GAO Issues Report: High-Risk Series – Efforts Made to Achieve Progress Need to Be Maintained and Expanded to Fully Address All Areas

WASHINGTON, May 2 -- The Government Accountability Office has issued a report (GAO-23-106686) entitled "High-Risk Series - Efforts Made to Achieve Progress Need to Be Maintained and Expanded to Fully Address All Areas."

Here are excerpts of summaries associated with the report.

What GAO Found: "Congress and executive agencies have made substantial progress addressing high-risk issues since the previous High-Risk List update in 2021. Sixteen of 34 high-risk areas improved since 2021. This is the most progress in the 8 years since GAO started rating high-risk areas. Two of the 16 areas are being removed from the list: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) Insurance Programs and the 2020 Decennial Census. Since our last update, there were approximately $100 billion in financial benefits due to improvements in high-risk areas.

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Chart: Changes to the High-Risk List Since 2021

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The PBGC Insurance Programs area is being removed because Congress provided funding to troubled multiemployer pension plans, which has led to an improved financial position for the PBGC multiemployer insurance program. Additionally, the financial position of the PBGC single-employer insurance program has improved gradually in recent years. PBGC now projects a very low risk of insolvency over the next 15 years for both programs. GAO will continue to monitor the funds.

The 2020 Decennial Census is being removed because the Census Bureau made progress in addressing data quality concerns, chartered a high-level governance group, and implemented priority recommendations. GAO will monitor 2030 Census planning--already underway--for emerging risks and challenges.

GAO is adding one new area to the 2023 High-Risk List: Strengthening Management of the Federal Prison System. This area is being added, in part, due to the Bureau of Prisons' long-standing challenges managing staff and resources, and planning and evaluation programs that help incarcerated people have a successful return to the community.

In 2022, GAO added two other areas to the High-Risk List. The Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Leadership and Coordination of Public Health Emergencies was added because, for more than a decade, GAO has found persistent deficiencies in HHS's leadership role preparing for and responding to public health emergencies, including those that result from extreme weather events. GAO added the Unemployment Insurance System area because administrative and program integrity challenges in the joint federal-state program have affected the system's ability to meet the needs of unemployed workers. These challenges also expose the system to significant financial losses."

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Chart: GAO's 2023 High-Risk List

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Why GAO Did This Study: "The federal government is one of the world's largest and most complex entities. About $6.3 trillion in outlays in fiscal year 2022 funded a broad array of programs and operations. GAO's High-Risk Series identifies government operations with vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or in need of transformation.

This biennial update describes the status of high-risk areas, outlines actions that are needed to ensure further progress, and identifies new high-risk areas needing attention by the executive branch and Congress.

Lasting solutions to high-risk problems save billions of dollars, improve service to the public, and strengthen government performance and accountability. In the past 17 years, financial benefits totaled $675 billion.

GAO uses five criteria to assess progress in addressing high-risk areas: (1) leadership commitment; (2) agency capacity; (3) an action plan; (4) monitoring efforts; and (5) demonstrated progress."

What GAO Recommends: "Executive branch agencies need to address hundreds of open GAO recommendations to bring about lasting solutions to the 37 remaining high-risk areas. Continued congressional oversight is essential to achieve greater progress and legislation is needed in some cases."

The report was sent to Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky, chairman, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, on April 26, 2023.

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Chairman Comer, Ranking Member Raskin, and Members of the Committee:

Since the early 1990s, our high-risk program has focused attention on government operations with greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or that are in need of transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges. This effort, supported by this committee and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, has brought much needed attention to problems impeding effective government and costing billions of dollars each year.

Our 2023 High-Risk List, which was released last week, includes 37 areas./1 Since our last update in 2021, 16 areas improved with two showing sufficient progress to be removed from the High-Risk List. This is the most progress in the 8 years since GAO started rating high-risk areas.

Where we have seen progress on high-risk issues, it has typically involved three essential elements: congressional action or oversight, commitment from top leaders at agencies, and active involvement by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)./2 Such practices have contributed to hundreds of billions of dollars saved since the High-Risk List was established. Further progress to address the 37 areas remaining on the High-Risk List can contribute to saving additional billions of dollars, improving services to the public, and enhancing trust in the government.

Congressional attention and oversight to improve the management and accountability of government are at the core of the high-risk program.

This committee's ongoing commitment to this oversight, as demonstrated in its Authorization and Oversight Plan for the 118th Congress, sets the tone for greater progress in high-risk areas. Dedicated agency leadership is essential to progress in high-risk areas.

Sustained leadership commitment is the critical element for initiating and enhancing progress and making the types of management and operational improvements required for addressing high-risk areas.

OMB's leadership role is especially important because many high-risk areas are government-wide or involve multiple agencies. Also, there are resource investments associated with correcting a number of the high-risk problems. The OMB Deputy Director for Management, top agency leaders, and GAO have met regularly to discuss plans and actions to address individual high-risk areas. These meetings have been critical to achieving progress. OMB accelerated the pace of these meetings over the past 2 years. Since the last high-risk update, OMB has convened 10 meetings on 12 high-risk areas. These trilateral meetings led to positive results, as noted by the progress in 16 high-risk areas since our last update in 2021. We expect OMB to continue to hold these meetings with a goal of meeting on all high-risk areas before our next update in 2025.

Significant financial savings have resulted from efforts to address highrisk areas. For example, over the past 17 years (fiscal years 2006 through 2022), financial benefits totaled nearly $675 billion--an average of about $40 billion per year. Since our last update in 2021, we recorded approximately $100 billion in financial benefits./3

Significant progress to address high-risk areas is possible with sustained effort and attention. As shown in figure 1, most high-risk areas identified over the years (roughly 53 percent) have either been removed from the list or narrowed in scope as portions of the high-risk issues were addressed. Many others have shown significant progress in other ways, having met or partially met all five criteria that are essential to address high-risk areas.

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Figure 1: Progress in High-Risk Areas, 1990 to 2023

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We rate agencies' progress in addressing high-risk areas using our highrisk criteria, summarized in figure 2.

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Figure 2: Criteria Essential to Addressing High-Risk Areas

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These criteria align with practices we identified as key to solving high-risk challenges./4

Congressional action, such as passing laws and holding hearings, also plays a critical role in making meaningful progress on high-risk areas. For two high-risk areas, including Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insurance programs, it is the primary action needed to address the high-risk issue.

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Figures, charts, footnotes and the full text of the GAO report are posted at https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-106686.pdf

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