities to enhance interagency collaboration. With respect to 

clearly defining roles and responsibilities of agencies, OSTP stated that it 

prefers flexibility to a rigid definition, as this facilitates cooperation and 

better accommodates changing circumstances. However, GAO continues 

to believe clearly defining roles and responsibilities could help 

Subcommittee members enhance collaboration by more effectively 

organizing their efforts and facilitating decision making.

Advanced Technologies: Strengthened Federal Approach Needed to Help 

Identify and Mitigate Supply Risks for Critical Raw Materials. 

GAO-16-699. Washington, D.C.: September 7, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 49 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Food and Nutrition Service, and the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention have not established guidance and a formal process to ensure their grant-management 

staff review applications for potential duplication and overlap among grants in their agencies before awarding 

competitive grants and cooperative agreements.

Eliminating duplication and unnecessary overlap in grant-award funding 

can save public dollars and minimize waste, and requiring awarding 

agencies to have formal approaches to review for duplicative or 

overlapping grant awards would promote stronger controls to ensure 

federal grant funds are efficiently awarded. Because the federal 

government distributes billions of dollars annually to state and local 

governments, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations to 

achieve a wide range of national priorities, effective oversight and internal 

controls are of fundamental importance in assuring the proper use of 

federal funds to achieve program goals.

In January 2017, GAO found that only two of the six selected 

subagencies GAO reviewed—selected in part based on the size of grant 

outlays in fiscal year 2014—had developed formal processes and 

guidance for identifying potentially duplicative grant funding. These two 

subagencies—the National Institutes of Health at the Department of 

Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institute of Food and 

Agriculture at the Department of Agriculture (USDA)—had processes that 

included searches for the same project within databases containing 

ongoing and completed research projects or systematic reviews of an 

applicant’s other project support. The National Park Service and Fish and 

Wildlife Service at the Department of the Interior (Interior), the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention at HHS, and the Food and Nutrition 

Service at USDA did not have such processes and guidance. While GAO 

did not find examples of duplication or overlap in this review, in previous 

work it did identify risks of awarding duplicative and overlapping grants. In 

fiscal year 2016, the four subagencies that did not have processes to 

identify potentially duplicative grant funding obligated $1.15 billion in 

competitively awarded federal grants and cooperative agreements.

GAO recommended that the Secretaries of the Interior, Health and 

Human Services, and Agriculture direct the National Park Service, Fish 

and Wildlife Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 

Food and Nutrition Service to issue written guidance that ensures their 

grant-management staff review grant applications for potential duplication 

and overlap before awarding their competitive grants and cooperative 

agreements. Officials from all four subagencies said that they rely on 

informal processes for identifying potentially duplicative grant funding and 

acknowledged the importance of identifying information about applicants’ 

other funding before making final grant-award decisions. All agencies 

agreed with the recommendations. As of February 2017, Interior said that 

7. Federal Grant Awards

Potential Benefit

Ensure federal funds are efficiently 

awarded

Implementing Entities

Departments of the Interior, Health and 

Human Services, and Agriculture

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to reduce 

potential duplication and overlap in 

federal grant awards and cooperative 

agreements. See GAO’s Action 

Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-113

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Heather Krause at (202) 

512-6806 or krauseh@gao.gov. 
Page 50 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service plan to issue 

guidance to grant-management staff requiring all grant applicants to 

submit for review statements indicating any potential duplication or 

overlap. Agriculture is developing formal written guidance to be issued by 

the end of fiscal year 2017 for use in fiscal year 2018. HHS said that it has 

implemented a process where CDC grants management staff will ask

potential awardees about possible duplication or overlap and, if 

necessary, instruct potential awardees to report on how it will be 

addressed. In addition, future CDC funding opportunity announcements 

will include instructions to applicants to report duplication or overlap with 

any other application or award.

Requiring reviews for duplicative or overlapping awards and establishing 

the requirement in agency guidance would promote stronger controls to 

ensure federal grant funds are efficiently awarded. Eliminating 

unnecessary duplication and overlap could save public dollars and allow 

grant funds to be used more efficiently and effectively.

Table 23 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities related to this 

issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to Interior, HHS, and USDA for 

review and comment. Interior, HHS, and USDA provided technical 

comments, which were incorporated as appropriate.

Grants Management: Selected Agencies Should Clarify Merit-Based 

Award Criteria and Provide Guidance for Reviewing Potentially 

Duplicative Awards. GAO-17-113. Washington, D.C. January 12, 2017.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 51 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Office of Personnel Management and agencies should identify opportunities to refine federal hiring 

authorities, expand access to specific authorities found to be highly efficient and effective, and eliminate those

found to be less effective.

To acquire needed talent, agencies need a hiring process that is 

applicant-friendly, flexible, and meets policy requirements, such as hiring 

on the basis of merit. A number of hiring authorities have been created to 

expedite the hiring process or to achieve certain public policy goals. A 

hiring authority is the law, executive order, or regulation that allows an 

agency to hire a person into the federal civil service.

GAO’s analysis of Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data found 

that of the 105 hiring authorities used in fiscal year 2014, 20 were used to 

fill over 90 percent of the almost 200,000 vacancies. Agencies used 85 

hiring authorities to fill the rest of the positions (see figure). OPM and the 

agencies did not measure the effectiveness of individual hiring authorities. 

As a result, OPM officials said they did not know whether agencies relied 

on a small number of authorities because they were unfamiliar with other 

authorities, or whether they found other authorities to be less effective in 

meeting their needs. Without these types of analyses, it is unclear to what 

extent certain hiring authorities are potentially duplicative and could be 

refined, consolidated, or eliminated.

Agencies Relied on 20 Hiring Authorities for Nearly All New Hires in Fiscal 

Year 2014

The competitive examining hiring authority, generally seen as the 

traditional method for federal hiring, was the single most-used authority in 

fiscal year 2014, but accounted for less than 25 percent of all new 

appointments. OPM tracks data on agency time-to-hire, manager and 

8. Federal Hiring

Potential Benefit

Simplify and improve the federal 

hiring process

Implementing Entities

Office of Personnel Management

Link to Actions

GAO identified two actions to 

strengthen federal hiring. See GAO’s 

Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-521

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Robert Goldenkoff at 

(202) 512-2757 or 

goldenkoffr@gao.gov.
Page 52 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

applicant survey results, and compliance audits to assess the hiring 

process. However, neither OPM nor agencies use this information to 

analyze the effectiveness of hiring authorities. As a result, OPM and 

agencies do not know whether authorities are meeting their intended 

purposes.

GAO recommended in August 2016 that OPM, along with the Chief 

Human Capital Officer (CHCO) Council, assess federal hiring authorities 

to identify opportunities to refine authorities, expand access to specific 

authorities found to be highly efficient and effective, and eliminate those 

found to be less effective. OPM should further implement changes 

(including obtaining necessary presidential authorization) or work with the 

CHCO Council to develop legislative proposals where authorization is 

required. OPM concurred with the recommendations and said it plans to 

continue exploring opportunities for improving the hiring system by 

analyzing existing hiring authorities with an eye towards modernization. 

For example, in August 2016, OPM published the findings of a recent 

study on the use and effectiveness of the Pathways Programs’ hiring 

authorities—designed to hire student interns and recent graduates—and 

said that for fiscal year 2017 it is planning to review the effect of certain 

excepted-service hiring authorities in meeting agencies’ needs. As of 

February 2017, OPM informed GAO that it has taken several actions to 

start this review, including beginning to survey hiring managers, interview 

human resources staff, and review relevant hiring actions across the 

executive branch, and said that it plans to issue a report in 2018.

Studies or assessments of specific hiring authorities and/or processes 

would help OPM and agencies better manage the suite of hiring 

authorities and identify opportunities to simplify and improve the hiring 

process by refining, consolidating, or eliminating some authorities or by 

expanding provisions of some agency-specific authorities to more 

agencies. Strengthening hiring efforts would help improve the 

government’s ability to compete in the labor market for top talent.

Table 24 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities related to this 

issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to OPM for review and 

comment. OPM stated that it had taken steps to address one of the 

recommendations, as discussed above. OPM did not provide an update 

on the other recommendation. GAO incorporated this information as

appropriate.

Federal Hiring: OPM Needs to Improve Management and Oversight of 

Hiring Authorities. GAO-16-521. Washington, D.C. August 2, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 53 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

To mitigate the negative effects of fragmentation across federal funding streams, the Department of 

Transportation should examine the $3.6 billion in funding the Federal Transit Administration awarded toward 

transit resilience projects for potential duplication with other resilience efforts.

In November 2014, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) selected 40 

projects to receive $3.6 billion in grants to increase the resilience of 

transit systems to withstand future disasters in the areas affected by 

Hurricane Sandy. FTA included criteria and policy priorities in its Notice of 

Funding Availability for these grants (issued in December 2013), including 

the policy priority that projects should promote a regional approach to 

resilience.

In December 2016, GAO found that while FTA collected information about 

resilience efforts outside of FTA, it did not consider this information when 

evaluating and selecting projects for award. Additionally, due to the 

fragmented nature of the federal government’s approach toward disaster 

resilience, FTA funded projects that may provide benefits duplicative of 

resilience efforts being performed outside of FTA and that may no longer 

be needed if other resilience projects in the same region are 

implemented. According to GAO’s analysis, the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, applicants, and FTA reviewers raised concerns 

about 6 of the 40 FTA-funded projects and their relation to other 

resilience projects in the same region. For example, an FTA team 

reviewing the grant applications commented that if a local resilience 

project were ultimately built, the FTA project would not be needed.

Given that most of FTA’s discretionary transit resilience grants are still in 

development and have not yet fully obligated funds, GAO recommended 

that the Department of Transportation (DOT) examine the projects FTA 

funded under the discretionary transit resilience grant program for 

potential duplication with other resilience efforts and determine whether it 

would be appropriate to realign funds for FTA-supported projects for other 

authorized purposes or request that Congress rescind funds from the 

FTA-supported projects. In March 2017, DOT reported that it agreed with 

GAO’s recommendation and that it is planning to coordinate with federal 

agency coordination groups to determine whether there is any potential 

duplication of resilience efforts in the region. DOT reported that it plans to 

complete this effort and determine actions for FTA supported projects as 

appropriate by September 30, 2017.

Financial benefits associated with implementing this recommendation 

cannot be quantified because DOT has not yet taken steps to determine 

the extent of any potential duplication between FTA-funded resilience 

projects and other resilience efforts. However, doing so may help DOT 

ensure that the FTA-supported projects are effectively coordinated with 

other resilience efforts and help minimize the fragmentation of the federal 

government’s disaster resilience efforts. Further, such an evaluation may 

9. Grants for Transit Resilience

Potential Benefit

Mitigate the negative effects of 

fragmentation across federal funding 

streams

Implementing Entities

Department of Transportation

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to help 

mitigate the negative effects of 

fragmentation of federal funding for 

disaster resilience. See GAO’s Action 

Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-20

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Mark Goldstein at (202) 

512-2834 or goldsteinm@gao.gov.
Page 54 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

help identify cases where FTA-supported projects may need to be revised 

or may no longer be needed. In such cases, realigning funds for other 

authorized purposes, or requesting a rescission of these funds, may be 

appropriate.

Table 25 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOT for review and 

comment. While DOT agreed with GAO’s recommendation, the Deputy 

Director for Audit Relations and Program Improvement at DOT stated in 

February 2017 that the Department disagrees with GAO’s assessment 

and believes that FTA gave appropriate consideration to comments 

received by other federal agencies during the selection process. DOT’s 

written comments provided no further evidence of how, if at all, FTA 

considered the information it received from the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, applicants, and FTA reviewers on the projects’ 

relation to other resilience projects in the same region. Therefore, GAO 

made no changes to the report section in response to these comments. In 

a March 2017 letter to the Office of Management and Budget and 

congressional committees, DOT stated that it is planning to coordinate 

with federal agency coordination groups to determine whether there is 

any potential duplication of resilience efforts in the region and would 

determine actions for FTA supported projects as appropriate by 

September 30, 2017.

DOT Discretionary Grants: Problems with Hurricane Sandy Transit Grant 

Selection Process Highlight the Need for Additional Accountability.

GAO-17-20. Washington, D.C.: December 14, 2016.

Hurricane Sandy: An Investment Strategy Could Help the Federal 

Government Enhance National Resilience for Future Disasters. 

GAO-15-515. Washington, D.C.: July 30, 2015.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 55 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

A proposal for centralized analytics and investigative support for the oversight community would help Congress 

decide whether to authorize such an entity to mitigate the risk of potential duplication and fragmentation and 

provide valuable tools for targeting resources to help reduce improper payments.

Improper payments government-wide for fiscal year 2016 totaled over 

$144 billion, a number that has increased considerably in recent years. 

Since fiscal year 2003, cumulative improper payment estimates have 

totaled over $1 trillion. One component of a strategy to reduce improper 

payments is implementing effective detection techniques, including data 

analytics, to prevent, identify, and recover improper payments, including 

those that are the result of fraud. Originally created in October 2009 by 

the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Recovery Board), 

the Recovery Operations Center (ROC) was a central data-analytics 

service to support fraud detection and prevention and assist the oversight 

community—government entities that are tasked with ensuring the 

appropriate use of federal funds—in its efforts to prevent fraud, waste, 

and abuse.

The ROC closed on September 30, 2015, when the authority for the 

Recovery Board sunset. Prior to the sunset, the Digital Accountability and 

Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) authorized the Department of the 

Treasury (Treasury) to establish a data-analysis center or expand an 

existing service to provide data, analytic tools, and data-management 

techniques to support the prevention and reduction of improper payments 

by federal agencies and thus to improve the efficiency and transparency 

of federal spending. If Treasury had elected to exercise its discretionary 

authority to establish a data-analysis center or expand an existing 

service, assets of the ROC relating to the detection of fraud and abuse in 

the use of federal funds could have been transferred. Treasury did not 

transfer the ROC’s assets—such as hardware and software—citing cost, 

lack of investigative authority, and other reasons. Treasury officials 

explained that transferring the ROC’s assets would not be cost-effective 

or add value to Treasury operations that identify, prevent, and recover 

improper payments. Additionally, Treasury’s Fiscal Assistant Secretary 

testified that while the DATA Act authorized Treasury to transfer the 

Recovery Board’s assets, the act did not transfer the Recovery Board’s 

authorities, including law-enforcement authority, to Treasury.

The ROC’s dissolution created a gap in analytics capability for the 

oversight community. Officials at some large Offices of Inspector General 

(OIG) that used the ROC told GAO they intend to develop their own 

analytical capabilities. In contrast to those individual efforts, a centralized 

analytics resource could help prevent a potentially inefficient use of funds 

that could result if OIGs proceed to duplicate similar oversight tools.

10. Recovery Operations Center Closure

Potential Benefit

Reducing improper payments

Implementing Entities

Congress

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action for Congress 

to help address fragmentation and 

duplication. See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-15-814

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Seto Bagdoyan at (202) 

512-6722 or bagdoyans@gao.gov.
Page 56 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

GAO suggested in September 2015 that Congress consider directing the 

Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), 

which provides oversight resources and guidance to the OIG community, 

to develop a legislative proposal that explicitly articulates the relative cost 

and benefits of developing an analytics center with a mission and 

capabilities similar to the ROC to reestablish the essence of the center’s 

proven value to its users. At the time, CIGIE officials stated that a 

proposal to reconstitute some of the ROC’s analytic capabilities could 

help reduce duplication across OIGs. As of February 2017, CIGIE officials 

stated that they have not developed formal language for such a proposal 

for Congressional consideration, although they are poised to do so, if 

requested. CIGIE officials said that with Congress’s support they could 

develop a proposal to (1) expand analytic resources to the oversight 

community and (2) help refine the tools Congress and the oversight 

community use to address improper payments and fraud, waste, and 

abuse. As of March 2017, no legislation has been introduced.

Creating an analytics center similar to the ROC may help mitigate the risk 

of potential duplication and fragmentation and provide valuable tools 

useful for targeting resources to help reduce improper payments. 

However, GAO cannot estimate potential cost savings because the extent 

of data-analytics duplication following the closure of the ROC is unknown.

Table 26 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to CIGIE for review and 

comment. CIGIE provided technical comments, which were incorporated 

as appropriate.

Federal Spending Accountability: Preserving Capabilities of Recovery 

Operations Center Could Help Sustain Oversight of Federal 

Expenditures. GAO-15-814. Washington, D.C.: September 14, 2015.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 57 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Office of Management and Budget needs to develop a strategy and additional guidance on the use of the 

Do Not Pay working system, and Congress should consider amending the Social Security Act to explicitly allow 

the Social Security Administration to share its full death file through the system to reduce improper payments 

and mitigate the risks associated with potential duplication.

Improper payments are a long-standing, significant problem across the 

federal government, with reported estimates of over $144 billion for fiscal 

year 2016. One method to help prevent improper payments is up-front 

verification of eligibility through data sharing and matching. The Do Not 

Pay (DNP) working system—established by the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) and hosted by the Department of the Treasury—is a 

web-based, centralized data-matching service that allows agencies to 

review multiple databases to help verify a payee’s eligibility to receive the 

funds before making a payment. For example, agencies reported that use 

of the DNP working system prevented approximately $680,000 in 

improper payments in fiscal year 2015.

In October 2016, GAO found that the 10 agencies it reviewed used the 

DNP working system in limited ways, although almost all of these 

agencies accessed the data available through the DNP working system 

through other means, such as receiving data directly from the agency that 

maintains them. Officials at two agencies GAO reviewed also reported 

concerns that the DNP working system’s payment integration 

process—which matches agency payment files sent to the Department of 

the Treasury against the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Death 

Master File and the General Services Administration’s System for Award 

Management exclusion records to identify whether recipients may be 

deceased or barred from receiving federal awards at the time of 

payment—was potentially duplicative of their agencies’ existing efforts. 

OMB has not developed a strategy or guidance on whether and how 

agencies should use the DNP working system, including the payment 

integration process, to complement or streamline existing data-matching 

efforts.

GAO also found that the DNP working system is missing some death 

records that could help agencies reduce improper payments to deceased 

individuals. Specifically, the death records available through the DNP 

working system do not include SSA’s state-reported death data. SSA 

officials stated that the Social Security Act limits sharing of the agency’s 

full death file to agencies that administer federal benefit programs. The 

full death file contains about 10 percent more death records than SSA’s 

Death Master File offered by the DNP working system. SSA officials 

stated that sharing SSA’s full death file through the DNP working system 

would require an amendment to the Social Security Act.

11. Use of the Do Not Pay Working System

Potential Benefit

Reduce improper payments

Implementing Entities

Office of Management and Budget and 

Congress

Link to Actions

GAO identified two actions for the 

Office of Management and Budget and 

one action for Congress to reduce 

improper payments and mitigate the 

risk of potential duplication. See GAO’s

Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-15

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Beryl H. Davis at (202) 

512-2623 or davisbh@gao.gov.
Page 58 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

GAO made two recommendations to OMB to (1) provide additional 

guidance that clarifies whether the use of the DNP working system’s 

payment integration process is required and (2) develop a strategy with 

guidance on how agencies should use the DNP working system to 

complement or streamline existing data-matching processes. In response, 

OMB agreed with the recommendation to provide guidance on the use of 

DNP’s payment integration process. OMB generally agreed with the 

concept of developing a strategy for how agencies should use the DNP 

working system and stated that it would explore the concept further. GAO 

also suggested that Congress consider amending the Social Security Act 

to explicitly allow SSA to share its full death file for use through the DNP 

working system. OMB did not provide an update on the status of its 

efforts to implement GAO’s recommendation, as requested in February 

2017.

While it is unclear how many improper payments the additional death 

records could prevent or what the total value of those payments would be, 

sharing the full death file through the DNP working system would provide 

agencies with additional information and strengthen efforts to reduce 

improper payments to deceased individuals. Further, a strategy and 

additional guidance could help agencies to more efficiently and effectively 

use the DNP working system to mitigate the risks associated with 

potential duplication and reduce improper payments.

Table 27 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to OMB for review and 

comment. OMB did not provide comments on this report section.

Improper Payments: Strategy and Additional Actions Needed to Help 

Ensure Agencies Use the Do Not Pay Working System as Intended. 

GAO-17-15. Washington, D.C.: October 14, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 59 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Institute of Justice could reduce overlap and fragmentation of 

data on missing and unidentified persons by evaluating and implementing options to improve data sharing, 

thereby helping to solve these cases more efficiently.

Every year, more than 600,000 people are reported missing and 

hundreds of human remains go unidentified. Two primary databases 

supported by the Department of Justice (DOJ)—the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation’s (FBI) National Crime Information Center and the National 

Institute of Justice’s (NIJ) National Missing and Unidentified Persons 

System—contain data to help solve these cases. However, access to the 

National Crime Information Center is limited to authorized criminal justice 

agencies, such as law-enforcement organizations, while the National 

Missing and Unidentified Persons System is a publicly accessible 

database that is primarily used by medical examiners and coroners.

GAO found that data contained in these systems were fragmented and 

overlapping. For example, in fiscal year 2015, 3,170 long-term missing 

persons cases were reported to the National Missing and Unidentified 

Persons System, while 84,401 missing persons records reported to the 

National Crime Information Center became long-term cases. Because 

there is no mechanism to share information between the systems, users 

relying on only one system may miss information that could be 

instrumental in solving these types of cases. DOJ officials and users of 

the systems have implemented some processes to help limit this 

fragmentation, but these processes introduce additional inefficiencies 

because they require officials to manually review and enter case data into 

both systems, resulting in duplicative data entry.

GAO recommended in 2016 that the FBI and the NIJ evaluate the legal 

and technical feasibility of sharing certain information among authorized 

users of the systems, and incorporate feasible data-sharing options as 

appropriate. DOJ did not agree with the recommendation, stating that it 

lacked legal authority to fully integrate the systems. However, GAO did 

not recommend fully integrating the systems, and maintains that DOJ can 

and should study options for sharing information within the confines of the 

legal framework. In March 2017, DOJ reiterated its position that any such 

sharing was prohibited by the law. Specifically, DOJ stated that the FBI’s 

system can only share information with authorized users, dissemination is 

limited to those individuals performing law enforcement, and that 

additional efforts to examine other options would waste taxpayer funds.

By evaluating the technical and legal feasibility of options to share 

information, such as a notification alert to inform users of the National 

Crime Information Center if related case data are present in the National 

Missing and Unidentified Persons System, documenting the results, and 

implementing feasible options, DOJ could better inform those who are 

12. Missing and Unidentified Persons Data

Potential Benefit

Increased efficiency in solving missing

and unidentified-persons cases

Implementing Entities

Federal Bureau of Investigation and 

National Institute of Justice

Link to Actions

GAO has identified one action for 

agencies to improve data sharing on 

missing and unidentified persons 

cases. See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-515

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Diana Maurer at (202) 

512-9627 or maurerd@gao.gov.
Page 60 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

helping solve missing and unidentified persons cases. GAO could not 

estimate any cost savings resulting from this recommendation, but 

implementation could reduce overlap and fragmentation of data on 

missing and unidentified persons, thereby helping to solve these cases 

more efficiently.

Table 28 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOJ for review and 

comment. The department responded and reiterated the comments it

provided in the June 2016 report. In commenting on GAO’s June 2016 

report on which portions of this analysis are based, DOJ disagreed with 

GAO’s recommendation, because DOJ believes it does not have the legal 

authority to fulfill the corrective action as described in the proposed 

recommendation. Specifically, DOJ stated that the National Missing and 

Unidentified Persons System does not qualify, under federal law, for 

access to the National Crime Information Center and is not an authorized 

user to receive National Crime Information Center data. Therefore, DOJ 

does not believe there is value in evaluating the technical feasibility of 

integrating these two databases.

GAO understands the legal framework placed on the National Crime 

Information Center and that it may be restricted from fully integrating with 

a public database. However, this statutory restriction does not preclude 

DOJ from exploring options to more efficiently share information within 

the confines of the current legal framework. Until DOJ studies whether 

such feasible mechanisms exist, it will be unable to make this 

determination, risking continued inefficiencies through fragmentation and 

overlap.

Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains: Opportunities May Exist to 

Share Information More Efficiently. GAO-16-515. Washington, D.C.: June 

7, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 61 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Office of Management and Budget should convene an interagency forum to better manage fragmentation 

of efforts to collect sexual violence data that can improve the overall understanding of the scope of this 

problem in the United States.

Research has shown that sexual violence has long-lasting effects on 

victims, including sexually transmitted diseases, eating disorders, anxiety, 

depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Further, the economic 

costs of rape, including medical and social services, loss of productivity, 

decreased quality of life, and law-enforcement resources, are estimated 

by academic research to range from about $41,000 to $150,000 per 

incident. Data on the occurrence of sexual violence are critical to 

preventing, addressing, and understanding the consequences of these 

types of crimes.

Four federal agencies—the Department of Defense, Department of 

Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department 

of Justice—manage at least 10 efforts to collect data on sexual violence, 

which differ in target population, terminology, measurements, and 

methodology. These data collection efforts use 23 different terms to

describe sexual violence. Data collection efforts also differ in how they 

categorize particular acts of sexual violence, the context in which data are 

collected, data sources, units of measurement, and time frames. 

Differences in these efforts may hinder the understanding of the overall 

occurrence of sexual violence. Further, agencies’ efforts to explain and 

minimize differences have been fragmented—generally only involving 2 of 

the 10 data collection efforts at a time—and limited in scope.

The Committee on National Statistics’ Principles and Practices for a 

Federal Statistical Agency (2013) calls for federal agencies that produce 

similar federal statistics, with different missions, to coordinate and 

collaborate with each other to meet current information needs and provide 

new data or more useful data than a single system can provide. The 

guidance encourages collaborative interagency efforts and highlights the 

importance of agencies developing standard definitions as a way to 

maximize the value and comparability of data. Under its authority in the 

Paperwork Reduction Act, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

has convened interagency working groups to assess differences across 

data collection efforts and determine which of those differences are 

beneficial and which are unnecessary, but it has not convened a working 

group on sexual violence data.

In its July 2016 report, GAO recommended that the Director of OMB 

establish a federal interagency forum on sexual violence statistics. The 

forum should consider the broad range of differences across the data 

collection efforts to assess which differences enhance or hinder the 

overall understanding of sexual violence in the United States. OMB stated 

13. Sexual Violence Data

Potential Benefit

Improve agency collaboration and the 

understanding of the scope of sexual 

violence in the United States

Implementing Entities

Office of Management and Budget

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to address 

differences across sexual violence 

statistics. See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-546

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Gretta Goodwin at (202) 

512-8777 or goodwing@gao.gov.
Page 62 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

that convening a forum may not be the most effective use of resources at 

this time, in part because the agencies are not far enough along in their 

research. However, OMB said it will consider convening an interagency 

forum or sharing information across agencies in the future. Because 7 of 

the 10 data collection efforts have been in place for more than 10 years, 

and several have been in place for multiple decades, GAO disagrees with 

OMB’s assertion that none of the research efforts are far enough along 

for OMB to provide guidance and best practices. GAO maintains that 

given the number of federal data collection efforts, the range of 

differences across them, and the potential for causing confusion, it would 

be beneficial for agencies to discuss these differences and determine 

whether they are, in fact, necessary.

Timely implementation of this recommendation could improve the public’s 

and policymakers’ understanding of sexual violence data and the scope

of the problem of sexual violence in the United States. GAO could not 

estimate any cost savings resulting from this recommendation, but 

implementation could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of policies 

developed to combat sexual violence.

Table 29 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to OMB for review and 

comment. OMB provided technical comments, which were incorporated 

as appropriate. OMB stated that the Department of Justice’s Bureau of 

Justice Statistics and the Department of Health and Human Services’ 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working together to 

conduct research on how data collection methodologies, including how 

questions are asked, affect the measurement of sexual violence in the 

context of each agency’s programmatic needs. OMB reiterated that this 

research is not far enough along to warrant the investment of resources 

to establish a formal interagency working group. OMB stated that it has 

taken steps to enhance collaboration among the agencies, including 

facilitating discussion of data collection parameters that affect sexual 

violence reporting.

Sexual Violence Data: Actions Needed to Improve Clarity and Address 

Differences Across Federal Data Collection Efforts. GAO-16-546. 

Washington, D.C.: July 19, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 63 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

As a key step to address the potential overlap in the collection and reporting of foreign assistance information, 

the Department of State, in consultation with U.S. Agency for International Development and the Office of 

Management and Budget, needs to improve data quality to ensure consistency in published information.

