    Government Printing Office: Actions to Strengthen and Sustain
    GPO's Transformation (30-JUN-04, GAO-04-830).

    The transformation of the Government Printing Office (GPO) is
    under way. This report captures the results of our efforts over
    the past year to assess and help strengthen GPO's transformation
    and strategic planning efforts. It is the final part of GAO's
    response to both a mandate requiring GAO to examine the current
    state of printing and dissemination of public government
    information and a congressional request that we conduct a general
    management review of GPO focusing on that GPO's transformation
    and management.
    -------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
    REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-830
        ACCNO:   A10686
      TITLE:     Government Printing Office: Actions to Strengthen and
    Sustain GPO's Transformation
         DATE:   06/30/2004
      SUBJECT:   Electronic government
    	     Federal agency reorganization
    	     General management reviews
    	     Government information dissemination
    	     Information technology
    	     Internal controls
    	     Internet
    	     Performance measures
    	     Printing or duplicating
    	     Strategic planning
    	     Web sites

    ******************************************************************
    ** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a  **
    ** GAO Product.                                                 **
    **                                                              **
    ** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
    ** figure captions are reproduced.  Tables are included, but    **
    ** may not resemble those in the printed version.               **
    **                                                              **
    ** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when     **
    ** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed     **
    ** document's contents.                                         **
    **                                                              **
    ******************************************************************
    GAO-04-830

    United States General Accounting Office

                         GAO Report to Congressional Addressees

    June 2004

    GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

                 Actions to Strengthen and Sustain GPO's Transformation

                                           a

    GAO-04-830

    Highlights of GAO-04-830, a report to the Chairmen and Ranking Minority
    Members, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, and Subcommittee on
    Legislative Branch, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate

    The transformation of the Government Printing Office (GPO) is under way.
    This report captures the results of our efforts over the past year to
    assess and help strengthen GPO's transformation and strategic planning
    efforts. It is the final part of GAO's response to both a mandate
    requiring GAO to examine the current state of printing and dissemination
    of public government information and a congressional request that we
    conduct a general management review of GPO focusing on that GPO's
    transformation and management.

    To further GPO's transformation and build on the actions already taken by
    GPO's leaders, GAO is recommending that GPO leaders take steps to improve
    planning and goal setting for the transformation. GAO is also recommending
    that GPO begin adopting leading practices of world-class organizations in
    financial management and information technology management.

    We provided a draft of this report in June 2004 to the Public Printer for
    review and comment. The Public Printer agreed with our findings and
    recommendations and noted that this report will be a major part of GPO's
    transformation process.

    www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-830.

    To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
    the link above. For more information, contact J. Christopher Mihm at (202)
    512-6806 or mihmj@gao.gov.

    June 2004

    GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

    Actions to Strengthen and Sustain GPO's Transformation

    Federal government printing and dissemination are changing due to the
    underlying changes to the technological environment. The Public Printer
    and his leadership team understand the effects of this technological
    change on GPO and have begun an ambitious effort to transform GPO and
    reexamine its mission. Federal agencies are publishing more documents
    directly to the Web and are doing more of their printing and dissemination
    of information without using GPO services. At the same time, the public is
    obtaining government information from government Web sites such as GPO
    Access rather than purchasing paper copies. As a result, GPO has seen
    declines in its printing volumes, printing revenues, and document sales.
    To assist in the transformation process under way at GPO, GAO convened a
    panel of printing and information dissemination experts, who developed a
    series of options for GPO to consider in its strategic planning. The panel
    suggested that GPO

    o  	develop a business plan to focus its mission on information
    dissemination as its primary goal, rather than printing;

    o  demonstrate to its customers the value it can provide;

    o  	improve and extend partnerships with agencies to help establish itself
    as an information disseminator; and

    o  	ensure that its internal operations are adequate for efficient and
    effective management of core business functions and for service to its
    customers.

    GPO can also use other key practices that GAO identified to help agencies
    successfully transform, such as involving employees to obtain their ideas
    and gain their ownership for the transformation. GPO fully applied one of
    these practices, related to ensuring that top management drives the
    transformation, and has partially implemented each of the remaining eight
    practices. To fully implement the remaining practices, GPO needs to take
    actions including establishing its mission and strategic goals and
    developing a documented plan for its transformation.

    GPO has taken some initial steps to adopt the best practices of other
    public and private sector organizations, most notably with respect to
    human capital management. GPO is actively implementing the recommendations
    GAO made in October 2003 (see GAO-04-85). For example, GPO reorganized the
    human capital office into customer-focused teams devoted to meeting the
    human capital needs of GPO's operating units. Continued leadership
    attention is needed to build on the initial progress made in information
    technology and financial management. For example, GPO should implement an
    information technology investment management process to help management
    choose, monitor, and evaluate projects, and GPO should train its line
    managers to effectively use financial data.

    Contents

      Letter

    Results in Brief

    Background

    Government Printing and Dissemination Changes Are Forcing GPO's
    Transformation

    GPO Has Made the Case for Change, but Actions to Advance Transformation
    Needed

    World-Class Management Practices Can Strengthen GPO's Transformation

    Concluding Observations

    Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 1 3 5

    10

    23

    47 63 63

    Appendixes

                                           Appendix I: Appendix II: Appendix III:

    Appendix IV:

    Scope and Methodology
    Comments from the Government Printing Office
    Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO Services

    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Term Contracts
    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Procurement Purchasing
    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Regional Print Procurement
    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Information Dissemination
    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Customer Services

    Panel of Experts

    66

    69

    71 73 74 75 76 77

    80

    Tables Table 1:

    Table 2:

    Table 3: Table 4:

    Table 5: Table 6: Table 7:

    Table 8:

    Table 9:

    Status of GPO's Adoption of Key Practices Associated with
    Transformations 4
    Printing, Binding, and Related Services Provided to the
    Congress and Federal Agencies for Fiscal Year 2003 6
    Executive Agency Familiarity with GPO Services 15
    Executive Agency Level of Satisfaction with GPO
    Services 16
    Satisfaction with Products and Services 72
    Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Term Contracts 74
    Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Procurement
    Purchasing 75
    Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Regional
    Procurement 76
    Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Information
    Dissemination 77

                                        Contents

    Table 10: Agency Ratings of GPO Customer Services 78 Table 11: Agency
    Ratings of Most Recent Experience with GPO

    Customer Services 79

    Figures	Figure 1: Figure 2:

    Figure 3:

    Figure 4: Figure 5:

    Figure 6:

    GPO Retained Earnings for Fiscal Years 1998-2003 11
    GPO Revolving Fund Activities Accumulated Losses to
    Retained Earnings for Fiscal Years 1999-2003 (Dollars in
    Millions) 12
    GPO Revenues and Expenses from Sales of Publications
    for Fiscal Years 1999-2003 13
    GPO's Organization as of June 2004 26
    Banner Displayed at GPO's Pueblo Document
    Distribution Center 32
    Achieving Best Practices in Financial Management 58

    Abbreviations

    CFO Chief Financial Officer
    CHCO Chief Human Capital Officer
    CIO Chief Information Officer
    COO Chief Operating Officer
    DLC Depository Library Council
    ECO Employee Communications Office
    FDLP Federal Depository Library Program
    GPO Government Printing Office
    GPRA Government Performance and Accountability Act
    IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
    IT Information Technology
    NDIIPP National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation

    Program OMB Office of Management and Budget

    This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
    protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in
    its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this
    work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the
    copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material
    separately.

    A

    United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548

    June 30, 2004

    The Honorable Ted Stevens Chairman The Honorable Robert C. Byrd Ranking
    Minority Member Committee on Appropriations United States Senate

    The Honorable Ben Nighthorse Campbell Chairman The Honorable Richard J.
    Durbin Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on Legislative Branch
    Committee on Appropriations United States Senate

    The transformation of the Government Printing Office (GPO) has begun. The
    trend towards producing government documents through electronic publishing
    technology and providing public government documents through the Internet
    has affected all of GPO's programs, reducing the production, procurement,
    and sales of printed products. These have historically provided GPO with a
    vital source of revenue to supplement its annual appropriation. GPO is
    making operational and cultural changes to help ensure that it stays
    relevant and efficient, and that it meets its customers' needs.

    This report encompasses our body of work on GPO from the past year and
    responds to both (1) a mandate from the Senate Committee on
    Appropriations, included in Senate Report 107-209, to examine the current
    state of printing and dissemination of federal government information and
    provide strategic options for GPO to enhance the efficiency, economy, and
    effectiveness of its printing and dissemination operations and (2) your
    request that we conduct a general management review of GPO to focus on
    GPO's efforts to transform. The Subcommittee requested that the general
    management review be done in conjunction with the committee's mandated
    review. We have issued several products in response to and based on the
    legislative mandate and request, including briefings on the current
    printing and dissemination operations at GPO, the results of a panel
    discussion on the future role of GPO and a survey of executive branch
    agencies' use of GPO services, and selected approaches for workforce
    restructuring at GPO. We have also issued a report containing

    recommendations to assist GPO's transformation through strategic human
    capital management efforts and a congressional testimony outlining
    technological changes affecting GPO's mission.

    This report summarizes and, as appropriate, expands upon and updates our
    earlier work. First, in response to the Senate Committee's mandate, we
    describe the current state of printing and dissemination of federal
    government information, which is based on a survey of GPO's executive
    branch customers and a panel of experts who discussed (1) trends in
    printing, publishing, and dissemination and (2) the future role of GPO.
    Second, our general management review focused on actions GPO's leadership
    has taken and can take to transform itself and develop a strategic plan,
    and how GPO can work towards building a world-class organization.

    In completing the general management review, we used as the analytical
    framework for collecting data and reviewing GPO's transformational efforts
    the key practices and implementation steps for mergers and organizational
    transformations that we had previously developed.1

    We performed our work from March 2003 through June 2004. During this time
    we worked cooperatively with GPO leaders, meeting regularly with them
    about the progress of their transformation initiatives and providing them
    with information that they plan to use to develop GPO's strategic plan and
    strengthen management. For the general management review examining GPO's
    transformational efforts, we followed generally accepted government
    auditing standards. Because the nature of the work in response to the
    mandate was future oriented and focused on technological developments, not
    organizational management, we determined that it could not be considered
    an audit subject to generally accepted government auditing standards.
    However, in our approach to the work, we followed appropriate quality
    control procedures consistent with the generally accepted standards. For
    additional information on our scope and methodology, see appendix I.

    1U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures: Implementation
    Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational Transformations, GAO-03-669
    (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 2003), and Highlights of a GAO Forum: Mergers
    and Transformation: Lessons Learned for a Department of Homeland Security
    and Other Federal Agencies, GAO-03293SP (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 14, 2002).

    Results in Brief	Printing and dissemination in the federal government, as
    in private industry, are being transformed by the changing technological
    environment. Documents are increasingly being created and disseminated
    electronically, sometimes without ever being printed on paper. Federal
    agencies are publishing more documents directly to the Web and are doing
    more of their printing and dissemination of information directly, without
    using GPO services. At the same time, as more and more government
    documents are being created and managed electronically, the public is
    obtaining government information from government Web sites, such as GPO
    Access (http://www.gpoaccess.gov), rather than purchasing paper copies of
    government documents. As a result, GPO has seen declines in its printing
    volumes, printing revenues, and document sales. The agency's procured
    printing business has experienced a loss of $15.8 million over the past 5
    years. The sales program lost $77 million over the same period. In
    addition, these changes are creating challenges for GPO's long-standing
    structure for centralized printing and dissemination and its interactions
    with customer agencies.

