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New GAO Reports – Managing Defense IT, Military Health System, Retirement Security

  • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Leveraging Best Practices and Reform Initiatives Can Help Defense Manage Major Investments, GAO-14-400T: Published: Feb 26, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 26, 2014: “The federal government reportedly plans to spend at least $82 billion on IT in fiscal year 2014. Of that, Defense plans to spend over $39 billion—$5.5 billion on classified systems, $9 billion on acquisitions, and $25 billion on operations and maintenance. Given the scale of such planned outlays and the criticality of many of these systems to the security and defense of the nation, it is important that these Defense investments are acquired on time and within budget and that they deliver expected benefits.”
  • MILITARY HEALTH SYSTEM (MHS): Sustained Senior Leadership Needed to Fully Develop Plans for Achieving Cost Savings, GAO-14-396T: Published: Feb 26, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 26, 2014: “DOD’s MHS costs almost $50 billion annually and is expected to grow to $70 billion by 2028. The MHS governance structure has been the subject of many studies, some recommending major changes. In 2006, DOD considered potential governance structure changes but left its existing structure in place, approving instead a shared-services directorate to consolidate common MHS functions (e.g., shared information-technology services) that ultimately was never developed. “
  • RETIREMENT SECURITY: Trends in Marriage and Work Patterns May Increase Economic Vulnerability for Some Retirees, GAO-14-33: Published: Jan 15, 2014. Publicly Released: Feb 26, 2014: “Over the last 50 years, the composition and work patterns of the American household have changed dramatically. During this period, the proportion of unmarried and never-married individuals in the population increased steadily as couples chose to marry at later ages and live together prior to marriage. At the same time, the proportion of single-parent households more than doubled. These trends were more pronounced for individuals with lower levels of income and education and for certain racial and ethnic groups. Over the same period, labor force participation among married women nearly doubled.”

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