FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Over the course of 2025, federal agencies took steps to reduce the size of their workforces in response to presidential directives. These steps included offering incentives for employees to voluntarily resign or retire, implementing reductions in force, and restricting hiring for most positions. Data reported by 22 major federal agencies showed that nearly 378,000 employees separated from these agencies during 2025. About 65 percent of those separations came in the second half of the year as employees who had taken a deferred resignation offer departed their agencies. By contrast, these agencies reported they hired a total of about 127,000 employees, including temporary emplo.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Facing the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning to replace it with one or more commercially owned and operated space stations. NASA’s goal is to transition from the ISS, a government-owned platform, to commercial space stations to ensure the U.S. maintains a continuous presence in low-Earth orbit (LEO). NASA is working with six U.S. companies to develop and certify commercial space stations that NASA and other customers could use in LEO. NASA has been working with the companies to mature their initial space station designs. NASA’s Commercial Providers’ Space Station Concepts As of May 2026, N.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Department of Labor's (DOL) Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) closed 5,433 Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) complaints from fiscal year 2021 through fiscal year 2025, according to GAO’s analysis of USERRA complaint data. The number of complaints increased each year, reaching its highest level in fiscal year 2025 (1,380 complaints), the same year VETS experienced a 23 percent reduction in its complaint investigation staffing levels. During this period, VETS closed USERRA complaints within 90 days on average, the general time frame specified in statute. Most complaints were closed for administrative reasons, including a servi.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Agencies can use more than 100 federal data sources—or a combination of them—to verify if recipients meet the eligibility criteria for federal programs throughout the award life cycle (which includes pre-award screening, post-award monitoring, and payment validation). As of September 2025, these included 28 data sources in the Do Not Pay working system (DNP) or designated for inclusion in DNP. However, weaknesses in data interoperability may hinder agencies’ ability to efficiently determine award and payment eligibility. Data interoperability is the ability to share and disseminate standardized data in a way that is efficient, consistent, and accessible across different syste.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program provides grants for community-based coalitions focused on drug use prevention efforts for youth 18 and under. In the 2025 evaluation report, it is claimed that the DFC program is meeting its strategic goal of reducing substance use among youth. However, that report states that it is not possible to establish a causal relationship between substance use changes in communities and the DFC program. Selected statements on the Effectiveness of the Drug-Free Communities Support Program from the June 2025 National Cross-Site Evaluation Report GAO found significant limitations in the progr.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found In May 2025, GAO identified four priority recommendations for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Since then, FDIC has implemented one of those recommendations, bringing the total to three. GAO is highlighting the following two areas that warrant timely and focused attention: Strengthening bank supervision, and Addressing blockchain technology risks. Addressing GAO's recommendations in these areas could help FDIC mitigate threats to independence and ensure that supervisory escalation decisions are independent and evidence-based, and identify and respond to blockchain-related risks in a timely manner. Taking action to implement all of GAO's open priority recommen.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found In May 2025, GAO identified 17 priority recommendations for the Small Business Administration (SBA). Since then, SBA has implemented three of those recommendations, bringing the total to 14. GAO is highlighting the following two areas that warrant timely and focused attention: Improving oversight of COVID-19 pandemic programs Addressing cybersecurity and IT management challenges Addressing GAO's recommendations in these areas would help SBA more strategically manage program fraud risks and respond to cybersecurity and IT management risks. Taking action to implement all of GAO's open priority recommendations would help enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of operations acr.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical facility officials are responsible for reviewing the clinical care delivered by their providers when concerns arise. GAO identified 104 providers with clinical care concerns (such as practicing in a manner that is unsafe or inconsistent with industry standards of care) at five selected VHA medical facilities between January 2020 and July 2024. GAO found these facilities did not consistently adhere to VHA policy when conducting quality reviews, or reporting providers to state licensing boards or the National Practitioner Data Bank. All five facilities also had missing or incomplete review documentation. As of March 2026, VHA has dev.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The National Guard Bureau (NGB) collects and tracks Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) data from all three National Guard components—NGB, Army National Guard, and Air National Guard. NGB reports FOIA data to the Department of Defense (DOD). NGB officials stated they provide Army National Guard and Air National Guard FOIA data to the Army and the Air Force, respectively. The National Guard tracks data on FOIA requests received, processed, and backlogged through various systems (see figure). Freedom of Information Act Tracking Systems GAO found discrepancies in the accuracy of reported data that officials responsible for reporting National Guard FOIA data were unable to explain..
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Governmentwide Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System (GTAS) is the central platform federal agencies use to submit standardized data for government-wide financial reporting. GTAS collects budgetary and proprietary data; validates them; and interfaces with other federal systems to support transparency, accountability, and fiscal oversight. Federal laws, including the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996, and the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act), require agencies to report standardized financial data. These laws assign implementation responsibilities to the Office of Mana.
FEDE U.S. Government Accountability Office · Audits audits
What GAO Found The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses dozens of systems to schedule appointments, manage referrals, and monitor wait times for veterans. The department is also in the process of replacing its primary health information system—the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA)—by deploying a new electronic health record system with Oracle Health. However, the rollout of the new system has been delayed due to technical and performance issues. Some of those scheduling systems and tools are commonly used across the department by many VistA facilities. Schedulers at the handful of facilities that have the new Oracle Health system also have an additi.
FEDE Office of the Federal Register / National Archives and Records Administration · Rulemaking audits
Postal Service | Notice | The United States Postal Service (USPS) is responding to public comments regarding modifications to a General Privacy Act System of Records (SOR) that supports two continuous improvement initiatives. The first initiative is the Highway Contract Route (HCR) Driver's License scanning initiative to transition from a decentralized paper- based system to a centralized platform. The second initiative is the implementation of the USPS HCR scanning mobile application which is designed to enhance the visibility and operational efficiency of USPS contractor-transported mail by leveraging advanced tracking and scanning technologies. There will be no changes to the SOR or its..
