The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released its fiscal year 2025 Performance and Accountability Report, highlighting $62.7 billion in financial benefits for the federal government. GAO also recorded 1,295 non-financial benefits, driving operational improvements across federal programs including those dedicated to public safety, national security, and health care.
“I am pleased to present GAO’s FY 2025 Performance and Accountability Report, reflecting the significant work of our dedicated staff and the agency’s extensive contributions to congressional oversight, legislative decision-making, and improvements in federal government performance,” said Orice Williams Brown, Acting Comptroller General of the United States. “These results underscore our mission to serve the Congress and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the American people.”
In FY 2025, GAO received 538 requests for work from 90 percent of the full committees of the Congress—delivering high-quality, nonpartisan, independent, and impactful work on a broad range of congressional interests and priorities.
Legislative Impacts: In FY 2025, Congress incorporated GAO work into enacted legislation, some with potential long-term budgetary effects including provisions in Public Law 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. For example, the act:
- Sets new limits on how states use taxes on health care providers to fund their share of Medicaid costs. These changes would save an estimated $191 billion in the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
- Directs the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a system allowing states to submit Social Security numbers for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees. This will help ensure individuals are not enrolled in multiple state programs and save an estimated $17 billion over 10 years, according to CBO.
GAO’s work also informed provisions in the Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2025 related to service member nutrition and food quality, shipbuilding costs, and cybersecurity requirements. Additionally, the Financial Management Risk Reduction Act incorporated GAO recommendations to enhance audit oversight and analytics that will improve oversight of trillions of dollars.
Additional highlights of this year’s work include:
Financial Benefits: Some of GAO’s largest financial benefits involved fraud prevention, defense programs, and federal health care spending. The most significant savings included:
- $16.6 billion associated with strengthened fraud controls in the Small Business Administration’s COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
- $15.7 billion in Medicaid savings tied to changes in budget neutrality policies governing demonstration projects.
- $5 billion resulting from accelerated radioactive waste cleanup at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
- $4 billion from Department of Defense actions addressing cost and schedule risks in a classified acquisition program.
GAO estimates that additional financial benefits could be realized if open recommendations and matters for congressional consideration are implemented. As of the end of FY 2025, GAO estimated that open recommendations could yield between at least $132 billion and $251 billion in future savings.
Improving Government Operations: GAO recorded 1,295 non-financial benefits, driving operational improvements across federal programs. These include actions to improve air traffic control modernization oversight, enhance pedestrian safety tests for new cars, strengthen child trafficking prevention efforts, and improve regulatory requirements and ensure veterans’ appropriate access to prescribed controlled substances.
National Security, Technology, and Cyber Resilience: GAO’s FY 2025 work addressed military readiness, defense acquisition, cybersecurity, emerging technologies, and critical infrastructure. Since 2010, GAO has made over 4,000 cybersecurity recommendations, with approximately 84 percent implemented. GAO also expanded its science and technology portfolio, issuing technology assessments, science and technology trend papers, and products on emerging issues such as generative AI, quantum computing, and extracting critical minerals from seawater.
The original announcement can be found here.
Read the full GAO report here.