United States General Accounting Office
Testimony
GAO
Before the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Committee on
Appropriations,
U.S. Senate
For Release on Delivery
10:00 a.m. EST May 10, 2001
FISCAL YEAR 2002 BUDGET REQUEST
U.S. GeneralAccounting Office
Statement of David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United
States
GAO-01-609T
Mr. Chairman and Members of the
Subcommittee:
Good morning! As the Comptroller General of the United States,
it is a pleasure to appear before you today to present the General
Accounting Office's (GAO's) budget request for fiscal year 2002. I
am proud to say that we served the Congress and the American people
well in fiscal year 2000. Our work resulted in substantial
financial savings and significant improvements to government that
will benefit all Americans. I am confident that fiscal year 2001
will be just as productive.
At the outset, I want to thank the Committee for its support in
helping enact GAO's human capital legislation. This legislation
will go a long way toward helping us address many of our human
capital requirements and ensuring that GAO remains prepared to meet
the Congress' needs in the future. We have issued implementing
regulations for the early retirement and scientific and technical
staff provisions and plan to issue authorizing regulations later
this year to guide any potential future buy-outs and
reductions-in-force.
GAO's fiscal year 2002 budget request is critical to our
continuing efforts to reorganize and reshape the agency, reengineer
our business processes, and train and equip our staff with
up-to-date technology to help meet Congress' current and future
needs. Congressional mandates and requests continue to represent
over 90 percent of our work, and our workload and productivity
remain at near-record levels. Our budget request represents our
needs--not wants--to sustain this level of effort and support to
the Congress.
Since becoming the Comptroller General at the beginning of
fiscal year 1999, GAO's appropriations have been insufficient to
fund mandatory and inflation expenses associated with employee
compensation and benefits, and make needed investments in critical
areas, such as technology, training, and performance recognition.
We have managed our resource shortages by reducing our staffing
levels and underfunding critical investments. We cannot, and should
not, continue this trend.
The funds we are requesting are essential to helping us remain
prepared to meet the complex, controversial, and multidimensional
issues and challenges confronting the Congress now and in the
future. Our request includes only those funds we need to stabilize
at our approved 3,275 fulltime equivalent staffing level and to
incrementally increase investments needed in training, technology,
performance recognition, and other key support items to a level
consistent with best practices of other comparable government and
private sector entities.
Before I begin detailing our fiscal year 2002 budget needs, I
would like to highlight some of GAO's accomplishments and
achievements in fiscal year 2000 and the major challenges
confronting us.
A REVIEW OF GAO'S FISCAL YEAR 2000 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
GAO had a tremendous year in fiscal year 2000. As a result of
actions taken on our work by the Congress and federal departments
and agencies, taxpayers benefited from over $23 billion in
financial savings-a $61 return on every $1 invested in GAO. Our
work also resulted in significant improvements in government
operations and services that will benefit all Americans. Among
other things, by acting on our recommendations, the government
improved public health and safety, strengthened national security,
better protected consumers, and improved its financial management
and information systems. We also contributed critical information
to public debates on Social Security and Medicare reform and called
attention to looming problems, such as the security of government
computer systems and the knowledge and skills needed in the federal
workforce in coming years. Other indicators of our performance,
such as the number of testimonies our senior executives provided
and recommendations implemented, exceeded that of most recent
years. I also am pleased to report that we made significant
progress toward addressing many of the organizational, human
capital, and information technology challenges that I outlined for
you at last year's hearing. We had a very busy and productive
year.
Taxpayers Benefit from $23 Billion in Financial Savings
In fiscal year 2000, GAO helped achieve about $23.2 billion in
direct financial benefits for the American taxpayer. These benefits
are a result of the Congress or federal departments and agencies
implementing our recommendations to make government services more
efficient, improve the budgeting and spending of tax dollars, and
strengthen the management of federal resources. The estimated
financial benefits include budget reductions, costs avoided,
resources reallocated, and revenue enhancements. These results
exceeded our target of $22 billion and were greater than that of
the previous three fiscal years, as illustrated in the following
graphic.
Dollars in billions
$23.2
24 $22.0
$20.9
$19.7 $20.1 20 16 12 8
4 0
19 97 1 998 1 999 2 00 0 200 0 Target
F is cal years
Some examples of GAO's work that contributed to these financial
savings include the following.
