From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc
Date: 25 Jan 93 23:14 PST
Subject: GAO Transition Reports - Abstracts
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

From: <jlohrmann>
Subject: GAO Transition Reports - Abstracts

From: Lee Sakkas <[email protected]>
Subject:      GAO Transistion Reports - Abstracts
To: Multiple recipients of list CLINTON <[email protected]>

The reports abstracted below are now available via Anonymous FTP from the
GAO.  I have downloaded them and propose to post them to CLINTON one at
a time - one a day.  They average about 35000 bytes per report.  I will
identify each report with GAO Report - SUBJECT  in the subject line
giving you the opportunity to exercise your delete key.  This is the
transition info paid for by us, the taxpayer, now available to us, the
taxpayer.  Do I sense a trend?  Lee Sakkas
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                       U.S. General Accounting Office
                      Transition Report Series - 1993

Files containing the text of the following reports are available via
Anonymous FTP from the GAO-REPORTS subdirectory at CU.NIH.GOV.

1.     Budget Issues.  OCG-93-1TR.  December 1992.  35 pp.
      (The file is CG01T93.TXT  40017 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues
      concerning the federal budget deficit problem and the factors
      involved in reducing the deficit.

      GAO noted that: (1) the 1992 budget deficit totalled $290
      billion or 4.9 percent of the gross national product; (2) the
      actual budget deficit totalled $386 billion, but was partially
      offset by $90 billion in trust fund surpluses; (3) the trust
      fund surplus is expected to decrease as the baby boom
      generation reaches retirement; (4) the 1992 deficit was held
      down by delaying funding for the savings and loan crisis and
      many unfunded costs resulting from future claims; (5) the
      deficit has grown because of the recession, inadequate cuts in
      domestic programs, and a combination of an accelerated defense
      buildup and a simultaneous reduction in taxes; and (6) solving
      the deficit problem will require a long-term fiscal policy path
      based on macroeconomic grounds, emphasizing the budget's
      investment portion, and examining the areas where the budget
      has had the largest increase.

2.     Investment.  OCG-93-2TR.  December 1992.  35 pp.  (The file is
      CG02T93.TXT  38862 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the federal
      government's need to increase investment, both public and
      private.

      GAO found that: (1) during the last two decades, growth in U.S.
      productivity has slowed substantially; (2) U.S. investment is
      at its lowest level in three decades; (3) the federal
      government's impact on state and local governments and the
      private sector in the last decade has been increasingly
      unfavorable; and (4) recent trends in the investment share of
      the budget represent the accumulated results of a large number
      of individual budget decisions regarding dozens of programs.

3.     Government Management Issues.  OCG-93-3TR.  December 1992.  45
      pp.  (The file is CG03T93.TXT  49297 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information
      on federal government management issues, focusing on: (1) the
      constraints and incentives that managers contend with to
      achieve program results; and (2) key elements for federal
      management improvement.

      GAO noted that: (1) many agencies lack a strategic vision for
      the future, adequate oversight and evaluation systems, and
      qualified personnel; (2) reasons for inefficient government
      management include the federal government's overwhelming size,
      political environment, and operating cultures that resist
      agency mission definition, lack of control over its services,
      and reliance on noncareer executive program managers; (3) the
      federal government could learn effective management techniques
      from other foreign and state governments' experiences; and (4)
      to improve the effectiveness of government management, the
      federal government needs long-term strategic plans, improved
      financial and program information, a results-oriented
      environment, continuity in leadership, a revised budget
      process, reorganization of its central management agencies, and
      revised agency organizational structures.

4.     Financial Management Issues.  OCG-93-4TR.  December 1992.  43
      pp.  (The file is CG04T93.TXT  44599 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed major
      federal policy, management, and program issues facing Congress
      and the new administration in the area of financial management.

