Seeking Out Duplicative Training Programs

A series of Government Administration Office (GAO) reports identifies potential areas for government reformers to examine if the current administration moves forward on any budget-induced reorganization initiatives it might undertake.

GAO has created a landing page for the series of reports, and it has made them more accessible by creating “e-report” versions of the especially long reports (over 300 pages), which make them far easier to access and analyze.

A 2011 report highlights 34 areas where programs were judged to be overlapping or duplicative. For example, it identified:

>> 47 employment and training programs administered by three agencies;

>> 82 teacher quality programs administered by 10 agencies;

>> 80 economic development programs administered by four agencies; and

>> 56 financial literacy programs administered by more than 20 agencies.

For each area, GAO cites its past work and potential actions that could be taken.

Its 2012 report identifies an additional 32 areas of potential duplication, overlap and fragmentation.

—Source: IBM Center for The Business of Government, www.businessofgovernment.org

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