The Department of State’s (State) ForeignAssistance.gov website aims to 

enable U.S. citizens, civil-society organizations, Congress, federal 

agencies, partner countries, and other donors to research and track U.S. 

government foreign-assistance investments in an accessible and easily 

understood format. In August 2016, GAO found that the data on 

ForeignAssistance.gov were incomplete and that State was not fully 

transparent about the website’s data limitations. This was, in part, 

because State did not update ForeignAssistance.gov with data that are 

verified and reported by the U.S. Agency for International Development 

(USAID). Specifically, GAO’s analysis of fiscal year 2014 data showed 

that, for the 10 agencies with data on ForeignAssistance.gov, the website 

did not include over $10 billion in disbursements and about $6 billion in 

obligations data that USAID had reported.

USAID compiles foreign-assistance data from 22 federal agencies to 

meet an annual reporting requirement to Congress. USAID also presents 

these data on its website called the Foreign Aid Explorer. In contrast, 

ForeignAssistance.gov reports quarterly data, and GAO found that it only 

does so for 10 federal agencies. Nevertheless, the information reported 

on ForeignAssistance.gov would be expected to be consistent with 

USAID’s reporting, in part because both agencies use essentially the 

same definition of foreign assistance—based upon Section 634 of the 

Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended. However, State and USAID 

officials told GAO that they are unable to update ForeignAssistance.gov 

with USAID-verified data because of differences in their datasets. For 

example, ForeignAssistance.gov data include up to 189 data fields; 

however, USAID verifies the information only for a subset of about 20 

data fields. Additionally, ForeignAssistance.gov identifies and reports data 

at the transaction level, whereas USAID aggregates the transaction-level 

data to the activity level.

On July 15, 2016, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 

2016 (Public Law 114-191) was enacted, which noted the sense of 

Congress that by the end of fiscal year 2018 the Secretary of State and 

the Administrator of USAID should coordinate the consolidation of data 

collection and presentation for their respective websites, to the extent 

possible, to maximize efficiencies. Further, the Office of Management and 

Budget’s (OMB) 2012 guidance on collection of U.S. foreign-assistance 

data stated that ForeignAssistance.gov will establish a standardized 

reporting framework for all U.S. foreign assistance, and these data will be 

used to fulfill the annual reporting requirements being carried out by 

USAID. Without high-quality data, efforts to achieve these goals of 

consolidated data and standardized reporting will be hampered.

14. Foreign-Assistance Data Quality

Potential Benefit

More efficient collection and reporting 

of U.S. foreign-assistance data

Implementing Entities

Department of State

Link to Actions

GAO identified two actions to improve 

the quality of data on foreign 

assistance. See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-768

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact David Gootnik at (202) 

512-3149 or gootnickd@gao.gov.
Page 64 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

GAO recommended that State, in consultation with OMB and USAID, 

review the efforts to date on ensuring data quality and develop additional 

guidance that takes into consideration current challenges to updating 

ForeignAssistance.gov with verified data. The agency agreed with the 

recommendation. In February 2017, officials noted that State has 

developed guidance and coordinated with the other relevant agencies to 

require them to complete a standard template explaining the entire 

foreign-assistance portfolio and which parts are reported and which are 

not. To date, of the 13 agencies providing data reflected on 

ForeignAssistance.gov, five have yet to submit information according to 

the new guidance, according to State. In addition, State officials noted 

that State has collaborated with USAID to onboard new agencies, identify 

their foreign-assistance portfolio, and to reconcile any discrepancies by 

comparing programs that have historically been reported and those that 

are currently being submitted.

Until data-quality issues are addressed, any efforts to remedy potential 

overlap in the information collected and reported cannot be achieved.

Information on cost savings are not available, since it is unclear at this 

time the extent to which improved data quality would ultimately result in 

more efficient data collection and reporting.

Table 30 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to State for review and 

comment. State provided technical comments and in response GAO 

made changes to this report section where appropriate.

Foreign Assistance: Actions Needed to Improve Transparency and 

Quality of Data on ForeignAssistance.gov. GAO-16-768. Washington, 

D.C.: August 24, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 65 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

To reduce universities’ workload and compliance costs, the multiple agencies that award federal research 

grants should better coordinate and manage fragmentation and address variation in grants’ administrative 

requirements.

More than two dozen federal agencies use grants and other mechanisms 

to fund research in support of agency missions related to public health, 

energy security, and space exploration, among others. In fiscal year 

2016, these agencies obligated about $28.6 billion for such research at 

colleges and universities, according to preliminary data from the National 

Science Foundation (NSF). Agencies implement a variety of 

administrative requirements for use of these funds. These include (1) 

requirements for protecting against waste, fraud, and abuse of grant 

funds, and (2) requirements for promoting the quality and effectiveness of 

federally funded research.

In June 2016, GAO reported that the fragmented implementation of these 

requirements at four of the top federal funders of university research—the 

Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA), Department of Health and Human Services’ 

(HHS) National Institutes of Health (NIH), and NSF—creates unnecessary 

workload and costs for universities. Universities commonly receive grants 

from multiple agencies, and have to design and implement multiple 

processes and may need to invest in electronic systems to comply with 

agencies’ requirements, and researchers and administrative staff must 

spend time learning the different requirements, processes, and systems. 

In accordance with federal goals for streamlining regulations and 

guidance, the four agencies GAO reviewed as well as other agencies 

have made continuing efforts to reduce universities’ workload and costs 

by standardizing administrative requirements across agencies. However, 

GAO found that these efforts have not fully addressed variation in the 

requirements, thereby limiting the potential reductions in universities’ 

workload and costs. For example, agencies have not standardized 

requirements for developing and submitting documentation for grant 

proposals, as they have done with some post-award requirements, such 

as financial reporting.

GAO recommended in June 2016 that DOE, NASA, HHS, and NSF 

coordinate with each other and with other agencies that fund research to 

identify additional areas where they can standardize requirements, and 

report on these efforts. DOE, NASA, and HHS concurred with the 

recommendation and stated that they would build on previous efforts to 

standardize requirements. NSF did not state whether it concurred with the 

recommendation. In January 2017, the American Innovation and 

Competitiveness Act was signed into law, requiring the Office of 

Management and Budget, in coordination with the Office of Science and 

Technology Policy, to establish an interagency working group to reduce 

15. Administrative Requirements on Federal 

Research

Potential Benefit

Greater efficiency in the administration 

of federal funds for university research

Implementing Entities

Department of Energy, National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

Department of Health and Human 

Services, National Science Foundation

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to help 

standardize administrative 

requirements on research grants. See

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-573

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact John Neumann at (202) 

512-3841 or neumannj@gao.gov.
Page 66 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

administrative workload and costs while protecting the transparency of 

and accountability for federally funded research.1 As of March 2017, 

DOE, HHS, NASA, and NSF stated that, as part of their efforts to 

implement GAO’s recommendation, they would coordinate with other 

research funding agencies through this interagency working group.

By standardizing administrative requirements for federal research grants, 

agencies could achieve reductions in universities’ administrative workload 

and costs while maintaining accountability over grant funds. GAO does 

not have an estimate of the potential cost savings from this action, 

because there is uncertainty regarding the amount of workload and costs 

that universities currently incur and the potential reductions that could 

result from standardization. However, efforts to standardize requirements 

can result in greater efficiency in the use of federal funds for university 

research, such as by allowing researchers to spend more of their time 

conducting research rather than complying with administrative 

requirements.

Table 31 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOE, HHS, NASA, and 

NSF for review and comment. The agencies provided information on 

steps they have taken in response to GAO’s recommendation, as 

discussed above.

Federal Research Grants: Opportunities Remain for Agencies to 

Streamline Administrative Requirements. GAO-16-573. Washington, 

D.C.: June 22, 2016.

 1

Pub. L. No. 114-329, § 201(d) (2017). The law requires the working group to (A) regularly 

review relevant, administration-related regulations imposed on federally funded 

researchers; (B) recommend those regulations or processes that may be eliminated, 

streamlined, or otherwise improved; (C) recommend ways to minimize the regulatory 

burden on United States institutions of higher education performing federally funded 

research while maintaining accountability for federal funding; and (D) recommend ways to 

identify and update specific regulations to refocus on performance-based goals rather 

than on process. Id., § 201(e).

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 67 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

This appendix summarizes 14 areas for Congress or executive branch 

agencies to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of 

government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury.

Appendix IV: Areas in Which GAO Has 

Identified Other Cost Savings or Revenue 

Enhancement Opportunities
Page 68 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

This page left blank
Page 69 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

By managing its commissaries more efficiently, the Department of Defense could position itself to better 

achieve its cost savings target of $2 billion.

The Department of Defense (DOD) operates 238 commissaries 

worldwide to provide groceries and household goods at reduced prices as 

a benefit to military personnel, retirees, and their dependents. As required 

by law, DOD uses appropriated funds to cover commissary operating 

costs, such as employee salaries and service contracts, instead of 

marking up prices for products to pay for these costs as commercial

grocery stores do. Since 2010, Congress appropriated $1.4 billion 

annually on average to fund commissary operations. In 2015 and 2016, 

Congress and DOD demonstrated interest in improving the efficiency of 

commissaries through legislative actions and proposals that would 

potentially reduce the use of appropriated funding for commissaries and 

alter business practices to be more like commercial grocery stores.

GAO found that DOD can more efficiently manage its commissaries and 

potentially achieve cost savings. In November 2016, GAO reported that 

DOD did not develop a congressionally mandated plan for ending the use 

of appropriated funding. DOD instead proposed an estimated cost 

savings target of $2 billion over 5 years (fiscal years 2017 through 2021); 

however, it did not provide details on how it would achieve this target. 

Further, in February 2017, GAO reported that DOD did not effectively 

analyze and use potential cost-saving practices routinely used in 

commercial grocery stores. For example, commissaries did not determine 

which products to sell based on their contribution to total store sales. 

Also, DOD did not conduct cost-benefit analyses to determine whether 

the use of contractors or in-house staff was more cost-effective for 

stocking items and conducting custodial services. Further, DOD did not 

assess options for product distribution, such as whether it is more costeffective to distribute smaller quantities of products directly from 

manufacturers to stores or to transport larger volumes of products to a 

central distribution area for distribution to nearby stores.

In November 2016, GAO recommended that DOD develop a plan that 

identifies assumptions, a methodology, cost estimates, and specific time 

frames for achieving reductions to appropriations. DOD concurred with 

the recommendation. In its response letter, DOD said that the estimated 

$2 billion cost-savings target was based in part on estimates and 

recommendations provided in a July 2015 study conducted for DOD. In 

February 2016, DOD established a board to review initiatives for making 

the commissaries more efficient, and as these initiatives are approved 

DOD expects to provide more specific information to Congress. In March 

2017, GAO recommended that DOD develop a plan with objectives, 

goals, and time frames on how it will improve efficiency in product

management at its commissaries and that it conduct cost-benefit 

analyses to guide decisions on how to cost-effectively execute its 

16. Department of Defense Commissaries

Potential Benefit

Billions of dollars

Implementing Entities

Department of Defense

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to 

improve efficiency in commissary 

management. See GAO’s Action 

Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-38 and GAO-17-80

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Brian J. Lepore at (202) 

512-4523 or leporeb@gao.gov.
Page 70 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

stocking and custodial services and choose product distribution options. 

In response, DOD provided written comments and concurred with GAO’s 

recommendation to develop a plan and partially concurred with the 

recommendation to conduct cost-benefit analysis. GAO continues to 

believe the cost-benefit analysis recommendation is valid. 

Implementing these recommendations could help DOD manage its 

commissaries more efficiently. By developing a plan with action steps to 

guide its efforts to generate more sales, leverage efficiencies gained from 

better management of products, and use more cost-effective methods for 

services and product distribution, DOD will be better positioned to 

successfully achieve its cost savings target of $2 billion over 5 years and 

reduce its reliance on appropriated funds in operating commissaries.

Table 32 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOD for review and 

comment. The department did not provide comments on this report 

section.

Defense Commissaries: DOD Needs to Improve Business Processes to 

Ensure Patron Benefits and Achieve Operational Efficiencies. 

GAO-17-80. Washington, D.C.: March 23, 2017.

DOD Commissaries and Exchanges: Plan and Additional Information 

Needed on Cost Savings and Metrics for DOD Efforts to Achieve Budget 

Neutrality. GAO-17-38. Washington, D.C.: November 9, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 71 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Department of Defense needs to incorporate key principles of effective human capital management in its 

special and incentive pay programs, which could lead to program improvements that could save tens of

millions of dollars annually.

In fiscal year 2015, the Department of Defense (DOD) spent over $3.4 

billion on special and incentive (S&I) pays for its active-duty 

servicemembers. Before DOD began to consolidate these pays into 8 

categories in 2008, there were more than 60 of them. DOD uses the S&I 

pay programs to compensate and incentivize servicemembers for 

occupations that are dangerous, are less desirable, or require special 

skills and training.

In February 2017, GAO found that DOD has not systematically reviewed 

whether it has incorporated key principles of effective human capital 

management in its S&I programs for nuclear propulsion, aviation, and 

cybersecurity. GAO also found that the consistency with which the 

services applied these principles varied by service and occupation. 

Examples include the following:

• The services do not routinely assess whether nonmonetary incentives 

could be used as less costly approaches to addressing retention 

challenges. For example, Navy officials said that in managing their 

nuclear program they use nonmonetary incentives to complement S&I 

pays for retention purposes, including guarantees for shore duty and 

graduate education. However, the services have not assessed 

whether nonmonetary incentives can be expanded.

• DOD and the services’ guidance for S&I pay do not explicitly 

incorporate personnel performance into criteria for retention bonuses. 

While the Navy incorporates performance into retention bonuses by 

targeting bonuses to pilots who are on track for promotion, DOD 

officials said that the S&I pay programs were not designed to target 

top performers.

• The services do not tailor their approaches to target the retention of 

cybersecurity personnel. The Air Force, the Navy, and the Marine 

Corps generally allow personnel with overall information-technology 

skill sets, which include cybersecurity as well as intelligence and 

information technology, to receive the same bonuses as its 

cybersecurity personnel because they are grouped into the overall job 

category of information technology. The services therefore are not 

able to target bonuses only to cybersecurity personnel when those 

personnel are the only ones in short supply.

GAO recommended, among other things, that DOD (1) review all its 

special and incentive programs to ensure that it has incorporated key 

principles of effective human capital management in its programs, (2) 

routinely assess the impact of nonmonetary incentive approaches on 

17. Department of Defense Special and 

Incentive Pays

Potential Benefit

Tens of millions of dollars annually

Implementing Entities

Department of Defense

Link to Actions

GAO identified four actions to improve 

effectiveness of the military services’ 

special and incentive pay programs. 

See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-39

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Brenda S. Farrell at (202) 

512-3604 or farrellb@gao.gov.
Page 72 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

retention behavior, (3) clarify guidance on the extent to which personnel 

performance should be incorporated into retention decisions, and (4) 

develop approaches to directly target bonuses to personnel with 

cybersecurity skillsets. DOD partially concurred with the first and fourth 

recommendations and concurred with the second and third.

With respect to the first recommendation, DOD stated that it does use 

management principles such as flexibility in adjusting quickly to changing 

conditions, though it does not articulate these principles in the same 

manner as GAO. GAO agrees DOD does use some of the principles; 

however, DOD does not consistently use other key principles crucial to 

using resources efficiently such as tailoring special pays to target unique 

staffing needs. With respect to the fourth recommendation, DOD stated 

that it is crucial for the services to retain flexibility in using S&I pay. GAO, 

however, believes allowing the services to more specifically target critical 

skills allows them even more flexibility to meet their needs because they 

do not need to pay more to personnel who are not in short supply.

Fully implementing these recommendations would help DOD and the 

services to ensure that S&I pay programs are effectively designed and 

that resources are optimized for the greatest return on investment. For 

example, the Air Force partially addressed the principle of identifying and 

evaluating unique staffing issues by reviewing civilian-sector 

compensation to calculate bonus amounts, but it offered retention 

bonuses to pilots across all platforms. In contrast, the Navy began 

offering retention bonuses to pilots by specific type of aircraft in fiscal year 

2011, and by fiscal year 2015 had achieved a cost reduction of almost 40 

percent for these bonuses, totaling $17.5 million. If the Air Force revises 

its retention bonus program to provide bonuses more specifically and this 

change results in a similar level of savings as was realized by the Navy, 

GAO estimates that the Air Force could save approximately $24 million in 

aviation pays annually. Implementing all of GAO’s recommendations 

would improve the management of the S&I pay program overall. If DOD 

could save a small percentage of the $3.4 billion it spends on all of its S&I 

pay programs, it could save tens of millions of dollars annually.

Table 33 in appendix VIII lists the programs GAO identified that might 

have opportunities for cost savings or revenue enhancement.

GAO also provided a draft of this report section to DOD for review and 

comment. DOD provided technical comments, which were incorporated 

as appropriate.

Military Compensation: Additional Actions Are Needed to Better Manage 

Special and Incentive Pay Programs. GAO-17-39. Washington, D.C.: 

February 3, 2017.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 73 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Navy could achieve millions of dollars in cost savings from improved use of warranties and guarantees 

in shipbuilding.

The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard together spend about $17 billion per 

year building ships to support national defense and homeland security. 

Shortly after a ship is delivered, defects often become evident. To fix 

defects for which shipbuilders are responsible, the Navy and Coast Guard 

use two mechanisms—warranties and guarantees. Warranty provisions, 

as outlined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), normally provide 

that the government may direct the contractor to repair or replace 

defective items at the contractor’s expense. Guarantees are Navy-specific 

contractual mechanisms that provide for the correction of defects, but the 

responsibility for paying for these corrections varies depending upon 

contract terms.

GAO reported in March 2016 that for the four ships that it reviewed with 

fixed-price incentive-type contracts and guaranty clauses, the government 

paid the shipbuilder $4.9 million (89 percent of the defect-correction cost, 

including profit) to correct shipbuilder-responsible defects. This means the 

Navy paid the shipbuilder to build the ship as part of the construction 

contract, and then paid the shipbuilder to repair the ship when defects 

were discovered shortly after delivery—essentially rewarding the 

shipbuilder for delivering a ship that needed additional work. For example, 

on LPD 25—an amphibious transport dock—the Navy determined that 

shipbuilder actions resulted in peeling hull paint shortly after delivery and 

subsequently submitted a guaranty claim. Since, under the contract’s 

guaranty clause, the contractor was not obligated to make the repairs at 

its own expense, the Navy paid the shipbuilder to repaint the vessel. 

According to Navy officials, this approach reduces the overall cost of 

purchasing ships because the cost of including the warranty in the 

contract would likely exceed the value of repairs. However, the Navy has 

no analysis that proves this point.

In contrast, the warranty on one Coast Guard ship—the Fast Response 

Cutter—improved cost and quality by requiring the shipbuilder to pay to 

repair shipbuilder-responsible defects. Under the terms of the warranty, 

the Coast Guard could require the shipbuilder to repair and pay for an 

unlimited amount of shipbuilder-responsible defects within the first year 

after delivery. The Coast Guard has claimed over $1.5 million worth of 

repairs under the ship’s warranty—a 145 percent return on investment 

when comparing repair cost savings to the cost for the warranty.

Although the FAR and Department of Defense guidance instruct 

programs to, respectively, consider and document the use of a warranty, 

the use of warranties is not mandatory, and the Navy does not consider 

using them for ship contracts. In contrast, the Coast Guard’s Fast 

Response Cutter warranty fosters high-quality performance by following 

18. Navy Shipbuilding

Potential Benefit

Millions of dollars in cost savings

Implementing Entities

Department of the Navy

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to 

improve the use of warranties and 

guarantees in Navy shipbuilding. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-71

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Michele Mackin at (202) 

512-4841 or mackinm@gao.gov.
Page 74 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

FAR warranty provisions. The Navy may be missing savings by not 

considering the use of warranties. Also, the Navy has no stated objective 

for its guarantees, and guidance for contracting officers is minimal as to 

when or how to use them. The FAR does not apply to guarantees, but 

federal internal control standards state that government programs require 

objectives and guidance to ensure they achieve desired results. The lack 

of a clear objective and guidance for guaranty use and for determining 

when a warranty is appropriate in shipbuilding hinders Navy contracting 

officers’ ability to decide what mechanism best serves taxpayers’ 

interests.

To improve the use of warranties and guarantees in Navy shipbuilding, 

GAO recommended the Secretary of Defense direct the Secretary of the 

Navy to take three actions: (1) structure contracts so shipbuilders cannot 

earn profit for correcting defects for which they are responsible; (2) 

determine whether a warranty is appropriate in its contracts; and (3) 

establish a guaranty objective and guidance. The Department of Defense 

partially concurred with the recommendations and it planned to complete 

a study in December 2016. As of February 2017, this study is not 

complete.

The Navy could obtain potential cost savings by expanding the use of 

warranties in shipbuilding. However, it is difficult to estimate the savings 

because they are dependent on the provisions in the warranties, and the 

Navy does not know how much work could fall within the parameters of a 

warranty. If cost savings were similar to the examples of expenses 

incurred to correct defects and the savings from the use of warranties, 

these savings could be in the millions of dollars.

Table 34 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities related to this 

issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOD for review and 

comment. The department did not provide comments on this report 

section.

Navy and Coast Guard Shipbuilding: Navy Should Reconsider Approach 

to Warranties for Correcting Construction Defects. GAO-16-71. 

Washington, D.C.: March 3, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 75 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Department of Energy could potentially save up to tens of billions of dollars by improving its analysis of 

options for permanently storing defense high-level nuclear waste and commercial spent nuclear fuel.

The Department of Energy (DOE) had planned for decades to store 

defense and commercial nuclear waste in a single repository at Yucca 

Mountain in Nevada, which was to be funded largely from commercial 

power industry fees. In 2010, DOE terminated this plan and then 

analyzed developing separate repositories for defense and commercial 

nuclear waste—a change that required a presidential finding under the 

Nuclear Waste Policy Act. In 2015, DOE provided the President with 

information stating that separate repositories would produce benefits in 

each of the six evaluation areas required by the act—cost efficiency, 

public acceptability, regulation, transportation, national security, and 

health and safety. Based on this information, in 2015 the President 

reversed a 1985 presidential finding and determined that a separate 

repository for defense waste was required, potentially committing DOE to 

developing separate repositories for defense high-level waste and 

commercial spent nuclear fuel.

In January 2017, however, GAO found that DOE did not sufficiently 

quantify the benefits of moving to separate repositories and that its cost 

estimates were not reliable. For example, DOE’s cost estimates excluded 

major items, such as site-selection costs, which could add tens of billions 

of dollars to the difference in costs between a single repository and 

separate ones for defense and commercial waste. DOE also did not show 

the risks that some benefits may not be realized as planned. For 

example, GAO found that DOE’s schedule estimates were not reliable 

because DOE did not provide information on how its schedule would be 

achieved. GAO found that these estimates left little time for major 

activities and were not realistic, given past experiences. GAO 

recommended that DOE conduct a comprehensive assessment of the 

benefits, costs, and schedules of the options it reviewed and provided to 

the President in 2015, in accordance with Office of Management and 

Budget guidance and best practices, and, in light of new information and 

results from the assessment, that DOE revise—if needed—the 

department’s conclusion that a separate defense high-level waste 

repository is required. In response, DOE agreed with the spirit of the 

recommendation and stated that it will conduct additional, comprehensive 

analysis, but it also stated it is committed to developing separate 

repositories because it offers great flexibility and optionality in developing 

programmatic pathways for the disposal of such waste. GAO believes 

that the additional information is needed to justify DOE’s plan that 

separate repositories for defense and commercial nuclear waste are 

preferable to a single repository for both types.

The decision to have separate nuclear waste repositories will require 

unknown, but significant, future resources. Yet the information DOE 

19. Storage of Defense and Commercial 

Nuclear Waste

Potential Benefit

Tens of billions of dollars in cost 

savings

Implementing Entities

Department of Energy

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to ensure the 

Department of Energy obtains reliable 

cost and benefit information for nuclear 

waste storage options. See GAO’s

Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-174

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact David C. Trimble at (202) 

512-3841 or trimbled@gao.gov.
Page 76 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

provided the President in support of this decision lacked a comprehensive 

assessment of benefits, and reliable cost and schedule estimates. 

Comprehensively quantifying benefits and costs, and using such 

information as the basis for a decision on nuclear waste storage, may 

show that tens of billions of dollars could be saved if DOE reverted to its 

original plan to have a single repository for defense and commercial 

nuclear waste.

Table 35 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOE for review and 

comment. DOE stated that GAO’s statements were misleading because 

GAO’s report concluded that an improved analysis might avoid wasting 

money, not save billions of dollars. DOE stated that improving its analysis 

to the level of rigor requested by GAO would not necessarily save any 

money, but any savings would depend on what DOE’s analysis said. DOE 

further stated that since GAO did not conduct its own cost analysis, GAO 

had no basis to conclude that tens of billions of dollars could be saved.

GAO did not need to develop its own cost assessment to identify 

shortcomings and potential areas of savings in DOE’s efforts. As GAO 

stated in its January 2017 report, DOE’s estimates for a defense-only 

repository excluded billions of dollars in siting, characterization, and 

disposal packaging and transportation costs—costs that would have to be 

paid twice for two repositories. In addition, as GAO reported in January 

2017, experts and stakeholders stated that a defense high level waste 

repository could delay DOE’s efforts to site and develop a subsequent 

commingled repository, potentially resulting in billions of dollars in added 

costs, which were also not reflected in DOE’s assessment. Also, DOE 

continues to underestimate public opposition in its efforts to site a 

repository, which has significantly hindered its recent efforts for 

permanently storing certain nuclear waste and could add years and costs 

to what DOE has estimated. Notably, DOE’s own analysis showed that 

two separate repositories would likely be more expensive than a single, 

commingled repository. Including the costs that DOE omitted will likely 

make the cost difference between separate and commingled repositories 

even greater. An analysis that takes into account industry best practices 

for cost estimating and DOE’s own guidance on front-end planning could 

show that DOE may save billions—and possibly tens of billions—by 

pursuing an alternative approach.

Nuclear Waste: Benefits and Costs Should Be Better Understood Before 

DOE Commits to a Separate Repository for Defense Waste. 

GAO-17-174. Washington, D.C.: January 31, 2017.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 77 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Department of Veterans Affairs could better avoid cost increases and schedule delays on its medical 

facility construction projects by improving management of facility construction.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has 26 ongoing major medical 

facility construction projects—each costing more than $10 million —

intended to provide improved health care to veterans, among other 

objectives. GAO has previously reported on VA’s weaknesses in 

managing major medical facility projects, yet concerns remain about VA’s 

project-management practices. As a result, Congress mandated that VA 

outsource to other federal entities the design and construction of certain 

ongoing projects, including a project in Denver, Colorado, and future 

projects costing $100 million or more. VA chose the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers (Corps) to manage these projects. Regardless of whether VA 

or the Corps manages a project, VA will be responsible for managing 

“activation”—the process of making the facility ready for full operation 

after construction, including adding medical equipment.

In March 2017, GAO found weaknesses in VA’s processes. Specifically, 

VA lacks a mechanism to systematically collect or monitor data to 

oversee the change-order process. As a result, VA cannot determine how 

processing time frames and design changes affect costs and schedules 

and thus is at risk for unexpected cost increases and schedule delays. 

For the Denver project, the only project the Corps is managing that is 

under construction, VA lacks a reliable activation cost estimate, and the 

construction and activation schedules are not aligned.

Change orders: VA lacks a mechanism to systematically collect or 

monitor data on time frames to process change orders. Although VA’s 

contract-management software collects information on the dates that 

change orders were initiated and approved, VA does not use the software 

to determine whether changes are approved within the required time. This 

software does not currently track reasons for change orders, such as 

whether VA medical staff requested the change. VA plans to replace this 

software with a system that records this information. However, it is not yet 

clear how VA plans to use this information to oversee change orders, 

because VA lacks a mechanism to oversee and monitor changes to a 

facility’s design. Without such a mechanism, VA cannot determine how 

processing time frames and design changes affect costs and schedules 

and thus is at risk for unexpected cost increases and schedule delays.

