The Department of Education would be required to provide a timeline for implementation of a backlog of Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommendations under bipartisan legislation recently introduced by U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN).
The Department of Education would also be required to report to Congress on the status of all outstanding GAO recommendations, and to provide justification for any that have not been implemented, under the bill.
“Congress has a responsibility to conduct robust oversight of federal agencies,” Young said. “This new set of oversight measures would hold the department accountable for inaction on streamlining and improving key areas of its operations. Ultimately, the federal government is accountable to the American people and has a duty to constantly seek improvements for its own operations.”
Outstanding GAO recommendations include things like data center optimization to address inconsistencies in reported savings, steps to use cost estimates of service contracts more effectively, steps to improve oversight of the 21st Century Program, and steps to improve oversight of grants monitoring.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he joined Young in introducing the bill because he believes that agencies need to be more transparent and efficient.
“The Department of Education has a responsibility to make improvements to better serve the taxpayers, and our legislation will require them to move forward on 12 important recommendations from the GAO,” Manchin said. “Our future depends on educating our children, and I will do everything in my power to hold the Department of Education accountable to ensure their success.”