    The Public Printer recognizes these challenges and in response has
    embarked upon an ambitious transformation. To assist in this effort, a
    panel of printing and dissemination experts that we convened provided a
    number of suggestions for GPO to consider as it transforms itself. The
    panel suggested that GPO do the following:

    o 	Develop a business plan focused on information dissemination as its
    primary goal, rather than printing.

    o 	Collect data to demonstrate that the services it provides-printing and
    publishing as well as information dissemination to the public through its
    library system and Web site-add value.

    o 	Establish partnerships with other agencies that disseminate information
    and enhance its current partnerships.

    o 	Ensure that its internal operations-including technology, how it does
    business with its customers, management information systems, and
    training-are adequate for efficient and effective management of core
    business functions and for service to its customers.

    In its efforts to transform, GPO can use the nine key practices listed
    below that we identified in previous work. One of these practices, related
    to

    ensuring that top management drives the transformation, has already been
    fully applied by GPO's leadership, and GPO has begun to implement each of
    the remaining eight practices. To fully implement the remaining practices,
    GPO will need to take additional actions, such as establishing its mission
    and strategic goals and developing a plan for its transformation. The
    status of GPO's efforts with respect to the key transformation practices
    is summarized in table 1.

           Table 1: Status of GPO's Adoption of Key Practices Associated with
                                    Transformations

    Practice GPO status

    Ensure top leadership drives the transformation.	GPO has fully implemented
    this practice through the Public Printer's actions to make a clear and
    compelling case for transforming GPO. He has also established an
    organizational structure to help balance transformation with the delivery
    of services.

    Establish a coherent mission and integrated strategic goals to guide the
    transformation.

    GPO has not established a mission and strategic goals; however, GPO has
    set goals for its individual operating units, which help to create a more
    results-oriented culture.

    Focus on a key set of principles and priorities at the outset of the GPO has not
    adopted a set of agencywide principles or core values; transformation. however,
                a GPO unit has benefited from establishing core values.

    Set implementation goals and a timeline to build momentum and GPO has not
    established specific time frames and goals for its

    show progress from day one.	transformation; however, it has planned some
    initial steps to show progress.

    Dedicate an implementation team to manage the transformation GPO's
    management council focuses on transformational issues, but

    process.	attention to the daily activities of the transformation could be
    strengthened.

    Use the performance management system to define the GPO is developing a
    new performance management system for its

    responsibility and assure accountability for change.	executives, but needs
    to complete its strategic plan before it can align performance
    expectations with organizational goals.

    Establish a communication strategy to create shared expectations and
    report related progress.

    GPO leadership has communicated early and often, ensured consistency of
    message, and encouraged two-way communication. However, employees want
    additional information to meet their specific needs.

    Involve employees to obtain their ideas and gain ownership for the GPO has
     informed employees of changes, but has the opportunity to transformation. more
                       fully involve them in the transformation.

    Build a world-class organization. 	GPO has taken steps to apply best
    practices in human capital, information technology, and financial
    management, but significant challenges remain.

    Source: GAO.

    Throughout this report, we make recommendations to assist GPO with the
    implementation of the eight practices that have not been completely
    implemented.

    GPO leadership has articulated a vision to transform GPO into a worldclass
    organization and has taken some initial steps toward this objective, most
    notably with respect to human capital management. GPO's Human Capital
    Office is using our October 2003 report2 as GPO's roadmap for transforming
    its human capital management and is actively implementing the
    recommendations we made. For example, the Human Capital Office reorganized
    into customer-focused teams devoted to meeting the human capital needs of
    GPO's operating units.3 With respect to information technology and
    financial management, GPO has taken initial steps towards improvement, but
    continued leadership attention is needed. For example, the Chief
    Information Officer (CIO) is issuing new security-related policies and
    procedures in response to problems identified by an external audit
    organization, and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) has adopted the best
    practice of regularly providing financial information to GPO's key
    decision makers. We make recommendations to GPO leadership to build on its
    progress by further adopting best practices in the areas of information
    technology and financial management. For example, GPO should implement an
    information technology investment management process to help management
    choose, monitor, and evaluate projects. With regard to financial
    management, GPO needs to train its line managers to effectively use the
    financial data that they receive from the CFO.

    We provided a draft of this report on June 9, 2004 to the Public Printer
    for review and comment. We received written comments from the Public
    Printer, which are reprinted in appendix II. The Public Printer agreed
    with the content, findings, and recommendations of the draft report,
    noting that our report will be a major part of GPO's transformation
    process. GPO also provided minor technical clarifications, which we
    incorporated as appropriate in this report.

    Background	GPO's mission includes both printing government documents and
    disseminating them to the public. Under the public printing and documents
    statutes of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, GPO's mission is to fulfill the
    printing

    2U.S. General Accounting Office, Government Printing Office: Advancing
    GPO's Transformation Effort through Strategic Human Capital Management,
    GAO-04-85 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 20, 2003).

    3GPO's six operating units are the Customer Services division; Information
    Dissemination division; plant operations division; office of information
    technology and systems; office of human capital; and office of finance and
    administration.

    needs of the federal government and to distribute those printed products
    to the public. All printing for the Congress, the executive branch, and
    the judiciary-except for the Supreme Court-is to be done or contracted by
    GPO except for authorized exemptions.4 The Superintendent of Documents,
    who heads GPO's Information Dissemination division, disseminates these
    government products to the public through a system of nearly 1,300
    depository libraries nationwide (the Federal Depository Library Program),
    GPO's Web site (GPO Access), telephone and fax ordering, an on-line
    ordering site, and its bookstore in Washington, D.C. The Superintendent of
    Documents is also responsible for classification and bibliographic control
    of tangible and electronic government publications.

    Printing and related services. In providing printing and binding services
    to the government, GPO generally dedicates its in-house printing equipment
    to congressional printing, contracting out most printing for the executive
    branch.5 Table 2 shows the costs of these services in fiscal year 2003, as
    well as the source of these printing services.

    Table 2: Printing, Binding, and Related Services Provided to the Congress
    and Federal Agencies for Fiscal Year 2003

                                  Dollars in millions

                                    Printing source

    Billings for congressional services

    Billings for federal agency services

                    Produced at in-house printing plant $72.6 $94.9

                         Procured from private sector 1.4 474.7

                                   Total $74.0 $569.6

    Source: GPO.

    Documents printed for the Congress include the Congressional Record,
    hearing transcripts, bills, resolutions, amendments, and committee
    reports, among other things. GPO also provides publishing support staff to
    the Congress. These support staff mainly perform print preparation
    activities,

    444 U.S.C. S:501. Departments, agencies, or their components may be
    exempted from the provisions of Title 44 by having (1) their own
    authorized printing plant approved by the Joint Committee on Printing, (2)
    a statutory exemption, or (3) a waiver from the Joint Committee on
    Printing to procure printing without going through GPO.

    5Among the printing it performs in house for executive agencies is the
    Federal Register.

    such as typing, scanning, proofreading, and preparation of electronic data
    for transmission to GPO.

    GPO generally provides printing services to federal agencies through an
    acquisition program that relies on the commercial sector by passing the
    contractors' costs on to its government customers. Prequalified
    businesses, small to large in size, compete for printing jobs that GPO
    printing experts oversee to ensure that the contractors meet customer
    requirements for quality. For this service, GPO attaches a 7 percent
    surcharge that GPO officials have stated was established partly by what
    the market will bear and partly by what is needed to cover GPO expenses.
    GPO procures about 83 percent of printing for federal agencies from
    private contractors and does the remaining 17 percent at its own plant
    facilities. Most of the procured printing jobs (85 percent for the period
    from June 2002 to May 2003) were for under $2,500 each.

    Besides printing, GPO provides a range of services to agencies including,
    for example, CD-ROM development and production, archiving/storage,
    converting products to electronic format, Web hosting, and Web page design
    and development.

    Dissemination of government information. The Superintendent of Documents
    is responsible for the acquisition, classification, dissemination, and
    bibliographic control of tangible and electronic government publications.
    Regardless of the printing source, Title 44 requires that federal agencies
    make all their publications available to the Superintendent of Documents
    for cataloging and distribution.

    The Superintendent of Documents manages a number of programs related to
    distribution, including the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP),
    which provides copies of government publications to libraries across the
    country for public use.6 Generally, documents distributed to the libraries
    are those that contain information on U.S. government activities or are

    6Examples of other distribution-related programs are the International
    Exchange Service, administered by GPO on behalf of the Library of
    Congress, to exchange U.S. government publications for foreign government
    publications, which can then be made available to the public; the By-Law
    Distribution program, which supports the requirements of executive
    agencies and the Congress by providing publications prescribed by statute
    free of charge to authorized recipients; and Agency Distribution Services,
    which support the requirements of executive branch agencies for
    distribution of publications through the performance or procurement of
    mail list distribution or order-fulfillment services.

    important reference publications. GPO evaluates documents to determine
    whether they should be disseminated to the depository libraries. When
    documents are printed through GPO, it evaluates them at the time of
    printing; if documents are not printed through GPO, agencies are to notify
    GPO of these documents, so that it can evaluate them and arrange to
    receive any copies needed for distribution. A relatively small percentage
    of the items printed through GPO for the executive branch are designated
    as depository items.

    Another distribution program under the Superintendent of Documents is the
    Sales of Publications Program, which purchases, warehouses, sells, and
    distributes government documents. Publications are sold by mail,
    telephone, and fax; through GPO's on-line bookstore; and at its bookstore
    in Washington, D.C. In addition, GPO provides electronic copies of the
    Congressional Record and other documents to the Congress, the public, and
    the depository libraries in accordance with the Government Printing Office
    Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993.

    The Superintendent of Documents is also responsible for GPO's Web site,
    GPO Access, which is one mechanism for electronic dissemination of
    government documents to the public through links to over 268,000
    individual titles on GPO's servers and other federal Web sites. More than
    2 billion documents have been retrieved by the public from GPO Access
    since August 1994; almost 372 million downloads of government information
    from GPO Access were made in fiscal year 2002 alone. About two-thirds of
    new FDLP titles are available online.

    GPO Is Funded by Appropriations and by a Revolving Fund

    GPO receives funding from two appropriations: (1) the Congressional
    Printing and Binding Appropriation, which is used for in-house printing of
    congressional activities and (2) the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation,
    which is used for certain Superintendent of Documents activities.

    In addition to these appropriations, GPO has a business-oriented revolving
    fund, which is used to fund its procured printing, document sales, and
    other operations. The revolving fund was designed to financially "break
    even" by recovering costs through rates, prices, and other charges to
    customers for goods and services provided by GPO. The revolving fund is
    supported by the 7 percent service charge levied on agency customers of
    GPO-procured printing services and also receives funds from sales of
    publications to the general public.

    Trends in Printing and Information Dissemination

    Current printing industry trends show that the total volume of printed
    material has been declining for the past few years, and this trend is
    expected to continue. A major factor in this declining volume is the use
    of electronic media options. The move to electronic dissemination is the
    latest phase in the electronic publishing revolution that has transformed
    the printing industry in recent decades. This revolution was driven by the
    development of increasingly sophisticated electronic publishing ("desktop
    publishing") software, run on personal computers, that allows users to
    design documents including both images and text, and the parallel
    development of electronic laser printer/copier technology with
    capabilities that approach those of high-end presses. These tools allow
    users to produce documents that formerly would have required professional
    printing expertise and large printing systems.