Activation cost and scheduling estimates: VA’s activation cost 

estimate for the Denver project increased from $272 million in 2012 to a 

current estimate of $341 million. VA officials could provide little 

documentation on how they developed the original estimate and said that 

staff responsible for it are no longer with VA. VA officials said that the 

original activation estimate was developed using a predecessor to VA’s 

20. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical 

Facility Construction

Potential Benefit

Avoid cost increases

Implementing Entities

Department of Veterans Affairs

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to improve 

management of facility construction. 

See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-70

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact David J Wise at (202) 

512-2834 or wised@gao.gov.
Page 78 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

current model for estimating activation costs, which is being revised to 

help VA medical center staff more accurately estimate activation costs. 

VA officials said that the estimate increased to $341 million due to 

updated information such as more precise equipment requirements. 

Because VA’s current estimate for activating the facility is based on the 

2012 estimate, it is not well supported. Consequently, GAO could not 

determine whether the estimate was reliable and met criteria in the GAO

Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. GAO’s analysis showed that the 

Denver construction and activation schedules are not integrated and their 

milestones do not align. Although VA’s policies call for integrating such 

schedules, they are inconsistent and unclear. 

GAO recommended that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs take steps to 

establish a mechanism to monitor the extent that major facilities projects 

follow guidelines on change-order time frames and design changes; 

develop an activation cost estimate for the Denver project that is reliable 

and conforms with best practices; and require that (1) all projects have an 

integrated master schedule to ensure that the integrated master 

schedules include and link all construction and activation activities; and 

(2) the policies on integrated master schedules for projects that VA and 

the Corps manage are consistent. VA concurred.

Improving its management of facility construction will help VA avoid cost 

increases and schedule delays. Because potential future cost increases 

are unknown, GAO cannot precisely estimate the potential cost savings 

from implementing these recommendations. 

Table 36 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to VA for review and comment. 

On March 29, 2017, VA disagreed that it lacks a reliable activation cost 

estimate for the Denver project. VA did not make a similar comment on a 

draft of the report on which this section is based that contained the same 

finding. In its comments on this section, VA said that it uses a budget 

model to estimate activation costs and that the model has evolved to 

develop better estimates. GAO incorporated information about this model 

to provide better context. While GAO agrees that using the model is a 

positive development, VA did not provide documentation needed for GAO 

to evaluate the activation estimate’s reliability. VA also provided technical 

comments, which were incorporated as appropriate.

VA Construction: Improved Processes Needed to Monitor Contract 

Modifications, Develop Schedules, and Estimate Costs. GAO-17-70. 

Washington, D.C.: March 7, 2017.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 79 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

An increased focus on analyzing agency-wide purchase card use would provide federal agencies with 

opportunities to leverage the government’s buying power and potentially obtain substantial cost savings on the 

billions spent annually using purchase cards.

In fiscal year 2015, federal agencies used purchase cards to procure 

nearly $19 billion of a wide variety of goods, such as office supplies and 

general contractor services. The government purchase card program was

created to provide a low-cost, efficient vehicle for obtaining goods and 

services directly from vendors. The Office of Management and Budget’s 

guidance (1) requires agency officials to incorporate purchase card data 

into strategic sourcing analysis and (2) recommends that agencies review 

and analyze purchase card spending patterns for opportunities to 

negotiate discounts, improve buying processes, and leverage buying 

power. Further, federal internal controls state that management should 

use information—such as opportunities to obtain savings on purchase 

card buys—to achieve objectives.

In its May 2016 report, GAO found that selected agencies—the 

Departments of Defense (DOD), Veterans Affairs (VA), the Interior 

(Interior), Homeland Security, and Energy (Energy), and the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—have varied in their use of 

purchase card data. Four of these six agencies took steps to 

independently analyze purchase card spending patterns. For example, 

EPA and Interior identified opportunities for agency-wide savings through 

such analysis, and regional VA offices identified opportunities for local or 

agency-wide savings on items procured with purchase cards. However, 

Energy and certain DOD components, such as the Air Force and Navy, 

did not perform an analysis of purchase card spending. Without more 

focused efforts, these agencies may be missing opportunities to find cost 

savings.

GAO recommended that Energy take steps to regularly analyze agencywide purchase card spend patterns and that DOD issue guidance to help 

ensure that its components do the same. In their responses, Energy 

stated its intention to use a new spending-analytics database to analyze 

agency-wide purchase card spending patterns, and DOD indicated plans 

to issue guidance. GAO also recommended that DOD, VA, Interior, 

Homeland Security, Energy, and EPA develop guidance that encourages 

local agency officials to examine purchase card spend patterns and share 

this information. DOD, VA, Homeland Security, and Energy planned to 

issue guidance. Interior indicated it will encourage its bureaus to use 

data-analysis tools to make purchase card data available, but did not see 

a need for additional guidance. After GAO published its report, EPA 

indicated that it will seek opportunities to benchmark with other agencies 

and share information on approaches used to identify opportunities for 

positive strategic sourcing outcomes.

21. Government Purchase Cards

Potential Benefit

Substantial cost savings

Implementing Entities

Departments of Defense, Veterans 

Affairs, the Interior, Homeland Security, 

and Energy, and the Environmental 

Protection Agency

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to help 

identify areas for cost savings. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-526

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Marie A. Mak at (202) 

512-4841 or makm@gao.gov.
Page 80 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The financial benefits of implementing these recommendations cannot be 

precisely quantified because the effect they would have on thousands of 

individual transactions is unknown. However, given that agencies 

purchased between $16.9 billion and $19.5 billion on purchase cards 

each year from fiscal year 2010 to 2015, the savings could be substantial. 

In just one example, GAO found a VA office recognized an opportunity for 

savings when purchasing wheelchair ramps for disabled veterans, which 

resulted in reported savings of $1.1 million.

Table 37 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to DOD, VA, Interior, DHS, 

Energy, and EPA for review and comment. In response, DOD pointed to 

guidance issued in September 2016 asking its components to analyze 

purchase card spending data for areas of possible savings. VA stated in 

its comments that it will continue to update its purchase card policy to 

encourage analysis of purchase card spend patterns and that its Office of 

Management now produces quarterly purchase card reports to help 

identify potential opportunities for strategic sourcing and cost savings. 

Interior stated that it is continuing efforts to supply purchase card data to 

program managers and buyers in its bureau organizations and will 

continue to encourage inclusion of purchase card information in its 

category management efforts. DHS stated in its technical comments that 

its purchase card manual was revised in November 2016 to encourage 

components to perform additional spend analysis for the identification of 

strategic sourcing opportunities. Energy said that it is taking steps to 

gather data and configure data systems to analyze agency-wide purchase 

card spending. Additionally, Energy will update acquisition guidance to 

encourage local agency officials to analyze purchase card spending for 

strategic sourcing opportunities. EPA noted that it continues to use 

purchase card data to inform its agency-wide spend analysis and has 

encouraged local agency officials to examine spending for opportunities 

to obtain savings.

Government Purchase Cards: Opportunities Exist to Leverage Buying 

Power. GAO-16-526. Washington, D.C.: May 19, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 81 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Internal Revenue Service could better gauge whether vessel operators are complying with the inland 

waterways fuel tax by obtaining access to proprietary data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The inland waterways of the United States are especially important in the 

transportation of heavy, bulk commodities such as coal, petroleum, 

chemicals, and grain. Vessel operators that transport these products via 

barge pay a 29 cent per gallon excise tax on fuel consumed for 

propulsion purposes on the approximately 11,000 miles of designated 

taxable inland waterways. Vessel operators pay the tax to the Internal 

Revenue Service (IRS) on a quarterly basis and must keep adequate 

records of all fuel used for taxable purposes. From 2005 through 2014, 

the fuel tax generated average revenues of approximately $83 million per 

year for the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, which helps to pay to build or 

rehabilitate waterway navigation infrastructure, such as locks and dams.

GAO reported in July 2016 that IRS uses some data from the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers (Corps), such as public waterborne commerce and 

lock performance data, during its audits to ensure compliance with the 

inland waterways fuel tax. However, IRS does not have access to 

independent, third-party data to verify actual fuel consumption. 

Specifically, IRS does not have access to the Corps’ proprietary 

waterborne-commerce statistics and lock performance data, which IRS 

could potentially use to estimate fuel consumption and thereby identify 

vessel operators that may be underreporting their tax liability.

GAO recommended in the July 2016 report that IRS consult with the 

Corps to explore options to obtain this relevant proprietary data to 

enhance IRS’s efforts to ensure that vessel operators are in compliance 

with the requirements to report and pay the inland waterways fuel tax. In 

response, IRS agreed that obtaining proprietary data could further 

enhance its enforcement activities and ensure future compliance. Further, 

IRS indicated it would renew efforts with the Corps to explore options for 

overcoming previously encountered barriers relating to conflicting datadisclosure requirements that limit the exchange of data. As of February 

2017, IRS stated that it has communicated with the Corps regarding 

access to the Corps’ proprietary data. Specifically, the IRS and Corps are 

negotiating language acceptable to both parties for a nondisclosure

agreement, according to IRS. IRS further mentioned that such an 

agreement is required by the Corps prior to sharing the relevant 

proprietary data. Since the recommendation was not directed to the 

Corps, the Corps did not comment on this recommendation.

Implementing this recommendation might provide additional tax revenue 

to the Inland Waterways Trust Fund, thereby increasing available funding 

for navigation infrastructure, including locks and dams. Since IRS has not 

estimated fuel tax revenue using the proprietary Corps data and has not 

22. Inland Waterways Fuel Tax

Potential Benefit

Enhance revenue for the Inland 

Waterways Trust Fund

Implementing Entities

Internal Revenue Service

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to enhance 

efforts to ensure compliance. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-682

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Rebecca Shea at (202) 

512-2834 or shear@gao.gov.
Page 82 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

compared those estimates with actual taxpayer data, GAO was not able 

to estimate the extent of additional tax revenue that could be obtained 

from taxpayers that may be underreporting their tax liability.

Table 38 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or other activities related 

to this issue area, including budget information when available.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to IRS for review and 

comment. IRS provided technical comments and in response GAO made 

changes to this report section where appropriate.

Inland Waterways Fuel Tax: Additional Data Could Enhance IRS’s Efforts 

to Ensure Taxpayer Compliance. GAO-16-682. Washington, D.C.: July 

29, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 83 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Office of Management and Budget could improve agencies’ communication abilities and reduce the 

hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually on land mobile radio equipment by including this technology in its 

initiative to manage spending across government for commonly purchased goods.

Public safety personnel across the nation rely on land mobile radio (LMR) 

systems to share information and coordinate their emergency response 

efforts. LMR systems have similar components—including handheld 

portable radios and mobile radios mounted in vehicles, as well as base 

stations to transmit signals or audio. Nevertheless, interoperable LMR 

communications—the ability to communicate across agencies—remain a 

challenge for various technical and nontechnical reasons.

GAO found that several federal agencies require LMR interoperability with 

one another for daily operations, planned events, and emergencies. The 

exact amount of federal funds spent each year on LMR equipment 

government-wide is unknown, but GAO estimates it is likely hundreds of 

millions of dollars, given the known costs for the Department of Homeland 

Security alone, which reported spending almost $526 million on LMR 

infrastructure, equipment, and personnel in fiscal year 2016. Although 

federal agencies spend millions of dollars each year on LMR equipment, 

many federal agencies do not coordinate with one another before 

purchasing new equipment—for example, by agreeing to purchase 

through a limited number of high-performing contract vehicles. As a 

result, the agencies may be limited in their ability to exert buying power 

with manufacturers to obtain quantity discounts. This duplication of 

procurement efforts for similar goods and services also imposes 

significant costs to agencies.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recognizes that agencies 

often purchase and manage items in a fragmented and inefficient 

manner, through tens of thousands of contracts and delivery orders. To 

address this issue, OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy directs 

agencies to implement “category management,” which is an approach 

based on leading practices to manage entire categories of spending 

across government for commonly purchased goods and services. This 

approach enables the federal government to leverage its purchasing 

power to realize cost savings and may also help enhance LMR 

interoperability, particularly if taken in combination with interagency 

agreements and training and exercises. Although OMB’s category 

management approach includes many information-technology goods and 

services, it does not include LMR equipment.

In October 2016, GAO recommended that OMB improve federal agency 

LMR procurement practices by examining the feasibility of including LMR 

technology in its category management initiative. In response, OMB 

generally agreed with this recommendation, and noted that it is working to 

23. Land Mobile Radio Procurement

Potential Benefit

Cost savings and improved 

communications

Implementing Entities

Office of Management and Budget

Link to Actions

GAO identified one action to improve 

federal agency land mobile radio 

procurement. See GAO’s Action 

Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-12

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Rebecca Shea at (202) 

512-2834 or shear@gao.gov.
Page 84 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

identify which information-technology strategies will produce the best 

return on investment and that it continues to evaluate its category-specific 

strategic plans. 

Although GAO cannot estimate potential cost savings until a proposal for 

this concept is developed because the data are unavailable, by including 

LMR equipment in the category management initiative, the federal 

government may be able to more fully leverage its aggregate buying 

power to save money and obtain the most advantageous terms and 

conditions for LMR procurements while also helping agencies to more 

effectively communicate in their day-to-day operations and when 

responding to emergencies. According to OMB, from 2010 to 2014 

agencies had reduced contract duplication by up to 40 percent in some 

areas, and had saved over $417 million when government-wide strategic 

sourcing was utilized.

Table 39 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities related to this 

issue area, including budget information when available.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to OMB for review and 

comment. OMB’s liaison to GAO provided comments that stated OMB 

has been working with the Departments of Homeland Security and the 

Interior and the General Services Administration to apply category 

management principles in planning for the next generation of LMR 

solutions. OMB noted that enhancing the offerings available through new 

and existing solutions should reduce the frequency of sole source 

procurements and independent approaches and better position the 

government to leverage volume purchasing in the LMR market. OMB 

stated it will continue to work with relevant agencies to ensure that federal 

solutions for LMR take maximum advantage of category management 

principles. OMB also provided technical comments, which were 

incorporated as appropriate.

Emergency Communications: Improved Procurement of Land Mobile 

Radios Could Enhance Interoperability and Cut Costs. GAO-17-12. 

Washington, D.C.: October 5, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 85 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Internal Revenue Service could potentially realize hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings by 

improving the administration of three large refundable tax credits.

Millions of taxpayers—many of whom are low-income, working, raising 

children, or pursuing higher education—benefit from the three refundable 

tax credits GAO reviewed: (1) the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), (2) 

the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), which is sometimes combined 

with its nonrefundable counterpart, the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and (3) 

the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC). These credits and the 

Premium Tax Credit (PTC), which helps cover health-insurance premiums 

under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, are the four 

refundable credits available to individuals. A refundable credit, in addition 

to offsetting tax liability, refunds to the taxpayer any excess credit over 

the tax liability. In 2013, the most recent year data are available, 

taxpayers claimed $68.1 billion of the EITC, $55.1 billion of the 

CTC/ACTC, and $17.8 billion of the AOTC.

In May 2016, GAO identified several challenges with the Internal 

Revenue Service’s (IRS) administration of these refundable tax credits. 

The credits have complex eligibility rules that contribute to compliance 

burden for taxpayers and administrative costs for IRS. These rules are 

often complex because they must address complicated family 

relationships and residency arrangements to determine who is a 

qualifying child. IRS has difficulty verifying compliance with the rules due 

to the lack of available third-party data. Due in part to this complexity, 

these credits have relatively high overclaim error rates. The average 

dollar amounts overclaimed per year for 2009 to 2011, the most recent 

years of data available at the time of GAO’s review, were $18.1 billion for 

the EITC, $6.4 billion for the CTC/ACTC, and $5.0 billion for the AOTC. 

IRS is working on a strategy to address EITC noncompliance, but this 

strategy does not encompass all refundable tax credits that GAO 

reviewed or the PTC.

GAO made four recommendations to IRS, including developing a 

comprehensive compliance strategy that includes all three refundable tax 

credits that GAO reviewed and using available data to identify potential 

sources of noncompliance and inform allocation decisions. (The PTC was 

not included in GAO’s review because data were limited on this relatively 

new credit.) IRS agreed with three recommendations and has started to 

implement them, but raised concerns about the cost of studying 

collections data for postrefund enforcement activities. GAO recognizes 

that gathering collections data has costs. However, a significant amount 

of enforcement activity is occurring after refunds have been paid, and use 

of these data could better inform resource allocation decisions and 

improve the overall efficiency of enforcement efforts. As of February 

2017, IRS is taking steps toward developing a comprehensive compliance 

strategy that includes the three refundable tax credits GAO reviewed, as 

24. Refundable Tax Credits

Potential Benefit

Hundreds of millions of dollars in cost 

savings

Implementing Entities

Internal Revenue Service

Link to Actions

GAO identified four actions to improve 

the administration of refundable tax 

credits. See GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Product

GAO-16-475

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact James R. McTigue, Jr., at 

(202) 512-9110 or mctiguej@gao.gov.
Page 86 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

well as the PTC. These steps include initial planning meetings with Lean 

Six Sigma consultants and refundable credit policy and program 

managers and soliciting volunteers for the teams needed to develop the 

strategy.

Without a comprehensive compliance strategy that includes all three 

refundable tax credits that GAO reviewed, IRS may be limited in its ability 

to assess and improve resource allocations. IRS is also missing 

opportunities to use available data to identify potential noncompliance

and develop strategies for addressing them. Although there is uncertainty 

in the cost savings associated with these actions, given the size of these 

three credits even a small improvement in compliance, say a 1 percent 

reduction in overpayments, could contribute to a decrease in improper 

payments or other errors that could result in hundreds of millions of 

dollars in cost savings.

Table 40 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to IRS for review and 

comment. IRS said it did not have comments on this report section.

Refundable Tax Credits: Comprehensive Compliance Strategy and 

Expanded Use of Data Could Strengthen IRS’s Efforts to Address 

Noncompliance. GAO-16-475. Washington, D.C.: May 27, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 87 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

By better aligning federal payments for hospitals’ uncompensated care—services provided to uninsured and 

low-income patients for which hospitals are not fully compensated—with hospitals’ costs, the Centers for 

Medicare & Medicaid Services could potentially save over a billion dollars annually.

Hospitals historically have incurred billions of dollars in costs for 

uncompensated care—services they provide to uninsured and lowincome patients for which they are not fully compensated. The federal 

government spends about $50 billion annually to help hospitals with these 

costs. Both Medicare (the federal health-coverage program for the elderly 

and certain disabled individuals) and Medicaid (the joint federal–state 

program for low-income and medically needy individuals) make multiple 

types of payments that help offset hospital uncompensated care costs. 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, enacted on March 23, 

2010, included a provision that required the Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS) to better align Medicare and Medicaid 

payments with hospitals’ uncompensated care costs. The act also 

redirected some existing Medicare funds that indirectly helped offset 

hospitals’ uncompensated care costs toward a new Medicare 

Uncompensated Care payment program that would specifically help to 

offset these costs. The act directed CMS to distribute the Medicare 

Uncompensated Care payments on the basis of each hospital’s 

uncompensated care costs.

GAO reported in June 2016 that Medicare Uncompensated Care 

payments are not well aligned with hospital uncompensated care costs,

potentially resulting in relatively large amounts of available funding being 

distributed to hospitals where uncompensated care costs are likely 

declining. GAO identified two reasons for this poor alignment. First, 

payments are largely based on hospitals’ Medicaid workload (hospital 

days spent treating Medicaid patients) rather than on actual hospital 

uncompensated care costs. CMS officials acknowledged this process 

could result in payments that are not aligned with uncompensated costs, 

particularly in states that have expanded Medicaid, resulting in fewer 

uninsured individuals and therefore lower uncompensated costs. Second, 

CMS does not account for hospitals’ Medicaid payments that offset 

uncompensated care costs when making Medicare Uncompensated Care 

payments. In 2016, GAO estimated that the majority of Medicare 

Uncompensated Care payments to individual hospitals, about $7.7 billion, 

were based on Medicaid workload. Supplemental Medicaid payments that 

these hospitals may have also received can significantly reduce or even 

eliminate some hospitals’ uncompensated care costs. For example, in a 

2012 report GAO found that for 255 hospitals Medicaid payments 

exceeded uncompensated care costs by over $1.6 billion after accounting 

for supplemental Medicaid payments. This figure does not include 

hospitals whose Medicaid payments did not exceed uncompensated care 

costs but eliminated or nearly eliminated hospital uncompensated care 

costs.

25. Federal Payments for Hospital 

Uncompensated Care

Potential Benefit

Over a billion dollars annually

Implementing Entities

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services

Link to Actions

GAO identified two actions to ensure 

better targeting of federal payments for 

hospital uncompensated care. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-568

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Katherine Iritani at (202) 

512-7114 or iritanik@gao.gov.
Page 88 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

GAO recommended that CMS improve alignment of Medicare 

Uncompensated Care payments by basing payments on actual hospital 

uncompensated care costs and account for Medicaid payments made 

when making Medicare Uncompensated Care payments to individual 

hospitals. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 

concurred with both recommendations and indicated that the agency 

planned to implement them beginning in fiscal year 2021 to allow time for 

hospitals to collect and report reliable uncompensated care cost data.

Taking these actions could help CMS be a more efficient purchaser of 

health-care services by distributing Medicare Uncompensated Care 

payments to hospitals based on actual uncompensated care costs as 

intended. In addition, by accounting for the effect Medicaid payments 

have on reducing hospitals’ costs for uncompensated care, CMS could 

prevent over a billion dollars of Medicare Uncompensated Care payments 

from going to hospitals that may not have any uncompensated care and 

reallocating them instead to hospitals that do continue to incur these 

costs.

Table 41 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to CMS for review and 

comment. The agency provided technical comments and said it is making 

progress towards implementing the recommendations, such as the 

implementation of a fraud risk assessment.

Hospital Uncompensated Care: Federal Action Needed to Better Align 

Payments with Costs. GAO-16-568. Washington, D.C.: June 30, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 89 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services needs timely, complete, and consistent data on Medicaid

personal care services so it can effectively monitor these services, which could lead to tens of millions of 

dollars in annual savings.

Millions of individuals who have limited ability to care for themselves 

because of age or disability depend on Medicaid personal care services 

for help bathing, dressing, and toileting, among other assistance, so they 

can remain in their homes. Yet personal care services are at high risk of 

improper payments. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services’ (CMS) 2014 Improper Payments Report, more than $2 billion in 

payments for personal care services (about 6 percent) were improper in 

2014. This improper payment rate is the third-highest rate among all 

Medicaid service categories.

Medicaid is a federal–state health-financing program for low-income and 

medically needy individuals. CMS manages two data systems that collect 

information from state Medicaid programs on personal care services. One 

system collects detailed information on provider claims and state 

payments for services rendered. The second system collects states’ total 

aggregate Medicaid expenditures across broad service categories for 

purposes of federal reimbursement. These data suggest that 

expenditures for personal care services are large and growing—to nearly 

$15 billion in fee-for-service expenditures in 2015, up $2.3 billion from 

2012.

In January 2017, GAO found that the two systems’ data have limited 

usefulness for CMS oversight because of certain gaps and errors. For 

example, data from the claims system for 2012 (the most recent available 

at the time of GAO’s review) were lacking for 16 states, and of the 

remaining states, key information needed for oversight was often missing 

or inconsistent. This key information included provider identification 

numbers and the type, quantity, and dates of services. Without reliable 

claims data, CMS is unable to effectively monitor who provided the 

services and the types, amounts, and time frames of the services, which 

makes it challenging for CMS to verify that beneficiaries were eligible at 

the time of service and that the payment amounts were reasonable.

Likewise, data from the expenditure system were not always accurate or 

complete. From 2012 through 2015, 17 percent of expenditure lines for 

personal care services were not reported correctly, mainly due to states 

not separately reporting expenditures for personal care services, as 

required by CMS. States also erroneously reported, or failed to report, 

expenditures corresponding with their approved personal care service 

programs. As a result of these problems, CMS is limited in its oversight 

ability, including accurately estimating the magnitude of potential 

improper payments and ensuring that federal reimbursement for personal 

care services is consistent with states’ approved programs.

26. Medicaid Personal Care Services

Potential Benefit

Tens of millions of dollars annually

Implementing Entities

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services

Link to Actions

GAO identified three actions to improve 

Medicaid data on personal care 

services needed for oversight. See 

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-17-169

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Katherine Iritani at (202) 

512-7114 or iritanik@gao.gov.
Page 90 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

CMS has taken some steps to address these data problems, such as 

developing a new system for collecting Medicaid claims data and 

establishing an office to support CMS’s use of Medicaid data for program 

management and monitoring. However, CMS has not issued guidance 

related to reporting of personal care services that addresses the issues 

GAO identified, or developed plans to use personal care service data for 

oversight.

GAO recommended that CMS improve personal care services data by 

establishing standard reporting guidance for key data, ensuring state 

compliance with reporting requirements, and developing plans to use data 

for oversight. The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) agreed 

with GAO’s recommendations to ensure state compliance with reporting 

requirements and develop plans to use the data; it neither agreed nor 

disagreed with the recommendation to establish standard reporting 

guidance for data on personal care services. HHS officials stated they 

had recently published a request for information to gather input on 

additional reforms and policy options, including appropriate reporting 

standards, and that the information collected will be used to determine the 

agency’s next steps. As of March 2017, CMS has not yet determined 

which steps it will take, if any.

Taking these actions could result in CMS collecting better data on 

personal care services and using the data for more effective monitoring 

and oversight, including identification of improper payments. Based on 

CMS’s estimated improper payment rate for personal care services and 

annual spending on personal care services, reducing improper payments 

for Medicaid personal care services could result in cost savings in the 

tens of millions of dollars annually.

Table 42 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to CMS for review and 

comment. CMS provided technical comments and in response GAO 

made changes in this report section where appropriate.

Medicaid: CMS Needs Better Data to Monitor the Provision of and

Spending on Personal Care Services. GAO-17-169. Washington, D.C.: 

January 12, 2017.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 91 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could recover hundreds of millions of dollars in improper 

payments by improving its processes for auditing payments to Medicare Advantage organizations.

In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) paid 

approximately $160 billion to Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations—

entities that offer a private plan alternative to traditional Medicare. CMS 

estimated that improper payments to MA organizations totaled about $16 

billion in 2014, primarily because MA organizations submitted 

unsupported diagnosis information that led CMS to increase its payments. 

CMS pays MA organizations a predetermined monthly amount per 

beneficiary. The monthly payments are adjusted using information on 

enrollees’ diagnosis codes to account for variation in the costs of 

providing health care to beneficiaries, a process known as risk 

adjustment. For example, CMS increases payments for MA contracts that 

enroll beneficiaries who are in poorer health.

CMS conducts risk adjustment data validation (RADV) audits to 

determine the accuracy of the diagnosis information and to recover 

improper payments. In the audits, CMS assesses the accuracy of the 

diagnosis information for a sample of beneficiaries for each selected MA 

contract. CMS then extrapolates the audit results to all the beneficiaries in 

the contract. CMS has RADV audits under way for payments made in 

2011, 2012, and 2013; none have been completed. CMS has estimated 

that completing annual RADV audits would allow it to recover hundreds of 

millions of dollars in improper payments yearly.

In April 2016, GAO reported that CMS’s RADV audit process needs 

fundamental improvements. GAO found that (1) CMS did not select for 

inclusion in the RADV audit program those MA contracts with the greatest 

potential for recovery of improper payments; (2) the RADV audit process 

is so lengthy that CMS’s goal to conduct annual audits is in jeopardy; and 

(3) CMS has failed to include Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC) in MA, 

as required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

GAO made five recommendations to CMS to improve its processes for 

selecting contracts to include in the RADV audits, enhance the timeliness 

of the audits, and incorporate RACs into the RADV audits. The 

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which administers 

CMS, agreed with the recommendations in GAO’s report. As of July 2016, 

CMS reported that it had taken initial actions to address GAO’s 

recommendations, but none have been fully implemented. HHS did not 

provide an update on the status of its efforts to implement GAO’s 

recommendation, as requested in March 2017.

Implementing GAO’s recommendations would allow CMS to recover 

greater sums of improper payments to MA organizations by conducting 

the audits more quickly, by focusing the audits on those contracts that are 

27. Medicare Advantage Improper Payments

Potential Benefit

Hundreds of millions of dollars annually

Implementing Entities

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services

Link to Actions

GAO identified five actions to help 

improve audit processes to recover 

improper payments. See GAO’s Action 

Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-76

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact James Cosgrove at (202) 

512-7114 or cosgrovej@gao.gov.
Page 92 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

most likely to produce substantial recoveries, and by increasing CMS’s 

audit resources. Although it is not possible to estimate the exact amount 

of savings that would result from implementation of these 

recommendations, CMS estimated that the RADV audit for the 2011 

payment year will produce savings of $370 million when completed. If the 

impact were similar in other years, the cost savings could amount to 

hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Table 43 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to HHS for review and 

comment. HHS did not provide comments on this report section.

