Numerous federal agencies have lagged in implementing thousands of recommendations from inspectors general (IG), according to a new committee report from the U.S. House of Representatives.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee estimated that 17,000 recommendations from IGs have languished in recent years. The committee estimated that if all of the recommendations were implemented, the savings would total more than $67 billion for the government.

Certain agencies have been bigger offenders than others in not implementing IG suggestions, including the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Of these five, only HHS and VA currently have a permanent IG in place.

The committee found a “correlation between the absence of a permanent inspector general and a high volume of open and unimplemented recommendations,” according to its report. Currently, eight of the 73 IG positions are vacant. In fact, the State Department has not had an inspector general for more than five years and the Department of the Interior for more than four years, while the Labor Department had been IG-less for a mere three and a half years.

The number of IG recommendations not implemented and their value have grown since 2009, when there were about 10,900 ignored advisories that would have saved the government $29 billion.

Most recommendations made by inspectors general are in the areas of contractor oversight, information technology security, and failure to recover improper payments.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Too Many IG Recommendations Not Implemented, Report Says (by Eric Yoder, Washington Post)

Where Are All the Watchdogs? (Project on Government Oversight)

Inspectors General Saved U.S. $87 Billion Last Year (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

Inspectors General Saved $18 for every $1 They Spent (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)