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Open Recommendations (783 total)

Military Personnel: Additional Actions Needed to Address Gaps in Military Physician Specialties

GAO-18-77
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of the Air Force should use information on medical student performance to evaluate Air Force accession programs. (Recommendation 9)
Open
Air Force concurred with our recommendation. In October 2019, the Air Force reported it plans to annually track and analyze information regarding its AFHPSP medical students and it is in the process of performing its annual review. While the steps Air Force reported demonstrate progress toward fully implementing our recommendation, we believe that this recommendation should remain open until more progress is made. In November 2023, DOD reported it estimates this recommendation will be fully implemented by April 2024. We will continue to monitor DOD's actions to implement this recommendation.

Water Resources Projects: Army Corps of Engineers Can Further Enhance Acceleration of Feasibility Studies

GAO-19-561
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of the Army should direct the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to develop a plan to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of the agency's feasibility study acceleration reforms. (Recommendation 2)
Open
As of December 2023, officials from the Army Corps of Engineers told us they have made progress to implement this plan but have not yet completed all needed work. We will continue to monitor the Corps' progress.

Foreign Military Sales: Financial Oversight of the Use of Overhead Funds Needs Strengthening

GAO-18-553
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Director of DSCA works with DFAS to conduct regular reconciliations of the data that DSCA collects on DOD components' use of administrative funds, to help ensure that the data are reliable. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In May 2019, DSCA noted that it is undertaking an initiative to incorporate reconciliation capabilities into its oversight of components' use of FMS administrative funds. As of July 2023, DSCA informed us that efforts to implement this recommendation are ongoing. As of October 2023, we continue to monitor DOD's actions to implement this recommendation .

Defense Health Care Reform: DOD Needs Further Analysis of the Size, Readiness, and Efficiency of the Medical Force

GAO-16-820
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To strengthen ongoing efforts within DOD to address the Study's recommendations to use the provider model outputs to inform execution of health care delivery and to refine the model for future use, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) to modify DOD's model to reflect the military service of the physicians and military treatment facilities included in the model.
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. As of November 2023, DOD has not yet implemented this recommendation. DOD cited a series of subsequent studies to analyze and model provider allocation and MTF staffing since the time of this report, and noted the need to complete a number of ongoing or planned evaluations and studies on medical personnel requirements which will not be completed until December 2025.

Defense Science and Technology: Adopting Best Practices Can Improve Innovation Investments and Management

GAO-17-499
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense
Priority Rec.
To ensure that DOD is positioned to counter both near and far term threats, consistent with its S&T framework, the Secretary of Defense should direct the new Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to annually assess whether that mix is achieved.
Open
As of January 2023, DOD continues to disagree with this recommendation. In 2017 when our report was published, DOD stated that implementing them would be premature, since the Secretary of Defense had not made final decisions on the role of the new Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. In July 2018, DOD finalized the organizational structures, roles, and responsibilities for the new Under Secretary. Since then, the department's rationale for disagreeing with this recommendation has shifted. DOD now questions the merit of this recommendation, rather than just its timing. Specifically, DOD maintains that its existing structures provide the information that this recommendation seeks to furnish, despite our findings to the contrary. In the December 2022 Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, the congressional armed services committees summarized their views regarding risk information in DOD's research portfolio. Among other things, the Statement noted that DOD does not group research and development activities into incremental and disruptive efforts. Absent this practice, the Statement noted that DOD lacks visibility into the balance of risk versus payoff in its research and development portfolio, especially with regard to the potential to provide the cutting-edge technology needed to combat future and emerging threats. The Statement directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to provide a briefing to the congressional armed services committees by July 31, 2023, on how DOD assesses, manages, and balances risk within its research and development portfolio. According to the Statement, the briefing is to include an update on how DOD is implementing this recommendation and others from GAO-17-499.

Climate Resilience: Actions Needed to Ensure DOD Considers Climate Risks to Contractors as Part of Acquisition, Supply, and Risk Assessment

GAO-20-511
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, the Secretaries of the military departments, and any other governmental and private-sector partners, as appropriate, issue new or update existing guidance, based upon the determination of what approaches may be feasible, to clarify the steps that DOD officials involved in the mission assurance process may take to apply the mission assurance framework to commercially owned facilities, as appropriate, to include consideration of risks related to climate change and extreme weather. (Recommendation 6)
Open
DOD partially concurred with this recommendation. In its response, the department noted that it concurs with the need to clarify steps that officials may take to apply the mission assurance framework to defense critical infrastructure and critical defense industrial base commercially owned facilities, to include consideration of risks related to climate change and extreme weather. However, the department further noted that it does not concur with doing this for all commercial facilities because conducting such assessments for all commercially owned facilities falls outside the capacity and authority of DOD to conduct mission assurance assessments. However, we had not recommended they conduct such assessments for all commercial facilities. In January 2021, DOD officials stated that they would complete implementation of this recommendation by March 1, 2023. They noted that progress would be dependent on the ability of various internal and external forums to schedule, consider, and approve recommendations; the time needed to update DOD guidance; and the implementation of legislative changes supporting liability protection. As of June 2023, DOD had not provided GAO with any further updates on the status of this recommendation. We will continue to monitor DOD actions to implement this recommendation.

