A new GAO strategic plan looks at the capabilities Congress will need

Guest:	Steve Sanford
Title:	Managing Director of Strategic Planning and External Liaison at GAO
Summary:	Last month, the Government Accountability Office released a new strategic plan developed over nearly two years in consultation with Congress. It outlines the capabilities GAO believes Congress will need as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and other emerging technologies reshape government.

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Interview transcript

Terry Gerton GAO has just put out its 2027 to 2032 strategic plan. Every strategic plan reflects assumptions about the future. What changes in government and society had the biggest influence on this plan?

Steve Sanford That’s a great question, Terry. You know, we see that one of the things true about the era we’re in right now, that it’s the size and the complexity and the speed of the challenges and opportunities facing government and society. They’re greater than they ever have been before. But we also took into account the fact that we also know our decision makers and the clients we serve up on Congress are busy. First and foremost, we put a big emphasis on being clear and concise with this strategic plan. So it outlines the full spectrum of everything we do for Congress across every corner of government, but we did it in less than 20 pages. And we think that’s a really important signal that shows how we can talk clearly and succinctly about our work, but also kind of some of the broader issues influencing the environment we’re working in and that Congress is operating in technological advances, economic and geopolitical shifts. Emerging national security threats, cybersecurity risks, these are all things that are heightening every day. And we also see a lot of that being driven by innovations in science and technology. There’s both opportunities and potential challenges from those innovations. We also see things like the energy and water sectors are facing mounting challenges that could be from also cybersecurity risks. So just aging infrastructure or growing demand from a lot of different new sources and long-standing sources. So we’re seeing that the nation’s economic security and also its wellbeing is dependent on these systems working well, whether it’s critical infrastructure or protection from natural disasters or the stability of interconnected financial markets. Last thing I’ll say on that, Terry, is an important backdrop to all of this is the federal government’s unsustainable fiscal future. It’s something that GAO has talked a lot about. But federal debt continues to grow faster than the economy, and that’s unsustainable over the long term, and that poses serious economic, national security, and societal challenges. This pattern has changed recently. Historically, debt has decreased during peacetime and during periods of economic growth, but nearly every year this century, the government has spent more than it has collected in revenue. And so to finance these deficits, government has had to borrow by issuing debt. So Congress and the administration are going to have to make some difficult budgetary and policy decisions coming up in the coming years to address the key drivers of that persistent and growing debt.

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Terry Gerton Steve, you talked about the complexity of the future environment, the speed at which change is coming on. I picked up a theme in the plan around foresight, as well as, I think, what people traditionally associate with GAO as oversight. When Congress comes to you and asks you to predict the future with foresight what are they asking about now that maybe wasn’t on the agenda five or 10 years ago?

Steve Sanford Yeah, thanks. You absolutely are picking up on that foresight element. Congress does come to us. They are looking for prospective analysis. They aren’t looking for us to predict the future, but they are looking for help exploring policy options to address different future scenarios. And that is something that we are bringing to Congress through new tools, new products and new ways of working with the Congress to give them what they want. And when they need it. So that could be everything from one of our full traditional audit reports to briefings to serving as a witness at the hearing Or providing technical assistance and policy options, including on, you know, complex issues around technology. So we are really positioning ourselves as a full service support agency for the legislative branch to help meet Congress where they need our work. And also to maintain our commitment to giving them non-partisan and fact-based analysis. Some of the really, I’d say, front burner issues for them, and these aren’t necessarily new issues, but there’s an urgency to a lot of these. So national security, we now see that DoD’s mission is consuming almost half of the federal government’s discretionary spending and a lot of complex things going on at DoD around cyberspace operations, management of their nuclear deterrent forces, AI efforts, and space operations. We also see a lot of interest from the Congress on cyber security threats. And in recent weeks here, we’ve seen a lot stories around cyber attacks on, say, freezer units where food is spoiling, or a hack of a major crypto exchange, or vulnerabilities in software that runs the backbone of a lot of websites. So this is a front burner issue for the Congress and something that GAO is ready to help with. Last point I’ll make is also on healthcare spending. So healthcare now accounts for about 30% of the federal budget. And a lot of those healthcare programs are vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse because of their size and complexity. So these are all long-standing issues, but there’s an urgency around them because of the potential risks. And consequences of not addressing them, and Congress is looking to GAO to provide options for how to help solve some of these challenges.

