Managing Risk, Improving Results: Lessons for Improving Government Management from GAO’s High Risk List

For more than a quarter century, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has been highlighting and tracking a handful of programs that it judges as being at high risk for waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.

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By

Donald F. Kettl

Professor Emeritus and Former Dean

University of Maryland School of Public Policy dfkettl52@gmail.com

That list has grown from 14 programs in 1990 to 32 by 2015, when it was last updated.  These programs range from Medicare benefits to food safety oversight.

Dr. Kettl, one of the nation’s most insightful observers of government operations, stepped back to review what changes in the high-risk list mean over time.  He explored:

  • what government can learn about how programs got onto GAO’s high-risk list,
  • what agencies did over the years to get their programs off the list, and
  • how to stay off the list in the first place

The report also describes instances where some agency leaders actively sought to have their programs placed on the list – and explains why.

Read the article in Federal Times.

Read the article in Federal Computer Week.

Read the article in Government Executive.

Read an article in Government Executive about a roundtable held by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on this issue.

Managing Risk Improving Results