$12.2 million separated assessments from reported expenses
The Concrete Masonry Products Research, Education, and Promotion Program collected $27.2 million in assessments during 2023–2025 and reported $15.0 million in expenses. The three-year arithmetic leaves a $12.2 million difference, and expenses equaled 55.1% of assessments collected.
That difference should not be labeled a cash reserve without audited balance-sheet and timing detail. Assessments and expenses can be recognized in different periods, and the Government Accountability Office’s summarized figures do not by themselves identify cash on hand, obligations or receivables.
What’s the Scoop With Broach totaled GAO’s annual amounts: assessments of $5.4 million in 2023, $11.3 million in 2024 and $10.5 million in 2025; expenses of $1.1 million, $3.5 million and $10.4 million. The spending ramped sharply as the program moved from startup into project execution.
| Year | Assessments | Expenses | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $5.4 | $1.1 | $4.3 |
| 2024 | $11.3 | $3.5 | $7.8 |
| 2025 | $10.5 | $10.4 | $0.1 |
| Three-year total | $27.2 | $15.0 | $12.2 |
Projects multiplied before the oversight procedure was written
GAO counted 17 national and 69 regional projects, for 86 in all. The work included research, education and market-promotion activity funded by assessments on manufactured concrete masonry products.
The program adopted 27 five-year performance measures. Five had already met or exceeded their targets, and ten reached at least 20% of their targets in the first year. The remaining 12 were not described in either category; that does not mean they made zero progress or will miss their five-year targets.
An independent evaluation is planned for the first quarter of 2027. That review will be more informative than a first-year snapshot because the measures were designed for a five-year horizon and projects began at different times.
Commerce oversight lacked a written approval method
GAO found that the Commerce Department had no written procedures for reviewing and approving the program’s objectives and performance measures. It recommended that Commerce document that process. The recommendation remains open, and Commerce provided no comments on the report.
The finding does not establish that the 86 projects were unauthorized, that assessments were misspent or that the performance measures are invalid. It identifies a control weakness: without a written review method, the department cannot show consistently what it checked or why it approved a target.
This report contributes the three-year collection-to-expense calculation while preserving the accounting limitation and the early-stage nature of the metrics. The next accountability points are the written Commerce procedure and the 2027 independent evaluation. No interviews were conducted.