Helping to Prevent Fraud and Abuse in Medicare: GAO had long
advocated increased funding specifically for activities to prevent
fraud and abuse in the Medicare program. In
1996, the Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act,
which provided the additional funding. As a result of these
activities, the Medicare
program's net savings were about $3 billion in fiscal year
2000.
Cutting Costs of the F-22 Aircraft Program: In a series of
reports beginning in the mid
1990s, GAO questioned various aspects of the Air Force's F-22
aircraft acquisition
program. We reported that the acquisition strategy was risky and
that the program was
experiencing cost growth, manufacturing problems with test
aircraft, and testing delays.
Our analysis helped the Congress reduce the final fiscal year
2000 appropriation request
for the F-22 by about $552 million and to identify conditions
that should be met before
the Department of Defense could begin full production.
Supporting Oversight of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS): GAO
continued to support
congressional oversight of IRS' operations, including IRS'
implementation of the 1998
IRS Restructuring and Reform Act, its budget requests, and
administration of various tax
functions. For example, our testimony on IRS' broad-based
modernization efforts
provided an integrated assessment of the challenges IRS
continues to face in its tax
enforcement and customer service operations and its
modernization of performance
management, information systems, and business practices. At the
same time, our work
generated savings and potential reductions in taxpayer burden.
Our work on the
improved use of information returns in IRS' tax enforcement
operations yielded $83
million in savings this year. IRS also agreed to begin tracking
information that has the
potential of clarifying its notices to taxpayers and easing
their task in complying with
those notices.
Recapturing Excess HUD Funding: GAO identified funding from
several sources in the
Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget, including
unexpended
balances no longer needed, that could be recaptured in fiscal
years 1998 and 1999. The
Congress rescinded $1.65 billion from the Section 8 housing
program's fiscal year 1998
budget authority and rejected $1.3 billion of HUD's fiscal year
1999 request for housing
assistance for a total reduction of $2.95 billion. Subsequently,
GAO and HUD worked
together to revise HUD's analysis to show that, by using
recaptured funds, HUD had
sufficient funding to meet its needs.
Almost 800 Actions Taken To Improve Government Operations or
Services
GAO's recommendations and audit findings also resulted in or
contributed to many improvements in the effectiveness and
efficiency of government operations and services during fiscal year
2000. While immeasurable in dollar terms, they contributed to
improving public safety and consumer protection, establishing more
effective and efficient government operations, and safeguarding the
nation's physical and information infrastructure. We recorded 788
actions taken in response to our recommendations to improve how the
federal government operates, a number far exceeding that of the
preceding 3 years as illustrated in the following graphic.
788 800 607 620
537 600
Number of actions
391 400
200
0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2000
Target
Fiscal year
Examples of GAO's work that resulted in these accomplishments
follow.
Improving Nursing Home Quality of Care: The Health Care
Financing Administration (HCFA) and several states-including
California, Maryland, and Michigan-improved their oversight and
enforcement of nursing homes' quality of care standards in response
to GAO's recommendations highlighting weaknesses in existing
processes. Improvements included increased funding for nursing home
surveyors, more prompt investigation of complaints alleging serious
harm to residents, more immediate enforcement actions for homes
with repeated serious problems, a reorganization of HCFA's regional
staff to improve consistency in oversight, and increased funding
for administrative law judges to reduce the backlog of appealed
enforcement actions.
Managing Wildfire Prevention: -Federal Experts Saw Massive
Wildfires Coming" read an August 7, 2000, news headline. The
article was referring to GAO's April 1999 report on wildfires.
Since then, GAO has used the increased risk of uncontrollable and
often catastrophic wildfires as an example of the need for
"strategic budgeting" to address issues that are not aligned with
the current budget and organizational structures of the four major
federal land management agencies. Responding to the wildfires that
burned over 6.5 million acres of public and private land in 2000,
the Congress appropriated an additional $240 million in fiscal year
2001 to reduce hazardous fuels in high-risk locations where
wildlands and urban areas meet. GAO testified on the need for the
four land management agencies to act quickly to develop a framework
to spend funds effectively and to account accurately for what they
accomplish with the funds.