    These technologies have brought major economic and industrial changes to
    the printing industry. As electronic publishing software becomes
    increasingly sophisticated, user-friendly, and reliable, it approaches the
    ideal of the print customer being able to produce files that can be
    reproduced on the press with little or no intervention by printing
    professionals. As the printing process is simplified, the customer can
    take responsibility for more of the work. Thus, the technologies diminish
    the value that printing organizations such as GPO add to the printing
    process, particularly for simpler printing jobs. Nonetheless, professional
    expertise remains critical for many aspects of printing, and for many
    print jobs it is still not possible to bypass the printing professional
    altogether.

    The advent of the Internet permits the instantaneous distribution of the
    electronic documents produced by the new publishing processes, breaking
    the link between printing and dissemination. With the increasing use of
    the Web, the electronic dissemination of information becomes not only
    practical, but also more economical than dissemination on paper.

    As a result, many organizations are changing from a print to an electronic
    focus. In the early stages of the electronic publishing revolution,
    organizations tended to prepare a document for printing and then convert
    the print layout to electronic form-in other words, focusing on printing
    rather than dissemination. Increasingly, however, organizations are
    changing their focus to providing information-not necessarily on paper.
    Today an organization may employ computers to generate both plates used
    for printing as well as electronic files for dissemination. Tomorrow, the
    organization may create only an electronic representation of the

    information, which can be disseminated through various media, such as Web
    sites.7 A printed version would be produced only upon request.

    Government Printing and Dissemination Changes Are Forcing GPO's
    Transformation

    As in private industry, printing and dissemination in the federal
    government are being heavily affected by the changing technological
    environment. This new environment presents both financial and management
    challenges to GPO. Just as the volume of material provided to private
    firms for printing has decreased over the past few years, so has the
    volume of material that federal agencies provide to GPO for printing. In
    addition, federal agencies are publishing more items directly to the
    Web-without creating paper documents at all-and are able to print and
    disseminate information without using GPO services. Similarly, individuals
    are downloading documents from government Web sites, such as GPO Access,
    rather than purchasing paper copies of government documents, thus reducing
    document sales. As a result, GPO's financial condition has deteriorated,
    and the relationship between GPO and its federal agency customers has
    changed.

    Changes in Government Printing and Dissemination Result in Reduced
    Revenues

    The reduction in the demand for procured printing and for printed
    government documents has resulted in reduced revenues to GPO. These
    diminished revenues, combined with steady expenses and management's use of
    retained earnings for GPO-wide needs, have totally depleted the retained
    earnings from revolving fund activities. These retained earnings have gone
    from a surplus of $100 million in fiscal year 1998 to a deficit of $19
    million in fiscal year 2003. Figure 1 shows the declining trend in
    retained earnings.

    7Using tools such as the Extensible Markup Language (XML), for example, an
    organization could prepare one document that would automatically be
    interpreted to display appropriately on a number of different display
    devices, including paper. For more information on XML, see U.S. General
    Accounting Office, Electronic Government: Challenges to Effective Adoption
    of the Extensible Markup Language, GAO-02-327 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 5,
    2002).

               Figure 1: GPO Retained Earnings for Fiscal Years 1998-2003

    Retained earnings (dollars in thousands) 120,000

    100,000

                                        100,045

    80,000

    60,000

    40,000

    20,000 0 -20,000 1998

                                     1999 2000 2000

                               Adjustment- 2001 2002 2003

    Fiscal year

    Source: GAO analysis of GPO financial data.

    Note: The accounting adjustment in 2000 reflects the reclassification of
    the book value of an airconditioning system. Dollar amounts have not been
    adjusted for inflation.

    Specifically, most of the reductions to revenues for GPO's revolving fund
    activities are from two sources: (1) losses to the sales of publications
    operations8 and (2) adjustments to actuarial calculations of future
    liabilities for GPO's workforce compensation.9 Additional reductions to
    retained earnings resulted from GPO's procured printing operations and

    8The sales of publications program absorbed additional expenses of $12
    million for the direct write-down of the Integrated Processing System, a
    major system intended to automate certain functions for the document sales
    program and products. Sales of publications operations also include the
    distribution of publications on behalf of customer agencies. In addition,
    GPO management stated that the sales program had accumulated overhead
    expenses of $54.7 million over the same 5-year period, which contributed
    to its overall losses.

    9GPO used $53.3 million to comply with new intragovernmental accounting
    requirements under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (U.S. Treasury,
    Financial Management Service, Federal Intragovernmental Transactions
    Accounting Policies Guide, Sept. 28, 2001).

    regional printing.10 (See fig. 2.) Also, retained earnings were used to
    provide the Retirement Separation Incentive Program for reductions to
    GPO's workforce.11

    Figure 2: GPO Revolving Fund Activities Accumulated Losses to Retained
    Earnings for Fiscal Years 1999-2003 (Dollars in Millions)

    Regional printing

    Procured printing

    Federal Employees' Compensation Act changes

    Sales of publications

    Source: GAO analysis of GPO financial data.

    Note: Dollar amounts have not been adjusted for inflation.

    Losses to the sales program account for the largest reductions to GPO's
    retained earnings. The sales program has had a net loss of $77 million
    over the past 5 years, $20 million in fiscal year 2003 alone. According to
    GPO, these losses are due to a downward trend in customer demand for
    printed publications that has significantly reduced document sales
    revenues. For example, according to the Superintendent of Documents, GPO
    sold 35,000 subscriptions to the Federal Register 10 years ago and now
    sells 2,500; at the same time, over 4 million Federal Register documents
    are downloaded

    10GPO closed its last remaining regional printing office in Denver,
    Colorado, on April 21, 2004.

    11The Retirement Separation Incentive Program had total expenses of $10.4
    million to reduce the GPO workforce.

    each month from GPO Access.12 The Superintendent also reported that the
    overall volume of sales has dropped from 24.3 million copies sold in
    fiscal year 1993 to 4.4 million copies sold in fiscal year 2002. As a
    result, revenues have not covered expenses, and the sales program has
    sustained significant annual operating losses. (See fig. 3.)

    Figure 3: GPO Revenues and Expenses from Sales of Publications for Fiscal
    Years 1999-2003

    Dollar amount (in millions)

    80

    60

    40

    20

    0 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

                                      Fiscal year

    Revenues

    Expenses

    Source: GAO analysis of GPO financial data.

    Note: Dollar amounts have not been adjusted for inflation.

    By comparison, the losses from GPO's procured printing business are less
    significant: $15.8 million over the last 5 years. According to GPO, its
    federal agency print jobs at one time generated close to $1 billion a
    year. In fiscal year 2003, the amount was just over half that-$570
    million.

    12Judith C. Russell, U.S. Superintendent of Documents, "The Federal
    Depository Library Program: Current and Future Challenges of the
    Electronic Transition," paper presented at the annual meeting of the
    American Association of Law Libraries (Seattle, Wash.: July 15, 2003).

    Changes in Printing and Dissemination Affect How Federal Agencies Use GPO
    Services

    These changes in federal printing and dissemination are also creating
    challenges for GPO's long-standing structure for centralized printing and
    dissemination. As mentioned earlier, agencies are to notify GPO of
    published documents (if they used other printing sources), which allows
    GPO to review agency documents to determine whether the documents should
    be disseminated to the depository libraries. If they should be, GPO can
    then add a rider to the agency's print contract to obtain the number of
    copies that it needs for dissemination.13 However, if agencies do not
    notify GPO of their intent to print, these documents become "fugitive
    documents" and may not be available to the public through the depository
    library program.

    In responding to our surveys, executive branch agencies reported that they
    are producing a significant portion of their total printing volume
    internally, generally on desktop publishing and reproduction equipment
    instead of large-scale printing equipment. In addition, while most
    agencies (16 of 21) reported that they have established procedures to
    ensure that documents that should be disseminated through the libraries
    are forwarded to GPO, 5 of 21 did not have such procedures, thus
    potentially adding to the fugitive document problem.

    Responding agencies also reported that although currently more government
    documents are still being printed than are being published electronically,
    more and more documents are being published directly to the Web, and their
    numbers are expected to grow in the future. Most agencies reported that
    documents published directly to the Web were not of the type that is
    required to be sent to GPO for dissemination. However, a GPO official, in
    commenting on this, said that unless there is a specific reason why a
    document should not be disseminated to the public, such as if it is
    classified or of administrative interest only, GPO should have the
    opportunity to evaluate whether that document is suitable for
    dissemination through its depository library system.

    Of the five agencies that did publish eligible documents electronically,
    only one said that it had submitted these documents to GPO. As electronic
    publishing continues to grow, such conditions may contribute further to
    the fugitive document problem.

    13Receiving these copies at the rate of the original order is much less
    expensive than arranging a separate print run.

    Change in Printing and Dissemination Affect Relationship between GPO and
    Executive Branch Customers

    The ongoing agency shift toward electronic publishing is also creating
    challenges for GPO's existing relationships with its executive branch
    customers. In responding to our surveys, executive branch agencies
    expressed overall satisfaction with GPO's products and services and
    expressed a desire to continue to use these services for at least part of
    their publishing needs. However, these agencies reported a few areas in
    which GPO could improve-for example, in the presentation of new products
    and services. (We provide further results from our surveys on agency
    satisfaction in app. III.)

    Further, some agencies indicated that they were less familiar with and
    less likely to use GPO's electronic products and services. As shown in
    table 3, these agencies were hardly or not at all familiar with services
    such as Web page design and development (8 of 28), Web hosting services (8
    of 29), and electronic publishing services (5 of 28). As a consequence,
    these agencies were also less likely to use these services. With the
    expected growth in electronic publishing and other services, making
    customer agencies fully aware of GPO's capabilities in these areas is
    important. Table 3 provides agency responses on their familiarity with
    various GPO products and services.

    Table 3: Executive Agency Familiarity with GPO Services Agency familiarity with
                                 GPO products/services

                                                                    Hardly
                                                                      or
          GPO product/service    Extremely Very Moderately Somewhat not at Totala
                                                                     all
           Archiving/storage             2    5          7        5      9
                Binding                  6   12          4        4      3
        CD-ROM development and           4    6         12        3      4
              production
        Converting products to           4    5         13        3      4
           electronic format
           Custom finishing              5    8          8        4      4     29
         Duplication/print on            9    8          7        2      2     28
                demand
         Electronic publishing           2    9          8        4      5     28
          Federal Depository            12   10          4        1      2     29
            Library Program
         Financial management            4    9          7        6      3     29
               services
           GPO sales program             8    8          8        2      3     29
         Institute for Federal
        Printing and Electronic         12    7          4        4      2     29
              Publishing
         Large format printing           4    7          7        4      6     28
         Production Inventory            7    6          5        5      6     29
            Control System

    (Continued From Previous Page)

                     Agency familiarity with GPO products/services

                                                                    Hardly
                                                                      or
          GPO product/service    Extremely Very Moderately Somewhat not at Totala
                                                                     all
            Preflighting b               7    9          7        3      3
    Press sheet inspection c         14   10          2        2      1
          Printing (in-house)           17    6          3        2      1
         Product dissemination           8    7          7        2      5
             Reimbursable                5    2         10        6      6
         storage/distribution
           Typography/design            12    6          4        4      3
              Web hosting                1    4          6       10      8
               Web page                  1    5          5        9      8
          design/development

    Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    aNot all agencies answered every question.
    bPreflighting is checking printed or electronic copy before printed copies
    are made.
    cPress sheet inspection is a review of printed sheets before printed
    copies are made.

