What GAO Found In May 2024, GAO identified five priority recommendations for the Department of Education. Since then, Education implemented one recommendation by taking steps to provide more accurate information on the frequency and prevalence of restraint (restricting a student's movement) and seclusion (confining a student to a space alone) incidents in schools. In May 2025, GAO identified four additional priority recommendations for Education, bringing the total number to eight. These priority recommendations involve the following areas: improving the federal student aid system, managing financial risks associated with charter school management organizations, and protecting sensitive information. Education's attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations. Why GAO Did This Study Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015 GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations. For more information, contact Cindy Brown Barnes at brownbarnesc@gao.gov.

What GAO Found The Department of Defense's (DOD) two managed care support contractors generally processed TRICARE claims for care provided between 2018 and 2023 within required timeliness standards. The claims process involves determining payment amounts to civilian health care providers, including behavioral health providers. DOD's timeliness standards require contractors to process 98 percent of TRICARE claims within 30 days, and 100 percent of claims within 90 days. Although DOD does not apply these standards to specific provider types, GAO separately analyzed the nearly 28 million claims from behavioral health providers over the 6-year period. GAO found that almost 90 percent were processed in 30 days. In addition, the percentage of claims processed within 30 and 90 days generally increased each year (see figure for the 3 most recent years). Time to Process TRICARE Claims Submitted by Behavioral Health Providers for Care Provided in Calendar Years 2021-2023, by Managed Care Support Contractor To oversee TRICARE payment accuracy, DOD monitored internal and external audit reports of randomly sampled claims from all types of providers, including behavioral health providers. DOD assessed contractor performance on all audited claims against the payment accuracy standards—which require payment error rates to not exceed between 2 and 1.75 percent, depending on the year of the contract—and took action when necessary. Across the audit reports from 2018 through 2023, claims from behavioral health providers made up between 1 and 8 percent of audited claims. DOD's oversight actions were consistent with its oversight goal for early identification and resolution of performance issues, and with a recommended practice from the Office of Management and Budget and prior GAO work that federal agencies use multiple sources of evidence to support decision-making. Why GAO Did This Study To support military deployments and provide health care, including behavioral health care, DOD operates a health system known as TRICARE. This system offers behavioral health and other services to over nine million eligible beneficiaries in military hospitals and clinics, or through authorized civilian providers in the private sector. The Conference Report 118-301 accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 includes a provision for GAO to report on TRICARE's payments to civilian network behavioral health providers. This report examines (1) the timeliness of TRICARE claims processing and (2) DOD's oversight of payment accuracy to all civilian providers, including behavioral health providers. GAO reviewed relevant documents, such as DOD and contractor reports for timeliness and accuracy, and DOD's oversight plans for the TRICARE contracts. GAO also analyzed time frames for processing claims from behavioral health providers from 2018 through 2023 and audit findings on payment accuracy. Finally, GAO interviewed DOD officials with oversight responsibilities of TRICARE's contractors, contractor staff, and four selected behavioral health provider groups who participate in TRICARE. GAO compared DOD's oversight activities to a DOD goal and a recommended practice. For more information, contact Sharon Silas at silass@gao.gov.

