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OMB’s Incomplete Federal Program Inventory Raises Concerns

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has yet to fulfill the obligations outlined in a 2011 statute regarding the creation and oversight of an inventory cataloging all federal government programs, according to a recent report.

In a requirement added by the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, the OMB was mandated to furnish more detailed information about program expenditure and effectiveness within this inventory, with a deadline set for January 2025. However, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed on September 25 that the OMB has not disclosed any plans to meet this deadline or provided an alternative timeline for completion.

The GAO’s findings emphasize the necessity of a thorough catalog of government programs, coupled with pertinent funding and performance metrics. “Such a resource would provide federal officials and the public with greater clarity regarding government operations, expenditures, and accomplishments on an annual basis,” the report noted. It underscores the importance of this inventory in assisting leaders to better navigate issues related to fragmentation, overlap, and redundancy within federal programs.

In a partial attempt to meet these requirements, OMB released an inventory of federal financial assistance programs in 2024, which accounted for approximately $4.47 trillion in fiscal obligations for the year 2022. However, the GAO pointed out that this figure only represents part of the federal financial picture, as federal agencies collectively spent around $9 trillion during the same fiscal year. Consequently, nearly half of federal expenditures remain unaccounted for in the current inventory.

Notably, the existing inventory excludes crucial aspects such as acquisition, defense, and regulatory programs. Furthermore, OMB has not integrated the additional information mandated by the 2021 NDAA regarding the programs that are presently documented.

The limitations of the current inventory are linked to the initial phase of four planned pilots as part of OMB’s strategy from 2021 to implement a complete inventory, which itself was initiated following a GAO report from 2017 that highlighted delays in inventory development.

At the time, OMB estimated that approximately $20.5 million would be necessary to finalize the inventory; however, the GAO has reported that no formal request for this funding has been made, nor has there been any update on the financial estimates since then.

In addition, the GAO identified several deficiencies in OMB’s data management protocols concerning the incomplete inventory. These issues include a lack of documentation detailing roles and responsibilities for the team working on it, as well as quality concerns regarding data gathered from SAM.gov and USAspending.gov. These platforms contain essential information about federal contracts, grants, and loans, and OMB utilized this existing data to compile the partial inventory.

The GAO has recommended that OMB establish a comprehensive data governance framework for the federal programs inventory, ensuring its plans for completion are transparent and inclusive of necessary actions, resources, and timelines. OMB reportedly “generally concurred” with these recommendations.

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