3.3: Congressional Oversight
Support Congressional Oversight of Major Management Challenges and Program Risks Other Information:
The U.S. government is one of the world’s largest and most complex entities, and its performance—especially given the nation’s
long-term fiscal outlook—is central to effectively and responsibly addressing issues of major concern to the American public,
including public safety and security, the creation of jobs, the oversight of financial markets, and the response to emergencies
and disasters. Given the public’s demand for a more transparent and accountable federal government, federal agencies will
need to improve their performance and focus on effective, efficient, and results-oriented management. Key issues to be addressed:
As systems and programs become more complex, government managers and policymakers will have to address a variety of issues
that no longer fit neatly within the boundaries of individual agencies, departments, or offices: Individual programs or agencies
can have significant effects in other parts of government. For example, the decennial census is not simply a count of the
nation’s population; census data affect the funding formulas for billions of dollars in federal government assistance in areas
as diverse as health, highways, education, and housing. Emerging challenges will require a more strategic and crosscutting
approach. Issues related to human-capital management, IT, cybersecurity, data management, and acquisition and contract management
cut across government and must be managed holistically. Innovations in science and technology also cut across government and
can have rapid, far-reaching, and even disruptive effects on what government does and how it does it. Numerous high-risk areas—such
as the U.S. Postal Service, DOD program management, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) procurement, surface
transportation funding, food safety, and oversight of toxic chemicals—will require agencies to address a host of crosscutting
issues in order to ensure program or agency effectiveness. Transformation: The next 3 years will see the 20th anniversary
of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). Although GAO’s work has shown significant growth in the percentage
of managers reporting that they have GPRA results-oriented performance measures, a crucial challenge remains for agencies
to build organizational cultures in which managers actually use performance information and evaluation in their decision making.
Congressional leadership will continue to be vital in achieving a broad transformation of the government, especially at DOD
and DHS, which are in the midst of major organizational transformations. GAO will work to help inform congressional oversight
as agencies continue to build their fundamental management capabilities, resolve high-risk areas, and address major management
challenges to effectively address the nation’s most pressing issues. The federal government relies increasingly on complex
networks and partnerships—often including multiple federal agencies, state and local governments, domestic and international
nongovernmental or quasi-governmental organizations, and for-profit and not-for-profit contractors—to achieve national objectives.
As state and local governments grapple with major budget gaps, the intergovernmental system will continue to be tested by
a complex array of short- and long-term economic, fiscal, and social challenges. Effective coordination of and response to
these challenges by all levels of government and their partners will be crucial as governments work to balance service delivery
with increased pressure on budgets. Furthermore, the federal government has adapted over time to new needs and problems by
creating new organizations and programs or adding new roles, responsibilities, and functions to existing agencies and programs.
This could result in overlap and fragmentation of responsibilities and activities within and across agencies. Some of this
overlap may be merited—for example, to have surge capacity to respond to a national emergency. However, overlap and fragmentation
can also adversely affect the economy, and the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government. Recognizing this through
recently enacted legislation, the Congress has directed GAO to identify programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives with
duplicative goals and activities—within agencies and governmentwide—and to report annually on the effects and ways to reduce
duplication. High-Risk List: GAO’s High-Risk List continues to be an important tool for the Congress and policymakers to call
attention to the agencies and program areas that are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or are most in need
of broad reform. Our High-Risk List currently identifies 31 high-risk areas, as shown in table 2, that focus on: strengthening
the foundations for efficient and effective government; transforming DOD business operations; ensuring public safety and security;
managing federal contracting; assessing tax administration efficiency and effectiveness; and modernizing insurance and benefit
programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Modernizing the U.S. financial regulatory
system, also on the High-Risk List, will be a critical step to ensuring that financial challenges can be met. Determining
how to create and implement a regulatory system that reflects new market realities is key to reducing the likelihood that
our nation will experience another financial crisis. Finding lasting solutions to issues in these high-risk areas could save
billions of dollars, improve service to the American public, and strengthen public trust in the federal government. GAO will