Southwest Border Security: Actions Are Needed to Address the Cost and Readiness Implications of Continued DOD Support to U.S. Customs and Border Protection

GAO-21-356
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense
Priority Rec.
The Secretary of Defense, together with the Secretary of Homeland Security, should define a common outcome for DOD's support to DHS, consistent with best practices for interagency collaboration, and articulate how that support will enable DHS to achieve its southwest border security mission in fiscal year 2021 and beyond. (Recommendation 7)
Open
DOD did not concur with this recommendation. DOD disagreed that it would be appropriate to develop a common outcome with DHS for DOD support beyond fiscal year 2021 and stated that agreeing to this recommendation would represent a more permanent and enduring commitment of its resources and may create an impression that DOD has a border security mission. We agree that DOD is not responsible for the border security mission and stated this point throughout our report. However, DOD and DHS's disagreement on the outcome for support in fiscal year 2021 and beyond is not consistent with the operational reality that DOD has actively supported DHS at the southern border in varying capacities since DHS's inception nearly two decades ago. In February 2023, DOD continued to disagree with this recommendation, citing that it does not commit to Defense Support of Civil Authorities missions for multiple years, especially if that support may be provided without reimbursement. DOD further stated that DHS reliance on its support presents a national security risk should DOD forces, capabilities, and resources be necessary for a major overseas contingency. However, DOD also provided examples of actions it took consistent with our recommendation. Specifically, DOD and DHS established a joint working group in June 2021, which developed a border security mitigation plan in August 2021. Then in July 2022 DOD approved DHS's fiscal year 2023 request for assistance under the condition that DHS engage with the Executive Office of the President and its congressional oversight committees to develop a plan and implement solutions to staffing and funding shortfalls to maintain border security absent the continued use of DOD personnel and resources starting in FY 2024. We believe this recommendation is still relevant and will continue to monitor the status, especially given that DOD has agreed to support DHS at the southwest border at least through fiscal year 2023 and approved a temporary increase in the number of service members supporting DHS in May 2023.

Operational Contract Support: Actions Needed to Enhance the Collection, Integration, and Sharing of Lessons Learned

GAO-15-243
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To help improve awareness of OCS roles and responsibilities and to collect OCS issues at the military services and the service component commands, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretaries of the military departments, in coordination with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to establish an OCS training requirement for commanders and senior leaders.
Open
DOD concurred with our recommendation. As of November 2023, DOD has taken steps to focus OCS training to all planners, including those outside the logistics directorate. In December 2015, the Joint Staff J7 certified the Joint OCS Planning and Execution (JOPEC) course of instruction for Joint training. The Joint Staff, per this training certification, is working with the Joint Deployment Training Center and the Joint Force Staff College to provide student administrative and course catalog support for future JOPEC training. In August 2020, OSD officials stated that they have secured funding for development of a new, online strategic-level OCS course, which they plan to develop, test, and field in 2021. Finally, OSD officials said that the updated OCS instruction, DODI 3020.41, will also address training for planners beyond the logistics directorate; officials stated in November 2023 that they are working to complete publication of the instruction but estimated that the latest target date for issuance is March 2024. We will continue to monitor these efforts will update this recommendation upon publication of the DOD Instruction 3020.41.

Military Hazing: DOD Should Address Data Reporting Deficiencies, Training Limitations, and Personnel Shortfalls

GAO-22-104066
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should take actions to ensure that the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Diversity Management Operations Center provide the military services with training measures that exhibit the characteristics specified in best practices that GAO identified for developing training programs and the attributes specified in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's report on harassment in the workplace. (Recommendation 7)
Open
DOD concurred with this recommendation. As of October, 2023, DOD stated that the department's efforts to update the Prevention Plan of Action with the 2021 IRC recommendations is to establish the broader Department's integrated primary prevention strategy. Upon completion of the Prevention Plan of Action, the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, will consider including training measures in the DoD Harassment Prevention Strategy (currently on hold), to include any additional training measures that exhibit the characteristics reflected in best practices GAO identified for developing training programs and the attributes specified in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission report on harassment in the workplace. DOD estimates that these actions will be complete in December 2025.

Sexual Assault: DOD and Coast Guard Should Ensure Laws Are Implemented to Improve Oversight of Key Prevention and Response Efforts

GAO-22-103973
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness—in collaboration with the Director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office and the Secretaries of the military departments—sets a timeframe to establish, and establishes, an evaluation plan and mechanisms for assessing the effectiveness of the SAPR program and related activities—such as policies and training—in achieving its intended outcomes, as required by section 1602(c) and 1612(a) and (b) of the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2011 and section 545(a) of the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2017. (Recommendation 5)
Open
In March 2022, the Department of Defense concurred with this recommendation. As of May 2023, the department stated this recommendation has a future estimated date of completion but did not provide the estimated date. When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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