      GAO found that: (1) widespread financial management weaknesses
      are crippling the effectiveness of the federal government; (2)
      financial data are often inadequate or erroneous; (3) financial
      systems and controls are unreliable; (4) results-oriented
      reports on the financial condition of the United States are
      largely nonexistent; and (5) the Chief Financial Officers Act
      established a leadership structure consisting of a new Deputy
      Director for Management and a Controller in the Office of
      Management and Budget and qualified chief financial officers in
      all major agencies.

5.     Information Management and Technology Issues.  OCG-93-5TR.
      December 1992.  33 pp.  (The file is CG05T93.TXT  34354 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed widespread
      weaknesses in federal information resources management.

      GAO found that: (1) the government is falling behind the
      private sector in using information technology to streamline
      its operations and improve service to the public; (2) agencies
      may lack the essential information needed to manage programs
      effectively; (3) projects have run into serious trouble due to
      lack of modernized government information systems; (4) agency
      executives do not pay enough attention to the role of
      information technology in achieving fundamental improvements in
      agency operations; and (5) the agency unit responsible for
      information resources management often lacks appropriate
      authority to use technology to reduce administrative costs,
      increase productivity, and enhance service to the public.

6.     Program Evaluation Issues.  OCG-93-6TR.  December 1992.  Letter
      Report. 30 pp.  (The file is CG06T93.TXT  32690 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the need for
      sound, evaluative information on how federal programs are
      operating and what they are actually accomplishing.

      GAO found that: (1) program evaluations contribute systematic
      information to federal decisionmaking; (2) between 1984 and
      1988, there was a 12-percent decline in the number of
      professional staff in agency program evaluation units; (3)
      funds for program evaluation dropped 37 percent between 1980
      and 1984; (4) program implementation evaluations help agencies
      understand why their outreach may not be successful and the
      barriers to overcome before participation can increase; and (5)
      some agencies have conducted evaluation studies, but the
      information produced is either flawed or improperly used for
      budget policy.

7.     The Public Service.  OCG-93-7TR.  December 1992.  33 pp.
      (The file is CG07T93.TXT  32993 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues
      relating to the need to acquire and retain a competent and
      motivated federal work force.

      GAO noted that: (1) to attract and retain a high-quality work
      force, the government must sustain the initiatives begun in the
      last 4 years and respond to other emerging issues; (2) federal
      managers do not always have the flexibility, systems, or
      processes they need to downsize the federal work force
      effectively; and (3) issues facing the federal government
      include modernizing employment practices, enhancing federal
      work-force management, fully implementing pay reform, improving
      federal recruitment efforts and labor-management relations, and
      reforming health benefits.

8.     Health Care Reform.  OCG-93-8TR.  December 1992.  34 pp.
      (The file is CG08T93.TXT  34841 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized federal
      policy and management issues relating to health care reform.

      GAO noted that: (1) the new administration faces the challenge
      of finding a better way to manage and finance the U.S. health
      care system while preserving high-quality innovative medical
      care; (2) the United States has the highest health care system
      costs in the industrialized world, but is not serving large
      portions of the population; (3) nearly 34 million Americans are
      uninsured and millions more are underinsured; (4) the United
      States needs to adopt features common to health care programs
      in other countries; and (5) a reformed U.S. system must build
      on the strengths of the nation's current health care system.

9.     National Security Issues.  OCG-93-9TR.  December 1992.  Letter
      Report. 42 pp.  (The file is CG09T93.TXT  44752 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major defense
      policy, management, and program issues, focusing on: (1)
      military roles and missions; (2) managing the downsized and
      restructured military force; (3) U.S. commitments, forward
      presence, and security assistance programs; (4) the spread of
      mass destruction weapons; (5) weapons system acquisition; (6)
      environmental concerns; (7) inventory and other management
      concerns; and (8) financial management.

