IG, GAO Websites Running Again — But for How Long?
The end of the federal government shutdown got the ball rolling again for some key federal government watchdog websites of interest to grant recipients and auditors, at least for now. The question now is what to expect come February 2026.
Under a funding agreement last month to end the 43-day shutdown, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) will receive about $4.3 million from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to operate through Jan. 30, 2026, the date when the current funding agreement expires. CIGIE is responsible for overseeing the Oversight.gov website, which is a one-stop shop for all public reports from federal offices of Inspector General (IGs) that are CIGIE members. Along with Oversight.gov, many individual agency IG web sites went down, and IG offices were not able to conduct work or release audit reports during the shutdown. In addition to Oversight.gov, the CIGIE's general website IGNet.gov, which also maintains other various resources for auditors, including desk review and peer review guides, also was shuttered during the shutdown, but is now again operational.
The release of the OMB funding for CIGIE was applauded by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who were leading proponents of the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 that established CIGIE to address integrity, economy and effectiveness issues that transcend government agencies and to increase the professionalism and effectiveness of IG personnel by helping to establish well-trained and highly skilled IG office workforces.
The Trump administration in September had told CIGIE that it would not be apportioned congressionally approved funding for federal fiscal year 2026, which began in October, stating that IGs “have become corrupt, partisan and in some cases, have lied to the public” and that “the American people will no longer be funding this corruption.” Letters from Grassley and Collins, however, convinced OMB to provide the continued funding through January 2026. Along with Oversight.gov and IGNet.gov, the websites of several of the affected watchdog offices appear to be fully functioning again.
In addition, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) website at GAO.gov was down during the shutdown. OMB has expressed similar concerns about the work at GAO as those of IG offices, and has threatened not to fund it. However, the GAO.gov site is again operational following the end of the shutdown. We will continue to watch how the appropriations process goes for GAO, as well as whether its reports — many of which involve grants and audits — and both the Yellow Book and Green Book will be affected.
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