Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs Save Tax D written by United States Government Accountability Office Gao and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-07-13 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is GAO's first annual report to Congress in response to a new statutory requirement that GAO identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives, either within departments or governmentwide, which have duplicative goals or activities. Congress asked GAO to conduct this work and to report annually on our findings.1 This work will inform government policymakers as they address the rapidly building fiscal pressures facing our national government. GAO's most recent update of its annual simulations of the federal government's fiscal outlook underscores the need to address the long-term sustainability of the federal government's fiscal policies. 2 Since the end of the recent recession, the gross domestic product has grown slowly and unemployment has remained at a high level. While the economy is still recovering and in need of careful attention, there is widespread agreement on the need to look not only at the near term but also at steps that begin to change the long-term fiscal path as soon as possible without slowing the recovery. With the passage of time, the window to address the challenge narrows and the magnitude of the required changes grows. GAO's simulations show continually increasing levels of debt that are unsustainable over time absent changes in current fiscal policies. The objectives of this report are to (1) identify federal programs or functional areas where unnecessary duplication, overlap, or fragmentation exists, the actions needed to address such conditions, and the potential financial and other benefits of doing so; and (2) highlight other opportunities for potential cost savings or enhanced revenues. To meet these objectives, we are including 81 areas for consideration based on related GAO work. This report is divided into two sections. Section I presents 34 areas where agencies, offices, or initiatives have similar or overlapping objectives or provide similar services to the same populations; or where government missions are fragmented across multiple agencies or programs. These areas span a range of government missions: agriculture, defense, economic development, energy, general government, health, homeland security, international affairs, and social services. Within and across these missions, this report touches on hundreds of federal programs, affecting virtually all major federal departments and agencies. Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. Reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could potentially save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services. The areas identified in this report are not intended to represent the full universe of duplication, overlap, or fragmentation within the federal government. We will continue to identify additional issues in future reports. Given today's fiscal environment, Section II of this report summarizes 47 additional areas-beyond those directly related to duplication, overlap, or fragmentation-describing other opportunities for agencies or Congress to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. These cost-savings and revenue opportunities also span a wide range of federal government agencies and mission areas. The issues raised in both sections were drawn from GAO's prior and ongoing work. Many of the issues included in this report are focused on activities that are contained within single departments or agencies. In those cases, agency officials can generally achieve cost savings or other benefits by implementing existing GAO recommendations or by undertaking new actions suggested in this report. However, a number of issues we have identified, particularly in the duplication area, span multiple organizations and therefore may require higher-level attention.

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs Save Tax Dollars and Enhance Revenue written by Patricia A. Dalton and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2011-04-09 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Statement of Patricia A. Dalton, Chief Operating Officer, GAO, discussing GAO's first annual report to Congress responding to the statutory requirement that GAO identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives -- either within departments or governmentwide -- that have duplicative goals or activities. GAO's simulations of the federal government's fiscal outlook show continually increasing levels of debt that are unsustainable over time, absent changes in the federal government's current fiscal policies. Dalton's testimony highlights some key examples of overlap and duplication from GAO's March report on the federal government's management of programs providing services in the areas of (1) domestic food assistance, (2) employment and training, (3) homelessness, and (4) transportation for disadvantaged populations. For each area, Dalton discusses some of the challenges related to overlap and duplication, as well as examples of how better information about each program could help policymakers in determining how to address this overlap and duplication. Figures and tables. This is a print on demand report.