    A few of the responding agencies reported less than satisfied ratings for
    some GPO products and services. Among these services were financial
    management services (7 of 23) and Web page design/development (3 of 10).
    Agencies also reported not using some GPO products and services, including
    Web hosting and Web page design/development services (18 of 28),
    converting products to electronic format (11 of 28), and electronic
    publishing services (9 of 28). Table 4 shows the results of our survey on
    agency satisfaction with GPO services, which includes agencies' reports of
    products and services that they do not use.

        Table 4: Executive Agency Level of Satisfaction with GPO Services Agency
                        satisfaction with GPO products/services

                                         Above            Below      Don't
        GPO product/service   Excellent average Average average Poor  use  Totala
         Archiving/storage            1       4       6       0    2    15     28
              Binding                 4       9       4       0    2     9     28
    CD-ROM development and         3       4       9       1    2     9     28
             production
    Converting products to         3       6       7       0    1    11     28
         electronic format
          Custom finishing            4       6       4       0    2    12     28
        Duplication/print on          5       5       6       1    2     9     28
               demand
    Electronic publishing          4       7       7       0    1     9     28

    (Continued From Previous Page)

                     Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services

                                         Above            Below      Don't
        GPO product/service   Excellent average Average average Poor  use  Totala
         Federal Depository           9       6       4       3    2     3
          Library Program
        Financial management          2       4      10       3    4     5
              services
         GPO sales program            5       4      10       2    1     5
    Institute for Federal
            Printing and             11       7       5       0    1     4
    Electronic Publishing
    Large format printing          4       3       9       0    1    10
        Production Inventory          2       4      11       1    1     9
           Control System
            Preflighting              2       8       6       0    2    10
    Press sheet inspection         8       9       5       0    2     4
        Printing (in-house)           7       7       5       2    2     5
    Product dissemination          4       7       6       1    2     7
            Reimbursable              1       2       4       0    2    19
        storage/distribution
         Typography/design            3       9       4       1    2     9
            Web hosting               1       2       5       1    1    18
              Web page                1       2       4       1    2    18
         design/development

    Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    aNot all agencies answered every question.

    GPO Is Taking Action to Address Challenges

    GPO officials agreed with our assessment of the impact of technological
    change and said they are taking action to make GPO a more customerfocused
    organization. According to these officials, GPO is

    o 	taking a new direction with its Office of Sales and Marketing,
    including hiring an outside expert and establishing nine national account
    managers, who spend most of their time in the field building relationships
    with key customers, analyzing their business processes, identifying
    current and future needs, and offering solutions;

    o 	working with its largest agency customer, the Department of Defense, to
    determine how to work more closely with large in-house printing
    operations;

    o 	evaluating recommendations received from the Depository Library
    Council; and

    o 	continuing to implement a Demonstration Print Procurement Project,
    jointly announced with the Office of Management and Budget on June 6,
    2003.

    The Demonstration Print Procurement Project is to provide a Web-based
    system that will be a one-stop, integrated print ordering and invoicing
    system. The system is to allow agencies to order their own printing at
    reduced rates, with the option of buying additional printing procurement
    services from GPO. According to GPO, this project is also designed to
    address many of the issues identified through our executive branch
    surveys, particularly the depository library fugitive document problem.

    Recommended Next Steps	Although executive branch agencies generally
    expressed satisfaction with GPO products and services, their survey
    responses indicate some areas for improvement. Accordingly, we recommend
    that the Public Printer

    o 	work with executive branch agencies to examine the nature of their
    inhouse printing and determine whether GPO could provide these services
    more economically;

    o 	address the few areas in which executive branch agencies rated GPO's
    products, services, and performance as below average;

    o 	reexamine GPO's marketing of electronic services to ensure that
    agencies are aware of them; and

    o 	use the results of our surveys to work with agencies to establish
    processes that will ensure that eligible documents (whether printed or
    electronic) are forwarded to GPO for dissemination to the public, as
    required by law.

    Expert Panel Suggests Strategic Options for GPO's Future Role

    The Public Printer and his leadership team recognize the challenges that
    they face in the very competitive printing and dissemination marketplace
    and have embarked upon an ambitious effort to transform the agency. First
    and foremost, the Public Printer agrees with the need to reexamine the
    mission of the agency within the context of technological change that
    underlies GPO's current situation. To assist in that process, our expert
    panel developed a series of options for GPO to consider in its planning.
    Briefly, the panel suggested that GPO

    o 	develop a business plan to focus its mission on information
    dissemination as its primary goal, rather than printing;

    o 	demonstrate to its customers-including agencies and the public-the
    value it can provide;

    o 	improve and extend partnerships with agencies to help establish itself
    as an information disseminator; and

    o 	ensure that its internal operations-including technology, how it
    conducts business with its customers, management information systems, and
    training-are adequate for efficient and effective management of core
    business functions and for service to its customers.

    We shared the results of the panel with GPO leadership, who commented that
    the panel's suggestions dovetail well with their own assessments. These
    leaders stated that they are using the results of the panel as a key part
    of the agency's ongoing strategic planning process. The panel members are
    listed in appendix IV.

    Create a New Vision Focusing on Dissemination

    In view of the changing federal government printing and dissemination
    environment, the panel suggested that GPO first needs to create a new
    vision of itself as a disseminator of information, and not only a printer
    of documents. As one panel member put it, GPO should end up resembling a
    bank of information rather than a mint that stamps paper.

    As a first step in this new vision, according to the panel, GPO needs to
    develop a business plan that emphasizes direct electronic dissemination
    methods over distribution of paper documents. The panel identified several
    elements that could be included in such a business plan:

    Improving GPO Access. GPO Access should be upgraded, and particular
    emphasis should be placed on improving the search capabilities.

    Investigating methods to disseminate information directly. For example,
    GPO could develop additional services to "push" data and documents into
    the hands of those who need or want them. To become more active in
    disseminating data, GPO could provide information to public interest or
    advocacy groups that are interested in tracking government information on
    certain subjects. These groups require something like a news clipping
    service, and the panel suggested that this is

    one way in which GPO could provide "value-added" service for which it
    could collect fees.14

    Modernizing production processes. GPO should be moving toward production
    processes that will allow it to prepare a document once for distribution
    through various media (print or electronic). In the past, most
    organizations have focused on printing paper documents that are then
    turned into electronic ones. According to the panel members, the strategy
    for the future is to publish electronically and print only when necessary.

    Promote the federal use of metadata. GPO should support the use of
    metadata-descriptive information about the data provided that is carried
    along with the data-across the federal government as a requirement for
    electronic publishing.

    Providing increased support to the depository libraries. According to the
    panel, the depository libraries will continue to play an important role in
    providing access to electronically disseminated government information-
    through GPO Access and other tools-to that portion of the public that does
    not have access to the Internet. To support this role, GPO will have to
    ensure that the depository libraries receive training in electronic search
    tools, especially in GPO Access.

    GPO officials stated that its Office of Innovation and New Technologies,
    established in early 2003, is leading an effort to transform GPO into an
    agency "at the cutting edge of multichannel information dissemination."15
    A major goal in this effort is to disseminate information while still
    addressing the need "to electronically preserve, authenticate, and version
    the documents of our democracy." Also, GPO has established an Office of
    New Business Development that is to develop new products and service ideas
    that will result in increased revenues. GPO officials stated that they are
    using the results of the panel discussion to categorize and prioritize
    their initial compilation of ideas for new products and services and, in
    this

    14GPO is authorized to collect fees to reimburse its revolving fund for
    services and supplies provided, including charges for overhead. 44 U.S.C.
    S:309(b)(1).

    15The mission of this office is to find new technologies that can help GPO
    with the challenges of acquiring, authenticating, versioning,
    disseminating, and preserving digital information. According to GPO, each
    of these functions related to digital asset management is crucial to its
    future.

    context, plan to assess how these ideas would improve operations and
    revenue.

    Demonstrate Value to Customers and the Public

    The panel also agreed that, while GPO appears to provide value to agencies
    because of its expertise in printing and dissemination, it is not clear
    that agencies and the general public realize this. Therefore, GPO should
    focus on demonstrating its value to federal agencies and to the public.
    According to the panel, areas that GPO could emphasize include the
    following:

    Providing competitively priced printing that meets customer needs.

    GPO should collect the data to show that it can, in fact, provide the
    "best value" for the government print dollar. GPO should demonstrate its
    capabilities by assisting agencies to select optimal alternatives for
    obtaining their printing.

    Providing expert assistance in electronic dissemination. Given GPO's major
    role in providing information dissemination, one panel member suggested
    that GPO provide its expert advice on electronic Web site dissemination to
    agencies. Once again, GPO could develop information that demonstrates how
    it can add value in this area.

    Disseminating government information to the public. GPO should focus on
    demonstrating the usefulness of agencies' sharing information with GPO for
    public dissemination. In addition, the depository libraries and GPO Access
    should be made better known to the public. GPO could demonstrate its value
    to the public as a trusted source of authentic government information.

    GPO agreed that demonstrating its value is an important part of its new
    customer service direction. GPO's Office of Sales and Marketing is also
    working to augment customer service, including hiring an outside expert
    and establishing nine national account managers, as mentioned earlier.

    Establish Partnerships with According to the panel, GPO should establish
    partnerships with other Collaborating and Customer agencies and enhance
    the partnerships it already has. These partnerships Agencies can be used
    to assist GPO in establishing itself as a disseminator and

    depository of information and to expand agencies' use of GPO in this role.
    Specifically, the panel suggested that GPO establish partnerships with the
    other information dissemination and preservation agencies (such as the
    National Library of Medicine, the Office of Scientific and Technical

    Information, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives and
    Records Administration) with which it has related responsibilities.
    Through ongoing dialogue with these agencies, GPO will be able to (1)
    coordinate standards and best practices for digitizing documents and (2)
    work with agencies to archive documents in order to keep them permanently
    available to the public. GPO could be successfully marketed as the source
    of government information for public use.

    In addition, the panel suggested that GPO improve and expand its
    partnerships with other agencies. Most agencies consider GPO a resource
    for printing documents; however, it now has the capability to assist in
    the collection and dissemination of electronic information.

    GPO agreed that partnerships with other agencies, particularly the
    information dissemination agencies, would be a key item in its
    transformation. GPO has made efforts to join various working groups within
    the government working on information dissemination issues. Most recently,
    the Public Printer has been added to the oversight committee of the
    National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program
    (NDIIPP), a national cooperative effort to archive and preserve digital
    information, led by the Library of Congress.

    Improve Internal Operations	The panel suggested that GPO would need to
    improve its internal operations to be successful in the very competitive
    printing and dissemination marketplace. Panel members suggested that GPO
    consider the following strategies.

    Emphasize the use of technology to address future needs. The panel members
    suggested that GPO hire a chief technical officer (in addition to its
    chief information officer), who would focus on bringing in new printing
    and dissemination technologies while maintaining older technologies.

