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Open Recommendations

Regulatory Flexibility Act: Improved Policies for Analysis and Training Could Enhance Compliance
GAO-25-106950
Apr 10, 2025
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6 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Small Business Administration The Administrator of SBA should develop and implement policies and procedures for complying with the Regulatory Flexibility Act. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Health and Human Services The Secretary of Health and Human Services should revise HHS's Regulatory Flexibility Act policies and procedures to more fully incorporate elements recommended by the Office of Advocacy, OMB, and GAO for conducting certification and regulatory flexibility analyses, such as considering beneficial and indirect impacts on small entities. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Energy The Secretary of Energy should revise Energy's Regulatory Flexibility Act policies and procedures to incorporate statutory requirements and elements recommended by the Office of Advocacy, OMB, and GAO for conducting certification and regulatory flexibility analyses, such as considering beneficial and indirect impacts on small entities. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Environmental Protection Agency The Administrator of EPA should revise EPA's Regulatory Flexibility Act policies and procedures to more fully incorporate elements recommended by the Office of Advocacy, OMB, and GAO for conducting certification and regulatory flexibility analyses, such as considering beneficial and indirect impacts on small entities. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of Advocacy The Chief Counsel of the Office of Advocacy should develop and implement policies and procedures for providing training to agencies on Regulatory Flexibility Act compliance, including mechanisms to identify agencies most in need of training and agencies that have not received it for an extended period. (Recommendation 5)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Office of Advocacy The Chief Counsel of the Office of Advocacy should develop one or more performance goals that more clearly link with its strategic objective of training rulemaking officials throughout the government. (Recommendation 6)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Passport Processing: State Department Should Identify Milestones and Resource Needs for Its Plans to Avoid Future Delays
GAO-25-107164
Mar 27, 2025
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of State The Secretary of State should ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs defines milestones for all Transformation Roadmap projects to enable the tracking of progress in implementation. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of State The Secretary of State should ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs determines the resources needed to implement the Transformation Roadmap. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

DOD Real Property: Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Underutilized and Excess Facilities [Reissued with revisions on Mar. 11, 2025]
GAO-25-106132
Mar 11, 2025
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5 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, in coordination with the military services, holds DOD's components and personnel accountable for implementing utilization rate guidance and developing actions to enforce that guidance consistently and accurately for all facilities across the military services. (Recommendation 1)
Open
The department concurred with the recommendation. We will update the status of this recommendation when DOD provides its 180-day letter (expected in fall 2025).
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Secretary of the Army, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, issues detailed guidance on how to assess and manage risks associated with real property, including determining how to weigh competing priorities relating to sustainment, use, and disposal of property. (Recommendation 2)
Open
The department concurred with the recommendation. We will update the status of this recommendation when DOD provides its 180-day letter (expected in fall 2025).
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Secretary of the Navy, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, issues detailed guidance to the Navy on how to assess and manage risks associated with real property, including determining how to weigh competing priorities relating to sustainment, use, and disposal of property. (Recommendation 3)
Open
The department partially concurred with the recommendation. DOD suggested combining this recommendation with recommendation 4 under the Secretary of the Navy because the recommended action more appropriately aligns with the authority and responsibility of the Navy and Marine Corps as a single military department. GAO amended the recommendations and clarified the responsible designee but kept them as separate recommendations in keeping with GAO's practice of presenting a separate recommendation to each entity. We will update the status of this recommendation when DOD provides its 180-day letter (expected in fall 2025).
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Secretary of the Navy, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment and the Commandant of the Marine Corps, issues detailed guidance to the Marine Corps on how to assess and manage risks associated with real property, including determining how to weigh competing priorities relating to sustainment, use, and disposal of property. (Recommendation 4)
Open
The department partially concurred with the recommendation. DOD suggested combining this recommendation with recommendation 3 under the Secretary of the Navy because the recommended action more appropriately aligns with the authority and responsibility of the Navy and Marine Corps as a single military department. GAO amended the recommendations and clarified the responsible designee but kept them as separate recommendations in keeping with GAO's practice of presenting a separate recommendation to each entity. We will update the status of this recommendation when DOD provides its 180-day letter (expected in fall 2025).
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Secretary of the Air Force, in coordination with the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, issues detailed guidance on how to assess and manage risks associated with real property, including determining how to weigh competing priorities relating to sustainment, use, and disposal of property. (Recommendation 5)
Open
The department concurred with the recommendation. We will update the status of this recommendation when DOD provides its 180-day letter (expected in fall 2025).

Federal Protective Service: Actions Needed to Address Critical Guard Oversight and Information System Problems
GAO-25-108085
Mar 11, 2025
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Federal Protective Service The Director of FPS should develop standardized procedures and guidance to improve the quality and consistency of its covert testing data, which could include data quality checks, guidance for staff to improve the consistency and comparability of reporting, and a process for identifying and documenting a specific cause for each test failure. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Federal Protective Service The Director of FPS should develop guidance to ensure that, when contract guards fail covert tests, security guard contractors consistently provide training or other corrective actions that address the identified cause for the failed covert test. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Federal Protective Service The Director of FPS should develop and implement a process to regularly analyze covert testing information and use that analysis to inform actions that will improve contract guards' detection capabilities. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of Homeland Security The DHS Chief Information Officer should determine whether to terminate and replace PTS, or make corrective actions to the existing system, including a schedule for providing tenants with timely communication of guard shortages. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
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