Improving Human Capital Practices: Our work on human capital
issues helped focus the attention of the executive and legislative
branches on the importance of these issues,
particularly in managing for results. We helped spur the
administration to make human
capital a priority management objective in the fiscal year 2001
budget submission, and
our framework for human capital self-assessment is being used at
other agencies,
including the Social Security Administration, Small Business
Administration, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Environmental
Protection Agency. The
framework also is used throughout GAO to help guide our research
and development
work and our congressionally driven examinations of how well
agencies are pursuing
strategic human capital management in support of their missions
and goals. We have
designated strategic human capital management as one of the
federal government's high
risk areas in our 2001 Performance and Accountability Series and
High-Risk Update.
Strengthening Information Security: GAO has evaluated the
security of critical
information systems at federal agencies and recommended numerous
improvements,
most recently at three Treasury agencies, the Department of
Energy, Department of
Veterans Affairs, and the Environmental Protection Agency. In
September 2000, GAO
issued a governmentwide perspective on federal information
security that covered
Inspector General and GAO audit findings reported since July
1999. We concluded that
weak security continues to be a widespread problem that places
critical and sensitive
federal operations at risk of tampering, disruption, and
inappropriate disclosure. In
October 2000, government information security reform provisions
were enacted into law
to strengthen information security practices throughout the
government.
Stabilizing the Balkans: Despite the presence of two large
forces led by the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Balkans remain volatile. GAO's
work has shown that
the international operations in Bosnia and Kosovo face severe
obstacles to achieving
enduring peace and stability. Most local leaders and members of
their respective ethnic
groups have not embraced the political and social reconciliation
needed to build
multiethnic, democratic societies. Our work also has shown that
the international
community has not provided the resources that the United Nations
mission in Kosovo
says it needs, particularly for building a civilian police
force. If progress is not made
with these matters, violence may escalate or armed conflict may
result.
Requests for GAO Testimony and Implementation of
Recommendations Increased
In fiscal year 2000, the number of times that GAO's senior
executives testified before the Congress and the rate at which our
recommendations were implemented exceeded that of most recent
years. Because GAO's primary function is to support the Congress in
carrying out its decision-making and oversight responsibilities,
the number of times our experts testify before congressional panels
each year is an indicator of our responsiveness and reflects the
impact, importance, and value of our work. In fiscal year 2000, GAO
officials testified 263 times before 104 different House and Senate
Committees and Subcommittees, more than half of all congressional
committees and subcommittees. Our experts testified on a broad
range of issues of national importance, including arms control,
health care, Social Security, human capital, nuclear waste cleanup,
wildfire prevention, aviation safety and security, international
trade, computer security, financial management and reform, and
budget issues.
Our assistance to the Congress at public hearings continues to
remain high, as illustrated below. However, it is clear that the
number of congressional oversight hearings and other GAO testimony
opportunities will decline significantly in fiscal year 2001 as a
result of factors beyond our control. Among these include the slow
start of the 107th Congress due to the power sharing arrangements
in the Senate, closer margins and committee leadership changes in
the House, and delay in filling many Bush Administration policy
positions.
Number of testimonies
256 263 270 229 230
182
180
90
0 1997 1998 1999 2000 2000
Target
Fiscal year
We also exceeded our performance of previous years with respect
to the rate at which the recommendations we made 4 years ago were
implemented. We use a 4-year interval because our historical data
show that agencies often need time to take action on our
recommendations. By the end of fiscal year 2000, 78 percent of the
recommendations we made in fiscal year 1996 had been implemented.
As illustrated in the graphic below, this rate exceeds that of the
preceding 3 years. Implemented recommendations correct the
underlying causes of problems, weaknesses in internal controls,
failures to comply with laws or regulations, or other matters
impeding effective and efficient performance.
Percent of recom m en dations im plem ented
74 7378
80
69 70 60 40 20
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2000 Target
Fiscal year
Significant Progress Made Addressing Management and Operational
Issues
Last year, I outlined for you a number of major management and
operational challenges facing GAO. These challenges included human
capital, information technology, organizational, job processes, and
communication issues within the agency. I am pleased to report that
we made significant progress toward addressing many of these
issues.
