The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report on the federal government’s cost savings and found that the Department of Defense (DoD) could make significant savings by accurately measuring and mitigating unfinished military depot work.
The report, titled “Additional Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication and Achieve Billions in Financial Benefits”, states that the federal government saved $429 billion by addressing 79 percent of GAO recommendations over the past decade. However, GAO identified 168 new actions that Congress or other agencies in the executive branch must address to improve efficiency in new and existing mission areas.
Existing GAO recommendations include reforms in vessel acquisition practices at the Department of the Navy and better oversight of disaster relief funds at the Office of Management and Budget.
The new recommendations cover information technology improvements to support agency functions such as screening and enrollment procedures at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and public health emergency programs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
“While Congress and executive branch agencies have made progress toward addressing actions that GAO has identified since 2011, further steps are needed,” the watchdog said. “Addressing the remaining actions could lead to other benefits as well, such as increased public safety, and more effective delivery of services.”