    Improve how it conducts business with its customers. An electronic means
    for submitting printing requests would streamline the printing process for
    GPO customers. One panel member noted that when his organization started
    an electronic submission system for manuscripts, the number of requests it
    received increased dramatically because such systems made it easier for
    the user. (GPO's demonstration project, currently being piloted at the
    Department of Labor, includes use of a Webbased tool for submitting
    printing requests.)

    Improving management information systems. GPO should overhaul its outdated
    management information systems and acquire new ones that can provide
    management with the information it needs to effectively monitor operations
    and to make good business decisions.

    Enhance employee training. GPO's transformation should include significant
    improvements to employee training. GPO customer service employees should
    have the knowledge they need to effectively assist customers not only in
    printing publications and creating electronic documents, but also in
    advising customers on the best form of dissemination (paper or electronic)
    for their jobs.

    GPO agreed that its internal operations need improvement. Among its
    actions to address the adequacy of its internal functions, GPO has hired a
    chief technical officer. The chief technical officer serves as a
    codirector of the Innovation and New Technology Office and provides
    principal guidance in the creation and development of technology designed
    to accelerate the transformation of GPO into a 21st century information
    organization using state of the art solutions to provide the highest
    quality government information services to the nation.

    GPO Has Made the Case for Change, but Actions to Advance Transformation
    Needed

    Large-scale change management initiatives, such as organizational
    transformations, are not simple endeavors and require the concentrated
    efforts of both leadership and employees to realize intended synergies and
    to accomplish new organizational goals. We have identified a number of key
    practices and related implementation steps that have consistently been
    found at the center of successful transformations.16 Collectively, these
    key practices and implementation steps can help agencies transform their
    cultures so that they have the capacity to fulfill their promises, meet
    current and emerging needs, maximize their performance, and ensure
    accountability. GPO has applied some key practices as part of its
    transformation effort, such as involving top leadership and strategically
    communicating with employees and other stakeholders. However, it has not
    fully applied key practices that emphasize planning and goal setting. For
    example, GPO has not developed a plan for its transformation that would
    include goals and strategies to achieve its goals. Such a plan is

    16U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures:
    Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational Transformations,
    GAO-03-669 (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 2003).

    important to pinpoint performance shortfalls and gaps and suggest
    midcourse corrections.

    GPO's Leadership Has Clearly Articulated the Need to Transform and Taken
    Steps to Ensure the Continued Delivery of Services

    Because transformation of an organization entails fundamental change,
    strong and inspirational leadership is indispensable. Our work has found
    that leadership articulating a succinct and compelling reason for change
    helps employees, customers, and stakeholders understand the expected
    outcomes of the transformation and engenders not only their cooperation,
    but also their ownership of these outcomes. In addition, to ensure that
    the productivity and effectiveness of the organization do not decline,
    leadership must also balance the continued delivery of services with
    transformation activities.

                                 Key transformation practice Implementation steps
                  Ensure top leadership drives the transformation.  o  Define and
              articulate a succinct and compelling reason for change.  o  Balance
                   continued delivery of services with transformation activities.

    On several occasions and to different audiences, the Public Printer has
    reiterated the need for GPO to move from the 19th century to the 21st
    century. The Public Printer bases his case for change on three
    interrelated points that are consistent with our findings discussed above:

    o 	GPO's printing business and customer base has decreased significantly
    in recent years due to the government's and public's increased use of and
    reliance on electronic documents, necessitating GPO to establish itself as
    the leading organization within the federal government for dealing with
    the collection, authentication, and preservation of government
    documents-rather than a traditional printing operation.

    o 	GPO has failed to update its technological abilities to keep pace with
    changes in the information dissemination environment, and as a result must
    update its technology to address the needs of today's customers and
    information users and stay alert to future trends and changing needs.

    o 	GPO's retained earnings, which were normally available to fund
    technological investment, are virtually depleted, requiring GPO to change
    the way in which it does business to ensure that it can reverse the trend
    of financial losses.

    GPO's precarious financial condition makes it essential that its leaders
    effectively balance transformation efforts with the continued delivery of
    services. The Public Printer created and filled eight top leadership
    positions. The creation of these positions recognized that the demands of
    transforming while managing an ongoing operation can strain leadership, as
    well as the importance of organizational structure as a key factor
    affecting an agency's management control environment. These positions,
    which had no counterpart in GPO's former organization, can help ensure
    that GPO balances its transformation efforts with its day-to-day
    operations. For example, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) focuses
    primarily on dayto-day activities, the Chief of Staff focuses on strategic
    planning, and the Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), CIO, and CFO address
    both types of activities within their respective functional areas.17 (See
    fig. 4.)

    17On June 3, 2004, GPO's Chief of Staff was appointed to serve as Acting
    CHCO and the Public Printer's Special Assistant following the departure of
    the CHCO. The Acting CHCO stated that GPO would continue implementing the
    many transformation efforts initiated by the Human Capital Office.

    Figure 4: GPO's Organization as of June 2004

    New positions Source: GAO analysis.

    GPO Has Set Interim Goals for Its Operating Units While It Works on a
    Strategic Plan

    The mission and strategic goals of a transformed organization must become
    the focus of the transformation, define the culture, and serve as the
    vehicle for employees to unite and rally around. In successful
    transformation efforts, developing, communicating, and constantly
    reinforcing the mission and strategic goals give employees, customers, and
    stakeholders a sense of what the organization intends to accomplish, as
    well as helping employees determine how their positions fit in with the
    new organization and what they need to do differently to help the new

    organization achieve success. Adopting leading practices for
    resultsoriented strategic planning and reporting, including those mandated
    for executive agencies in the Government Performance and Results Act
    (GPRA), can help focus transformation efforts. While GPO is not required
    to follow GPRA, the act can provide a relevant framework for GPO to follow
    in developing its strategic plan.18 GPRA requires that strategic plans
    include several elements, including a mission statement, goals and
    objectives, and approaches or strategies to achieve goals and objectives.
    The framework can help an agency meet management control standards by
    enabling top management review of actual performance against planned
    performance.19

                                  Key transformation practice Implementation step
             Establish a coherent mission and integrated strategic goals to guide
                 the transformation. Adopt leading practices for results-oriented
                                                strategic planning and reporting.

    GPO is establishing a mission and strategic goals. Its overall approach is
    to consider the information gathered in the past year on GPO's current
    environment-including the results of our work-and develop its strategic
    plan by the summer of 2004. Specific responsibilities for drafting a
    strategic plan have been placed with the Chief of Staff, who, beginning in
    April 2004, held biweekly meetings with the Public Printer to discuss the
    direction for the strategic plan.20 These meetings were meant to provide
    the Chief of Staff with updates on the Public Printer's vision, which,
    according to a GPO official, is being developed as he meets with
    stakeholders and industry leaders.

    Over the past year, the Public Printer has spoken with employees,
    stakeholders, and the Congress to help focus and refine a vision for GPO's
    future. On April 28, 2004, the Public Printer made his most clear and
    direct statement of his vision for GPO thus far, stating that GPO has
    "begun to

    18U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Government: GPRA Has
    Established a Solid Foundation for Achieving Greater Results, GAO-04-38
    (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 10, 2004).

    19U.S. General Accounting Office, Standards for Internal Control in the
    Federal Government, GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: November 1999).

    20GPO's Chief of Staff will continue to have responsibility for GPO's
    strategic planning in his new position as Special Assistant to the Public
    Printer and Acting CHCO.

    develop a new vision for the GPO: an agency whose primary mission will be
    to capture digitally, organize, maintain, authenticate, distribute, and
    provide permanent public access to the information products and services
    of the federal government." GPO's strategic plan has the potential to
    unite employees around the new mission and determine what they need to do
    to help GPO transform and achieve success in the new environment.

    Although GPO has not fully developed its mission and strategic goals,
    GPO's leadership has started to change GPO's culture by setting interim
    goals for major operating units. Managers told us that in the past, GPO's
    culture was to not set goals in order to avoid being held accountable for
    results. More specifically, GPO did not set or track any organizational
    goals and, therefore, did not develop the capacity to measure performance.
    The COO began to change GPO's culture by leading an initiative in October
    2003 to develop goals for its operating units and told us that it was
    important to begin to focus managers' attention on priority issues and
    hold them accountable for progress. He said he viewed the interim goals as
    a necessary step to prepare GPO managers to operate in a results-oriented
    environment after GPO's strategic plan is completed.

    The COO met with the heads of each business unit to develop goals that
    they thought would be consistent with GPO's yet-to-be-developed strategic
    mission based on discussions with the Public Printer. Once the goals were
    developed, the COO and business unit managers identified areas where some
    interdependence with other managers' goals might exist. Each manager is
    responsible for achieving between 6 and 11 goals that are specific to his
    or her business unit, and 6 additional goals that are common across GPO.
    The common goals are as follows:

    o  offer training opportunities to all employees in necessary job skills;

    o  establish baseline information on customer satisfaction;

    o  resolve all reportable conditions from financial audits;

    o 	establish a line of communication through regular meetings to
    disseminate information;

    o  complete second-level reorganizations; and

    o 	establish adequate off-site backup to enable continuity of essential
    operations.

    GPO's efforts to set goals are a significant step toward strengthening
    communication and accountability; however, many of the goals do not
    emphasize outcomes. For example, one of the goals for both the Customer
    Services and Information Dissemination divisions is to implement the
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB) compact demonstration program.21
    While this demonstrates that GPO has incorporated crosscutting goals
    between its operating units, this goal is a statement of a task to be
    accomplished rather than an outcome to be achieved.

    While goals are important for establishing accountability, so too are
    measures, because they allow leaders to perform their management control
    responsibilities for monitoring performance and ensuring resolution of
    identified performance gaps. GPO's COO has stated that he would like to
    strengthen performance measurement as GPO sets its goals for fiscal year
    2005. To this end, GPO has the opportunity to learn from the practices of
    leading organizations that implemented results-oriented management. Among
    other things, such leading organizations generally developed measures that
    were tied to program goals, demonstrated the degree to which the desired
    results were achieved, and were limited to the vital few that were
    considered essential to producing data for decision making.22

    Recommended Next Steps 	Consistent with the efforts under way, the Public
    Printer should ensure that GPO's strategic planning process includes
    development of

    o 	a comprehensive agency mission statement to define the basic purpose of
    GPO;

    o 	agencywide long-term goals and objectives to explain what results are
    expected from the agency's main functions and when to expect those
    results;

    o 	approaches or strategies to achieve goals and objectives to align GPO's
    activities, core processes, and resources to support achievement of GPO's
    strategic goals and mission;

    21GPO and OMB entered a compact on June 6, 2003, in which GPO would create
    a demonstration project designed to provide federal agencies flexibility
    in choosing their own printing services.

    22U.S. General Accounting Office, Executive Guide: Effectively
    Implementing the Government Performance and Results Act, GGD-96-118
    (Washington, D.C.: June 1996).

    o 	a description of the relationship between the long-term and annual
    goals to show expected progress;

    o 	an identification of key external factors to help determine what
    actions will be needed to meet the goals; and

    o 	a description of program evaluations used to establish or revise
    strategic goals, and a schedule for future program evaluations.

    The Public Printer should reinforce a focus on results by continuing
    efforts to set goals, measure performance, and hold managers accountable
    by adopting leading practices of organizations that have been successful
    in measuring their performance. First, the measures that GPO develops
    should be

    o 	tied to program goals and demonstrate the degree to which the desired
    results were achieved,

    o 	limited to the vital few that are considered essential to producing
    data for decision making,

    o  responsive to multiple priorities, and

    o  responsibility-linked to establish accountability for results.