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is GAO's first annual report to Congress in response to a new statutory requirement that GAO identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives, either within departments or governmentwide, which have duplicative goals or activities. Congress asked GAO to conduct this work and to report annually on our findings.1 This work will inform government policymakers as they address the rapidly building fiscal pressures facing our national government. GAO's most recent update of its annual simulations of the federal government's fiscal outlook underscores the need to address the long-term sustainability of the federal government's fiscal policies. 2 Since the end of the recent recession, the gross domestic product has grown slowly and unemployment has remained at a high level. While the economy is still recovering and in need of careful attention, there is widespread agreement on the need to look not only at the near term but also at steps that begin to change the long-term fiscal path as soon as possible without slowing the recovery. With the passage of time, the window to address the challenge narrows and the magnitude of the required changes grows. GAO's simulations show continually increasing levels of debt that are unsustainable over time absent changes in current fiscal policies. The objectives of this report are to (1) identify federal programs or functional areas where unnecessary duplication, overlap, or fragmentation exists, the actions needed to address such conditions, and the potential financial and other benefits of doing so; and (2) highlight other opportunities for potential cost savings or enhanced revenues. To meet these objectives, we are including 81 areas for consideration based on related GAO work. This report is divided into two sections. Section I presents 34 areas where agencies, offices, or initiatives have similar or overlapping objectives or provide similar services to the same populations; or where government missions are fragmented across multiple agencies orprograms. These areas span a range of government missions: agriculture, defense, economic development, energy, general government, health, homeland security, international affairs, and social services. Within and across these missions, this report touches on hundreds of federal programs, affecting virtually all major federal departments and agencies. Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. Reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could potentially save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services. The areas identified in this report are not intended to represent the full universe of duplication, overlap, or fragmentation within the federal government. We will continue to identify additional issues in future reports. Given today's fiscal environment, Section II of this report summarizes 47 additional areas-beyond those directly related to duplication, overlap, or fragmentation-describing other opportunities for agencies or Congress to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. These cost-savings and revenue opportunities also span a wide range of federal government agencies and mission areas. The issues raised in both sections were drawn from GAO's prior and ongoing work.

Download or read book Government Operations written by U S Government Accountability Office (G and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. In this report we include 81 areas for consideration drawn from GAO's prior and ongoing work. We present 34 areas where agencies, offices, or initiatives have similar or overlapping objectives or provide similar services to the same populations; or where government missions are fragmented across multiple agencies or programs. We also present 47 additional areas-beyond those directly related to duplication, overlap, or fragmentation-describing other opportunities for agencies or Congress to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. All of these areas span a range of agencies and government missions: agriculture, defense, economic development, energy, general government, health, homeland security, international affairs, and social services. Collectively, by reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation and addressing these other cost savings opportunities, the federal government could potentially save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services-but these actions will require some difficult decisions.

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs Save Tax Dollars and Enhance Revenue written by Gene L. Dodaro and published by . This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Identifies federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives -- either within departments or governmentwide -- that have duplicative goals or activities. The annual simulations of the federal government's fiscal outlook show continually increasing levels of debt that are unsustainable over time, absent changes in the federal government's current fiscal policies. This testimony addresses two key issues: (1) federal programs or functional areas where unnecessary duplication, overlap, or fragmentation exists, the actions needed to address such conditions, and the potential financial and other benefits of doing so; and (2) other opportunities for potential cost savings or enhanced revenues. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand publication.

Download or read book Tax Policy and Administration written by U S Government Accountability Office (G and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This testimony discusses our first annual report to Congress responding to the statutory requirement that GAO identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives--either within departments or governmentwide--that have duplicative goals or activities. This work can help inform government policymakers as they address the rapidly building fiscal pressures facing our national government. Our simulations of the federal government's fiscal outlook show continually increasing levels of debt that are unsustainable over time, absent changes in the federal government's current fiscal policies. Since the end of the recent recession, the gross domestic product has grown slowly, and unemployment has remained at a high level. While the economy is still recovering and in need of careful attention, widespread agreement exists on the need to look not only at the near term but also at steps that begin to change the long-term fiscal path as soon as possible. With the passage of time, the window to address the fiscal challenge narrows and the magnitude of the required changes grows. This testimony is based on our March 2011 report and provides an overview of federal programs or functional areas where unnecessary duplication, overlap, or fragmentation exists and where there are other opportunities for potential cost savings or enhanced revenues. In that report, we identified 81 areas for consideration--34 areas of potential duplication, overlap, or fragmentation and 47 additional areas describing other opportunities for agencies or Congress to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. The 81 areas span a range of federal government missions such as agriculture, defense, economic development, energy, general government, health, homeland security, international affairs, and social services. Within and across these missions, the report touches on hundreds of federal programs, affecting virtually all major federal departments and agencies. The testimony highlights (1) some examples from our March report; (2) needed improvements in the federal government's management and investment in information technology (IT); and (3) opportunities for achieving significant cost savings through improvements in government contracting.

