Collections are not proof of effectiveness
The concrete-masonry checkoff reported assessment collections of $5.4 million in 2023, $11.3 million in 2024 and $10.5 million in 2025. Added together, they total $27.2 million. A Government Accountability Office report publicly released October 5 examines how the promotion program is operating and how the Commerce Department oversees it.
The report identifies a narrower control problem than a finding of missing money: Commerce lacked written procedures for approving the board’s objectives and performance measures. GAO recommends putting those procedures in place.
Activity and measurement must be separated
The program reported 17 national and 69 regional projects. But a project count is an activity measure, not a verified increase in demand attributable to the program. GAO also says it could not determine the reliability of the underlying data for reported key performance indicators.
The full report lists expenses of $1.1 million, $3.5 million and $10.4 million across the same three years. Their $15 million sum is not directly equivalent to collections. Subtracting expenses from assessments without reconciling timing, commitments and other accounting details would not establish a missing-money allegation.
The next test is the evaluation
An independent program evaluation is planned for the first quarter of 2027. Commerce supplied no comments on the draft report, according to GAO. Its recommendation concerns a documented approval process, which is different from declaring that all existing oversight is absent.
For manufacturers paying the assessment, the useful follow-up is whether approved objectives, reliable measurements and the independent evaluation connect spending to results. This report analyzes the audit’s disclosed figures; it does not independently audit the board or attribute a sales change to checkoff-funded promotion.
Sources and further reading
GAO-27-108692, released October 5, 2026 ↗
Full GAO report: assessments, spending, metrics and recommendation ↗