97 New Ways Washington Pays Twice.
$100 Billion Sitting on the Table.
On May 12, 2026, the Government Accountability Office published GAO-26-108505 — the 16th edition of its flagship annual report on duplication, overlap, and fragmentation across the federal government. The headline number: an additional $100 billion or more in financial benefits available if Congress and agencies act on what GAO has already documented.
The 2026 report adds 97 new matters for congressional consideration and recommendations to federal agencies — on top of the 2,148 GAO has issued since the series began in 2011. To date, 1,662 of those (77%) have been fully or partially addressed, producing $774.3 billion in cumulative realized savings and revenue increases, a $49.3 billion jump from last year's tally. FedScoop pegs the upper-range estimate of unrealized savings at $132 billion to $251 billion.
GAO has been publishing this report — under direct statutory mandate from Public Law 111-139 — for fifteen consecutive years. The recommendations are documented. The implementation rate is bipartisan. The agencies have been told, on the record, where their own programs are paying for the same service twice. The failure to act is the story.
- $100B+potential additional benefitsGAO's estimate of financial benefits available if the remaining open matters and recommendations are implemented — per the 2026 report title itself.
- 97new matters & recommendationsBrand-new actions added in the 2026 edition alone — across VA, DoD, DHS, OMB, GSA, FBI, HHS, and more.
- $774.3Brealized so farCumulative financial benefits already produced by GAO duplication recommendations since 2011 — a $49.3B increase from the 2025 report.
- 1,662 of 2,148addressed (77%)Matters and recommendations Congress and agencies have fully or partially implemented since 2011. The other 23% are the open lane.
- $132B–$251BFedScoop upper-rangeIndependent reporting on the high end of unrealized savings if every open recommendation were fully implemented.
Fragmentation:More than one federal agency — or more than one office inside the same agency — is involved in pursuing the same broad national goal. Example: 13 separate agencies running STEM education programs without a unified strategy.
Overlap: Multiple agencies or programs offer similar services to similar populations. Example: nine federal agencies run homelessness assistance programs with overlapping eligibility rules.
Duplication: Two or more agencies are delivering the same service to the same beneficiaries. This is the cleanest waste — same taxpayer, same service, two invoices.
GAO has used these three categories since the series launched in 2011. The 2026 edition (GAO-26-108505) catalogs how many programs fall into each — and how many billions are wasted because Washington has not consolidated them.
“We've already shown these recommendations can deliver real results — hundreds of billions in savings and improved services. What this work makes clear is that even more is within reach if additional recommendations are implemented.”
Orice Williams Brown · Acting Comptroller General of the United States · May 12, 2026
The 2026 report adds 97 brand-new matters across the federal government. Government Executive's reporting and the GAO press release name a representative sample: the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense should identify additional opportunities to share healthcare resources (the two agencies serve overlapping veteran and active-duty populations and have spent more than a decade failing to consolidate); the FBI should lead a governmentwide anti-scam strategy because consumer-fraud responsibility is currently smeared across FTC, FBI, SSA OIG, Treasury, and a half-dozen others; the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration should jointly oversee shared services so the 24 CFO Act agencies stop building parallel payroll, travel, and HR IT systems; the Department of Homeland Security should consolidate its human-resources IT systems (it currently runs several).
New fragmentation areas flagged in 2026 include: public health emergency response, maternal health programs, mental health services for service members transitioning to civilian life, management of the Strategic National Stockpile, DHS counter-narcotics investigations, DoD counter-narcotics programs, public-health IT systems, federal food bank programs, homelessness assistance programs, services for older adults, military-to-civilian transition programs, and federal training, employment and education programs. Every one of those is funded twice. Sometimes three times. Sometimes by agencies that have never spoken to each other.
2,148 matters and recommendations issued by GAO since 2011 under the duplication-and-cost-savings mandate. Each one identifies a specific fragmentation, overlap, or duplication problem and proposes a specific fix.
1,662 (77%) have been fully or partially addressed by Congress or agencies. This is the rare federal accountability metric where bipartisan implementation is the norm, not the exception.
$774.3 billionin cumulative financial benefits realized to date — up $49.3 billion from the 2025 report. That is real money already saved or generated by closing duplicative programs and consolidating services.
$100 billion or more in additional benefits available if the remaining open recommendations are implemented — the figure embedded in the report's title. FedScoop, working from the same GAO disclosures, reports the upper-range estimate at $132 billion to $251 billion.
For scale: GAO's entire annual budget is roughly $812 million. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation calculates the agency returns roughly $76 in taxpayer benefits for every $1 spent on it. The 2024 work alone identified $67.5 billion in savings or efficiencies.
Gene L. Dodaro — Comptroller General of the United States for the previous 15 years — stepped down December 30, 2025 when his single 15-year statutory term expired. Orice Williams Brown, a 35-year GAO veteran and the agency's Chief Operating Officer, was designated Acting Comptroller General by Dodaro on his way out the door — an authority the statute gives the outgoing CG, not the President. President Trump has the nomination authority for the permanent successor, but the Senate must confirm and Congress retains the removal power. CREW notes that during the two most recent transitions, acting Comptroller Generals served at least two years before a permanent successor was confirmed. Brown signed the 2026 duplication report. She is the one telling Washington where the $100 billion is.
“GAO's recommendations will continue to be utilized by the House Oversight Committee and Trump Administration to safeguard taxpayer dollars, combat waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement, and ensure federal programs are operating as designed for the American people.”
Chairman James Comer (R-KY) · House Oversight and Government Reform Committee · May 12, 2026
GAO is doing exactly what Congress chartered it to do. It identifies waste, names the programs, scores the savings, and publishes the receipts. Every May for fifteen years. The 77% implementation rate proves the recommendations are workable across administrations of both parties. The remaining 23% — 486 open matters as of March 2026 — is the lane where money keeps getting spent twice.
The broader context is uglier. GAO's separate April 27 improper-payments report pegged FY2025 federal improper payments at $186 billion — a $24 billion increase year over year — and noted cumulative improper payments since 2003 of $3 trillion. Nine of ten GAO recommendations to Congress on improper-payments transparency remain unaddressed. Duplication and improper payments are the same disease in two clinics: agencies running unconsolidated programs cannot reliably tell who has been paid for what.
Every dollar in the open GAO lane is a dollar Congress has been told, in writing, is recoverable. The Strategic National Stockpile fragmentation has been on GAO's books across multiple reports. The VA–DoD healthcare-sharing problem has been on GAO's books since the 2011 inaugural report. The shared-services duplication has been on GAO's books since OMB and GSA were given joint responsibility years ago. The agency does the work. Washington does not move the money.
GAO has handed Congress 2,148 specific ways to stop paying for the same federal service twice. 1,662 of them have already produced $774 billion in real savings. The 486 still open — including 97 new ones added today — are worth at least $100 billion more. The recommendations are documented. The implementation rate is bipartisan. The failure to act is the story.