GOVERNMENT 

EFFICIENCY AND 

EFFECTIVENESS

Opportunities to Reduce 

Fragmentation, Overlap, 

and Duplication and 

Achieve Other Financial 

Benefits

Statement of Gene L. Dodaro 

Comptroller General of the United States

Testimony

Before the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform, House of 

Representatives

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 2:00 p.m. EDT

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

GAO-13-496T

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
 

Page 1 GAO-13-496T 

Chairman Issa, Ranking Member Cummings, and Members of the 

Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss our 2013 annual report, which 

presents 31 new opportunities to reduce fragmentation, overlap, and 

duplication as well as achieve other financial benefits. It also presents the 

results of our efforts to follow up on progress made by executive branch 

agencies and Congress in addressing the areas we identified in our 2011 

and 2012 annual reports.1 Through these three annual reports, we have 

completed a systematic examination to identify major instances of 

fragmentation, overlap, or duplication across the federal government. In 

light of today’s challenging fiscal environment, we have also identified 

additional opportunities to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness by 

means of cost savings or enhanced revenue collection.

My testimony today describes the (1) new areas identified in our 2013 

annual report where fragmentation, overlap, or duplication exists among 

federal programs or activities, as well as other opportunities to achieve 

cost savings or enhanced revenue; (2) status of actions taken by 

executive branch agencies and Congress in addressing the 131 areas 

identified in our 2011 and 2012 annual reports; and (3) the summary 

results of our 3-year systematic examination across the federal 

government to identify major instances of fragmentation, overlap, or 

duplication. My comments are based upon our 2013 annual report, which 

is being released today. That report is based upon work GAO previously 

conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards.

In summary, our 2013 annual report identifies 31 new areas where 

agencies may be able to achieve greater efficiency or effectiveness. 

Within these 31 areas, we identify 81 actions that the executive branch or 

Congress could take to address the issues we identified. Although 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, our report includes 17 areas of fragmentation, overlap, or 

 

1

GAO, Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax 

Dollars, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-11-318SP (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 1, 2011); and 

2012 Annual Report: Opportunities to Reduce Duplication, Overlap and Fragmentation, 

Achieve Savings, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-12-342SP (Washington D.C.: Feb. 28, 

2012).

 
 

Page 2 GAO-13-496T 

duplication where multiple programs and activities may be creating 

inefficiencies. Figure 1 illustrates the definitions we use for fragmentation, 

overlap, and duplication for this work. The report also identifies 14 

additional areas where opportunities exist to achieve cost savings or 

enhance revenue collections.

Figure 1: Definitions of Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication

The executive branch and Congress have made some progress in 

addressing the areas that we previously identified. In our 2011 and 2012 

annual reports, we identified approximately 300 actions among 131 

overall areas that the executive branch and Congress could take to 

reduce or eliminate fragmentation, overlap, or duplication or achieve other 

potential financial benefits. As of March 6, 2013, the date we completed 

our progress update audit work, 16 of the 131 overall areas were 
 

Page 3 GAO-13-496T 

addressed; 87 were partially addressed; and 27 were not addressed.2

Within these areas, 65 of the approximately 300 individual actions were 

addressed.3 However, 149 actions were partially addressed and 85 

actions remain not addressed, highlighting the need for sustained 

attention and leadership.4

Through our three annual reports, we have identified 162 areas in which 

there are opportunities to reduce fragmentation, overlap, or duplication or 

to achieve cost savings or enhance revenue. (Appendix I presents a 

summary of the areas we identified in our three annual reports.) Within 

these 162 areas, we identify approximately 380 actions that the executive 

branch or Congress could take to address the issues we identified. These 

areas span a wide range of government missions, covering activities 

within all 15 cabinet-level executive departments and 17 other federal 

entities. Collectively, if the actions we suggest are implemented, the 

government could potentially save tens of billions of dollars annually.

 

2

In assessing progress on the 81 areas we identified in our 2011 annual report for this 

year’s report, we combined two areas related to the Department of Homeland Security’s 

management of acquisitions (Areas 75 and 76) into one area. Therefore, we are 

evaluating progress for 80 areas identified in our 2011 annual report and 51 areas 

identified in our 2012 annual report. In assessing overall progress for an area, we 

determined that an area was “addressed” if all actions in that area were addressed; 

“partially addressed” if at least one action needed in that area showed some progress 

toward implementation but not all actions were addressed; and “not addressed” if none of 

the actions needed in that area was addressed or partially addressed. 

3

For congressional actions, we applied the following criteria: “addressed” means relevant 

legislation has been enacted; “partially addressed” means a relevant bill has passed a 

committee, the House of Representatives, or the Senate, or relevant legislation 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. For executive branch actions, “addressed” means implementation of the action 

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

needed is in development, but not yet completed; and “not addressed” means that minimal 

or no progress has been made toward implementing the action needed.

4

We are not assessing 9 actions this year that were previously included in our 2011 and 

2012 reports. Based on subsequent audit work that we conducted, these actions have 

been consolidated, redirected from a congressional to an executive branch action, or 

revised to reflect updated information or data that we obtained. Further, 16 actions 

reported in 2011 and 2012 were revised this year due to additional audit work or other 

information we considered.
 

Page 4 GAO-13-496T 

In 17 of the 31 new areas where agencies may be able to achieve greater 

efficiency or effectiveness, we found evidence of fragmentation, overlap, 

or duplication among federal programs or activities. As described in table 

1, these programs or activities cover a wide range of federal functions 

and missions.

Table 1: Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication Areas Identified in Our 2013 Annual Report, by Mission

Mission Areas Identified 

Agriculture 1. Catfish Inspection: Repealing provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill that assigned U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

Food Safety and Inspection Service responsibility for examining and inspecting catfish and for creating a catfish 

inspection program would avoid duplication of already existing federal programs and could save taxpayers millions 

of dollars annually without affecting the safety of catfish intended for human consumption.

Defense 2. Combat Uniforms: The Department of Defense’s fragmented approach to developing and acquiring uniforms 

could be more efficient, better protect service members, and result in up to $82 million in development and 

acquisition cost savings through increased collaboration among the military services.

3. Defense Foreign Language Support Contracts: The Department of Defense should address fragmentation in 

the department’s acquisition approach for foreign language support contracts, which are estimated to cost more 

than $1 billion annually, by exploring opportunities to gain additional efficiencies.

Energy 4. Renewable Energy Initiatives: Federal support for wind and solar energy, biofuels, and other renewable energy 

sources, which has been estimated at several billion dollars per year, is fragmented because 23 agencies 

implemented hundreds of renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010—the latest year for which GAO 

developed these original data. Further, the Departments of Energy and Agriculture could take additional actions—

to the extent possible within their statutory authority—to help ensure effective use of financial support from several 

wind initiatives, which GAO found provided duplicative support that may not have been needed in all cases for 

projects to be built.

Health 5. Joint Veterans and Defense Health Care Services: The Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense should 

enhance their collaboration to reduce costs, overlap, and potential duplication in the delivery of health care 

services between two of the nation’s largest health care systems that together provide health care to nearly 16 

million veterans, service members, military retirees, and other beneficiaries.

6. Medicaid Program Integrity: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services needs to take steps to eliminate 

duplication and increase efficiency in two Medicaid Integrity Program activities—provider audits and the collection 

of state program integrity data.

Homeland 

security/law 

enforcement

7. Department of Homeland Security Research and Development: Better policies and guidance for defining, 

overseeing, and coordinating research and development investments and activities would help the Department of 

Homeland Security address fragmentation, overlap, and potential unnecessary duplication.

2013 Annual Report 

Identifies 31 New 

Areas Where 

Opportunities Exist to 

Achieve Greater 

Efficiency or 

Effectiveness 
 

Page 5 GAO-13-496T 

Mission Areas Identified 

8. Field-Based Information Sharing: To help reduce inefficiencies resulting from overlap in analytical and 

investigative support activities, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security and the Office of National Drug 

Control Policy could improve coordination among five types of field-based information sharing entities that may 

collect, process, analyze, or disseminate information in support of law-enforcement and counterterrorism-related 

efforts—Joint Terrorism Task Forces, Field Intelligence Groups, Regional Information Sharing Systems centers, 

state and major urban area fusion centers, and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Investigative Support 

Centers.

9. Justice and Treasury Asset Forfeiture: Conducting a study to evaluate the feasibility of consolidating the 

Departments of Justice’s and Treasury’s multimillion dollar asset forfeiture activities could help the departments 

identify the extent to which consolidation of potentially duplicative activities would help increase the efficiency and 

effectiveness of the programs and achieve cost savings.

Information 

technology

10. Dissemination of Technical Research Reports: Congress may wish to consider whether the fee-based model 

under which the National Technical Information Service currently operates for disseminating technical information 

is still viable or appropriate, given that many of the reports overlap with similar information available from the 

issuing organizations or other sources for free.

11. Geospatial Investments: 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.

International 

affairs

12. Export Promotion: Enhanced collaboration between the Small Business Administration and two other agencies 

could help to limit overlapping export-related services for small businesses.

13. International Broadcasting: The Broadcasting Board of Governors—with a budget of $752 million in fiscal year 

2012—has recognized the need to reduce overlap and reallocate limited resources to broadcasts that will have the 

greatest impact, but the agency could do more to achieve this goal, such as systematically considering overlap of 

language services in its annual language services review.

Science and 

the 

environment

14. Rural Water Infrastructure: Additional coordination by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department 

of Agriculture could help three water and wastewater infrastructure programs with combined funding of about $4.3 

billion avoid potentially duplicative application requirements, as well as associated costs and time developing 

engineering reports and environmental analyses.

Social 

services

15. Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Programs: More fully assessing the extent of overlap and potential 

duplication across the fragmented 76 federal drug abuse prevention and treatment programs and identifying 

opportunities for increased coordination, including those programs where no coordination has occurred, would 

better position the Office of National Drug Control Policy to better leverage resources and increase efficiencies.

Training, 

employment, 

and 

education

16. Higher Education Assistance: Federal agencies providing assistance for higher education should better 

coordinate to improve program administration and help reduce fragmentation.

17. Veterans’ Employment and Training: The Departments of Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Defense need to better 

coordinate the employment services each provides to veterans, and Labor needs to better target the Disabled 

Veterans’ Outreach Program so that it does not overlap with other programs.

Source: GAO.

We consider programs or activities to be fragmented when more than one 

federal agency (or more than one organization within an agency) is 

involved in the same broad area of national need and opportunities may 

exist to improve how the government delivers services. We identified 

fragmentation in multiple programs we reviewed, including the following:

• Combat Uniforms: We found that the Department of Defense’s (DOD) 

fragmented approach to developing and acquiring uniforms could be 
 

Page 6 GAO-13-496T 

more efficient. Since 2002, the military services have shifted from 

using two camouflage patterns to seven service-specific camouflage 

uniforms with varying patterns and colors. Although DOD established 

a board to help ensure collaboration and DOD-wide integration of 

clothing and textile activities, we continue to identify inefficiencies in 

DOD’s uniform acquisition approach. For example, we found that 

none of the services had taken advantage of opportunities to reduce 

costs through partnering on inventory management or by collaborating 

to achieve greater standardization among their various camouflage 

uniforms. We have identified several actions DOD should take to 

realize potential efficiencies and up to $82 million in development and 

acquisition cost savings through increased collaboration among the 

military services. These actions include directing the Secretaries of 

the military departments to actively pursue partnerships for the joint 

development and use of uniforms.