Terry Gerton Steve Sanford is the managing director in GAO’s strategic planning and external liaison team. Steve, one of the other things that comes through here is that many of the challenges you identify in the plan cut across agencies, jurisdictions, and policy areas. When you think about how Congress and its committees are structured versus how the federal agencies are structured, how does that change the way GAO approaches its oversight work.

Steve Sanford Yeah, so you’ll see in our plan, we organize our oversight work in two large categories. One is focused on providing analysis of federal programs and spending and activities. And another goal area is focused in how we can help enhance the performance and accountability of the federal government. And that second goal area is the one that’s focused on those cross cutting issues. Those thorny issues that cut across agencies and jurisdictions and policy areas. One area that’s of real interest to Congress is fraud, waste, and abuse, and also making sure that programs are delivering on their intended purpose. We’ve also done a lot of work for instance, this year in 2026, we just issued our 16th annual report on opportunities to reduce duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in federal programs. We’ve also continued our work on high risk areas. And these are all really important to help Congress exercise its power of the purse to address some of these cross-cutting issues that need attention.

Terry Gerton You mentioned earlier things like AI and cyber. The plan also highlights data analytics and research and emerging technologies as important capabilities for GAO itself. As government is increasingly relying on AI models, do the tools that GAO is using for oversight and inspection or assessment need to evolve as well?

Steve Sanford Yeah, absolutely. We are very focused on making sure that we’ve got the right tools to do the job. No organization can stand still in this environment we find ourselves in. That includes auditors. So anyone who stands still is going to fall behind. So we are working actively to evolve our tool set. That includes our training. That includes a tool set that we have using new technologies, new data analytics capabilities. So for example, we are piloting several potential uses of AI through our innovation lab that will assist with the oversight work we do for Congress. And we also have a very hands-on approach to exploring how data science can be used in the work we on the analytical side. We also have to make sure we are evaluating the appropriate use of AI and making sure we’re doing that in a way that’s sustainable and that we understand the cost of using those tools. And all the while, that’s done alongside our usual adherence to our standards and our quality assurance systems. So we are absolutely evolving how we work. And a big part of that, too, is making sure that we are giving our people the training and the tools they need. And really, this is all toward the goal of making sure. We’re giving Congress what it needs, giving our congressional clients, the staff what they need and making sure our responsiveness is meeting their timelines. And technology can be a great way to do that.

Terry Gerton Well, speaking of appropriate uses of AI, many federal managers know GAO for its role in contract protests and acquisition disputes. So as procurement becomes more technology-driven and complex, is that responsibility changing in ways that might influence how GAO thinks about its future capabilities?

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Steve Sanford So bid protest, that is definitely a big part of our plan. It’s in our second goal. And the plan commits GAO to continue adjudicating those federal bid protests and issuing decisions that protect the integrity of federal acquisitions. It’s also important to note, you know, GAO works on the other side of that too. Our auditors look at procurement systems and government, making sure that federal acquisitions of goods and services, of IT systems and emerging technologies are done in a responsible and effective way. Also the complexities around weapon systems acquisitions. So when it comes to our bid protests, it’s really about making sure that those processes are fair, fast and independent. And that doesn’t change as the buying process or what’s being bought gets more complex. But also complex technology means we need to have the people in GAO who can understand that technology and not just the contracts. So, that’s also part of our effort to make sure we’ve got the right skills in our workforce in place.

Terry Gerton As this plan is coming out, Congress is maybe soon beginning its search for the next comptroller general. Does this strategic plan effectively function as a job description for that person? What does the document suggest the next leader of GAO will need to do especially well?

Steve Sanford So, I would maybe put that a little bit differently. I think it’s less of a job description and really it’s a commitment about what GAO does for Congress. So, whoever is going to lead GAO in the future will inherit a plan that Congress helped shape. We started working on this plan back in 2025 and have been working diligently. Our process involves a lot of consultation with Congress on both sides of the aisle. And we just issued this plan in October of 2026. So this is a plan that reflects the current Congress, the Congress of the future, and is really important because it shows the breadth of what GAO does across all the different issue areas. And it reflects the priorities of Congress. So I think it’s a great roadmap for how we can serve Congress in the future. And I think that’s also showing how GAO can continue to evolve and be an agile and an effective partner for Congress. One example of that, we hired our first chief scientist back in 2008. We stood up our science and technology and analytics team in 2019. You know, we’ve actively been providing all kinds of technical assistance and training, and we have an office up on the hill to be an active partner with helping Congress with all of its information needs, whether the traditional areas or new and emerging technologies. So I’m really proud of how that is all embodied in our new strategic plan and it creates a roadmap for how we’re going to do that in the future.

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