GAO’s IT division has been ‘hard hit’ by departures

Shrinking resources and a rash of retirements have hit the Government Accountability Office’s IT group “particularly hard,” the acting comptroller general of the congressional watchdog told lawmakers Wednesday.

Appearing before the House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, Orice Williams Brown was asked by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., how the agency has handled the departures of “almost 200 employees” across the GAO’s workforce following funding fights on Capitol Hill last year.

The GAO, which avoided a proposed 40% cut to essentially remain flat year over year, dealt with separations throughout the organization, Brown said, covering everyone from “analysts that directly do the work” to “operations and support across the agency.”

“One area particularly hard hit has been our Information Technology Group,” she continued. “They’ve lost a fair number of resources, so it has an impact on the organization. We worked really hard to try to minimize that impact.”

More than 120 employees took a VERA (Voluntary Early Retirement Authority) or VSIP (Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment) during the watchdog’s first round of offers, while another 45 or so have put in an application for the latest round, Brown told lawmakers. The departures have forced the watchdog to “make tradeoffs and reposition ourselves” to best meet Congress’ needs, Brown added. 

The IT losses present undeniable challenges. Jennifer Franks, director of the GAO’s Center for Enhanced Cybersecurity, Information Technology & Cybersecurity Team, said in an interview with FedScoop on Thursday at the Elastic Public Sector Summit that keeping the infrastructure stable, modernizing systems and providing “evolutionary services” are the IT shop’s top priorities — but it’s no easy feat after the loss of critical staff.

“We are trying to upgrade our systems and our technologies,” Franks said. “We are rolling out AI. We are advancing our security systems, utilizing zero trust and adding some additional policies and procedures to enhance our protections because of the evolution of the escalating threats around the globe — while also still answering … requests from Congress, with a reduction of staff. So we’re moving very fast with the reduction of folks, every single day.”

In an email to FedScoop later Thursday, Franks reiterated that workforce changes have had “a strong impact” on the GAO, but the watchdog’s “teams have stayed focused, adaptable, and committed to the mission to support Congress.”

“We’re continuing to push forward on modernizing our internal IT environment to better support our staff so that we can deliver work for Congress and meet performance goals,” Franks said. “These efforts haven’t stopped just because resources are tight—it has just required us to be more thoughtful and strategic in how we move and prioritize.”

Ahead of Brown’s congressional testimony Wednesday, the GAO released its fiscal 2027 budget request. The watchdog seeks $860 million, a 5.9% increase from fiscal 2026. The budget would support 3,210 full-time equivalents, per a GAO press release, a 4.2% year-over-year decrease and a 10.2% decline — roughly 450 positions — since the end of fiscal 2024.

“I know you’re trying to and … doing more with less,” DeLauro told Brown. “There’s no question in my mind.”

Brown assured lawmakers that despite the increased demands from Congress alongside fewer resources, the GAO remains committed to operating “with the least amount of disruption to our mission and workforce.” The watchdog will continue its focus on top Senate and House priorities, including IT and cybersecurity, science and technology, health care, national security, and identifying waste, fraud and abuse across agencies. 

“Our priorities are the Congress’ priorities,” Brown said. Workforce losses “may mean that it takes us longer to start engagements. So it could impact … anything across the Congress. We’ll work with committees to make sure we’re working on their highest priority issues.”