GAO 

United States Government Accountability Office

Report to the Ranking Member,

Committee on Finance, U.S. Senate 

FEDERALLY 

CREATED ENTITIES 

An Overview of Key 

Attributes 

October 2009 

GAO-10-97 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

October 2009

FEDERALLY CREATED ENTITIES 

An Overview of Key Attributes

Highlights of GAO-10-97, a report to the 

Ranking Member, Committee on Finance, 

U.S. Senate 

Over the years, Congress has 

created or authorized the creation 

of numerous entities to carry out 

federal programs and further public 

purposes. These federally created 

entities can be categorized into 

several types and serve a variety of 

missions. They are subject to 

varying governance, accountability, 

and transparency requirements 

through which Congress sought to 

strengthen entity operations, 

compliance, performance and 

resource accountability, and public 

access to information. Collectively, 

these entities receive trillions of 

dollars annually in funds 

appropriated by Congress. 

Given the wide variety of entity 

types, applicability of key broadbased requirements, and federal 

funding, the committee asked GAO 

to (1) identify and categorize 

federally created entities by type; 

(2) determine the extent to which 

the various entity types are 

generally subject to key broadbased statutory governance, 

accountability, and transparency 

requirements we identified; and (3) 

determine the amount of 

appropriations Congress has made 

directly available to each of the 

individual entities in recent years 

(fiscal years 2005 through 2008). 

To answer these questions, GAO 

reviewed federal statutes and 

regulations, previous GAO and 

Congressional Research Service 

reports, data on appropriated funds 

and other budget authority 

maintained by the Office of 

Management and Budget, and other 

relevant manuals, literature and 

Web sites. 

GAO identified 219 federally created entities with varied control, missions, and 

operations. These entities, which GAO categorized into 7 types, are not 

universally subject to the 12 key broad-based governance, accountability, and 

transparency requirements reviewed for this report. These requirements are: 

budget preparation, review, and approval; strategic and performance planning; 

budget execution and funds control; control of improper payments; internal 

control and accounting systems; preparing and reporting of audited financial 

statements; standards of conduct; whistleblower protection; access to public 

records; availability of federal contract and grant information; and access to 

public meetings. For fiscal years 2005 through 2008, Congress appropriated, on 

average, about $4 trillion a year in federal funds to 129 of the federally created 

entities in 4 of the 7 entity types. The table summarizes GAO’s results. 

Applicability of Requirements, Number of Identified Entities, and Percentage of Appropriated 

Federal Funds by Entity Type 

Entity type 

General 

applicability of 

requirements

Number of 

identified 

entities

Entities directly 

receiving

appropriated 

funds

Percent of average 

annual appropriated 

funds to identified 

entities

Executive 

departments Almost all 15 15 73.6 %

Other executive 

branch entities Almost all 88 79 24.8 %

Government 

corporations Most 23 18 1.5 %

Other federally 

established 

organizations No 50 17 0.1 %

Nonappropriated 

fund 

instrumentalities No 1 0 -

GSEsa No 3 0 -

FFRDCs No 39 0 -

Total 219 129 100.0 %

Source: GAO analysis. 

a

As of June 2009, two GSEs are in federal conservatorship and have received commitments of 

federal support through funds appropriated to the Department of the Treasury and from the Federal 

Reserve System.

Executive departments and other executive branch entities are subject to almost 

all of the 12 key requirements and received, on average, more than 98 percent of 

the appropriated funds reviewed. In contrast, nonappropriated fund 

instrumentalities, government-sponsored enterprises, and federally funded 

research and development centers are not subject to the requirements but did not 

directly receive appropriated funds. However, these entities may have received 

funds from other federal sources via contracts, grants, or other arrangements. 

In establishing entities and specifying their governance, accountability, and 

transparency requirements, Congress has weighed a variety of considerations 

such as accountability, economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and entity missions. 

Entities not subject to the specific requirements GAO reviewed may have adopted 

or be subject to other comparable requirements. 

View GAO-10-97 or key components.

For more information, contact Susan Ragland 

at (202) 512-9095 or raglands@gao.gov; 

Susan Poling at (202) 512-2667 or 

polings@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-10-97 

Contents 

Letter 1

Background 4 

The Types and Number of Federally Created Entities Are Varied 

and Large 8 

Key Governance, Accountability, and Transparency Requirements 

Are Not Universally Applicable to Federally Created Entities 24 

Many Federally Created Entities Receive Federally Appropriated 

Funds 35 

Appendix I Scope and Methodology 43 

 

Appendix II List of Federally Created Entities with Budget Data 49 

Appendix III Relevant GAO Reports 59 

Appendix IV GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 62 

 

Tables 

Table 1: Overview of Entity Types 9 

Table 2: Executive Departments 10 

Table 3: Other Executive Branch Entities 12 

Table 4: Wholly Owned GCCA Corporations 15 

Table 5: Mixed-Ownership GCCA Corporations 15 

Table 6: Non-GCCA Government Corporations 16 

Table 7: Government-Sponsored Enterprises 18 

Table 8: Federally Funded Research and Development Centers 20 

Table 9: Other Federally Established Organizations 23 

Table 10: Specific Governance, Accountability, and TransparencyRelated Requirements and Statutes 25 

Table 11: Applicability of Specific Governance, Accountability, and 

Transparency-Related Requirements to the Different Types 

of Federally Created Entities 34 

Table 12: Appropriated Funding to Identified Federally Created 

Entities for Fiscal Years 2005–2008 37 

 Federally Created Entities 
Table 13: List of Federally Created Entities with Identified 

Appropriated Funds for Fiscal Years 2005–2008 49 

Figures 

Figure 1: Appropriated Funding Information by Type of Entity for 

Fiscal Years 2005–2008 36 

Figure 2: Appropriated Funds for Executive Departments (FYs 

2005–2008) 38 

Figure 3: Appropriated Funds for Other Executive Branch Entities 

(FYs 2005–2008) 39 

Figure 4: Appropriated Funds for Government Corporations (FYs 

2005–2008) 40 

Figure 5: Appropriated Funds for Other Federally Established 

Organizations (FYs 2005–2008) 41 

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Page ii GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Page 1 GAO-10-97 

 

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

 

October 29, 2009 

The Honorable Charles Grassley 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Finance 

United States Senate 

Dear Senator Grassley: 

Numerous federal statutes establish or authorize the establishment of a 

variety of federally created entities to carry out federal programs and 

further public purposes. While Congress has assigned much of this work 

to executive departments, it also has assigned key roles to other types of 

entities, including private, nonprofit corporations and governmentsponsored enterprises (GSE). Collectively, these federally created entities 

receive trillions of dollars annually in appropriated funds. Over time, 

Congress has also enacted various broad-based federal reform statutes 

that establish specific requirements for governance, accountability, and 

transparency for many federally created entities. Congress enacted these 

broad-based statutes at different times and for different purposes, and 

their requirements do not universally apply to all federally created entities. 

As a result, you asked us to study federally created entities to: 

1. identify and categorize federally created entities into related types of 

entities; 

2. determine the extent to which the various entity types are generally 

subject to key broad-based statutory governance, accountability, and 

transparency requirements; and 

3. determine the amount of appropriated funds Congress has made 

available directly to each of the individual federally created entities in 

recent years (fiscal years 2005 through 2008). 

For purposes of this report, we use the term “federally created entity” to 

mean an organization established under authority of the federal 

government that is charged with or has the authority to manage resources 

and carry out operations or activities that generally advance, involve, or 

support federal purposes.1

 While most of the organizations were created 

1

 We define an “organization” as an association of individuals working together for common 

ends under a group identity. For more explanation about these definitions, see app. I. 

 Federally Created Entities 
 

by federal statute, some were created by a person or organization required 

or authorized under federal statute or regulation to create them.2

 We 

included only organizations that have a discrete identity that is separate 

and distinct from any other organization (e.g., not components of 

executive departments, such as the Department of the Treasury’s Internal 

Revenue Service). As explained in our detailed scope of work in appendix 

I, we excluded legislative and judicial branch organizations; advisory 

organizations; organizations created under treaties or regional compacts; 

geographic federal political jurisdictions, such as U.S. territories and the 

District of Columbia; organizations established to carry out authorized 

covert intelligence or law enforcement activities; organizations created by 

certain federally created entities; and organizations that received a federal 

charter after their creation. 

To identify and categorize federally created entities, we reviewed the 

United States Government Manual, applicable statutes and regulations, 

the Budget of the United States Government and related budget data 

maintained by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for fiscal 

years 2005 through 2008, lists published by OMB and the Department of 

the Treasury for appropriations accounting and financial reporting 

purposes, and other relevant literature and Web sites. Using this 

approach, we identified 219 federally created entities. However, because 

we did not review all federal laws, articles of incorporation, or similar 

filings related to establishing organizations, we may not have identified the 

entire universe of federally created entities. Where possible, we used 

statutory and regulatory definitions of various federally created entities to 

identify major types of federal entities. Then, in order to assign each 

identified federally created entity to a type, we compared the definitions of 

each type to the organizational structure, legal status, and other attributes 

of each entity. 

To determine the extent to which the various types of federally created 

entities are generally subject to key broad-based statutory governance, 

accountability, and transparency requirements, we reviewed our prior 

reports, Congressional Research Service reports, and other literature to 

identify broad-based statutory reform initiatives designed to strengthen 

 

2

 For example, the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation was established by the 

James Madison Memorial Fellowship Act. See Pub. L. No. 99-500, § 803, 100 Stat. 1783-76 

(Oct. 18, 1986) (codified, as amended, at 20 U.S.C. § 4502). By contrast, the U.S. Popcorn 

Board, one the agricultural commodity organizations, was established by an order of the 

Secretary of Agriculture. See 7 C.F.R. pt. 1215. 

Page 2 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

federal governance, accountability, and transparency. We reviewed these 

broad-based statutes to identify specific requirements3

 we considered key 

to enhancing governance, accountability, and transparency and 

determined the extent to which these requirements are generally 

applicable to the various types of federally created entities we identified 

through reviews of the statutes and entity enabling legislation. Because 

we focused on these specific requirements, we did not review all statutes 

applicable to each federally created entity to determine whether the entity 

might otherwise be subject to comparable requirements and we did not 

determine whether individual federally created entities that are not subject 

to these specific requirements may have voluntarily elected to adopt them. 

To determine the amount of appropriated funds Congress made available 

for the direct use of each federally created entity in fiscal years (FY) 2005 

through 2008, we used OMB’s MAX budget database.4

 MAX is a computer 

system used to collect and process most of the information required for 

preparing the budget using a series of schedules or sets of data. This 

database includes the annual gross budget authority for each federally 

created entity we identified, which we use as the measure of appropriated 

funds in this report. However, because OMB’s budget database does not 

identify gross budget authority for individual organizations below $1 

million, our report does not include such amounts. 

We conducted our work from September 2007 to September 2009 in 

accordance with all sections of GAO’s Quality Assurance Framework that 

 

3

 The 12 requirements we identified were budget preparation, review, and approval; 

strategic and performance planning; internal audit; budget execution and funds control; 

control of improper payments; internal control and accounting systems; preparing and 

reporting audited financial statements; standards of conduct; whistleblower protection; 

access to public records; availability of federal contract and grant information; and access 

to public meetings. 

4

 For purposes of this report, we considered appropriated funds to be available for the 

direct use of a federally created entity if OMB’s MAX budget database included a budget 

account for the entity. In most cases, such accounts reflect authority granted to federally 

created entities to spend or commit the government to spending funds from the U.S. 

Treasury. In other cases, such accounts reflect authority for direct payments out of the 

U.S. Treasury to or for the benefit of federally created entities. In some cases, the accounts 

reflect authority for a federally created entity to borrow funds and spend them, enter into 

contracts in advance of an appropriation, and to spend offsetting receipts and collections. 

While most appropriated funds are deposited and expended from appropriation accounts in 

the U.S. Treasury, some are deposited and expended out of commercial accounts. Of the 

latter, our report includes only amounts that are tracked in OMB’s MAX budget database 

budgetary accounts. 

Page 3 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

were relevant to our objectives. The framework requires that we plan and 

perform the engagement to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence to 

meet our stated objectives and to discuss any limitations in our work. We 

believe that the information and data obtained, and the analysis 

conducted, provide a reasonable basis for any findings in this report. 

Throughout the history of our nation, Congress has established or 

authorized the establishment of various organizations to exercise the 

federal government’s constitutional powers. Executive departments, such 

as the Department of the Treasury, have been established in law since the 

days immediately following ratification of the U.S. Constitution.5

 Other 

executive branch entities, similar to executive departments, generally are 

vested with the powers of the U.S. government, are headed by officers or 

employees of the U.S. government, and are created by law as part of the 

U.S. government.6

 Congress has generally established executive 

departments and other executive branch entities to implement federal 

policies and programs, but over the years Congress has created or 

authorized the creation of increasingly diverse types of entities. Other 

federally created entities include quasi-public and private entities such as 

government-sponsored enterprises, nonappropriated fund 

instrumentalities, federally funded research and development centers, and 

other federally established organizations. Congress has assigned different 

combinations of powers, privileges, and duties to each type of federally 

created entity and to the individual entities that comprise each type. 

Background 

The specific nature and composition of the types of federally created 

entities vary to help address a broad range of public policy goals. For 

example, Congress established federal entities, such as the Resolution 

Trust Corporation and the Pennsylvania Avenue Development 

Corporation, for specific purposes and later phased them out after the 

goals were achieved. Congress has also created new entities through 

reorganizations, such as when it formed the Department of Homeland 

 

5

 The U.S. Constitution refers to “departments” at least three times. U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, 

cl. 18; art. II, § 2, cls. 1 and 2; see also U.S. Const. amend. XXV. The Department of the 

Treasury was established in September 1789. 1 Stat. 65 (1 Cong. ch. 12) (Sept. 2, 1789) (An 

Act to Establish the Treasury Department). 

6

 Federally created entities are sometimes named or referred to in law as “federal 

agencies,” “executive agencies,” “establishments,” “instrumentalities,” “corporations,” 

“trusts,” and other terms. 

Page 4 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Security by placing several existing agencies, including the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, under a new 

executive department.7

 

Federally created entities exhibit a wide variety and combination of 

statutory powers, duties, forms, and other attributes. The federal courts 

have on multiple occasions addressed various issues related to the nature 

and status of some of the federally created entities. These issues have 

included whether different types of federally created entities: 

• represent a constitutionally permissible type through which sovereign 

powers may be exercised;8

 

• represent a type of entity subject to any constitutional limitation,9

condition,10 or privilege11 applicable to the federal government (e.g., an 

entity entitled to the benefit of federal sovereign immunity from 

lawsuits); or 

 

7

 Homeland Security Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (Nov. 25, 2002) 

(codified, in part, at 6 U.S.C. §§ 111, 313, 468). 

8

See e.g., Luxton v. North River Bridge Co., 153 U.S. 525 (1894); Smith v. Kansas City 

Title Co., 255 U.S. 180 (1921); McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat) 316 (1819). 

