Q: Do agencies get an opportunity to respond to GAO's findings and recommendations?
A: Yes, responsible agency officials and other directly affected parties have the opportunity to review and provide comments on a draft GAO report before it is published. After receiving agency comments, GAO considers their substance and revises the draft product as appropriate. For example, GAO will incorporate technical and factual corrections to ensure that GAO products provide information that is professional, objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, non ideological, fair and balanced. An agency's written comments are typically reproduced in an appendix to the issued report. GAO indicates in the final product whether the agency agreed or disagreed with GAO's findings, conclusions, and recommendations. When the agency disagrees, GAO identifies the disagreement and then states its position in the issued report. For testimony based on new or unreported work, GAO will obtain the views of agency officials on the information collected from the agency to (1) validate the accuracy of the data gathered and (2) discuss the implications that flow from this information.
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