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