Type words or phrases into the search box, then click "Search" to bring back results.

Words deemed too common are automatically dropped from your searches to improve results. Words such as "is", "of", "the", "but" will be removed from your search, this is indicated by parenthesis.

rules of engagement becomes rules (of) engagement

You can request documents that definitely do include a word by adding a plus (+) sign before the word.

+Bill

You may indicate words that must not be included in results by using a negative (-) sign before the word.

-Gates

You may indicate exact phrases by using quotation marks.

"Bill Gates"

Should you use any quotation marks common words will be dropped from your query, all words will be exactly matched.

You may combine all of the tips above in any one query.

+Bill -Gates "political pressure"

You may sort your results by either date (newest items first) or relevance.
Ordering by date will place the newest matching pages first in the search results. However, if finding the most recent matches is not important to you, simply click "order by relevance" to quickly sort the results according to relevance. Relevance is based on many factors including how often your search terms are found in each document, and if they are found in the title, or keywords of those documents.

If the search engine detects you are looking for a specific report number, it will sort by relevance first. This will help put matching reports to the top of the list. If the engine sees a plain text search, it will order by date first, to provide you fast access to the newest reports on your chosen subjects.

Back to top

You can restrict your search further if you know that you wish to only search in GAO issued Reports & Testimonies or GAO issued Legal Products. Check the box next to the collections you wish to search in. You can check one or more collections.

Text only collections are accessible text versions of reports that can be accessed via screen readers.

The best results are found by using the fewest collections. Entire site includes none report pages, such as the Careers listings and Comptroller General pages.

By default both GAO issued Reports & Testimonies and GAO Legal Products are selected.

Back to top

The search can access reports dating from 1921 when GAO was founded. By default, all dates since 1921 are searched. You will receive much better results if you narrow the date range to include only those years you are most interested in.

You may specify only a from month and year - in which case the search will search up to the present day. You may also specify only the "to" date, in which case the search will not return documents with dates past that date.

The date range search is inclusive of all days in the months specified. Back to top

If you have entered dates and text searches and wish to quickly clear out all of the selections and start again, click "Start over". You will be returned to a clean search page with no selections made.

Back to top

The advanced search screen provides the same choice of collection and date range filters described above. In addition, you can enter complex queries restricting the search type to one or more of :
all of the words
any of the words
the exact phrase
none of the words
Each of these may be further restricted to matches in :
in the entire document
in the title
in the keywords
in the subject

Back to top

If you are unable to find what you want or would like additional help with your research, you can request that GAO help you with research. Click the link to Can't Find It? and complete the informational boxes on that page.

Back to top