• Defense Foreign Language Support Contracts: DOD obligated over 

$6.8 billion from fiscal years 2008 through 2012 on contracts to 

acquire a range of foreign language services and products, such as 

translation and interpretation services. Although the department has 

gained some efficiencies by centralizing contracting for certain 

services under an executive agent, it has not taken steps to 

comprehensively assess whether additional opportunities exist to gain 

efficiencies in the department’s fragmented acquisition approach for 

foreign language support contracts. For example, we found that 159 

contracting organizations in 10 different DOD components obligated 

approximately $1.2 billion on contracts outside of those managed by 

the executive agent, resulting in an uncoordinated and fragmented 

approach. Our prior work has found that agencies, including DOD, 

reported savings ranging between 5 and 20 percent by implementing 

more coordinated acquisition approaches rather than fragmented 

contracting. Given the department’s level of obligations for foreign 

language support services, DOD could achieve significant cost 

savings by assessing and addressing the fragmentation in its current 

approach for managing these contracts.

• Renewable Energy Initiatives: Federal support for wind and solar 

energy, biofuels, and other renewable energy sources has increased 

significantly in recent years. Specifically, third-party estimates indicate 

that federal spending over the 7-year period from 2002 through 2008 

averaged about $4 billion per year and increased to almost $15 billion 

in fiscal year 2010, in part because of additional spending through the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We found that 

federal support for renewable energy is fragmented, as 23 agencies 
 

Page 7 GAO-13-496T 

and their 130 subagencies implemented hundreds of initiatives in

fiscal year 2010.5 We could not comprehensively assess the potential 

for overlap or duplication among these nearly 700 renewable energy 

initiatives, because existing agency information was not sufficiently 

complete to allow for such an assessment. However, fragmentation 

can be a harbinger of potential overlap or duplication. For example, 

we assessed federal wind energy initiatives and found that 82 windrelated initiatives that we examined had overlapping characteristics, 

and several of them have provided duplicative financial support to 

deploy wind energy projects. Such duplicative federal financial 

support may not have been needed in all cases for the projects to be 

built. To help ensure effective use of financial support, we suggested 

that the Department of Energy (Energy) and the Department of 

Agriculture (USDA), to the extent possible within their statutory 

authority, assess and document whether the financial support of their 

initiatives is needed when considering applications.

In some areas where fragmentation exists, we also found evidence of 

overlap, which occurs when multiple agencies or programs have similar 

goals, engage in similar activities or strategies to achieve them, or target 

similar beneficiaries. We found overlap among federal programs or

initiatives in a variety of areas such as joint veterans and defense health 

care services, export promotion activities, and veterans’ employment and 

training programs, as well as the following:

• Department of Homeland Security Research and Development: Within 

the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), we found six 

department components involved in research and development (R&D) 

activities. We examined 47 R&D contracts awarded by these 

components and found 35 instances among 29 contracts in which the 

contracts overlapped with activities conducted elsewhere in the 

department. Taken together, these 29 contracts were worth about $66 

million. In one example of the overlap, we found that two DHS 

components awarded five separate contracts that each addressed 

detection of the same chemical. While we did not identify instances of 

 

5

We defined a renewable energy-related initiative as a program, tax expenditure, or group 

of activities serving a similar purpose or function that was related to renewable energy 

through a specific emphasis or focus, even if renewable energy was part of a broader 

effort. There is no comprehensive database that tracks federal renewable energy 

spending across agencies for all types of activities. Fiscal year 2010 is the latest year for 

which we developed original data on the renewable energy initiatives.
 

Page 8 GAO-13-496T 

unnecessary duplication among these contracts, DHS has not 

developed a policy defining who is responsible for coordinating R&D 

and what processes should be used to coordinate it, and does not

have mechanisms to track all R&D activities at DHS that could help 

prevent overlap, fragmentation, or unnecessary duplication. We 

suggested that developing a policy defining the roles and 

responsibilities for coordinating R&D, and establishing coordination 

processes and a mechanism to track all R&D projects could help DHS 

mitigate existing fragmentation and overlap, and reduce the risk of 

unnecessary duplication.

• Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Programs: In fiscal year 2012, 

about $4.5 billion was allocated to 15 federal agencies that administer 

76 fragmented programs intended to prevent or treat illicit drug use or 

abuse. Of the 76 drug abuse prevention and treatment programs we 

reviewed, we also found evidence of overlap across 59 programs 

(nearly 80 percent). The Office of National Drug Control Policy 

(ONDCP) is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the 

implementation of drug abuse prevention and treatment program 

activities across the federal government. Although ONDCP has taken 

some steps to coordinate these activities, it has not systematically 

assessed drug abuse prevention and treatment programs to examine 

the extent of overlap and potential for duplication or to identify 

opportunities for greater coordination. Such an assessment would 

better position ONDCP to help ensure that federal agencies 

undertaking similar prevention and treatment efforts identify 

opportunities for increased efficiencies.

Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can 

lead to duplication, which occurs when two or more agencies or programs 

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

same beneficiaries. Our 2013 report includes several areas where we 

identified potentially duplicative federal efforts, including the following:

• Catfish Inspection: We found that when USDA’s Food Safety and 

Inspection Service (FSIS) begins the catfish inspection program as 

mandated in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, the 

program will duplicate work already conducted by the Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA) and by the National Marine Fisheries Service. 

For example, as many as three agencies—FDA, FSIS, and the 

National Marine Fisheries Service—could inspect facilities that 

process both catfish and other types of seafood. To avoid this 

duplication, we suggest that Congress repeal the provisions of the act 
 

Page 9 GAO-13-496T 

that assigned USDA responsibilities for examining and inspecting 

catfish and establishing a catfish inspection program. Taking this

action could save taxpayers millions annually, according to FSIS 

estimates of the program’s cost.6

• Medicaid Program Integrity: We also identified duplication in the 

Medicaid Integrity Program, which provides federal support and 

oversight of state programs.7 Specifically, we identified duplication in 

two integrity program activities: (1) the National Medicaid Audit 

Program, which consists of audits of state Medicaid claims data to 

identify overpayments; and (2) state program integrity assessments, 

one of several tools through which the Centers for Medicare & 

Medicaid Services (CMS) collects data on state program integrity 

activities. For example, we found that the data collected through state 

program integrity assessments duplicate data collected through 

triennial comprehensive reviews and other reports, which provide 

more timely and useful information. We suggested that CMS merge 

certain functions of the federal review and audit contractors and 

discontinue the annual state program integrity assessment to 

eliminate or avoid duplicative activities.

• Geospatial Investments: According to the Department of the Interior, 

the federal government invests billions of dollars annually to collect, 

maintain, and use geospatial information—information linked to 

specific geographic locations that supports many government 

functions, such as maintaining roads and responding to natural 

disasters. We found that federal agencies had not effectively 

 

6

To create this potential savings, Congress would need to repeal the provision in the 

Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, or direct in the Food Safety and Inspection 

Service’s appropriation that no funds may be spent on the program. If Congress enacts a 

legislative restriction, there may be some opportunity to rescind appropriated 

amounts. Because the inspection program is funded from a lump sum appropriation to 

USDA, funds that would have been used for the program could be available for new 

obligations within the appropriations account. USDA could identify the amount of funds 

currently available for obligation that would have been used for the catfish inspection 

program and Congress could rescind those amounts.

7

Medicaid is the joint federal-state health care financing program for certain low-income 

individuals and is one of the largest social programs in federal and state budgets. We 

have had long-standing concerns about Medicaid’s program integrity because of problems 

with the sufficiency of federal and state oversight. For example, the Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services estimated that in fiscal year 2012, $19.2 billion (7.1 percent) of 

Medicaid’s federal expenditures involved improper payments.
 

Page 10 GAO-13-496T 

implemented policies and procedures that would help them to identify 

and coordinate geospatial data acquisitions across the government. 

For example, although the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 

has oversight responsibilities for investments in geospatial data, OMB 

staff members acknowledged that OMB does not have complete and 

reliable information to identify potentially duplicative geospatial 

investments. According to these officials, this lack of information is 

largely because agencies do not appropriately and consistently 

classify geospatial investments in their budget documents submitted 

to OMB. As a result, the agencies make duplicative investments and 

risk missing opportunities to jointly acquire data. Better coordination 

by agencies and better oversight by OMB could help to reduce 

duplication of geospatial investments, providing the opportunity for 

potential savings of millions of dollars on geospatial information 

technology.

In addition to areas of fragmentation, overlap, and duplication, our 2013 

annual report identified 14 areas where opportunities exist either to 

reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections 

for the Treasury. These opportunities for executive branch or 

congressional action exist in a wide range of federal government missions 

(see table 2).

Table 2: Cost Savings and Revenue Enhancement Opportunities Identified in Our 2013 Annual Report, by Mission

Mission Areas Identified

Agriculture 18. Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Fees: The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service could have achieved as much as $325 million in savings (based on fiscal year 2011 

data, as reported in GAO’s March 2013 report) by more fully aligning fees with program costs; although the 

savings would be recurring, the amount would depend on the cost-collections gap in a given fiscal year and would 

result in a reduced reliance on U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s annual Salaries and Expenses 

appropriations used for agricultural inspection services.

19. Crop Insurance: To achieve up to $1.2 billion per year in cost savings in the federal crop insurance program, 

Congress could consider limiting the subsidy for premiums that an individual farmer can receive each year, 

reducing the subsidy for all or high-income farmers participating in the program, or some combination of limiting 

and reducing these subsidies.

Defense 20. Joint Basing: The Department of Defense needs an implementation plan to guide joint bases to achieve millions 

of dollars in cost savings and efficiencies anticipated from combining support services at 26 installations located 

close to one another.

Energy 21. Department of Energy’s Isotope Program: Assessing the value of isotopes to customers, and other factors such 

as prices of alternatives, may show that the Department of Energy could increase prices for isotopes that it sells to 

commercial customers to create cost savings by generating additional revenue.

General 

government

22. Additional Opportunities to Improve Internal Revenue Service Enforcement of Tax Laws: The Internal 

Revenue Service can realize cost savings and increase revenue collections by billions of dollars by, among other 

things, using more rigorous analyses to better allocate enforcement and other resources.
 

Page 11 GAO-13-496T 

Mission Areas Identified

23. Agencies’ Use of Strategic Sourcing: Selected agencies 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—savings of one percent 

from selected agencies’ procurement spending alone would equate to over $4 billion.

24. Opportunities to Help Reduce Government Satellite Program Costs: Government agencies could achieve 

considerable cost savings on some missions by leveraging commercial spacecraft through innovative mechanisms 

such as hosted payload arrangements and sharing launch vehicle costs. Selected agencies have reported saving 

hundreds of millions of dollars to date from using these innovative mechanisms.

Health 25. Medicare Prepayment Controls: 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.

26. Medicaid Supplemental Payments: To improve the transparency of and accountability for certain high-risk 

Medicaid payments that annually total tens of billions of dollars, Congress should consider requiring the Centers 

for Medicare & Medicaid Services to take steps that would facilitate the agency’s ability to oversee these 

payments, including identifying payments that are not used for Medicaid purposes or are otherwise inconsistent 

with Medicaid payment principles, which could lead to cost savings. GAO’s analysis for providers for which data 

are available suggests that savings could be in the hundreds of millions, or billions, of dollars. 

27. Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Payment Demonstration: Rather than implementing the Medicare 

Advantage quality bonus payment program specifically established by law, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services is testing an alternative bonus payment structure under a broad demonstration authority through a 3-year 

demonstration that has design flaws, raises legal concerns, and is estimated to cost over $8 billion; about $2 billion 

could be saved if it were canceled for its last year, 2014.