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs Save Tax Dollars and Enhance Revenue written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs Save Tax Dollars and Enhance Revenue written by Government Accountability Office and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is based substantially upon work conducted for ongoing audits and previously completed GAO products, which were conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards or with GAO's quality assurance framework, as appropriate. We conducted the work for the overall report from February 2010 through February 2011. For issues being reported on for the first time, GAO sought comments from the agencies involved and incorporated those comments as appropriate. Appendix II contains additional details of our scope and methodology.

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation Overlap and Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality and Employment and Training Programs Testimony Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce U S House of Representatives written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation Overlap and Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality and Employment and Training Programs Testimony Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce House of Representatives GAO 11 509T written by Gene L. Dodaro and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This testimony discusses US Government Accountability Office's (GAO's) recent report entitled "Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue." This report delineates dozens of areas across government where fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication merit the attention of Congress and the Administration spanning a range of government missions: agriculture, defense, economic development, energy, general government, health, homeland security, international affairs, and social services. The report also describes other opportunities for federal departments, agencies or Congress to consider taking action on that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. Taking actions on these opportunities and reducing or eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more efficient and effective services. With regard to issues of specific interest to this Committee, GAO found fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in the areas of federal programs to improve teacher quality and employment and training. Each of these areas is characterized by a large number of programs with similar goals, beneficiaries, and allowable activities that are administered by multiple federal agencies. Fragmentation of programs exists when programs serve the same broad area of national need but are administered across different federal agencies or offices. Program overlap exists when multiple agencies or programs have similar goals, engage in similar activities or strategies to achieve them, or target similar beneficiaries. Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. Given the challenges associated with fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication, careful, thoughtful actions will be needed to address these issues. This testimony draws upon the results of our recently issued report and will address what is known about fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication among federal teacher quality and employment and training programs. It also addresses options for Congress to help minimize fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication and how it can use recent legislative tools to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of federal programs. (Contains 2 figures and 8 footnotes.).

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality Programs Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services Education and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives GAO 11 510T written by George A. Scott and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This testimony discusses the findings from our recent work on fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in federally funded programs that support teacher quality. We recently issued a report addressing fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in federal programs that outlined opportunities to reduce potential duplication across a wide range of federal programs, including teacher quality programs. Our recent work on teacher quality programs builds on a long history of work where we identified a number of education programs with similar goals, beneficiaries, and allowable activities that are administered by multiple federal agencies. This work may help inform congressional deliberations over how to prioritize spending given the rapidly building fiscal pressures facing our nation's government. In recent years, the Department of Education (Education) has faced expanded responsibilities that have challenged the department to strategically allocate resources to balance new duties with ongoing ones. For example, we reported the number of grants Education awarded increased from about 14,000 in 2000 to about 21,000 just 2 years later and has since remained around 18,000, even as the number of full-time equivalent staff decreased by 13 percent from fiscal years 2000 to 2009. New programs often increase Education's workload, requiring staff to develop new guidance and provide technical assistance to program participants. Our work examining fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication can help inform decisions on how to prioritize spending, which could also help Education address these challenges and better allocate scarce resources. In particular, our recent work identified 82 programs supporting teacher quality, which are characterized by fragmentation and overlap. Fragmentation of programs exists when programs serve the same broad area of national need but are administered across different federal agencies or offices. Program overlap exists when multiple agencies or programs have similar goals, engage in similar activities or strategies to achieve them, or target similar beneficiaries. Overlap and fragmentation among government programs or activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. Given the challenges associated with fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication, careful, thoughtful actions will be needed to address these issues. This testimony draws upon the results of our recently issued report and our past work and addresses (1) what is known about fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication among teacher quality programs; and (2) what are additional ways that Congress could minimize fragmentation, overlap, and duplication among these programs? We identified 82 distinct programs designed to help improve teacher quality administered across 10 federal agencies, many of which share similar goals. However, there is no governmentwide strategy to minimize fragmentation, overlap, or potential duplication among these programs. The fragmentation and overlap of teacher quality programs can frustrate agency efforts to administer programs in a comprehensive manner, limit the ability to determine which programs are most cost effective, and ultimately increase program costs. In addition, our larger body of work on federal education programs has also found a wide array of programs with similar objectives, target populations, and services across multiple federal agencies. In past work, GAO and Education's Inspector General have concluded that improved planning and coordination could help Education better leverage expertise and limited resources; however, given the large number of teacher quality programs and the extent of overlap, it is unlikely that improved coordination alone can fully mitigate the effects of the fragmented and overlapping federal effort. Sustained congressional oversight can also play a key role in addressing these issues. Congress could address these issues through legislation, particularly through the pending reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), and Education has already proposed combining 38 programs into 11 programs in its reauthorization and fiscal year 2012 budget proposals. Further, actions taken by Congress in the past demonstrate ways this Subcommittee can address these issues. However, effective oversight may be challenging as many of the programs we identified, especially smaller programs, have not been evaluated. Related GAO products are appended. (Contains 1 figure and 12 footnotes.).