What GAO Found GAO identified 148 new matters and recommendations in 43 new topic areas for Congress or federal agencies to improve efficiency and effectiveness of government. For example: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and 24 federal agencies should implement statutory requirements for annual IT portfolio reviews and high-risk IT investment reviews, which could result in one hundred million dollars or more in cost savings by reducing duplicative IT investments and halting or terminating investments, when appropriate. The Space Development Agency should fully demonstrate its space-based laser communications technology in each iterative development phase before progressing, potentially saving hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 years. The Department of Defense should take steps to incorporate data analytics into its fraud risk management strategy and improve the usability of fraud investigative information to support fraud risk management and potentially save one hundred million dollars or more. OMB and General Services Administration should join Congress in taking steps to help ensure the Federal Audit Clearinghouse contains quality single audit information, which could reduce risk and resolve deficiencies in federal award spending by hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts should better manage fragmentation by collaborating with relevant stakeholders when updating design standards for constructing federal courthouses, and reassess changes made to those standards to potentially avoid cost increases of tens of millions of dollars. Congress should clarify the Department of Energy's waste management authority at the Hanford site. Energy should also pause work at a waste treatment facility at the site—as it previously did with other types of waste—until it takes several actions, potentially saving billions of dollars. The Department of Interior could prevent continued productivity losses and cost overruns from a failed data system development and improve its compliance activities to verify federal oil and gas royalties, potentially increasing collections by tens of millions of dollars per year. As of March 2025, Congress and agencies had fully addressed 1,460 (71 percent) of the 2,049 matters and recommendations GAO identified from 2011-2025 and partially addressed 130 (about 6 percent). This has resulted in financial and other benefits such as improved interagency coordination and reduced mismanagement, fraud, waste, and abuse. As shown in the figure below, these efforts have cumulatively resulted in about $725 billion in financial benefits, an increase of about $57 billion from GAO's last report on this topic. These are rough estimates based on a variety of sources that considered different time periods and used different data sources, assumptions, and methodologies. Total Financial Benefits of $725 Billion Identified in GAO's 2011-2025 Duplication and Cost Savings Annual Reports Further steps are needed to fully address the matters and recommendations GAO identified from 2011 to 2025. Of the 589 open matters and recommendations, 170 (about 29 percent) have the potential for financial benefits. Legislation was introduced in the 118th or 119th Congress to address 27 (about 33 percent) of the 83 open matters. As of February 2025, the legislation had not been enacted. GAO estimates that fully addressing the remaining open matters and recommendations could yield financial benefits of one hundred billion dollars or more and improved governmental services, among other benefits. Examples of Open Topic Areas with Potential Financial Benefits Topic area and description (GAO report number linked) Mission Potential financial benefits (source of estimate) *Medicare Payments by Place of Service: Congress could realize additional financial benefits if it took steps to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to equalize payment rates between settings for evaluation and management office visits and other services that the Secretary deems appropriate. (GAO-16-189) Health $156.9 billion over 10 years (Congressional Budget Office) *Public-Safety Broadband Network: Congress should consider reauthorizing FirstNet, including different options for its placement, and ensure key statutory and contract responsibilities are addressed before current authorities sunset in 2027. (GAO-22-104915) Information Technology $15 billion over 15 yearsa (GAO analysis of the FirstNet Contract) *Individual Retirement Accounts: Congress should consider revisiting the use of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) to accumulate large balances and consider ways to improve the equity of the existing tax expenditure on IRAs. (GAO-15-16) General Government Ten billion dollars or more (Joint Committee on Taxation and the Department of the Treasury) *Disability and Unemployment Benefits: Congress should consider passing legislation to require the Social Security Administration to offset Disability Insurance benefits for any Unemployment Insurance benefits received in the same period. (GAO-14-343SP) Income Security $2.2 billion over 10 years (Office of Management and Budget) Legend: * = Legislation is likely to be necessary to fully address all matters or recommendations in this topic area. Source: GAO. | GAO-25-107604 Note: The potential financial benefits shown in this table represent estimates of amounts GAO or others believe could accrue if steps are taken to implement the actions described. The estimates are dependent on various factors, such as whether action is taken and how it is taken. Realized financial benefits may be less, depending on costs associated with implementing the action, unintended consequences, and the effect of controlling for other factors. The individual estimates in this table should be compared with caution, as they come from a variety of sources, which consider different time periods and use different data sources, assumptions, and methodologies. aIf FirstNet sunsets, it is unclear what will happen to the remaining $15 billion in scheduled annual payments, which FirstNet currently has authority to collect and reinvest. Why GAO Did This Study GAO annually reports on federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives—either within departments or government-wide—that have potentially duplicative goals or activities. As part of this work, GAO also identifies additional opportunities for greater efficiency and effectiveness that result in cost savings or enhanced revenue collection. This report discusses new opportunities for achieving billions of dollars in potential financial benefits and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a wide range of federal programs. It also evaluates the status of prior matters for congressional consideration and recommendations for federal agencies related to the Duplication and Cost Savings body of work. In addition, this report provides examples of other, still open matters and recommendations where further implementation steps could yield significant financial and other benefits. For more information, contact Jessica Lucas-Judy at lucasjudyj@gao.gov or Michelle Sager at sagerm@gao.gov.

What GAO Found Across demographic groups, labor market outcomes for older workers were generally resilient in the COVID-19 pandemic's wake, with older workers' employment outcomes returning to pre-pandemic levels after an initial spike in unemployment. The unemployment rate for workers aged 55–64 peaked at 12.6 percent in April 2020 and had returned to its pre-pandemic level of 2.2 percent by April 2023, according to GAO's analysis of Current Population Survey data from 2017 to 2023. Further, older workers were more likely to report that they were unemployed because they had lost their job or been laid off, and they were also more likely to have exited the labor force by retiring. Younger workers (aged 25–54) were more likely to report that they were unemployed because a temporary job had ended or because they left a job. GAO found that existing differences by demographic group generally persisted, such as more highly educated older workers having higher labor force participation. During the pandemic, older workers' personal finances generally remained relatively steady. The rate of Social Security retirement benefit claims by workers who were near the full retirement age decreased during the first 3 months of the pandemic, according to GAO's analysis of Social Security Administration data. In late 2020, the rate of benefit claiming for those near full retirement age increased, eventually exceeding pre-pandemic levels, according to GAO's analysis. The prevalence of households aged 55 or over that had retirement accounts, and the value of those accounts, held relatively steady between 2019 and 2022, according to GAO's analysis of Survey of Consumer Finances data. However, differences persisted in the value of assets held by income quartile (see figure), as well as by some demographic groups, including differences by education, race, and gender. Estimated Median Total Value of Assets Held by Older Households (Aged 55–64), by Income Group The 25 experts who responded to GAO's written questionnaire generally favored policy options that could most effectively boost older workers' employability. Among the options favored by 12 or more experts was a policy option suggesting that the Department of Labor identify and report on the legal, regulatory, logistical, or other barriers to the employment of older workers. Experts also favored a policy option that the Department of Labor offer targeted support, such as improving the agency's existing job-search assistance programs for older job seekers. Why GAO Did This Study The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant nationwide economic disruptions. Older adults, particularly those close to or already in retirement, may have faced a greater financial burden because they did not have sufficient time to rebuild retirement savings. The CARES Act includes a provision for GAO to monitor federal efforts in response to the pandemic. This report describes: (1) how trends in older workers' employment status and duration varied from 2017-2023 and demographic differences among worker subpopulations; (2) how older workers' personal finances, including Social Security benefit claiming rates, changed; and (3) what policy options experts identified that could enhance the outcomes of discouraged or unemployed older workers. GAO used Current Population Survey monthly data from 2017 to 2023 to analyze labor force participation rates and employment trends for older and younger workers. Using the most recent data available, GAO examined retirement account balances and total assets held by older households using Survey of Consumer Finances data and analyzed claims for retirement benefits using Social Security Administration administrative data. GAO also sent a written questionnaire to 32 experts, asking them to identify policies likely to help discouraged or unemployed older workers. For more information, contact Kris Nguyen at nguyentt@gao.gov.