GAO warns on government duplication, overlap

In yet another warning to Congress about waste from duplicative, fragmented and overlapping federal government programs, the Government Accountability Office gave lawmakers even more examples of where money could be saved with some changes to how Uncle Sam operates.

For example, the 283 page report pointed out that three agencies deal with inspections of catfish, and there is $14 million in potential savings if that is streamlined.

Other items in the report include examples of where separate arms of the Department of Homeland Security were researching the same thing - without anyone realizing it.

The report said that "two DHS components awarded five separate contracts that each addressed detection of the same chemical. Moreover, DHS did not have the policies and mechanisms necessary to coordinate or track research and development activities across the department."

Here are other examples as highlighted by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), who has repeatedly called for the federal government to save billions by dealing with overlapping and duplicative programs:

+ 679 renewable energy initiatives at 23 federal agencies and their 130 sub-agencies cost taxpayers $15 billion in FY 2010.

+ 76 programs to prevent or treat drug abuse are spread across 15 agencies, costing $4.5 billion in FY 2012.

+ Three federal offices are involved in overseeing catfish inspections.

+ 159 contracting organizations in 10 different Defense Department components provide defense foreign language support. GAO estimates $50 to $200 million in potential savings by eliminating this duplication.

+ The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) offers 69 different language services. GAO found 23 instances of overlap involving 43 of these services, accounting for $149 million, or nearly 20 percent, of the BBG’s FY 2011 annual appropriations.

+ 21 programs, including eight tax expenditures, are in place to help students save for, pay, and repay the cost of higher education, annually costing $45 billion, $104 billion in financial loans, and $25 billion in lost revenue from tax spending.

+ Six programs to employ and train veterans are operated by two government agencies, which spent $1.2 billion in FY 2011 to serve 880,000 participants. The GAO found, “Despite these efforts, the unemployment rate for veterans who have recently separated from the military is higher than that for other veterans and nonveterans.”

One of the more interesting items I saw in the report was about a small government agency in the Commerce Department, the National Technical Information Service.

Evidently, they sell federal reports. They reported revenue in 2011 of $1.5 million.

Way back in 2001, the GAO issued a report on NTIS, saying many reports were available for free via other sources; the GAO says about 75% of the reports sold today can be found online for free - just by doing a simple web search.

I went to the NTIS website to see for myself, and sure enough, they were advertising a $35 electronic copy of the 2013 Economic Report of the White House, that was sent to the Congress in March.

You could buy a special CD of it for $50 or a color printed document for $99.