Priority Open Recommendations: Office of Science and Technology Policy

Summary

What GAO Found In June 2025, GAO identified six priority recommendations for the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Since then, OSTP has implemented three of those recommendations. In June 2026, GAO identified one additional priority recommendation, bringing the total to four. GAO is highlighting the following two areas that warrant timely and focused attention: Planning and tracking progress toward national science and technology goals, and Addressing research security risks. Addressing GAO's recommendations in these areas would help OSTP better marshal interagency efforts to plan for, or track progress toward, national goals and overcome challenges with sharing information on research security risks across agencies. Why GAO Did This Study Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or make progress toward addressing a high risk or duplication issue, among other benefits. Since 2015, GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations. For more information, contact John Neumann at neumannj@gao.gov.