      GAO found that: (1) the reassessment of military roles and
      missions will require a change in the defense establishment's
      organizational culture and could lead to more cost-effective
      means of meeting defense needs; (2) the Department of Defense
      (DOD) will need to maintain high levels of military capability
      while reducing the number of military and civilian employees;
      (3) worldwide political realignments necessitate the change in
      U.S. overseas military presence and security assistance
      programs to reflect new U.S. commitments to allies and others;
      (4) increased international cooperation, with U.S. leadership,
      will be required to control international technology transfers
      and to dispose of nuclear and chemical weapons; (5) DOD needs
      to reform its acquisition process in the face of budget cuts,
      but DOD will need to maintain industrial base supporting
      security needs; (6) DOD faces many environmental challenges,
      such as complying with clean air and water legislation and
      cleaning up hazardous wastes; and (7) DOD needs to continues
      its initiatives in inventory acquisition, management, and
      control, and in personnel and financial management to ensure
      efficiency and cost control.

10.    Financial Services Industry Issues.  OCG-93-10TR.  December
      1992.  32 pp.  (The file is CG10T93.TXT  33514 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues
      relating to the federal government's regulation of and
      relationship with the financial services industry, focusing on:
      (1) federal regulation of financial institutions; (2) rapidly
      changing financial markets; and (3) federal regulation of
      insurance industry solvency.

      GAO noted that the: (1) federal government's many legislative
      and administrative attempts to address weaknesses and
      vulnerabilities in the financial services industry do not
      completely address such areas as the cleanup of the savings and
      loan association industry, modernization of the financial
      regulation structure, changes in the financial services
      industry, and serious weaknesses in insurance industry
      regulation; (2) federal government must be able to respond to
      such developments as the globalization of trading markets, new
      trading systems, new financial products, oversight of the
      investment advisory industry, and government securities
      markets; and (3) federal government has ultimate responsibility
      for the safety and soundness of insurance solvency regulation
      and can enhance regulation consistency and strengthen states'
      regulatory capabilities.

11.    International Trade Issues.  OCG-93-11TR.  December 1992.
      27 pp.  (The file is CG11T93.TXT  28858 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues
      relating to the federal government's role in international
      trade, focusing on: (1) enhancing U.S. competitiveness in an
      interdependent world; (2) promoting U.S. exports; (3) managing
      the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) export programs; (4)
      negotiating and administering trade agreements; and (5)
      analyzing national security-related foreign investments.

      GAO noted that: (1) international trade has become an
      increasingly critical part of the U.S. economy, although many
      believe that the United States is losing ground in global
      competition; (2) the Department of Commerce and USDA have
      addressed some organizational and management problems in their
      export promotion programs, but there is still a need for a
      comprehensive, government-wide strategy for those programs,
      which are spread among several agencies; (3) although
      multilateral trade negotiations which could enhance U.S.
      exports have not been completed, the United States has
      successfully advanced some bilateral trade agreements; and (4)
      the federal government needs to enhance its procedures for
      monitoring and analyzing proposed foreign investments in U.S.
      firms conducting national security-related work.

12.    Commerce Issues.  OCG-93-12TR.  December 1992.  32 pp.
      (The file is CG12T93.TXT  34374 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information
      on federal commerce issues, focusing on the Department of
      Commerce's: (1) role in competitiveness issues; (2)
      infrastructure investment requirements and mission
      effectiveness; (3) improvement of its economic statistics; and
      (4) planning of a more accurate, less costly 2000 Census.

      GAO noted that: (1) the current federal structure may not
      facilitate productivity and competitiveness improvement; (2)
      Commerce lacks the prominence, resources, and a clear strategy
      to significantly affect competitive improvement; (3) Commerce
      estimates that it needs investments totalling $7.4 billion to
      repair its deteriorating infrastructure; (4) a decentralized
      statistical system and a lack of leadership and coordination
      have resulted in a lack of reliable data on which Commerce
      could base policy; (5) the 1990 census contained 14.1 million
      errors, cost 25 percent more than the 1980 census, and
      continued the trend of steady decline in census accuracy; and
      (6) Commerce needs to decide on the content of the
      questionnaire, whether to use sampling, and to improve the
      address list and geographic information.

