A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report reckons that the government could realize from $106 billion to $208 billion of benefits and savings if Federal government agencies took action on about four percent of the watchdog agency’s still-unimplemented recommendations.
GAO regularly issues recommendations – about 1,200 per year – for actions by Federal agencies aimed at saving money and increasing revenue and calculated in its recent report that about 75 percent of those recommendations end up being implemented.
The agency said that as of March 2024, 5,480 of its recommendations remained “open” – or still to be acted upon – and estimated that “implementing some of these recommendations could produce measurable financial benefits of $106 to $208 billion.”
To arrive at that range, GAO used computer simulations to identify 19 recommendations – each with potential financial benefits of $1 billion or more – across nine agencies and Congress. The open recommendations used in the calculation equal about four percent of the total number of recommendations.
GAO said that the potential financial benefits from open recommendations in 2024 are higher than in 2023.
“Most recently, in April 2023, we reported that agencies need to address hundreds of our open recommendations to bring about lasting solutions to 37 high-risk areas, and that legislation is needed in some cases,” the report reads. It says that 39 percent of the open recommendations relate to public safety and security, 26 percent to business process and management, and 16 percent to public insurance and benefits.
Among the larger areas of potential benefit stemming from GAO recommendations is one that Congress equalize Medicare payment rates for evaluation and management office visits, which GAO said could save $141 billion over 10 years.
Other recommendations included the Internal Revenue Service documenting how it addresses risks related to COVID-19 employer tax credits and adding compliance activities to recover money from ineligible claims, which according to GAO could save “tens of billions” over two years.
The report also says that the reauthorization of FirstNet, a national broadband network for first responders, could save $15 billion over 15 years.
GAO used data on previous recommendations and benefits from two internal systems to create computer simulations for estimating possible outcomes. Bootstrapping and Monte Carlo methods were used to create the simulations, which involved using the existing data and random sampling to generate multiple possible outcomes.
“We have previously reported that the nation is on an unsustainable fiscal path caused by a structural imbalance between spending and revenue,” said GAO, which emphasized that Congress must create a sustainable long-term fiscal plan to maintain or reduce the debt-to-gross domestic product ratio. “Implementing our recommendations can help reduce the deficit, though these actions alone are not sufficient to address the nation’s fiscal imbalance.”
“Congress and agencies will need to work together to fully realize these savings and other potential benefits,” the report reads.
In addition to specific financial benefits, GAO identified six areas of broader benefit including: public safety and security, business process and management, public insurance and benefits, program efficiency and effectiveness, acquisition and contract management, and tax law administration.