Medicare Advantage: Fundamental Improvements Needed in CMS’s 

Effort to Recover Substantial Amounts of Improper Payments.

GAO-16-76. Washington, D.C.: April 8, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 93 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

By strengthening enrollment controls and better managing fraud risk for health-insurance coverage provided 

under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could 

realize cost savings associated with subsidies and related spending, which were estimated to cost $56 billion 

for fiscal year 2017.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides for the 

establishment of health-insurance exchanges to help consumers compare 

and select among plans offered by participating private issuers of healthcare coverage, and offers subsidies to individuals eligible to purchase 

plans if they meet certain income and other requirements. According to 

the Congressional Budget Office, the estimated cost of subsidies and 

related spending under the act will total $866 billion for fiscal years 2017 

through 2026.

GAO found, based on undercover testing and other work, that the 

eligibility and enrollment process is vulnerable to fraud and that there are 

a number of actions the agency could take to promote program integrity 

and potentially realize cost savings. Among other things, GAO found that 

although an electronic verification process, using what is known as the 

“data services hub,” plays a key role in the eligibility and enrollment 

process for individual applicants, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services (CMS) does not track or analyze aggregate outcomes. As a 

result, CMS forgoes information that could suggest potential program 

issues or vulnerabilities to fraud, as well as information that might be 

useful for enhancing program management. GAO also found the agency 

did not have an effective process for resolving “inconsistencies”—

instances where applicant-supplied information does not match 

information from government data sources, such as tax-return 

information. By not resolving inconsistencies more effectively, the agency 

is at risk of granting eligibility to, and making subsidy payments on behalf 

of, individuals who are ineligible to enroll. The agency has not performed 

a comprehensive fraud risk assessment of the enrollment and eligibility 

process. Until such an assessment is done, CMS is unlikely to know 

whether existing control activities are suitably designed and implemented 

to reduce inherent fraud risk to an acceptable level.

In February 2016, GAO recommended that CMS take eight actions 

centered on the enrollment and eligibility process—specifically, to better 

oversee the efficacy of the process; to better monitor costs, risk, and 

program performance; to assist with tax compliance; to strengthen the 

eligibility-determination process; to provide applicants with improved 

customer service and up-to-date information about submission of 

eligibility documentation; and to better document agency activities. The 

agency concurred with GAO’s recommendations and at that time told 

GAO it is working to implement the recommendations; but it does not yet 

have a schedule for implementation. As of March 2017, the eight 

recommendations remained open.

28. Patient Protection and Affordable Care 

Act Enrollment

Potential Benefit

Cost savings associated with subsidies

and related spending

Implementing Entities

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services

Link to Actions

GAO identified eight actions to 

strengthen enrollment controls and 

better manage fraud risk. See GAO’s

Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-29

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Seto Bagdoyan at (202) 

512-6722 or bagdoyans@gao.gov.
Page 94 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Implementation of these recommendations could help the government run 

the program more efficiently, and, in the case of subsidized coverage in 

particular, avoid the cost of subsidies paid on behalf of applicants who are 

ineligible. However, estimating potential cost savings is difficult because 

CMS has yet to undertake work to assess the extent to which ineligible 

applicants may be receiving subsidies.

Table 44 in appendix VIII provides program information for the program 

related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to CMS for review and 

comment. The agency provided technical comments and said it is making 

progress towards implementing the recommendations.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: CMS Should Act to 

Strengthen Enrollment Controls and Manage Fraud Risk. GAO-16-29. 

Washington, D.C.: February 23, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Page 95 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The Social Security Administration could recover tens of millions of dollars annually in Disability Insurance

(DI) overpayments by increasing withholding rates of individuals’ ongoing monthly DI benefit payments.

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Disability Insurance (DI) 

program provides cash payments to individuals who can no longer work 

because of physical or mental impairments. In fiscal year 2015, SSA paid 

approximately $144 billion in DI benefits to about 10.8 million 

beneficiaries and their dependents. That same year, SSA detected 

approximately $1.2 billion in new DI overpayments—payments made in 

excess of what individuals are owed. Overpayments result from 

beneficiaries earning income above program limits, errors in 

recordkeeping, and other reasons. SSA uses a number of tools to recover 

these funds and return them to the Disability Insurance Trust Fund—the 

largest of which is withholding a portion of the monthly DI benefit 

payments due to individuals collecting benefits, accounting for 78 percent 

of recoveries in fiscal year 2015.

In April 2016, GAO reported that SSA could increase overpayments 

recovered through benefit withholding by pursuing additional tools, but 

SSA lacked concrete plans and time frames for studying or implementing 

these options. At that time, SSA stated that it was considering adjusting 

the minimum withholding amount from $10 per month—an amount which 

has not changed since 1960 according to SSA—to 10 percent of the DI 

monthly benefit amount, which the agency noted would put collections 

more in line with its Supplemental Security Income program. GAO 

identified additional options that would protect the value of collections 

against the effects of inflation: adjusting withholding amounts in 

accordance with annual cost-of-living adjustments and charging interest 

on debts being collected through withholding.

GAO recommended that SSA (1) adjust its minimum monthly withholding 

rate to 10 percent of DI benefits and (2) consider adjusting withholding 

rates according to cost-of-living adjustments or charging interest on debt 

being recovered through withholding and, if deemed necessary, pursue 

legislative authority to use any of these recovery tools that it is currently 

unable to use. SSA agreed with the first recommendation and noted that 

it submitted a related legislative proposal in its 2017 budget submission. 

However, SSA disagreed with the second recommendation, stating that 

while it had not fully studied the costs and benefits, it believed that such 

changes would entail significant information-technology and training costs 

and result in relatively little debt being collected. GAO maintains that the 

options merit further exploration in light of SSA not fully considering their 

costs and benefits. As of February 2017, SSA has yet to implement either 

recommendation.

Implementing these recommendations could help SSA recover tens of 

millions of dollars in overpayments annually—above those already 

29. Disability Insurance

Potential Benefit

Tens of millions of dollars annually

Implementing Entities

Social Security Administration

Link to Actions

GAO identified two actions to recover 

Disability Insurance overpayments. See

GAO’s Action Tracker.

Related GAO Products

GAO-16-331

Contact Information

For additional information about this 

area, contact Barbara D. Bovbjerg at 

(202) 512-7215 or bovbjergb@gao.gov.
Page 96 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

scheduled to be withheld—and shorten the length of time needed to 

complete repayments of these debts, which in some cases may take 

decades. For example, GAO estimated that adjusting the minimum 

withholding rate to 10 percent of monthly DI benefits would result in an 

additional $276 million returned to the Disability Insurance Trust Fund in 

fiscal years 2016 through 2020. GAO estimated these amounts by using 

data on existing overpayment balances and scheduled repayment 

amounts at the end of fiscal year 2015. The repayment amounts GAO 

estimated do not account for future changes such as individuals who gain 

or lose eligibility for benefits or whose ability to repay changes, so actual 

repayments would likely differ.

Table 45 in appendix VIII lists federal programs or activities and 

budgetary information related to this issue area.

GAO provided a draft of this report section to SSA for review and 

comment. SSA continues to disagree with GAO’s second 

recommendation. SSA also provided technical comments, which GAO 

incorporated as appropriate.

Disability Insurance: SSA Needs to Better Track Efforts and Evaluate 

Options to Recover Debt and Deter Potential Fraud. GAO-16-331. 

Washington, D.C.: April 13, 2016.

Agency Comments 

and GAO’s Evaluation

Related GAO 

Products
Appendix V: New Actions Added to Existing 

Areas in 2017

Page 97 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

As part of our April 2017 update of GAO’s Action Tracker, we are adding 

10 new actions based on GAO reports that fall within the scope of 6 

existing areas identified in prior annual reports. These actions are 

summarized in table 14.

Table 14: New Actions Added to Existing Areas in 2017

Mission

Annual 

report Area

Associated 

GAO product Actions identified

Agriculture 2011 Food Safety (Area 1) GAO-17-74 Appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the 

President, in consultation with relevant federal agencies and 

other stakeholders, should develop a national strategy that 

states the purpose of the strategy, establishes high-level 

sustained leadership, identifies resource requirements, 

monitors progress, and identifies short- and long-term 

actions to improve the food safety oversight system. 

General

government

2016 Identity Theft Refund 

Fraud (Area 22)

GAO-16-508 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should, in accordance 

with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and National 

Institute for Standards and Technology e-authentication 

guidance, (1) conduct an updated risk assessment to 

identify new or ongoing risks for the Taxpayer Protection 

Program’s online and phone authentication options, 

including documentation of time frames for conducting the 

assessment, and (2) implement appropriate actions to 

mitigate risks identified in the assessment.

2013 Agencies’ Use of 

Strategic Sourcing 

(Area 23)

GAO-17-164 To better promote federal agency accountability for 

implementing the federal strategic sourcing and category 

management initiatives, the Administrator of Federal 

Procurement Policy should ensure that transition plans are 

submitted and monitored as required by strategic sourcing 

and category management guidance.

To better promote federal agency accountability for 

implementing the federal strategic sourcing and category 

management initiatives, the Administrator of Federal 

Procurement Policy should update the Leadership Council 

charter to establish an expectation that Leadership Council 

agencies develop agency-specific targets for use of the 

solutions approved.

To better promote federal agency accountability for 

implementing the federal strategic sourcing and category 

management initiatives, the Administrator of Federal 

Procurement Policy should revise the 2015 category 

management guidance to establish a process for setting 

targets and performance measures for each Leadership 

Council agency's adoption of proposed strategic sourcing 

and category management solutions and ensure agencyspecific targets and measures are set.

Appendix V: New Actions Added to Existing 

Areas in 2017
Appendix V: New Actions Added to Existing 

Areas in 2017

Page 98 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area

Associated 

GAO product Actions identified

2011 Tax Expenditures 

(Area 17)

GAO-16-622 The Director of OMB, in collaboration with the Secretary of 

the Treasury, should work with agencies to identify which tax 

expenditures contribute to their agency goals, as 

appropriate—that is, they should identify which specific tax 

expenditures contribute to specific strategic objectives and 

agency priority goals.

International 

Affairs

2011 Antidumping and 

Countervailing Duties 

(Area 81)

GAO-16-542 To better manage the Antidumping and Countervailing 

(AD/CV) duty liquidation process, Customs and Border 

Patrol (CBP) should issue guidance directing the AD/CV 

Duty Centralization Team to (1) collect and analyze data on 

a regular basis to identify and address the causes of 

liquidations that occur contrary to the process or outside the 

6-month timeframe mandated by the statute, (2) track 

progress on reducing such liquidations, and (3) report on 

any effects these liquidations may have on revenue.

To improve risk management in the collection of AD/CV 

duties and to identify new or changing risks, CBP should 

regularly conduct a comprehensive risk analysis that 

assesses both the likelihood and the significance of risk 

factors related to AD/CV duty collection. For example, CBP 

could construct statistical models that explore the 

associations between potential risk factors and both the 

probability of nonpayment and the size of nonpayment when 

it occurs.

To improve risk management in the collection of AD/CV 

duties, CBP should, consistent with U.S. law and 

international obligations, take steps to use its data and risk 

assessment strategically to mitigate AD/CV duty 

nonpayment, such as by using predictive risk analysis to 

identify entries that pose heightened risk and taking 

appropriate action to mitigate the risk.

Social Services 2012 Housing Assistance 

(Area 28)

GAO-15-645 The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, in 

consultation with the Rental Policy Working Group, should 

work with states and localities to develop an approach for 

compiling and reporting on the collective performance of 

federal, state, and local rental assistance programs. Such an 

effort may begin with one or more pilot programs to test 

approaches before they are considered for wider application.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 99 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

In our 2011 to 2017 annual reports, we directed 97 actions to Congress, 

of which 61 remain open. Of the 61 open congressional actions, 9 are 

partially addressed and 52 are not addressed, as of March 1, 2017. See 

table 15.

Table 15: GAO-Identified Open Congressional Actions Related to Fragmentation, Overlap, Duplication, Cost Savings, or 

Revenue Enhancement, 2011–2017

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

Agriculture 2011 Food Safety (Area 

1)

Congress should consider commissioning the National Academy of Sciences or 

a blue ribbon panel to conduct a detailed analysis of alternative food safety 

organizational structures.

Congress should consider formalizing the Food Safety Working Group through 

statute to help ensure sustained leadership across food safety agencies over 

time.

2013 Catfish Inspection

(Area 1)

Congress should consider repealing provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill assigning 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) responsibility for examining and 

inspecting catfish and for creating a catfish inspection program. Implementing 

this action could save taxpayers $2.6 million annually, according to a Food 

Safety and Inspection Service estimate.

Agricultural 

Quarantine 

Inspection Fees

(Area 18)

Congress should consider taking steps to allow the Secretary of Agriculture to 

set fee rates to recover the full costs of the Agricultural Quarantine Inspection 

program. Implementing this action could have resulted in savings of $93 million

in fiscal years 2016 and 2017, according to GAO analysis.

Crop Insurance

(Area 19)

Congress may wish to consider either limiting the amount of premium subsidies 

that an individual farmer can receive each year—as it limits the amount of 

payments to individual farmers in many farm programs—or reducing premium 

subsidy rates, or both limiting premium subsidies and reducing premium subsidy 

rates. Implementing this action could achieve up to nearly $2 billion per year in 

cost savings, according to a GAO estimate.

Defense 2012 Stabilization, 

Reconstruction, and 

Humanitarian 

Assistance Efforts

(Area 6)

Congress should consider amending the legislation that supports the Overseas 

Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid–funded humanitarian assistance 

program—the Department of Defense’s (DOD) largest humanitarian assistance 

program—to more specifically define DOD’s role in humanitarian assistance, 

taking into account the roles and similar types of efforts performed by the civilian 

agencies.

2013 Joint Basing (Area 

20)

Congress should consider directing the Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

Energy, Installations, and Environment, in collaboration with the military services 

and joint bases, to evaluate the purpose of the program and determine whether 

the current goals, as stated in the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure 

Commission recommendation, are still appropriate, or whether goals should be 

revised; communicate these goals to the military services and joint bases, and 

adjust program activities accordingly; provide direction to the joint bases on 

requirements for meeting program goals, including determining reporting 

requirements and milestones; and determine any next steps for joint basing, 

including whether to expand it to other installations.

Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, 

by Mission
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 100 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

Economic 

development

2011 Essential Air Service 

(Area 42)

Congress may wish to consider revising the program’s operating requirements 

for providing air service to communities to improve efficiency and to better match 

capacity with community use.

This action is partially addressed. Congress has taken some action to address 

this action, such as revising the program’s operating requirements most recently 

in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2016. 

However, opportunities still exist to address this action, such as allowing 

flexibility in the number of flights provided.

Congress may wish to consider assessing multimodal solutions, such as more 

cost-effective bus service to hub airports or air taxi service, to provide 

communities alternatives to Essential Air Service.

2016 Treasury’s 

Foreclosure 

Prevention Efforts 

(Area 17)

Congress should consider rescinding any Department of the Treasury 

(Treasury)–deobligated excess Making Home Affordable (MHA) balances that 

Treasury does not move into the Hardest Hit Fund.

The agency estimated $4.7 billion in potential excess funds, $2 billion of which 

Treasury deobligated in February 2016. As of March 1, 2017, Treasury had not 

deobligated MHA program funds beyond the $2 billion that it transferred to the 

Troubled Asset Relief Program–funded Hardest Hit Fund in February 2016. To 

the extent that Treasury identifies and deobligates any MHA funds that are likely 

to not be expended, these funds may then be available for Congress to rescind 

and use elsewhere for other priorities.

Energy 2011 Federal Fleet 

Energy Goals (Area 

12)

Congress should consider changes in existing laws to streamline the 

requirements and provide fleet managers with more flexibility in meeting goals.

Oil and Gas 

Resources (Area 

45)

Congress may need to take action to require Interior to establish an annual 

production incentive fee or similar fee for nonproducing leases.

If the Department of the Interior (Interior) chooses not to take any action based 

on its study, examining how other oil and gas resource owners select fiscal 

parameters for leasing and adjusting oil and gas royalty rates, Congress may 

wish to provide additional guidance or take additional actions to direct Interior to 

improve its oversight of federal lands and waters and the revenues derived from 

production of oil and gas. Implementing the actions in this area could result in 

approximately $1.7 billion in revenues over 10 years, according to an Interior 

estimate.

2012 Excess Uranium 

Inventories (Area 

40)

Congress may wish to clarify the Department of Energy’s (DOE) statutory 

authority regarding depleted uranium, explicitly providing direction about whether 

and how DOE may sell or transfer the tails in their current form. Depending on 

the terms of the legislation, and given the significant amount of tails in inventory, 

the government could garner substantial revenue as a result. 
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 101 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

If Congress sees merit in using the proceeds from the barter, transfer, or sale of 

federal uranium assets to pay for environmental cleanup of uranium enrichment 

plants, it could consider providing DOE with explicit authority to barter excess 

uranium and to retain the proceeds from all three types of uranium transactions 

(barter, transfer, and sale). Likewise, Congress could direct DOE to sell uranium 

for cash and make those proceeds available by appropriation for 

decontamination and decommissioning expenses at DOE’s uranium enrichment 

plants.

Implementing the two actions in this area could result in a increased revenue of

about $1 billion, according to a GAO estimate.

2014 Advanced 

Technology 

Vehicles 

Manufacturing Loan 

Program (Area 13)

Unless DOE can demonstrate a demand for new Advanced Technology Vehicles 

Manufacturing loans and viable applications, Congress may wish to consider 

rescinding all or part of the remaining $4.2 billion in credit subsidy appropriations. 

Implementing this action could result in savings of $4.2 billion, according to a 

GAO estimate.

2015 U.S Enrichment 

Corporation Fund

(Area 16)

Congress may wish to permanently rescind the entire $1.6 billion balance of the 

U.S. Enrichment Corporation Fund. Rescission may increase the transparency of 

federal agencies’ budget presentations and help Congress have a clear 

understanding of how new funding requests relate to funding decisions for 

existing projects with continuing resource needs.

General 

government

2011 Simple Tax Return 

Errors (Area 56)

Congress may want to consider granting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

broader math error authority, with appropriate safeguards against misuse of that 

authority, to correct errors during tax return processing.

This action is partially addressed. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 

gave IRS additional math error authority, but limited to certain circumstances.

Giving IRS broader math error authority with appropriate controls would enable 

IRS to correct obvious noncompliance, would be less intrusive and burdensome 

to taxpayers than audits, and would potentially help taxpayers who underclaim 

tax benefits to which they are entitled. Implementing this action could result in 

cost savings of $274 million, between fiscal years 2018 and 2026, according to 

the Joint Committee on Taxation.

S Corporations

(Area 63)

Congress could require S corporations to use information already available to 

them to calculate shareholders’ basis as completely as possible and report it to 

shareholders and IRS.

Research Tax Credit

(Area 65)

Congress could eliminate the regular credit and add a minimum base amount 

(equal to 50 percent of a taxpayer’s current spending) to the method for 

computing the alternative simplified credit.
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 102 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

New Markets Tax 

Credit (Area 66)

Congress should consider offering grants in lieu of credits to Community 

Development Entities (CDE) if it extends the program again. If it does so, 

Congress should require the Department of the Treasury to gather appropriate 

data to assess whether and to what extent the grant program increases the 

amount of federal subsidy provided to low-income community businesses 

compared to the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC); how costs for administering 

the program incurred by the Community Development Financial Institutions 

(CDFI) Fund, CDEs, and investors would change; and whether the grant 

program otherwise affects the success of efforts to assist low-income 

communities. One option would be for Congress to set aside a portion of funds to 

be used as grants and a portion to be used as tax credit allocation authority 

under the current structure of the program to facilitate comparison of the two 

program structures.

Governmental 

Bonds (Area 67)

Congress should consider whether facilities, including hotels and golf courses, 

that are privately used should be financed with tax-exempt government bonds.

2012 Internal Revenue 

Service 

Enforcement Efforts

(Area 44)

Congress may wish to make owners of rental real estate subject to the same 

payment reporting requirements regardless of whether they engaged in a trade 

or business under current law. Implementing this action could result in savings of 

$2.5 billion between fiscal years 2011 and 2020, according to the Joint 

Committee on Taxation.

To help improve taxpayer compliance, Congress may wish to require payers to 

report service payments to corporations, thereby reducing payers’ burden to 

determine which payments require reporting.

2015 Consumer Product 

Safety Oversight

(Area 4)

Congress should consider transferring the oversight of the markings of toy and 

imitation firearms in section 5001 of title 15 of the U.S. Code from the 

Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology to 

the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Congress should consider establishing a formal comprehensive oversight 

mechanism for consumer product safety agencies to address crosscutting issues 

as well as inefficiencies related to fragmentation and overlap such as 

communication and coordination challenges and jurisdictional questions between 

agencies. Different types of formal mechanisms could include, for example, 

creating a memorandum of understanding to formalize relationships and 

agreements or establishing a task force or interagency work group. As a starting 

point, Congress may wish to obtain agency input on options for establishing 

more formal coordination.

2015 Tax Policies and 

Enforcement (Area 

17)

Congress should consider revisiting the use of individual retirement accounts 

(IRA) to accumulate large balances and considering ways to improve the equity 

of the existing tax expenditure on IRAs. Options could include limits on (1) the 

types of assets permitted in IRAs, (2) the minimum valuation for an asset 

purchased in an IRA, or (3) the amount of assets that can be accumulated in 

IRAs and employer-sponsored plans that get preferential tax treatment.

Congress should consider expanding the mandate that partnerships and S 

corporations electronically file their tax returns in order to cover a greater share 

of filed returns. 
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 103 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

2016 Financial Regulatory 

Structure (Area 5)

Congress should consider whether additional changes to the financial regulatory 

structure are needed to improve (1) the efficiency and effectiveness of oversight; 

(2) the consistency of consumer and investor protections; and (3) the 

consistency of financial oversight for similar institutions, products, risks, and 

services.

Congress should consider whether legislative changes are necessary to align the 

Financial Stability Oversight Council’s authorities with its mission to respond to 

systemic risks.

2016 Identity Theft 

Refund Fraud (Area 

22)

Congress should consider providing the Secretary of the Treasury with the 

regulatory authority to lower the threshold for electronic filing of W-2s from 250 

returns annually to between 5 to 10 returns, as appropriate. Implementing the

actions in this area could result in savings of billions of dollars, according to 

IRS and GAO analyses.

2017 Recovery 

Operations Center 

Closure (Area 10)

Congress may wish to consider directing the Council of the Inspectors General 

for Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) to develop a legislative proposal to 

reconstitute the essential capabilities of the Recovery Operations Center to help 

ensure federal spending accountability. 

2017 Use of the Do Not 

Pay Working 

System (Area 11)

Congress should consider amending the Social Security Act to explicitly allow 

the Social Security Administration to share its full death file with the Department 

of the Treasury for use through the Do Not Pay working system.

Health 2011 Medicare’s Health 

Care Payments

(Area 74)

Congress could exempt from the budget neutrality requirement savings 

attributable to policies that reflect efficiencies occurring when services are 

furnished together.

This action is partially addressed. While Congress has exempted certain 

savings from the budget neutrality requirement, other services remain subject 

to this requirement.

2013 Medicaid 

Supplemental 

Payments (Area 26)

Congress should consider requiring the Administrator of the Centers for 

Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to improve state reporting of nondisproportionate share hospital (DSH) supplemental payments, including 

requiring annual reporting of payments made to individual facilities and other 

information that the agency determines is necessary to oversee non-DSH 

payments.

This action is partially addressed. In January 2017, a bill, H.R. 541, was 

introduced in the House of Representatives which, if enacted, would require 

annual state reporting of non-DSH supplemental payments made to individual 

facilities. However, as of March 2017, Congress has not enacted legislation to 

require such reporting. In addition, CMS has taken some action, including 

issuing a State Medicaid Director Letter requiring annual reporting of certain 

Medicaid supplemental payments and awarding a contract to review Medicaid 

supplemental payment information submitted by states.
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 104 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

Congress should consider requiring the Administrator of CMS to clarify 

permissible methods of calculating non-DSH supplemental payments.

This action is partially addressed. In January 2017, a bill, H.R. 541, was 

introduced in the House of Representatives which, if enacted, would require 

CMS to issue guidance to states that identifies permissible methods for 

calculating non-DSH supplemental payments to providers. However, as of 

March 2017, Congress has not enacted legislation to require CMS to issue 

such guidance. In addition, CMS has taken some action, including issuing a 

State Medicaid Director Letter requiring states to submit non-DSH 

supplemental payment information and awarding a contract to review Medicaid 

supplemental payment information submitted by states.

Congress should consider requiring the Administrator of CMS to require states 

to submit an annual independent certified audit verifying state compliance with 

permissible methods for calculating non-DSH supplemental payments.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in hundreds of millions 

dollars in cost savings, according to GAO analysis.

2014 Medicaid 

Demonstration 

Waivers (Area 21)

Congress could consider requiring the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services to improve the Medicaid demonstration review process, through steps 

such as improving the review criteria, better ensuring that valid methods are 

used to demonstrate budget neutrality, and documenting and making clear the 

basis for the approved limits.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in billions of dollars in cost 

savings, according to GAO analysis.

2015 DOD US Family 

Health Plan (Area 6)

Congress should terminate the Secretary of Defense’s authority to contract 

with the US Family Health Plan (USFHP) designated providers in a manner 

consistent with a reasonable transition of affected enrollees into TRICARE’s 

USFHP regional managed care program or other health care programs, as 

appropriate. Implementing this action could result in savings of $157 million

from fiscal year 2018 through fiscal year 2022, according to GAO analysis.

2015 Medicare Payments 

to Certain Cancer 

Hospitals (Area 19)

Congress should consider requiring Medicare to pay prospective payment 

system (PPS)-exempt cancer hospitals (PCH) as it pays PPS teaching 

hospitals, or provide the Secretary of Health and Human Services with the 

authority to otherwise modify how Medicare pays PCHs, and provide that all 

forgone outpatient payment adjustment amounts be returned to the 

Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund. GAO estimated this action could 

result in savings of almost $500 million per year. 

2016 Medicare Payments 

by Place of Service 

(Area 30)

Congress should consider directing the Secretary of Health and Human 

Services to equalize payment rates between settings for evaluation and 

management office visits—and other services that the Secretary deems 

appropriate—and return the associated savings to the Medicare program. 

Implementing this action could lead to $1 billion per year in savings, 

according to estimates from MedPAC and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 105 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

Homeland 

security/law 

enforcement

2012 Homeland Security 

Grants (Area 17)

Congress may want to consider requiring the Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS) to report on the results of its efforts to identify and prevent 

unnecessary duplication within and across the State Homeland Security Grant 

Program, Urban Areas Security Initiative, Port Security Grant Program, and 

Transit Security Grant Program, and consider these results when making future 

funding decisions for these programs.

Once the Federal Emergency Management Agency has completed a national 

preparedness assessment of capability gaps, Congress may wish to consider 

limiting the use of federal preparedness grant programs to fund only projects to 

fill identified, validated, and documented capability gaps that may (or may not) 

include maintaining existing capabilities developed.

Immigration 

Inspection Fee

(Area 49)

Congress may wish to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to adjust the 

air passenger immigration inspection fee as needed so that collections are 

aligned with total inspection costs, if it is determined that total immigration fee 

collections do not cover total immigration inspection costs.

This action is partially addressed. As of March 2017, Congress had not 

enacted legislation, as GAO suggested in February 2012, to adjust the air 

passenger immigration fee. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

(ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have identified the extent to 

which collections are aligned with total immigration inspection costs. 

Implementing this action would have increased annual revenues by $175 

million in FY2012, according to GAO analysis.

Congress may wish to require the Secretary of Homeland Security to direct ICE 

and CBP to establish a regular schedule to review and coordinate on the costs 

of their respective air passenger immigration inspection activities, and revise 

the proportion of the fee received by each agency accordingly.

2013 Checked Baggage 

Screening (Area 28)

Congress may wish to consider directing the Transportation Security 

Administration (TSA) to study, in consultation with relevant industry 

stakeholders, whether the 90 percent federal cost share that TSA generally 

applies to cost sharing agreements for eligible airport facility modification 

projects related to the installation of checked baggage screening systems is 

appropriate or should be adjusted.

