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GAO-25-108059 1 (May 22, 2025)

handle is hein.gao/ptyonrndtmt0001 and id is 1 raw text is: c;AO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Comptroller General Washington, DC 20548 of the United States May 22, 2025 The Honorable Howard Lutnick Secretary of Commerce U.S. Department of Commerce 1401 Constitution Ave. NW Washington, D.C. 20230 Priority Open Recommendations: Department of Commerce Dear Secretary Lutnick: Congratulations on your appointment. The purpose of this letter is to call your personal attention to three areas based on GAO's past work and eight open priority recommendations, which are enclosed.1 Additionally, there are 117 other GAO open recommendations that we will continue to work with your staff to address. We are highlighting the following areas that warrant your timely and focused attention. Specifically: Improving planning for the Decennial Census. The Census Bureau needs to take additional steps to improve its planning for the next decennial census. The 2020 Census cost about $13.5 billion, slowing the decennial rate of cost growth. In this regard, the count in 2020 cost roughly $99 per household, compared to $92 for 2010, $80 for 2000, and $45 for 1990 (in constant 2020 dollars). The Bureau implemented a series of innovations to rein in cost increases and enhance data quality of recent decennial censuses. However, the Bureau has yet to fully leverage various special enumeration activities for hard-to- count populations, which would help to improve census cost and accuracy. The Bureau also has yet to fully develop a plan to improve the resiliency of its research and testing activities given budget uncertainty it identified. Taking these actions will better position the Bureau to effectively plan for the 2030 Census. Protecting the nation's water quality. Commerce needs to take additional actions to further address threats to the nation's water quality and safety. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) co-chair a federal interagency working group to address the threats from harmful algal blooms and hypoxia. These threats can reduce water quality, presenting risks to critical infrastructure facilities such as water treatment plants and raising treatment costs for drinking water. For example, in 2018, one U.S. city built a $48 million drinking water treatment facility to respond to a toxic release from an algal bloom. They can also cause serious economic and societal effects, such as decreasing the 1GAO considers a recommendation to be a priority if when implemented, it may significantly improve government operations, for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue. GAO-25-108059 Page 1

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