Government Accountability Office Releases 2026 Annual Duplication Report
Reducing duplicative programs and services is a proven method of increasing the efficiency of any organization. On May 12, 2026, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its annual report on overlapping federal programs with duplicative or fragmented goals, which it has been doing since 2011. The 2026 report found 610 unresolved and 97 new matters and recommendations. According to GAO, full implementation of the open matters would save taxpayers at least $100 billion.
The new issues include improvements in healthcare sharing agreements between the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, fragmented anti-scam strategies across 13 federal agencies, and a lack of coordination on workforce development programs between the Departments of Education and Labor. To streamline and improve interagency coordination and efforts against government waste, GAO recommends establishing more interagency working groups and continuing development of a comprehensive program inventory that includes funding and performance information.
Some GAO recommendations align with those proposed by Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW). CAGW has consistently expressed its support for reauthorizing FirstNet. In its report, GAO indicated that FirstNet reauthorization will save taxpayers $15 billion over the next 15 years. For more than a decade, CAGW has called for increased oversight of the Department of Defense’s F-35 joint strike fighter and shipbuilding programs. The May 2026 GAO report echoes these concerns.
Other areas where GAO’s and CAGW’s recommendations are aligned include the need to sell underutilized federal property; facilitate the tax filing process; counteract fraudulent payments; reduce the number of duplicative federal broadband deployment programs; and improve overall government efficiency through increased use of shared services.
GAO states that by fully or partially addressing 1,662, or 77 percent of the 2,148 of its recommendations from 2011 to 2026, Congress and federal agencies have saved taxpayers $774.3 billion. This positive result should continue with the adoption of GAO’s unimplemented and new recommendations by Congress and federal agencies.
