Watchblog, the Government Accountability Office's blog site, reported on Jan. 7 that the agency helped save the government $74.7 billion in fiscal 2015 through its recommendations.
And the agency says the government could have saved more.
According to GAO's annual Performance and Accountability Report, agencies implemented 80 percent in 2015, but some 4,800 executive branch recommendations remained open.
Comptroller General Gene Dodaro testified Dec. 10 before the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management that from 2011 until 2015, the administration had not yet addressed 18 percent of the recommendations GAO had made regarding issues like overlap and duplication in government programs. Congress did worse, leaving 53 percent of those recommendations unaddressed.
Related: Read the Report
Among the 4,800 unaddressed recommendations listed, GAO included recommendations for the following issues:
- Four DoD Weapons Acquisition programs: F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, Littoral Combat Ships, CVN 78 Ford-class aircraft carrier and the Missile Defense Agency
- Medicare and Medicaid program policy, including Medicare Program Payment Policy and Medicaid transparency issues (Medicaid Demonstrations, Medicaid Improper Payments)
- The Social Security Administration’s Supplemental Security Income program
- Guidance for Financial Stability Oversight Council and Office of Financial Research
- 840 recommendations for agency cybersecurity
- Food safety recommendations. The USDA had concurred with previous recommendations from GAO but had yet to provide guidance for them.
- Setting government-wide goals for strategic sourcing
- Controlling FEMA administrative costs
- Border Security
- Strategic Human Capital Management
- Developing a government-wide human capital strategic plan
GAO also said the federal government could see substantial savings if it implemented recommendations on regulations for paid tax preparers, Social Security offsets and expanding the IRS's math error authority to correct reporting errors.
Dodaro said in testimony that if Congress and the executive branch continued to implement the agency's recommendations, the federal government could streamline operations and see valuable savings.
"Our recommendations provide a significant opportunity to improve the government's fiscal position, better serve the public, and make government programs more efficient and effective," he said. "We will continue to work with Congress to monitor and draw attention to these important issues."
