We identified 11 new areas in which we found evidence of fragmentation, overlap, or duplication and present 19 actions to executive branch agencies and Congress to address these issues. As described in table 1, these areas span a wide range of federal functions or missions. We consider programs or activities to be fragmented when more than one federal agency (or more than one organization within an agency) is involved in the same broad area of national need, which may result in inefficiencies in how the government delivers services. We identified fragmentation in multiple programs we reviewed. For example, the Department of Defense (DOD) does not have a consolidated agency-wide strategy to contract for health care professionals, resulting in a contracting approach that is largely fragmented. Although some of the military departments have attempted to consolidate their health care staffing requirements through joint-use contracts, such contracts only accounted for approximately 8 percent of the $1.14 billion in obligations for health care professionals in fiscal year 2011. Moreover, in May 2013, we identified several instances in which numerous task orders were awarded by a single military department for the same type of health care professional in the same area or facility. For example, we identified 24 separate task orders for contracted medical assistants at the same military treatment facility. By not consolidating its requirements, this facility missed the opportunity to achieve potential cost savings and other efficiencies. To reduce fragmentation and achieve greater efficiencies, DOD should develop a consolidated agency-wide strategy to contract for health care professionals. Fragmentation can also be a harbinger for overlap or duplication. Overlap occurs when multiple agencies or programs have similar goals, engage in similar activities or strategies to achieve them, or target similar beneficiaries. We found overlap among federal programs or initiatives in a variety of areas, such as overlapping benefits between the Disability Insurance and Unemployment Insurance programs. In July 2012, we reported that 117,000 individuals received concurrent cash benefit payments in fiscal year 2010 from the Disability Insurance and Unemployment Insurance programs totaling more than $850 million because current law does not preclude the receipt of overlapping benefits. Individuals may be eligible for benefit payments from both Disability Insurance and Unemployment Insurance due to differences in the eligibility requirements; however, in such cases, the federal government is replacing a portion of lost earnings not once, but twice. The President’s fiscal year 2015 budget submission proposes to eliminate these overlapping benefits, and during the 113th Congress, bills have been introduced in both the House of Representatives and the Senate containing language to reduce Disability Insurance payments to individuals for the months they collect Unemployment Insurance benefits. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), this action could save $1.2 billion over 10 years in the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Congress should consider passing legislation to offset Disability Insurance benefit payments for any Unemployment Insurance benefit payments received in the same period. In other areas of our work, we found evidence of duplication, which occurs when two or more agencies or programs are engaged in the same activities or provide the same services to the same beneficiaries. Examples of duplicative, or potentially duplicative, federal efforts include DOD’s use of dedicated satellite control operations. We reported in April 2013 that DOD has increasingly deployed dedicated satellite control operations networks as opposed to shared networks that support multiple kinds of satellites. For example, at one Air Force base in 2013, eight separate control centers operated 10 satellite programs. Dedicated networks can offer some benefits to programs, but they can also be more costly to maintain and have led to a fragmented, and potentially duplicative, approach that requires more infrastructure and personnel to manage when compared with shared networks. While opportunities exist to improve DOD satellite control operations, we identified certain barriers that hinder DOD’s ability to increase the use of shared networks, such as the inability to quantify all spending on satellite ground control operations and the absence of DOD-wide guidance or a plan that supports the implementation of alternative methods for performing satellite control operations. These barriers also have hindered DOD’s ability to achieve optimal satellite control systems that would result in cost savings in this area. To address the duplication and inefficiencies that arise from dedicated satellite control operations networks, DOD should take actions to improve its ability to identify and then assess the appropriateness of a shared versus dedicated satellite control system. In addition to areas of fragmentation, overlap, and duplication, our 2014 report identified 15 new areas where opportunities exist either to reduce the cost of government operations or to enhance revenue collections for the Treasury and suggest 45 actions that the executive branch and Congress can take to address these issues. These opportunities for executive branch or congressional action exist in a wide range of federal government missions (see table 2). For example, to achieve cost savings, Congress may wish to consider rescinding all or