Summary: In 1995, GAO identified federal programs that supported economic development to determine if these programs would more directly fund economic development activities, including the level of financial support that they provide, and compared selected aspects of these programs, such as program applicants, to identify areas of potential overlap. Ten agencies and 27 subagency units administer 73 programs that can be used to support one or more of the six activities that GAO identified as being directly related to economic development. Specifically, for 30 of the programs--those for which, agencies could provide more detailed obligation information--about $7 billion was obligated to support one or more of the six economic development activities for fiscal year 1999. In each of the six activity areas, GAO identified programs that fund a similar activity and also have the same applicants. However, GAO identified overlap among many federal programs that support economic development. Additional information is needed to determine whether that overlap resulted in the inefficient or ineffective delivery of the programs involved.
