Government Accountability Office 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Government Accountability Office Personnel Appeals Board (PAB or Board) proposes to give the PAB General Counsel authority to process certain retaliation claims that have not first undergone GAO's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) process, and to hold certain nondiscrimination claims in abeyance if they are related to a claim pending in GAO's EEO process. These proposed changes are in response to an internal query that brought up the need to clarify perceived ambiguities in the existing regulations. The PAB also proposes to update the definition of prohibited discrimination to be consistent with changes in nondiscrimination laws. In addition, the PAB proposes to replace gendered pronouns with gender-neutral ones to reflect current usage practices. The General Accounting Office Personnel Act of 1980 provides authority to make these changes.

The 21st Century Cures Act established HITAC to provide recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on policies, standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria relating to the implementation of a health information technology infrastructure that advances the electronic access, exchange, and use of health information. The Act gave the Comptroller General of the United States responsibility for appointing a portion of HITAC's members. The Act requires that members at least reflect providers, ancillary health care workers, consumers, purchasers, health plans, health information technology developers, researchers, patients, relevant Federal agencies, and individuals with technical expertise on health care quality, system functions, privacy, security, and on the electronic exchange and use of health information, including the use standards for such activity. GAO is now accepting nominations for HITAC appointments that will be effective January 1, 2024. Members serve 3-year terms, with the terms subject to renewal, for a total not to exceed 6 years of service on the committee. From these nominations, GAO expects to appoint two to three new HITAC members, focusing especially on patients or consumers, health plans or purchasers, and researchers. Nominations should be sent to the email address listed below.

On January 30, 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued an exposure draft of proposed revisions to Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS), also known as the Yellow Book. To help ensure that the standards continue to meet the needs of the government community and the public it serves, the Comptroller General of the United States appointed the Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards to review GAO's proposed revisions of the standards and consider other necessary changes. The advisory council includes experts from all levels of government, the private sector, and academia. This exposure draft includes the advisory council's input regarding the proposed changes. We are requesting public comments on the proposed revisions in the 2023 exposure draft. All comments received from the public will be considered a matter of public record and will be posted on the GAO website. GAO first issued the standards in 1972. The proposed changes in the exposure draft update GAGAS to reflect major developments in the accountability and audit professions and emphasize specific considerations applicable to the government environment.