9

 Notwithstanding a statutory provision stating that an entity is not to be considered a 

federal agency or instrumentality under law, a federally created entity may be considered 

part of the federal government for certain constitutional purposes. See, for example, the 

case of Lebron v. Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp., 513 U.S. 374 (1995), in which the U.S. 

Supreme Court held that where “the [U.S.] Government creates a corporation [AMTRAK] 

by special law, for the furtherance of governmental objectives, and retains for itself 

permanent authority to appoint a majority of the directors of that corporation, the 

corporation is part of the [U.S.] Government for purposes of the First Amendment [of the 

U.S. Constitution].” 513 U.S. at 400. 

10 A number of court cases address the question of whether federally created entities, given 

certain attributes, may carry out functions assigned to the executive branch under the U.S. 

Constitution. See, e.g., Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority v. Citizens for the 

Abatement of Aircraft Noise, Inc., 501 U.S. 252 (1991); Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 

361 (1989); Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (1986); Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976); 

Springer v. Government of the Philippine Islands, 277 U.S. 189 (1928). 

11 See Standard Oil Co. v. Johnson, 316 U.S. 481 (1942) (nonappropriated fund 

instrumentality, a U.S. Army post exchange, entitled to federal sovereign immunity); 

Reconstruction Finance Corp. v. J.G. Menihan Corp., 312 U.S. 81 (1941) (government 

corporation entitled to federal sovereign immunity). 

Page 5 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

• fall under a statutory term that describes which entities are subject to a 

given statute (e.g., an “agency” subject to the Freedom of Information 

Act).12

 

Accordingly, federally created entities may be categorized by applying any 

number of terms used by Congress in different statutes or the 

constitutional and legal principles articulated by the federal courts in 

cases that addressed the different types of issues just mentioned. 

As described in appendix I, for purposes of categorizing federally created 

entities for this report, we relied on statutes and regulations with as broad 

applicability as we could identify that list certain types of federally created 

entities within their meaning (e.g., executive departments listed in 5 U.S.C. 

§ 101). Otherwise, we used nonlegal labels for entity types that generally 

reflect the constitutional and legal principles set out by the federal courts. 

Our report covers only those entities that existed as of the date we 

completed our review. Through September 2009, we identified 219 

federally created entities. 

In the public sector, the concepts of governance, accountability, and 

transparency are critical for the effective and credible functioning of a 

healthy democracy and in fulfilling the government’s responsibilities to the 

public. These concepts, while different, are closely associated and 

frequently used together. To help differentiate them for purposes of our 

review, we considered public sector: 

• governance to be the process of providing leadership and direction to 

entities to help them carry out their organizational mission and 

operating objectives; 

• accountability to be the processes, mechanisms, and other various 

means by which entity management carries out its programs and 

operations and demonstrates its stewardship over and responsibility 

for resources and performance; and 

• transparency to be the means by which information needed to 

understand, monitor, and oversee entity operations, activities, and 

 

12 Congress uses and defines various terms for the purpose of prescribing the applicability 

of a given law or set of laws to certain types of federally created entities. For example, as 

noted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the Smithsonian 

Institution, created by law as “an establishment,” meets the definition of “federal agency” 

for one statute, “instrumentality wholly owned by the United States” under another statute, 

but does not meet the definition of “agency” under a third statute. Dong v. Smithsonian 

Inst., 125 F.3d 877 (D.C. Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 524 U.S. 922 (1998). 

Page 6 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

performance is made available and accessible to management, those 

charged with oversight, and the public. 

While having different meanings, these concepts are interdependent and 

mutually supportive in that effective governance strengthens and enhances 

accountability and transparency, and transparency serves to highlight 

entitywide accountability and supports effective governance and 

oversight. Effective governance, accountability, and transparency are key 

to successfully implementing public sector policies and programs and 

supporting public entities’ objectives in such areas as: establishing and 

maintaining effective programs and operations; complying with laws and 

regulations; acting responsibly and demonstrating performance in 

achieving goals; and fostering openness in working with Congress and the 

public. In establishing federally created entities and specifying their 

governance, accountability, and transparency requirements, Congress has 

weighed a variety of economic, political, and policy considerations related 

to the need for, among other things, political independence and 

accountability, economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and specific entity 

missions.13

 

From fiscal years 2005 through 2008, the U.S. government provided 

funding to more than half of federally created entities through annual or 

permanent appropriations and other forms of budget authority. Budget 

authority represents the authority to enter into financial obligations that 

will result in immediate or future outlays involving federal government 

funds, and an appropriation is the authority to incur obligations and to 

make payments from the U.S. Treasury for specified purposes.14 The U.S. 

Constitution provides: “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in 

consequence of appropriations made by law.”15 Budget authority also 

includes the authority to borrow and spend funds (borrowing authority), 

 

13 See Marshall J. Breger and Gary J. Edles, Established by Practice: The Theory and 

Operation of Independent Federal Agencies, 52 Admin. L. Rev. 1111 (Fall 2000). Congress 

also considers the entities’ legal characteristics, such as their status as governmental or 

nongovernmental. See Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, The Quasi 

Government: Hybrid Organizations with Both Government and Private Sector Legal 

Characteristics, No. RL30533 (Feb. 17, 2009). 

14 Certain types of appropriations are not considered to provide budget authority, such as 

an appropriation to liquidate obligations incurred against contract authority, because they 

do not provide authority to incur obligations. See GAO, A Glossary of Terms Used in the 

Federal Budget Process, GAO-05-734SP, at 21 (Washington, D.C.: September 2005). 

15 U.S. Const., Art. I, § 9, cl. 7. 

Page 7 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

enter into contracts in advance of an appropriation (contract authority), 

and obligate and expend the proceeds of offsetting receipts and 

collections (offsetting collections). The budgetary accounts in OMB’s 

MAX budget database track gross budget authority provided to individual 

federally created entities. For purposes of this report, we characterize this 

gross budget authority as appropriated funds. OMB’s MAX budget 

database does not identify other sources of funding that federally created 

entities may receive, including revenues from many business operations 

that are deposited in accounts outside of the U.S. Treasury and federal 

funding from other federally created entities under contracts, grants, or 

similar arrangements. 

The 219 federally created entities we identified vary in their organizational 

structure, legal status, and purpose, reflecting the broad range of missions 

and responsibilities they carry out. We grouped these entities into the 

following seven different types:16 

• executive departments, 

• other executive branch entities, 

The Types and 

Number of Federally 

Created Entities Are 

Varied and Large 

• government corporations, 

• nonappropriated fund instrumentalities, 

• government-sponsored enterprises, 

• federally funded research and development centers, and 

• other federally established organizations. 

Table 1 provides an overview of key attributes related to ownership and 

control and to the missions and operations generally applicable to the 

seven different types of federally created entities. The federal 

government’s ownership of federally created entities ranges from 

complete for executive departments to none for other federally 

established organizations. Further, the amount of control the federal 

government exercises over federally created entities ranges from complete 

control of executive departments through extensive administrative 

requirements and the leadership of officers appointed by the President 

with the U.S. Senate’s advice and consent to shared control with the 

private sector through the terms of federal charters of nonprofit 

corporations and the appointment of their leadership. 

 

16 See app. I. 

Page 8 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Table 1: Overview of Entity Types 

Key attributes Entity types (and number 

within each) Ownership and control Mission and operations List of entities 

Executive departments (15) U.S. government Broad areas of responsibility, 

often carried out by multiple 

component organizations 

See table 2 

Other executive branch entities 

(88) 

U.S. government Generally involve a specific 

program or regulatory area 

See table 3 

Government corporations (23): 

Wholly owned and Non-GCCA 

(18) 

U.S. government Generally provide specified goods 

or services via business-type 

operations 

See tables 4 and 6 

Mixed-ownership (5) Mixed ownership and shared 

control—Private and U.S. 

government 

Generally provide specialized 

financial services via businesstype operations 

See table 5 

Nonappropriated fund 

instrumentalities (1) (actual 

number unknown) 

U.S. government Generally provide specific 

services to U.S. government 

personnel and their dependents 

via business-type operations 

No listing 

Government-sponsored 

enterprises (3) 

Privately owned and shared 

control—Private and U.S. 

Government 

Provide primary credit markets 

with funding via securities-related 

activities run by private for-profit 

companies 

See table 7 

Federally funded research and 

development centers 

(FFRDCs) (39) 

Privately owned and 

administered, but managing 

executive agency exercises 

considerable control 

Long-term research and 

development activities run by 

private companies or educational 

institutions under contract with 

managing executive agency 

See table 8 

Other federally established 

organizations (50) 

Privately owned and shared 

control—private and U.S. 

government 

Generally provide specific 

services to targeted groups via 

educational, charitable, or 

business-type operations 

See table 9 

Source: GAO analysis 

Executive Departments The current 15 executive departments17 (see listing in table 2) are headed 

by 14 secretaries and the Attorney General of the United States 

(Department of Justice) who are appointed by the President with the U.S. 

Senate’s advice and consent. The departments, which are wholly 

controlled by the federal government, generally have broad areas of 

responsibility and house multiple component organizations to carry out 

specific programs and functions. Congress establishes departments by 

statute and, by tradition, the department heads (along with certain other 

 

17 5 U.S.C. § 101. 

Page 9 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

officials granted Cabinet-level status) comprise the President’s Cabinet.18 

As such, the department heads are considered by many to be the most 

directly politically accountable to the President. Also, the department 

heads, by statute, are included in the line of succession for the 

presidency.19 Over the years, departments’ names have changed through 

statutory enactment. For example, a 1789 statute renamed the 

Department of Foreign Affairs as the Department of State, and a 1979 

statute split the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into two 

separate departments (the Department of Health and Human Services and 

the Department of Education).20 Many agencies are housed in executive 

departments. For example, the Department of the Treasury houses the 

Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the Internal Revenue Service, 

among others. 

Table 2: Executive Departments 

1. Department of Agriculture 6. Department of Health and Human Services 11. Department of Labor 

2. Department of Commerce 7. Department of Homeland Security 12. Department of State 

3. Department of Defense 8. Department of Housing and Urban Development 13. Department of Transportation 

4. Department of Education 9. Department of the Interior 14. Department of the Treasury 

5. Department of Energy 10. Department of Justice 15. Department of Veterans Affairs 

Source: 5 U.S.C. § 101 and GAO analysis, as of September 2009. 

Other Executive Branch 

Entities 

Entities that we refer to as other executive branch entities are those 

organizations that we place in the executive branch of the U.S. 

government under general constitutional and legal principles that are 

wholly controlled by the federal government and are not executive 

departments or government corporations (as we define those terms in this 

report), or sub-units of a larger executive branch entity. These entities are 

often identified in statute as, among others, agencies, establishments, 

commissions, administrations, services, boards, or foundations. 

 

18 See, for example, the current Cabinet and Cabinet-level members at 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/ (last visited Oct. 23, 2009). 

19 See 3 U.S.C. § 19. 

20 Act of Sept. 15, 1789, 1 Stat. 68 (1 Cong. Ch. 14) (Sept. 15, 1789); Department of Education 

Organization Act, Pub. L. No. 96-88, 93 Stat. 668 (Oct. 17, 1979). 

Page 10 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

The heads of these entities may be a single person or a multimember body, 

many of which Congress intended to be relatively free of political 

influence and some of which have unique characteristics. For example, 

the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System comprises seven 

members appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the 

U.S. Senate and heads the central bank of the United States, which 

Congress designed to be independent of executive control in setting 

monetary policy and overseeing the financial system. In contrast to this 

political independence, the Executive Office of the President is an 

executive branch entity that operates under the direct control of the 

President. The Executive Office of the President was created 

administratively by the President to assist in carrying out the President’s 

constitutional and legal duties. 21 The Executive Office contains many 

component entities, some of which were created by statute to establish 

policy for the executive branch, and others that were created 

administratively to provide personal advice, counsel, and assistance to the 

President. 

We identified 88 other executive branch entities as shown in table 3.22

 

These other executive branch entities vary widely in their missions, size, 

funding, and organizational structure. In general, they serve a narrower 

purpose relative to the executive departments, such as regulating an 

industry or implementing a specific program. For example, the Social 

Security Administration’s duties include administering Social Security, a 

social insurance program providing retirement, survivors, and disability 

benefits. It is a large organization which, for fiscal year 2008, was 

authorized staffing of more than 60,000 personnel. In contrast, the 

Vietnam Educational Foundation was established to create an 

international fellowship program to help Vietnamese undertake advanced 

studies to build excellence in science, mathematics, and technology, and 

by so doing, improve the bilateral relationship between the United States 

and Vietnam. The foundation has four federal and eight contract 

employees. 

 

21 Executive Order No. 8248 (Sept. 8, 1939), Establishing the Divisions of the Executive 

Office of the President and Defining their Functions and Duties. 

22 Three of the other executive branch entities were established during fiscal year 2009, so 

they did not receive any appropriated funds during the fiscal years (2005-2008) we 

reviewed for this report. These entities are the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission, 

the Southwest Border Regional Commission, and the Northern Border Regional 

Commission. 

Page 11 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Table 3: Other Executive Branch Entities 

1 Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 45 National Archives and Records Administration 

2 American Battle Monuments Commission 46 National Capital Planning Commission 

3 Appalachian Regional Commission 47 National Council on Disability 

4 Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board 48 National Credit Union Administration 

5 Armed Forces Retirement Home 49 National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities 

6 Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education 

Foundation 

50 National Labor Relations Board 

7 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 51 National Mediation Board 

8 Broadcasting Board of Governors 52 National Science Foundation 

9 Central Intelligence Agency 53 National Transportation Safety Board 

10 Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board 54 Northern Border Regional Commission 

11 Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation 55 Northern Great Plains Regional Authority 

12 Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage 

Abroad 

56 Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

13 Commission of Fine Arts 57 Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board 

14 Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a.k.a.

The Helsinki Commission 

58 Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission 

15 Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or 

Severely Disabled 

59 Office of Government Ethics 

16 Commodity Futures Trading Commission 60 Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation 

17 Consumer Product Safety Commission 61 Office of Personnel Management 

18 Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the 

District of Columbia 

62 Office of Special Counsel 

19 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board 63 Office of the Director of National Intelligence 

20 Delta Regional Authority 64 Office of the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas 

Transportation Projects 

21 Denali Commission 65 Peace Corps 

22 District of Columbia Public Defender Service 66 Postal Regulatory Commission 

23 Election Assistance Commission 67 Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight Board 

24 Environmental Protection Agency 68 Railroad Retirement Board 

25 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 69 Securities and Exchange Commission 

26 Executive Office of the President 70 Selective Service System 

27 Farm Credit Administration 71 Small Business Administration 

28 Federal Communications Commission 72 Social Security Administration 

29 Federal Election Commission 73 Southeast Crescent Regional Commission 

30 Federal Housing Finance Agency 74 Southwest Border Regional Commission 

31 Federal Labor Relations Authority 75 U.S. Agency for International Development 

32 Federal Maritime Commission 76 U.S. Arctic Research Commission 

Page 12 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

33 Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 77 United States Commission on Civil Rights 

34 Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission 78 United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces 

35 Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board 79 United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims 

36 Federal Trade Commission 80 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

37 General Services Administration 81 United States Interagency Council on Homelessness 

38 Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation 82 United States International Trade Commission 

39 James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation 83 United States Postal Service 

40 Japan-United States Friendship Commission 84 United States Tax Court 

41 Marine Mammal Commission 85 United States Trade and Development Agency 

42 Merit Systems Protection Board 86 Utah Reclamation Mitigation and Conservation Commission 

43 Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National 

Environmental Policy Foundation 

87 Vietnam Education Foundation 

44 National Aeronautics and Space Administration 88 White House Commission on the National Moment of 

Remembrance 

Source: GAO analysis, as of September 2009. 