13.    Energy Issues.  OCG-93-13TR.  December 1992.  31 pp.
      (The file is CG13T93.TXT  32781 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information
      on federal energy and science issues facing Congress and the
      new administration.

      GAO noted that: (1) the United States depends upon petroleum
      and other fossil fuels for 85 percent of its general energy
      consumption and 70 percent of its energy production; (2)
      petroleum's low price discouraged development of alternative
      fuels, limited efforts to conserve energy, and increased U.S.
      dependence on foreign oil sources; (3) additional market
      incentives such as new regulatory and tax policies are needed
      to make energy prices better reflect societal costs; (4) in
      response to changing world events and safety problems within
      the nuclear weapons complex, DOE has shifted its mission from
      nuclear weapons production to environmental restoration and
      waste management; (5) DOE laboratories must focus their mission
      away from basic nuclear research and toward improving economic
      competitiveness, environmental clean-up management, and
      developing U.S. infrastructure; (6) the DOE planned waste
      disposal repository is seriously behind schedule, over budget,
      and has not resolved technical, logistical, and environmental
      impact issues; and (7) DOE, in conjunction with other agencies,
      needs to address nuclear facility safety and nonproliferation
      concerns in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

14.    Transportation Issues.  OCG-93-14TR.  December 1992.  Letter
      Report.  34 pp.  (The file is CG14T93.TXT  39929 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major federal
      policy, management, and program issues involving
      transportation, focusing on: (1) investment in surface
      transportation infrastructure; (2) modernization of air traffic
      control and airports; (3) transportation safety; (4) airline
      competition and access to international markets; (5) Coast
      Guard acquisition programs and environmental protection; and
      (6) financial systems and grant oversight.

      GAO found that: (1) congressional legislation guided investment
      in surface transportation facilities by emphasizing integrated
      transportation systems and supporting new technology; (2) the
      air traffic control system modernization and airport
      development programs need set goals and improved management to
      make the best use of available funding; (3) the Department of
      Transportation (DOT) needs to strengthen its regulation and
      enforcement of safety standards, and to better target its
      resources at safety risks; (4) DOT needs to eliminate barriers
      to airline competition, enhance access to capital for weaker
      airlines, and facilitate access to foreign markets; (5) the
      Coast Guard needs to improve its acquisition process and
      environmental oversight; and (6) DOT needs to consolidate its
      financial systems and improve grant oversight.

15.    Food and Agriculture Issues.  OCG-93-15TR.  December 1992.  34
      pp.  (The file is CG15T93.TXT  37989 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed major
      federal policy, management, and program issues facing Congress
      and the new administration in the areas of food and
      agriculture.

      GAO found that: (1) since 1988, fiscal pressures have enhanced
      the importance of reforming farm credit and risk protection, as
      well as coordinating federal programs for ensuring food safety
      and quality; (2) the Department of Agriculture (USDA) needs to
      simplify and streamline its organization to become more
      accessible and responsive to its highly diverse clients; (3)
      the 1985 and 1990 farm bills moved U.S. agriculture towards a
      greater market orientation, helping to make U.S. farm
      commodities more competitive in the marketplace; (4) several
      USDA programs aimed at providing loans, crop insurance, and
      disaster assistance to farmers expose the federal government to
      high risks of large financial losses; (5) many of the federal
      assistance programs target the agricultural sector even though
      farming is no longer a major economic base for many rural
      communities; and (6) there are consistently documented
      structural flaws in the federal government's food safety
      system.

16.    Environmental Protection Issues.  OCG-93-16TR.  December 1992.
      29 pp. (The file is CG16T93.TXT  31151 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the major
      environmental policy issues facing Congress and the new
      administration.