Homeland 

security/law 

enforcement

28. Checked Baggage Screening: By reviewing the appropriateness of the federal cost share the Transportation 

Security Administration applies to agreements financing airport facility modification projects related to the 

installation of checked baggage screening systems, the Transportation Security Administration could, if a reduced 

cost share was deemed appropriate, achieve cost efficiencies and be positioned to install a greater number of 

optimal baggage screening systems than it currently anticipates.

Information 

technology 

29. Cloud computing: Better planning of cloud-based computing solutions provides an opportunity for potential 

savings of millions of dollars.

30. Information Technology Operations and Maintenance: Strengthening oversight of key federal agencies’ major 

information technology investments in operations and maintenance provides opportunity for savings on billions in 

information technology investments.

International 

affairs

31. Tobacco Taxes: Federal revenue losses were 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.

Source: GAO.

Among the 14 areas of opportunity to reduce costs or enhance revenue 

identified in our 2013 annual report are the following examples of 

opportunities for executive branch agencies or Congress to take action to 

address the issues we reported:

• Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Payment Demonstration: We 

report concerns about CMS’s Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus 

Payment Demonstration, which was estimated to cost $8.35 billion 

over 10 years, most of which will be paid to plans with average 

performance. Medicare Advantage provides health care coverage 
 

Page 12 GAO-13-496T 

through private health plans offered by organizations under contract 

with CMS. The agency’s stated research goal for the demonstration is 

to test whether a modified bonus structure leads to larger and faster 

annual quality improvement for Medicare Advantage plans. We found 

that the demonstration’s design precludes a credible evaluation of its 

effectiveness because it lacks an appropriate comparison group 

needed to isolate the demonstration’s effects, and because the 

demonstration’s bonus payments are based largely on plan 

performance that predates the demonstration. Based on these 

concerns, we suggest that Department of Health and Human Services 

(HHS) cancel the Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Payment 

Demonstration. In addition, the demonstration’s design raises legal 

concerns about whether it falls within HHS’s demonstration authority. 

Although the demonstration is now in its second year, HHS still has an 

opportunity to achieve significant cost savings—about $2 billion, 

based on our analysis of CMS actuaries’ estimates—if it cancels the

demonstration for 2014.

• Crop Insurance: The federal government’s crop insurance costs have 

increased in recent years—rising from an average of $3.1 billion per 

year from fiscal years 2000 through 2006 to an average of $7.6 billion 

per year from fiscal years 2007 through 2012—and are expected to 

increase further. These costs include subsidies to pay for part of a 

farmer’s crop insurance premiums, which farmers can purchase to 

insure against certain losses for insurable crops they produce. Unlike 

many farm programs, the federal crop insurance program does not 

have statutory income and payment limits that apply to individual 

farmers and legal entities, including corporations. Congress could 

achieve up to $1.2 billion per year in cost savings by limiting the 

subsidy for premiums that an individual farmer can receive each year, 

reducing the subsidy for all or high-income farmers participating in the 

program, or some combination of both.

• Information Technology Operations and Maintenance: Of the $79 

billion federal agencies budgeted for information technology (IT) in 

fiscal year 2011, $54 billion (about 69 percent) was reported to have 

been spent on the operations and maintenance of existing legacy IT 

systems—commonly referred to as steady state investments. 

However, many federal agencies are not performing analyses to 

determine whether or not their steady state systems are continuing to 

meet business and customer needs and are contributing to meeting 

the agencies’ strategic goals, as called for by OMB guidance. We

found that agencies did not conduct such an analysis on 52 of the 75 

major existing information technology investments we reviewed. As a 
 

Page 13 GAO-13-496T 

result, there is increased potential for these IT investments in 

operations and maintenance to result in waste and duplication. We 

suggest that agencies analyze all IT investments annually and report 

the results of their analyses to OMB. These actions could help 

agencies achieve cost savings by strengthening the oversight of their 

existing IT investments in operations and maintenance, resulting in 

the potential for billions of dollars in savings.

• Opportunities to Help Reduce Government Satellite Program Costs: In 

recent years, Congress has appropriated more than $25 billion a year 

to agencies for developing space systems.8 To save money, several 

federal agencies are actively using or exploring nontraditional 

approaches to managing their space-based programs, such as 

hosting government instruments on commercial spacecraft and having 

multiple satellites share the same launch vehicle.9 For example, DOD 

has two ongoing hosted payload pilot missions and has taken 

preliminary steps to develop a follow-on effort. According to DOD 

estimates, the commercial partnership has saved the department over 

$200 million. While these approaches hold promise for providing 

lower-cost access to space in the future, we identified a variety of 

technical, cultural, logistical, and legal and policy challenges. We 

identify actions that Congress may wish to consider to address these 

challenges and better take advantage of nontraditional approaches, 

such as authorizing agencies enhanced flexibility to acquire certain 

satellite services related to hosted payload and ride sharing 

arrangements, when appropriately planned and justified. 

• Medicaid Supplemental Payments: Medicaid—the joint federal-state 

program that finances health care for certain low-income individuals—

cost the federal government and states an estimated $410 billion in 

2011.10 States pay qualified health care providers for covered services 

delivered to Medicaid beneficiaries and obtain federal matching funds 

 

8

A space system can include multiple components such as satellites, ground control 

stations, terminals, and user equipment.

9

Several federal agencies, including DOD, the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard, are actively using or beginning to 

look at these approaches in order to save costs.

10The 2011 cost figure represents combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures for 

provider services in fiscal year 2011 and does not include expenditures for administration.
 

Page 14 GAO-13-496T 

for the federal share of these payments. We found that many states 

are making Medicaid payments to many providers that are far in 

excess of those providers’ costs of providing Medicaid services. 

Specifically, in 2007, the most recent year for which these data were 

available, 39 states made payments to certain providers in excess of 

Medicaid costs by a total of about $2.7 billion. To improve the 

transparency of and accountability for certain high-risk Medicaid 

payments, we suggest that Congress consider requiring CMS to take 

steps that would facilitate the agency’s ability to oversee these 

payments, including identifying payments that are not used for 

Medicaid purposes or are otherwise inconsistent with Medicaid 

payment principles. Such action could lead to cost savings in the 

hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars.

• Agencies’ Use of Strategic Sourcing: Federal agencies could achieve 

significant cost savings annually by expanding and improving their 

use of strategic sourcing—an acquisition process that moves away 

from numerous individual procurement actions to a broader 

aggregated approach. For example, a reduction of 1 percent from 

selected agencies’ procurement spending would equate to over $4 

billion in savings.11 To help control spending, OMB established a 

government-wide strategic sourcing program to address opportunities 

to strategically source commonly purchased products and services 

and eliminate duplication of efforts across agencies. However, the 

program has not yet targeted the products and services on which the 

government spends the most. Moreover, a lack of clear guidance on 

metrics for measuring success has hindered the management of 

ongoing strategic sourcing efforts across the federal government. 

Thus, we suggested that OMB issue updated government-wide 

guidance on calculating savings and establish metrics to measure 

progress toward goals. Doing so would position OMB to help federal 

agencies better implement strategic sourcing practices and maximize 

their ability to realize billions of dollars in potential savings annually. In 

December 2012, OMB provided new direction to agencies to improve 

strategic sourcing, but it is too early to tell how effectively those 

actions will be implemented.

 

11These selected agencies include DOD, DHS, Energy, and the Department of Veterans 

Affairs, which accounted for 80 percent of the $537 billion in federal procurement 

spending in fiscal year 2011.
 

Page 15 GAO-13-496T 

• Department of Energy’s Isotope Program: Opportunities may also 

exist for Energy to generate additional revenue by increasing the price 

for isotopes that it sells to commercial customers.12 Energy’s Isotope 

Development and Production for Research and Applications program 

(Isotope Program) sells isotopes to commercial customers for a 

variety of uses, such as medical procedures and radiation detection 

equipment. To achieve its mission, the Isotope Program relies on 

annual appropriations—almost $20 million in fiscal year 2012—and 

revenues from isotope sales. Although revenues from sales of 

isotopes alone totaled over $25 million in fiscal year 2012, we found 

that Energy may be forgoing revenue because it is not using thorough 

assessments to set prices for commercial isotopes. To improve the 

program’s transparency in setting isotope prices and determine if 

opportunities exist to generate additional revenue, we suggest that 

Energy assess the prices it sets for commercial isotopes to determine 

if prices can be increased.

In addition to the new actions identified in our 2013 annual report, we 

have continued to monitor the progress that the executive branch 

agencies and Congress have made in addressing issues we identified in 

our 2011 and 2012 annual reports. In these reports, we identified 

approximately 300 actions that the executive branch and Congress could 

take to reduce or eliminate fragmentation, overlap, or duplication or 

achieve other potential financial benefits.13

We evaluated progress by determining an “overall assessment” rating for 

each area and an individual rating for each action within an area (see figs. 

2 and 3). We found that executive branch agencies and Congress have 

made progress in addressing many of the 131 areas we identified in 2011 

and 2012. As of March 6, 2013, the date we completed our audit work, 16 

of the 131 areas were addressed; 87 were partially addressed; and 27

 

12Isotopes are varieties of a given chemical element with the same number of protons but 

different numbers of neutrons. For example, the helium-3 isotope, which is used in 

research and to detect neutrons in radiation detection equipment, has one less neutron 

than the helium-4 isotope, which is the helium isotope commonly used in party balloons.

13We are not assessing 9 actions this year that were previously included in our 2011 and 

2012 reports. Based on subsequent audit work that we conducted, these actions have 

been consolidated, redirected from a congressional to an executive branch action, or 

revised to reflect updated information or data that we obtained. Further, 16 actions 

reported in 2011 and 2012 were revised this year due to additional audit work or other 

information we considered.

The Executive Branch 

and Congress Have 

Made Some Progress 

in Addressing the 

Areas That We 

Previously Identified
 

Page 16 GAO-13-496T 

were not addressed. We also found that of the approximately 300 actions 

needed within these areas, 65 were addressed; 149 were partially 

addressed; and 85 were not addressed.

Figure 2: Assessment of 2011 and 2012 Areas, as of March 6, 2013

Note: In assessing overall progress for an area, we determined that an area was “addressed” if all 

actions in that area were addressed; “partially addressed” if at least one action needed in that area 

showed some progress toward implementation but not all actions were addressed; and “not 

addressed” if none of the actions needed in that area was addressed or partially addressed. The 

consolidated area was not assessed in 2013 due to additional work or other information we 

considered.

Figure 3: Assessment of 2011 and 2012 Actions, as of March 6, 2013

Note: 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 
 

Page 17 GAO-13-496T 

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. 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 a response to 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. Consolidated actions were not 

assessed in 2013 due to additional work or other information we considered.

According to our analysis, 198 of the 249 actions (almost 80 percent) 

identified in 2011 and 2012 that were directed to executive branch 

agencies are either partially addressed or addressed. An example of the 

progress made is DOD’s efforts to implement our suggested action 

related to the area of overseas defense posture. Specifically, in our 2012 

annual report, we suggested the Secretary of Defense should direct 

appropriate organizations within DOD to complete a business case 

analysis, including an evaluation of alternative courses of action, for the 

strategic objectives that have to this point driven the decision to 

implement tour normalization in South Korea.14 Based on the resulting 

business case analysis, DOD officials stated that United States Forces 

Korea determined that the tour normalization initiative was not affordable. 

This decision not to move forward with the tour normalization initiative 

resulted in cost avoidance of $3.1 billion from fiscal years 2012 through 

2016.