Government Corporations A government corporation is an entity established by the U.S. government 

in a corporate form by a federal charter for a public purpose. We 

identified 23 government corporations, each owned in whole or in part by 

the U.S. government.23 All entities listed in chapter 91 of Title 31 of the 

U.S. Code, commonly referred to as the Government Corporation Control 

Act (GCCA), are defined as government corporations, including 14 wholly 

owned government corporations and 5 mixed-ownership government 

corporations, as shown in tables 4 and 5, respectively.24 In addition to 

corporations listed in GCCA, we have identified 4 other federally created 

entities that are subject to the GCCA provisions applicable to wholly 

 

23 The U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Lebron v. Nat'l R.R. Passenger Corp., 513 U.S. 374 

(1995), briefly describes the historical evolution of government corporations. The U.S. 

Supreme Court opinion in the case of Luxton v. North River Bridge Co., 153 U.S. 525 

(1894), describes their use up to 1894. For a more detailed history, see the section on 

government use of corporate entities (chapter 15.B.) of GAO, 3 Principles of Federal 

Appropriations Law, 3rd ed., GAO-08-978SP, at 15-61 through 15-226 (Washington, D.C.: 

September 2008). 

24 Some of the government corporations listed in GCCA have been terminated, and we omit 

them from this report. 

Page 13 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

owned government corporations;25 therefore, we categorized these four as 

“non-GCCA” government corporations, which are shown in table 6. 

In contrast to executive departments and other executive branch entities, 

a corporate form of organization as described by President Harris S. 

Truman, is generally appropriate26 for administering governmental 

programs that: 

• are predominantly of a business nature, 

• produce revenue and are potentially self-sustaining, 

• involve a large number of business-type transactions with the public, 

and 

• require greater flexibility than the appropriations process ordinarily 

permits. 

While public administration experts have since referred to these general 

characteristics,27 Congress is not bound by them. For example, Congress 

established the Millennium Challenge Corporation in 2004 to provide U.S. 

assistance through annual appropriations for global development in a 

manner consistent with economic growth, poverty reduction, and good 

governance.28 Government corporations are generally not as dependent 

upon annual appropriations as executive departments and other executive 

branch entities to fund operations, and in recognition of their corporate 

structure, Congress gives them much greater operational flexibility. 

Government corporations also differ from private nonprofit corporations 

 

25 See, for example, the statute establishing the African Development Foundation as a nonGCCA corporation: “There is established a body corporate to be known as the ‘African 

Development Foundation,’” which “shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 91 of title 

31 applicable to wholly owned Government Corporations.” 22 U.S.C. §§ 290h-1, 290h-6. 

Similarly, see the statute establishing the Presidio Trust as a non-GCCA corporation: 

“There is established a wholly owned government corporation to be known as the Presidio 

Trust,” which “shall be treated as a wholly owned government corporation subject to 

chapter 91 of title 31, United States Code.” Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management 

Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-333, div. I, tit. I, § 103, 10 Stat. 4093, 4098-4101 (Nov. 12, 1996) 

(reprinted in 16 U.S.C. § 460bb note). 

26 See GAO, Government Corporations: Profiles of Existing Government Corporations, 

GAO/GGD-96-14, at 3 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 13, 1995). In this prior report, we noted 

variations in accepted definitions of a government corporation. These differ from the 

definition we applied. See app. I. 

27 See GAO/GGD-96-14, at 3. 

28 Millennium Challenge Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-199, div. D, tit. VI, § 602, 118 Stat. 3, 211 

(Jan. 23, 2004) (codified at 22 U.S.C. § 7701). 

Page 14 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

in that the U.S. government owns all (wholly owned and non-GCCA) or 

some of the (mixed-ownership) government corporations; government 

corporations’ federal chartering statutes control operations of the 

corporation rather than a general state incorporation statute for private 

nonprofit corporations; the boards of directors of government 

corporations are appointed by the President, another executive branch 

officer, or the member institutions rather than appointment by 

management or shareholders; and, when compared to private nonprofit 

corporations, the U.S. government has a more significant oversight role 

over government corporations under GCCA and other statutes and 

through implementing regulations and guidance. 

Table 4: Wholly Owned GCCA Corporations 

1. Commodity Credit Corporation 8. International Clean Energy Foundation 

2. Community Development Financial Institutions Fund 9. Millennium Challenge Corporation 

3. Corporation for National and Community Service 10. Overseas Private Investment Corporation 

4. Export-Import Bank of the United States 11. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 

5. Federal Crop Insurance Corporation 12. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation 

6. Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated 13. Federal Housing Administration Funda 

7. Government National Mortgage Association 14. Tennessee Valley Authority 

Source: 31 U.S.C. § 9101 and note and GAO analysis, as of September 2009. 

a This is a wholly owned government corporation headed by the Federal Housing Administrator who 

also serves as Assistant Secretary for Housing in the Department of Housing and Urban 

Development. 

Table 5: Mixed-Ownership GCCA Corporations 

1. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 4. National Credit Union Administration Central Liquidity Facility 

2. Federal Home Loan Banks (12) a 5. Resolution Funding Corporation 

3. Financing Corporation 

Source: 31 U.S.C. § 9101 and note and GAO analysis, as of September 2009. 

a There are 12 federal Home Loan Banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank system. 

Page 15 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Table 6: Non-GCCA Government Corporations 

1. African Development Foundation 

2. Inter-American Foundation 

3. Presidio Trust 

4. Valles Caldera Trust 

Source: GAO analysis, as of September 2009. 

Note: The Federal Financing Bank was established by statute as a corporation, Pub. L. No. 93-224, 

but because it operates under the direction and control of the Secretary of the Treasury, we 

considered it to be part of the Department of the Treasury for purposes of this report. 

Nonappropriated Fund 

Instrumentalities 

There exist a large but unknown number of nonappropriated fund 

instrumentalities of the U.S. government (NAFIs). In general, NAFIs are 

entities that can be established under authority or sanction of an existing 

federally created entity (generally including executive departments and 

other executive branch entities). For example, the Department of Defense 

operates military post exchanges to benefit military personnel and their 

dependents by selling commercial goods and services to them.29 The 

actual number of NAFIs is not known because federally created entities 

generally are not required to report publicly on their NAFIs, there is no 

official or commonly understood definition of a NAFI, and no source 

exists to identify each NAFI that may exist.30 For purposes of this report, 

we recognize NAFIs as a single entity. While they may be established with 

or without an initial advance of federal funds, NAFIs are operated without 

receiving direct appropriations and are generally financed by the proceeds 

 

29 See Department of Defense Instruction 1330.21, Armed Services Exchange Regulations, 

July 14, 2005, and Department of Defense Instruction 1015.15, Establishment, 

Management, and Control of Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities and Financial 

Management of Supporting Resources, rev. March 20, 2008. 

30 An extensive history of the evolution and use of NAFIs is provided in GAO, Principles of 

Federal Appropriations Law, 3rd ed., GAO-08-978SP, at pages 15-226 through 15-276 

(Washington, D.C.: September 2008). As noted in that history, GAO conducted a survey in 

1977 and reported on dozens of NAFIs identified across the executive branch; however, the 

report noted the lack of a precise definitional distinction between a NAFI and a private 

organization operating at a federally created entity. See GAO, Magnitude of 

Nonappropriated Fund and Related Activities In The Executive Branch, FPCD-77-28 

(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 25, 1977). The number and nature of NAFIs have changed since 

then. For example, the 1977 report listed 10 NAFIs operating at the U.S. Merchant Marine 

Academy. We reported this year that the Academy had 14 NAFIs. GAO, United States 

Merchant Marine Academy: Internal Control Weaknesses Resulted in Improper Sources 

and Uses of Funds; Some Corrective Actions Are Under Way, GAO-09-635 (Washington, 

D.C.: Aug. 10, 2009). 

Page 16 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

from their organization’s operations. NAFIs are often established to 

further performance of governmental functions (e.g., operate an activity 

for the benefit of U.S. government personnel or their dependents, such as 

military morale, welfare, and recreation NAFIs that operate gyms, lodging 

facilities, and other services for military personnel and their dependents). 

Other examples of NAFIs include the Graduate School, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture; Marine Corps Exchanges; Navy Resale and Services Support 

Office; and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Ships Service Store. 

Generally, while funded primarily with self-generated operational 

revenues, the assets of NAFIs are considered to be U.S. government 

property for most purposes. Also, NAFIs are under the complete control 

of the federally created entity that established them, and usually are 

operated by U.S. government personnel. 

Government-Sponsored 

Enterprises 

We identified three government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), which are 

federally chartered but established to be privately owned and operated 

financial institutions that are authorized to make loans or loan guarantees 

for limited purposes. Congress created these quasi-public entities for 

specific public policy purposes, such as facilitating the flow of investment 

funds to specific economic sectors by acting as financial intermediaries 

with access to national capital markets.31 Generally, GSEs provide capital 

market liquidity through intermediaries rather than lending money directly 

to members of the public. To perform this role, they do such things as 

issue capital stock and short- and long-term debt instruments, guarantee 

mortgage-backed securities, purchase loans and hold them in their own 

portfolios, fund designated activities, and collect fees for guarantees and 

other services. GSEs generally have a nationwide scope, and they benefit 

from the market perception of an implied federal guarantee. Further, they 

are regulated by specialized federally created entities (the Federal Housing 

Finance Agency and the Farm Credit Administration), in addition to other 

federally created entities that regulate corporations generally and state 

regulatory agencies. 

 

31 See, for example, GAO, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, 

GAO-05-734SP, at 59 (Washington, D.C.: September 2005); Congressional Research Service, 

Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs): An Institutional Overview, RS21663 (Sept. 

29, 2009); GAO, Financial Services Institutions: Information for Assessing the 

Government's Potential Financial Exposure, GAO/GGD-98-125, at 3 (Washington, D.C.: 

June 15, 1998). 

Page 17 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

While there is no broad-based statutory definition of GSEs, the 

Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended,32 provides a definition for 

purposes of the federal budget that is commonly used. Applying this 

definition, OMB has identified five GSEs, including the three that we 

identified.33 We excluded two GSEs from our list, the Farm Credit System 

and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, because they are not distinct 

separate organizations and they are composed of multiple component 

federally created entities, each of which is listed in our report under other 

types. 

Table 7: Government-Sponsored Enterprises 

1. Fannie Mae (formerly known as the Federal National Mortgage Association) 

2. Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) 

3. Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) 

Source: GAO analysis, as of September 2009. 

While GSEs were chartered as privately owned and the federal 

government explicitly does not guarantee their debt obligations, investors 

and other interested parties have widely assumed that if GSEs faced a 

financial emergency they would receive some form of federal support. In 

September 2008, federal support was, in fact, provided to Fannie Mae and 

Freddie Mac. Out of concern that their deteriorating financial condition 

would threaten the stability of financial markets, the Federal Housing 

Finance Agency, an executive branch entity, placed Fannie Mae and 

Freddie Mac into conservatorship, and the Department of the Treasury, an 

executive department, agreed to use its appropriated funds to provide 

financial support by committing to purchase preferred stock in each GSE 

to maintain their positive net worth.34 As of June 2009, Treasury has 

committed to purchase up to $200 billion in preferred stock in each GSE 

and has provided $85 billion under those commitments. In addition, the 

Department of the Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal 

 

32 2 U.S.C. § 622(8). 

33 See, for example, GAO, Government-Sponsored Enterprises: A Framework for 

Strengthening GSE Governance and Oversight, GAO-04-269T (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 10, 

2004). 

34 See GAO, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Analysis of Options for Revising the Housing 

Enterprises’ Long-term Structures, GAO-09-782, at 1, 9 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 10, 2009). 

The Department of the Treasury also acquired warrants (options) to purchase up to 79.9 

percent of the common stock of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

Page 18 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Reserve System have also agreed to purchase the various GSE-related 

debts and securities to support housing finance, housing markets, and, 

more generally, the financial markets.35

Federally Funded 

Research and 

Development Centers 

A federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) is one of 

3936 private entities that executive departments and other executive 

branch entities (managing executive agencies) have established to meet 

long-term federal research needs.37 In an FFRDC, such as the Los Alamos

National Laboratory, federal contractors perform specific duties as 

provided for in their contracts, and have closer than usual relations

with their managing executive agencies. The Department of Defens

the Department of Energy serve as managing executive agencies for mo

FFRDCs (10 and 16, respectively). While FFRDCs generally are operated 

by their private entity administrators under pertinent state laws, the 

federal government contracts and related federal acquisition regulations 

applicable to FFRDCs provide for higher levels of oversight and control 

than otherwise would be the case for federal government contractors. The 

National Science Foundation maintains the Web site of the official list of 

FFRDCs,

hips 

e and 

st 

 

38 which are enumerated in table 8 along with their managing 

executive agencies and private entity administrators. 

35 GAO-09-782. 

36 Two FFRDCs were established during fiscal year 2009, so they did not receive any 

appropriated funds during the fiscal years (2005-2008) we reviewed for this report. These 

entities are the Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development Institute and the 

Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute. 

37 See 48 C.F.R. § 35.017; 71 Comp. Gen. 155 (1992); see also Congressional Research 

Service, The Quasi Government: Hybrid Organizations with Both Government and 

Private Sector Legal Characteristics, RL30533, at 10-12 (Feb. 17, 2009). 

38 See http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdc/ (last visited Oct. 23, 2009). Pursuant to federal 

policy, the National Science Foundation maintains the federal government’s master list of 

FFRDCs. 48 C.F.R. § 35.017-6. 

Page 19 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Table 8: Federally Funded Research and Development Centers 

Federally funded research and development center Managing executive agency Private entity administrator 

1 C3I Federally Funded Research & Development Center Defense, Office of the Secretary 

of Defense 

MITRE Corp. 

2 Institute for Defense Analyses Studies Federally Funded 

Research and Development Center 

Defense, Office of the Secretary 

of Defense 

Institute for Defense Analyses 

3 National Defense Research Institute Defense, Office of the Secretary 

of Defense 

RAND Corp. 

4 Aerospace Federally Funded Research and Development 

Center 

Defense, Air Force Aerospace Corp. 