Congress may wish to consider whether an amendment to current legislation, 

or enactment of new legislation, is necessary and warranted if it is determined 

that a change in the current federal cost share that TSA generally applies to 

these cost-sharing agreements is appropriate.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in savings of $234 million

from 2015 to 2027, according to a TSA estimate.
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 106 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

Income 

security

2011 Social Security 

Offsets (Area 80)

Congress could consider giving IRS the authority to collect the information that 

the Social Security Administration (SSA) needs on government pension income 

to administer the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination 

Provision accurately and fairly. Implementing this action could save $2.4 

billion to $7.9 billion over 10 years, if enforced both retrospectively and 

prospectively, based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and 

the SSA. The estimated savings would be less if SSA only enforced the offsets 

prospectively as it would not reduce benefits already received.

2014 Disability and 

Unemployment 

Benefits (Area 8)

Congress should consider passing legislation to require the SSA to offset 

Disability Insurance benefits for any Unemployment Insurance benefits 

received in the same period. Implementing this action could save $1.9 billion

between fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2025, according to the Congressional 

Budget Office.

Federal Employees 

Compensation and 

Unemployment 

Benefits (Area 9)

To help verify claimants’ reported income and help ensure the proper payment 

of benefits, Congress should consider granting the Department of Labor the 

additional authority to access wage data.

Veterans’ and 

Survivors’ Benefits

(Area 23)

Congress should consider passing legislation that would establish a look-back 

and penalty period for claimants who transfer assets for less than fair market 

value prior to applying for pension benefits.

This action is partially addressed. In the 113th Congress, the House of 

Representatives passed H.R. 2189, which contained language to establish a 3-

year look-back and penalty period for the VA pension program. However, the 

bill was not ultimately enacted. As of March 1, 2017, there has been no 

legislative action taken in the current Congress. In January 2015, the 

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposed regulations establishing a lookback and penalty period for the VA pension program. VA plans to promulgate 

final regulations in the summer of 2017. Implementing this action could result in 

savings of about $4 million annually, according to the Congressional Budget 

Office.

Information 

technology

2013 Dissemination of 

Technical Research 

Reports (Area 10)

Congress may wish to consider examining the appropriateness and viability of 

the fee-based model under which the National Technical Information Service 

(NTIS) currently operates for disseminating technical information to determine 

whether the use of this model should be continued.

This action is partially addressed. Several bills were introduced during the 

114th Congress, including H.R. 443, S.787, S.1636, that had the potential to 

address this action. However, these bills were not ultimately enacted. As of 

March 1, 2017, there has been no legislative action taken in the current 

Congress. Additionally, the Department of Commerce Appropriations Act, 2015 

and 2016, limited instances where NTIS could charge customers fees for 

reports. This requirement continues in effect under the Continuing 

Appropriations Act, 2017.
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 107 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

Geospatial 

Investments (Area 

11)

Congress should consider assessing the impact of the disclosure restrictions of 

Section 9 of Title 13 and Section 412 of Title 39 of the U.S. Code in moving 

toward a national geospatial address database. If warranted, Congress should 

consider revising those statutes to authorize the limited release of addresses, 

without any personally identifiable information, specifically for geospatial 

purposes. Such a change, if deemed appropriate, could potentially result in 

significant savings across federal, state, and local governments.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in savings of millions of 

dollars.

2014 Interoperable Radio 

Communications 

Systems (Area 10)

Congress should consider requiring the Departments of Homeland Security

(DHS), Justice (DOJ), and the Treasury (Treasury) to collaborate on the 

development and implementation of a joint radio communications solution that 

specifically requires the departments to establish an effective governance 

structure that includes a formal process for making decisions and resolving 

disputes, define and articulate a common outcome for this joint effort, and 

develop a joint strategy for improving radio communications.

This action is partially addressed. Legislation has been enacted that is aimed 

at improving interoperable communications solely at DHS, but it does not 

require coordination across DHS, Treasury and DOJ as GAO suggested. 

Additionally, in the 114th Congress, the House of Representatives passed a bill 

(H.R. 2206) that would further address this action. However this bill was not 

ultimately enacted. As of March 1, 2017, there has been no legislative action 

taken in the current Congress.

International 

affairs

2011 Antidumping and 

Countervailing 

Duties (Area 81)

Congress could eliminate the retrospective component of the U.S. antidumping 

and countervailing duty system and, instead, treat the antidumping and 

countervailing duties assessed at the time the product enters the country as 

final.

2012 Area 20: Overseas 

Administrative 

Services (Area 20)

Congress may wish to consider requiring agencies to participate in 

International Cooperative Administrative Support Services (ICASS) unless they 

provide a business case to show that they can obtain these services outside of 

ICASS without increasing overall costs to the U.S. government or that their 

mission cannot be achieved within ICASS.

2013 Tobacco Taxes

(Area 31)

Congress, as it continues oversight of the Children’s Health Insurance Program 

Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA), may wish to consider equalizing tax rates on 

roll-your-own and pipe tobacco.

Congress, as it continues oversight of CHIPRA, may wish to consider, in 

consultation with the Department of the Treasury, options for reducing tax 

avoidance due to tax differentials between small and large cigars.

2016 Cargo Preference 

for Food Aid (Area 

36)

While recognizing that cargo preference serves policy goals established by 

Congress with respect to the U.S. merchant marine, including maintenance of 

a fleet capable of serving as a naval and military auxiliary in time of war or 

national emergency, Congress should consider clarifying cargo preference 

legislation regarding the definition of “geographic area” to ensure that agencies 

can fully utilize the flexibility Congress granted to them when it lowered the 

cargo preference for food aid requirement. Implementing this action could 

result in millions of dollars of savings, according to GAO analysis.
Appendix VI: Open Congressional Actions, by 

Mission

Page 108 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual 

report Area Action summary

Social services 2012 Housing Assistance

(Area 28)

Congress may wish to consider requiring USDA and the Department of 

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to examine the benefits and costs of 

merging those programs that serve similar markets and provide similar 

products. As a first step, Congress could consider requiring USDA and HUD to 

explore merging their single-family insured lending programs and multifamily 

portfolio management programs, taking advantage of the best practices of 

each and ensuring that targeted populations are not adversely affected.

Training, 

employment, 

and education

2016 Post-9/11 GI Bill 

Overpayments 

(Area 37)

Congress should consider granting the Department of Veterans Affairs explicit 

authority to require a minimum level of training for appropriate school officials.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: Unless otherwise indicated, actions in this table are not addressed, meaning that a bill may 

have been introduced but did not pass out of a committee, or no relevant legislation has been 

introduced. At the beginning of a new congressional session, we reapply the criteria. As a result, the 

status of an action may move from partially addressed to not addressed if relevant legislation is not 

reintroduced from the prior Congressional session.

As of March F2017, nine actions are partially addressed. Partially addressed means a relevant bill 

has passed a committee, the House of Representatives, or the Senate, or relevant legislation has 

been enacted but only addressed part of the action needed. This table provides information on steps 

Congress took for actions that are considered partially addressed.

This table provides estimates of cost savings or increased revenue where such information was 

available.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 109 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

This appendix presents key actions we identified in our 2011 to 2017 

annual reports that remain open (i.e., partially addressed or not 

addressed).1 Key actions warrant priority attention by Congress or 

executive branch agencies and, when implemented, usually result in 

improvements such as saving large amounts of money; aiding Congress 

to make decisions on major issues; substantially improving or 

transforming major government programs or agencies; or reducing 

unnecessary duplication, overlap, or fragmentation to increase the 

efficiency and effectiveness of government operations. Table 16 presents 

the key open actions from the 724 actions we have identified from 2011 to 

2017.

Table 16: Key Open Actions Identified in 2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

Agriculture 2017 Federal Actions to Protect 

Pollinators and Improve

Agricultural Production (Area 

1)

Action 1: To improve the effectiveness of federal efforts to monitor 

wild, native bee populations, we recommend that the Secretary of 

Agriculture, as a cochair of the White House Pollinator Health Task 

Force, coordinate with other Task Force agencies that have 

monitoring responsibilities to develop a mechanism, such as a 

federal monitoring plan, that would (1) establish roles and 

responsibilities of lead and support agencies, (2) establish shared 

outcomes and goals, and (3) obtain input from relevant 

stakeholders, such as states.

2015 EPA’s and FDA’s Laboratory 

Inspections (Area 1) 

Action 1: The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) and the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration 

should develop a formal written agreement, such as a memorandum 

of understanding, that outlines how the two agencies plan to 

regularly collaborate and share information on Good Laboratory 

Practices inspections and avoid duplication of inspections so that 

EPA can more efficiently use its limited resources.

2013 Catfish Inspection (Area 1) Action 1: Congress should consider repealing provisions of the 2008 

Farm Bill assigning the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

responsibility for examining and inspecting catfish and for creating a 

catfish inspection program.

Implementing this action could save taxpayers $2.6 million 

annually, according to a Food Safety and Inspection Service 

estimate.

2013 Agricultural Quarantine 

Inspection Fees (Area 18) 

Action 4: The Secretaries of Agriculture and Homeland Security 

should ensure that all inspection fees are collected when due, 

including fees for agriculture overtime services that are eligible for 

reimbursement.

 1

See GAO’s Duplication and Cost Savings webpage for links to the 2011 to 2016 annual 

reports: http://www.gao.gov/duplication/overview.

Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 110 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2013 Crop Insurance Premium 

Subsidies (Area 19) 

Action 1: Congress may wish to consider either limiting the amount 

of premium subsidies that an individual farmer can receive each 

year—as it limits the amount of payments to individual farmers in 

many farm programs—or reducing premium subsidy rates, or both 

limiting premium subsidies and reducing premium subsidy rates.

Implementing this action could achieve up to $2 billion per year in 

cost savings, according to a GAO estimate.

2011 Food Safety (Area 1) Action 5: Appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the 

President, in consultation with relevant federal agencies and other 

stakeholders, should develop a national strategy that states the 

purpose of the strategy, establishes high-level sustained leadership, 

identifies resource requirements, monitors progress, and identifies 

short- and long-term actions to improve the food safety oversight 

system.

Defense 2017 Army and Air Force Virtual 

Training (Area 2)

Action 1: The Army should specify in Army guidance for developing 

virtual training device requirements that training developers consider 

and document the time available to train with the devices and 

intended usage rates to achieve training tasks and proficiency goals 

during operational training.

Implementing this action could save tens of millions of dollars.

2017 Construction Projects 

Supporting Military 

Contingency Operations (Area 

3)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should evaluate and improve the 

use of existing processes and authorities to the extent possible; 

determine whether additional authorities are needed to support 

urgent construction needs; and revise existing departmental 

processes or seek additional authorities, as appropriate.

Implementing this action could save millions of dollars.

2017 Defense Weather Satellites 

(Area 4)

Action 1: Establish formal mechanisms for coordination and 

collaboration between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for future spacebased environmental monitoring planning efforts.

2017 DOD Advertising (Area 5) Action 1: DOD should develop a formal process for coordination 

among its components on crosscutting advertising issues to facilitate 

better leveraging of resources.

2017 DOD Commissaries (Area 16) Action 1: As DOD assesses potential cost savings under the 

Defense Resale Business Optimization Board or through other cost 

savings initiatives identified, we recommend that the Secretary of 

Defense, with assistance as necessary from the Director and Chief 

Executive Officer of the Defense Commissary Agency, the Director 

and Chief Executive Officer of the Army and Air Force Exchange 

Service, the Chief Executive Officer of the Navy Exchange Service 

Command, and the Marine Corps Exchange, develop a plan with 

assumptions, a methodology, cost estimates, and specific time 

frames for achieving alternative reductions to appropriations, to 

support DOD’s efforts to ensure that DOD’s cost savings target is 

feasible and accurate.

Implementing this action could save billions of dollars from fiscal 

years 2017 through 2021, according to DOD estimates.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 111 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2017 DOD’s Special and Incentive 

Pays (Area 17)

Action 1: DOD should review whether special and incentive (S&I) 

pay programs have incorporated key principles of effective human 

capital management and used resources efficiently.

Implementing all the actions in this area could save tens of millions 

of dollars annually.

2017 Navy Shipbuilding (Area 18) Action 1: To improve the use of warranties and guarantees in Navy 

shipbuilding, GAO recommended that the Secretary of the Defense 

direct the Secretary of the Navy to, in arrangements where the 

shipbuilder is paid to correct defects, structure contract terms such 

that shipbuilders do not earn profit for correcting construction 

deficiencies following delivery that are determined to be their 

responsibility.

Implementing the actions in this area could save millions of 

dollars.

2016 DOD Commercial Satellite 

Communication Procurements

(Area 1)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense—in coordination with 

stakeholders including the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Strategic 

Command, combatant commands, the military services, and the 

Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)—should enforce 

current policy requiring DISA to acquire all commercial satellite 

communications for DOD.

Implementing the two actions in this area could save tens of 

millions of dollars annually, according to GAO analysis.

2016 DOD’s Storage of 

Occupational and 

Environmental Health 

Surveillance Data (Area 2) 

Action 2: The Secretary of Defense should require all other 

departmental and military service–specific policies to be amended 

and implemented to ensure consistency.

2016 Weapon System Portfolio 

Management (Area 3) 

Action 1: DOD should designate the Deputy Secretary of Defense, 

or some appropriate delegate, as responsible for providing sustained 

leadership for portfolio management efforts and implementing DOD 

Directive 7045.20 on Capability Portfolio Management.

2016 Defense Excess Property 

Disposal (Area 13)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should direct the Director of the 

Defense Logistics Agency to further reassess DOD’s disposal 

process to determine whether additional changes are needed in the 

priority given to recipients within the process, including potential 

changes to the categories and quantities of property that special 

programs may obtain, and revise its guidance reflecting those 

priorities accordingly to better enable DOD to fulfill the disposal 

program’s objectives.

Implementing this action could result in cost savings of millions of 

dollars, according to GAO analysis.

2016 DOD’s Eligibility 

Determinations for Living 

Quarters Allowance (Area 14) 

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should require the Deputy 

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civilian Personnel Policy or the 

Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS), as 

delegated, to monitor reviews of living quarters allowance (LQA) 

eligibility determinations conducted by DOD components.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 112 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2016 DOD Excess Ammunition

(Area 15)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of 

the Army to develop a systematic means to make information 

available to other government agencies on excess conventional 

ammunition to include small arms ammunition that could be used to 

meet their needs.

Implementing this action could result in savings of hundreds of 

thousands of dollars.

2016 DOD Leases and Use of 

Underutilized Spaces at 

Military Installations (Area 16)

Action 1: DOD should look for opportunities to relocate DOD 

organizations in leased space to installations that may have 

underutilized space because of force structure reductions or other 

indicators of potentially available space, where such relocation is 

cost-effective and does not interfere with the installation’s ongoing 

military mission.

Implementing this action could save millions of dollars annually. 

2015 Ground Radar and Guided 

Munitions Programs (Area 2)

Action 1: To provide the Joint Requirements Oversight Council 

(JROC) the opportunity to review all ground radar programs for 

potential duplication and the Office of Cost Assessment and 

Program Evaluation with the opportunity to develop broad analysis 

of alternative guidance, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff should direct the Joint Staff to assign all new ground radar

capability requirement documents with a Joint Staff designation of 

“JROC Interest.” 

2015 Weapon System Milestone 

Decision Process (Area 3) 

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should direct the Under 

Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics in 

collaboration with the military service acquisition executives, 

program executive officers, and program managers to identify and 

potentially eliminate reviews associated with information 

requirements that do not add value, with a specific focus on reducing 

levels of review.

2015 DOD Headquarters 

Reductions and Workforce 

Requirements (Area 14)

Action 4: To ensure that Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint 

Staff, and the military secretariats and staff are properly sized to 

meet their assigned missions and use the most cost-effective mix of

personnel, and to better position DOD to identify opportunities for 

more efficient use of resources, the Secretary of Defense should 

conduct a systematic determination of workforce requirements for 

these organizations, which should include an analysis of mission, 

functions, and tasks, and the minimum personnel needed to 

accomplish those missions, functions, and tasks.

2014 Contracting for Defense 

Health Care Professionals

(Area 2) 

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should develop and implement a 

DOD-wide strategy to contract for health care professionals. The 

strategy should identify specific responsible organizations and time 

frames, and should consist of both near-term and long-term 

components. In the near term, and to enable DOD to assess the 

efficacy and impact of such a strategy, DOD should identify a 

category of health care professionals or a multiservice market to 

pilot an approach to consolidating health care staffing requirements. 

Over the longer term, such a strategy should include an analysis of 

spending based on reliable and detailed agency-wide data, and 

should enable DOD to identify opportunities to consolidate 

requirements and reduce costs.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 113 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2014 Defense Satellite Control 

Operations (Area 3)

Action 2: The Secretary of Defense should develop a departmentwide long-term plan for modernizing DOD’s Air Force Satellite 

Control Network and any future shared satellite control services and 

capabilities. This plan should identify methods that can capture or 

estimate satellite control costs as well as authorities that can be 

given to the program managers to give them the flexibility needed to 

ensure ground systems are built to a common network when the 

business case analysis shows doing so to be beneficial. This plan 

should also identify which trusted practices from the commercial 

sector, if any, can improve DOD satellite control operations in the 

near and long terms and, as appropriate, develop a plan of action for 

implementing them.

Addressing the actions in this area could result in saving millions of 

dollars annually.

2014 Defense Studies and Analysis 

Research (Area 4)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should establish and implement 

a departmental mechanism that requires leadership from the military 

services and departmental offices responsible for managing 

requests for studies and analysis research to coordinate their annual 

research requests and ongoing research efforts.

2014 POW/MIA Mission (Area 5) Action 2: The Secretary of Defense should direct the Office of the 

Under Secretary of Defense (Policy) to revise DOD Directive 

2310.07E and finalize and issue the new, related DOD instruction to 

supplement this directive. Clarification of roles and responsibilities 

should be made particularly with respect to the following four 

functions: equipment and artifact identification and analysis; 

research and analysis; investigations; and family outreach and 

external communications.

2014 Combatant Command 

Headquarters Costs (Area 12)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should conduct a 

comprehensive, periodic evaluation of whether the combatant 

commands are sized and structured to efficiently meet assigned 

missions.

2013 Joint Basing (Area 20) Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should direct the Assistant 

Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment to 

develop and implement a plan that provides measurable goals linked 

to achieving savings and efficiencies at the joint bases and provide 

guidance to the joint bases that directs them to identify opportunities 

for cost savings and efficiencies. DOD should at a minimum 

consider the items identified in its recommendation to the 2005 Base 

Realignment and Closure Commission as areas for possible savings 

and efficiencies, including paring unnecessary management 

personnel, consolidating and optimizing contract requirements, 

establishing a single space-management authority to achieve 

greater utilization of facilities, and reducing the number of base 

support vehicles and equipment.

Implementing this action could result in millions of dollars in 

savings over 20 years, based on an estimate in the commission 

recommendation.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 114 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2012 Unmanned Aircraft Systems

(Area 3)

Action 1: To reduce the likelihood of overlap and potential 

duplication in its unmanned aircraft system (UAS) portfolio, DOD 

should reevaluate whether a single entity would be better positioned 

to integrate all crosscutting efforts to improve the management and 

operation of UAS.

2012 Stabilization, Reconstruction, 

and Humanitarian Assistance 

Efforts (Area 6)

Action 3: Congress should consider amending the legislation that 

supports the Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid–

funded humanitarian assistance program—DOD’s largest 

humanitarian assistance program—to more specifically define 

DOD’s role in humanitarian assistance, taking into account the roles 

and similar types of efforts performed by the civilian agencies.

2012 Defense Headquarters (Area 

34)

Action 2: To facilitate reliable reporting on headquarters staffing and 

improve information available for decision making, DOD should 

specify how contractors performing headquarters functions will be 

identified and included in headquarters reporting.

Efforts to implement the actions in this area have resulted in $609

million in savings in fiscal year 2016, according to GAO estimates, 

and fully implementing the actions in this area could result in an 

additional $9.4 billion in savings.

2012 Military Health Care Costs

(Area 36)

Action 1: To enhance its efforts to manage rising health care costs 

and demonstrate sustained leadership commitment for achieving the 

performance goals of the Military Health System’s strategic 

initiatives, DOD should complete and fully implement the 

dashboards and detailed implementation plans for each of the 

approved health care initiatives in a manner consistent with resultsoriented management practices, such as the inclusion of up-front 

investment costs and cost savings estimates.

2011 Intelligence, Surveillance, and 

Reconnaissance (Area 5)

Action 3: DOD should establish linkages between intelligence, 

surveillance, and reconnaissance acquisition plans and strategic 

goals to better inform investment decisions.

Implementing the actions in this area has resulted in millions of 

dollars in savings over 5 to 10 years, according to DOD estimates.

2011 Tactical Wheeled Vehicles

(Area 6)

Action 1: DOD needs to complete its planned department-wide 

tactical wheeled vehicle strategy to determine (1) what capabilities 

the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle will have, (2) the scope and cost of 

any recapitalization of other vehicles or production effort, and (3) the 

sustainment cost of placing the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected 

family of vehicles in its force structures. DOD should include in the 

strategy a cost-benefit analysis that could minimize the collective 

acquisition and support costs of the various tactical wheeled vehicle 

programs and reduce the risk of unplanned overlap or duplication.

Implementing this action could result in billions of dollars in cost 

savings.

2011 Prepositioning Programs

(Area 7)

Action 3: The Secretary of Defense should direct the Office of the 

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy to develop strategic guidance 

that includes planning and resource priorities, linking the 

department’s current and future needs for prepositioned stocks to 

evolving national defense objectives.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 115 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2011 DOD’s Business Systems

(Area 8)

Action 3: DOD should work to institutionalize its business systems 

investment process at all levels of the organization.

2011 Overseas Military Presence

(Area 36)

Action 3: To address specific regional issues in Africa, DOD should 

reassess missions of the combined joint task force in Djibouti as well 

as identify the projected costs for the task force and, in concert with 

the Navy, develop a realistic funding plan for the task force’s 

sustainability.

Efforts to implement the actions in this area have led to savings of 

$2.282 billion between 2013 and 2017, according to DOD 

estimates.

2011 Military Personnel Costs

(Area 37) 

Action 1: DOD could recognize long-term cost avoidance by 

addressing in a compensation strategy what types of compensation 

are effective, and by not incurring costs for compensation that may 

not be effective, in helping the department achieve its recruiting and 

retention goals.

2011 Weapon Systems Acquisition 

Programs (Area 38)

Action 1: DOD could achieve significant cost savings by employing 

best management practices at all phases of its weapon system 

acquisition process—including early systems engineering, analyzing 

alternatives, managing changes in system requirements, and more 

prototyping early in program development testing.

Implementing the actions in this area could save tens of billions of 

dollars.

Economic 

development

2016 Manufacturing Loan 

Guarantees (Area 4)

Action 1: The Secretary of Commerce should direct the Economic 

Development Administration to work with the Small Business 

Administration (SBA) and the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology to further identify any gaps in capital access that may be 

present that the program could fill, and then develop marketing 

materials and conduct outreach to help target those gaps.

2016 Treasury’s Foreclosure 

Prevention Efforts (Area 17)

Action 3: The Secretary of the Treasury should deobligate funds that 

the Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) review shows will likely 

not be expended and move up to $2 billion of such funds to the 

Troubled Asset Relief Program–funded Housing Finance Agency 

Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Markets, as authorized by the 

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in a onetime 

savings of $2.7 billion in fiscal year 2018, based on Treasury’s 2017 

budget submission.

2012 Support For Entrepreneurs

(Area 7)

Action 2: Agencies should improve program evaluation and 

performance metrics. In order to identify options to better structure 

these programs for Congress to consider, the SBA and the 

Departments of Commerce (Commerce), Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD), and Agriculture (USDA) should conduct 

program evaluations and collect data on performance measures.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 116 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2012 Surface Freight 

Transportation (Area 8)

Action 2: To maximize the efficient movement of freight, the 

Secretary of Transportation should develop with Congress and 

public and private stakeholders a comprehensive national strategy to 

transform the federal government’s involvement in freight 

transportation projects, including defining federal and nonfederal 

stakeholder roles and using new or existing federal funding sources 

and mechanisms to support a targeted, efficient, and sustainable 

federal role.

2011 Economic Development 

Programs (Area 9)

Action 2: Commerce, HUD, USDA, and SBA need to collect 

accurate and complete data on program outcomes and use the 

information to assess each program’s effectiveness.

2011 Essential Air Service (Area 

42)

Action 2: Congress may wish to consider revising the program’s 

operating requirements for providing air service to communities to 

improve efficiency and to better match capacity with community use.

2011 Universal Service Fund (Area 

43)

Action 2: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) needs to 

improve its management of the Universal Service Fund programs to 

address a number of GAO recommendations.

Energy 2017 Storage of Defense and 

Commercial Nuclear Waste 

(Area 19)

Action 1: The Department of Energy (DOE) should conduct a 

comprehensive assessment of the benefits, costs, and schedules of 

the options it reviewed and provided to the President in 2015, in 

accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance 

and best practices and, in light of the new information and results 

from the assessment, revise—if needed—the department’s 

conclusion that a separate defense high-level waste repository is 

required.

Implementing this action could result in up to tens of billions of 

dollars in savings over the life of the project, according to GAO 

analysis.

2015 U.S. Enrichment Corporation 

Fund (Area 16)

Action 1: Congress may wish to permanently rescind the entire $1.6 

billion balance of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation Fund.

Rescission may increase the transparency of federal agencies’

budget presentations and help Congress have a clear understanding 

of how new funding requests relate to funding decisions for existing 

projects with continuing resource needs.

2014 Advanced Technology 

Vehicles Manufacturing Loan 

Program (Area 13)

Action 1: Unless the Department of Energy (DOE) can demonstrate 

demand for new Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing 

loans and viable applications, Congress may wish to consider 

rescinding all or part of the remaining $4.2 billion in credit subsidy 

appropriations.

Implementing this action could result in savings of $4.2 billion, 

according to a GAO estimate.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 117 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2012 Nuclear Nonproliferation

(Area 10)

Action 1: To streamline and eliminate potential fragmentation and 

overlap among programs combating smuggling of nuclear materials, 

equipment, and technologies overseas, the Assistant to the 

President for National Security Affairs should undertake—or direct 

and delegate an appropriate agency or agencies to undertake—a 

comprehensive review of the structure, scope, and composition of 

agencies and programs across the federal government involved in 

such efforts. Such a review should assess several issues, including: 

(1) the level of overlap and duplication among agencies and 

programs, especially in the provision of nuclear detection equipment 

and training provided to foreign border security, customs, and lawenforcement officials; (2) potential for consolidation of these 

functions to fewer programs and agencies; (3) the feasibility, costs, 

and benefits of establishing a special coordinator to preside over the 

allocation of U.S. counter-nuclear-smuggling assistance to foreign 

nations and be responsible for directing the interagency process of 

development, funding, and implementation of all U.S. government 

programs related to combating nuclear smuggling overseas; and (4) 

any U.S. laws that would need to be amended by Congress in order 

to facilitate consolidation, elimination, or other changes to existing 

programs.

2012 Excess Uranium Inventories

(Area 40)

Action 2: If Congress sees merit in using the proceeds from the 

barter, transfer, or sale of federal uranium assets to pay for 

environmental cleanup of uranium enrichment plants, it could 

consider providing DOE with explicit authority to barter excess 

uranium and to retain the proceeds from all three types of uranium 

transactions (barter, transfer, and sale). Likewise, Congress could 

direct DOE to sell uranium for cash and make those proceeds 

available by appropriation for decontamination and decommissioning 

expenses at DOE’s uranium enrichment plants.

Implementing both actions in this area could result in an increased 

revenue of $1 billion, according to a GAO estimate.

2011 Federal Fleet Energy Goals

(Area 12)

Action 1: Changes in existing laws could streamline the 

requirements and provide fleet managers with more flexibility in 

meeting goals.

