Tag Archives: agencies

Rulemaking in the Federal Government

Federal regulation is a basic tool of government. Agencies issue thousands of regulations, or rules, each year to achieve public policy goals, such as ensuring that: workplaces, air travel, foods, and drugs are safe; the nation’s air, water, and land … Continue reading

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What Exactly Are “Improper Payments”?

Improper payments are always an area of concern for the federal government. These include overpayments, underpayments, payments made to ineligible recipients, or even payments that weren’t properly documented. While fraudulent payments are considered improper, not all improper payments are the … Continue reading

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GAO Reports That Help Protect Vulnerable Elders

News stories about older adults whose trusted family members or other caretakers deny them food and water, leave them to live under deplorable conditions, or physically and psychologically abuse them are all too common.  Neglect and abuse can often go … Continue reading

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Video on our Duplication and Cost Savings Work

In light of today’s challenging fiscal environment, improving government efficiency and effectiveness is important. Our work has identified hundreds of specific actions that the federal government can take–or in some cases, has already taken–to reduce or better manage fragmentation, overlap, and … Continue reading

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OMB’s Reforms Can Help Agencies Better Manage Federal IT Projects

Information technology (IT) is critical to the health, economy, and security of the nation. As such, federal agencies plan to spend more than $82 billion on IT this fiscal year. However, as we have previously reported and testified, many federal … Continue reading

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Why Counting Federal Structures Isn’t as Easy as 1-2-3

The federal government owns and manages a huge amount of “real property” (property that can’t be moved). GAO designated the management of federal real property as High Risk based largely on challenges agencies face managing buildings. But buildings are only … Continue reading

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Impacts of Fiscal Year 2013 Sequestration

On March 1st, 2013, the president ordered an across-the-board reduction in federal agency budgets. This reduction, more commonly known as sequestration, had a wide range of effects on agency operations and services to the public. The infographic below outlines some of our key findings … Continue reading

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