5 Lincoln Laboratory Defense, Air Force Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology 

6 Project Air Force Defense, Air Force RAND Corp. 

7 Arroyo Center Defense, Army RAND Corp. 

8 Software Engineering Institute Defense, Army Carnegie Mellon University 

9 Center for Naval Analyses Defense, Navy CNA Corp. 

10 Institute for Defense Analyses Communications and 

Computing Federally Funded Research and Development 

Center 

Defense, NSA Institute for Defense Analyses 

11 Ames Laboratory Energy Iowa State University of Science 

and Technology 

12 Argonne National Laboratory Energy University of Chicago 

13 Brookhaven National Laboratory Energy Brookhaven Science Associates, 

Inc. 

14 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Energy University of California 

15 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Energy Universities Research 

Association, Inc. 

16 Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Energy Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC 

17 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Energy University of California 

18 Los Alamos National Laboratory Energy University of California 

19 National Renewable Energy Laboratory Energy Midwest Research Institute; 

Battelle Memorial Institute; 

Bechtel National, Inc. 

20 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Energy UT-Battelle, LLC 

21 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Energy Battelle Memorial Institute 

22 Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Energy Princeton University 

23 Sandia National Laboratories Energy Sandia Corp., a subsidiary of 

Lockheed Martin, Corp. 

24 Savannah River Technology Center Energy Westinghouse Savannah River 

Co. 

25 Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC National 

Accelerator Laboratory) 

Energy Stanford University 

Page 20 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

 Federally funded research and development center Managing executive agency Private entity administrator 

26 Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility 

(Southeastern Universities Research Association, Inc.) 

Energy Southeastern Universities 

Research Association, Inc. 

27 National Cancer Institute at Frederick Health and Human Services, 

NIH 

Science Applications International 

Corp.; Charles River 

Laboratories, Inc.; Data 

Management Services, Inc.; 

Wilson Information Services, Inc. 

28 Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute Homeland Security Analytic Services, Inc. 

29 Homeland Security Systems Engineering and Development 

Institute 

Homeland Security MITRE Corp. 

30 National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center Homeland Security Battelle National Biodefense 

Institute 

31 Jet Propulsion Laboratory National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration 

California Institute of Technology 

32 National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center National Science Foundation Cornell University 

33 National Center for Atmospheric Research National Science Foundation University Corporation for 

Atmospheric Research 

34 National Optical Astronomy Observatories National Science Foundation Association of Universities for 

Research in Astronomy, Inc. 

35 National Radio Astronomy Observatory National Science Foundation Associated Universities, Inc. 

36 Science and Technology Policy Institute National Science Foundation Institute for Defense Analyses 

37 Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses Nuclear Regulatory Commission Southwest Research Institute 

38 Center for Advanced Aviation System Development Transportation, FAA MITRE Corp. 

39 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Federally Funded Research 

and Development Center 

Treasury, IRS Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

Federally Funded Research and 

Development Center (MITRE 

Corp., Center for Enterprise 

Modernization) 

Source: National Science Foundation. 

Other Federally 

Established Organizations 

We identified 50 additional federally created entities that did not fit under 

any of the other six federally created entity types discussed in this report. 

They are private, nonprofit corporations, institutes, banks, funds, 

foundations, and other organizations chartered, in their original form, by 

federal statute or created by or at the direction of an existing federally 

created entity that we included in the first six types. These federally 

created entities generally are privately owned but are controlled by the 

federal government to a greater extent than other private for-profit or 

nonprofit organizations through the appointment of their leadership or 

additional regulation. The missions of these entities vary substantially, but 

individually they are narrowly defined. For some of these entities, we 

counted multiple entities as an individual entity, such as the Farm Credit 

Page 21 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Banks, of which there are 5. Eight of the 50—including the Help America 

Vote Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences—were established 

and chartered by Congress to serve patriotic, charitable, historical, or 

educational purposes under Title 36 of the U.S. Code.39 Congress has also 

chartered several other private, nonprofit corporations—including the 

Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Legal Services Corporation—

to carry out federal purposes that do not fall under Title 36 of the U.S. 

Code. In addition, Congress established other organizations, including the 

U.S. State Justice Institute and the Telecommunications Development 

Fund. Finally, we identified several other entities that were created by 

officials of existing federally created entities, including the National 

Exchange Carriers Association (by the Federal Communications 

Commission) and the Veterans Affairs Nonprofit Research and Education 

Corporations (by the Department of Veterans Affairs). Among such 

entities, we identified three venture capital funds established by federally 

created entities as nonprofit corporations in conjunction with members of 

the venture capital community for the purpose of fostering technological 

innovation that the federally created entities could later use under 

contracts or other instruments to further their missions. These include: 

OnPoint Technologies, created by the Department of Defense; Red Planet 

Capital, created by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; 

and In-Q-Tel, created by the Central Intelligence Agency. While we 

identified a total of 50 other federally established organizations, there is no 

single source of information that identifies all such entities. Accordingly, 

we may not have identified all that exist. 

Table 9 lists the other federally established organizations. 

 

39 See 36 U.S.C. chapters 407, 1526, 1503, 1513, 1519, 1524, 2203, 2205. The entities are the 

(1) Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms Safety, (2) Help America 

Vote Foundation, (3) National Academy of Sciences, (4) National Fallen Firefighters 

Foundation, (5) National Fund for Medical Education, (6) National Recording Preservation 

Foundation, (7) United States Capitol Historical Society, and (8) United States Olympic 

Committee. Many other corporations received a congressional charter under Title 36, 

including the Boy Scouts of America and the Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc., after they 

were incorporated under state law by private parties. Because these entities were 

established prior to receiving their congressional charter, we did not consider them to be 

federally created entities. 

Page 22 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Table 9: Other Federally Established Organizations 

1 

Agricultural Commodity Organizations (e.g., U.S. Popcorn 

Board) (18)a 26 National Exchange Carriers Association 

2 Agricultural Credit Bank 27 National Fallen Firefighters Foundation 

3 Alaska Native Corporations (195)b 28 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation 

4 American National Red Cross 29 National Forest Foundation 

5 American Registry of Pathology 30 National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention (a.k.a. CDC Foundation) 

6 Amtrak 31 National Fund for Excellence in American Indian Education 

7 Congressional Award Board 32 National Fund for Medical Education 

8 Corporation for Public Broadcasting 33 National Park Foundation 

9 Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle Practice and Firearms 

Safety 

34 National Recording Preservation Foundation 

10 Farm Credit Banks (5) 35 National Technical Institute for the Deaf 

11 Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation 36 National Veterans Business Development Corporation 

12 Federal Farm Banks Funding Corporation 37 Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation 

13 Federal Reserve Banks (12) 38 OnPoint Technologies 

14 Foundation for the National Institutes of Health 39 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board 

15 Gallaudet University 40 Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug 

Administration 

16 Help America Vote Foundation 41 Red Planet Capital 

17 Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of 

Military Medicine 

42 Securities Investor Protection Corporation 

18 Howard University 43 Smithsonian Institution 

19 In-Q-Tel 44 State Justice Institute 

20 Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and 

Arts 

45 Telecommunications Development Fund 

21 International Center for Middle Eastern-Western Dialogue 46 United States Capitol Historical Society 

22 Legal Services Corporation 47 United States Enrichment Corporation 

23 Military Relief Associations (e.g., Army Emergency Relief)c 48 United States Institute of Peace 

24 National Academy of Sciences 49 United States Olympic Committee 

25 National Consumer Cooperative Bank (dba NCB) 50 Veterans Affairs Nonprofit Research and Education 

Corporations (86)d 

Source: GAO analysis, as of September 2009. 

a

According to the Web site of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service, 

there are at least 18 research and promotion programs with boards or councils established by 

departmental order. See www.ams.usda.gov (last visited Oct. 23, 2009). For background on the 

operation of these programs, see, for example, GAO, Agricultural Marketing: Federally Authorized 

Commodity Research and Promotion Programs, GAO/RCED-94-63 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 29, 

1993). 

Page 23 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

b

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, codified, as amended, in part at 43 U.S.C. §§ 1606 and 

1607, required the incorporation of: 12 regional Alaska Native Corporations, each representing a 

region of Alaska; a 13th regional corporation for Alaska Natives living outside Alaska; and, within 

each region, village corporations for the Native Village’s residents. In April 2006, we reported that 

there were also 182 village, urban, and group corporations located within the 12 regions. GAO, 

Contract Management: Increased Use of Alaska Native Corporations’ Special 8(a) Provisions Calls 

for Tailored Oversight, GAO-06-399, at 9 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 27, 2006). 

c

There are several military relief associations and affiliated military personnel support organizations. 

See http://www.aerhq.org/links.asp (last visited Oct. 23, 2009). However, because the articles of 

incorporation for each of these are not publicly available, we can conclude only that Army Emergency 

Relief was created directly by the U.S. Army. 

d

According to the online membership directory of the National Association of Veterans’ Research and 

Education Foundations, it has 86 member corporations. See http://www.navref.org/about/default.htm

(last visited Oct. 23, 2009). There may be corporations that are not members of this organization. 

Congress has enacted a number of major statutes containing various 

requirements to enhance governance, accountability, and transparency in 

the federal government. As shown in table 10, we identified 12 specific 

requirements associated with key management reform statutes.40 These 12 

key requirements are aimed at enhancing federal governance, 

accountability, and transparency through the goals of improving the ability 

of entities to establish and maintain effective programs and operations; 

comply with laws and regulations; demonstrate responsibility and 

accountability for resources and performance; and provide management, 

Congress, and the public with useful information. In addition, these 12 

requirements are similar to requirements or accepted practices designed 

to enhance governance, accountability, and transparency at publicly 

traded private corporations, nonprofit corporations, and state or local 

government organizations. 

Key Governance, 

Accountability, and 

Transparency 

Requirements Are Not 

Universally 

Applicable to 

Federally Created 

Entities 

The 12 specific requirements are not universally applicable to all federally 

created entities. This is because, in part, Congress determined the entities 

that would be subject to the particular statutes and their related 

requirements by considering various attributes and objectives. In doing 

so, Congress considered the various types of federally created entities as 

well as their key distinguishing characteristics, including ownership, 

control, mission, political independence and accountability, and 

operations. While we focused on the 12 specific statutory requirements, it 

is important to recognize that other statutes may have imposed other 

 

40 The 12 specific requirements are among a number of laws governing the administration of 

various types of federally created entities, generally originating out of the administration of 

the traditional executive departments. These laws are sometimes referred to as “general 

management laws” or “administrative laws.” For one compilation of many such laws, see 

Congressional Research Service, General Management Laws: A Compendium, RL30795 

(May 19, 2004). 

Page 24 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

requirements on certain federally created entities designed to strengthen 

governance, accountability, and transparency on federally created entities. 

Table 10: Specific Governance, Accountability, and Transparency-Related Requirements and Statutes 

Key requirements Related statutes, as amended 

Budget Preparation, Review, and Approval—Preparation, review, and, where 

applicable, approval of entity budgets by President and Congress 

Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 

Congressional Budget and Impoundment 

Control Act of 1974 

Government Corporation Control Act 

Strategic and Performance Planning—Develop entitywide strategic and performance 

plans, and report on progress in achieving strategic goals and performance objectives. 

Government Performance and Results Act of 

1993 

Internal Audit—The establishment of independent and objective functions to conduct 

and oversee audits and investigations; promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; 

detect and prevent fraud and abuse; and inform entity heads and Congress about 

problems and deficiencies. 

Inspector General Act of 1978 

Budget Execution and Funds Control—Funds are only to be used for the purposes 

for which they were appropriated; officers and employees may not obligate or expend 

amounts in excess of or in advance of appropriations or in excess of formal 

subdivisions of appropriations. 

Purpose Statute 

Antideficiency Act 

Control of Improper Payments—Entities must measure and disclose estimates of 

improper payments and related actions to minimize their occurrence. 

Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 

Internal Control and Accounting Systems—Entities must establish entitywide 

internal control systems in accordance with established standards and annually assess 

and report externally on whether internal control systems comply with applicable 

standards. In addition, entities must annually assess and externally report on whether 

accounting systems comply with applicable principles, standards, and related 

requirements. 

Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act of 

1982 

Government Corporation Control Act 

Preparing and Reporting of Audited Financial Statements—Entities must prepare, 

independently audit, and externally report entitywide financial statements in accordance 

with applicable accounting principles and auditing standards. 

Government Corporation Control Act 

Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 

Government Management Reform Act of 

1994 

Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002 

Standards of Conduct—Employees are prohibited from having conflicts of interest or 

from certain post-government employment activities; and certain senior employees are 

required to disclose publicly their outside income, investment, and activities and accept 

restrictions on post-government employment activities. 

Ethics in Government Act of 1978 

Ethics Reform Act of 1989 

Whistleblower Protection—Establishes rights and remedies for employees who incur 

retaliation for protected disclosures of a violation of law, rule, gross waste of funds, 

abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific risk to public health or safety. 

Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 

Access to Public Records—Federal entities must make their records available for 

public inspection, subject to specified exceptions. 

Freedom of Information Act 

Availability of Federal Contract and Grant Information—Data on federal awards 

(e.g., contracts and grants) must be made accessible to the public via a searchable 

Web site. 

Federal Funding Accountability and 

Transparency Act of 2006 

Page 25 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Key requirements Related statutes, as amended 

Access to Public Meetings—Policy and decision-making meetings of government 

corporations and other executive branch entities headed by multi-person bodies (e.g.,

boards and commissions) must be open to the public, subject to specific exceptions. 

Government in the Sunshine Act 

Source: GAO analysis. 

The following paragraphs describe each of the 12 specific requirements 

shown in table 10. 

Budget Preparation, Review, and Approval. Sound governance, 

accountability, and transparency for federally created entities include 

preparation, review, and approval of the entity’s plans for obtaining and 

using resources to carry out its mission and related operating goals and 

objectives. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, as amended;41 the 

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as 

amended;42 and Chapter 91 of Title 31 of the U.S. Code (commonly 

referred to as the Government Corporation Control Act (GCCA))43 pro

the statutory requirements governing the development, review, and 

approval of the budget of the U.S. government and of individual federally

created entities. For the federally created entities that use appropriated 

funds, the budget review and approval process involves executive branch 

review and congressional action on the entity’s request for appropria

The President, through the Office of Management and Budget, plays

important role in this process by reviewing and, where applicable, 

approving budget requests from many federally created entities. This 

executive branch review is intended to help ensure that entity budget 

requests are consistent with the administration’s policies and priorities. 

Once incorporated into the President’s proposed Budget of the United 

States Government, the administration submits the funding requests to 

Congress for its review and preparation of a congressional budget 

resolution that guides Congress in its drafting of annual appropriations 

vide 

tions. 

 an 

 

41 This act, which requires the President to annually submit a proposed budget of the U.S. 

government to Congress and federal agencies to submit a proposed budget to the 

President, is codified, as amended, in part, at 31 U.S.C. §§ 1104-09. 

