Money On The Table: Government Wastes Billions By Not Listening To IGs, Report Says
Photo Credit: APFederal agencies are forfeiting billions of dollars by failing to implement the recommendations of their inspectors general, according to a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report.
The report, released Tuesday, estimates that executive agencies could have saved more than $67 billion in 2012 by implementing thousands of recommendations from their inspectors general.
The report notes that the number of unimplemented recommendations rose by about 50 percent over the past four years, while the potential savings lost more than doubled. Almost 11,000 recommendations, at a potential savings of almost $30 billion, were left on the table in 2009; in 2012, close to 17,000 recommendations were neglected at a potential loss of more than $67 billion.
The report comes as mandatory, across-the-board budget cuts totaling $85 billion for the fiscal year are beginning to take effect. The Oversight Committee keyed the release of the report to a Tuesday morning hearing on the implementation of recommendations by the Transportation and Education Departments’ inspectors general.
“With my partners on both sides of the dais, today we’re starting a much greater dialogue with our IGs, a much greater dialogue with the changes that need to be made if in fact government, outside of this body in the executive branch, can do better, do quicker, to save the taxpayers money,” Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) said in his opening statement.
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