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality Programs Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services Education and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Government Operations written by U S Government Accountability Office (G and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report supplements our March 1, 2011, report Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue--GAO's first annual report to Congress in response to a statutory requirement to identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives, either within departments or governmentwide, which have duplicative goals or activities. Section I of that report touched on hundreds of federal programs governmentwide that we found have similar or overlapping objectives, provide similar services to the same populations, or are involved in government missions that are fragmented across multiple agencies. As noted in our March 1 report, the presence of fragmentation and overlap can suggest the need to look more closely at the potential for unnecessary duplication. However, determining whether and to what extent programs are actually duplicative requires programmatic information that is often not readily available. In addition, while we have reported on examples where duplication, overlap, and fragmentation can hinder program performance and cause inefficiencies, we recognize that there could be instances where some degree of program duplication, overlap, or fragmentation may be warranted due to the nature or magnitude of the federal effort. For details on the extent to which we found the programs listed in this report to be fragmented, overlapping, or possibly duplicative. This report provides a more detailed listing of programs we identified in several areas discussed in our March 1 report.

Download or read book List of Selected Federal Programs That Have Similar Or Overlapping Objectives Provide Similar Services Or are Fragmented Across Government Missions written by Patricia Dalton and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A supplement to "Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue". Identifies federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives, either within departments or governmentwide, which have duplicative goals or activities. Section I of that report touched on hundreds of federal programs government-wide which were found to have similar or overlapping objectives, provide similar services to the same populations, or are involved in government missions that are fragmented across multiple agencies. This report provides a more detailed listing of programs that have been identified in several areas discussed in their March 1 report. Tables. This is a print on demand report.

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Fragmentation Overlap and Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality and Employment and Training Programs Testimony Before the Committee on Education and the Workforce House of Representatives written by United States. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality Programs written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-05-12 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Federal Teacher Quality Programs

Download or read book More Efficient and Effective Government written by U. S. Government Accountability Office ( and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We identified 51 areas in our 2012 annual report, including 32 areas of potential duplication, overlap, or fragmentation as well as 19 opportunities for agencies or Congress to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury. These areas involve a wide range of government missions including agriculture, defense, economic development, education, energy, general government, health, homeland security, international affairs, science and the environment, and social services. Within and across these missions, the 2012 annual report touches on virtually all major federal departments and agencies. We expanded the scope of our work for this year's report to focus on areas where a mix of federal approaches is used, such as tax expenditures, direct spending, and federal grant or loan programs.