      GAO found that: (1) the federal budget deficit and the Omnibus
      Budget Reconciliation Act make increased funding for the
      Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unlikely; (2) a key to
      improved environmental management is establishing priorities
      among programs on the basis of the risk to public health and
      the environment; (3) greater use of nonregulatory alternatives
      will help industry achieve greater cost efficiencies in
      complying with environmental standards; (4) EPA has not
      collected the information necessary to judge the success of its
      programs; and (5) an unprecedented level of international
      cooperation will be needed to resolve the environmental
      problems.

17.    Natural Resources Management Issues.  OCG-93-17TR.  December
      1992. 35 pp.  (The file is CG17T93.TXT  38083 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed major
      federal policy, management, and program issues facing Congress
      and the new administration in natural resources management.

      GAO found that: (1) increases in annual appropriations for
      managing natural resources have not been large enough to
      fulfill infrastructure and staffing needs; (2) an alternative
      for addressing the declining condition of the nation's natural
      resources and related infrastructure is to obtain new sources
      of funding; and (3) there is a need for providing the proper
      balance between the nation's natural resources use and
      conservation for future generations.

18.    Education Issues.  OCG-93-18TR.  December 1992.  38 pp.
      (The file is CG18T93.TXT  42491 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information
      on education issues facing Congress and the new administration,
      focusing on the need to: (1) enhance federal efforts to meet
      national educational goals; (2) reduce the cost and preserve
      the integrity of the student loan program; and (3) strengthen
      departmental management.

      GAO noted that: (1) the current education system is not meeting
      industry standards for a more highly skilled work force; (2)
      while the United States spends $221 billion in cooperative
      education, it fails to provide basic reasoning and problem-
      solving skills to its students and remains behind other
      industrialized nations in the areas of mathematics and science;
      (3) one in three youths has insufficient skills to gain entry
      level, semiskilled, or high wage occupations; (4) the
      Department of Education needs to help schools adjust to a
      higher proportion of poor, minority, and immigrant children,
      support development of higher educational standards, develop
      new forms of student assessment, assist program integration,
      develop an effective national strategy for school-to-work
      transition, and promote school reform while maximizing its
      resources; and (5) Education must correct general, human
      resource, and financial managerial problems, particularly with
      its student assistance programs.

19.    Labor Issues.  OCG-93-19TR.  December 1992.  38 pp.
      (The file is CG19T93.TXT  41450 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information
      on federal labor issues facing Congress and the new
      administration.

      GAO noted that: (1) the Department of Labor needs to foster
      competition and assist workers to adapt to the changing
      environment of the work place; (2) Labor faces significant
      challenges because of an inadequate education system, an
      increasing unskilled work force, and a large number of
      temporarily dislocated workers who need job retraining; (3)
      problems with some of the government's 125 employment programs
      include inadequate state and federal oversight, inefficient
      service, a lack of coordination between programs, extreme high
      cost, and questionable program effectiveness; (4) Labor needs
      to provide workers with greater access to unemployment and
      retirement benefits; and (5) solutions to ensure the safety and
      health of workers are needed.

20.    Health and Human Services Issues.  OCG-93-20TR.  December 1992.
      33 pp. (The file is CG20T93.TXT  36319 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information
      on federal health and human services issues facing Congress and
      the new administration.

      GAO noted that: (1) social security, Medicare, and Medicaid
      accounted for 87 percent of the Department of Health and Human
      Service's (HHS) budget; (2) challenges facing HHS include
      ensuring health care access, controlling escalating costs, and
      curbing Medicare losses through the detection of fraud, waste,
      and abuse; (3) public confidence needs to be restored in the
      social security system by ensuring that adequate funds are
      present during economic downturns, providing better benefit
      information, and increasing the timely distribution of
      benefits; (4) welfare reform implementation has been slowed by
      increasing caseloads and state budget constraints; and (5) HHS
      needs to upgrade current child welfare programs by focusing on
      prevention and early intervention and creating a federal
      strategy for collecting data.