2011 Oil and Gas Resources (Area 

45)

Action 3: The Department of the Interior (Interior) should complete 

its study examining how other oil and gas resource owners select 

fiscal parameters for leasing and adjusting oil and gas royalty rates 

and use that information to adjust, as appropriate, its royalty rates to 

a level that ensures the government a fair return. In doing so, it 

should ensure opportunities for substantive, two-way communication 

with program stakeholders.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in approximately 

$1.7 billion in revenues over 10 years, according to an Interior 

estimate.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 118 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

General 

government

2017 Federal Critical Raw Materials 

Activities (Area 6)

Action 1: The Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

Policy, working with the National Science and Technology Council’s 

Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply Chains and 

agency leadership, as appropriate, should agree on and clearly 

define the roles and responsibilities of member agencies and take 

steps to actively engage all relevant federal agencies in the 

subcommittee’s efforts.

2017 Federal Grant Awards (Area 

7)

Action 3: To reduce the risk of duplicative and overlapping funding at 

the grant award level, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

should direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

to issue written guidance that ensures its grant-management staff 

review grant applications for potential duplication and overlap before 

awarding CDC competitive grants and cooperative agreements.

2017 Federal Hiring (Area 8) Action 2: Based on studies or assessments of specific hiring 

authorities or processes, the Director of the Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM) should determine whether opportunities exist to 

refine, consolidate, eliminate, or expand agency-specific authorities 

to other agencies and implement changes where OPM is authorized, 

including seeking presidential authorization (as necessary) in order 

to do so. In cases where legislation would be necessary to 

implement changes, OPM should work with the Chief Human Capital 

Officers Council to develop legislative proposals.

2017 Grants for Transit Resilience 

(Area 9)

Action 1: The Department of Transportation should examine the 

projects the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funded under its 

discretionary transit resilience grant program for potential duplication 

with other resilience efforts and determine whether it is appropriate 

to realign unobligated funds for FTA-supported projects for other 

authorized purposes or to request that Congress rescind unobligated 

funds from the FTA-supported projects.

2017 Recovery Operations Center 

Closure (Area 10)

Action 1: To help preserve a proven resource supporting the 

oversight community’s analytic capabilities, Congress may wish to 

consider directing the Council of the Inspectors General for Integrity 

and Efficiency (CIGIE) to develop a legislative proposal to 

reconstitute the essential capabilities of the Recovery Operations 

Center to help ensure federal spending accountability. The proposal 

should identify a range of options at varying scales for the cost of 

analytic tools, personnel, and necessary funding, as well as any 

additional authority CIGIE may need to ensure such enduring, robust 

analytical and investigative capability for the oversight community.

2017 Use of the Do Not Pay 

Working System (Area 11)

Action 1: The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) should develop a strategy—and communicate its strategy 

through guidance—for how agencies should use the Do Not Pay 

working system to complement existing data-matching processes 

and whether and how agencies should consider using the system to 

streamline existing data matching.

2017 Department of Veterans 

Affairs Medical Facility 

Construction (Area 20)

Action 1: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should establish a 

mechanism to monitor the extent that major facilities projects are 

following guidelines on change-orders’ time frames and design 

changes.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 119 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2017 Government Purchase Cards 

(Area 21)

Action 3: The Secretaries of Defense, Veterans Affairs, the Interior, 

Homeland Security, and Energy and the Administrator of the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should develop guidance 

that encourages local officials to examine purchase card spending 

patterns to identify opportunities to obtain savings and to share 

information on such efforts. Where applicable, these agencies 

should determine the feasibility of broader application of these 

efforts across the agency or organization.

2017 Inland Waterways Fuel Tax 

(Area 22)

Action 1: To maximize resources for the Inland Waterways Trust 

Fund, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

should consult with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to explore 

options to obtain proprietary data to enhance IRS’s efforts to ensure 

taxpayer compliance with the inland waterways fuel tax.

2017 Land Mobile Radio 

Procurement (Area 23)

Action 1: To improve federal agency land mobile radio (LMR) 

procurement practices, the Director of OMB should direct the Office 

of Federal Procurement Policy to examine the feasibility of including 

LMR technology in the category management initiative.

2017 Refundable Tax Credits (Area 

24)

Action 1: Building on current efforts, the IRS should develop a 

comprehensive operational strategy that includes all the refundable 

tax credits for which the Office of Refundable Credits Policy and 

Program Management is responsible. The strategy could include 

use of error rates and amounts, evaluation and guidance on the 

proper use of indicators like no-change and default rates, and 

guidance on how to weigh trade-offs between equity and return on 

investment in resource allocations.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in hundreds of 

millions of dollars in cost savings.

2016 Financial Regulatory Structure

(Area 5)

Action 1: Congress should consider whether additional changes to 

the financial regulatory structure are needed to improve (1) the 

efficiency and effectiveness of oversight; (2) the consistency of 

consumer and investor protections; and (3) the consistency of 

financial oversight for similar institutions, products, risks, and 

services.

2016 IRS’s Public Referral 

Programs (Area 6)

Action 2: The Commissioner of Internal Revenue should direct the 

referral programs to establish a mechanism to coordinate on a plan 

and timeline for developing a consolidated, online referral 

submission in order to better position the IRS to leverage specialized 

expertise while exploring options to further consolidate the initial 

screening operations.

2016 Bridge Contracts (Area 18) Action 1: The Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement 

Policy should take appropriate steps to develop a standard definition 

for bridge contracts and incorporate it as appropriate into relevant 

Federal Acquisition Regulation sections.

2016 Federal Supply Schedules

(Area 19)

Action 1: The Secretaries of Defense and Health and Human 

Services and the Administrator of the General Services 

Administration (GSA) should issue guidance emphasizing the 

requirement to seek discounts and outlining effective strategies for 

negotiating discounts when using the Federal Supply Schedules 

program.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 120 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2016 Federally Leased Vehicles

(Area 20)

Action 2: The Secretaries of the Interior and Veterans Affairs should 

take corrective action to address each leased vehicle that has not 

met the agencies’ utilization criteria or passed the justification 

process. This corrective action could include eliminating unneeded 

vehicles, which would reduce costs.

2016 Financing of Improvements to 

Federally Leased Space

(Area 21)

Action 1: The Administrator of GSA should explore, with relevant 

stakeholders, the possibility of loaning unobligated Federal Buildings 

Fund balances to agencies to cover tenant improvement costs that 

would otherwise have to be financed for new leases. If GSA finds 

that, with sufficient controls in place, tenant improvements can be 

safely funded this way, it should participate in the development of a 

legislative proposal to request that Congress make the necessary 

budget authority available.

Implementing this action could result in savings of millions of 

dollars, according to GAO analysis.

2016 Identity Theft Refund Fraud

(Area 22)

Action 3: IRS should estimate and document the costs, benefits, and 

risks of possible options for taxpayer authentication, in accordance 

with OMB and National Institute of Standards and Technology 

guidance.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in savings of 

billions of dollars, according to IRS and GAO analyses.

2016 National Park Service Fees

(Area 23)

Action 2: The Secretary of the Interior should direct the Director of 

the Park Service to revise the National Park Service’s guidance on 

recreation fees so that the agency periodically reviews its entrance 

fees to determine whether the fees are reasonable.

2015 Consumer Product Safety 

Oversight (Area 4)

Action 2: Congress should consider establishing a formal 

comprehensive oversight mechanism for consumer product safety 

agencies to address crosscutting issues as well as inefficiencies 

related to fragmentation and overlap such as communication and 

coordination challenges and jurisdictional questions between 

agencies. Different types of formal mechanisms could include, for 

example, creating a memorandum of understanding to formalize 

relationships and agreements or establishing a task force or 

interagency work group. As a starting point, Congress may wish to 

obtain agency input on options for establishing more formal 

coordination.

2015 Nonemergency Medical 

Transportation (Area 5)

Action 1: The Secretary of Transportation, as chair of the 

Coordinating Council, should convene a meeting of the member 

agencies of the Coordinating Council to complete and publish a new 

or updated strategic plan that, among other things, clearly outlines a 

strategy for addressing nonemergency medical transportation 

(NEMT) and how it can be coordinated across federal agencies that 

fund NEMT service.

2015 Tax Policies and Enforcement 

(2015) (Area 17)

Action 2: Congress should consider expanding the mandate that 

partnerships and S corporations electronically file their tax returns, in 

order to cover a greater share of filed returns.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 121 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2014 Collection of Unpaid Federal 

Taxes (Area 15)

Action 2: The Commissioner of IRS should explore further 

opportunities to enhance the collection of unpaid federal taxes from 

Medicaid providers. This action includes conducting a cost-benefit 

analysis of the implementation of a continuous levy program and 

expanded use of levies against providers with large Medicaid 

payments and significant unpaid federal taxes. Where appropriate, 

IRS should seek legislation to modify existing law to allow for more 

efficient collection of outstanding tax debts from Medicaid providers.

2014 Federal Real Property 

Ownership and Leasing (Area 

16)

Action 3: The Administrator of GSA should develop and use criteria 

to rank and prioritize potential long-term ownership solutions to 

current high-value leases among other capital investments. GSA 

should use this ranking to create a long-term, cross-agency strategy 

that facilitates consideration of targeted investments in ownership.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in millions of 

dollars in savings, according to a GAO cost savings report.

2014 Online Taxpayer Services

(Area 17)

Action 1: The Commissioner of IRS should direct appropriate 

officials to develop a long-term strategy to improve web services 

provided to taxpayers, in accordance with Howto.gov and other 

federal guidance outlined in GAO’s April 2013 report. To accomplish 

this action, the IRS should develop business cases for all new online 

services, describing the potential benefits and costs of the project, 

and use them to prioritize future projects.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in $100 million in 

savings, according to GAO analysis.

2014 Reverse Auctions (Area 19) Action 1: The Director of OMB should take steps to amend the 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to address agencies’ use of 

reverse auctions.

2014 Tax Policies and Enforcement 

(2014) (Area 20)

Action 6: The Commissioner of IRS should track savings from the 

Compliance Assurance Process overall and develop a plan for 

reinvesting any savings.

2013 Additional Opportunities to 

Improve Internal Revenue 

Service Enforcement of Tax 

Laws (2013) (Area 22)

Action 1: The Commissioner of IRS should determine whether IRS 

has a basis for adjusting its allocation of enforcement resources 

each year.

2013 Agencies’ Use of Strategic 

Sourcing (Area 23)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should evaluate the need for 

additional strategic sourcing guidance, resources, and strategies, 

and focus on DOD’s highest-spending categories. 

2012 Personnel Background 

Investigations (Area 11)

Action 1: To prevent agencies from making potentially duplicative 

investments in electronic case management and adjudication 

systems, the OMB Deputy Director for Management, in his capacity 

as Chair of the Performance Accountability Council, should develop 

additional guidance to help ensure that reform stakeholders identify 

opportunities for preventing duplication in the development of 

electronic case management and adjudication technologies in the 

suitability determination and personnel security clearance 

processes.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 122 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2012 Spectrum Management (Area 

13)

Action 1: To improve transparency in national spectrum policy 

decisions, assure coordination between managers of government 

and privately licensed spectrum, and help ensure that spectrum is 

used for its highest and best purpose, the Assistant Secretary for 

Communications and Information at the National 

Telecommunications and Information Administration and the 

Chairman of the FCC should report periodically to Congress on their 

joint spectrum planning activities and their consultation with other 

relevant government agencies. The report should include 

information on estimated future spectrum requirements for public 

and private uses, the spectrum allocation actions necessary to 

accommodate those uses, and any actions taken to promote the 

efficient use of spectrum.

2012 Federal User Fees (Area 43) Action 1: To help the Congress and federal agencies identify 

opportunities to address inconsistent federal funding approaches 

and enhance user financing, thereby reducing reliance on general 

fund appropriations, the Director of OMB should use its budget 

reviews to ensure that agencies review their fee-funded programs 

biennially, as required by the Chief Financial Officers Act and 

consistently with GAO’s User Fee Design Guide, to help identify 

opportunities to improve the (1) efficiency, equity, revenue 

adequacy, and administrative burden of the fee design and (2) 

alignment of fee collections with program costs over time.

2012 Internal Revenue Service 

Enforcement Efforts (2012)

(Area 44)

Action 1: To help improve taxpayer compliance, Congress may wish 

to make owners of rental real estate subject to the same payment 

reporting requirements regardless of whether they engaged in a 

trade or business under current law.

Implementing this action could result in savings of $2.5 billion

between fiscal years 2011 and 2020, according to the Joint 

Committee on Taxation.

2011 Enterprise Architectures (Area 

14)

Action 1: Agencies should measure and report enterprise 

architecture results and outcomes (e.g., costs avoided through 

eliminating duplicative information-technology investments).

2011 Federal Data Centers (Area 

15)

Action 2: OMB should work with agencies to establish goals and 

targets for consolidation (both in terms of cost savings and reduced 

data centers), maintain strong oversight of the agencies’ efforts, and 

look for consolidation opportunities across agencies.

Efforts to implement the actions in this area have resulted in $2.95 

billion in savings between 2011 and 2015, according to agency 

reporting.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 123 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2011 Tax Expenditures (Area 17) Action 2: The Director of OMB in consultation with the Secretary of 

the Treasury should develop and implement a framework for 

conducting performance reviews of tax expenditures. This action 

includes (1) outlining leadership responsibilities and coordination 

among agencies with related responsibilities; (2) setting a review 

schedule; (3) identifying review methods and ways to address the 

lack of credible tax expenditure performance information; and (4) 

identifying resources needed for tax expenditure reviews.

Implementing the actions in this area could reduce revenue losses 

by billions of dollars.

2011 Government-wide Improper 

Payments (Area 46)

Action 1: Until the federal government has implemented effective 

processes to determine the full extent to which improper payments 

occur and to reasonably ensure that appropriate actions are taken 

across entities and programs to effectively recover and reduce 

improper payments, the federal government will not have reasonable 

assurance that the use of taxpayer funds is adequately safeguarded.

2011 Competition for Federal 

Contracts (Area 47)

Action 2: Program and contracting officials need to actively promote 

competition.

Implementing this action could save billions of dollars.

2011 Tax Debt Collection (Area 55) Action 2: IRS needs to better document the business rules and their 

rationales, and periodically evaluate how well they are working.

2011 Simple Tax Return Errors

(Area 56)

Action 1: Congress may want to consider granting IRS broader math 

error authority, with appropriate safeguards against misuse of that 

authority, to correct errors during tax return processing.

Implementing this action could result in cost savings of $274 million

between fiscal years 2018 and 2026, according to the Joint 

Committee on Taxation.

2011 Mortgage Interest Information

(Area 57)

Action 2: IRS should require mortgage-secured property addresses 

to be reported on other forms (Forms 982 and 1099-C) to help IRS 

detect taxpayers who fail to pay taxes on certain forgiven mortgage 

debts.

2011 Forgiven Mortgage Debt

(Area 58)

Action 1: IRS could determine how refocusing mortgage debt 

enforcement efforts could gain additional revenue by taking some 

relatively low-cost steps, including revising the associated forms; 

collecting more information from taxpayers and lenders; and using 

third-party data to determine whether taxpayers are correctly 

excluding forgiven mortgage debt from taxable income.

2011 Real Estate Tax Deductions

(Area 59)

Action 1: To improve IRS’s examinations of the real estate tax 

deduction, examination guidance needs to clarify the type of 

evidence for verifying deductibility and to require examiners to ask 

taxpayers to substantiate deductions that appear to include 

nondeductible charges that are large, unusual, or questionable.

Implementing this action could result in savings of tens of millions 

or hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

2011 Sole Proprietors (Area 61) Action 2: IRS should use its ongoing research efforts to develop a 

better understanding of the nature of sole proprietor noncompliance, 

including sole proprietors improperly claiming business losses.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 124 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2011 Businesses Not Filing Tax 

Returns (Area 62)

Action 1: IRS should develop at least a partial estimate for the 

business nonfiler rate based on its existing inventory of cases.

2011 S Corporations (Area 63) Action 1: Congress could require S corporations to use information 

already available to them to calculate shareholders’ basis as 

completely as possible and report it to shareholders and IRS.

2011 Networks of Businesses (Area 

64)

Action 1: The IRS should create an agency-wide strategy with goals 

to coordinate and plan its enforcement efforts on network tax 

evasion. The strategy should include (1) assessing the effectiveness 

of network analysis tools to ensure that resources are being devoted 

to those that provide the largest return on investment; (2) 

determining whether to increase access to IRS data or collect new 

data for network analysis; (3) developing network analysis tools on a 

specific time schedule; and (4) deciding how to manage network 

efforts across IRS.

2011 Research Tax Credit (Area 

65)

Action 1: Congress could eliminate the regular credit and add a 

minimum base amount (equal to 50 percent of a taxpayer’s current 

spending) to the method for computing the alternative simplified 

credit.

2011 New Markets Tax Credit (Area 

66)

Action 2: The Secretary of the Treasury should issue guidance on 

how funding or assistance from other government programs can be 

combined with the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), including the 

extent to which other government funds can be used to leverage the 

NMTC by being included in the qualified equity investment.

2011 Governmental Bonds (Area 

67)

Action 1: Congress should consider whether facilities, including 

hotels and golf courses, that are privately used should be financed 

with tax-exempt governmental bonds.

Implementing this action could generate hundreds of millions of 

dollars in additional revenue.

Health 2017 Federal Payments for Hospital 

Uncompensated Care (Area 

25)

Action 1: To ensure efficient use of federal resources, GAO 

recommends that the Administrator of CMS improve alignment of 

Medicare Uncompensated Care payments with hospital 

uncompensated care costs by basing these payments on hospital 

uncompensated care costs.

Implementing both actions in this area could save over a billion 

dollars annually, according to GAO estimates.

2017 Medicaid Personal Care 

Services (Area 26)

Action 1: To improve the collection of complete and consistent 

personal care services data and better ensure CMS can effectively 

monitor the services, we recommend that CMS establish standard 

reporting guidance for personal care service claims to ensure that 

key data reported by states, such as provider identification numbers 

and the type, quantity, and dates of services, are complete and 

consistent.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in tens of millions 

of dollars in savings, according to GAO analysis.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 125 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2017 Medicare Advantage Improper 

Payments (Area 27)

Action 3: The Administrator should enhance the timeliness of the 

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) contract-level risk 

adjustment data validation (RADV) process by taking actions such 

as the following:

• closely aligning the time frames in CMS’s contract-level RADV 

audits with those of the national RADV audits the agency uses to 

estimate the Medicare Advantage (MA) improper payment rate;

• reducing the time between notifying MA organizations of contract 

audit selection and notifying them about the beneficiaries and 

diagnoses that will be audited;

• improving the reliability and performance of the agency’s process 

for transferring medical records from MA organizations, including 

assessing the feasibility of updating Electronic Submission of 

Medical Documentation for use in transferring medical records in 

contract-level RADV audits; and

• requiring that CMS contract-level RADV auditors complete their 

medical record reviews within a specific number of days comparable 

to other medical record review time frames in the Medicare program.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in hundreds of 

millions of dollars in savings, according to a CMS estimate.

2017 Patient Protection and 

Affordable Care Act 

Enrollment (Area 28)

Action 7: To better oversee the efficacy of Patient Protection and 

Affordable Care Act enrollment control process; to better monitor 

costs, risk, and program performance; to assist with tax compliance; 

to strengthen the eligibility determination process; to provide 

applicants with improved customer service and up-to-date 

information about submission of eligibility documentation; and to 

better document agency activities, the Secretary of Health and 

Human Services should direct the Acting Administrator of CMS to 

conduct a fraud risk assessment, consistent with best practices 

provided in GAO’s framework for managing fraud risks in federal 

programs, of the potential for fraud in the process of applying for 

qualified health plans through the federal Marketplace.

2016 Distribution of Medicaid 

Supplemental Payments

(Area 25)

Action 1: The Administrator of CMS should issue written guidance 

clarifying its policy that requires a link between the distribution of 

supplemental payments and the provision of Medicaid-covered 

services.

Implementing both actions in this area could result in hundreds of 

millions of dollars in savings, according to GAO analysis.

2016 Medicaid Demonstration 

Approved Spending (Area 27)

Action 1: The Secretary of Health and Human Services should issue 

criteria for assessing whether section 1115 expenditure authorities 

are likely to promote Medicaid objectives.

2016 Medicaid Eligibility 

Determinations (Area 28)

Action 1: The Administrator of CMS should conduct reviews of 

federal Medicaid eligibility determinations to ascertain the accuracy 

of these determinations and institute corrective action plans where 

necessary.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 126 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2016 Medicaid Payments to 

Institutional Providers (Area 

29)

Action 2: The Administrator of CMS should develop a policy 

establishing criteria to determine when provider-specific payments 

are economical and efficient.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in savings of 

hundreds of millions of dollars, according to GAO analysis.

2016 Medicare Payments by Place 

of Service (Area 30)

Action 1: Congress should consider directing the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services to equalize payment rates between settings for 

evaluation and management office visits—and other services that 

the Secretary deems appropriate—and return the associated 

savings to the Medicare program.

Implementing this action could result in savings of $1 billion to $2 

billion annually, according to Medicare Payment Advisory 

Commission and Bipartisan Policy Center estimates.

2015 DOD US Family Health Plan

(Area 6)

Action 1: To eliminate unnecessary program duplication and achieve 

increased efficiencies and potential savings within the integrated 

Military Health System, Congress should terminate the Secretary of 

Defense’s authority to contract with US Family Health Plan (USFHP) 

designated providers in a manner consistent with a reasonable 

transition of affected USFHP enrollees into TRICARE’s regional 

managed care program or other health care programs, as 

appropriate.

Implementing this action could result in savings of $157 million from 

fiscal year 2018 through fiscal year 2022, according to GAO 

analysis.

2015 Medicare Postpayment 

Claims Reviews (Area 7)

Action 1: In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of 

Medicare postpayment claims review efforts and to prevent 

inappropriate duplicative claims reviews among Medicare 

contractors, the Administrator of CMS should monitor the Recovery 

Audit Data Warehouse to ensure that all postpayment review 

contractors are submitting required data and that the data the 

database contains are accurate and complete.

2015 Programs for Serious Mental 

Illness (Area 8)

Action 1: HHS—which includes the Substance Abuse and Mental 

Health Services Administration—should establish a mechanism to 

facilitate intra- and interagency coordination across programs that 

support individuals with serious mental illness.

2015 DOD TRICARE Improper 

Payments (Area 18)

Action 1: The Secretary of Defense should implement a more 

comprehensive TRICARE improper payment measurement 

methodology that includes medical record reviews, as is done in 

other parts of its existing audit programs.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 127 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2015 Medicare Payments to Certain 

Cancer Hospitals (Area 19)

Action 1: To help HHS better control Medicare spending and 

encourage efficient delivery of care, and to generate cost savings 

from any reductions in payments to cancer hospitals that are 

exempted from the prospective payment system (PPS), Congress 

should consider requiring Medicare to pay these PPS-exempt 

cancer hospitals (PCH) as it pays PPS teaching hospitals, or provide 

the Secretary of Health and Human Services with the authority to 

otherwise modify how Medicare pays PCHs, and provide that all 

forgone outpatient payment adjustment amounts be returned to the 

Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund.

Implementing this action could lead to $500 million in savings, 

according to GAO analysis.

2015 State Medicaid Sources of 

Funds (Area 20)

Action 1: To better oversee federal limits and requirements on 

financing the nonfederal share, and to examine the extent to which 

the federal government’s increased spending is commensurate with 

increased payments to providers for health care services, the 

Administrator of CMS should develop a data collection strategy that 

ensures that states report accurate and complete data on all sources 

of funds used to finance the nonfederal share of Medicaid payments.

Implementing this action could lead to hundreds of millions of 

dollars in savings, according to GAO analysis.

2014 Federal Autism Research

(Area 6)

Action 1: The Secretary of Health and Human Services should direct 

the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) and the 

National Institutes of Health, in support of the IACC, to identify 

projects through its monitoring of federal autism activities—including 

the Office of Autism Research Coordination’s annual collection of 

data for the portfolio analysis and the IACC’s annual process to 

update the strategic plan—that may result in unnecessary 

duplication and thus may be candidates for consolidation or 

elimination, and identify potential coordination opportunities among 

agencies.

2014 Minority AIDS Initiative (Area 

7)

Action 1: HHS should consolidate disparate Minority AIDS Initiative 

funding streams into core funding during its budget request and 

allocation process.

2014 Medicaid Demonstration 

Waivers (Area 21)

Action 1: Congress should consider requiring the Secretary of Health 

and Human Services to improve the Medicaid demonstration review 

process, through steps such as improving the review criteria, better 

ensuring that valid methods are used to demonstrate budget 

neutrality, and documenting and making clear the basis for the 

approved limits.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in billions of 

dollars in savings, according to GAO analysis.

2013 Medicare Prepayment 

Controls (Area 25)

Action 2: The Administrator of CMS should develop written 

procedures to provide guidance to agency staff on all steps in the 

processes for developing and implementing edits based on national 

policies, including time frames for taking corrective actions and 

methods for assessing the effects of corrective actions.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 128 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2013 Medicaid Supplemental 

Payments (2013) (Area 26)

Action 3: Congress should consider requiring the administrator of 

CMS to require states to submit an annual independent certified 

audit verifying state compliance with permissible methods for 

calculating non–Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) 

supplemental payments.

Implementing all three actions in this area could result in hundreds 

of millions dollars or billions in cost savings, according to GAO 

analysis.

2012 Military and Veterans Health 

Care (Area 15)

Action 1: To improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and efficacy of 

services for recovering service members, veterans, and their 

families by reducing duplication and overlap, the Secretaries of 

Defense and Veterans Affairs should direct the Senior Oversight 

Committee to expeditiously develop and implement a plan to 

strengthen functional integration across all DOD and Department of 

Veterans Affairs (VA) care coordination and case management 

programs that serve this population.

2012 Medicare Advantage Payment

(Area 45)

Action 1: To help ensure appropriate payments to Medicare 

Advantage (MA) plans, the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

should direct the Administrator of CMS to take steps to improve the 

accuracy of the adjustment made for differences in diagnostic coding 

practices between MA plans and traditional Medicare providers. To 

accomplish this, CMS could take steps such as

• incorporating the most recent data available in its estimates and 

identifying and accounting for all years of diagnostic coding 

differences that could affect the payment year for which any 

adjustment is made;

• taking into account the upward trend of the annual impact of 

coding differences in its estimates; and

• accounting, insofar as possible, for all relevant differences in 

beneficiary characteristics between the MA and traditional 

Medicare populations.

Implementing this action could result in $2.5 billion in savings from 

fiscal year 2013 to fiscal year 2022, according to the Congressional 

Budget Office.

2012 Medicare and Medicaid Fraud 

Detection System (Area 46)

Action 6: To better position the agency to measure, gauge, and take 

actions to help ensure the program’s success toward achieving the 

$21 billion in financial benefits that program integrity officials 

projected, the Administrator of CMS should define any measurable 

financial benefits expected from the implementation of Integrated 

Data Repository and One Program Integrity.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 129 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2011 DOD and VA Electronic 

Health Records Systems

(Area 18)

Action 4: To bring transparency and credibility to the Secretaries of 

Veterans Affairs and Defense’s assertion that their current approach 

to achieving an interoperable electronic health record will cost less 

and take less time than the previous single-system approach, the 

Secretaries should (1) develop a cost and schedule estimate for 

their current approach, from the perspective of both departments, 

that includes the estimated cost and schedule of the VA VistA 

Evolution program, DOD Healthcare Management System 

Modernization program, and the joint efforts to achieve 

interoperability between the two systems; then, (2) compare the cost 

and schedule estimates of the departments’ current and previous 

(i.e., single-system) approaches. If the results of the comparison 

indicate that the departments’ current approach is estimated to cost 

more or take longer than the single-system approach, or both, the 

Secretaries should (1) provide a rationale for pursuing the current 

approach despite its higher cost or longer schedule and (2) report 

the cost and schedule estimates of the current and previous 

approaches, results of the comparison of the estimates, and reasons 

(if applicable) for pursuing a more costly or time-consuming 

approach to VA’s and DOD’s congressional authorizing and 

appropriations committees.

2011 Public Health Information 

Systems (Area 20)

Action 1: The Secretary of Health and Human Services should 

develop and implement a strategic plan that defines goals, 

objectives, and priorities for establishing an electronic public health 

situational awareness network. Such a plan should include 

performance measures for evaluating capabilities of existing and 

planned information systems. The strategic plan should integrate 

related strategies and information technology initiatives within HHS 

for sharing information among federal, state, local, and tribal entities.

2011 Medicaid Supplemental 

Payments (2011) (Area 72)

Action 1: CMS should establish uniform guidance for states that sets 

acceptable methods for calculating non–Disproportionate Share 

Hospital (DSH) payment amounts; require facility-specific reporting 

of non-DSH supplemental payments; and develop a strategy to 

ensure that all state supplemental payment arrangements have 

been reviewed by CMS.