    Second, GPO leadership needs to recognize the cost and effort involved in
    gathering and analyzing performance data and make sure that the data it
    collects are sufficiently complete, accurate, and consistent to be useful
    in decision making.

    GPO Can Strengthen Its Principles are the core values of the new
    organization; like the mission and Transformation by Focusing strategic
    goals, they can serve as an anchor that remains valid and enduring on a
    Key Set of Principles while organizations, personnel, programs, and
    processes may change. Core

    values define the attributes that are intrinsically important to what the
    newand Priorities organization does and how it will do it. They represent
    the institutional

    beliefs and boundaries that are essential to building a new culture for
    the organization.

                                  Key transformation practice Implementation step
             Focus on a key set of principles and priorities at the outset of the
            transformation. Embed core values in every aspect of the organization
                                                    to reinforce the new culture.

    GPO leadership has not adopted a set of agencywide core values to help
    unify GPO to achieve its transformation, but has created a task team under
    the direction of the Deputy Chief of Staff to develop them. Although the
    core values have yet to be developed, they are referenced in draft
    performance agreements for its senior managers.

    The experience of a GPO unit demonstrates the benefits of having core
    values. According to the Director of the Pueblo Document Distribution
    Center, core values were developed in 1998 that helped change the center's
    culture and focus employees on improving the center's performance. The
    employees at Pueblo had a series of meetings to develop and agree on the
    core values, thereby taking ownership of them and reinforcing employees'
    understanding that they were responsible for the success of the Pueblo
    facility. Figure 5 shows a banner detailing these core values that hangs
    prominently in the facility.

    Figure 5: Banner Displayed at GPO's Pueblo Document Distribution Center

    Employees said that the banner is a constant reminder that their
    individual and organizational success is dependent on how well they employ
    the core values as they serve their customers. The Pueblo Document
    Distribution Center Director said that establishing core values has helped
    employees take ownership for improving customer service, as measured by
    the center's per order error rate. He said that the employees understand
    the importance of these core values because most of their work is done on
    a reimbursable basis for other federal agency customers, the center's
    primary source of funding. Efforts to improve customer service are
    consistent with the recommendation made by the panel of printing and
    information dissemination experts we convened.

    Recommended Next Steps The Public Printer should

    o 	articulate to all employees how the core values can guide GPO's
    transformation and serve to anchor GPO's transformation efforts and

    o 	ensure core values developed by units within GPO are consistent with
    GPO's agencywide core values.

    GPO Does Not Have a Transformation Plan, but Has Taken Steps to
    Demonstrate Progress

    Because a transformation is a substantial commitment that could take years
    to complete, it must be carefully and closely managed. As a result, it is
    essential to establish and track implementation goals and establish a
    timeline to pinpoint performance shortfalls and gaps and suggest midcourse
    corrections. Further, research suggests that failure to adequately
    address-and often even consider-a wide variety of people and cultural
    issues is at the heart of unsuccessful transformations. Thus, people and
    cultural issues must be monitored from day one of a transformation.

                                 Key transformation practice Implementation steps
               Set implementation goals and a timeline to build momentum and show
                  progress from day one.  o  Make public implementation goals and
                       timeline.  o  Seek and monitor employee attitudes and take
                 appropriate follow-up actions.  o  Identify cultural features of
               transforming organizations.  o  Attract and retain key talent.  o
                    Establish an organizationwide knowledge and skills inventory.

    Make public implementation goals and timeline. GPO has not established a
    transformation plan with specific time frames and goals for which
    leadership would be held accountable. Although GPO leadership has stated
    that a critical phase of its transformation is to develop a strategic plan
    by the summer of 2004, other more specific goals and timelines for the
    transformation, which could be linked to those being included in the
    strategic plan, are under development.

    GPO has the opportunity to ensure that its transformation remains on track
    and is ultimately successful by applying project management principles.
    Project management is a control mechanism that provides some assurance
    that desired outcomes can be achieved. It involves establishing key goals,
    tasks, time frames, and responsibilities that guide project accomplishment
    and ensure accountability. GPO leaders have acknowledged general
    weaknesses in GPO's project management capabilities and have identified
    this as a skills gap that is being addressed through training initiatives.
    By enhancing project management skills at various levels of the
    organization and applying project management principles to key efforts
    like the

    transformation, GPO can have greater assurance that these efforts will
    produce desired outcomes.

    Seek and monitor employee attitudes and take appropriate follow-up
    actions. Because people are the drivers of any merger or transformation,
    monitoring their attitudes is vital. Top leadership should also take
    appropriate follow-up actions to avoid creating negative attitudes that
    may translate into actions that could have a detrimental effect on the
    transformation.

    In February 2003, GPO leadership sought employee attitudes by implementing
    an employee climate survey, an important first step to establish a
    baseline on employee attitudes and concerns. After the survey was
    completed, GPO leadership adopted recommendations to address employee
    concerns. GPO will have the opportunity to take additional follow-up
    actions based on a second employee survey it plans to administer in the
    coming months. This survey has the potential to provide GPO leadership
    with updated information on GPO employee attitudes and views on GPO's
    transformation.

    Identify cultural features of transforming organizations. Because a change
    of culture is at the heart of a successful transformation, it is important
    for leadership to gain a better understanding of the organization's
    beliefs and values prior to, or early in, the transformation process. By
    listening to GPO employees and customers, GPO management determined that
    its culture was not sufficiently customer focused in dealing with
    agencies' printing needs. Instead, GPO relied on the requirement in Title
    44 that federal agencies use GPO for their printing needs and made little
    effort to develop customer relationships and anticipate the needs of its
    customers. As mentioned earlier, to foster a more customer-oriented
    culture, GPO has created new positions, national account managers,
    responsible for developing relationships with customer agencies. The
    national account managers' role is to develop relationships with agency
    customers and provide them with information about the products and
    services that GPO can offer to meet their information dissemination needs.

    Similarly, GPO's former CHCO spoke with GPO employees about their views of
    the Human Capital Office and identified features of the office's culture
    that he is trying to change. The recent restructing of the Human Capital
    Office is aimed at creating a culture that is more customer focused,
    breaking down organizational barriers, and enhancing internal and external
    communication. For example, the Human Capital Office has been

    reorganized into teams dedicated to support GPO's operating units. These
    teams will be able to address the full range of human resources
    activities, from hiring to retirement, as well as worker safety issues.
    According to GPO, physically locating the human capital team members with
    the business unit staff ensures that the operating units' human resources
    needs are more easily met, improves communication between the units and
    the Human Capital Office, and allows for faster decision making.

    Attract and retain key talent. Success is more likely when the best people
    are selected for each position based on the competencies needed for the
    new organization. To help ensure that GPO retained key talent needed for
    GPO's transformation, the Public Printer appointed experienced GPO
    employees to fill the top management positions of Superintendent of
    Documents, Managing Director of Customer Services, and Managing Director
    of Plant Operations. (One of the three employees has over 40 years of
    experience at GPO.) According to the Public Printer, each of these
    individuals is committed to helping GPO transform and successfully meet
    the needs and demands of GPO's customers in the 21st century. In addition,
    these appointments ensured that a vast amount of institutional knowledge
    remained at GPO during the transformation and were meant to give other
    current GPO employees a clear message that, while GPO is transforming and
    changing the way it does business, there is a place for current GPO
    employees at all levels of the new organization.

    To ensure that GPO attracts the people it needs to successfully transform
    and to obtain the next generation of technical skills needed to prepare
    GPO for the challenges of the 21st century, the Public Printer has
    increased the recruitment of outstanding college scholars. GPO has
    implemented a recruiting initiative at universities and colleges that
    emphasize fields of study that would benefit GPO in meeting its current
    and emerging needs. For example, the initiative will target graduates in
    printing and graphic communication; electrical, mechanical, and chemical
    engineering; and business administration.

    In response to a request from the General Counsel of GPO, we recently
    provided an advance decision that GPO may use appropriated funds to
    provide recruitment and relocation payments and retention allowances to
    certain GPO employees, but suggested that it consult with the Joint
    Committee on Printing before doing so.23 GPO is exploring these and other

    23B-301837 (Apr. 28, 2004).

    strategies to enhance its ability to recruit and retain top talent with
    needed skills and knowledge. We have reported that agencies have
    successfully used human capital flexibilities, such as recruitment and
    retention allowances, as important human capital strategies to assist in
    reaching program goals.24

    Establish an organizationwide knowledge and skills inventory. A knowledge
    and skills inventory can help a transforming organization identify the
    skills and competencies of the existing workforce that can help the
    organization adapt to its new mission. In addition, a transforming
    organization needs to define the critical skills and competencies that it
    will require in the future to meet its strategic program goals and
    identify how it will obtain these requirements, including those that it
    will need to acquire, develop, and retain (including full-and part-time
    federal staff and contractors) to meet future needs.25

    GPO's Human Capital Office is planning to complete a knowledge and skills
    inventory to identify the skills and competencies of the existing
    workforce. In a memorandum to all GPO employees, the former CHCO explained
    that the Workforce Development Department will undertake a comprehensive
    skills assessment involving all employees to strategically determine how
    GPO will need to retrain the workforce as the transformation proceeds. The
    skills assessment will include a number of measurement tools and methods,
    including skills tests, electronic and paper-based surveys, interviews,
    focus groups, and observations of work. The knowledge and skills inventory
    could help GPO as it reorganizes and shifts focus to new missions and
    competencies.

    Knowledge and skills inventories have been used by agencies to identify
    related training needs. We have reported that agencies have used a variety
    of approaches in assessing skills and competencies to identify training
    needs. For example, agencies used workforce planning models; assessed the
    workforce in view of organizational, occupational, and unit-based

    24U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Effective Use of
    Flexibilities Can Assist Agencies in Managing Their Workforces, GAO-03-2
    (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 6, 2002).

    25U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Key Principles for
    Effective Strategic Workforce Planning, GAO-04-39 (Washington, D.C.: Dec.
    11, 2003).

    competency standards; and evaluated job performance appraisals and
    information from individual development plans.26

    While GPO completes the skills assessment of its current employees, it
    plans to also complete a systematic identification of new skills and
    competencies that it will need in the future. When GPO leadership
    completes both of these efforts, it will be able to pinpoint skills gaps
    within its workforce and develop strategies to ensure that GPO retains,
    develops, and acquires employees with these skills. These efforts can
    serve to help employees understand how they can enhance their skills to
    contribute to GPO's future and are consistent with the recommendation to
    strengthen training made by the panel of printing and information
    dissemination experts that we convened.

    The skills inventory is an important step to ensure that GPO employs
    people with the skills necessary for its future mission. However, until
    GPO leadership finalizes the mission and goals of the transformed GPO, it
    cannot determine fully the skills needed to achieve current and future
    programmatic results or develop strategies focused on those skills.

    Recommended Next Steps The Public Printer should develop a documented
    transformation plan that

    o 	outlines his goals for the transformation and when he expects to meet
    these goals and

    o 	identifies critical phases and essential activities that need to be
    completed.

    The CHCO should

    o 	determine, based on the results of the upcoming employee survey,
    whether any changes are needed to the transformation strategies and

    o 	ensure that the development of human capital strategies focuses on the
    skills gaps identified by GPO leadership.