21.    Veterans Affairs Issues.  OCG-93-21TR.  December 1992.  31 pp.
      (The file is CG21T93.TXT  32985 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized federal
      policy and management issues relating to veterans affairs.

      GAO noted that: (1) the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
      delivers a wide array of medical disability compensation,
      pension, housing, insurance, education, and burial services in
      more than 1,000 facilities at a cost of $34 billion annually;
      (2) to contain the rising federal deficit, VA will have to
      operate its programs and activities with constrained resources;
      (3) VA has numerous opportunities to operate more cost
      effectively while preserving or enhancing the quality of
      services provided to veterans; (4) national health reform could
      be the most significant challenge facing VA since it could
      reduce demand for inpatient care by almost 50 percent; and (5)
      other challenges facing VA include how best to serve an aging
      veteran population, fully incorporate evolving medical
      treatment patterns, and innovating claims-processing
      technologies.

22.    Housing and Community Development Issues.  OCG-93-22TR.
      December 1992. 29 pp.  (The file is CG22T93.TXT  29960 Bytes)t

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues
      relating to housing and community development.

      GAO noted that housing and community development issues
      included: (1) providing affordable housing for the nation's
      poor; (2) strengthening the Department of Housing and Urban
      Development's management; (3) controlling housing loan and
      lead-based paint cost exposure; (4) promoting community
      development; and (5) reexamining strategies for responding to
      disasters.

23.    Justice Issues.  OCG-93-23TR.  December 1992.  39 pp.
      (The file is CG23T93.TXT  37804 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized federal
      policy and management issues in the justice area.

      GAO noted that justice issues include: (1) strengthening
      leadership and management functions at the Department of
      Justice; (2) investigating and prosecuting white-collar crime;
      (3) making needed policy and management decisions on
      immigration issues; (4) responding to a rapid rise in the
      federal prison population; and (5) making the government's
      antidrug efforts more effective.

24.    Internal Revenue Service Issues.  OCG-93-24TR.  December 1992.
      33 pp.  (The file is CG24T93.TXT  33057 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major policy,
      management, and program issues at the Internal Revenue Service
      (IRS), focusing on: (1) tax system administration; (2) computer
      system modernization; (3) human resources; (4) the IRS
      strategic business process; (5) tax gap reduction; (6)
      financial management; (7) criminal investigation resources
      management; and (8) calls for a consumption tax.

      GAO found that: (1) IRS needs to reassess its traditional
      functional and organizational structure to improve its tax
      system administration; (2) tax systems modernization requires
      the redesign of IRS automated systems and the formalization of
      an operational strategy; (3) IRS needs better personnel
      management, training, and integrity in the face of its
      modernization program and personnel downsizing; (4) to support
      its strategic business process, IRS needs to develop
      performance measures related to voluntary compliance, reducing
      taxpayer burden, and improving productivity and customer
      satisfaction; (5) IRS needs to improve its management of unpaid
      tax collections, increase voluntary compliance, and rethink its
      enforcement approach; (6) IRS needs to integrate its financial
      management systems to accurately allocate taxes and provide
      comprehensive and reliable financial information; (7) IRS needs
      to prioritize the demands on its criminal investigation
      resources; and (8) IRS needs to be able to quickly analyze its
      administration of any new consumption tax and advise
      policymakers of its implications.

25.    Foreign Economic Assistance Issues.  OCG-93-25TR.  December
      1992.  28 pp.  (The file is CG25T93.TXT  26636 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues
      relating to foreign economic assistance, focusing on: (1) a
      reassessment of the goals and rationale for foreign economic
      assistance; (2) management accountability in aid programs; (3)
      the Agency for International Development's (AID) work-force
      planning system; and (4) effective information resource
      management and financial management and accounting systems.