Congress has also addressed some of our suggested actions—16 of the 

50 actions directed to Congress in our 2011 and 2012 annual reports are 

either partially addressed or addressed (32 percent). For example, in our 

2011 annual report, we stated that Congress could reduce revenue 

losses by more than $5.7 billion annually by addressing duplicative 

federal efforts directed at increasing domestic ethanol production. To 

reduce these revenue losses, we suggested that Congress consider 

whether revisions to the ethanol tax credit were needed, and we 

suggested options to consider, including allowing the volumetric ethanol 

excise tax credit to expire at the end of 2011. Congress addressed this 

suggested action by allowing the tax credit to expire at the end of 2011, 

which ended the ethanol tax credit for fuel blenders that purchase and 

blend ethanol with gasoline.

 

14Tour normalization refers to the initiative to extend the tour length of military service 

members and move thousands of dependents to South Korea.
 

Page 18 GAO-13-496T 

Although the executive branch and Congress have made some progress 

in addressing the issues that we have previously identified, additional 

steps are needed to address the remaining areas to achieve associated 

benefits. A number of the issues are difficult to address, and 

implementing many of the actions identified will take time and sustained 

leadership. Nevertheless, implementing the actions could potentially save 

the government tens of billions of dollars annually. Appendix II highlights 

opportunities for potential financial benefits from our body of work.

To help maintain attention on these issues, we are concurrently releasing 

GAO’s Action Tracker, a publicly accessible website of the 162 areas and 

approximately 380 suggested actions presented in our 2011, 2012, and 

2013 reports. GAO’s Action Tracker includes progress updates and 

assessments of legislative and executive branch actions needed. We will 

add areas and suggested actions identified in future reports to GAO’s 

Action Tracker and periodically update the status of all identified areas 

and activities.

Through our three annual reports, we have identified a total of 162 areas 

with actions that the executive branch and Congress could take to 

address fragmentation, overlap, and duplication or achieve cost savings. 

These three reports touch on areas in virtually all major federal 

departments and agencies. Specifically, the reports collectively identify 

opportunities to reduce fragmentation, overlap, and duplication or achieve 

other financial benefits within all 15 cabinet-level executive departments 

and at least 17 other federal entities. Figure 4 illustrates actions needed 

that we directed to federal departments and agencies in our three annual 

reports. As the figure shows, we have directed numerous actions to large 

federal departments and agencies that represent the majority of federal 

obligations, including 90 actions directed to DOD, 51 to Treasury, and 44 

to HHS. These three agencies alone represented 56 percent of fiscal year 

2011 obligations.

Over 3 Years, GAO 

Has Identified 162 

Areas Where Federal 

Programs Could 

Achieve Greater 

Efficiency or Increase 

Effectiveness 
 

Page 19 GAO-13-496T 

Figure 4: Actions Needed Directed to Federal Departments and Agencies in 2011-

2013 Annual Reports

a

U.S. Postal Service (USPS) obligations are primarily funded by postal revenues, although USPS

receives minimal appropriations for overseas voting and mail for the blind. Additionally, USPS has a 

maximum $15 billion in borrowing authority, which it reached in fiscal year 2012.

b

Note: Individual actions needed are counted multiple times when they are directed to more than one 

federal department or agency.

Treasury’s percentage of fiscal year 2011 obligations includes interest on the national debt.

Our 2013 annual report completes our 3-year systematic examination 

across the federal government to identify major instances of 

fragmentation, overlap, or duplication. Our systematic examination 

required a multiphased approach. First, we reviewed the budget functions 
 

Page 20 GAO-13-496T 

of the federal government representing nearly all of the overall federal 

funds obligated in fiscal year 2010.15 Federal budget functions classify 

budget resources by national need (such as National Defense, Energy, or 

Agriculture), and instances in which multiple federal agencies obligate 

funds within a particular budget function may indicate potential duplication 

or cost savings opportunities. Although this type of analysis cannot 

answer the question of whether overlap or duplication exists, it can help in 

the selection of areas for further investigation. Using this information, we 

identified each instance in which an executive branch or independent 

agency obligated more than $10 million within these 18 budget functions 

for further consideration.

Second, we reviewed key agency documents, such as strategic plans, 

performance and accountability reports, and budget justifications, as we 

have found that when multiple executive branch agencies have similar 

missions, goals, or programs, the potential for fragmentation, overlap, or 

duplication exists. Third, we reviewed key external published sources of 

information. In particular, we reviewed reports published by the 

Congressional Budget Office, Inspectors General, and the Congressional 

Research Service, as well as the President’s budgets, to identify potential 

overlap and duplication among agency missions, goals, and programs. 

We relied on our previous work and professional judgment to target areas 

for further review by considering a variety of factors, including the extent 

of potential cost savings; opportunities for enhanced program efficiency or 

effectiveness; the degree to which multiple programs may be fragmented, 

overlapping, or duplicative; whether issues had been identified by GAO or 

external sources; and the level of coordination among agency programs.

Based on our multiphased approach, we have identified, to date, 162 

areas in which there are opportunities to reduce fragmentation, overlap, 

or duplication or to achieve cost savings or revenue enhancement. Our 

three annual reports provide extensive coverage of major instances of 

fragmentation, overlap, or duplication across the federal government. 

Moving forward, we plan to perform further analysis to identify any other 

potential or emerging instances that may result in fragmentation, overlap, 

and duplication.

 

15Our examination did not include two budget functions: Allowances, because there were 

no actual obligations, and Undistributed Offsetting Receipts, because no obligations are 

charged to agencies.
 

Page 21 GAO-13-496T 

In closing, as the fiscal pressures facing the nation continue, so too does 

the need for executive branch agencies and Congress to improve the 

efficiency and effectiveness of government programs and activities. 

Opportunities exist to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of 

government operations in the 162 areas we have included in our 2011-

2013 annual reports.

Identifying, preventing, and addressing fragmentation, overlap, and 

duplication within the federal government is challenging. These are 

difficult issues to address because they may require agencies and 

Congress to re-examine within and across various mission areas the 

fundamental structure, operation, funding, and performance of a number 

of long-standing federal programs or activities with entrenched 

constituencies. Compounding these challenges is the lack of a 

comprehensive list of federal programs, reliable funding information, and 

regular performance information. Without knowing the full range of 

programs involved or the cost of implementing them, gauging the 

magnitude of the federal commitment to a particular area of activity or the 

extent to which associated federal programs are duplicative is difficult. 

Effective implementation of the Government Performance and Results 

Act of 1993 (GPRA) and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 could help 

address these challenges, as well as improve information sharing and 

coordination among federal agencies—both of which are needed to help 

address issues of fragmentation, overlap, and duplication.16 The GPRA 

Modernization Act gave us a number of important reporting 

responsibilities, and through these responsibilities we will monitor the 

implementation of the act for Congress.

Furthermore, we plan to conduct further analysis to look for additional or 

emerging instances of fragmentation, overlap, and duplication and 

opportunities for cost savings or revenue enhancement. Likewise, we will 

continue to monitor developments in the areas we have already identified 

in this series. We stand ready to assist this and other committees in 

further analyzing the issues we have identified and evaluating potential 

solutions.

 

16Pub. L. No. 103-62, 107 Stat. 285 (1993); Pub. L. No. 111-352, 124 Stat. 3866 (2011).
 

Page 22 GAO-13-496T 

Chairman Issa, Ranking Member Cummings, and Members of the 

Committee, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be pleased to 

answer questions.

For further information on this testimony or our April 9, 2013, report, 

please contact Orice Williams Brown, Managing Director, Financial 

Markets and Community Investment, who may be reached at (202) 512-

8678 or williamso@gao.gov, and A. Nicole Clowers, Director, Financial 

Markets and Community Investment, who may be reached at (202) 512-

8678 or clowersa@gao.gov. Contact points for the individual areas listed 

in our 2013 annual report can be found at the end of each area at 

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-279SP. Contact points for our 

Congressional Relations and Public Affairs offices may be found on the 

last page of this statement.

GAO Contacts
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 23 GAO-13-496T 

This appendix summarizes all 162 areas we identified in our annual 

reports for 2011 through 2013. For areas included in our 2011 and 2012 

reports, we also include our assessment of the overall progress made, as 

of March 6, 2013, in addressing the issues we identified. Table 3 presents 

areas related to fragmentation, overlap, and duplication. Table 4 presents 

areas related to cost savings or revenue enhancement.

Table 3: GAO Identified Areas of Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication in 2011-2013 Annual Reports

Mission

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

Agriculture 2011 Area 1: Fragmented food safety system has caused inconsistent oversight, ineffective 

coordination, and inefficient use of resources. ◐ 2012 Area 1: Protection of Food and Agriculture: Centrally coordinated oversight is 

needed to ensure more than nine federal agencies effectively and efficiently 

implement the nation’s fragmented policy to defend the food and agriculture systems 

against potential terrorist attacks and major disasters.

◐ 2013 Area 1: Catfish Inspection: Repealing provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill that assigned 

U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service responsibility for 

examining and inspecting catfish and for creating a catfish inspection program would 

avoid duplication of already existing federal programs and could save taxpayers 

millions of dollars annually without affecting the safety of catfish intended for human 

consumption.

Defense 

a 

2011 Area 2: Realigning the Department of Defense’s (DOD) military medical command

structures and consolidating common functions could increase efficiency and result in 

projected savings ranging from $281 million to $460 million annually.

◐

2011 Area 3: Opportunities exist for consolidation and increased efficiencies to maximize 

response to warfighter urgent needs. ◐ 2011 Area 4: Opportunities exist to avoid unnecessary redundancies and improve the 

coordination of counter-improvised explosive device efforts. ◐

2011 Area 5: Opportunities exist to avoid unnecessary redundancies and maximize the 

efficient use of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. ◐

2011 Area 6: A department-wide acquisition strategy could reduce DOD’s risk of costly 

duplication in purchasing Tactical Wheeled Vehicles. ◐

2011 Area 7: Improved joint oversight of DOD’s propositioning programs for equipment 

and supplies may reduce unnecessary duplication. ◐ 2011 Area 8: DOD’s business systems modernization: opportunities exist for optimizing 

business operations and systems. ◐ 2012 Area 2: Electronic Warfare: Identifying opportunities to consolidate DOD airborne 

electronic attack programs could reduce overlap in the department’s multiple efforts to 

develop new capabilities and improve the department’s return on its multibillion-dollar 

acquisition investments.

◐

Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 24 GAO-13-496T 

Mission

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2012 Area 3: Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Ineffective acquisition practices and 

collaboration efforts in the DOD unmanned aircraft systems portfolio creates overlap 

and the potential for duplication among a number of current programs and systems.

◐

2012 Area 4: Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Efforts: DOD continues to risk 

duplication in its multibillion-dollar counter Improvised Explosive Device efforts 

because it does not have a comprehensive database of its projects and initiatives.

◐

2012 Area 5: Defense Language and Culture Training: DOD needs a more integrated 

approach to reduce fragmentation in training approaches and overlap in the content of 

training products acquired by the military services and other organizations.

◐

2012 Area 6: Stabilization, Reconstruction, and Humanitarian Assistance Efforts: 

Improving the DOD’s evaluations of stabilization, reconstruction, and humanitarian 

assistance efforts, and addressing coordination challenges with the Department of 

State (State) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), could 

reduce overlapping efforts and result in the more efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

◐

2013 Area 2: Combat Uniforms: The Department of Defense’s fragmented approach to 

developing and acquiring uniforms could be more efficient, better protect service 

members, and result in up to $82 million in development and acquisition cost savings 

through increased collaboration among the military services.

a 

2013 Area 3: Defense Foreign Language Support Contracts: The Department of Defense 

should address fragmentation in the department’s acquisition approach for foreign 

language support contracts, which are estimated to cost more than $1 billion annually, 

by exploring opportunities to gain additional efficiencies.

