Page 1 GAO-24-107476 OSTP Priority Recommendations
Comptroller General
of the United States
August 15, 2024
The Honorable Arati Prabhakar
Director
Office of Science and Technology Policy
1650 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20504
Priority Open Recommendations: Office of Science and Technology Policy
Dear Director Prabhakar:
The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the Office of Science
and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) implementation of GAO’s recommendations and to call your
continued personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high
priority.
1
In November 2023, we reported that, on a government-wide basis, 75 percent of our
recommendations made 4 years ago were implemented.
2
As of July 2024, OSTP had eight
open recommendations. Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly
improve OSTP’s operations.
Since our May 2023 letter, OSTP has implemented two of our seven previously identified priority
open recommendations:
• As of March 2024, OSTP provided information demonstrating it had implemented leading
practices that enhance and sustain collaboration, consistent with what we outlined in our
November 2019 report on public access to research results. By taking steps to fully
implement the leading collaboration practices GAO has identified, OSTP and the
subcommittee member agencies are better able to effectively marshal their collective efforts
to support public access to research results.
• In June 2024, the National Science and Technology Council, in coordination with OSTP,
issued a progress report on the Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem strategic plan,
summarizing agencies’ investments and activities towards the national objectives outlined in
1
Priority recommendations are those that GAO believes warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or
agencies. They are highlighted because, upon implementation, they may significantly improve government
operations, for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making
progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue.
2
GAO did not make any recommendations to OSTP in fiscal year 2019. Therefore, a comparable four-year
implementation rate cannot be determined for OSTP. GAO, Performance and Accountability Report: Fiscal Year
2023, GAO-24-900483 (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 15, 2023).
