In a scathing report that could fuel additional budget-cutting fervor, the Government Accountability Office has uncovered massive duplication and overlapping activities among federal agencies.

In an almost 400-page document, GAO identified billions of dollars in potential savings in some 81 areas. The Congressional watchdog agency spotted cases where “agencies, offices or initiatives have similar or overlapping objectives or programs” ranging from agriculture, economic development, energy, health care, homeland security and the Defense Department.

The document, released Tuesday, is the first annual report to Congress required under a new law seeking to identify programs, agencies and initiatives that have duplicate goals or activities.

GAO did not provide a total estimate of savings, although Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK – who pushed for the report – said the estimate is at least $100 billion.

“This report confirms what most Americans assume about their government,” Coburn is quoted in a press release issued by his office. “We are spending billions of dollars every year and nobody knows what we are doing. The executive branch doesn’t know. The congressional branch doesn’t know. Nobody knows.”

According to a Wall Street Journal summary of the full report, the GAO found:



- 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality

- 80 programs to provide transportation for disadvantaged people

- 47 program for job training and employment

- 56 programs to help people understand finances

- 18 federal programs spent $62.5 billion in 2008 on food and nutrition although the results were virtually unknown and unstudied

- The Department of Transportation spent $58 billion on 100 different programs to fund highway, rail and safety projects. GAO concluded that the programs “have not evolved to reflect current priorities.”

- The Defense Department has 130,000 military and government medical professionals, 59 hospitals and hundreds of clinics that could benefit from consolidating administration, management and clinical functions.

- A broader restructuring of how the Defense Department manages its health care system could save $460 million.

- Some $5.7 billion could be saved annually by addressing duplicative policies for boosting ethanol production.



The Coburn news release added several additional areas uncovered by the GAO:



- At least five departments, eight agencies and more than two dozen

presidential appointees oversee $6.48 billion to combat bioterrorism with,

per the GAO, “no national plan to coordinate federal, state and local efforts.”



- The federal government runs 80 economic development programs across four

agencies at a cost of $6.5 billion with little evidence of success or impact.



- The military wastes billions on duplication and overlap, Coburn noted. He

said, for example, both the Army and Air Force manage transportable base

equipment – mobile housing and dining facilities – that could be used by both but are not.



The GAO concluded that “even limited adjustments could result in significant savings, considering the amount of program dollars involved.”