    26U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Selected Agencies'
    Experiences and Lessons Learned in Designing Training and Development
    Programs, GAO-04-291 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 30, 2004).

    GPO's Management Team Is in Place, but Attention to Daily Transformational
    Activities Could Be Strengthened

    Dedicating a strong and stable implementation team that will be
    responsible for the transformation's day-to-day management is important to
    ensuring that it receives the focused, full-time attention needed to be
    sustained and successful. Specifically, the implementation team is
    important to ensuring that various change initiatives are sequenced and
    implemented in a coherent and integrated way. Top leadership must vest the
    team with the necessary authority and resources to set priorities, make
    timely decisions, and move quickly to implement top leadership's decisions
    about the transformation.

                                 Key transformation practice Implementation steps
            Dedicate an implementation team to manage the transformation process.
                 o  Establish networks to support implementation team.  o  Select
                                                    high-performing team members.

    The Public Printer has put in place a senior management team, referred to
    as the management council, which can help bring GPO into the future. This
    council is composed of the COO, CFO, CHCO, CIO, Superintendent of
    Documents, Managing Director of Plant Operations, Managing Director of
    Customer Services, the Chief of Staff, the Deputy Chief of Staff, General
    Counsel, and the Inspector General. According to GPO officials, the
    management council does not have regularly scheduled meetings and only
    meets when convened by the Public Printer. About 80 percent of the
    management council's time is devoted to long-term, transformational
    activities, while 20 percent of the time is devoted to addressing
    day-to-day operational issues.

    A second management team, referred to as the operations council, is
    composed of the CFO, CHCO, CIO, Superintendent of Documents, Managing
    Director of Plant Operations, and Managing Director of Customer Services;
    this council meets weekly with the COO. According to GPO officials, this
    council spends about 80 percent of its time dealing with day-to-day
    operations and 20 percent with transformation issues. Although the
    operations council occasionally discusses transformation-related issues,
    its meetings are not structured around specific transformation tasks or
    decisions required to make progress on the transformation. Instead, the
    meetings give each member of the council an opportunity to provide an
    update on issues affecting his or her unit's operations, improve
    communication among GPO's top managers, and ensure that crosscutting
    issues in day-to-day operations receive management attention.

    GPO leadership recognizes the importance of establishing networks to
    support its transformation efforts, and it is creating a network of task
    forces to lead the development of various transformational strategies. For
    example, GPO created a task force to focus on "revenue enhancements and
    new investments." This task force will be chaired by the CFO, and will
    include members of other GPO business units, such as New Business
    Development and Information Technology and Systems. The Public Printer
    directed the chairpersons of the task teams to select task force members
    and develop the strategies that will be the basis for GPO's strategic plan
    by June 17, 2004. Our work on transformations has found that establishing
    networks, including a senior executive council, functional teams, or
    crosscutting teams, can help the implementation team conduct the day-today
    activities of the transformation and help ensure that efforts are
    coordinated and integrated.

    GPO leaders have acknowledged that creating the support capacity and
    accountability for daily transformation activities could help ensure that
    the transformation continues to make progress. These leaders said that
    responsibilities for day-to-day transformation activities could include
    setting priorities, proposing milestones, tracking progress, providing
    analysis to support decision making, and coordinating among teams.

    Recommended Next Steps	The Public Printer should establish a
    transformation team, or augment the management council, to address the
    day-to-day management of GPO's transformation effort. The team should
    include high-performing employees who have knowledge and competencies that
    could help GPO plan its future. Establishing such a team could create the
    focus needed to stimulate and sustain GPO's transformation efforts.

    GPO Is Planning Changes to Strengthen Its Performance Management System

    A performance management system can help manage and direct the
    transformation process and serves as the basis for setting expectations
    for individuals' roles in the transformation. To be successful,
    transformation efforts must have leaders, managers, and employees who have
    the individual competencies to integrate and create synergy among the
    multiple operating units involved in the transformation effort. Individual
    performance and contributions are evaluated on competencies such as change
    management, cultural sensitivity, teamwork and collaboration, and
    information sharing. Leaders, managers, and employees who demonstrate

    these competencies are rewarded for their success in contributing to the
    achievement of the transformation process.

                                  Key transformation practice Implementation step
               Use the performance management system to define responsibility and
                     assure accountability for change. Adopt leading practices to
                 implement effective performance management systems with adequate
                                                                     safeguards.a

    a For information on key practices that we have identified for
    implementing effective performance management systems, see U.S. General
    Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures: Creating a Clear Linkage
    between Individual Performance and Organizational Success, GAO-03-488
    (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 14, 2003).

    GPO plans to implement a new performance management system for its
    executives and will later work on changes for employees at other
    organizational levels. As part of this effort, GPO is exploring the use of
    competencies to provide a fuller assessment of performance. For example,
    GPO has developed performance agreements for its senior managers based
    upon the executive core qualifications adopted by the Office of Personnel
    Management for senior executives and included responsibilities such as
    leading strategic change. Each responsibility will be linked to three or
    four competencies. Additionally, the draft performance agreements include
    interim goals that GPO developed for its operating units and other
    elements that we have identified as important for executive performance.27
    They include, for example, specific levels of performance that GPO plans
    to link to strategic objectives to help senior executives see how they
    directly contribute to organizational results.

    Until GPO's strategic plan is completed, however, GPO will not be able to
    fully align individual performance competencies or expectations with
    organizational goals. The completion of the strategic plan will provide
    human capital officials with the information needed to develop
    competencies and expectations for employees that have a direct link to
    GPO's goals, providing employees with the information they need to
    understand how their performance leads to organizational success.

    As part of GPO's effort to strengthen performance management, GPO plans to
    pilot a new system that, beginning with its senior executives, will more

    27U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Senior Executive
    Performance Management Can Be Significantly Strengthened to Achieve
    Results, GAO-04-614 (Washington, D.C.: May 26, 2004).

    closely link an individual's pay with his or her performance. Linking pay
    to performance is a key practice for effective performance management. We
    have reported that efforts to link pay to performance require adequate
    safeguards,28 including reasonable transparency and appropriate
    accountability mechanisms, to ensure the fair, effective, and
    nondiscriminatory implementation of the system. The Human Resources Office
    has begun developing a pay-for-performance program that will use measures
    of effectiveness that directly link individual performance with
    organizational goals and objectives. The newly established Workforce
    Development, Education and Training Office will be required to develop and
    deliver training to supervisors and managers on performance management.
    The objective is to ensure that supervisors and managers are equipped with
    the necessary skills to effectively manage their employees, help drive
    change efforts, and achieve results.

    Recommended Next Steps	The CHCO should continue developing a performance
    management system for all GPO employees that creates a line of sight by
    linking employee performance with agency goals. The CHCO should ensure
    that GPO's new performance management system has adequate safeguards,
    including reasonable transparency and appropriate accountability
    mechanisms, to ensure the fair, effective, and nondiscriminatory
    implementation of the system.

    GPO Has Improved Communication, an important management control, is most
    effective when Communication, but Can done early, clearly, and often, and
    when it is downward, upward, and Better Address Employee lateral.
    Successful organizations have comprehensive communication

    strategies that reach out to employees, customers, and stakeholders
    andNeeds seek to genuinely engage them in the transformation process.

                                 Key implementation practice Implementation steps
             Establish a communication strategy to create shared expectations and
                report related progress.  o  Communicate early and often to build
                  trust.  o  Ensure consistency of message.  o  Encourage two-way
                 communication.  o  Provide information to meet specific needs of
                                                                       employees.

    28GAO-03-488.

    The Public Printer communicated his intention to transform GPO early and
    often and to various audiences. For example, in his confirmation hearing
    in October 2002, the Public Printer told Congress that GPO "must step back
    and take a new look at the changing and emerging information needs of its
    customers and develop a deeper understanding of its true strengths so that
    it can determine how best to build a new business model." Then again, just
    8 days after the Public Printer took office, he publicly stated his
    intention to transform GPO. In his communications with employees, the
    Public Printer has also frequently expressed his intention to transform
    GPO. For example, GPO's biweekly management newsletter, the GPO Link,
    often contains articles about GPO's transformation. Transforming
    organizations have found that communicating information early and often
    helps to build an understanding of the purpose of the planned changes and
    builds trust among employees and stakeholders.

    GPO leadership has communicated a consistent message about the
    transformation to employees, customers, and other stakeholders through
    such methods as sponsoring conferences, attending customers' meetings, and
    speaking with relevant trade magazines. For example, in correspondence
    with the Congress, employees, and the library community, the Public
    Printer and other senior managers have used similar terms and concepts
    when discussing GPO's transformation. This consistency is important in
    ensuring that GPO's employees, customers, and other stakeholders
    understand the current environment under which GPO operates. A message to
    employees and others affected by a transformation that is consistent in
    tone and content can alleviate the uncertainties generated during the
    unsettled times of large-scale change management initiatives.

    GPO leadership has encouraged two-way communication by instituting methods
    for employees and others to provide feedback and ask questions. For
    example, GPO's intranet site has a section called "Ask the Public
    Printer." On the site, the Public Printer fields questions on issues
    ranging from training opportunities, to building renovation issues, to
    contingency planning. In addition, the Public Printer holds periodic town
    hall meetings that include time for employees in attendance to ask him
    questions in person. In addition, stakeholders have been asked to
    communicate with GPO leaders. For example, on January 22, 2004, the
    Depository Library

    Council29 provided GPO with advice on topics that the Public Printer
    identified as important to the future of GPO. The Public Printer expects
    to use feedback from stakeholders such as the Depository Library Council
    as GPO develops its strategic plan. Two-way communication is central to
    forming the effective internal and external partnerships that are vital to
    the success of any organization.

    GPO leadership has also made significant efforts to improve communication
    between management and employees. For example, GPO established the
    Employee Communications Office, which was developed with the vision "to
    have the best informed workforce in the U.S. Government by
    over-communicating organizational clarity and the mission and vision of
    the new GPO." An important initiative undertaken by the Employee
    Communications Office is the development of GPO Link, a biweekly
    newsletter that reports on activities of GPO's top managers.

    Despite these efforts, because GPO's future mission and strategies have
    not yet been decided, the Public Printer has been unable to communicate
    the nature of the change that GPO needs to make in a way that addresses
    the specific needs of employees. During a communications focus group GPO
    held in October 2003, employees stated that recent efforts to improve
    communication were positive, but failed to provide the specific
    information needed to alleviate job concerns. These concerns were also
    voiced during town hall meetings led by the Public Printer in January 2004
    and were consistent with concerns raised by union representatives in their
    discussions with us about GPO's transformation. Employees have indicated
    they are unsure about their future in the new GPO, and are seeking
    specific information on the skills they will need to remain useful to GPO.
    Communicating with employees about their specific concerns can help them
    understand how they might be affected and how their responsibilities might
    change with the new organization.

    GPO managers, union leaders, and employees have indicated that employees
    are unsure of their role in GPO's transformation. Union leaders told us
    that much of the communication has been rhetoric with insufficient detail
    regarding how the transformation will affect employees. For example, the
    Public Printer has stated that the transformation will bring GPO into the
    21st century, but the specifics of what jobs might be lost or

    29The Depository Library Council is an organization established to provide
    advice on policy matters dealing with the Depository Library Program.

    changed have not been discussed because GPO is developing its mission and
    strategic plan.