We continued to enhance our effectiveness and efficiency through
a variety of means during fiscal year 2000, including issuing a
strategic plan, establishing congressional protocols, realigning
the agency, implementing key human capital initiatives, and
increasing the use of information technology. These efforts to
enhance and strengthen GAO and its services to the Congress and the
American people include the following.
In the Spring of 2000, we issued our first strategic plan for
the 21st century based on input from the Congress and supplemented
by GAO's own expertise and other outreach efforts. The plan focuses
on how we intend to support the Congress in helping to shape a more
efficient and effective government. It describes our role and
mission in the federal government; the core values that guide our
work; the trends, conditions, and external factors underlying our
plan; and our goals, objectives, and strategies for serving the
Congress. Our intent is to update the strategic plan every 2 years
for each Congress.
We established a set of congressional protocols to govern our
interactions with and ensure our accountability to the Congress.
These protocols, which underwent a 9month pilot test, set out
clear, transparent, consistently applied policies and practices for
GAO's relations with the Congress to reduce miscommunication and
ensure that all requesters are treated equitably. The final
protocols were issued in November 2000.
We continued our outreach efforts to understand how best to meet
congressional needs and assist the Congress in using our resources
and services. During each Congress, I and other GAO executives plan
to meet with the leadership of the Senate and House, all Committee
Chairs and Ranking Minority Members, and Members of our oversight
and appropriations committees to obtain feedback on our performance
and information needed to update our strategic plan.
We issued our first-ever Accountability Report to the Congress
discussing our performance and accountability in serving the
Congress and the American people in fiscal year 1999. The report
reviews our accomplishments in meeting our mission and sustaining
our core values of accountability, integrity, and reliability. We
also issued a performance plan for fiscal year 2001 that contains
the performance measures and annual performance targets we will use
to gauge progress toward accomplishing our strategic goals and
objectives.
We also realigned the agency to better support the Congress and
prepare ourselves with current and expected resource levels to meet
the future challenges outlined in our strategic plan. To align
GAO's structure with the goals in our strategic plan, we
reorganized both our field and headquarters operations. The changes
were primarily designed to better align our resources with our
strategic plan, eliminate a layer of managerial hierarchy, reduce
the number of organizational units, increase internal and external
coordination activities with the Congress and other accountability
organizations, clarify the roles and responsibilities of
management, increase the number of personnel who perform rather
than manage or review work, and increase the critical mass and
enhance the flexibility of field resources.
We also began implementing a range of new and enhanced human
capital and information technology strategies to position GAO for
future success. Thanks to the Congress, we now have legislative
authority that provides us greater flexibility to effectively
manage our human capital. This legislation, enacted into law in
October 2000, grants us the authority to establish new senior-level
scientific and technical positions; offer targeted voluntary
early-outs and buy-outs; and carry out reductions in force to
downsize, realign, or correct skills imbalances within our agency.
We have issued implementing regulations for early-outs and the
scientific and technical positions and plan to issue buy-out and
reductions-in-force authorizing regulations later this year.
Other accomplishments within the human capital area include:
Completion of a first-ever electronic knowledge and skills
assessment and inventory that is being used to help identify skill
gaps and succession planning needs within the agency. In addition,
staff completed an employee preference survey that is being used
along with the results of the knowledge and skills inventory to
meet our institutional work needs while accommodating staff
preferences for engagements to the extent possible.
Significant recruiting and college relations efforts on the
nation's campuses. Aggressive efforts are underway to attract,
recruit, and hire high-caliber staff with the skills and abilities
needed to assist GAO in achieving our strategic goals and
objectives.
Revised performance standards for all staff that incorporate
GAO's core values and strategic goals, update descriptions of
performance to better reflect the current nature of GAO's work, and
include key management and performance concepts, such as leadership
by example, client service, and measurable results. Also, during
fiscal year 2000, we began a major initiative to develop a
competency-based performance appraisal system for analysts to
reflect prevailing best practices. In fiscal year 2001, we will
begin updating the performance systems for attorneys and mission
support staff to reflect prevailing best practices.