Economic 

development

a 

2011 Area 9: The efficiency and effectiveness of fragmented economic development 

programs are unclear. ◐

2011 Area 10: The federal approach to surface transportation is fragmented, lacks clear 

goals, and is not accountable for results. ●

2011 Area 11: Fragmented federal efforts to meet water needs in the U.S.-Mexico border

region have resulted in an administrative burden, redundant activities, and an overall 

inefficient use of resources. ○

2012 Area 7: Support for Entrepreneurs: Overlap and fragmentation among the economic 

development programs that support entrepreneurial efforts require the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) and other agencies to better evaluate the programs 

and explore opportunities for program restructuring, which may include consolidation, 

within and across agencies.

◐

2012 Area 8: Surface Freight Transportation: Fragmented federal programs and funding 

structures are not maximizing the efficient movement of freight. ◐

Energy 2011 Area 12: Resolving conflicting requirements could more effectively achieve federal 

fleet energy goals. ○

2011 Area 13: Addressing duplicative federal efforts directed at increasing domestic 

ethanol production could reduce revenue losses by more than $5.7 billion annually. ●
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 25 GAO-13-496T 

Mission

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2012 Area 9: Department of Energy Contractor Support Costs: The Department of 

Energy (DOE) should assess whether further opportunities could be taken to 

streamline support functions, estimated to cost over $5 billion, at its contractormanaged laboratory and nuclear production and testing sites, in light of contractors’ 

historically fragmented approach to providing these functions.

●

2012 Area 10: Nuclear Nonproliferation: Comprehensive review needed to address 

strategic planning limitations and potential fragmentation and overlap concerns among 

programs combating nuclear smuggling overseas. ○

2013 Area 4: Renewable Energy Initiatives: Federal support for wind and solar energy, 

biofuels, and other renewable energy sources, which has been estimated at several 

billion dollars per year, is fragmented because 23 agencies implemented hundreds of 

renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010—the latest year for which GAO 

developed these original data. Further, the DOE and USDA could take additional 

actions—to the extent possible within their statutory authority—to help ensure effective 

use of financial support from several wind initiatives, which GAO found provided 

duplicative support that may not have been needed in all cases for projects to be built.

General 

government

a 

2011 Area 14: Enterprise architectures: key mechanisms for identifying potential overlap 

and duplication. ◐

2011 Area 15: Consolidating federal data centers provides opportunity to improve 

government efficiency. ◐

2011 Area 16: Collecting improved data on interagency contracting to minimize 

duplication could help the government leverage its vast buying power. ◐

2011 Area 17: Periodic reviews could help ineffective tax expenditures and redundancies 

in related tax and spending programs, potentially reducing revenue losses by billions 

of dollars.

◐

2012 Area 11: Personnel Background Investigations: The Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) should take action to prevent agencies from making potentially 

duplicative investments in electronic case management and adjudication systems. ○

2012 Area 12: Cybersecurity Human Capital: Government-wide initiatives to enhance 

cybersecurity workforce in the federal government need better structure, planning, 

guidance, and coordination to reduce duplication.

◐

2012 Area 13: Spectrum Management: Enhanced coordination of federal agencies’ efforts 

to manage radio frequency spectrum and an examination of incentive mechanisms to 

foster more efficient spectrum use may aid regulators’ attempts to jointly respond to 

competing demands for spectrum while identifying valuable spectrum that could be 

auctioned for commercial use, thereby generating revenues for the U.S. Department of 

Treasury (Treasury).

◐

Health 2011 Area 18: Opportunities exist for DOD and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

(VA) to jointly modernize their electronic health records systems. ◐

2011 Area 19: VA and DOD need to control drug costs and increase joint contracting

wherever it is cost-effective. ◐

2011 Area 20: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) needs an overall 

strategy to better integrate nationwide public health information systems. ○
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 26 GAO-13-496T 

Mission

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2012 Area 14: Health Research Funding: The National Institutes of Health (NIH), DOD, 

and VA can improve sharing of information to help avoid the potential for unnecessary 

duplication.

◐

2012 Area 15: Military and Veterans Health Care: DOD and VA need to improve 

integration across care coordination and case management programs to reduce 

duplication and better assist servicemembers, veterans, and their families.

◐

2013 Area 5: Joint Veterans and Defense Health Care Services: The Departments of 

Veterans Affairs and Defense should enhance their collaboration to reduce costs, 

overlap, and potential duplication in the delivery of health care services between two 

of the nation’s largest health care systems that together provide health care to nearly 

16 million veterans, service members, military retirees, and other beneficiaries.

a 

2013 Area 6: Medicaid Program Integrity: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

needs to take steps to eliminate duplication and increase efficiency in two Medicaid 

Integrity Program activities—provider audits and the collection of state program 

integrity data.

Homeland 

security/law 

enforcement

a 

2011 Area 21: Strategic oversight mechanisms could help integrate fragmented interagency 

efforts to defend against biological threats. ◐

2011 Area 22: DHS oversight could help eliminate potential duplicating efforts of interagency 

forums in securing the northern border. ○

2011 Area 23: The Department of Justice (DOJ) plans actions to reduce overlap in 

explosives investigations, but monitoring is needed to ensure successful 

implementation. ●

2011 Area 24: The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) security 

assessments on commercial trucking companies overlap with those of another 

agency, but efforts are under way to address the overlap. ◐

2011 Area 25: DHS could streamline mechanisms for sharing security-related 

information with public transit agencies to help address overlapping information. ◐

2011 Area 26: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs to improve 

its oversight of grants and establish a framework for assessing capabilities to identify 

gaps and prioritize investments.

◐

2012 Area 16: Department of Justice Grants: The Department of Justice could improve 

how it targets nearly $3.9 billion to reduce the risk of potential unnecessary duplication 

across the more than 11,000 grant awards it makes annually.

◐

2012 Area 17: Homeland Security Grants: DHS needs better project information and 

coordination among four overlapping grant programs. ◐

2012 Area 18: Federal Facility Risk Assessments: Agencies are making duplicate 

payments for facility risk assessments by completing their own assessments, while 

also paying DHS for assessments that the department is not performing.

◐

2013 Area 7: Department of Homeland Security Research and Development: Better 

policies and guidance for defining, overseeing, and coordinating research and 

development investments and activities would help DHS address fragmentation, 

overlap, and potential unnecessary duplication. 

a 
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 27 GAO-13-496T 

Mission

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2013 Area 8: Field-Based Information Sharing: To help reduce inefficiencies resulting 

from overlap in analytical and investigative support activities, the Departments of 

Justice and Homeland Security and the Office of National Drug Control Policy could 

improve coordination among five types of field-based information sharing entities that 

may collect, process, analyze, or disseminate information in support of law 

enforcement and counterterrorism-related efforts—Joint Terrorism Task Forces, Field 

Intelligence Groups, Regional Information Sharing Systems centers, state and major 

urban area fusion centers, and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Investigative 

Support Centers.

a 

2013 Area 9: Justice and Treasury Asset Forfeiture: Conducting a study to evaluate the 

feasibility of consolidating Justice’s and Treasury’s multimillion dollar asset forfeiture 

activities could help the departments identify the extent to which consolidation of 

potentially duplicative activities would help increase the efficiency and effectiveness of 

the programs and achieve cost savings.

Information 

technology

a 

2012 Area 19: Information Technology Investment Management: OMB, and DOD and 

DOE need to address potentially duplicative information technology investments to 

avoid investing in unnecessary systems.

◐

2013 Area 10: Dissemination of Technical Research Reports: Congress may wish to 

consider whether the fee-based model under which the National Technical Information 

Service currently operates for disseminating technical information is still viable or 

appropriate, given that many of the reports overlap with similar information available 

from the issuing organizations or other sources for free. 

a 

2013 Area 11: Geospatial Investments: 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. 

International 

affairs

a 

2011 Area 27: Lack of information sharing could create the potential for duplication of efforts 

between U.S. agencies involved in development efforts in Afghanistan. ◐

2011 Area 28: Despite restructuring, overlapping roles and functions still exist at State’s 

Arms Control and Nonproliferation Bureaus. ●

2012 Area 20: Overseas Administrative Services: U.S. government agencies could lower 

the administrative cost of their operations overseas by increasing participation in the 

International Cooperative Administrative Support Services system and by reducing 

reliance on American officials overseas to provide these services.

◐

2012 Area 21: Training to Identify Fraudulent Travel Documents: Establishing a formal 

coordination mechanism could help reduce duplicative activities among seven different 

entities that are involved in training foreign officials to identify fraudulent travel 

documents.

○

2013 Area 12: Export Promotion: Enhanced collaboration between the Small Business 

Administration (SBA) and two other agencies could help to limit overlapping exportrelated services for small businesses. 

a 

2013 Area 13: International Broadcasting: The Broadcasting Board of Governors—with a 

budget of $752 million in fiscal year 2012—has recognized the need to reduce overlap 

and reallocate limited resources to broadcasts that will have the greatest impact, but 

the agency could do more to achieve this goal, such as systematically considering 

overlap of language services in its annual language services review.

a 
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 28 GAO-13-496T 

Mission

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

Science and the 

environment

2012 Area 22: Coordination of Space System Organizations: Fragmented leadership has 

led to program challenges and potential duplication in developing multibillion-dollar 

space systems.

◐

2012 Area 23: Space Launch Contract Costs: Increased collaboration between the 

Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration could 

reduce launch contracting duplication.

◐

2012 Area 24: Diesel Emissions: Fourteen grant and loan programs at DOE, Department 

of Transportation (DOT), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and three 

tax expenditures fund activities that have the effect of reducing mobile source diesel 

emissions; enhanced collaboration and performance measurement could improve 

these fragmented and overlapping programs.

○

2012 Area 25: Environmental Laboratories: EPA needs to revise its overall approach to 

managing its 37 laboratories to address potential overlap and fragmentation and more 

fully leverage its limited resources.

◐

2012 Area 26: Green Building: To evaluate the potential for overlap or fragmentation 

among federal green building initiatives, the Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, DOE, and EPA should lead other federal agencies in collaborating on 

assessing their investments in more than 90 initiatives to foster green building in the 

nonfederal sector.

◐

2013 Area 14: Rural Water Infrastructure: Additional coordination by the EPA and the 

USDA could help three water and wastewater infrastructure programs with combined 

funding of about $4.3 billion avoid potentially duplicative application requirements, as 

well as associated costs and time developing engineering reports and environmental 

analyses.

Social services

a 

2011 Area 29: Actions needed to reduce administrative overlap among domestic food 

assistance programs. ○

2011 Area 30: Better coordination of federal homelessness programs may minimize 

fragmentation and overlap. ◐

2011 Area 31: Further steps needed to improve cost-effectiveness and enhance services for 

transportation-disadvantaged persons. ◐

2012 Area 27: Social Security Benefit Coordination: Benefit offsets for related programs 

help reduce the potential for overlapping payments but pose administrative 

challenges.

◐

2012 Area 28: Housing Assistance: Examining the benefits and costs of housing programs 

and tax expenditures that address the same or similar populations or areas, and 

potentially consolidating them, could help mitigate overlap and fragmentation and 

decrease costs.