42 This act, which requires Congress to annually review the President’s budget proposal and 

adopt a concurrent resolution on the budget of the U.S. government, is codified, as 

amended, in part, at 2 U.S.C. §§ 631-32. 

43 GCCA requires wholly owned government corporations to submit a business-type budget 

to the President each year and the President to include such budgets in the proposed 

budget of the U.S. government. 31 U.S.C. § 9103. The act also requires Congress to take 

action on wholly owned government corporations’ budgets. 31 U.S.C. § 9104. 

Page 26 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

and other bills that affect revenues and budget authority. Congressional 

review and action on the amounts and planned uses of appropriated funds 

provide additional leadership, direction, and oversight. Together the 

executive and legislative branch review and approval of federally created 

entities’ budget requests serve as important governance and transparency 

requirements. The review of previous uses of appropriated funds during 

this process also serves as a mechanism to hold entity leadership 

accountable. 

Strategic and Performance Planning. The establishment and 

disclosure of an entitywide strategic plan and annual performance goals, 

and annual reporting on progress in achieving those goals provide 

important information that enhances governance, accountability, and 

transparency of federally created entities. The Government Performance 

and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)44 required, among other things, most 

executive departments, government corporations, and “independent 

establishments”45 to develop strategic plans with long-term goals and 

objectives, annual performance goals linked to achieving long-term goals, 

and annual reporting on the results achieved.46 These GPRA requirements 

apply to all executive departments and government corporations and most 

of the 88 other executive branch entities (e.g., the Central Intelligence 

Agency is excluded). The requirement for strategic and performance plans 

was a response to increased demands for improved federal performance 

and accountability by helping to link the planned use of resources with 

results achieved by measuring progress against the plans and by 

enhancing the information available for use in management, decision 

making, and oversight. The requirements to involve stakeholders, along 

with annual reporting on the results achieved, are also aimed at helping to 

promote transparency in the federal government. 

 

44 Pub. L. No. 103-62, §§ 3, 4, 7, 107 Stat. 285, 286-89, 292-94 (Aug. 3, 1993) (codified, as 

amended, at 5 U.S.C. § 306; 31 U.S.C. §§ 1115-16; and, for the U.S. Post Office, 39 U.S.C. §§ 

2802-04). 

45 See 31 U.S.C. § 1115(g); 5 U.S.C. § 306(f); and for the U.S. Post Office, 39 U.S.C. §§ 2802-

04. 

46 OMB has issued guidance on submitting required GPRA plans and reports in OMB 

Circular No. A-11, Preparation, Submission and Execution of the Budget, at Part 6, 

Preparation and Submission of Strategic Plans, Annual Performance Plans, and Annual 

Program Performance Reports (Aug. 7, 2009); and OMB Circular No. A-136, Financial 

Reporting Requirements (June 10, 2009). 

Page 27 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Internal Audit. An independent and objective internal audit and 

investigative function similar to that required by the Inspector General Act 

of 1978, as amended (IG Act), provides specified federally created entities 

with the authority to conduct and oversee audits and investigations; 

promotes economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; helps detect and prevent 

fraud and abuse; and informs agency heads and Congress about problems 

and deficiencies.47 The oversight role of government auditors is important 

to help ensure that public functions are carried out efficiently, 

economically, effectively, ethically, and legally to limit exposure to fraud, 

waste, mismanagement, and abuse. An independent and objective internal 

audit and investigative function can also strengthen entitywide 

governance, accountability, and transparency. 

Budget Execution and Funds Control. Sound governance and 

accountability of federally created entities include efforts to ensure that 

appropriated funds are used in accordance with requirements specified by 

Congress when providing funds. In accordance with the Purpose Statute48

and the Antideficiency Act,49 applicable federally created entities are 

responsible for ensuring that appropriations are used for the purposes 

intended by Congress and in the amounts and during the time periods 

provided by law. The Purpose Statute requires U.S. government officers 

and employees to use appropriated funds only for the purposes provided 

in law. The Antideficiency Act prohibits U.S. government officers and 

employees from obligating or expending funds in advance or in excess of 

appropriations or in excess of apportionments or other formal 

subdivisions of appropriations. 

 

47 To carry out these functions, the IG Act provides for the establishment of offices of 

inspector general in certain “establishments” and “designated federal entities” that are 

defined by lists in the act. The act also requires all other “federal entities” to issue annual 

reports on any actions they may have voluntarily taken to implement such functions during 

the preceding year. Subject to certain exceptions, the IG Act defines the term “federal 

entity” as “any Government corporation (within the meaning of section 103(1) of title 5, 

United States Code), any Government controlled corporation (within the meaning of 

section 103(2) of such title), or any other entity in the Executive branch of the Government, 

or any independent regulatory agency” that is not an “establishment” or a “designated 

federal entity.” For purposes of our review, we did not consider the annual reporting 

requirement for “federal entities” to be an internal audit requirement. 

48 Codified, as amended, at 31 U.S.C. § 1301(a). 

49 Codified, as amended, at 31 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1342, 1351, 1514, 1517. 

Page 28 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Control of Improper Payments. Proper safeguarding and 

accountability for public funds include helping to ensure that payments for 

goods or services are correct. In the public sector, wasteful spending 

associated with improper payments50 results in such outcomes as fewer 

services received or a higher tax burden. As stewards of taxpayer dollars, 

federally created entities are not only accountable for federal funds, but 

are also responsible for determining whether there is a problem with their 

use, and if so, correcting it. In response to continuing concerns about 

improper payments of federal funds, Congress enacted the Improper 

Payments Information Act of 200251 (IPIA) to increase financial 

accountability and thereby reduce wasteful spending. IPIA requires 

“executive agencies,” which includes “departments, agencies, and 

instrumentalities in the executive branch,” to identify programs and 

activities susceptible to significant improper payments and estimate 

amounts improperly paid. For programs and activities with large amounts 

of estimated improper payments (greater that $10 million annually), IPIA 

agencies are required to report to Congress on actions being taken to 

reduce them. 

Internal Control and Accounting Systems. Establishing, monitoring, 

and publicly reporting on internal control and accounting systems serve to 

strengthen entity accountability and control and provide important 

information needed to monitor and oversee entities. As a major 

component of managing an organization, internal control comprises the 

plans, methods, and procedures used to meet missions, goals, and 

objectives and to support performance-based management. It also serves 

as a first line of defense in safeguarding assets and preventing and 

detecting errors and fraud. Section 3512(c), (d) of Title 31 of the U.S. 

Code (commonly referred to as the Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity 

Act of 1982 (FMFIA)) requires the heads of “executive agencies,” which 

include “departments, agencies, and instrumentalities in the executive 

branch” other than government corporations, to establish and maintain 

internal control and accounting systems that comply with applicable 

 

50 Improper payments are payments that should not have been made or were made for 

incorrect amounts. They include errors, such as duplicate payments, payments for 

unsupported or inadequately supported claims, payments for services not rendered or to 

ineligible beneficiaries, and payments resulting from fraud or abuse. 

51 See S. Rep. No. 107-333 (Nov. 4, 2002); Pub. L. No. 107-300, 116 Stat. 2350 (Nov. 26, 2002) 

(reprinted in 31 U.S.C. § 3321 note); see also OMB, Issuance of Appendix C to OMB 

Circular A-123: Requirements for Effective Measurement and Remediation of Improper 

Payments, M-06-23 (Aug. 10, 2006). 

Page 29 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

standards, annually evaluate their internal control and accounting 

systems, and report on whether their internal control and accounting 

systems comply with established standards and guidance.52 These 

requirements also apply to government corporations under amendments 

to GCCA.53 To meet these requirements, management is expected to 

implement appropriate practices to establish, monitor, and report on the 

entity’s internal control and identify and address significant internal 

control weaknesses, including detailing plans and schedules for correcting 

them. Executive agency heads are also required to report separately on 

whether their accounting systems conform to applicable system-related 

principles, standards, and requirements. Collectively, these internal 

control and accounting systems requirements are aimed at strengthening 

accountability and transparency by generating reliable, useful, timely 

information for entity managers, decision makers, and those charged with 

governance. 

Preparing and Reporting of Audited Financial Statements. To help 

advance the goals of strong financial management and accountability in 

the federal government, Congress has enacted various broad-based 

statutes—specifically GCCA,54 the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 

(CFO Act),55 the Government Management Reform Act of 1994 (GMRA),56

and the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002 (ATDA)57—to require 

certain federally created entities to prepare, independently audit, and 

publicly report entitywide financial statements.58 To meet these 

 

52 FMFIA charges GAO with issuing internal control standards and OMB with issuing 

guidance to agencies on their assessment of their internal controls. For the current 

standards and guidance, see, respectively GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the 

Federal Government, GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: November 1999), and OMB 

Circular No. A-123, Management’s Responsibility for Internal Control (Dec. 21, 2004). 

53 31 U.S.C. § 9106. 

54 Codified, as amended, in part, at 31 U.S.C. §§ 9105-06. 

55 Pub. L. No. 101-576, 104 Stat. 2838 (Nov. 15, 1990) (codified, as amended, in part, at 31 

U.S.C. § 3515). 

56 Pub. L. No. 103-356, 108 Stat. 3410 (Oct. 13, 1994) (codified, as amended, in part, at 31 

U.S.C. § 3515). 

57 Pub. L. No. 107-289, 116 Stat. 2049 (Nov. 7, 2002) (codified at 31 U.S.C. § 3515). 

58 For a list of the entities OMB views as currently subject to financial reporting 

requirements under the GCCA, GRMA, CFO Act, or ATDA, see OMB Bulletin No. 07-04, 

Audit Requirements for Federal Financial Statements, appendixes A, C, D (Sept. 4, 2007, 

as revised by M-08-24, Aug. 25, 2008). 

Page 30 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

requirements, affected federally created entities must adopt applicable 

accounting principles, develop a reliable financial reporting process, 

annually prepare and have audited entitywide financial statements, and 

publicly report their audited financial statements, including the 

independent audit report. Important goals and objectives of this 

requirement include strengthening entitywide accountability and 

transparency by providing timely and useful information to support 

management and promoting effective governance and oversight. 

Standards of Conduct. To help prevent and detect employment-related 

conflicts of interest, Congress enacted the Ethics in Government Act of 

1978 and Ethics Reform Act of 1989,59 which together established financial 

disclosure requirements and restrictions on outside income and activities 

and post-government employment activities by certain employees and 

officers of the U.S. government. In response to these requirements, 

affected federally created entities have established programs related to 

employee ethics and standards of conduct and procedures and practices 

related to enforcing ethical standards and preparing and reviewing 

periodic employee disclosures related to financial matters, outside 

income, and other activities. The ethics-related programs, procedures, and 

practices established by affected federally created entities are intended to 

strengthen accountability and transparency by fostering ethical standards 

and conduct and reducing potential conflicts of interest. They also 

support related governance and oversight. 

Whistleblower Protection. Helping to identify and address violations of 

statutes or regulations and evidence of gross mismanagement, waste, 

abuse, or danger to public health and safety serves to strengthen 

accountability and transparency related to entities’ operations and 

activities. The Whistleblower Protection Act of 198960 protects most 

employees of executive departments and other executive branch entities, 

and to a limited extent, employees of government corporations, from 

adverse personnel actions taken in retaliation for a protected disclosure, 

by protected employees, of illegal or improper government activities. The 

act protects such employees by imposing an affirmative duty on entity 

 

59 Pub. L. No. 95-521, 92 Stat. 1824 (Oct. 26, 1978) (codified, as amended, in part at 5 U.S.C. 

App.); Pub. L. No. 101-194, 103 Stat. 1716 (Nov. 30, 1989) (codified, as amended, in part at

18 U.S.C. § 207). 

60 Pub. L. No. 101-12, 103 Stat. 16 (Apr. 10, 1989) (codified, as amended, in part at 5 U.S.C. 

§ 2302). 

Page 31 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

heads to prevent such retaliation and extending rights and responsibilities 

to employees who are the subject of such retaliation. To meet these 

requirements, federally created entities have had to institute procedures 

and practices to protect employee disclosures. 

Access to Public Records. Openness and public access to information 

about an entity’s activities and operations are key to public accountability 

and transparency in providing information needed to monitor and oversee 

an entity’s operations and activities. The Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA)61 requires executive departments, government corporations, and 

other executive branch entities to make, upon request, their records 

available for public inspection and copying, unless the information is 

covered by specific exemptions, such as an individual’s medical records or 

proprietary or trade secret information. To meet these requirements, 

affected federally created entities must establish processes to determine 

whether requested information should be made available and, if so, 

procedures to make that information available. The requirement to make 

applicable records available to the public provides an important 

mechanism facilitating public inquiry and information gathering about the 

operations and activities of executive branch entities, which strengthens 

governance, accountability, and transparency. 

Availability of Federal Contract and Grant Information. To 

enhance transparency and accountability for the award of federal funds, 

the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 200662

requires that affected federally created entities make federal obligation 

and expenditure data on the award of federal financial assistance and 

expenditures (federal award) accessible to the public via a searchable 

Web site containing detailed information about the federal award, 

including federal grants, cooperative agreements, loans, and contracts 

(including subcontracts and task orders)—to grantees, contractors, states 

and localities, and any other award recipients. Public access to 

information on those receiving federal awards serves to promote 

transparency and accountability and strengthen public awareness of and 

scrutiny over federal spending. 

Access to Public Meetings. Opening affected entity meetings to the 

public provides transparency and access to information on federal 

 

61 Codified, as amended, at 5 U.S.C. § 552. 

62 Pub. L. No. 109-282, 120 Stat. 1186 (Sept. 26, 2006) (reprinted in 31 U.S.C. § 6101 note). 

Page 32 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

decision making. To enhance public access to certain policymaking 

deliberations at selected federally entities, Congress enacted the 

Government in the Sunshine Act.63 The act requires certain federally 

created entities—those headed by multiperson bodies appointed by the 

President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate—to provide the public with 

access to meetings, unless one of the statutory exceptions apply, in which 

policymaking deliberations are made or agency business is conducted. A 

goal of opening such meetings to the public has been to promote 

accountability for and transparency of portions of the federal decisionmaking process. 

General Applicability of 

Governance, 

Accountability, and 

Transparency 

Requirements to Types of 

Federally Created Entities 

In establishing the 12 broad-based governance, accountability, and 

transparency requirements and their applicability to the various federally 

created entities, Congress considered differences in types of entities, 

including their ownership, legal status, control, mission, and operations. 

After reviewing the major statutes that established each requirement and 

statutes associated with particular entity types, we determined the extent 

to which entity types were generally subject to each requirement. As 

shown in table 11, which presents the results of our analysis, the general 

applicability of the 12 specific requirements varies considerably across the 

7 entity types. As a general matter, Congress has subjected those entities 

receiving the largest share of appropriated funds to most of the 12 specific 

governance, accountability, and transparency requirements we focused 

on, while those entities that generally did not directly receive appropriated 

funds were not subject to the 12 requirements. However, when 

considering those entity types which are not generally subject to the 12 

specific requirements, it is important to recognize that individual entities 

within those types may be subject to comparable requirements as a result 

of other statutory or regulatory requirements. In addition, individual 

entities not subject to the 12 specific statutory requirements we 

considered may have voluntarily chosen to implement practices that 

would meet one or more of the specific requirements. Finally, it is also 

important to keep in mind that many of the statutes64 that established the 

 

63 Pub. L. No. 94-409, 90 Stat. 1241 (Sept. 13, 1976) (codified, as amended, at 5 U.S.C. § 

552b). 