Enhanced internal communications that remain a vital tool for
change management throughout the agency. Throughout fiscal year
2000, I conducted a number of telecasts to all agency staff to
discuss GAO's strategic plan and congressional protocols, client
service, employee survey results, initiatives to enhance the
agency's human capital programs and legislative proposals, work
processes, organizational alignment, information technology, and
other areas of interest to the staff. Also, to engage our employees
more fully in improving the agency's performance, we established
the Comptroller General's Employee Advisory Council to discuss
current and emerging issues of mutual interest and concern and
implemented an employee suggestion program that received more than
800 submissions in its first year of operation.
We also made significant gains in strengthening and improving
our operations and processes in fiscal year 2000. We implemented
two new management strategies: risk management and matrix
management. GAO's risk management approach allows management to
identify and involve key stakeholders throughout an engagement to
transcend traditional organizational boundaries to maximize
institutional value and minimize related risks. GAO's matrix
management approach maximizes our value to the Congress by
leveraging the knowledge, skills, and experience of all employees
to ensure the highest quality products and services and to help the
Congress address the challenging, complex, multidimensional
problems facing the nation.
Throughout fiscal year 2000, we also continued to improve our
use of information technology as a tool for productivity and
knowledge management. To provide our teams of analysts with a
mechanism for simplifying and standardizing their work, we launched
the Electronic Assistance Guide for Leading Engagements--the EAGLE,
which is a prototype of a comprehensive Webbased guide to
conducting GAO engagements. We also continued to enhance the
capabilities of our computer network and successfully made our
systems Y2K compliant. In addition, we began a number of projects
on enabling technologies, including software upgrades, the
deployment of notebook computers, and improved remote access to
allow teams to work more efficiently in the field. Also, to carry
out GAO's responsibilities under the Presidential Transition Act of
2000, we developed a separate section on our Internet web site with
links to key GAO contacts and reports on the major executive branch
agencies, which was completed at the beginning of fiscal year
2001.
FISCAL YEAR 2001 PLANS AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
During fiscal year 2001, we will continue to focus our work on
the major issues facing the Congress, including Social Security
solvency, education, economic development, Medicare reform,
national security, international affairs, and government management
reforms and computer security. Another top priority this year will
be working with leaders on the Hill to help the Congress strengthen
its approach to oversight, with an emphasis on looking hard at what
government does, how it does it, and the long-term consequences of
today's policy choices. GAO's 2001 Performance and Accountability
Series and High-Risk Update will serve as a solid foundation for
congressional oversight. Also, as I mentioned earlier, we have
several key initiatives in progress to improve how we serve the
Congress, among them an expanded client feedback system; protocols
governing our dealings with federal agencies; new high-level
advisory bodies to gain the expertise of business leaders, former
Cabinet officials, and other experts; and new avenues for sharing
our own expertise with other accountability organizations.
We also are preparing to carry out two new responsibilities
mandated by the previous Congress. We will chair a panel to review
the government's A-76 process for obtaining services through
competitive sourcing. Also, if the needed funding is provided, we
will review the costs and benefits of major regulations under the
Truth in Regulating Act (P.L. 106-312, Oct. 17, 2000). We have a
request pending for $2.6 million in supplemental funding for fiscal
year 2001 and are requesting $5.2 million for fiscal year 2002 to
meet the requirements created by the Truth in Regulating Act.
Internally, we will continue to emphasize initiatives to address
our two major management challenges: human capital and information
technology. With about 80 percent of our resources devoted to staff
salary and benefits, the area of human capital presents a major
challenge. A significant percentage of our workforce is nearing
retirement age, while marketplace, demographic, economic, and
technological changes indicate that competition for skilled workers
will be greater in the future. With our agency realigned to
facilitate our work for the Congress and new legislative authority
in hand to manage our workforce more effectively, we are pursuing
several initiatives to strengthen our human capital. For example,
we are recruiting diverse, highcaliber staff with the skills and
abilities we need to achieve our strategic goals and objectives. We
will be putting into place a competency-based performance appraisal
system and using the results of our staff knowledge and skills
inventory to help us in workforce planning. We also have
reestablished and are expanding training opportunities for our
staff-from the senior executives to the new hires.