persistently monitor and report on progress in the High-Risk List areas and, as developments dictate, identify new high-risk
areas warranting attention. Table 2: GAO’s High-Risk List as of May 2010 -- Strengthening the Foundation for Efficiency and
Effectiveness: * Modernizing the Outdated U.S. Financial R egulatory System * Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve
Sustainable Financial Viability * Funding the Nation’s Surface Transportation System * 2010 Census * Strategic Human-Capital
Management * Managing Federal Real Property Transforming DOD Program Management: * DOD Approach to Business Transformation
* Business Systems Modernization * Personnel Security Clearance Program * Support Infrastructure Management * Financial Management
* Supply Chain Management * Weapon Systems Acquisition Ensuring Public Safety and Security: * Implementing and Transforming
the Department of Homeland Security * Establishing Effective Mechanisms for Sharing Terrorism-Related Information to Protect
the Homeland: * Protecting the Federal Government’s Information Systems and the Nation’s Critical Infrastructures * Ensuring
the Effective Protection of Technologies Critical to U.S. National Security Interests * Revamping Federal Oversight of Food
Safety * Protecting Public Health through Enhanced Oversight of Medical Products * Transforming EPA’s Process for Assessing
and Controlling Toxic Chemicals Managing Federal Contracting More Effectively: * DOD Contract Management * DOE’s Contract
Management for the National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management: * NASA Acquisition Management
* Management of Interagency Contracting Assessing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Tax Law Administration: * Enforcement
of Tax Laws * IRS Business Systems Modernization Modernizing and Safeguarding Insurance and Benefit Programs: * Improving
and Modernizing Federal Disability Programs * Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Insurance Programs * Medicare Program *
Medicaid Program * National Flood Insurance Program Human-capital management: Because people are an organization’s most important
asset, they must be the centerpiece of any serious effort to transform government agencies. However, many of today’s strategies—designed
for a workforce of an earlier era—are not suited to meet 21st century challenges. The federal workforce, like the nation’s,
is aging, and increasingly large percentages are becoming eligible to retire. It remains unclear when the expected retirement
wave will peak, but eventually baby boomers will leave the workforce, and when they do, they will leave behind gaps in leadership,
skills, and knowledge due to the slower-growing pool of younger workers. Notably, by 2025, overall labor force growth is expected
to be only one-fifth of what it is today. Faced with an aging federal workforce, agencies will need to strengthen their efforts
and use of available flexibilities to acquire, develop, motivate, and retain talent. More focus will be needed in such areas
as: strategic planning, knowledge transfer, pay and reward systems, recruitment and retention, and performance management.
The Office of Personnel Management and federal agencies should be held accountable for the continued monitoring and refinement
of approaches to strengthen their workforces. Information technology: Information technology (IT) systems are key to management
reform and have the potential to help dramatically reshape government to improve performance, reduce cost, and enhance transparency.
Today, the government spends over $70 billion annually on IT to support virtually all government operations and assets. With
increased attention to budgets and the efficiencies that IT can provide, additional focus will be needed to ensure effective
management of IT efforts. The rapid pace of technological change and innovation, including the prevalence of advanced Internet
and Web 2.0 technologies, means government agencies will have unprecedented opportunities to use IT to enhance government
service to citizens, improve performance, and reduce costs. These opportunities, however, create significant challenges, such
as the need to apply a wide range of complex, new electronic technologies effectively; interconnect diverse networks and systems
securely and reliably; and strengthen technical capacity of personnel. Addressing these challenges will require strong and
effective IT management leadership. At the same time, federal agencies will need to continue to reduce the risk of making
poor IT investment decisions and costly mistakes that result in wasteful spending and lost opportunities for improving performance
and delivery of services to the public. Further, without proper management and safeguards, computer systems are vulnerable
to those with malicious intentions who can obtain and manipulate sensitive information, commit fraud, disrupt operations,
or launch attacks against other computer systems and networks. Acquisition management: Effective acquisition management also
plays a key role in creating and sustaining highperforming organizations. Because federal agencies depend increasingly on
contractors to accomplish their missions— with procurement spending totaling more than $500 billion—the government urgently
needs to improve its acquisition business processes and workforce. Achieving desired outcomes is a challenge GAO will continue
to monitor, especially at agencies with high-risk designations for contracting or management transformation, including DOD
and DHS. Poorly defined requirements, ill-suited business arrangements, or poorly structured incentives, as well as inadequate
oversight of contractor performance, can place the government at risk of not getting what it contracted for and paying more