64 For example, the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, as amended; the Congressional 

Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as amended; GCCA, as amended; and the 

Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, as amended, each contain requirements other than 

those we identified for this report. 

Page 33 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

12 specific requirements we reviewed contained other requirements that 

strengthen governance, accountability, and transparency. 

Table 11: Applicability of Specific Governance, Accountability, and Transparency-Related Requirements to the Different 

Types of Federally Created Entities 

Entity Type 

Specific 

requirementsa

Executive 

departments 

Other executive 

branch entities 

Government 

corporations 

Nonappropriated 

fund 

instrumentalities 

Governmentsponsored 

enterprises 

Federally 

funded 

research and 

development 

centers 

Other federally 

established 

organizations 

Budget preparation, 

review, and 

approval 

Yes Most Wholly owned 

GC only 

No No No No 

Strategic and 

performance 

planning 

Yes Most Yes No No No No 

Internal audit Yes Many Some No No No Some 

Budget execution 

and funds control 

Yes Yes Wholly owned 

GC only 

No No No No 

Control of improper 

payments 

Yes Yes Yes No No No No 

Internal control and 

accounting systems 

Yes Yes Yes No No No No 

Preparation and 

reporting of audited 

financial statements 

Yes Yes Yes No No No No 

Standards of 

conduct 

Yes Yes Yes No No No No 

Whistleblower 

protection 

Most Most Yesb No No No No 

Access to public 

records 

Yes Yes Yes No No No No 

Availability of federal 

contract and grant 

information 

Yes Yes Yes No No No No 

Access to public 

meetings 

N/AcYesc Yes No No No No 

Total number of 

entities identified 

(219) 

15 88 23 1d 3 39 50 

Percent of 

appropriated funds 

73.6 24.8 1.5 - - - 0.1 

Source: GAO analysis. 

Page 34 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

a The specific reform statutes applicable to each requirement can be found in table 10. As discussed 

elsewhere in the report, we did not review entity-specific or other statutes that might separately 

require a particular federally created entity to meet a particular governance, accountability, or 

transparency requirement comparable to any 1 of the 12 requirements we identified.

b

Only part of the Whistleblower Protection Act applies to government corporations. That part relates 

to personnel actions taken with respect to a covered employee who makes a protected disclosure 

evidencing illegal or improper government activities. 

c This requirement only applies to executive agencies headed by a multiperson governing board. 

Thus, this requirement does not apply to executive departments, which are all headed by a single 

person (e.g., the Secretary of the Treasury or the Attorney General of the United States), and those 

other executive branch entities headed by a single person (e.g., the administrators of the 

Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration). The requirement does, 

however, apply to all other executive branch entities headed by a multi-person governing body (e.g., 

the board members of the National Science Foundation).

d

 The actual number of NAFIs is unknown because federally created entities generally are not 

required to report publicly on their NAFIs, there is no official or commonly understood definition of a 

NAFI, and no source exists to identify each NAFI that may exist. For purposes of this report, we 

recognize NAFIs as a single entity. 

For fiscal years 2005 through 2008, Congress appropriated—on average—

approximately $4 trillion in federal funds directly to 129 federally created 

entities, which included entities from 4 of the 7 entity types. 65 As shown in 

figure 1, for the 4 types that received appropriated funds, 

• The 15 executive departments, which represent 7 percent of the 219 

entities, received 73.6 percent (approximately $2.95 trillion) of the 

average annual total of appropriated funds. Of this amount, the 

Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, 

and the Department of the Treasury received 79 percent 

(approximately $2.32 trillion). 

Many Federally 

Created Entities 

Receive Federally 

Appropriated Funds 

• Seventy-nine of the 88 other executive branch entities received 24.8 

percent (approximately $996 billion) of the average annual total of 

appropriated funds. Of this amount, the Social Security 

Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, and the United 

States Postal Service received 87 percent (approximately $867 billion). 

• Eighteen of the 23 government corporations received 1.5 percent 

(approximately $60.9 billion) of the average annual total of 

appropriated funds. Of this amount, the Commodity Credit 

Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Federal Crop 

Insurance Corporation, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 

 

65 The appropriated funds made available to the 129 federally created entities represented 

on average 99.7 percent of all appropriated funds recorded in OMB’s Max budget database 

over the 4-year period we reviewed. The remaining 0.3 percent went to entities outside the 

scope of our review, such as legislative and judicial branch entities, federal advisory 

organizations, and entities that ceased operations during the period of the review. 

Page 35 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation received 88 percent 

(approximately $53.7 billion). 

• Seventeen of the 50 other federally established organizations received 

less than 1 percent (approximately $4.1 billion) of the average annual 

total of appropriated funds. Of this amount, Amtrak, the Corporation 

of Public Broadcasting, the Legal Services Corporation, and the 

Smithsonian Institution received 70 percent (approximately $2.9 

billion). 

Figure 1: Appropriated Funding Information by Type of Entity for Fiscal Years 2005–

2008 

Source: GAO analysis and summarization of appropriated funds provided to identified federally created entities based upon OMB’s

MAX data, as of July 2009.

24.8%

($995.5 billion)

Other executive

branch entities

0.1% ($4.1 billion) - Other federally established

 organizations

1.5% ($60.9 billion) - Government corporations

73.6%

($2,955.0 billion)

Executive departments

Each of the 43 federally created entities in the remaining three entity 

types—Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities (NAFIs), GovernmentSponsored Establishments (GSE), and the Federally Funded Research and 

Development Centers (FFRDCs)—did not receive appropriated funds 

during the 4 years we reviewed. NAFIs do not generally receive 

appropriated funds and, to the extent they receive other federal support, it 

usually is provided through less formal means, such as in-kind 

contributions from the federally created entities responsible for their 

establishment or payment for services rendered or goods sold under 

contract with federally created entities. While the GSEs we identified did 

not receive appropriated funds during the 4 years, concerns that the 

deteriorating financial condition of two GSEs—Fannie Mae and Freddie 

Mac—caused the Department of the Treasury and the Board of Governors 

of the Federal Reserve System, since September 2008, to make substantial 

Page 36 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

financial commitments to support these institutions and help stabilize 

financial markets.66 Also, while FFRDCs receive a considerable share of 

their overall research and development funding from the federal 

government, that funding is provided through contracts and grants with 

other federally created entities. As a consequence, appendix II does not 

show any appropriated federal funds for FFRDCs, GSEs, or NAFIs. 

Table 12 presents for each of the seven types of federally created entities 

we identified, the total number of federally created entities, the number of 

entities identified as receiving appropriated funds, and the average amount 

and percent received. Appendix II provides a full list of entities within 

each type and appropriated funds for each entity between FY 2005 and FY 

2008. 

Table 12: Appropriated Funding to Identified Federally Created Entities for Fiscal Years 2005–2008 

Type of entity 

Total number of 

identified 

federally created 

entities by type 

Total number of 

identified federally 

created entities 

receiving appropriated 

funds during the period 

by type 

Average annual 

appropriated funds 

for FY05-08 

(dollars in billions)

Percentage of 

total average 

annual 

appropriated 

funds

Executive departments 15 15 $2,955.0 73.6

Other executive branch entities 88 79 995.5 24.8

Government corporations 23 18 60.9 1.5

Nonappropriated fund instrumentalitiesa 1 0 - -

Government-sponsored enterprises 3 0 - -

Federally funded research and 

development centersb 

39 0 - -

Other federally established organizations 50 17 4.1 0.1

Totals all entity types 219 129 $4,015.5 100 

Source: GAO analysis and summarization based upon OMB’s MAX data, as of July 2009. 

a

 The actual number of NAFIs is unknown because federally created entities generally are not 

required to report publicly on their NAFIs, there is no official or commonly understood definition of a 

NAFI, and no source exists to identify each NAFI that may exist. For purposes of this report, we 

recognize NAFIs as a single entity. 

b These entities receive contract or grant awards provided by other federally created entities. 

 

66 At the end of fiscal year 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into 

conservatorship by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and received substantial support 

from the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System. See GAO, Fannie 

Mae and Freddie Mac: Analysis of Options for Revising the Housing Enterprises’ Longterm Structures, GAO-09-782 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 10, 2009). 

Page 37 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Together, the 15 executive departments received an annual average of 

$2.95 trillion in appropriated funds over the last 4 fiscal years (FYs 2005-

2008), which represented almost three quarters (73.6 percent) of the 

average annual $4.0 trillion over the period. As shown in figure 2, 

appropriated funds at executive departments increased from FY 2005 to 

FY 2008 by more than $857 billion, from just under $2.6 trillion to just over 

$3.4 trillion. The average appropriated funds provided to 14 of the 15 

executive departments increased from FY 2005 through FY 2008—the 

exception being the Department of Homeland Security which experienced 

a decline of approximately 42 percent in appropriated federal funds from 

$114.5 billion to $65.9 billion over the 4-year period.67 The major increases 

in appropriated funds went to the Department of the Treasury, which 

increased by $342 billion; the Department of Defense, which increased by 

$243 billion; and the Department of Health and Human Services, which 

increased by $235 billion. 

 Human Services, which 

Executive Departments 

Figure 2: Appropriated Funds for Executive Departments (FYs 2005–2008) 

Fiscal year

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

2005 2006 2007 2008

Appropriated funds (dollars in billions)

2,576.2

Source: GAO analysis based upon MAX database.

2,891.0 2,919.1

3,433.6

 

67 This decrease was due to disaster relief provided by one DHS component, the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, for the major hurricanes that occurred in FY 2005. 

Page 38 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

Other Executive Branch 

Entities 

Seventy-nine of the 88 other executive branch entities collectively received 

an annual average of $995.5 billion in appropriated funds over the 4-year 

period (FYs 2005-2008), representing 24.8 percent of the total annual 

average of appropriations over the period. As shown in figure 3, 

appropriated funds received by other executive branch entities increased 

by approximately $146 billion, from $914 billion to over $1 trillion over the 

period. Most of the net increase in average annual appropriated funding 

for the other executive branch entities from FY 2005 to FY 2008 went to 

the Social Security Administration, which increased by $93 billion to $696 

billion; the Office of Personnel Management, which increased by $20 

billion to $145 billion; the Executive Office of the President, which 

increased by $16 billion to $36 billion; and the United States Postal 

Service, which increased by $14 billion to $86 billion. 

Figure 3: Appropriated Funds for Other Executive Branch Entities (FYs 2005–2008) 

Fiscal year

0

800

900

1,000

1,100

1,200

2005 2006 2007 2008

Appropriated funds (dollars in billions)

914.3

953.5

1,053.9 1,060.5

Source: GAO analysis based upon MAX database.

Government Corporations Eighteen of the 23 government corporations received an annual average of 

approximately $60.9 billion in appropriated funds over the 4-year period 

(FYs 2005-2008), which represented approximately 1.5 percent of the total 

annual average of appropriations over the period. As shown in figure 4, 

federal funding at the 18 government corporations that received 

Page 39 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

appropriated funds decreased by $5.4 billion, from FY 2005 to FY 2008. 

While the Commodity Credit Corporation’s (CCC’s) portion of 

appropriated funding decreased by $18.2 billion from $39.2 billion in FY 

2005 to $21 billion in FY 2008, increases for other government 

corporations—including $7 billion for the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation, $2.7 billion for the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, and 

$3.5 billion for the Tennessee Valley Authority—served to offset much of 

the decline experienced by CCC. 

Figure 4: Appropriated Funds for Government Corporations (FYs 2005–2008) 

Appropriated funds (dollars in billions)

Source: GAO analysis based upon MAX database.

Fiscal year

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2005 2006 2007 2008

63.9 64.6

56.6 58.5

Other Federally 

Established Organizations 

Collectively, 17 of the 50 other federally established organizations received 

an average of $4.1 billion in appropriated funds over the 4-year period (FYs 

2005-2008) representing 0.10 percent of the total annual average of 

appropriated funds reviewed over the period. As shown in figure 5, 

average appropriated funding increased by over $600 million for the 17 

entities—from a combined $3.9 billion in FY 2005 to $4.5 billion in FY 

2008. The net increase in federal funding from FY 2005 to FY 2008 was 

primarily from changes in appropriated funds at the Neighborhood 

Reinvestment Corporation, which increased by $366 million; Amtrak, 

which increased by $118 million; the Smithsonian Institution, which 

increased by $98 million; the U.S. Institute of Peace, which decreased by 

Page 40 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

$90 million; and the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation, which 

increased by $78 million. 

Figure 5: Appropriated Funds for Other Federally Established Organizations (FYs 

2005–2008) 

Appropriated funds (dollars in billions)

Source: GAO analysis based upon MAX database.

Fiscal year

0

1

2

3

4

5

2005 2006 2007 2008

3.9 3.9 4.1

4.5

As agreed with your staff, unless you publicly announce the contents of 

this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the 

report date. We will then send copies to interested congressional 

committees and will also make copies available to others on request. In 

addition, the report will be available at no charge on the GAO Web site at 

http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staff have any questions concerning this report, please 

contact Susan Ragland at (202) 512-8486 or raglands@gao.gov or Susan A. 

Poling at (202) 512-2667 or polings@gao.gov. Contact points for our 

Page 41 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
 

offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the 

last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this 

report are listed in appendix IV. 

Sincerely yours, 

Susan A. Poling 

Managing Associate 

l 

Susan Ragland 

Director, Financial Management 

and Assurance 

General Counse

Page 42 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

Page 43 GAO-10-97 

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

Our objectives were to identify the universe of federally created entities, 

categorize them by broad types, and identify broad-based statutory 

governance, accountability, and transparency requirements and related 

practices and determine their applicability to each type of federally 

created entity. In addition, for each federally created entity, we are 

providing information about recent levels of appropriations made directly 

available to them. 

To identify the universe of federally created entities, we reviewed relevant 

statutes and regulations, the Budget of the United States Government and 

related budget data maintained by the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for fiscal years 2005 through 2008, the United States Government 

Manual,

1

 the Federal Advisory Committee Act database maintained by the 

General Services Administration (GSA),2

 OMB Circular No. A-136 

(Financial Reporting Requirements), Department of the Treasury Federal 

Account Symbols and Titles Book, and relevant literature and Web sites, 

such as www.usa.gov3

 and http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/index.html.

4

 For 

purposes of this report, we use the term “federally created entity” to mean 

an organization established under authority of the federal government that 

is charged with or has the authority to manage resources and carry out 

federal operations, activities, or objectives. We include such organizations 

only if they have a discrete identity that is separate and distinct from any 

other organization (e.g., not a component of an executive department). 