Implementing this action could lead to savings of hundreds of 

millions of dollars, according to GAO analysis.

2011 Medicare Improper Payments

(Area 73)

Action 1: CMS should require its contractors to develop thresholds 

for unexplained increases in billing and use them to develop 

automated prepayment controls.

2011 Medicare’s Health Care 

Payments (Area 74)

Action 7: Congress could exempt from the budget neutrality 

requirement savings attributable to policies that reflect efficiencies 

occurring when services are furnished together.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 130 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

Homeland 

security / law 

enforcement

2017 Missing and Unidentified 

Persons Data (Area 12)

Action 1: The Directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 

the National Institute of Justice should evaluate the feasibility of 

sharing certain information among authorized users, document the 

results of this evaluation, and incorporate, as appropriate, legally 

and technically feasible options for sharing the information.

2017 Sexual Violence Data (Area 

13)

Action 1: The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) should establish a federal interagency forum on sexual 

violence statistics. The forum should consider the broad range of 

differences across the data-collection efforts to assess which 

differences enhance or hinder the overall understanding of sexual 

violence in the United States.

2016 Department of Homeland 

Security’s Human Resources 

Systems (Area 8)

Action 2: The Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the 

Under Secretary of Management to ensure that the Human 

Resources Information Technology (HRIT) Executive Steering 

Committee is consistently involved in overseeing and advising HRIT, 

including approving key program management documents, such as 

HRIT’s operational plan.

2016 Security of Federal Facilities

(Area 9)

Action 2: The Federal Protective Service and General Services 

Administration (GSA) should establish a plan with time frames for 

reaching agreement on the two agencies’ respective roles and 

responsibilities for federal facility security, and update and finalize 

the two agencies’ memorandum of agreement accordingly.

2015 Vulnerability Assessments of 

Critical Infrastructure (Area 9)

Action 2: The Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the 

Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs 

Directorate to work with other Department of Homeland Security 

(DHS) offices and components to develop and implement ways that 

DHS can facilitate data sharing and coordination of vulnerability 

assessments to minimize the risk of potential duplication or gaps in 

coverage.

2013 Department of Homeland 

Security Research and 

Development (Area 7)

Action 1: The Secretary of Homeland Security should develop and 

implement policies and guidance for defining and overseeing 

research and development (R&D) at the department to ensure that 

DHS effectively oversees its R&D investment and efforts and 

reduces fragmentation, overlap, and the risk of unnecessary 

duplication. Such policies and guidance could be included as an 

update to the department’s existing acquisition directive and should 

include the following elements: a well-understood definition of R&D 

that provides reasonable assurance that reliable accounting and 

reporting of R&D resources and activities for internal and external 

use are achieved; a description of the department’s process and 

roles and responsibilities for overseeing and coordinating R&D 

investments and efforts; and a mechanism to track existing R&D 

projects and their associated costs across the department.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 131 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2013 Field-Based Information 

Sharing (Area 8)

Action 1: The Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, 

and the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy should 

work through the Information Sharing and Access Interagency Policy 

Committee or otherwise collaborate to identify characteristics of 

entities and assess specific geographic areas in which practices that 

could enhance coordination and reduce unnecessary overlap, such 

as cross-entity participation on governance boards and colocation of 

entities, could be further applied, and use the results to provide 

recommendations or guidance to the entities on implementing these 

practices.

2013 Checked Baggage Screening

(Area 28)

Action 1: Congress may wish to consider directing the 

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to study, in 

consultation with relevant industry stakeholders, whether the 90 

percent federal cost share that TSA generally applies to cost sharing 

agreements for eligible airport facility modification projects related to 

the installation of checked baggage screening systems is 

appropriate or should be adjusted.

Implementing both actions in this area could result in savings of 

$234 million from 2015 to 2027, according to a TSA estimate.

2012 Homeland Security Grants

(Area 17)

Action 6: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 

should complete a national preparedness assessment of capability 

gaps at each level based on tiered, capability-specific performance 

objectives to enable prioritization of grant funding, and FEMA could 

identify the potential costs for establishing and maintaining those 

capabilities at each level and determine what capabilities federal 

agencies should provide.

2012 Border Security (Area 47) Action 2: To increase the likelihood of successful implementation of 

the Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan, minimize 

performance risks associated with the new approach, help justify 

program funding, and increase the reliability of the U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection (CBP) cost estimate, the Commissioner of 

CBP should develop and apply key attributes for metrics to assess 

program implementation.

2012 Immigration Inspection Fee

(Area 49)

Action 4: To determine the extent to which air passenger 

immigration inspection fees are aligned with the costs of inspection 

activities, which could enable fee adjustments to reduce reliance on 

general fund appropriations, Congress may wish to require the 

Secretary of Homeland Security to direct U.S. Immigration and 

Customs Enforcement and CBP to establish a regular schedule to 

review and coordinate on the costs of their respective air passenger 

immigration inspection activities, and revise the proportion of the fee 

received by each agency accordingly.

2011 Biological Threats (Area 21) Action 2: The overarching biodefense enterprise would benefit from 

strategic oversight mechanisms, including a national strategy, to 

ensure efficient, effective, and accountable results.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 132 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2011 Securing the Northern Border

(Area 22)

Action 1: DHS should provide guidance and oversight for 

interagency forums—which include both Integrated Border 

Enforcement Team and Border Enforcement Security Task Force 

interagency forums—to help prevent duplication of effort and help 

efficiently utilize personnel resources to strengthen DHS’s 

coordination efforts along the northern border.

2011 Department of Homeland 

Security’s Management of 

Acquisition (Area 75)

Action 3: DHS should ensure that its investment decisions are 

transparent and documented; budget decisions are informed by the 

results of acquisition reviews, including acquisition information and 

cost estimates; sufficient management resources are identified and 

aligned, such as acquisition staff, to implement oversight reviews in 

a timely manner; and acquisition program requirements are 

reviewed and validated.

2011 TSA’s Behavior-Based 

Screening (Area 77)

Action 5: The Secretary of Homeland Security should direct the TSA 

Administrator to limit future funding support for the agency’s 

behavior detection activities until TSA can provide scientifically 

validated evidence that demonstrates that behavioral indicators can 

be used to identify passengers who may pose a threat to aviation 

security.

Efforts to implement this action have resulted in $72 million in 

savings from fiscal years 2016 to 2017.

Income security 2017 Disability Insurance (Area 29) Action 1: Adjust the minimum withholding rate to 10 percent of 

monthly Disability Insurance (DI) benefits to allow quicker recovery 

of overpayment debt in the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) 

Disability Insurance program.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in recovering tens 

of millions of dollars annually.

2016 Disability Insurance and 

Federal Workers’ 

Compensation (Area 31)

Action 4: The Commissioner of Social Security should strengthen 

internal controls designed to prevent DI overpayments due to the 

concurrent receipt of Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) 

benefits by implementing the alternative that provides the greatest 

net benefits.

2016 Disability Insurance 

Overpayments (Area 32)

Action 1: To minimize the potential effect of vulnerabilities in the 

work reporting process, SSA should take steps to help ensure that 

work information is entered directly into eWork, the system of record 

for work information, and issue required receipts. Such steps could 

include: improving and issuing guidance and training to field and 

800-number staff to help ensure they log information into eWork and 

issue required receipts, and establishing policies to monitor alerts to 

help ensure that work information for concurrent beneficiaries is 

reflected in Supplemental Security Income and DI systems, and take 

steps to monitor and make enhancements to systems or guidance, 

as needed.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 133 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2016 Disability Reviews (Area 33) Action 1: The Acting Commissioner of Social Security should direct 

the Deputy Commissioner of Operations to further consider cost 

savings as part of SSA’s prioritization of full medical reviews. 

Options could include considering the feasibility of prioritizing 

different types of beneficiaries on the basis of their estimated 

average savings and, as appropriate, integrating case-specific 

indicators of potential cost savings, such as beneficiary age and 

benefit amount, into its modeling or prioritization process for lowerpriority cases.

2016 VA’s Individual 

Unemployability Benefit (Area 

34)

Action 1: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should direct the Under 

Secretary for Benefits to develop a plan to study whether age should 

be considered when deciding if veterans are unemployable.

Implementing this action could save an estimated $15 billion from 

2015 through 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

2015 Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program Fraud 

and Abuse (Area 22)

Action 1: The Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator 

of the Food and Nutrition Service to establish additional guidance to 

help states analyze Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 

(SNAP) transaction data to better identify SNAP recipient 

households that are receiving replacement cards and that are 

potentially engaging in trafficking, and assess whether the use of 

replacement card benefit periods may better focus this analysis on 

high-risk households potentially engaged in trafficking.

2014 Disability and Unemployment 

Benefits (Area 8)

Action 1: Congress should consider passing legislation to require 

SSA to offset Disability Insurance (DI) benefits for any 

Unemployment Insurance benefits received in the same period.

Implementing this action could save $1.9 billion between fiscal year 

2016 and fiscal year 2025, according to the Congressional Budget 

Office.

2014 Federal Employees’ 

Compensation and 

Unemployment Benefits (Area 

9)

Action 1: To help identify whether claimants are inappropriately 

receiving overlapping Unemployment Insurance and Federal 

Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) payments, the Secretary of 

Labor should assess the feasibility of developing a cost-effective 

mechanism to share FECA compensation information with states, 

such as reporting information to the National Directory of New Hires.

2014 Disability Insurance (Area 22) Action 1: The Commissioner of Social Security should assess the 

costs and feasibility of establishing a mechanism to detect 

potentially disqualifying earnings during all months of the waiting 

period, including those months of earnings that the agency’s 

enforcement operation does not currently detect, and implement this

mechanism, to the extent that an analysis determines it is costeffective and feasible.

2014 Veterans’ and Survivors’ 

Benefits (Area 23)

Action 1: Congress should consider passing legislation that would 

establish a look-back and penalty period for claimants who transfer 

assets for less than fair market value prior to applying for pension 

benefits.

Implementing this action could result in savings of $38 million from 

2015 to 2023, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 134 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2011 Social Security Offsets (Area 

80)

Action 1: Congress could consider giving IRS the authority to collect 

the information that SSA needs on government pension income to 

administer the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall 

Elimination Provision accurately and fairly.

Implementing this action could save $2.4 billion to $7.9 billion over 

10 years, if enforced both retrospectively and prospectively, based 

on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and SSA. The 

estimated savings would be less if SSA only enforced the offsets 

prospectively as it would not reduce benefits already received.

Information 

technology

2016 Tribal Internet Access (Area 

10)

Action 1: The Chairman of the Federal Communications 

Commission should develop joint outreach and training efforts with 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) whenever feasible to 

help improve Internet availability and adoption on tribal lands.

2016 Federal Mobile 

Telecommunications (Area 

35)

Action 3: Fourteen agencies (the Departments of Agriculture

(USDA), Commerce (Commerce), Health and Human Services 

(HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), the Interior (Interior), Justice 

(DOJ), the Treasury (Treasury), State, Transportation, and Veterans 

Affairs (VA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 

General Services Administration (GSA), National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration, and Social Security Administration (SSA) 

should ensure that procedures to monitor and control spending on 

mobile devices and services are established agency-wide. 

Specifically, they should ensure that procedures include assessing 

devices for zero, under-, and overusage; personnel with authority 

and responsibility for performing the procedures are identified; and 

the specific steps to be taken to perform the process are 

documented.

2015 DHS Processing of FOIA 

Requests (Area 10)

Action 1: The Secretary of Homeland Security should determine the 

viability of reestablishing the service-level agreement between the 

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to eliminate duplication 

in the processing of immigration files. If the benefits of doing so 

would exceed the costs, reestablish the agreement.

2015 Federal Software Licenses

(Area 23)

Action 4: Twenty-two of the 24 agencies covered by the Chief 

Financial Officers Act of 1990 (all the covered agencies except the 

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the 

National Science Foundation) should establish a comprehensive 

inventory of software licenses using automated tools for the majority 

of agency software license spending or enterprise-wide licenses, or 

both. In addition, in July, Congress enacted the MEGABYTE Act of 

2016, which codified this recommendation.

Efforts to implement the actions in this area have resulted in $24 

million in savings. Implementing the actions in this area could result 

in hundreds of millions of dollars in savings.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 135 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2014 Interoperable Radio 

Communications Systems

(Area 10)

Action 1: Congress should consider requiring DHS, DOJ, and 

Treasury to collaborate on the development and implementation of a 

joint radio communications solution that specifically requires the 

departments to establish an effective governance structure that 

includes a formal process for making decisions and resolving 

disputes, define and articulate a common outcome for this joint 

effort, and develop a joint strategy for improving radio 

communications.

2014 Information Technology 

Investment Portfolio 

Management (Area 24)

Action 7: The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) should direct the Federal Chief Information Officer to improve 

transparency of and accountability for PortfolioStat by publicly 

disclosing planned and actual data consolidation efforts and related 

cost savings by agency.

Efforts to implement the actions in this area have resulted in about 

$1.4 billion in savings from fiscal years 2012 to 2015. Fully 

implementing the actions in this area could result in billions of 

dollars in additional savings.

2013 Information Technology 

Operations and Maintenance

(Area 30)

Action 1: The Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, Health 

and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, and the Treasury should 

direct appropriate officials to annually perform operational analyses 

on all investments and ensure the assessments include all key 

factors.

Implementing both actions in this area could result in billions of 

dollars in savings, according to GAO analysis.

2013 Dissemination of Technical 

Research Reports (Area 10)

Action 1: Congress should consider examining the appropriateness 

and viability of the fee-based model under which the National 

Technical Information Service currently operates for disseminating 

technical information to determine whether the use of this model 

should be continued.

2013 Geospatial Investments (Area 

11)

Action 10: The Director of OMB should develop a mechanism, or 

modify existing mechanisms, to identify and report annually on all 

geospatial-related investments, including dollars invested and the 

nature of the investment.

Implementing the actions in this area could result in savings of 

millions of dollars.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 136 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

International 

affairs

2017 Foreign-Assistance Data 

Quality (Area 14)

Action 2: To improve the quality of the data published on 

ForeignAssistance.gov and help ensure consistency in published 

information, we recommend that the Secretary of State, in 

consultation with the Director of OMB and the USAID Administrator, 

undertake a review of the efforts to date on ensuring data quality.

2016 Cargo Preference for Food 

Aid (Area 36)

Action 1: While recognizing that cargo preference serves policy 

goals established by Congress with respect to the U.S. merchant 

marine, including maintenance of a fleet capable of serving as a 

naval and military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, 

Congress should consider clarifying cargo preference legislation 

regarding the definition of “geographic area” to ensure that agencies 

can fully utilize the flexibility Congress granted to them when it 

lowered the cargo preference for food aid requirement.

Implementing this action could result in millions of dollars of 

savings, according to GAO analysis.

2015 Federal and States’ Export 

Promotion (Area 11)

Action 3: To improve federal–state collaboration in providing export 

promotion services in accordance with the National Export Initiative 

and the Export Enhancement Act of 1992, the Secretary of 

Commerce, as Chair of the Trade Promotion Coordinating 

Committee, should take steps consistent with key practices to 

enhance, where possible, federal information sharing with state 

trade offices on Commerce’s export promotion activities. This could 

include more formal guidance to Commerce staff on the 

circumstances, in light of legal restrictions, in which information can 

be shared with state trade offices and other nonfederal entities, and 

exploring ways for clients to give permission to release information 

useful to such nonfederal entities.

2014 International Religious 

Freedom (Area 11)

Action 1: The Secretary of State and the Chair of the U.S. 

Commission on International Religious Freedom should jointly define 

how the Department of State and the commission should interact in 

their efforts to promote international religious freedom, paying 

particular attention to defining the ex officio role of the Ambassadorat-Large for International Religious Freedom as a nonvoting 

commission member.

2013 Export Promotion (Area 12) Action 2: The Administrator of the Small Business Administration 

(SBA) should consult with Commerce and the Export-Import Bank 

and identify ways to increase, where possible, sharing of client 

information deemed useful for SBA, Commerce, and the ExportImport Bank.

2013 Tobacco Taxes (Area 31) Action 1: Congress, as it continues oversight of the Children’s Health 

Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, may wish to consider 

equalizing tax rates on roll-your-own and pipe tobacco.

2012 Overseas Administrative 

Services (Area 20)

Action 1: To contain costs and reduce duplication of administrative 

support services overseas, Congress may wish to consider requiring 

agencies to participate in International Cooperative Administrative 

Support Services (ICASS) unless they provide a business case to 

show that they can obtain these services outside of ICASS without 

increasing overall costs to the U.S. government or that their mission 

cannot be achieved within ICASS.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 137 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

2011 Antidumping and 

Countervailing Duties (Area 

81)

Action 5: To improve risk management in the collection of 

antidumping and countervailing duties, Customs and Border 

Protection (CBP) should, consistent with U.S. law and international 

obligations, take steps to use its data and risk assessment 

strategically to mitigate antidumping and countervailing duty 

nonpayment, such as by using predictive risk analysis to identify 

entries that pose heightened risk and taking appropriate action to 

mitigate the risk.

Science and the 

environment

2017 Administrative Requirements 

on Federal Research (Area 

15)

Action 1: To achieve additional reductions in universities’ 

administrative workload and costs while maintaining accountability 

over grant funds, DOE, HHS, NASA, and NSF should coordinate 

with each other and with other agencies that fund research to 

identify additional areas where they can standardize requirements, 

and report on these efforts.

2013 Rural Water Infrastructure

(Area 14)

Action 2: The Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should work together and 

with state and community officials to develop guidelines to assist 

states in developing uniform environmental analyses that could be 

used, to the extent appropriate, to meet state and federal 

requirements for water and wastewater infrastructure projects.

2012 Coordination of Space 

System Organizations (Area 

22)

Action 1: Working with the National Security Council, the Director of 

the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should assess 

whether a construct analogous to the Defense Space Council could 

be applied government-wide or whether a separate organization 

should be established that would have greater authority for setting

priorities than individual departments and agencies as well as 

responsibility for strategic planning. Given the complexity, diversity, 

and sensitivity of the many organizations involved in space, and 

long-standing resistance to centralized leadership structures or even 

partnerships among agencies, GAO realizes such an action could 

not be implemented quickly and would require a phased 

implementation approach.

2012 Diesel Emissions (Area 24) Action 1: To help ensure the effectiveness and accountability of 

federal funding that reduces diesel emissions, the Secretaries of 

Energy and Transportation as well as the Administrator of the EPA 

should establish a strategy for collaboration in reducing mobile 

source diesel emissions, consistent with existing law.

2012 Environmental Laboratories

(Area 25)

Action 2: To address potentially overlapping laboratory activities and 

achieve efficiencies by sharing workforce expertise, the 

Administrator of the EPA should establish a top-level science official 

with the authority and responsibility to coordinate, oversee, and 

make management decisions regarding major scientific activities 

throughout the agency, including the work of all program, regional, 

and Office of Research and Development laboratories.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 138 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

Social services 2014 Better Data to Mitigate 

Foreclosures (Area 25)

Action 1: The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Department of 

Veterans Affairs (VA), and Department of Agriculture (USDA) should 

periodically analyze the effectiveness and long-term costs and 

benefits of their mitigation strategies and actions. These analyses 

should consider (1) the redefault rates associated with each type of 

mitigation action and (2) the impact that loan and borrower 

characteristics have on the performance of different actions. The 

agencies should use analysis results to reevaluate their mitigation 

approaches and provide additional guidance to servicers to 

effectively target mitigation actions. If FHA, VA, and USDA do not 

maintain data needed to consider this information, they should 

require servicers to provide the information.

Implementing this action could result in about $40 million dollars 

annually in cost savings, according to GAO estimates.

2012 Social Security Benefit 

Coordination (Area 27)

Action 1: In response to prior recommendations, the Social Security 

Administration (SSA) has taken steps to explore the possibilities of 

sharing information with states and the workers’ compensation 

insurance industry to identify persons who might be receiving 

workers’ compensation benefits. While some information sharing 

has taken place, GAO continues to believe that additional 

opportunities exist to share information. While obtaining information 

from states is difficult, these efforts may help identify workers’ 

compensation beneficiaries so that benefits can be appropriately 

and accurately offset.

2012 Housing Assistance (Area 28) Action 1: To optimize the federal role in rural housing, Congress may 

wish to consider requiring USDA and the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development (HUD) to examine the benefits and costs of 

merging those programs that serve similar markets and provide 

similar products. As a first step, Congress could consider requiring 

USDA and HUD to explore merging their single-family insured 

lending programs and multifamily portfolio management programs, 

taking advantage of the best practices of each and ensuring that 

targeted populations are not adversely affected.

2012 Domestic Disaster Assistance

(Area 51)

Action 1: The FEMA Administrator should reexamine the basis for 

the Public Assistance per capita indicator and determine whether it 

accurately reflects a state’s capacity to respond to and recover from 

a disaster without federal assistance.

2011 Domestic Food Assistance

(Area 29)

Action 1: The USDA should identify and develop methods for 

addressing potential inefficiencies and reducing unnecessary 

overlap among its smaller food assistance programs while ensuring 

that those who are eligible receive the assistance they need. These 

methods could include conducting a study as a first step; convening 

a group of experts; identifying which of the lesser-studied programs 

need further research and taking steps to fill the research gap; or 

identifying and piloting proposed changes.

2011 Transportation-Disadvantaged 

Persons (Area 31)

Action 2: Federal departments on the Interagency Transportation 

Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility should develop and 

disseminate policies and grantee guidance for coordinating 

transportation services.
Appendix VII: Key Open Actions Identified in 

2011 to 2017 Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 139 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Mission

Annual

reporta Area (area number)b Key open actions

Training, 

employment, 

and education

2016 Post-9/11 GI Bill 

Overpayments (Area 37)

Action 3: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should identify and 

implement a cost-effective way to allow Post-9/11 GI Bill 

beneficiaries to verify their enrollment status each month, and 

require monthly reporting.

2013 Higher Education Assistance

(Area 16)

Action 5: The Secretary of Education should take advantage of 

opportunities presented by recent and anticipated substantive 

program changes to sponsor and conduct evaluative research into 

the effectiveness of Title IV programs and higher education tax 

expenditures at improving student outcomes.

2012 Employment for People with 

Disabilities (Area 30)

Action 1: To improve performance through greater coordination 

among the many federal programs that support employment for 

people with disabilities, the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) should consider establishing measurable, government-wide 

goals for employment of people with disabilities. Given the number 

of federal agencies and approaches involved in supporting 

employment for people with disabilities, government-wide goals 

could help spur greater coordination and more efficient and 

economical service delivery in overlapping program areas. To 

determine whether these goals are being met, agencies should 

establish related measures and indicators and collect additional data 

to inform these measures.

2012 Financial Literacy (2012)

(Area 32) 

Action 4: The Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the 

Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, who respectively serve as 

Chair and Vice Chair of the Financial Literacy and Education 

Commission, in concert with other agency representatives on the 

commission, should identify for federal agencies and Congress 

options for consolidating federal financial literacy efforts into the 

activities and agencies that are best suited or most effective.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: A number of issues affect GAO’s ability to estimate potential cost savings and increased 

revenue, including a lack of data, sensitivity to when and how action is taken to address GAO’s 

recommendations, and uncertainty about future conditions. As a result, estimates of potential cost 

savings or increased revenue vary in their degree of precision and may not be available for every 

action.

a

Click on the year to go to the annual report in which this area was first introduced.

b

Click on the area to go to GAO’s Action Tracker, which contains more information on the status of 

each action.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 140 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

This appendix provides additional information on the federal programs or 

other activities related to the new areas of fragmentation, overlap, 

duplication, cost savings or revenue enhancement discussed in this 

report, including budgetary information when available. “Programs” may 

include grants, initiatives, centers, loans, and other types of assistance or 

projects. This information can provide useful context for the issues we 

identified, but limitations should be noted. It is not always possible to 

report budgetary information at the specific program or activity level 

because agency budgets are not organized by programs, but rather by 

appropriations accounts. In those instances, we reported the most reliable 

data for the most recent fiscal year that is available or did not report 

budgetary information. Further, because this report discusses various 

programs or activities, each table may report different types of budgetary 

information, such as obligations, collections, or outlays. Due to the 

limitations described above, the budgetary information reported in this 

appendix cannot be totaled and does not represent potential cost savings 

for all programs.

Table 17: Federal Actions to Protect Pollinators and Improve Agricultural Production (Area 1), Program Information

Agency Related program informationa

Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 

Agricultural Research Service

The Agricultural Research Service has conducted limited monitoring of wild, native 

bees. For example, in 1997, the service’s laboratory in Logan, Utah, began monitoring 

wild, native bees in parks, forests, and other areas in the United States as part of its 

efforts to develop alternative pollinators for U.S. agriculture.

USDA’s Forest Service The Forest Service reported to GAO that it is collaborating with the U.S. Geological 

Survey to monitor bee populations on Experimental Forest and Grassland units. 

Experimental forests and ranges—authorized by Congress and designated by the 

Chiefs of the Forest Service—offer scientists both within and outside the Forest Service 

opportunities to conduct long-term studies.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics 

Service

The National Agricultural Statistics Service collects population, colony loss, and 

economic data on honey bees. The agency can also provide statistical support to efforts 

to develop baseline status data and assess trends in other pollinator populations.

USDA’s National Institute of Food and 

Agriculture

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture has supported some monitoring of wild, 

native bees, according to USDA documents and officials. For example, one institutefunded project at Pennsylvania State University begun in 2010 seeks to establish 

baseline biodiversity and abundance data for native bees in and adjacent to 

Pennsylvania orchards, determine which species are pollinators, and quantify their 

relative significance and economic importance. 

Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) The FWS has collaborated with the U.S. Geological Survey, the USDA Agricultural 

Research Service, universities, and others on native bee surveys. This collaboration has 

led to the development of a database representing more than a million bee specimens 

from across North America, and provides identification and survey design support for a 

broad array of private, academic, state, and federal investigators. Projects are ongoing, 

with national survey programs limited in scope by the available level of funding.

Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 141 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Agency Related program informationa

Department of the Interior’s (Interior) U.S. 

Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey has created and vetted national programs for estimating 

population trends for native and invasive bee species, developed and evaluated bee 

survey protocols and native bee monitoring manuals, created online identification guides 

for the bees of North America, and held workshops on native bee identification.

Interior’s National Park Service (NPS) NPS can conduct wild, native bee monitoring activities on national park units. For 

example, according to the White House Task Force Research Action Plan, a survey by 

the Agricultural Research Service of National Parks in the Pacific Northwest is 

documenting distributional changes of bumble bee species and habitat connectivity 

across high-elevation corridors.

National Science Foundation As of May 2015, the National Science Foundation’s ongoing support for pollinator 

research comprised over 250 currently funded projects focused on pollinators, totaling 

over $113 million. There is no single pollinator-focused program at the foundation; 

however, pollinator-relevant research and education projects are supported in science, 

education, and engineering programs across the entire agency.

Source: GAO analysis of agency data. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: The 2014 presidential memorandum on pollinators called for the White House Task Force to 

assess the status of native bees and other pollinators. The White House Task Force’s research action 

plan identified several priority actions, with corresponding lead and support agencies responsible for 

different aspects of the monitoring.

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

a

Related program information provides a description of actual and potential activities to monitor wild, 

native bees.

Table 18: Army and Air Force Virtual Training (Area 2), Program Information

Agency Program name Program description

Department of Defense

(DOD)—Air Force

Live, Virtual, and Constructive 

Operational Training

A training approach intended to integrate live aircraft and systems with 

virtual and constructive entities, systems, and environments to train 

essential capabilities that are required for combat readiness.

DOD—Army Virtual Training Devices Virtual training devices involving a simulator, simulation, or computergenerated battlefield. The Army relies on a combination of live, virtual, 

constructive, and gaming training to hone individuals’ and units’ skills in 

tactics, techniques, and procedures. 

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic 

or policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts and result in cost savings.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 142 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 19: Construction Projects Supporting Military Contingency Operations (Area 3), Program and Related Budgetary 

Information

Agency Appropriations account Appropriation description

Department of 

Defense (DOD)

Construction for military 

contingency operations 

DOD has spent billions of dollars on “contingency construction” projects, such 

as troop housing and guard towers to support operations in Afghanistan and 

Iraq. These projects are generally funded from Military Construction or 

Operation and Maintenance appropriations, depending on the cost.

