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Open Recommendations (84 total)

National School Lunch Program: USDA Could Enhance Assistance to States and Schools in Providing Seafood to Students

GAO-23-105179
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should develop a plan to enhance its assistance to states and school food authorities in providing seafood to students through the National School Lunch Program. Actions described in such a plan could build upon information that GAO collected regarding factors that selected states and school food authorities said have affected their efforts to provide more seafood to students through the program. The plan could also incorporate USDA's experience and lessons learned from previous efforts aimed at enhancing the variety and availability of other food products, such as dairy products and unprocessed fruits and vegetables. (Recommendation 1)
Open
USDA agreed with our recommendation to develop a plan to enhance its assistance to states and school food authorities in providing seafood to students through the National School Lunch Program. Actions described in such a plan could build upon information that GAO collected regarding factors that selected states and school food authorities (SFAs) said have affected their efforts to provide more seafood to students through the program. USDA developed a plan with activities it carried out in 2023 that included updating some training and a food buying guide. The plan, however, does not discuss if and how the agency will the use the information GAO collected regarding factors that selected states and SFAs said affected their efforts to provide more seafood, nor does the plan identify agency activities beyond 2023, which would signal a continuing effort. In addition, the plan does not discuss the use of the domestic seafood vendors list that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will provide to USDA. Information on NOAA's domestic seafood vendor list would also allow states and SFA officials to identify local vendors on their own, which would also enable them to more easily purchase seafood directly. We will continue to monitor USDA efforts to implement this recommendation.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Strengthening Interagency Collaboration Could Help Inform Nutrition Research and Future Guidelines

GAO-24-106130
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics—as co-chair of the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research—fully incorporates seven leading interagency collaboration practices in order to better inform and prioritize DGA-related nutrition research. Actions to incorporate these practices could include ensuring that agency research plans are complementary and reflect the current desired outcomes and conducting an inventory of federal authorities, activities, and appropriations related to nutrition research that could inform the DGA development process. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In its written comments, USDA neither agreed nor disagreed with this recommendation. In February 2024, USDA indicated that with dedicated funds and resources, the Interagency Committee on Human Nutrition Research Committee could address the leading interagency collaboration practices and stated that it could establish and curate the inventory needed to support advancing human nutrition-related research to inform all public health research and policy, including the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. GAO will continue to monitor USDA's progress and provide additional information about the status of this recommendation. By fully incorporating leading interagency collaboration practices, USDA will be better able to ensure it has the research it needs to inform and prioritize future editions of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Federal Property: Improved Monitoring, Oversight, and Data Would Help Understand Effects of Providing Property to Non-Federal Recipients

GAO-20-101
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Office of Property and Fleet Management to establish clear processes to oversee property programs, including excess property provided to non-federal recipients across the agency. (Recommendation 4)
Open
As of March 2024, we are in coordination with the Office of Inspector General to obtain an update from USDA regarding the status of its efforts to implement this recommendation. We are awaiting a response and will update the status of this recommendation accordingly.

Agency Relocations: Following Leading Practices Will Better Position USDA to Mitigate the Ongoing Impacts on Its Workforce

GAO-23-104709
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Research, Education, and Economics Under Secretary should require ERS to more fully follow leading practices for training and development, such as planning for, designing, implementing, and evaluating training and development programs and efforts. (Recommendation 5)
Open
As of February 2024, GAO is assessing the actions reported by the agency.

Oil and Gas Pipelines: Agencies Should Improve Oversight of Decommissioning

GAO-24-106444
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Chief of the Forest Service should develop a documented plan to ensure the agency collects and maintains the data necessary to oversee the decommissioning of gathering lines. (Recommendation 7)
Open
The Forest Service agreed with this recommendation. We will update the status of the recommendation when we have more information.

IT Modernization: USDA Needs to Improve Oversight of Farm Production and Conservation Mission Area

GAO-21-512
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) directs the Business Center Chief Operating Officer to have the FPAC mission area implement the key IT workforce planning activity of monitoring the agency's progress in addressing competency and staffing gaps. (Recommendation 10)
Open
In August 2023, agency officials noted that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Workforce Steering Committee had updated the technical competencies for its IT workforce. Subsequently the FPAC Human Resources group used the updated competencies to develop a competency assessment process. However, agency officials stated that that the assessment process was put on hold. FPAC officials noted that in August 2023 they began the process of restarting the competency assessments. We will continue to review FPAC's progress in this area.

Meat and Poultry Worker Safety: OSHA Should Determine How to Address Persistent Hazards Exacerbated by COVID-19

GAO-23-105104
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture should ensure that the Food Safety and Inspection Service meets regularly with DOL's OSHA through their interagency workgroup to resolve longstanding collaboration challenges and incorporate leading collaboration practices. In incorporating these practices, the agencies should clearly define short and long-term outcomes, track and monitor progress towards these outcomes, and publicly report collaborative outcomes. (Recommendation 2)
Open
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) agreed with this recommendation and noted its commitment to partnering with OSHA and to doing a better job collaborating to resolve challenges. Specifically, FSIS stated that it is committed to clearly defining short- and long-term outcomes, tracking and monitoring progress, and publicly reporting collaborative outcomes related to meat and poultry worker safety. We laud these plans and, as FSIS and OSHA develop additional outcomes through their workgroup, we encourage them to clearly link these outcomes to the leading collaboration practices and to the challenges we identified in this report. In August 2023, DOL stated that OSHA plans to work with FSIS to employ the leading collaborative practices that are already in use to identify and track specific short- and long-term outcomes. As of April 2024, USDA had not provided additional updates on its efforts to implement the recommendation. We look forward to seeing the outcomes of FSIS's collaboration with OSHA as they implement this recommendation.

Broadband: USDA Should Set Performance Goals and Improve Fraud Risk Management for Funding Program

GAO-23-105265
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should direct ReConnect program officials to establish program specific performance goals and use them to manage the program. (Recommendation 1)
Open
Previously, USDA said it will develop performance goals for ReConnect. In January 2024, USDA officials said they expect to complete this work by the end of June 2024. GAO will continue to monitor the agency's progress in implementing this recommendation.

Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements

GAO-24-105980
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture The Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that the department (a) reviews the department's authorities related to applications of AI, and (b) develops and submits to OMB plans to achieve consistency with the Regulation of AI Applications memorandum (M-21-06). (Recommendation 8)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Rural Housing Service: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Farm Labor Housing Program Management and Oversight

GAO-11-329
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture To better ensure that requirements for tenant eligibility are met across the FLH portfolio, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator of RHS to require its loan servicers to use the Systematic Alien Verification and Entitlements (SAVE) program administered by the Department of Homeland Security to verify tenant's residency status during supervisory reviews.
Open
As of February 2024, USDA was taking steps to implement the use of electronic third-party verifications systems to establish tenant legal residency and income documentation. Officials reported that the draft rule incorporating the usage of Systematic Alien Verification and Entitlements (SAVE) program for verifying tenant residency is under departmental clearance review and they expect the rule to be finalized in late 2024. Officials reported they will not make any changes to its guidance to loans servicers on verifying tenants' residency until the rule is finalized. In addition, officials reported USDA is implementing a Computer Matching Agreement and System of Record Notice for verifying tenant income, which they anticipate will be finalized in 2024. We will continue to monitor USDA's progress in implementing our recommendation.
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