part of the remaining credit subsidy appropriations to the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program, unless the Department of Energy (DOE) can demonstrate sufficient demand for new ATVM loans and viable applications. We reported in March 2013 that DOE last issued a loan under this program in March 2011 and was not actively considering any applications for the remaining $4.2 billion in credit subsidy appropriations under the ATVM loan program. Also, most applicants and manufacturers we had spoken to indicated that the costs of participating outweigh the benefits to their companies and that problems with other DOE programs have tarnished the ATVM loan program, which may have led to a deficit of applicants. Since our March 2013 report, DOE has received one application seeking approximately $200 million. DOE recently stated that it has begun new outreach efforts to potential applicants that will increase awareness and interest in the program and lead to additional applications in 2014. However, DOE has not further demonstrated a demand for ATVM loans, such as new applications that meet all the program eligibility requirements and involve amounts sufficient to justify retaining the remaining credit subsidy appropriations, nor has it explained how it plans to address challenges cited by previous applicants including a burdensome review process. Determining whether program funds will be used is important, particularly in a constrained fiscal environment, as unused appropriations could be rescinded or directed toward other government priorities. We also identified multiple opportunities for the government to increase revenue collections. In particular, the federal government could increase tax revenue collections by hundreds of millions of dollars over a 5-year period by denying certain privileges or payments to individuals with delinquent federal tax debt. For example, Congress could enable or require the Secretary of State to screen and prevent individuals who owe federal taxes from receiving passports. We found that in fiscal year 2008, passports were issued to about 16 million individuals; of these, over 1 percent collectively owed over $5.8 billion in unpaid federal taxes as of September 30, 2008. According to a 2012 CBO estimate, the federal government can save about $500 million over a 5-year period on the revocation or denial of passports in case of certain federal tax delinquencies. In addition to the new actions identified for this year’s annual report, we have continued to monitor the progress that executive branch agencies and Congress have made in addressing the issues we identified in our last three annual reports. We evaluated progress by determining an overall assessment rating for each area and an individual assessment rating for each action within an area. We found that the executive branch agencies and Congress have generally made progress in addressing the 162 areas we previously identified. As of March 6, 2014, the date we completed our audit work, 19 percent of these areas were addressed, 62 percent were partially addressed, and 15 percent were not addressed (see fig.1). Within these areas, we presented about 380 actions that the executive branch agencies and Congress could take to address the issues identified. As of March 6, 2014, 32 percent of these actions were addressed, 44 percent were partially addressed and 19 percent were not addressed. Congress and executive branch agencies have made progress toward addressing our identified actions, as shown in figure 2. In particular, an additional 58 actions have been assessed as addressed over the past year. These addressed actions include 19 actions identified in 2011, 21 actions identified in 2012, and 18 actions identified in 2013. The following examples illustrate the progress that has been made over the past year: Farm program payments: In our 2011 annual report, we stated that Congress could save up to $5 billion annually by reducing or eliminating direct payments. Direct payments are fixed annual payments to farmers based on a farm’s history of crop production. Farmers received them regardless of whether they grew crops and even in years of record income. The Agricultural Act of 2014 eliminated direct payments and should save approximately $4.9 billion annually from fiscal year 2015 through fiscal year 2023, according to CBO. Passenger aviation security fees: In our 2012 annual report, we presented options for adjusting the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) passenger security fee—a uniform fee on passengers of U.S. and foreign air carriers originating at airports in the United States—to offset billions of dollars in civil aviation security costs. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, enacted on December 26, 2013, modifies the passenger security fee from its current per enplanement structure ($2.50 per enplanement with a maximum one- way-trip fee of $5.00) to a structure that increases the passenger security fee to a flat $5.60 per one-way trip, effective July 1, 2014. Pursuant to the act, collections under this modified fee structure will contribute to deficit reduction as well as to offsetting TSA’s aviation security costs. Specifically, the act identifies $12.6 billion in fee collections that, over a 10-year period beginning in fiscal year 2014 and continuing through fiscal year 2023, will contribute to deficit reduction. Fees collected beyond those identified for deficit reduction are available, consistent with existing law, to offset TSA’s aviation security costs.