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Comptroller General Decisions and Opinions - FAQ

Decisions and opinions are identified by a B-number and date. Some decisions predating 1995 were published in Decisions of the Comptroller General of the United States. Those decisions have B-numbers but are generally identified by volume, page number, and the year the decision was issued (e.g., 73 Comp. Gen. 77 (1994)). At the beginning of each volume is a "Table of Decision Numbers" cross-referencing B-numbers to the pages in that volume.

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Generally, GAO's decisions and opinions are issued publicly. GAO's practice is discussed in GAO's Procedures and Practices for Legal Decisions and Opinions. When a decision or opinion contains protected information, a redacted version, omitting the protected information, will be made available to the public. 4 C.F.R. § 21.12.

GAO typically will issue a redacted public version of the decision 2 to 3 weeks after the protected decision is issued.

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Military and civilian personnel pay and allowances decisions are no longer issued by GAO. For more information, see Functions Transferred to the Executive Branch. Decisions that GAO issued prior to the transfer of this function are available through GAO's Search Portal.