Another major management challenge is building an integrated and
reliable information technology (IT) infrastructure that supports
the achievement of our goals. We are conducting a comprehensive IT
review to identify opportunities to increase our efficiency,
effectiveness, and productivity. We also are mapping our business
processes to our IT architecture and will link future IT
investments to our business goals. In addition, we plan to continue
initiatives to increase our employees' productivity, maximize the
use of technology, and enhance the Webbased knowledge-sharing
applications on the desktop. Last, we also must heighten the
security of our network.
FY 2002 BUDGET REQUEST
To fully support the Congress as outlined in our strategic plan
and the additional congressional mandates received since its
issuance, we are requesting a budget for fiscal year 2002 of about
$430.3 million. This funding level will allow us to support and
staff to our approved level of 3,275 full-time equivalent
personnel. We will increase our emphasis on areas of congressional
and public interest and, internally, will continue to emphasize
initiatives to address our two major management challenges: human
capital and information technology. Our request also includes $5.2
million to carry out new responsibilities created by the Truth in
Regulating Act. In addition, we are seeking a nominal increase in
GAO's representation expenses, from $10,000 to $12,500, to
accommodate our expanded role with both domestic and international
accountability organizations.
Additional funding in fiscal year 2002 is being requested
for:
mandatory pay and benefit costs resulting primarily from federal
cost-of-living and locality pay adjustments, based on Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) guidance, increased participation in
the Federal Employees Retirement System, and an increase in the
estimated number of retirees--$17,554,000;
uncontrollable inflationary increases in transportation,
lodging, postage, printing, supplies, contracts, and other
essential mission support services, based on OMB's 2percent
inflation index and other factors--$1,565,000; and
uncontrollable contract rate increases in building operations
and maintenance and information technology
programs--$1,453,000.
Funding of $8,004,000 for salaries and benefits also is being
requested to staff and support our approved 3,275 full-time
equivalent staffing level. We plan to use these resources to
enhance our review efforts in areas of congressional and public
interest and concern, such as government computer security, Social
Security solvency, education, economic development, Medicare
reform, and international affairs.
The additional funds requested also would be used to continue
initiatives begun in fiscal year 2000 that are critical to
supporting the Congress and the goals and objectives identified in
our strategic plan. These initiatives include human capital
initiatives and enabling technological advances to enhance the
performance and productivity of our workforce as follows.
Human capital initiatives--$3,324,000: Enabling technology
initiatives to increase employee productivity, maximize the use of
technology, and enhance employee tools available at the desktop,
including such initiatives as reengineering business processes,
upgrading hardware and software applications, expanding our
videoconferencing capabilities, and implementing a best practices
network security program--$2,585,000.
Other efforts include:
Enhancing security and removing asbestos within the GAO Building
to protect the health and safety of our most important asset-our
staff--$2,839,000;
Upgrading GAO's computer security facility to ensure our
continued ability to conduct effective, comprehensive computer
security controls testing of complex, diverse, and interconnected
executive branch systems and to attract and retain skilled,
technical staff--$750,000;
Enhancing the International Organization of Supreme Audit
Institution's efforts to combat government related corruption
around the world, multi-lateral training efforts with eastern-bloc
and selected South and Latin American countries, and bilateral
assistance to Russia--$250,000; and
Contracting for the development of a requirements document to be
used along with other legislative branch agencies to jointly
procure and share a common financial management
system--$250,000.
In addition, as previously mentioned, we are requesting $5.2
million to provide the annual funding requirement specified in the
Truth in Regulating Act.
BUDGET REQUEST CRITICAL TO SUSTAINING EXISTING LEVEL OF SERVICE
TO THE CONGRESS
The resources we are requesting for fiscal year 2002 are
critical to addressing our human capital and information technology
challenges and ensuring our ability to effectively meet the
increasing congressional requests for GAO services. We have reached
a point that if sufficient funding is not received to address these
issues and properly support our staff, we will need to take actions
that will negatively impact our service and responsiveness to the
Congress.
Congressional demand for GAO services continues to increase. For
example, as illustrated below, the number of engagements begun as a
result of a congressional request has increased during the past 4
years. These numbers do not include hundreds of other requests that
had not yet been started.