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic 

or policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

Table 20: Defense Weather Satellites (Area 4), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

obligations (dollars)

Department of 

Defense (DOD)

Weather System 

Follow-on Microwave 

(WSF-M)

WSF-M is intended to collect data on ocean surface vector 

wind and tropical cyclone intensity to inform military 

operations.

27,618,000

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic 

or policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

Table 21: DOD Advertising (Area 5), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

obligations (dollars)

Department of 

Defense (DOD)

DOD Advertising Activities include advertising efforts to inform the public of 

military service and to recruit military personnel.

516,500,000

Source: GAO analysis of DOD information. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic 

or policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 143 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 22: Federal Critical Raw Materials Activities (Area 6), Program Information

Agency Role Examples of activities

Department of 

Agriculture

Reviewing and approving 

mining projects

Oversees the extraction of minerals on federal land managed by the U.S. 

Forest Service.

Department of 

Commerce

Assessing risk; supporting 

commercialization of new 

technologies

Conducted a strategic materials survey to evaluate the supply chains 

associated with several materials considered important to defense programs 

and systems; convened roundtables of industry and government participants 

to gather information on critical materials issues that may affect U.S. 

manufacturers and the competitiveness of U.S. industry; provides support for 

industrial adoption of rare-earth materials substitutes by providing materials 

measurement science and developing data and models.

Department of 

Defense

Assessing risk; supporting 

research; stockpiling or 

producing materials

Periodically issues two reports analyzing critical materials for defense needs 

according to statutory definitions of “critical” and “strategic and critical” 

materials; funds critical materials research both through component agencies 

that support the entire department and through the Army, Navy, and Air Force 

research organizations; stores selected materials in the National Defense 

Stockpile to mitigate potential shortages based on certain national emergency 

planning assumptions.

Department of 

Energy

Assessing risk; supporting 

research; coordinating 

internationally; stockpiling or 

producing materials; promoting 

technical education and 

workforce development

In 2010 and 2011, conducted criticality assessments on materials important 

to clean energy applications; runs the Critical Materials Institute (CMI)—a 5-

year, $120 million public–private partnership with research efforts focused on 

diversifying the supply of materials, developing substitute materials, and 

improving the efficiency of material use and reduction of waste, among other 

efforts; organizes the EU-US-Japan Trilateral Conference on Critical 

Materials with the European Commission and the Japanese Ministry of 

Economy, Trade, and Industry and led efforts in research and development 

and recycling on the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC); produces and 

distributes radioactive and stable isotopes in short supply for commercial or 

federal needs; offers a variety of educational opportunities through CMI and 

its partners.

Department of 

Homeland Security

Assessing risk Identifies critical foreign infrastructure that, if disrupted, could significantly 

affect U.S. public health, economic vitality, industrial capability, or security.

Department of the 

Interior

Assessing risk; supporting 

research; reviewing and 

approving mining projects

Provides statistics and information on the worldwide production, 

consumption, and flow of minerals and materials essential to the U.S. 

economy and national security; supports research on nonfuel mineral 

resources; led efforts in raw materials data on the TEC; oversees the 

extraction of minerals on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land 

Management.

Environmental 

Protection Agency

Coordinating internationally; 

recycling and sustainable 

materials management

Led efforts in recycling on the TEC; engages with public and private 

stakeholders to advance the productive and sustainable use of materials 

across their life cycles.

National Aeronautics 

and Space 

Administration

Assessing risk Analyzes its supply chains for materials that it deems essential to its mission.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 144 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Agency Role Examples of activities

National Science 

and Technology 

Council

Facilitating interagency 

coordination

Coordinates science and technology policy across the federal research 

enterprise through multiple committees and subcommittees, such as the 

Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply Chains (CSMSC),

which was chartered to provide advice and assistance on policies, plans, and 

procedures for mitigating mineral risks, and the Subcommittee on the 

Materials Genome Initiative—a multiagency initiative designed to discover, 

develop, and manufacture the next generation of materials to meet national 

needs.

National Science 

Foundation

Supporting research; promoting 

technical education and 

workforce development

Supports an initiative to encourage and foster research in sustainable 

chemistry, engineering, and materials to address the interrelated challenges 

of sustainable supply, engineering, production, and use of chemicals and 

materials; supports development of a strong science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce by investing in building the 

knowledge that informs improvements in STEM teaching and learning.

Office of Science 

and Technology 

Policy

Facilitating interagency 

coordination

Fosters partnerships among federal, state, and local governments, and the 

scientific communities in industry and academia, through activities such as 

cochairing the CSMSC, which coordinated an interagency effort to develop a 

methodology to identify potentially critical materials for the U.S. economy or 

security and requested changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to provide 

more granular data on U.S. imports of permanent magnets, among other 

changes.

Office of the U.S. 

Trade 

Representative

Addressing trade issues; 

coordinating internationally

Led the federal government’s World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute 

against China’s export restrictions on rare-earth materials, tungsten, and 

molybdenum, resulting in a finding that the export restrictions were 

inconsistent with China’s WTO obligations, and continues to monitor China’s 

actions to ensure compliance with the WTO decision; led efforts on trade 

cooperation on the TEC.

Source: GAO analysis of federal agency data. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: The Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and Office of Science and Technology 

Policy serve as cochairs of the Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply Chains

(CSMSC).

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 145 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 23: Federal Grant Awards (Area 7), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

obligations

(dollars)

Department of the Interior’s 

(Interior) National Park 

Service (NPS)

NPS provides grants and cooperative agreements to extend the benefits of natural 

and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout the United 

States and the world. 

152,500,000

Interior’s Fish and Wildlife 

Service (FWS)

FWS awards grants and cooperative agreements to programs associated with the 

use, management, and conservation of natural resources, lands, and cultural 

facilities associated with the National Park and National Refuge Systems, and the 

conservation and enhancement of fish, wildlife, vegetation, and habitat.

225,800,000

Department of Agriculture’s 

(USDA) Food and Nutrition 

Service (FNS)

FNS awards grants and cooperative agreements to increase food security and 

reduce hunger by providing children and low-income people access to food, a 

healthful diet, and nutrition education. 

28,500,000

Department of Health and 

Human Services’ Centers 

for Disease Control and 

Prevention (CDC)

CDC provides grants and cooperative agreements to help involve and engage 

public-health stakeholders, including state and local governments, in fulfilling 

CDC’s mission to protect America from health, safety, and security threats.

743,800,000

Source: GAO analysis of agency data. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: The four subagencies listed were part of a January 2017 review looking at merit-based grant 

selection. We selected two subagencies with the most grant award announcements at three federal 

grant-making departments—the Department of Health and Human Services, Interior, and USDA. 

GAO, Grants Management: Selected Agencies Should Clarify Merit-Based Award Criteria and 

Provide Guidance for Reviewing Potentially Duplicative Awards, GAO-17-113 (Washington, D.C.: 

Jan. 12, 2017).

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

Table 24: Federal Hiring (Area 8), Program Information

Agency Program name Program description

Office of Personnel 

Management (OPM)

Employee Services—

Recruitment and Hiring 

Programs

Employee Services leads OPM’s efforts to streamline and simplify the hiring 

process through, among other things, developing policy for and administering the 

hiring authorities available under Title 5 of the U.S. Code. Through its Hiring 

Excellence Campaign, OPM in collaboration with the Office of Management and 

Budget, provided guidance to hiring managers and human-resources staff on 

using hiring authorities to help agencies hire top talent from all segments of 

society. Federal agencies also have a responsibility to implement and use hiring 

authorities in compliance with applicable laws to help meet their recruitment 

needs. 

Source: GAO analysis of OPM information. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic 

or policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 146 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 25: Grants for Transit Resilience (Area 9), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Obligations as of 

August 2016 (dollars)

Department of

Transportation’s 

Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA)

Public Transportation 

Emergency Relief 

Program

The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013, provided 

FTA with $10.9 billion for the Public Transportation 

Emergency Relief Program. In its notice of funding 

availability, FTA announced that it would provide 

approximately $3 billion of those funds to be awarded on 

a competitive basis for projects to increase the resilience 

of transit systems to withstand future disasters in the 

areas affected by Hurricane Sandy.

268,379,000

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Transportation information. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: In November 2014, the Department of Transportation announced that it selected 40 resilience 

projects in six states and the District of Columbia to receive $3,591,883,625 in funding. As of August 

2016, the department had obligated $268,379,000.

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend one action that 

could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these efforts.

Table 26: Recovery Operations Center Closure (Area 10), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2015

budget authority

(dollars)

Recovery 

Accountability and 

Transparency Board

Recovery Operations 

Center

A central data-analytics service to support fraud detection 

and prevention and assist government entities’ efforts to 

prevent fraud, waste, and abuse of federal funds, 

including identifying and recovering improper payments.

18,000,000

Source: GAO. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: The Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board closed when its authority expired at the 

end of fiscal year 2015.

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

Table 27: Use of the Do Not Pay Working System (Area 11), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

obligations (dollars)

Department of the 

Treasury

Do Not Pay Business 

Center

The Do Not Pay Business Center operates the Do Not Pay 

working system—a centralized, web-based system that 

allows agencies to review multiple data sources—and 

provides payment analysis services to federal agencies.

5,116,000

Source: GAO analysis of Department of the Treasury data. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic 

or policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 147 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 28: Missing and Unidentified Persons (Area 12), Programs and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

obligations

(dollars)

Department of Justice’s 

Federal Bureau of 

Investigation (FBI)

National Crime Information Center 

(NCIC): Missing Persons File and 

Unidentified Remains File

NCIC is a law-enforcement database designed to 

assist authorized criminal justice users to 

perform day-to-day duties. NCIC contains 21 

files, including the Missing Persons and 

Unidentified Remains files.

Not availablea

Department of Justice’s 

National Institute of 

Justice (NIJ)

National Missing and Unidentified 

Persons System (NamUS)

NamUs is made up of three Internet-based data 

repositories that can be used by lawenforcement officials, medical examiners, 

coroners, victim advocates or family members, 

and the general public to enter and search for 

information on missing and unidentified persons.

4,700,000b

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Justice data. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: The information presented in this table presents the best data available on the costs of 

collecting and managing data on missing and unidentified persons. Because of differences in the 

types of programs, costs cannot be compared.

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

a

Projected total costs for fiscal year 2016 for three FBI data systems—NCIC, Combined DNA Index 

System, and Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System—total $477 million. All three 

systems are managed by FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Service.

b

NamUs is managed by NIJ through a cooperative agreement with the University of North Texas 

Health Science Center. Funds represent the total 2016 grant award for NamUs.

Table 29: Sexual Violence Data (Area 13), Programs and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

obligations 

(dollars)

Department of 

Education’s Office of 

Postsecondary 

Education

Clery Act data Clery Act data are collected under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of 

Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, which 

requires all postsecondary institutions participating in federal 

student financial assistance programs to disclose statistics on 

certain crimes, including sexual offenses that occur on or near 

campuses that the institution owns or controls. 

508,400a

Department of Health 

and Human Services’ 

Centers for Disease 

Control and 

Prevention (CDC)

National Electronic 

Injury Surveillance 

System–All Injury 

Program (NEISSAIP)

NEISS-AIP collects data from a nationally representative sample of 

hospital emergency departments in the United States regarding 

visits for injuries. 

1,997,000 

Department of Health 

and Human Services’ 

CDC

National Intimate 

Partner and Sexual 

Violence Survey 

(NISVS) 

NISVS is a telephone survey that collects information on intimate 

partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking of adults in the 

United States. 

3,141,000
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 148 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

obligations 

(dollars)

Department of 

Justice’s Federal 

Bureau of 

Investigation (FBI)

Uniform Crime 

Reporting Program–

Summary Reporting 

System (UCR-SRS) 

UCR-SRS consists of reported data on criminal offenses received 

from over 18,000 city, university/college, county, state, tribal, and 

federal law-enforcement agencies nationwide. 

7,572,000b

Department of 

Justice’s FBI

Uniform Crime 

Reporting Program–

National IncidentBased Reporting 

System (UCRNIBRS) 

UCR-NIBRS collects detailed data from over 6,500 lawenforcement agencies for each single incident reported to police 

where one or more criminal offenses were committed. 

53,289,000c

Agency Program name Program description

Estimated 

annual cost 

(dollars)

Department of 

Defense’s (DOD) 

Sexual Assault 

Prevention and 

Response Office

Defense Sexual 

Assault Incident 

Database (DSAID)

DSAID includes case information on unrestricted and restricted 

reports of allegations of sexual assault committed against members 

of the U.S. Armed Forces during or prior to their service.

2,028,000d

DOD’s Defense 

Manpower Data 

Center

Workplace and 

Gender Relations 

Survey of Active 

Duty Members 

(WGRA)

WGRA is a survey that calculates prevalence data on sexual 

assault, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination among 

active-duty military personnel. 

1,581,000d

Department of 

Justice’s Bureau of 

Justice Statistics 

(BJS)

National Crime 

Victimization Survey 

(NCVS)

NCVS is a household survey that collects data from about 160,000 

individuals from a nationally representative sample of about 90,000 

households on the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of 

criminal victimization in the United States.

29,300,000e

Department of 

Justice’s BJS

National Inmate 

Survey (NIS) 

NIS falls under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), 

which requires BJS to obtain data on the incidence and effects of 

prison rape from a sample of federal, state, county, and municipal 

correctional facilities. NIS collects sexual assault incident data 

directly from inmates at those facilities. 

2,500,000f

Department of 

Justice’s BJS

Survey of Sexual 

Victimization (SSV)

SSV also falls under PREA and collects information from the 

correctional facilities on reported allegations of sexual victimization 

by inmates or staff. 

700,000g

Source: GAO analysis of agency information. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: We cannot report a total cost of sexual violence data to the government. The information 

presented in this table represents the best data available on the costs of collecting data on sexual 

violence. However, in many cases the data-collection efforts contain information on more than sexual 

violence, and the amounts listed include spending on the full data-collection effort and not just sexual 

violence data-collection activities. In some cases, we report annual obligations or estimated annual 

obligations for the program, and in other cases, we report the agency’s estimate for the annual cost of 

the program.

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend an action that 

could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these efforts. Budget 

information in this table is rounded to the nearest thousand.
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 149 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

a

The Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education provided fiscal year 2016 

estimated obligations.

b

FBI reported obligating $7,572,000 in fiscal year 2016 for UCR-SRS and UCR-NIBRS combined. 

c

FBI reported obligating $7,572,000 for UCR-SRS and UCR-NIBRS combined and $45,717,000 for 

only NIBRS in fiscal year 2016.

d

The Department of Defense estimated annual costs for DSAID and WGRA based on fiscal year 2016 

costs for operations and management of the data collection efforts. 

e

The Department of Justice reported obligating $41,000,000 in fiscal year 2016 for a 24-month 

interagency agreement with the Census Bureau to conduct the National Crime Victimization Survey. 

The agency estimates the annual cost of the survey to be $29,300,000.

f

The Department of Justice obligated $15,000,000 for a 6-year contract to collect data for the National 

Inmate Survey. BJS estimated the average annual cost to be approximately $2,500,000. 

g

The Department of Justice estimated the average annual cost of the Survey of Sexual Victimization 

to be approximately $700,000.

Table 30: Foreign-Assistance Data Quality (Area 14), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description Obligationsa

(dollars)

Department of State Foreignassistance.gov 

website

ForeignAssistance.gov is an official site for U.S. government 

foreign-assistance data. The website reports funding and 

activity-level data, by implementing mechanism (e.g., contract 

or grant), including activity purpose, description, and location 

for 10 U.S. agencies.

4,493,432

Source: GAO analysis of agency information. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic 

or policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

a

In 2015, the Department of State had a $4.5 million contract with PriceWaterHouseCoopers for 

managing ForeignAssistance.gov.

Table 31: Administrative Requirements on Federal Research (Area 15), Programs and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

obligations

(dollars)

Department of Energy (DOE) DOE provides research and development funding to universities and colleges 

through numerous grant programs supporting advancements in a range of 

energy technologies.

971,200,000

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA)

NASA provides research and development funding to universities and colleges 

through numerous grant programs supporting space and earth sciences.

931,800,000

National Institutes of Health 

(NIH)

NIH provides research and development funding to universities and colleges 

through numerous grant programs supporting medical sciences.

17,533,300,000

National Science Foundation 

(NSF)

NSF provides research and development funding to universities and colleges 

through numerous grant programs supporting a wide range of scientific fields.

4,582,800,000

Source: GAO analysis of National Science Foundation data. | GAO-17-491SP
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 150 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Notes: Total federal obligations for research and development at universities and colleges was 

reported to be $28,556,700,000 in fiscal year 2016.

It may be appropriate for multiple agencies or entities to be involved in the same programmatic or 

policy area due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort, but we recommend a number of 

actions that could mitigate the risk of unnecessary fragmentation, overlap, or duplication of these 

efforts.

Table 32: Department of Defense Commissaries (Area 16), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

obligations (dollars)

Department of 

Defense (DOD)

DOD Commissaries Commissaries provide groceries and household goods at 

reduced prices as a benefit to military personnel, retirees, 

and their dependents.

1,467,000,000

Source: GAO analysis of Defense Commissary Agency information. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: Fiscal year 2016 obligations are estimated.

Table 33: Department of Defense Special and Incentive Pays (Area 17), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2015

obligations (dollars)

Department of 

Defense (DOD)

Special and incentive 

(S&I) pay programs 

DOD uses S&I pay programs to compensate and 

incentivize active-duty servicemembers for occupations 

that are dangerous, less desirable, or require special skills. 

3,400,000,000

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The data are limited to fiscal year 2015 because later data were not available as of March 2017.

Table 34: Navy Shipbuilding (Area 18), Program Information

Agency Appropriation name Appropriation description

Fiscal year 2016 

obligations

(dollars)

Department of 

Defense—Navy

Navy Shipbuilding and 

Conversion

For expenses necessary for the construction, acquisition, or 

conversion of vessels including armor and armament, plant 

equipment, appliances, and machine tools and installation; 

reserve plant and government and contractor-owned equipment 

layaway; procurement of critical, long lead time components 

and designs for vessels to be constructed or converted in the 

future; and expansion of public and private plants.

18,432,000,000

Source: Office of Management and Budget. | GAO-17-491SP

Table 35: Storage of Defense and Commercial Nuclear Waste (Area 19), Program Information

Agency Program name Program description

Department of Energy

(DOE)

Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle 

Research and Development

DOE has responsibility for disposing of nuclear waste resulting from 

commercial nuclear power generation and atomic energy defense 

activities, as required under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

Source: DOE. | GAO-17-491SP
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 151 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 36: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Facility Construction (Area 20), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Appropriation name Appropriation description

Fiscal year 2016 

budget authority

(dollars)

Department of 

Veterans Affairs

Construction, Major 

Projects

The Department of Veterans Affairs Major Construction Projects 

appropriation provides for constructing, altering, extending and 

improving any department facility, including, among other things,

planning, engineering and architectural services, and site 

acquisition, where the estimated cost of a project is over 

$10,000,000 or where funds for a project were made available in 

a previous major project appropriation.

1,243,800,000

Source: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, Pub. L. No. 114-113, 129 Stat. 2242, 2691-92 (2015). | GAO-17-491SP

Note: Most of this appropriation is available for obligation through fiscal year 2020 and a smaller amount is available until expended.

Table 37: Government Purchase Cards (Area 21), Programs and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

outlays (dollars)

Government-wide Government purchase 

card program

The purchase card program was created as a way for agencies 

to streamline the federal acquisition process by providing a lowcost, efficient vehicle for agencies to obtain goods and services 

directly from vendors.

19,092,741,813

Source: GAO analysis of General Services Administration data. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: The General Services Administration manages the government’s purchase card program. The 

agency currently administers the purchase card contracts with three banks: US Bank, Citibank, and 

JP Morgan Chase.

Table 38: Inland Waterways Fuel Tax (Area 22), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

collections

(dollars)

Department of the 

Treasury

Inland Waterways Trust 

Fund

The Inland Waterways Trust Fund receives revenues from a 29 

cents per gallon tax on fuel used for propulsion of commercial 

vessels on federally designated, taxable inland waterways.

110,901,747

Source: GAO analysis of Department of the Treasury information. | GAO-17-491SP

Table 39: Land Mobile Radio Procurement (Area 23), Program Information

Agency Initiative name Initiative description

Office of Management and 

Budget’s Office of Federal 

Procurement Policy

Category Management In 2014, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy announced its Category 

Management Initiative, an approach based on leading practices to manage 

entire categories of spending across government for commonly purchased 

goods and services, such as information-technology hardware and software. 

The initiative is designed to allow the federal government to buy goods and 

services more like a single enterprise, leveraging its purchasing power as the 

world’s largest consumer.

Source: GAO analysis of Office of Management and Budget information. | GAO-17-491SP
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 152 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 40: Refundable Tax Credits (Area 24), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016 

estimated outlaysa

(dollars)

Department of the 

Treasury’s Internal 

Revenue Service (IRS)

Earned Income Tax 

Credit (EITC)

The EITC was enacted to encourage low-income families to 

seek employment by offsetting the impact of Social Security 

taxes. The amount of the credit taxpayers can claim varies 

depending on earned income and number of children. 

63,700,000,000b

Department of the 

Treasury’s IRS

Child Tax Credit 

(CTC) and Additional 

Child Tax Credit 

(ACTC)

The Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) is the refundable 

portion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and provides tax relief 

to low-income families with children. It also adds to the 

positive reward the EITC provides to those who work. 

Taxpayers can claim up to $1,000 per child, depending on 

income. 

54,170,000,000c

Department of the 

Treasury’s IRS

American 

Opportunity Tax 

Credit (AOTC)

The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) offsets certain 

higher education related expenses in an effort to lessen the 

financial burden of a college or professional degree for 

taxpayers and their dependents. Taxpayers can claim up to 

$2,500 per eligible student, of which $1,000 is refundable.

20,160,000,000d

Source: GAO analysis of Department of the Treasury data. | GAO-17-491SP

Notes: This table shows selected refundable tax credits.

a

In the federal budget, the portion of refundable credits that reduces the amount of taxes owed is 

counted as a reduction in revenues, and the portion that exceeds the amount owed (and is refunded) 

is treated as an outlay. The figures in the table include both the amount of reduced revenues and the

amount refunded to taxpayers for fiscal year 2016.

b

The amount includes reduced revenues of $1.55 billion.

c

The amount includes reduced revenues of $24.18 billion.

d

The amount includes reduced revenues of $15.53 billion. The AOTC also includes the Lifetime 

Learning Tax Credit and the tuition and fees deduction, which are also for qualified postsecondary

education expenses.

Table 41: Federal Payments for Hospital Uncompensated Care (Area 25), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

outlays (dollars)

Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services

Medicare A federal health-insurance program for individuals aged 65 

or over; certain individuals with disabilities; and individuals 

with end-stage renal disease. 

696,000,000,000a

Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services

Medicaid A joint federal–state program that finances health care for 

low-income individuals, including children, and aged or 

disabled adults.

575,900,000,000b

Source: GAO analysis of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data. | GAO-17-491SP

a

The $696,000,000,000 represents $373,700,000,000 for Medicare Fee-for-Services, 

$161,900,000,000 for Medicare Advantage (Part C), and $70,200,000,000 for Medicare Prescription 

Drug Benefit (Part D).

b

The $575,900,000,000 includes about $ 363,400,000,000 in the federal share of Medicaid payments 

and about $212,500,000,000 in state share of Medicaid expenditures
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 153 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Table 42: Medicaid Personal Care Services (Area 26), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

outlays (dollars)

Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services

Medicaid A joint federal–state program that finances health care 

for low-income individuals, including children, and aged 

or disabled adults.

575,900,000,000 

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. | GAO-17-491SP

Note: Medicaid’s estimated cost for fiscal year 2016 includes about $363,400,000,000 for the federal 

share of Medicaid payments and about $212,500,000,000 for the state share of Medicaid 

expenditures.

Table 43: Medicare Advantage Improper Payments (Area 27), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

outlays (dollars)

Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services

Medicare Advantage 

(Part C)

CMS pays organizations that offer a private alternative 

plan to Medicare a predetermined monthly amount per 

beneficiary. These amounts are adjusted for variation in 

the cost of providing health care to beneficiaries on the 

basis of various risk factors, including health status.

160,000,000,000

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Health and Human Services information. | GAO-17-491SP

Table 44: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Enrollment (Area 28), Program Information

Health care issue Selected feature of the act Description

Providing coverage, 

lowering cost

Create health-insurance 

marketplaces

The act provides for the establishment of health-insurance exchanges, or 

marketplaces, to assist consumers in comparing and selecting among 

insurance plans offered by participating private issuers of health-care 

coverage. States may elect to operate their own marketplaces, or may rely 

on the federal Health Insurance Marketplace, known to the public as 

HealthCare.gov. Government subsidies can reduce premiums and certain

medical costs for qualifying applicants. 

Increasing access to 

affordable care

Extend coverage for young 

adults

Under the act, most health plans that cover children must make coverage 

available to children up to age 26. Previously, insurance companies could 

remove enrolled children from coverage. 

Insurance company 

accountability

Seek to lower health-care 

premiums

The act generally requires that at least 85 percent of premium dollars 

collected by insurance companies for plans offered in the large-group 

market are spent on health-care services and health-care quality 

improvement. For plans offered in the individual and small-group markets, 

the figure is generally 80 percent. If insurers do not meet the goal, they 

must provide rebates to consumers. 
Appendix VIII: Additional Information on 

Programs Identified

Page 154 GAO-17-491SP Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

Health care issue Selected feature of the act Description

Consumer protection Prohibit coverage 

discrimination

The act bars insurance companies from refusing to sell coverage or renew 

policies on the basis of preexisting conditions. Also, in the individual and 

small-group markets, the law eliminates the ability of insurers to charge 

higher rates on the basis of gender or health status.

Medicaid Expand coverage for lowincome peopleThe act provides for expansion of Medicaid by providing states with 

additional federal funding to expand their Medicaid programs to cover 

adults under 65 with income up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

Source: GAO and Department of Health and Human Services. | GAO-17-491SP

Table 45: Disability Insurance (Area 29), Program and Related Budgetary Information

Agency Program name Program description

Fiscal year 2016

outlays (dollars)

Social Security 

Administration

Disability Insurance Disability Insurance provides benefits to eligible workers 

who have qualifying disabilities and their eligible family 

members.

143,130,000,000 

Source: GAO analysis of Department of the Treasury data. | GAO-17-491SP

(100877)
This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety 

without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be 

necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately.
The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation, and investigative 

arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional 

responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the 

federal government for the American people. GAO examines the use of public 

funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides analyses, 

recommendations, and other assistance to help Congress make informed 

oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO’s commitment to good government 

is reflected in its core values of accountability, integrity, and reliability.

The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no cost is 

through GAO’s website (http://www.gao.gov). Each weekday afternoon, GAO 

posts on its website newly released reports, testimony, and correspondence. To 

have GAO e-mail you a list of newly posted products, go to http://www.gao.gov

and select “E-mail Updates.”

The price of each GAO publication reflects GAO’s actual cost of production and 

distribution and depends on the number of pages in the publication and whether

the publication is printed in color or black and white. Pricing and ordering 

information is posted on GAO’s website, http://www.gao.gov/ordering.htm.

Place orders by calling (202) 512-6000, toll free (866) 801-7077, or 

TDD (202) 512-2537.

Orders may be paid for using American Express, Discover Card, MasterCard, 

Visa, check, or money order. Call for additional information.

Connect with GAO on Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Subscribe to our RSS Feeds or E-mail Updates. Listen to our Podcasts.

Visit GAO on the web at www.gao.gov and read The Watchblog.

Contact:

Website: http://www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm

E-mail: fraudnet@gao.gov

Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202) 512-7470

Katherine Siggerud, Managing Director, siggerudk@gao.gov, (202) 512-4400, 

U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7125, 

Washington, DC 20548

Chuck Young, Managing Director, youngc1@gao.gov, (202) 512-4800

U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149 

Washington, DC 20548

James-Christian Blockwood, Managing Director, spel@gao.gov, (202) 512-4707

U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7814, 

Washington, DC 20548

GAO’s Mission

Obtaining Copies of 

GAO Reports and 

Testimony

Order by Phone

Connect with GAO

To Report Fraud, 

Waste, and Abuse in 

Federal Programs

Congressional 

Relations

Public Affairs

Strategic Planning and 

External Liaison

Please Print on Recycled Paper.