Identification and 

Categorization of 

Federally Created 

Entities 

 

1

 The United States Government Manual is published annually by the Office of the Federal 

Register, a component of the National Archives and Records Administration. 1 C.F.R. §§ 

2.5(c), 9.1. The Manual is described “[a]s the official handbook of the Federal Government 

[that] provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and 

executive branches. The Manual also includes information on quasiofficial agencies; 

international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, 

commissions, and committees.” See the preface to the United States Government Manual 

2008/2009, available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gmanual/index.html (last visited Oct. 

24, 2009).

2

See http://www.fido.gov/facadatabase/ (last visited Oct. 24, 2009). 

3

 The General Services Administration maintains this Web site and states that it is “the U.S. 

government’s official web portal.” See http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/federal.shtml (last 

visited Oct. 24, 2009). 

4

 The Louisiana State University, working with the Federal Depository Library Program of 

the U.S. Government Printing Office, provides a list of federal agency Web sites. See 

http://www.lib.lsu.edu/gov/scope.html (last visited Oct. 24, 2009). 

 Federally Created Entities 
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

We excluded legislative and judicial branch organizations (e.g., the 

Government Printing Office and the Administrative Office of the United 

States Courts); organizations established under treaties or regional 

compacts (e.g., the Susquehanna River Basin Commission); and 

geographical federal political jurisdictions (e.g., U.S. territories and other 

insular areas, and the District of Columbia) because they have a status 

under the U.S. Constitution different than the federally created entities we 

included. We also excluded federal organizations composed of more than 

one existing federally created entity (e.g., interagency councils, such as the 

Financial Institutions Examination Council) and federal advisory 

organizations (e.g., the Social Security Advisory Board, regardless of 

whether they are subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 

app. 2)) because they are governed by other federally created entities.5

 In 

addition, we omitted many federally chartered corporations that received 

a congressional charter under Title 36 of the U.S. Code because these 

corporations were incorporated under state law by private parties before 

receiving their congressional charter (e.g., the Boy Scouts of America and 

the Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.). We excluded entities that were 

created by entities that we identified as “other federally established 

organizations” (e.g., the Friends of the Legal Services Corporation 

established by the Legal Services Corporation) because the variation in 

their charters, oversight, and forms permitted us to identify and categorize 

only a small group of such entities that met our definition of a discrete 

organization that is separate from the entity that created it. We also 

excluded organizations established to carry out authorized covert 

intelligence or law enforcement activities. Because we did not review all 

statutes and articles of incorporation or similar filings related to the 

establishment of other federally established organizations, there may be 

other federally created entities that we did not identify. Under our 

approach, we identified 219 federally created entities, which are listed in 

appendix II; however, we cannot conclude that we have identified all 

federally created entities. 

 

5

 There is no source that identifies all interagency organizations. According to the General 

Services Administration, there are at least 1,000 federal advisory committees operating per 

year in support of and under the supervision of federally created entities, as provided for 

under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which is codified in an appendix to Title 5 of 

the U.S. Code. See

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_OVERVIEW&content

Id=9673 (last visited Oct. 24, 2009). 

Page 44 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

We then analyzed the 219 federally created entities to determine how they 

could be categorized. We first reviewed their enabling statutes and 

generally applicable entity definitions contained in Titles 5 and 31 of the 

U.S. Code,6

 as well as categorizations reflected in other statutes and 

research literature to assess a variety of possible entity types. For 

purposes of categorizing federally created entities for this report, we relied 

on statutes and regulations that list certain types of entities within their 

meaning (e.g., executive departments listed in 5 U.S.C. § 101). For the 

numerous federally created entities that were not covered by such 

provisions, we determined whether each entity was part of the executive, 

legislative, or judicial branch of the federal government by applying 

general constitutional and legal principles articulated by the federal 

courts. This categorization was solely for purposes of this report. We 

made no legal conclusions as to whether any entity was subject to any 

limitation, condition, or privilege of the federal government under the U.S. 

Constitution or met the definition of any type of entity covered by a 

particular statute. We identified types that generally convey the legal 

status and organizational structure of most federally created entities, as 

follows: 

• executive departments, as defined in Title 5 of the U.S. Code;7

• other executive branch entities, as a nonlegal definition of 

identifying entities in the executive branch that are not a sub-unit of a 

larger executive branch entity; 

• government corporations, as defined in GCCA (Chapter 91 of Title 

31 of the U.S. Code) 8

 and those subject by law to GCCA provisions 

applicable to wholly owned government corporations;9

 

6

 5 U.S.C. §§ 101 (executive department), 103 (government corporation), 104 (independent 

establishment in the executive branch), 105 (executive agency); 31 U.S.C. §§ 101 (agency), 

102 (executive agency). 

7

 5 U.S.C. § 101. 

8

 31 U.S.C. § 9101. 

9

 See, for example, the statute establishing the African Development Foundation as a nonGCCA corporation: “There is established a body corporate to be known as the ‘African 

Development Foundation,’” which “shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 91 of title 

31 applicable to wholly owned Government Corporations.” 22 U.S.C. §§ 290h-1, 290h-6. 

Similarly, see the statute establishing the Presidio Trust as a non-GCCA corporation: 

“There is established a wholly owned government corporation to be known as the Presidio 

Trust,” which “shall be treated as a wholly owned government corporation subject to 

chapter 91 of title 31, United States Code.” Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management 

Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-333, div. I, tit. I, § 103, 10 Stat. 4093, 4098-4101 (Nov. 12, 1996) 

(reprinted in 16 U.S.C. § 460bb note). 

Page 45 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

• government-sponsored enterprises, as defined in Title 2 of the U.S. 

Code,10 the Budget of the United States Government – Appendix, and 

relevant GAO and Congressional Research Service reports;11

 

• federally funded research and development centers, as defined in 

Title 48 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, the Web site of the 

National Science Foundation, and relevant Congressional Research 

Service reports;12

• nonappropriated fund instrumentalities, as defined in enabling 

statutes and case law; and 

• other federally created organizations, as a miscellaneous entity 

type for any federally created entity that did not fit into a more specific 

category of entity type. 

To determine the extent to which the various types of federally created 

entities are generally subject to key statutory requirements intended to 

improve governance, accountability, and transparency, we reviewed prior 

GAO reports and reports of the Congressional Research Service and other 

research on efforts to improve governance, accountability, and 

transparency in the federal government through broad-based statutory 

reform initiatives. The concepts of governance, accountability, and 

transparency, while different, are closely associated and frequently used 

together. To help differentiate them for purposes of our review, we 

defined public sector 

• governance to be the process of providing leadership and direction to 

entities to help them carry out their organizational mission and 

operating objectives; 

Identification of 

Governance, 

Accountability, and 

Transparency 

Requirements and 

Applicability to Types 

of Federally Created 

Entities 

• accountability to be the processes, mechanisms, and other means by 

which entity management carries out its programs and operations and 

demonstrates its stewardship over resources and performance; and 

• transparency to be the means by which information needed to 

understand and monitor entity operations and activities is made 

available and accessible to the public and those charged with oversight. 

 

10 2 U.S.C. § 622(8). 

11 See, e.g., GAO, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, GAO-05-734SP, 

at 59 (Washington, D.C.: September 2005); Congressional Research Service, GovernmentSponsored Enterprises (GSEs): An Institutional Overview, RS21663 (Sept. 29, 2009). 

12 48 C.F.R. § 35.017; see also http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdc/ (last visited Oct 22, 2009); 

Congressional Research Service, The Quasi Government: Hybrid Organizations with 

Both Government and Private Sector Legal Characteristics, RL30533, at 10-12 (Feb. 17, 

2009). 

Page 46 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

Using these definitions, we reviewed reports and other authoritative 

sources to identify key federal reform initiatives designed to strengthen 

governance, accountability, and transparency through the enactment of 

broad statutory requirements and implementation of related practices 

needed to carry out the requirements. In doing so, we identified 12 

statutory reform requirements and related practices which we considered 

applicable to our review. 

To determine whether the 12 statutory governance, accountability, and 

transparency requirements and related practice areas were broadly 

applicable to each of the seven types of federally created entities, we 

reviewed statutes: (1) governing the nature and definition of each type of 

federally created entity and (2) establishing each of the requirements. For 

8 of the 12 requirements, our review concentrated on the specific statute, 

as amended, establishing each requirement. The remaining 4 involved 

statutory requirements related to the preparation, audit, and public 

reporting of entitywide financial statements reflected in separate statutes, 

as amended—the Government Corporation Control Act, the Chief 

Financial Officers Act of 1990, the Government Management Reform Act 

of 1994, and the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002; budgeting and 

funds control, reflected in the Antideficiency Act and the Purpose Statute; 

budget preparation, review, and approval, prescribed under the Budget 

and Accounting Act of 1921, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 

Control Act of 1974, and the Government Corporation Control Act; and 

internal control and accounting systems, addressed by the Federal 

Managers’ Financial Integrity Act of 1982 and the Government Corporation 

Control Act. 

Because our review focused on broad-based applicability of the 

requirements to federally created entity types, we limited our review to 

statutes establishing the 12 broad-based requirements. As a result, we did 

not review other statutes (e.g., specific statutes establishing individual 

federally created entities) that might separately require a particular 

federally created entity to meet a particular governance, accountability, or 

transparency requirement comparable to any 1 of the 12 requirements we 

identified. Accordingly, individual federally created entities in our 

universe might otherwise be required to implement a particular 

governance, accountability, or transparency requirement even though the 

other entities of the same type do not. 

Page 47 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

To identify recent levels of federal funds appropriated to the 219 federally 

created entities we identified, we reviewed available data (referred to as 

MAX budget data) on appropriations developed for and maintained by 

OMB. For the purposes of this report, we defined recent appropriated 

funds as the total gross budget authority provided to the identified 

federally created entities for fiscal years 2005 through 2008. We used the 

OMB MAX budget data to determine the amount of appropriated funds in 

the budget accounts that are identified by reference to each of the 

federally created entities we identified during our review. Many of the 129 

federally created entities that were directly appropriated federal funds, 

particularly the 15 executive departments, had multiple budget account 

records per year in OMB’s MAX budget data. Where applicable, we 

combined multiple records to arrive at a total for those identified entities 

with appropriated funds. These aggregated data for each identified entity 

are presented in appendix II and summarized by entity type in our report. 

Appropriated Funds 

for Identified 

Federally Created 

Entities 

Appropriated funds for many federally created entities may be used to 

establish and fund contract and grant obligations to other entities, 

including other federally created entities. However, the budgetary account 

data maintained by OMB generally do not identify the portion of 

appropriated funds a federally created entity uses to fund contracts, 

grants, and other commitments to another federally created entity. 

Therefore, our report presents only appropriated funds identified by the 

data in the MAX database as being provided to individual federally created 

entities we identified for fiscal years 2005 through 2008. Also, since the 

MAX budget database does not track gross budget authority less than $1 

million, our report does not include funds appropriated to federally 

created entities below $1 million. 

We conducted this engagement in accordance with all sections of GAO’s 

Quality Assurance Framework that were relevant to our objectives. The 

framework requires that we plan and perform the engagement to obtain 

sufficient and appropriate evidence to meet our stated objectives and to 

discuss any limitations in our work. We believe that the information and 

data obtained, and the analysis conducted, provide a reasonable basis for 

any findings in this report. 

Page 48 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

The combined MAX budget database for the 4 fiscal years we reviewed 

consisted of a total of 1,364 budget account records. Our review of the 

information contained in these records found that 129 of the 219 federally 

created entities we identified were directly appropriated federal funds in 

at least 1 of the 4 years we reviewed. For the 90 other federally created 

entities we identified, we did not identify any appropriated funds provided 

directly to them in the budget account records. Seven of the 129 entities 

received appropriated funds for 1 or more but not each of the 4 years we 

reviewed. 

Table 13 presents the results of our review and analysis of the MAX budget 

data covering fiscal years 2005 through 2008. For the 129 federally created 

entities that were directly appropriated funds, the table reflects each 

entity’s yearly total. When we could not identify from the yearly MAX 

budget data any funds appropriated to an identified entity, we placed a 

dash (-) in the table for that year. In all other instances, table 13 lists, by 

year, the total amount we identified as federal funds appropriated directly 

to each identified federally created entity within each identified type. 

Table 13: List of Federally Created Entities with Identified Appropriated Funds for Fiscal Years 2005–2008 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

Executive department Department of Agriculture 79,954 85,977 86,616 92,355

Department of Commerce 9,443 9,967 11,049 12,943

Department of Defense 739,152 863,355 875,513 982,057

Department of Education 82,126 107,099 82,526 82,566

Department of Energy 32,020 31,492 32,420 33,127

Department of Health and Human 

Services 767,162 921,377 926,419 1,002,198

Department of Homeland Security 114,563 46,278 55,635 65,915

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development 40,534 58,195 42,038 55,775

Department of the Interior 21,526 21,536 20,141 22,842

Department of Justice 27,494 29,063 31,533 31,813

Department of Labor 54,533 53,519 54,896 65,477

Department of State 19,007 20,236 24,256 30,758

Department of Transportation 78,668 71,769 73,004 83,624

Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

Page 49 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities 
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

Department of the Treasury 432,379 489,897 514,901 774,472

Department of Veterans Affairs 77,687 81,227 88,186 97,659

Executive department totals 2,576,248 2,890,987 2,919,133 3,433,581

Other executive branch 

entity 

Advisory Council on Historic 

Preservation 7 7 6 7

American Battle Monuments 

Commission 54 53 43 57

Appalachian Regional Commission 72 72 74 82

Architectural and Transportation 

Barriers Compliance Board 6 6 6 6

Armed Forces Retirement Home 67 542 57 58

Barry Goldwater Scholarship and 

Excellence in Education Foundation 4 4 4 3

Board of Governors of the Federal 

Reserve System - - - -

Broadcasting Board of Governors 601 688 665 695

Central Intelligence Agencya 239 245 256 263

Chemical Safety and Hazard 

Investigation Board 10 9 9 9

Christopher Columbus Fellowship 

Foundation - - 0 1

Commission for the Preservation of 

America’s Heritage Abroad - - - -

Commission of Fine Arts 9 9 9 10

Commission on Security and 

Cooperation in Europe (a.k.a. The 

Helsinki Commission) - - - -

Committee for Purchase From People 

Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled 5 5 5 5

Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission 93 97 98 111

Consumer Product Safety Commission 65 65 66 83

Court Services and Offender 

Supervision Agency for the District of 

Columbia 179 171 181 194

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety 

Board 20 22 22 22

Delta Regional Authority 6 12 12 13

Denali Commission 141 115 118 99

Page 50 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

D.C. Public Defender Service - 30 31 33

Election Assistance Commission 11 11 10 139

Environmental Protection Agency 10,075 10,119 9,546 9,430

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission 331 332 334 335

Executive Office of the President 20,425 22,179 55,588 36,172

Farm Credit Administration 41 44 44 45

Federal Communications Commission 10,304 8,681 8,179 8,988

Federal Election Commission 52 54 55 59

Federal Housing Finance Agency - - - 6

Federal Labor Relations Authority 25 25 25 24

Federal Maritime Commission 19 20 20 22

Federal Mediation and Conciliation 

Service 47 45 44 46

Federal Mine Safety and Health 

Review Commission 8 8 8 8

Federal Retirement Thrift Investment 

Board 92 80 80 98

Federal Trade Commission 206 198 212 245

General Services Administration 18,399 18,175 18,326 19,880

Harry S. Truman Scholarship 

Foundation 3 3 3 3

James Madison Memorial Fellowship 

Foundation 2 2 2 2

Japan-United States Friendship 

Commission 2 2 2 2

Marine Mammal Commission 2 3 3 3

Merit Systems Protection Board 37 38 39 41

Morris K. Udall Scholarship and 

Excellence in National Environmental 

Policy Foundation 8 8 10 12

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration 17,196 17,516 17,514 18,213