○

2013 Area 15: Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment Programs: More fully assessing 

the extent of overlap and potential duplication across the fragmented 76 federal drug 

abuse prevention and treatment programs and identifying opportunities for increased 

coordination, including those programs where no coordination has occurred, would 

better position the Office of National Drug Control Policy to better leverage resources 

and increase efficiencies.

a 
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 29 GAO-13-496T 

Mission

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

Training, 

employment, 

and education

2011 Area 32: Multiple employment and training programs: providing information on 

colocating services and consolidating administrative structures could promote 

efficiencies.

◐

2011 Area 33: Teacher quality: proliferation of programs complicates federal efforts to 

invest dollars effectively. ◐

2011 Area 34: Fragmentation of financial literacy efforts makes coordination essential. ●

2012 Area 29: Early Learning and Child Care: The Departments of Education and Health 

and Human Services (HHS) should extend their coordination efforts to other federal 

agencies with early learning and child care programs to mitigate the effects of program 

fragmentation, simplify children’s access to these services, collect the data necessary 

to coordinate operation of these programs, and identify and minimize any unwarranted 

overlap and potential duplication.

◐

2012 Area 30: Employment for People with Disabilities: Better coordination among 45 

programs in nine federal agencies that support employment for people with disabilities 

could help mitigate program fragmentation and overlap, and reduce the potential for 

duplication or other inefficiencies.

◐

2012 Area 31: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education: 

Strategic planning is needed to better manage overlapping programs across multiple 

agencies

◐

2012 Area 32: Financial Literacy: Overlap among financial literacy activities makes 

coordination and clarification of roles and responsibilities essential, and suggests 

potential benefits of consolidation. ●

2013 Area 16: Higher Education Assistance: Federal agencies providing assistance for 

higher education should better coordinate to improve program administration and help 

reduce fragmentation. 

a 

2013 Area 17: Veterans’ Employment and Training: The Departments of Labor, Veterans 

Affairs, and Defense need to better coordinate the employment services each provides 

to veterans, and Labor needs to better target the Disabled Veterans’ Outreach 

Program so that it does not overlap with other programs.

Source: GAO analysis.

a 

a

● = Addressed, meaning all actions needed in that area were addressed.

As of April 9, 2013, we have not assessed the 2013 areas identified.

◐ = Partially addressed, meaning at least one action needed in that area showed some progress 

toward implementation, but not all actions were addressed. 

○ = Not addressed, meaning none of the actions needed in that area were addressed or partially 

addressed.

Consolidated or other = actions were not assessed this year
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 30 GAO-13-496T 

Table 4: GAO Identified Areas of Cost-Savings and Revenue-Enhancement Opportunities in 2011-2013 Annual Reports

Mission 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

Agriculture 2011 Area 35: Reducing farm program direct payments could result in savings from $800 

million over 10 years to up to $5 billion annually. ○

2013 Area 18: Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Fees: The United States Department of 

Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service could have achieved as much as 

$325 million in savings (based on fiscal year 2011 data, as reported in GAO’s March 2013 

report) by more fully aligning fees with program costs; although the savings would be 

recurring, the amount would depend on the cost-collections gap in a given fiscal year and 

would result in a reduced reliance on U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s annual 

Salaries and Expenses appropriations used for agricultural inspection services.

a 

2013 Area 19: Crop Insurance: To achieve up to $1.2 billion per year in cost savings in the 

federal crop insurance program, Congress could consider limiting the subsidy for 

premiums that an individual farmer can receive each year, reducing the subsidy for all or 

high-income farmers participating in the program, or some combination of limiting and 

reducing these subsidies.

Defense

a 

2011 Area 36: DOD should assess costs and benefits of overseas military presence options 

before committing to costly personnel realignments and construction plans, thereby 

possibly saving billions of dollars.

◐

2011 Area 37: Total compensation approach is needed to manage significant growth in military 

personnel costs. ◐

2011 Area 38: Employing best management practices could help DOD save money on its 

weapon systems acquisition programs. ◐

2011 Area 39: More efficient management could limit future costs of DOD’s spare parts 

inventory. ◐

2011 Area 40: More comprehensive and complete cost data can help DOD improve the costeffectiveness of sustaining weapons systems. ◐

2011 Area 41: Improved corrosion prevention and control practices could help DOD avoid 

billions in unnecessary costs over time. ◐

2012 Area 33: Air Force Food Service: The Air Force has opportunities to achieve millions of 

dollars in cost savings annually by reviewing and renegotiating food service contracts, 

where appropriate, to better align with the needs of installations. ●

2012 Area 34: Defense Headquarters: DOD should review and identify further opportunities 

for consolidating or reducing the size of headquarters organizations. ◐

2012 Area 35: Defense Real Property: Ensuring the receipt of fair market value for leasing 

underused real property and monitoring administrative costs could help the military 

services’ enhanced use lease programs realize intended financial benefits.

◐

2012 Area 36: Military Health Care Costs: To help achieve significant projected cost savings 

and other performance goals, DOD needs to complete, implement, and monitor detailed 

plans for each of its approved health care initiatives.

◐
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 31 GAO-13-496T 

Mission 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2012 Area 37: Overseas Defense Posture: DOD could reduce costs of its Pacific region 

presence by developing comprehensive cost information and re-examining alternatives to 

planned initiatives.

◐

2012 Area 38: Navy’s Information Technology Enterprise Network: Better informed 

decisions are needed to ensure a more cost-effective acquisition approach for the U.S. 

Navy’s Next Generation Enterprise Network. ○

2013 Area 20: Joint Basing: DOD needs an implementation plan to guide joint bases to 

achieve millions of dollars in cost savings and efficiencies anticipated from combining 

support services at 26 installations located close to one another.

Economic 

development

a 

2011 Area 42: Revising the essential air service program could improve efficiency. ◐

2011 Area 43: Improved design and management of the universal service fund as it expands 

to support broadband could help avoid cost increases for consumers. ◐

2011 Area 44: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should provide Congress with project-level 

information on unobligated balances. ●

2012 Area 39: Auto Recovery Office: Unless the Secretary of Labor can demonstrate how the 

Auto Recovery Office has uniquely assisted auto communities, Congress may wish to 

consider prohibiting the Department of Labor from spending any of its appropriations on 

the Auto Recovery Office and instead require that the department direct the funds to other 

federal programs that provide funding directly to affected communities.

○

Energy 2011 Area 45: Improved management of federal oil and gas resources could result in 

approximately $2 billion in revenues over 10 years. ◐

2012 Area 40: Excess Uranium Inventories: Marketing the Department of Energy’s excess 

uranium could provide substantial revenue for the government. ○

2013 Area 21: Department of Energy’s Isotope Program: Assessing the value of isotopes to 

customers, and other factors such as prices of alternatives, may show that the 

Department of Energy could increase prices for isotopes that it sells to commercial 

customers to create cost savings by generating additional revenue.

General 

government

a 

2011 Area 46: Efforts to address government-wide improper payments could result in 

significant costs savings. ◐

2011 Area 47: Promoting competition for the over $500 billion in federal contracts could 

potentially save billions of dollars over time. ◐

2011 Area 48: Applying strategic sourcing best practices throughout the federal procurement 

system could saves billions of dollars annually. ◐

2011 Area 49: Adherence to guidance on award fee contracts could improve agencies’ use of 

award fees to produce savings. ●

2011 Area 50: Agencies aimed to save at least $3 billion by continued disposal of unneeded 

federal real property.

Consolidated 

or other

2011 Area 51: Improved cost analyses used for making federal facility ownership and 

leasing decisions could save millions of dollars. ○
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 32 GAO-13-496T 

Mission 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2011 Area 52: The Office of Management and Budget’s IT Dashboard reportedly has already 

resulted in savings and can further help identify opportunities to invest more efficiently in 

information technology. ●

2011 Area 53: Increasing electronic filing of individual income tax returns could reduce IRS’s 

processing costs and increase revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars. ◐

2011 Area 54: Using return on investment information to better target IRS enforcement could 

reduce the tax gap; for example, a 1 percent reduction would increase tax revenues by 

$3.8 billion.

◐

2011 Area 55: Better management of tax debt collection may resolve cases faster with lower 

IRS costs and increase debt collected. ◐

2011 Area 56: Broadening IRS’s authority to correct simple tax return errors could facilitate 

correct tax payments and help IRS avoid costly, burdensome audits. ○

2011 Area 57: Enhancing mortgage interest information reporting could improve tax 

compliance. ○

2011 Area 58: More information on the types and uses of canceled debt could help IRS limit 

revenue losses of forgiven mortgage debt. ◐

2011 Area 59: Better information and outreach could help increase revenues by tens or 

hundreds of millions of dollars annually by addressing overstated real estate tax 

deductions. ◐

2011 Area 60: Revisions to content and use of Form 1098-T could help IRS enforce higher 

education requirements and increase revenues. ◐

2011 Area 61: Many options could improve the tax compliance of sole proprietors and begin 

to reduce their $68 billion portion of the tax gap. ◐

2011 Area 62: IRS could find additional businesses not filing tax returns by using third-party 

data, which show such businesses have billions of dollars in sales. ◐

2011 Area 63: Congress and IRS can help S corporations and their shareholders be more tax 

compliant, potentially increasing tax revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars each 

year.

◐

2011 Area 64: IRS needs an agencywide approach for addressing tax evasion among the at 

least 1 million networks of businesses and related entities. ◐

2011 Area 65: Opportunities exist to improve the targeting of the $6 billion research tax credit

and reduce forgone revenue. ○

2011 Area 66: Converting the new markets tax credit to a grant program may increase 

program efficiency and significantly reduce the $3.8 billion 5 years revenue cost of the 

program. ○

2011 Area 67: Limiting the tax-exempt status of certain governmental bonds could yield 

revenue. ○
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 33 GAO-13-496T 

Mission 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2011 Area 68: Adjusting civil tax penalties for inflation potentially could increase revenues by 

tens of millions of dollars per year, not counting any revenues that may result from 

maintaining the penalties’ deterrent effect.

◐

2011 Area 69: IRS may be able to systematically identify nonresident aliens reporting 

unallowed tax deductions or credits. ●

2011 Area 70: Tracking undisbursed balances in expired grant accounts could facilitate the 

reallocation of scarce resources or the return of funding to the Treasury. ●

2012 Area 41: General Services Administration Schedules Contracts Fee Rates: Reevaluating fee rates on the General Services Administration’s Multiple Award Schedules 

contracts could result in significant cost savings government-wide. ●

2012 Area 42: U.S. Currency: Legislation replacing the $1 note with a $1 coin would provide a 

significant financial benefit to the government over time. ○

2012 Area 43: Federal User Fees: 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.

○

2012 Area 44: Internal Revenue Service Enforcement Efforts: Enhancing the Internal 

Revenue Service’s enforcement and service capabilities can help reduce the gap 

between taxes owed and paid by collecting billions in tax revenue and facilitating 

voluntary compliance.

◐

2013 Area 21: Additional Opportunities to Improve Internal Revenue Service Enforcement 

of Tax Laws: The Internal Revenue Service can realize cost savings and increase 

revenue collections by billions of dollars by, among other things, using more rigorous 

analyses to better allocate enforcement and other resources. 

a 

2013 Area 23: Agencies’ Use of Strategic Sourcing: Selected agencies 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—savings of one 

percent from selected agencies’ procurement spending alone would equate to over $4 

billion.

a 

2013 Area 24: Opportunities to Help Reduce Government Satellite Program Costs: 

Government agencies could achieve considerable cost savings on some missions by 

leveraging commercial spacecraft through innovative mechanisms such as hosted 

payload arrangements and sharing launch vehicle costs. Selected agencies have 

reported saving hundreds of millions of dollars to date from using these innovative 

mechanisms.

