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1 1 (April 12, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govecyv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: o ressiortol f4esasrch Service nhunirig tho ~H 4t Pt t& srn~ 1414 April 12, 2021 GAO and Inspector General Recommendations to Agencies: An Introduction Congress has established a number of institutions dedicated to monitoring and reporting on federal agencies and making recommendations to improve their integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness. Theseentities include dozens of statutory Offices of Inspector General (OIGs) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), each of which has a mission focused on the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of the federal government's operations. One way these offices fulfill their mis sions is by making specific recommendations to agencies that are intended to improve their operations or to address specific issues of compliance with laws, regulations, or other criteria. Congress has empowered both GAO and OIGs to make and publish suchrecommendations. OIG and GAO recommendations can be valuable tools to support Congress's oversight activities. The recommendations can help identify is sues or programs in agencies that might warrant additional oversightby Congress, provide a trackable metric for monitoring agency compliance orprogress, andprovideideas anddatato inform legislation. Theserecommendations may also prompt agencies to address is sues without further need for congressionalintervention. This In Focus introduces the topic of GAO and OIG recommendations, their underlying statutory frameworks, and how they might be relevant to Congress. While this In Focus covers both GAO and OIG recommendations because of theirpractical similarities, GAO and the OIGs are es tablishedby different s tatutes, have dis tinct mis s ions and roles, and performtheir duties in their own ways. What Are GAO and OG Recommendations? A GAO and OIG recommendation is a formal suggestion- following careful study of agency activities-offered to agencies that is intended to resolve an identified issue at the agency. Collectively, GAO and OIGs issue thousands of recommendations to agencies each year. Generally, both GAO and OIGs appear to take an inclusive view of the reasons they might issue recommendations. The OIGfor the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA), for example, states that it makes recommendations to promote effectiveness, efficiency, economy, andintegrityin all EPA programs and operations, including those performed by its contractors and grantees. While recommendations might be crafted to address a wide variety of is sues, the common thread is that, regardless of https ://crs repo the subject or scope, they are intended to reflect the cons ideredjudgment of these oversight bodies after careful review of available information. Recommendations are typically offered as action items in written reports including audits, investigations, studies, and evaluations. These recommendations are generally short and directive and are a way for GAO and OIGs to distill key points and identify possible responses. However, a more thoroughreview of the underlying reporting may be needed to fully understand thepurpose andpotential benefit of each recommendation. Not all observers will neces sarily agree with GAO and OIG recommendations or their underlying premises. Agencies may disagree with some recommendations.In suchcases, GAO and OIGs may include correspondence that addresses points of dis agreement. Contrasting views may assist Congres s in weighing the considerations or trade-offs at play in a given situation. Tracking Recommendations Both GAO and the interagency body ofOIGs-the Council of the Inspectors Generalon Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE)-track recommendations in a manner that may be usefulto Congress andthe public. GAO maintains a searchable database of its recommendations. GAO's list includes nearly 5,000 open recommendations. GAOhas determined that about400 of theserecommendations would have a particularly significant impact andhas classified themas priority recommendations (https://www.gao.gov/ reports -testimonies/recommendations-database). CIGIE maintains a similar webpagethatcollects recommendations fromOIGs across thegovernment, provides updates on their status, and includes statistical data that allow users toreview openrecommendations by agency, age, and other metrics. OIGs are currently tracking over 14,000 open recommendations (https://www.oversight.gov/recommendations). Illustrative Recommendations Recommendations come in a variety of forms with different levels ofcontextualdetail and technicaldiscussion. While all of those nuances cannotbe parsedouthere, the following two examples from a GAO report dated September 21, 2020, on the federal government's COVID- 19 response illustrate certain differences between some recommendations: The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Department of the 9

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