      GAO noted that: (1) the federal government needs to
      comprehensively reexamine foreign assistance goals and
      objectives, and AID needs to clearly articulate its strategic
      mission; (2) AID lacks a strong centralized policy and
      priority-setting mechanisms and systems to ensure the
      accountability of its decentralized units; (3) AID has not
      systematically planned for its work-force needs, and many AID
      employees lack the skills they need to perform their
      responsibilities; (4) AID information resource management
      include undefined information needs, duplicate data, redundant,
      outdated, and unintegrated information systems, and nonexistent
      or inadequate support, standards, and procedures; and (5)
      serious problems in AID accounting and financial reporting
      systems hinder its appropriations tracking, property control
      and inventory, and resource tracking.

26.    Foreign Affairs Issues.  OCG-93-26TR.  December 1992.  34 pp.
      (The file is CG26T93.TXT  32702 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues
      relating to major foreign affairs policy, management, and
      programs, focusing on: (1) post-Cold War diplomacy; (2)
      international broadcasting; (3) program management; (4) U.S.
      participation in United Nations (UN) organizations; (5)
      international narcotics control programs; and (6) refugee
      program administration.

      GAO noted that: (1) the United States faces a challenge in
      adjusting its foreign policy and diplomatic activities to a
      more global foreign policy that promotes broader U.S.
      interests; (2) many believe that Radio Free Europe and Radio
      Liberty broadcasts are relics of the Cold War and should be
      terminated; (3) the Department of State has key management
      control weaknesses in its financial operations, personnel
      management, property management, foreign support services, and
      cashiering operations; (4) UN management reforms have
      encouraged the United States to pay its assessed contributions
      as a UN member; (5) State needs to streamline its
      counternarcotics programming and management system by designing
      and using better review and evaluation procedures and promoting
      more international cooperation and support; and (6) the federal
      government needs to comprehensively review its role in refugee
      crises and repatriations, the impact of increased refugee
      admissions, and the apportionment of admissions among different
      refugee populations.

27.    NASA Issues.  OCG-93-27TR.  December 1992.  25 pp.
      (The file is CG27T93.TXT  25576 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major policy,
      management, and program issues at the National Aeronautics and
      Space Administration (NASA), focusing on: (1) aligning plans
      with likely budgets; (2) systems development management; (3)
      improving operations and oversight; and (4) preserving U.S.
      aeronautics leadership.

      GAO found that NASA: (1) strategic and program plans call for
      unrealistic funding levels well above what will be available,
      but NASA is working to improve its strategic plan; (2) needs to
      reevaluate its research and development efforts to make them
      more cost-effective, and recognize changes in priorities and
      needs; (3) needs to improve its operations management and
      oversight of its space shuttle program to enhance efficiency
      and effectiveness; and (4) needs to improve its budgetary
      support for the U.S. aeronautics industry and give more
      emphasis to systems technology.

28.    General Services Issues.  OCG-93-28TR.  December 1992.  31 pp.
      (The file is CG28T93.TXT  31371 Bytes)

      Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major policy,
      management, and program issues at the General Services
      Administration (GSA), focusing on: (1) GSA roles as provider
      and regulator; (2) improving delivery services based on
      entrepreneurial and competitive principles; (3) internal
      management systems; (4) GSA oversight of governmentwide
      procurement practices; and (5) congressional oversight.

      GAO found that: (1) GSA continues to be preoccupied with the
      delivery of services rather than its policy and regulatory
      functions, to the detriment of efficient asset management, but
      GSA recently established an organization to emphasize a more
      proactive role in governmentwide asset management; (2) GSA
      needs to operate in a more business-like mode to increase
      efficiency and cost savings; (3) GSA needs to improve its
      general management and internal control systems to guard
      against waste, fraud, and abuse; (4) GSA needs to improve its
      governmentwide procurement programs to eliminate poor contract
      performers and common or systemic problems; and (5) current GSA
      practices and divided congressional jurisdiction hinder
      Congress' oversight of GSA.

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