GAO

Created byBudget and Accounting Act, 1921, P.L. 67-13 (ch. 18, 42 Stat. 20); renamed Government Accountability Office by P.L. 108-271 (2004)

Head appointed31 U.S.C. § 703: Comptroller General appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from a list of at least three individuals recommended by a ten-member bipartisan congressional commission; 15-year term, no reappointment (PAS)

Removal standard31 U.S.C. § 703(e)(1): removable only by impeachment or by joint resolution of Congress for 'permanent disability; inefficiency; neglect of duty; malfeasance; or a felony or conduct involving moral turpitude' — the President cannot remove (Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (1986))

Funded underannual Legislative Branch Appropriations Act (salaries and expenses), supplemented by reimbursements for audits of fee-funded agencies and bid-protest filing fees

Congressional oversightHouse Oversight and Government Reform (government accounting/GAO measures) · Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Inspector generalown GAO IG appointed by the Comptroller General (31 U.S.C. § 705, added by P.L. 110-323); GAO's financial statements are audited by an independent outside accounting firm

Judicial reviewLegislative-branch entity — not subject to the APA or FOIA (handles records under its own disclosure regulation, 4 C.F.R. pt. 81); bid-protest decisions (31 U.S.C. §§ 3551–3556) are recommendations, with de novo protest jurisdiction available at the Court of Federal Claims; Comptroller General legal opinions are not judicially reviewable