High-Risk Series:
An Update
GAO-13-283: Published: Feb 14, 2013. Publicly Released: Feb 14, 2013.
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What GAO Found
In February 2011, GAO
detailed 30 high-risk areas. Sufficient progress has been made to remove
the high-risk designation from two areas.
- Management of Interagency Contracting.
Improvements include (1) continued progress made by agencies in
addressing identified deficiencies, (2) establishment of additional
management controls, (3) creation of a policy framework for establishing
new interagency contracts, and (4) steps taken to address the need for
better data on these contracts.
- Internal Revenue Service Business Systems Modernization.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made progress in addressing
significant weaknesses in information technology and financial
management capabilities. IRS delivered the initial phase of its
cornerstone tax processing project and began the daily processing and
posting of individual taxpayer accounts in January 2012. This enhanced
tax administration and improved service by enabling faster refunds for
more taxpayers, allowing more timely account updates, and faster
issuance of taxpayer notices. In addition, IRS has put in place close to
80 percent of the practices needed for an effective investment
management process, including all of the processes needed for effective
project oversight.
While these two areas have been removed from the High Risk List, GAO will continue to monitor them.
This year, GAO has added two areas.
- Limiting the Federal Government’s Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks.
Climate change creates significant financial risks for the federal
government, which owns extensive infrastructure, such as defense
installations; insures property through the National Flood Insurance
Program; and provides emergency aid in response to natural disasters.
The federal government is not well positioned to address the fiscal
exposure presented by climate change, and needs a government wide
strategic approach with strong leadership to manage related risks.
- Mitigating Gaps in Weather Satellite Data.
Potential gaps in environmental satellite data beginning as early as
2014 and lasting as long as 53 months have led to concerns that future
weather forecasts and warnings—including warnings of extreme events such
as hurricanes, storm surges, and floods—will be less accurate and
timely. A number of decisions are needed to ensure contingency and
continuity plans can be implemented effectively.
In the past
2 years notable progress has been made in the vast majority of areas
that remain on GAO’s High Risk List. This progress is due to the
combined efforts of the Congress through oversight and legislation, the
Office of Management and Budget through its leadership and coordination,
and the agencies through their efforts to take corrective actions to
address longstanding problems and implement related GAO recommendations.
Why GAO Did This Study
The
federal government is the world’s largest and most complex entity, with
about $3.5 trillion in outlays in fiscal year 2012 funding a broad
array of programs and operations. GAO maintains a program to focus
attention on government operations that it identifies as high risk due
to their greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and
mismanagement or the need for transformation to address economy,
efficiency, or effectiveness challenges. Since 1990, more than one-third
of the areas previously designated as high risk have been removed from
the list because sufficient progress was made to address the problems
identified.
This biennial update describes the status of high-risk
areas listed in 2011 and identifies any new high-risk area needing
attention by Congress and the executive branch. Solutions to high-risk
problems offer the potential to save billions of dollars, improve
service to the public, and strengthen the performance and accountability
of the U.S. government.
What GAO Recommends
This
report contains GAO’s views on progress made and what remains to be done
to bring about lasting solutions for each high-risk area. Perseverance
by the executive branch in implementing GAO’s recommended solutions and
continued oversight and action by Congress are essential to achieving
progress. GAO is dedicated to continue working with Congress and the
executive branch to help ensure additional progress is made.
For more information, contact J. Christopher Mihm at (202) 512-6806 or
mihmj@gao.gov.
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