Health

a 

2011 Area 71: Preventing billions in Medicaid improper payments requires sustained 

attention and action by CMS. ◐

2011 Area 72: Federal oversight of Medicaid supplemental payments needs improvement, 

which could lead to substantial cost savings. ○

2011 Area 73: Better targeting of Medicare’s claims review could reduce improper payments. ◐
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 34 GAO-13-496T 

Mission 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2011 Area 74: Potential savings in Medicare’s payment for health care. ◐

2012 Area 45: Medicare Advantage Payment: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

could achieve billions of dollars in additional savings by better adjusting for differences 

between Medicare Advantage plans and traditional Medicare providers in the reporting of 

beneficiary diagnoses.

◐

2012 Area 46: Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Detection Systems: The Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services needs to ensure widespread use of technology to help detect and 

recover billions of dollars of improper payments of claims and better position itself to 

determine and measure financial and other benefits of its systems.

◐

2013 Area 25: Medicaid Prepayment Controls: 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.

a 

2013 Area 26: Medicaid Supplemental Payments: To improve the transparency of and 

accountability for certain high-risk Medicaid payments that annually total tens of billions of 

dollars, Congress should consider requiring the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

to take steps that would facilitate the agency’s ability to oversee these payments, 

including identifying payments that are not used for Medicaid purposes or are otherwise 

inconsistent with Medicaid payment principles, which could lead to cost savings. GAO’s 

analysis of providers for which data are available suggests that savings could be in the 

hundreds of millions, or billions, of dollars. 

a 

2013 Area 27: Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Payment Demonstration: Rather than 

implementing the Medicare Advantage quality bonus payment program specifically 

established by law, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is testing an alternative 

bonus payment structure under a broad demonstration authority through a 3-year 

demonstration that has design flaws, raises legal concerns, and is estimated to cost over 

$8 billion; about $2 billion could be saved if it were canceled for its last year, 2014.

Homeland 

security/law 

enforcement

a 

2011 Areas 75 and 76: DHS’s management of acquisitions could be strengthened to reduce 

cost overruns and schedule and performance shortfalls. ◐

2011 Area 77: Validation of TSA’s behavior-based screening program is needed to justify 

funding or expansion. ◐

2011 Area 78: More efficient baggage screening systems could result in about $470 million in 

reduced TSA personnel costs over the next 5 years. ◐

2011 Area 79: Clarifying availability of certain customs fee collections could produce a onetime savings of $640 million. ●

2012 Area 47: Border Security: Delaying proposed investments for future acquisitions of 

border surveillance technology until the Department of Homeland Security better defines 

and measures benefits and estimates life-cycle costs could help ensure the most effective 

use of future program funding.

◐

2012 Area 48: Passenger Aviation Security Fees: Options for adjusting the passenger 

aviation security fee could further offset billions of dollars in civil aviation security costs. ○
Appendix I: All Areas Identified in 2011-2013 

Annual Reports, by Mission

Page 35 GAO-13-496T 

Mission 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Overall 

assessment

2012 Area 49: Immigration Inspection Fee: The air passenger immigration inspection user fee 

should be reviewed and adjusted to fully recover the cost of the air passenger immigration 

inspection activities conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection rather 

than using general fund appropriations.

◐

2013 Area 28: Checked Baggage Screening: By reviewing the appropriateness of the federal 

cost share the Transportation Security Administration applies to agreements financing 

airport facility modification projects related to the installation of checked baggage 

screening systems, the Transportation Security Administration could, if a reduced cost 

share was deemed appropriate, achieve cost efficiencies and be positioned to install a 

greater number of optimal baggage screening systems than it currently anticipates.

Income 

security

a 

2011 Area 80: Social Security needs data on pensions from noncovered earnings to better 

enforce offsets and ensure benefit fairness, resulting in estimated $2.4-$2.9 billion 

savings over 10 years. ○

Information 

technology

2013 Area 29: Cloud Computing: Better planning of cloud-based computing solutions provides 

an opportunity for potential savings of millions of dollars. 

a 

2013 Area 30: Information Technology Operations and Maintenance: Strengthening 

oversight of key federal agencies’ major information technology investments in operations 

and maintenance provides opportunity for savings on billions in information technology 

investments. 

International 

affairs

a 

2011 Area 81: Congress could pursue several options to improve collection of antidumping

and countervailing duties. ○

2012 Area 50: Iraq Security Funding: When considering new funding requests to train and 

equip Iraqi security forces, Congress should consider the government of Iraq’s financial 

resources, which afford it the ability to contribute more toward the cost of Iraq’s security. ●

2013 Area 31: Tobacco Taxes: Federal revenue losses were 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.

Social Services

a 

2012 Area 51: Domestic Disaster Assistance: 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.

○ Source: GAO.

a

Legend:

As of April 9, 2013, we have not assessed the 2013 areas identified.

●= Addressed, meaning all actions needed in that area were addressed.

◐ = Partially addressed, meaning at least one action needed in that area showed some progress 

toward implementation, but not all actions were addressed.

○ = Not addressed, meaning none of the actions needed in that area were addressed or partially 

addressed.

Consolidated or other = actions were not assessed this year.
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 36 GAO-13-496T 

Through our 2011-2013 annual reports, we have identified 162 areas in 

which greater efficiency and effectiveness of government operations 

could be gained. As we have previously reported, estimating financial 

benefits associated with implementing our suggested actions is difficult in 

some cases due to budget and performance data limitations. 

Furthermore, the amount of savings can depend on the extent to which 

the actions are taken. However, using available information, we were able 

to identify potential financial benefits of addressing some of the areas we 

identified. This information may help facilitate congressional decision 

making about the issues we identified.

Table 5 includes the areas for which we were able to estimate the 

potential financial benefits associated with implementing our suggested 

actions. Table 6 includes additional areas for which information was not 

available to develop precise estimates; however, using available 

information we were able to identify the range or magnitude of potential 

financial benefits.

Table 5: Estimated Financial Benefits for Certain Areas Included in 2011-2013 Annual Reports, as of March 15, 2013

Annual 

report Areas identified 

2011 Farm Program Payments (Area 35): Reducing farm program direct payments could result in savings from $800 

million over 10 years to up to $5 billion annually depending on the policy choices made. 

2013 Crop Insurance (Area 19): To achieve up to $1.2 billion per year in cost savings in the federal crop insurance 

program, Congress could consider limiting the subsidy for premiums that an individual farmer can receive each year, 

reducing the subsidy for all or high-income farmers participating in the program, or some combination of limiting and 

reducing these subsidies. 

2011 Federal Data Centers (Area 15): Consolidating federal data centers provides an opportunity to improve government 

efficiency and achieve cost savings of up to $3 billion over 10 years. 

2012 Passenger Aviation Security Fees (Area 48): Options for adjusting the passenger aviation security fee could further 

offset billions of dollars in civil aviation security costs by reducing the funds appropriated to address passenger 

aviation security. These options could increase fee collections from about $2 billion to $10 billion over 5 years. 

Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports 
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 37 GAO-13-496T 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

2013 Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Payment Demonstration (Area 27): Rather than implementing the Medicare 

Advantage quality bonus payment program specifically established by law, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Services is testing an alternative bonus payment structure under a broad demonstration authority through a 3-year 

demonstration that has design flaws, raises legal concerns, and is estimated to cost over $8 billion; about $2 billion

could be saved if it were canceled for its last year, 2014. 

2011 Social Security Offsets (Area 80): Social Security needs data on pensions from noncovered earnings to better 

enforce offsets and ensure benefit fairness, which could result in an estimated $2.4 billion to $2.9 billion savings 

over 10 years. 

2011 Oil and Gas Resources (Area 45): Improved management of federal oil and gas resources could result in 

approximately $2 billion in additional revenue over 10 years. 

2012 U.S. Currency (Area 42): Legislation replacing the $1 note with a $1 coin would provide a significant financial benefit 

of $4.4 billion over 30 years to the government, amounting to an average yearly discounted net benefit of about 

$146 million. 

2013 Tobacco Taxes (Area 31): Federal revenue losses were 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. 

2011 

2013

Baggage Screening Systems (Area 78): More efficient baggage screening systems could result in about $470 

million in reduced Transportation Security Administration personnel costs over the next 5 years.

Checked Baggage Screening (Area 28): By reviewing the appropriateness of the federal cost share the 

Transportation Security Administration applies to agreements financing airport facility modification projects related to 

the installation of checked baggage screening systems, the Transportation Security Administration could, if a reduced 

cost share was deemed appropriate, achieve cost efficiencies of up to $300 million by 2030 and be positioned to 

install a greater number of optimal baggage screening systems than it currently anticipates. 

2013 Agricultural Quarantine Inspection Fees (Area 18): The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service could have achieved as much as $325 million in savings (based on fiscal year 2011 data, 

as reported in GAO’s March 2013 report) by more fully aligning fees with program costs; although the savings would 

be recurring, the amount would depend on the cost-collections gap in a given fiscal year and would result in a reduced 

reliance on U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s annual Salaries and Expenses appropriations used for agricultural 

inspection services. 

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

until the Department of Homeland Security better defines and measures benefits and estimates life-cycle costs could 

help ensure the most effective use of future program funding. U.S. Customs and Border Protection requested $242 

million to fund the new Plan for fiscal year 2012. 
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 38 GAO-13-496T 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

2012 Immigration Inspection Fee (Area 49): The air and sea passenger immigration inspection user fee should be 

reviewed and adjusted to fully recover the cost of the air and sea passenger immigration inspection activities 

conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs 

and Border Protection rather than using general fund appropriations; In 2011 this could have resulted in a reduction of 

about $178 million in appropriated funds used for inspection services. 

2013 Combat Uniforms (Area 2): The Department of Defense’s fragmented approach to developing and acquiring uniforms 

could be more efficient, better protect service members, and result in up to $82 million in development and 

acquisition cost savings through increased collaboration among the military services. 

2012 Auto Recovery Office (Area 39): Unless the Secretary of Labor can demonstrate how the Auto Recovery Office has 

uniquely assisted auto communities, Congress may wish to consider prohibiting the Department of Labor from 

spending any of its appropriations on the Auto Recovery Office, thereby saving up to $1.2 million per year. 

Source: GAO.

Table 6: Range or Magnitude of Potential Financial Benefits for Certain Areas Included in 2011-2013 Annual Reports, as of 

March 15, 2013

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Category: Defense

2011 Overseas Military Presence (Area 36): The Department of Defense should assess costs and benefits of overseas 

military presence options before committing to costly personnel realignments and construction plans, thereby possibly 

saving billions of dollars. 

2011 DOD’s Spare Parts Inventory (Area 39): More efficient and effective management could limit future costs of DOD’s 

spare parts inventory by billions of dollars. 

2011 Tactical Wheeled Vehicles (Area 6): A department-wide acquisition strategy could reduce DOD’s risk of costly 

duplication in purchasing Tactical Wheeled Vehicles. Reducing the number of joint light tactical vehicles DOD procures 

could result in billions of dollars of cost savings. 

2011 Corrosion Protection (Area 41): Improved corrosion prevention and control practices could help DOD avoid hundreds 

of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs. 

