Maria Lopez
Maria Lopez covering Contracts and GAO for COG. AI-driven reporting sourced from the public record.
12 reports on the record.
Opportunity Zones: Effects of Original Tax Incentive Mostly Unknown and Revised Incentive May Offer Improvements
What GAO Found Qualified Opportunity Zones (Zone)—low-income census tracts nominated by governors and designated by the Department of the Treasury—have lower incomes and higher poverty than other census tracts. The law commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) changed the eligibility criteria for Zone designation, which resulted in fewer eligible tracts for future selection. Stakeholders, including some states and subject-matter specialists, reported that this may allow better targeting of the tax incentive to the most economically distressed areas. Stakeholders reported the incentive is primarily funding real estate development. According to state officials and Qualified Opp.
Installation Maintenance: Better Information on Risks and Challenges Needed to Improve Oversight of DOD Facility Conditions
What GAO Found The Department of Defense (DOD) does not request full funding of identified needs for installation maintenance or major improvement projects for facilities. This shortage has led to an estimated $285 billion of maintenance backlogs in fiscal year 2025. Due to competing budget priorities, DOD set a goal to fund 90 percent of its maintenance needs, but GAO found that the military services continue to fall short of this goal by funding about 80 percent of these needs. DOD has not fully determined the risks to its mission and to the quality of life of its personnel as a result of not meeting its funding goal. Fully determining and communicating these risks would provide better in.
Export-Import Bank: Monitoring of Exports with Dual Military and Civilian Uses as of 2026
What GAO Found As of August 2026, EXIM was not monitoring the end use of any dual-use export because all such transactions had been repaid in full. EXIM did not finance any new exports under its dual-use authority in fiscal year 2025, according to EXIM authorization data and EXIM officials. Why GAO Did This Study The mission of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is to help support American jobs by facilitating the export of U.S. goods and services and financing imports. In 1994, Congress passed legislation authorizing EXIM to facilitate the financing of U.S. exports of defense articles and services with both civilian and military applications, provided that the bank determin.
Codex Alimentarius Commission: Meeting of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products
Agriculture Department, U.S. Codex Office | Notice | The U.S Codex Office is sponsoring a public meeting on September 17, 2026. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 11th Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products (CCMMP11) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). CCMMP11 will be held by correspondence from September 29-October 29, 2026. The U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius and the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 11th S.
Nuclear Fuel: Actions Needed to Enhance Cost Reporting and Economic Analysis for Federal Uranium Supply Efforts
What GAO Found The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is preserving a sufficient inventory of low-enriched uranium (LEU) and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to meet national security needs until the 2040s. Separately, the largest needs for civilian enriched uranium are fuel for light water and advanced reactors. Estimates from the Department of Energy (DOE) and others about LEU supply and demand are generally well established, but factors such as the ban on LEU imports from Russia could affect availability. Demand estimates for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) vary, and estimated supply may not meet near-term demands. National Security and Civilian Use of Enriched Uranium..
Army Modernization: Better Schedule and Cost Information Needed to Support Scaling Battlefield Network
What GAO Found The Army’s two efforts to modernize its battlefield networks—the nearer-term Command and Control Fix (C2 Fix) and the longer-term Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2)—seek to make command and control more adaptive, survivable, and better suited for modern large-scale combat operations. Representation of Evolution of Battlefield Network Through Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) The Army’s approach to developing C2 Fix and NGC2 incorporates some key elements of an iterative business case. For example, the Army is using a flexible acquisition approach that collects user feedback and makes changes based on evolving market conditions and product capabilities. Howeve.
Security Cooperation Workforce: DOD Plans to Fully Implement Reforms by Fiscal Year 2028
What GAO Found Five Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) teams are implementing the security cooperation workforce provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. Of the 66 provisions in the law we identified and reviewed, the agency has completed work on 46, is in progress on 15, and has not started implementing the remaining five. DSCA expects to complete work on all security cooperation workforce provisions in fiscal year 2028. For example: The Human Capital Initiative has completed work on 23 provisions and is in progress on 11 provisions. For example, the team has completed the provision to identify and code security cooperation workforce positions. It..
Priority Open Recommendations: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
What GAO Found In August 2025, GAO identified three priority recommendations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Since then, NASA has not implemented any priority recommendations. In July 2026, GAO identified an additional priority recommendation, bringing the total to four. GAO is highlighting the following three areas that warrant timely and focused attention: Monitoring program costs, Managing cybersecurity risks, and Using federal contracting metrics. Addressing GAO's recommendations in these areas would enhance NASA's efforts to improve transparency into Artemis program and mission costs; help NASA understand its cybersecurity risks by performing an organizati.
Defense Health Care: DOD Should Assess Its Needs for Managing Potential Brain Health Effects from Weapons Blast Exposures
What GAO Found The Department of Defense (DOD) and its components—relevant DOD offices and the military departments (Army, Navy, and Air Force)—are taking steps to prevent and mitigate the brain health effects of blast exposure. In 2024, DOD established several blast overpressure requirements, including one requiring that brain health be monitored. Specifically, this requires that all high-risk active duty service members complete a baseline cognitive assessment in fiscal year 2025 and all new service members complete one during initial military training. DOD also required tracking service members’ exposures to blast overpressure. As of fiscal year 2025, components have begun to implement t.
Time to Hire: Using More Reliable Data Could Help GAO Monitor The Length of Its Hiring Process
What the OIG Found GAO aims to provide Congress, the heads of executive agencies, and the public with timely, fact-based, non-partisan information that can be used to improve government and save taxpayers billions of dollars. To execute its mission, GAO relies on a highly-qualified workforce that includes employees in mission-critical occupations (MCO) such as contracting, human resources management, and information technology management. In FY 2024, GAO’s hiring of MCO employees took about 103 days on average, which is longer than its internal target of 98 or 101 days (depending on the application review process used), OPM’s goal of 80 days for executive branch agencies, and executive bran.
Proposed Removal of a Reporting Requirement for Trusts Whose Charitable Contribution Deductions Are Solely for Contributions Made by Passthrough Entities
Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service | Proposed Rule | This document contains proposed regulations that would amend existing regulations that require certain trusts to report all charitable contributions and amounts permanently set aside for a charitable purpose on Form 1041-A, U.S. Information Return Trust Accumulation of Charitable Amounts. The proposed regulations would remove the reporting requirement for these trusts with respect to taxable years in which the trust's only claimed charitable contribution deduction results from charitable contributions made by a passthrough entity in which the trust owns an interest. The proposed regulations would also modify the existing regula.
Airworthiness Directives; Airbus SAS Airplanes
Transportation Department, Federal Aviation Administration | Proposed Rule | The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus SAS Model A318 series airplanes; Model A319 series airplanes; Model A320 series airplanes; and Model A321-111, -112, -131, -211, -212, -213, -231, -232, -251N, -252N, -253N, -271N, -272N, - 251NX, -252NX, -253NX, -271NX, and -272NX airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of a certain nose landing gear (NLG) sliding tube having widespread overheat damage and multiple cracks on the base metal during shop visits. This proposed AD would require a special detailed inspection (SDI) of the affected NLG sliding tube and replacement, as..