than necessary. The government needs a fully capable acquisition workforce to ensure that it obtains the best value on all
its contracts, but it still faces challenges in developing and maintaining a knowledgeable, skilled, and adequately sized
workforce. Further, agencies continue to struggle with determining the right mix of, as well as proper roles and responsibilities
for, government and contractor employees to avoid overreliance on contractors. Our authority to resolve government contract
formation disputes by providing an objective, independent forum for resolving bid protests and by recommending actions to
correct procurement law violations, further enhances government accountability. Science and technology: Science and technology
investments are critically important in improving quality of life— especially in areas such as health care, telecommunications,
clean energy, and the environment—and in providing the engine of future economic growth. Each year, the federal government
spends over $90 billion on research and development and grants, issues about 300,000 patents and trademarks, and registers
about 500,000 copyrights. The resulting intellectual property has helped fuel the U.S. economy. However, as the pace of innovation
is quickening, global competition is accelerating, and other nations are increasingly able to commercialize technological
advances, educate highly skilled workforces, and offer world-class research opportunities. Congressional oversight is critical
to ensuring that the substantial federal investment in science and technology is allocated effectively and that intellectual
property rights are protected here and abroad. Further, questions posed by the Congress about government programs increasingly
require a capability to independently assess the veracity of the science claims of those programs. The increased development
and use of new technologies presents challenges to the Congress in evaluating their potential and assessing the effects on
security, safety, privacy, and economic growth. For example, as an ever-growing number of products that contain nanosized
materials enters the marketplace, concerns arise that the federal government may not focus adequate resources on research
to determine their environmental, health, and safety effects. GAO will conduct assessments of technologies to provide the
Congress with information regarding the effects of scientific and technical developments on its legislative process. Information
management: Proper management of vital government information is essential to improving the government’s performance. Information
is a critical strategic asset, and agencies will confront unique and sometimes conflicting demands in collecting and providing
it. The growing sophistication of electronic government techniques and advances in archival, search, and retrieval technologies
are creating greater opportunities to provide citizens with improved public access to government records and information.
However, agencies are being asked not only to make information more readily available to the public, but also to collect and
share data far more extensively than they have in the past. These trends have the potential to overwhelm agencies and are
raising concerns about agencies’ ability to manage information and knowledge in such an evolving environment. The growth in
IT, networking, and electronic storage has made it ever easier to collect and maintain information about individuals. An accompanying
growth in incidents of loss and unauthorized use of such information will likely lead to a continued focus on protecting the
privacy of individuals’ personal information, whether on federal systems or from privatesector sources such as data resellers
that specialize in amassing personal information from multiple sources. Census: The demographic statistics and information
collected from the U.S. Census Bureau’s decennial census informs major decisions by the U.S. public and the private sector.
Population data are used for congressional apportionment and redistricting; economic indicators are used by the Federal Reserve
Board to set monetary policy; and population and other data are used to allocate federal aid to state and local governments.
In the next 5 years, managing the 2010 Census and preparing for the 2020 Census will be crucial. For example, each of the
10 largest federal assistance programs—totaling $478.3 billion in 2009 and representing about 84 percent of total federal
assistance when including about $122.7 billion funded by the Recovery Act— relies at least in part on census or related data.
Additional improvements to the decennial census, including a fundamental reexamination of the nation’s approach to conducting
the enumeration, might be required because the current approach may no longer be financially sustainable—one reason why GAO
has designated the 2010 Census as a high-risk area. If past rates of cost escalation continue into 2020, the nation could
soon be looking at a $30 billion census. Further, with major reforms in such areas as health care and energy policy possible
in the coming years, it is important that agencies begin to collect data to help determine whether new programs and instruments
are working. GAO’s review of the data it uses from the U.S. statistical system, including the identification of gaps in data
sources, will enhance an understanding of the value of such information and help provide insights toward improving it. To
support efforts by the Congress and the federal government to address these issues, GAO has developed the following performance
goals and key efforts:
Indicator(s):
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