[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 51 (Wednesday, April 2, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCTION OF THE ``GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2008''

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                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 2, 2008

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, the ``Government Accountability 
Office Act of 2008'' (the Act), is intended to improve the oversight, 
administration, and pay adjustment functions at the Government 
Accountability Office, GAO.
  The former Comptroller General has asserted that Federal agencies 
should have ``modern, effective, credible, and, as appropriate, 
validated performance management systems in place with adequate 
safeguards, including reasonable transparency and appropriate 
accountability mechanisms, to ensure fairness and prevent 
politicization and abuse.'' Some of the safeguards recommended by the 
Government Accountability Office, GAO, include a performance management 
system that makes meaningful distinctions in individual employee 
performance; involves employees and stakeholders in designing the 
system; and achieves consistency, equity and nondiscrimination.
  Over the last 24 months, the subcommittee has conducted oversight, 
and more recently investigated, the implementation of GAO's new 
personnel system to determine if it meets the aforementioned criteria. 
The subcommittee found that it did not. In addition, based on its 
investigation the subcommittee concluded that, contrary to legislative 
intent, GAO employees who met and exceeded expectations in 2006 and 
2007 did not receive the annual across-the-board increase that other 
GAO employees received.
  The Act would restore the 2006 and 2007 annual across-the-board 
increase to GAO employees who met expectations but did not receive the 
adjustment. It would also set a ``floor guarantee'' that would preserve 
GAO's performance-based compensation system, while ensuring that GAO 
employees receive an annual increase in their permanent pay, provided 
they ``meet expectations,'' that is at least equal to the 
Congressionally approved across-the-board increase.
  The floor guarantee will be comprised of the annual adjustment to the 
GAO pay schedule plus the permanent merit pay increase received by an 
employee under GAO's merit pay system. At a hearing the subcommittee 
held on March 23, 2008, on this legislation and GAO's personnel 
reforms, the subcommittee learned from the Ivy Planning Group, a 
consulting firm hired by GAO to conduct an African American Performance 
Assessment Study at GAO, that there are significant differences between 
the ratings for African American analysts and Caucasian analysts. 
Therefore, the personnel reforms at GAO had a significant negative 
impact on African American staffers. Furthermore, a survey that was 
administered to GAO employees at my request, found that 81 percent of 
respondents thought morale in general at GAO is worse or much worse 
than before the reforms and a majority of the respondents felt that not 
having an across-the-board increase for all staff is very or somewhat 
unreasonable. While the subcommittee recognizes that more work needs to 
be done at GAO, the Act will help improve the morale at GAO and remedy 
the inequities that resulted from the denial of the 2006 and 2007 
across-the-board adjustments.
  Other provisions in the Act include creating a statutory Inspector 
General for GAO; permitting the Comptroller General, CG, greater 
flexibility to administer oaths to witnesses when auditing and settling 
accounts; enabling the CG to accept gifts and to make expenditures for 
meals and other expenses in connection with recruitment; and eliminates 
the statutorily imposed GS-15 pay cap to allow the CG the authority to 
pay employees up to the rate for Executive Level III. The Act has the 
support of GAO and its union, the International Federation of 
Professional and Technical Engineers.

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