Page 1 GAO-25-108088 USDA Priority Open Recommendations
Comptroller General
of the United States
June 9, 2025
The Honorable Brooke L. Rollins
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250
Priority Open Recommendations: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Dear Secretary Rollins:
Congratulations on your appointment. The purpose of this letter is to call your personal attention
to three areas based on GAO’s past work and five open priority recommendations, which are
enclosed.
1
Additionally, there are 106 other GAO open recommendations that we will continue
to work with your staff to address.
We are highlighting the following areas that warrant your timely and focused attention.
Specifically:
Improving Information Technology (IT) modernization. The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has faced challenges effectively managing IT modernization and reducing IT duplication
and overlap in its Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area. We have highlighted
the need for USDA to improve its IT acquisitions and management on our High Risk List for
several years.
2
For example, USDA has yet to develop and publish a strategic plan and
associated metrics to monitor and measure its IT portfolio in the FPAC mission area. Having a
strategic plan and performance metrics would position FPAC to better measure its performance
against goals, maximize efficiencies, and meet the needs of farmers, ranchers, and foresters.
Mitigating the risk of pathogens from food products and animals. Humans can contract
illness-causing pathogens, such as Salmonella and avian influenza viruses, by consuming
contaminated food products and interacting with infected animals. For example, each year,
foodborne illnesses sicken one in six Americans, and thousands die, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent estimates. Additionally, wild birds can transmit
viruses that cause zoonotic diseases—those caused by pathogens that spread between
animals and humans—such as avian influenza and West Nile virus. One of our high-risk
areas—improving federal oversight of food safety—centers jointly on USDA and the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. We have made recommendations to USDA to help
1
GAO considers a recommendation to be a priority, if when implemented, it may significantly improve government
operations, for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making
progress toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue.
2
GAO, High-Risk Series: Heightened Attention Could Save Billions More and Improve Government Efficiency and
Effectiveness, GAO-25-107743 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 25, 2025).