2011 DOD’s Military Medical Command Structures (Area 2): Realigning the Department of Defense’s military medical 

command structures and consolidating common functions could increase efficiency and result in projected savings in 

the hundreds of millions of dollars. 
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 39 GAO-13-496T 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

2012 Defense Headquarters (Area 34): To further reduce overhead-related costs in light of the recent changes in DOD’s 

strategic priorities, DOD should continue to examine opportunities to consolidate or eliminate military commands that 

are geographically close or have similar missions, and to seek further opportunities to centralize administrative and 

command support services, functions or programs. Since we made our recommendation, DOD has set targets to save 

several hundred million dollars by 2017 through a range of planned headquarters-efficiency measures. However, in 

some cases the specific actions to achieve these savings have not yet been identified. 

2012 Military Health Care Costs (Area 36): To help achieve significant projected cost savings of millions of dollars and 

other performance goals, the Department of Defense needs to complete, implement, and monitor detailed plans for 

each of its approved health care initiatives. 

2013 Joint Basing (Area 20): The Department of Defense needs an implementation plan to guide joint bases to achieve 

millions of dollars in cost savings and efficiencies anticipated from combining support services at 26 installations 

located close to one another. 

Category: Improper Payments

2011 Government-wide Improper Payments (Area 46): Efforts to address government-wide improper payments, including 

Medicare and Medicaid, estimated at $108 billion in 2012, could result in significant cost savings. 

Category: Federal Contracting

2011 Competition for Federal Contracts (Area 47): Promoting competition for the over $500 billion in federal contracts 

could potentially save billions of dollars over time. 

2011

2013

Strategic Sourcing (Area 48): Applying strategic sourcing best practices throughout the federal procurement system 

could save billions of dollars annually.

Agencies’ Use of Strategic Sourcing (Area 23): Selected agencies 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—savings of one 

percent from selected agencies procurement spending alone would equate to over $4 billion. 

2013 Opportunities to Help Reduce Government Satellite Program Costs (Area 24): Government agencies could 

achieve considerable cost savings on some missions by leveraging commercial spacecraft through innovative 

mechanisms such as hosted payload arrangements and sharing launch vehicle costs. Selected agencies have reported 

saving hundreds of millions of dollars to date from using these innovative mechanisms. 

Category: Information Technology

2011 IT Dashboard (Area 52): OMB’s IT Dashboard contributed to billions of dollars in reported savings and can further 

help identify opportunities to invest more efficiently in information technology. 

2012 Navy’s Information Technology Enterprise Network (Area 38): Better informed decisions to ensure a more costeffective acquisition approach for the Navy’s Next Generation Enterprise Network could result in billions of dollars in 

cost savings. 
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 40 GAO-13-496T 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

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

major information technology investments in operations and maintenance provides an opportunity for billions of 

dollars in savings. 

2011 Enterprise Architecture (Area 14): Well defined and implemented enterprise architectures in federal agencies can 

lead to consolidation and reuse of shared services and elimination of antiquated and redundant mission operations, 

which can result in significant cost savings. For example, the Department of the Interior demonstrated that it had used 

enterprise architecture to modernize agency IT operations and avoid costs through enterprise software license 

agreements and hardware procurement consolidation, resulting in financial savings of at least $80 million. In addition, 

Health and Human Services will achieve savings and cost avoidance of over $150 million between fiscal year 2011 to 

2015 by leveraging its EA to improve its telecommunications infrastructure. 

2012 Information Technology Investment Management (Area 19): Identifying and consolidating potentially duplicative IT 

investments at the Departments of Defense and Energy could result in millions of dollars in cost savings. 

2013 Cloud Computing (Area 29): Better planning of cloud-based computing solutions provides an opportunity for potential 

savings of millions of dollars. 

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. 

Category: Tax Expenditures

2011 Research Tax Credits (Area 65): Opportunities exist to improve the targeting of the $6 billion research tax credit and 

reduce forgone revenue. 

2011 New Markets Tax Credit (Area 66): Converting the new markets tax credit to a grant program could decrease the 35 

percent to 50 percent difference between the cost of the credit to the Treasury ($4.3 billion over 5 years) and the 

amount actually received by projects being subsidized. 

2011 Ineffective Tax Expenditures and Redundancies (Area 17): Periodic reviews could help ineffective tax expenditures 

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

2011 Governmental Bonds (Area 67): As Congress considers whether tax-exempt governmental bonds should be used for 

professional sports stadiums that are generally privately used, it may also wish to consider whether other facilities, 

including hotels and golf courses, that are privately used should continue to be financed with tax-exempt governmental 

bonds. Implementing this suggestion could increase revenue because the interest earned by investors who purchase 

tax bonds is generally excluded from federal income taxes, resulting in billions of dollars annually in federal revenue 

losses. 

2011 Real Estate Tax Deductions (Area 59): Better information and outreach could help increase revenues by tens or 

hundreds of millions of dollars annually by addressing overstated real estate tax deductions. 
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 41 GAO-13-496T 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

Category: Tax Gap

2011-12 Internal Revenue Service Enforcement (Area 54, 2011; Area 44, 2012): More complete analysis of return on 

investment—revenue collected including from improvements in voluntary compliance compared to costs—across all of 

IRS’s service and enforcement programs could help better target IRS’s limited resources and reduce the $385 billion 

net tax gap. If service and enforcement improvements reduce the tax gap by 1 percent, the additional revenue would 

be about $3.8 billion per year. For example, expanding third-party information reporting on rental real estate service 

payments and service payments to corporations alone, as GAO has recommended, would increase revenues by an 

estimated $5.9 billion over 10 years. 

Other areas in which IRS could enhance enforcement include:

• Broad and specific math-error authority (Area 56, 2011): Math error authority is statutory authority that allows 

IRS to correct certain errors on tax returns without a burdensome audit of the taxpayer. By granting either general 

authority or specific math error authority related to, for example, individual retirement accounts or the residential 

energy credit, IRS could improve compliance at low costs.

• Form 1098T (Area 60, 2011): Every year millions of taxpayers claim billions of dollars of credits for post-secondary 

education tuition expenses. Revising the Form 1098 T to provide more complete information on qualified expenses 

could make it easier for IRS to ensure that taxpayers claim the correct amount.

• Businesses Not Filing Tax Returns (Area 62, 2011): According to third-party information, businesses not filing 

tax returns have billions of dollars in sales. Better use of the third-party information to enforce filing requirements 

could ensure taxes are paid on income associated with such sales.

• Networks of Businesses (Area 64, 2011): Some owners of related businesses use such networks to evade tax.

Because there are at least 1 million such networks, an IRS-wide strategy to address network-based tax evasion 

could bring in additional enforcement revenue.

2011 Better Management of Tax Debt Collection (Area 55): Better management of tax debt collection may resolve cases 

faster with lower Internal Revenue Service costs and increase debt collected. The Internal Revenue Service has 

recognized that each year individuals do not pay billions of dollars of their acknowledged tax debts. 

2011 S Corporations Compliance (Area 63): Better IRS guidance on S corporation basis and shareholder compensation 

could, potentially, increase taxes paid by hundreds of millions of dollars each year. 

2011 Electronic Filing of Individual Income Tax Returns (Area 53): Increasing electronic filing of individual income tax 

returns could save the Internal Revenue Service millions of dollars in processing costs by avoiding transcription. 

Category: Other

2012 Medicare and Medicaid Fraud Detection Systems (Area 46): The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services need to 

ensure widespread use of its fraud detection systems to better position itself to determine and measure progress 

toward achieving the $21 billion in financial benefits that the agency projected as a result of implementing these 

systems. 
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 42 GAO-13-496T 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

2012 Spectrum Management (Area 13): Enhanced coordination of federal agencies’ efforts to manage radio frequency 

spectrum and an examination of incentive mechanisms to foster more efficient spectrum use may aid regulators’ 

attempts to jointly respond to competing demands for spectrum while identifying valuable spectrum that could be 

auctioned for commercial use. Past auctions of spectrum have generated tens of billions of dollars for the U.S. 

Treasury. 

2012 Medicare Advantage Payment (Area 45): The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could achieve billions of 

dollars in additional savings by better adjusting for differences between Medicare Advantage plans and traditional 

Medicare providers in the reporting of beneficiary diagnoses. We estimated that cumulatively across the three years 

from 2010 to 2012, a more accurate adjustment could have saved between $3.2 billion to $5.1 billion. 

2012 Domestic Disaster Assistance (Area 51): Providing a more comprehensive assessment of a jurisdiction’s capability to 

respond to and recover from a disaster without federal assistance to support disaster declaration decisions could save 

billions of dollars. As of January 31, 2012, FEMA anticipated that when all 539 approved disaster declarations 

designated during fiscal years 2004-2011 are closed, total Disaster Relief Fund obligations will be about $91.5 billion. 

GAO’s analysis of FEMA’s anticipated obligations for 508 declarations with Public Assistance during fiscal years 2004-

2011 shows that 44 percent and 25 percent would not have met the indicator used to support declaration decisions if it 

had been adjusted for increases in personal income and inflation, respectively, since 1986. 

2013 Medicaid Supplemental Payments (Area 26): To improve the transparency of and accountability for certain high-risk 

Medicaid payments that annually total tens of billions of dollars, Congress should consider requiring the Centers for 

Medicare & Medicaid Services to take steps that would facilitate the agency’s ability to oversee these payments, 

including identifying payments that are not used for Medicaid purposes or are otherwise inconsistent with Medicaid 

payment principles, which could lead to cost savings. GAO’s analysis for providers for which data are available 

suggests that savings could be in the hundreds of millions, or billions, of dollars. 

2011 FEMA Grants (Area 26): Congress may wish to consider limiting preparedness grant funding to maintaining existing 

capabilities (as determined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency) until FEMA completes a national 

preparedness assessment of capabilities gaps at each level based on tiered, capability-specific performance objectives 

to enable prioritization of grant funding. In April 2011, Congress reduced funding for FEMA preparedness grants by 

$875 million from the amount requested in the President’s fiscal year 2011 budget. In December 2011, Congress 

reduced funding for FEMA preparedness grants by $1.28 billion from the amount requested in the President’s fiscal 

year 2012 budget. 

2012 Overseas Administrative Services (Area 20): U.S. government agencies could lower the over $2 billion 

administrative cost of their operations overseas by increasing participation in the International Cooperative 

Administrative Support Services system and by reducing reliance on American officials overseas to provide these 

services. 

2011 Behavior Based Screening (Area 77): Upon completion of the validation effort, Congress may also wish to consider 

the study’s results— including the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program’s 

effectiveness in using behavior-based screening techniques to detect terrorists in the aviation environment—in making 

future funding decisions regarding the program. Depending on the results of DHS’s validation effort and Congressional 

action, savings over the next 5 years could total tens of millions of dollars. 
Appendix II: Opportunities for Potential 

Financial Benefits in 2011-2013 Annual 

Reports

Page 43 GAO-13-496T 

Annual 

report Areas identified 

2011 Civil Tax Penalties (Area 68): Adjusting civil tax penalties for inflation potentially could increase revenues by tens of 

millions of dollars per year, not counting any revenues that may result from maintaining the penalties’ deterrent effect. 

2011 Federal Facility Ownership and Leasing (Area 51): Improved cost analysis used for making federal facility ownership 

and leasing decisions could save millions of dollars. 

2013 Catfish Inspection (Area 1): Repealing provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill that assigned U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 

Food Safety and Inspection Service responsibility for examining and inspecting catfish and for creating a catfish 

inspection program would avoid duplication of already existing federal programs and could save taxpayers millions of 

dollars annually without affecting the safety of catfish intended for human consumption. 

2011 Excess Uranium Inventories (Area 40): Marketing the Department of Energy’s excess uranium could provide 

substantial revenue to the government. 

Source: GAO.

(250722)
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