National Archives and Records 

Administration 482 508 517 577

National Capital Planning Commission 8 8 8 8

National Council on Disability 3 3 3 3

National Credit Union Administration 716 694 909 2,189

Page 51 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

National Foundation on the Arts and 

the Humanities 548 527 523 563

National Labor Relations Board 250 250 252 252

National Mediation Board 12 12 12 13

National Science Foundation 5,708 5,826 6,178 6,362

National Transportation Safety Board 69 76 79 86

Northern Border Regional Commission - - - -

Northern Great Plains Regional 

Authority - - - -

Nuclear Regulatory Commission 676 746 831 935

Nuclear Waste Technical Review 

Board 3 4 4 4

Occupational Safety and Health 

Review Commission 11 10 10 11

Office of Government Ethics 11 11 11 12

Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian 

Relocation 5 9 9 9

Office of Personnel Management 124,629 133,899 158,290 144,988

Office of Special Counsel 15 15 16 17

Office of the Director of National 

Intelligence 468 550 680 681

Office of the Federal Coordinator for 

Alaska Natural Gas Transportation 

Projects - 0 0 2

Peace Corps 327 327 330 340

Postal Regulatory Commission - - 11 13

Privacy and Civil Liberty Oversight 

Board - - - 2

Railroad Retirement Board 10,849 11,305 12,131 12,310

Securities and Exchange Commission 856 865 868 843

Selective Service System 26 25 25 22

Small Business Administration 4,650 3,152 1,887 2,352

Social Security Administration 602,962 628,556 662,396 695,795

Southeast Crescent Regional 

Commission - - - -

Southwest Border Regional 

Commission - - - -

Page 52 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

U.S. Agency for International 

Development 10,361 10,932 11,958 10,388

U.S. Arctic Research Commission - - - -

United States Commission on Civil 

Rights 9 9 9 8

United States Court of Appeals for the 

Armed Forces 11 11 12 13

United States Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims 18 20 21 24

United States Holocaust Memorial 

Museum 49 51 54 62

United States Interagency Council on 

Homelessness 2 2 2 2

United States International Trade 

Commission 61 62 62 68

United States Postal Service 71,521 75,235 83,965 85,909

United States Tax Court 42 49 49 48

United States Trade and Development 

Agency 65 53 54 50

Utah Reclamation Mitigation and 

Conservation Commission 13 8 6 10

Vietnam Education Foundation 5 5 5 5

White House Commission on the 

National Moment of Remembrance - - - -

Other executive branch entity totals 914,304 953,510 1,053,883 1,060,500

Government corporation Wholly owned GCCA 

Commodity Credit Corporation 39,251 34,147 27,211 21,038

Community Development Financial 

Institutions Fund 60 55 56 96

Corporation for National and 

Community Service 1,088 1,096 1,029 1,023

Export-Import Bank of the United 

States 501 218 355 602

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation 3,478 4,499 5,737 6,214

Federal Housing Administration Fund - - - -

Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated 843 791 978 982

Government National Mortgage 

Association 437 503 426 574

International Clean Energy Foundation - - - -

Page 53 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

Millennium Challenge Corporation 1,488 1,752 1,751 1,475

Overseas Private Investment 

Corporation 

225 351 273 206

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 3,477 7,062 4,112 3,311

Saint Lawrence Seaway Development 

Corporation 

32 33 34 36

Tennessee Valley Authority 7,695 8,882 9,120 11,251

Mixed-ownership, GCCA 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 2,828 2,793 3,022 9,829

Federal Home Loan Banks 232 307 315 354

Financing Corporation - - - -

National Credit Union Administration 

Central Liquidity Facility 

- - - -

Resolution Funding Corporation 2,130 1,979 1,987 1,393

Non-GCCA 

African Development Foundation 22 25 27 35

Inter-American Social Foundation 23 23 22 28

Presidio Trust 79 86 95 102

Valles Caldera Trust - - - -

Government corporation totals 63,889 64,602 56,550 58,549

Nonappropriated fund 

instrumentality 

Nonappropriated Fund 

Instrumentalities (NAFIs are treated as 

one entity for purposes of this report) - - - -

Nonappropriated fund 

instrumentality totals - - - -

Government-sponsored 

enterprise 

Fannie Mae (formerly known as the 

Federal National Mortgage 

Association) - - - -

Federal Agricultural Mortgage 

Corporation (Farmer Mac) - - - -

Federal Home Loan Mortgage 

Corporation (Freddie Mac) - - - -

Government-sponsored enterprise 

totals - - - -

Federally funded research 

and development center 

Aerospace Federally Funded 

Research and Development Center - - - -

Ames Laboratory - - - -

Argonne National Laboratory - - - -

Page 54 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

Arroyo Center - - - -

Brookhaven National Laboratory - - - -

C3I Federally Funded Research & 

Development Center - - - -

Center for Advanced Aviation System 

Development - - - -

Center for Naval Analyses - - - -

Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory 

Analyses - - - -

Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley 

National Laboratory - - - -

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory - - - -

Homeland Security Studies and 

Analysis Institute - - - -

Homeland Security Systems 

Engineering and Development 

Institute - - - -

Idaho National Engineering and 

Environmental Laboratory - - - -

Institute for Defense Analyses 

Communications and Computing 

Federally Funded Research and 

Development Center - - - -

Institute for Defense Analyses Studies 

Federally Funded Research and 

Development Center - - - -

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 

Federally Funded Research and 

Development Center - - - -

Jet Propulsion Laboratory - - - -

Lawrence Livermore National 

Laboratory - - - -

Lincoln Laboratory - - - -

Los Alamos National Laboratory - - - -

National Astronomy and Ionosphere 

Center - - - -

National Biodefense Analysis & 

Countermeasures Center - - - -

National Cancer Institute at Frederick - - - -

National Center for Atmospheric 

Research - - - -

Page 55 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

National Defense Research Institute - - - -

National Optical Astronomy 

Observatories - - - -

National Radio Astronomy 

Observatory - - - -

National Renewable Energy 

Laboratory - - - -

Oak Ridge National Laboratory - - - -

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - - - -

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory - - - -

Project Air Force - - - -

Sandia National Laboratories - - - -

Savannah River Technology Center - - - -

Science and Technology Policy 

Institute - - - -

Software Engineering Institute - - - -

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center - - - -

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator 

Facility - - - -

Federally funded research and 

development center totals - - - -

Other federally established 

organization

Agricultural Commodity Organizations 

(e.g., U.S. Popcorn Board) - - - -

Agricultural Credit Bank - - - -

Alaska Native Corporations (195) - - - -

American National Red Cross - - - -

American Registry of Pathology - - - -

Amtrak 1,207 1,304 1,293 1,325 

Congressional Award Board - - - -

Corporation for the Promotion of Rifle 

Practice and Firearms Safety - - - -

Corporation for Public Broadcasting 466 460 465 448

Farm Credit Banks (5) - - - -

Farm Credit System Insurance 

Corporation 176 148 271 254

Federal Farm Banks Funding 

Corporation - - - -

Federal Reserve Banks (12) - - - -

Page 56 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

Foundation for the National Institutes 

of Health - - - -

Gaullaudet University 105 107 107 113

Help America Vote Foundation - - - -

Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the 

Advancement of Military Medicine - - - -

Howard University 239 238 237 233

Institute of American Indian and 

Alaska Native Culture and Arts 6 6 6 7

In-Q-Tel - - - -

International Center for MiddleEastern-Western Dialogue 7 5 - -

Legal Services Corporation 332 328 350 351

Military Relief Associations (e.g., Army 

Emergency Relief) - - - -

National Academy of Sciences - - - -

National Consumer Cooperative Bank 

(dba NCB) - - - -

National Exchange Carriers 

Association - - - -

National Fallen Firefighters Foundation - - - -

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation - - - -

National Forest Foundation - - - -

National Foundation for the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention (a.k.a.

CDC Foundation) - - - -

National Fund for Excellence in 

American Indian Education - - - -

National Fund for Medical Education - - - -

National Park Foundation - - - -

National Recording Preservation 

Foundation - - - -

National Technical Institute for the 

Deaf 56 56 56 60

National Veterans Business 

Development Corporation 2 1 1 1

Neighborhood Reinvestment 

Corporation 114 117 117 480

OnPoint Technologies - - - -

Page 57 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix II: List of Federally Created 

Entities with Budget Data 

(Dollars in millions) 

Entity Type Entity 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2005

Appropriated 

funds 

FY 2006 

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2007

Appropriated 

funds

FY 2008

Public Company Accounting Oversight 

Board 129 131 126 130

Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food 

and Drug Administration - - - -

Red Planet Capital - - - -

Securities Investor Protection 

Corporation - - - -

Smithsonian Institution 763 766 787 861

Telecommunications Development 

Fund 2 5 5 5

United States Capitol Historical 

Society - - - -

United States Enrichment Corporation - - - -

United States Institute of Peace 122 25 26 32

United States Olympic Committee - - - -

United States State Justice Institute 5 4 3 4

VA Research and Education Centers 187 227 230 216

Other federally established 

organization totals 3,918 3,928 4,080 4,520

Total appropriated funds for federally created entities 3,558,359 3,913,027 4,033,646 4,557,150

Source: GAO analysis of the MAX budget database.

a

 For the CIA, the identified appropriated funds were for its retirement and disability system fund. 

Page 58 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix III: Relevant GAO Reports Appendix III: Relevant GAO Reports 

Freedom of Information Act: DHS Has Taken Steps to Enhance Its 

Program, but Opportunities Exist to Improve Efficiency and CostEffectiveness. GAO-09-260. Washington D.C.: March 2009. 

Designated Federal Entities: Survey of Governance Practices and the 

Inspector General Role. GAO-09-270. Washington D.C.: April 2009. 

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Analysis of Options for Revising the 

Housing Enterprise’s Long-term Structures. GAO-09-782. Washington, 

D.C.: September 2009. 

Improving the Federal Government’s Financial Management Systems. 

GAO-08-447SP. Washington D.C.: April 2008. 

Intercity Passenger Rail: National Policy and Strategies Needed to 

Maximize Public Benefits from Federal Expenditures. GAO-07-15. 

Washington D.C.: November 2006. 

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: Human Capital and Risk 

Assessment Programs Appear Sound, but Evaluations of Their 

Effectiveness Should Be Improved. GAO-07-255. Washington D.C.: 

February 2007. 

Federal Financial Management: Critical Accountability and Fiscal 

Stewardship Challenges Facing Our Nation. GA0-07-542T. Washington 

D.C.: March 2007. 

Federal Oversight: The Need for Good Governance, Transparency, and 

Accountability. GAO-07-788CG. Washington D.C.: April 2007. 

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: Governance Structure Needs 

Improvements to Ensure Policy Direction and Oversight. GAO-07-808. 

Washington D.C.: July 2007. 

Legal Services Corporation: Governance and Accountability Practices 

Need to Be Modernized and Strengthened. GAO-07-993. Washington D.C.: 

August 2007. 

Smithsonian Institution: Status of Efforts to Address a Range of 

Funding and Governance Challenges. GAO-08-250T. Washington D.C.: 

December 2007. 

Page 59 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities 
Appendix III: Relevant GAO Reports 

Suggested Areas for Oversight for the 110th Congress. GAO-07-235R. 

Washington D.C.: November 2006. 

Corporate Governance: NCUA’s Controls and Related Procedures for 

Board Independence and Objectivity Are Similar to Other Financial 

Regulators, but Opportunities Exist to Enhance Its Governance 

Structure. GAO-07-72R. Washington D.C.: November 2006. 

Amtrak: Management and Accountability Issues Contribute to 

Unprofitability of Food and Beverage Service. GAO-05-761T. Washington 

D.C.: June 2005. 

A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process. GAO-05-734SP. 

Washington D.C.: September 2005. 

Amtrak Management: Systemic Problems Require Actions to Improve 

Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Accountability. GAO-06-145. Washington 

D.C.: October 2005. 

CFO ACT OF 1990 Driving the Transformation of Federal Financial 

Management. GAO-06-242T. Washington D.C.: November 2005. 

Purpose Statute Violation: Veterans Affairs Improperly Funded Certain 

Cost Comparison Studies with VHA Appropriations. GAO-06-124R. 

Washington D.C.: November 2005. 

Results-Oriented Government: GPRA Has Established a Solid 

Foundation for Achieving Greater Results. GAO-04-38. Washington D.C.: 

March 2004. 

The Federal Workforce: Observations on Protections from 

Discrimination and Reprisal for Whistleblowing. GAO-01-715T. 

Washington D.C.: May 2001. 

Government Corporations: Profiles of Recent Proposals. 

GAO/GGD-95-57FS. Washington D.C.: March 1995. 

Managing for Results: Strengthening Financial and Budgetary 

Reporting. GAO/T-AIMD-95-181. Washington D.C.: July 1995. 

Budget Process: History and Future Directions. GAO/T-AIMD-95-214. 

Washington D.C.: July 1995. 

Page 60 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix III: Relevant GAO Reports 

Government Corporations: Profiles of Existing Government 

Corporations. GAO/GGD-96-14. Washington D.C.: December 1995. 

Profiles of Existing Government Corporations. AFMD-89-43FS. 

Washington D.C.: December 1988. 

Page 61 GAO-10-97 Federally Created Entities
Appendix IV: 

A

GAO Contact and Staff 

cknowledgments 

Page 62 GAO-10-97 

Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

Susan Ragland (202) 512- 8486 or raglands@gao.gov

Susan A. Poling (202) 512-2667 or polings@gao.gov

In addition to the people named above, John Reilly, Assistant Director, F. 

Abe Dymond, Assistant General Counsel, Jehan Abdel-Gawad, Lisa Crye, 

Lauren S. Fassler, John Lopez, Chelsea Lounsbury, Kimberly McGatlin, 

Richard Meadows, Emily Wold, and Matthew Zaun made key contributions 

to this report. 

 Federally Created Entities 

GAO Contact 

Acknowledgments 

(194736) 
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