We have worked hard over the past 3 years with available
resources to significantly increase our productivity levels to
successfully meet increasing congressional demand. For example, we
realigned our organization, reengineered many of our business
processes, retooled our engagement and risk management practices,
revised our performance appraisal and recognition systems, and
updated our information technology infrastructure. However, we have
reached a point that significant additional productivity gains are
unlikely without sufficient funding to further enhance our human
capital and information technology programs.
We are concerned about our ability to continue to increase our
productivity levels, sustain our return on investment, and meet
future congressional demands given the recent trend in our funding
levels. Since becoming the Comptroller General at the beginning of
fiscal year 1999, I have not asked for any increase in our approved
3,275 full-time equivalent staffing level. I have only requested
the funding necessary to properly maintain and support this
staffing level and cover mandatory expenses, including inflation
and compensation costs. However, as illustrated in the following
graphic, the funding GAO received has been significantly less than
what we requested and needed to support our approved staffing
level.
In order to cover our mandatory expenses during the past 3
years, we had to staff well below our approved staffing level, as
illustrated below, and delayed or made reduced investments in
important human capital and information technology initiatives. As
a result of these funding shortfalls and the mandated funding
reductions in the mid-1990s, our training, performancebased
recognition and rewards programs are not where they need to be.
Consequently, we are at a competitive disadvantage with the
executive branch in some areas, such as performance rewards. In
addition, we have some management information systems that are
obsolete and incapable of interfacing within our network
environment and a variety of software that needs to be upgraded to
ensure continued vendor maintenance and support. We cannot continue
down this path. We have reached the point at which investments in
these critical programs and other areas must be made in order to
effectively support our staff and provide the high level of service
expected and required by the Congress.
3,400
3,325 3,275 3,275 3,275
3,192 3,155
3,000
1999 2000 2001
Fiscal year FTEs Requested
FTEs Used
The funds we are requesting are critical to addressing our
succession planning challenges and enhancing the knowledge, skills,
and abilities of our workforce. A large percentage of our workforce
will become eligible for retirement within the next 5 years. More
than 35 percent of our analysts and 50 percent of our senior
executives will be retirement eligible within that time period. We
need to aggressively continue our efforts to hire new staff,
develop existing staff, and otherwise build the future GAO. In
order to be competitive in attracting, hiring, and retaining high
caliber and talented staff, we need to be able to further enhance
our human capital programs. Thus, the funding we are requesting for
training, performance-based recognition and compensation programs,
education loan repayments, mass transit subsidy allowance, and
enabling technology is critical. Without such funding, we will not
be competitive in attracting and retaining the best, brightest, and
expertise needed to effectively serve the Congress in addressing
the complex, controversial, and multidimensional issues and
challenges it faces each year.
If the funding trend of the past 3 years is continued, we will
need to restrict our work to only responding to requests from
committees and subcommittees, thus severely limiting-and
potentially eliminating-work done for individual members. Such a
restriction also would further reduce the limited flexibility we
have to research and develop expertise on emerging issues, thereby
limiting our ability to respond to the Congress when related issues
arise on short notice. For example, were it not for the advance
research and development work we had done on computer security,
China, the World Trade Organization, and last year's presidential
election issues, we would have been unable to be responsive to the
congressional requests and public debates on these real time, event
driven issues. We need sufficient funding to build and ensure we
have the capacity and expertise to address such emerging issues on
short notice in the future.
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
Fiscal year 2000 was a tremendous year of accomplishment and
achievement for GAO œ a year of great service to the Congress and
of great benefit to the American taxpayer. We have made significant
progress in addressing many of the areas in need of improvement in
GAO and need to continue these efforts. The resources we are
requesting for fiscal year 2002 are critical to sustaining our
high-level of performance and service to the Congress. We are the
nation's and possibly the world's leading accountability
organization. We need these additional resources to continue our
efforts to further strengthen GAO and be a model organization for
the rest of the federal government and accountability organizations
around the world. In addition, given GAO's impressive results and
return on investment, it only makes sense for GAO to receive
resource allocations that are well above average for other federal
entities. To do otherwise would send a troubling message to GAO's
employees, the press, and the public.
We look forward to your continued support and working even more
closely with you and your staff this year and in fiscal year 2002.
This concludes my statement. I would be pleased to respond to any
questions that the Members of the Subcommittee may have.
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