    Recommended Next Steps	The Public Printer can augment GPO's communication
    about the transformation to include additional information that employees
    can use to understand their role in building the GPO of the 21st century.
    As GPO's strategic planning effort moves forward, communication with
    employees should include topics such as GPO's new mission, strategic
    goals, and in particular, employee concerns about their role in the new
    environment. As key decisions are made, communication should address how
    GPO's transformation will affect employees so that they understand how
    their jobs may be affected, what their rights and protections might be,
    and how their responsibilities might change.

    GPO Can Expand the Employee involvement strengthens the transformation
    process by Involvement of Employees including frontline perspectives and
    experiences. Further, employee in the Transformation involvement helps to
    create the opportunity to establish new networks and

    break down existing organizational silos, increase employees'
    understanding and acceptance of organizational goals and objectives, and
    gain ownership for new policies and procedures.

                                 Key transformation practice Implementation steps
             Involve employees to obtain their ideas and gain their ownership for
             the transformation.  o  Use employee teams.  o  Involve employees in
                    planning and sharing performance information.  o  Incorporate
                 employee feedback into new policies and procedures.  o  Delegate
                                  authority to appropriate organizational levels.

    The former and Acting CHCO, CIO, CFO, and Managing Director of Customer
    Services told us that they are adopting team-based approaches for
    accomplishing their units' goals, which includes improved customer
    service. For example, GPO combined the former procurement division with
    the customer services division to create teams of employees who have a
    range of skills to address customer needs. Previously, GPO's customers
    were shuffled between these two divisions, neither of which was clearly
    accountable for addressing the customers' needs. A GPO official explained
    that by changing to a team approach, where a group of about five employees
    is responsible for all work with a customer, accountability for meeting
    the needs of that customer is clear and may lead to improved

    service. A teams-based approach to operations can create an environment
    characterized by open communication, enhanced flexibility in meeting job
    demands, and a sense of shared responsibility for accomplishing
    organization goals and objectives.

    GPO units can expand the involvement of employees and use their feedback
    in planning and sharing performance information, which can help employees
    accept and understand the goals of their units and their role in achieving
    them. For example, GPO officials told us that the CFO has shared goals for
    his division with his managers, who have, in turn, shared the goals with
    their employees. Therefore, all employees under the CFO know the goals of
    the division and how their work and performance helps realize the goals.
    However, not all division managers have shared goals with their employees.
    The practice of involving employees in planning and sharing performance
    information can be transferred to other GPO units as GPO's transformation
    progresses.

    Major transformations, like GPO's, often include redesigning work
    processes, changing work rules, or making other changes that are of
    particular concern to employees. GPO has made or plans to make changes to
    many of its policies and procedures. As we mentioned earlier, for example,
    GPO is planning to pilot test a new pay-for-performance system, beginning
    with its senior managers. We have reported on other agencies' attempts to
    involve employees and unions in developing aspects of its personnel
    systems.30 For example, at the Department of Homeland Security, employees
    and union representatives played a role in shaping the design of a
    proposed personnel system. The design process attempted to include
    employees by creating multiple opportunities for employees to provide
    feedback.

    GPO has taken some actions to delegate authority to employees. Soon after
    the new Public Printer took office, GPO instituted a time-off awards
    program, which provides supervisors with a means to recognize employees
    for their productivity, creativity, dedication, and outstanding
    contributions to the mission of GPO. Before GPO created this award
    program, supervisors did not have the authority to recognize and reward
    outstanding performance. In a transformation, employees are more likely to
    support

    30U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: DHS Personnel System
    Design Effort Provides for Collaboration and Employee Participation,
    GAO-03-1099 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 30, 2003).

    changes when they have the necessary authority and flexibility-along with
    commensurate accountability and incentives-to advance the organization's
    goals and improve performance.

    Delegating certain personnel authorities is important for managers and
    supervisors who know the most about an organization's programs and can use
    those authorities to make those programs work. The former Deputy Public
    Printer told us that decision making on many day-to-day matters was
    centralized within his office. For example, his approval was required for
    all training requests from GPO employees. The current Public Printer has
    delegated authority to approve training to lower level managers who are
    more familiar with the employees' work requirements and, therefore, have a
    better understanding of the training individual employees need to improve
    their performance.

    We have reported that agency managers and employees have important roles
    in the success of training and development activities.31 Managers are
    responsible not only for reinforcing new competencies, skills, and
    behaviors but also for removing barriers to help employees implement
    learned behaviors on the job. Furthermore, if managers understand and
    support the objectives of training and development efforts, they can
    provide opportunities for employees to successfully use new skills and
    competencies and can model the behavior they expect to see in their
    employees. Employees also need to understand the goals of agencies'
    training and development efforts and accept responsibility for developing
    their competencies and careers, as well as for improving their
    organizations' performance.

    Recommended Next Steps	GPO leadership should involve employees more in
    planning and decision making for the future, allowing employees to gain
    ownership of the transformation. For example, the CHCO should incorporate
    employee feedback as part of the process for developing GPO's pay for
    performance system and in training and development activities.

    31U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: A Guide for Assessing
    Strategic Training and Development Efforts in the Federal Government,
    GAO-04-546G (Washington, D.C.: March 2004).

    World-Class Management Practices Can Strengthen GPO's Transformation

    Successful change efforts start with a vision of radically improved
    performance and the relentless pursuit of that vision. Leaders of
    successful transformations seek to implement best practices in systems and
    processes and guard against automatically retaining the approaches used in
    the past. Instead of developing optimal systems and processes,
    transforming organizations risk devoting attention to attempting to mend
    less than fully efficient and effective systems and processes merely
    because they are already in place. Over the longer term, leaders of
    successful mergers and acquisitions, like leaders of successful
    organizations generally, seek to learn from best practices and create a
    set of systems and processes that are tailored to the specific needs and
    circumstances of the transforming organization.

    GPO leadership has articulated a vision to transform GPO into a worldclass
    organization and has taken some initial steps toward this objective, most
    notably with respect to human capital management. However, because
    significant change efforts are difficult and take a long time, continued
    leadership attention is needed. The commitment of the Public Printer, the
    appointment of a COO, and other key leadership selections are positive
    steps in this regard. In particular, we have reported that COOs can be
    part of a broader effort to elevate attention to management and
    transformation issues, integrate various key management and transformation
    efforts, and institutionalize accountability for addressing management
    issues leading a transformation. By their very nature, the problems and
    challenges facing agencies are crosscutting and thus require coordinated
    and integrated solutions. However, the risk is that management
    responsibilities (including, but not limited to, information technology,
    financial management, and human capital) will be "stovepiped" and thus
    will not be carried out in a comprehensive, ongoing, and integrated
    manner.32

    GPO Has Taken Numerous Having effective human capital policies and
    procedures is a critical factor Actions to Strengthen in an organization's
    management control environment. GPO's efforts to Human Capital Management
    strengthen human capital management demonstrate a commitment to

                               these management controls.

    32U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Observations on Agencies'
    Implementation of the Chief Human Capital Officers Act, GAO-04-800T
    (Washington, D.C.: May 18, 2004).

    In October 2003, we reported on how GPO leadership could advance its
    transformation through strategic human capital management and made
    numerous recommendations to GPO leadership that were based on leading
    practices in strategic human capital management.33 Taken as a whole, these
    recommendations represent a framework for radically improving GPO's human
    capital practices. GPO's Human Capital Office is using our October 2003
    report34 as GPO's roadmap for transforming its human capital management
    and is actively implementing the recommendations we made. Much of GPO's
    progress in improving its human capital management has been described
    previously in this report. Our recommendations focus on four interrelated
    areas:

    o  communicating the role of managers in GPO's transformation,

    o  strengthening the role of the human resources office,

    o 	developing a strategic workforce plan to ensure GPO has the skills and
    knowledge it needs for the future, and

    o  using a strategic performance management system to drive change.

    GPO has made clear progress toward adopting the leading practices that we
    described in our October report, and has shown a continuing interest in
    improving GPO's Human Capital Office by identifying management best
    practices used by other organizations. The experience of transforming
    organizations, including GAO, has shown that transformation must be based
    on the best, most up-to-date management practices to reach its full
    potential.35 Consistent with this practice, GPO leadership requested our
    assistance in identifying and describing approaches and strategies used by
    other organizations to restructure their workforces.

    In response to this request, on January 20, 2004, we briefed GPO
    leadership on the workforce restructuring efforts of the Federal Deposit
    Insurance

    33GAO-04-85.

    34U.S. General Accounting Office, Government Printing Office: Advancing
    GPO's Transformation Effort through Strategic Human Capital Management,
    GAO-04-85 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 20, 2003).

    35U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Government: Shaping the
    Government to Meet 21st Century Challenges, GAO-03-1168T (Washington,
    D.C.: Sept. 17, 2003).

    Corporation, GAO, and the Treasury's Financial Management Service. The
    briefing presented the lessons that these agencies learned from their
    workforce restructuring efforts, with particular emphasis on efforts to
    assist employees in finding other employment. The approaches and
    strategies we highlighted were retraining, outplacement assistance,
    workforce restructuring planning, communication, and employee and union
    involvement. Our briefing contained specific examples, related agency
    materials, and contacts that could provide further information and
    assistance to GPO.

    GPO's CIO Organization Has Begun to Transform

    The Public Printer has stated that the new vision of GPO will be an agency
    whose primary mission will be to capture digitally, organize, maintain,
    authenticate, distribute, and provide permanent public access to the
    information products and services of the federal government. To execute
    this vision, he states that GPO must deploy the technology needed by
    federal agencies and the public to gather and produce digital documents in
    a uniformly structured database in order to authenticate documents
    disseminated over the Internet and to preserve the information for
    permanent public access.

    However, improved information technology (IT) systems such as those
    contained in the Public Printer's vision are not simple to develop or
    acquire. Through our research of best IT management practices and our
    evaluations of agency IT management performance, we have identified a set
    of essential and complementary management disciplines that provide a sound
    foundation for IT management. These include

    o  enterprise architecture,

    o  IT investment management,

    o  software/system development and acquisition,

    o  information security, and

    o  IT human capital.

    GPO's CIO understands that his IT organization, like all of GPO, will have
    to transform to meet current and future needs. More specifically, he
    acknowledges the need to establish IT management policies, procedures,

    and practices in the key areas listed above. The CIO has taken steps, or
    plans to take steps, to begin improving IT in each of these areas.

    Enterprise Architecture	An enterprise architecture is to an organization's
    operations and systems as a set of blueprints is to a building. That is,
    building blueprints provide those who own, construct, and maintain the
    building with a clear and understandable picture of the building's uses,
    features, functions, and supporting systems, including relevant building
    standards. Further, the building blueprints capture the relationships
    among building components and govern the construction process. Enterprise
    architectures do nothing less, providing to people at all organizational
    levels an explicit, common, and meaningful structural frame of reference
    that allows an agency to understand (1) what the enterprise does; (2)
    when, where, how, and why it does it; and (3) what it uses to do it.

    An enterprise architecture provides a clear and comprehensive picture of
    the structure of an entity, whether an organization or a functional or
    mission area. This picture consists of snapshots of both the enterprise's
    current or "as-is" technical and operational environments, its target or
    "tobe" technical and operational environments, and a capital investment
    roadmap for transitioning from the current environment to the target
    environment. An enterprise architecture is an essential tool for
    effectively and efficiently engineering business practices, implementing
    and evolving supporting systems, and transforming an organization. Managed
    properly, it can clarify and help optimize the interdependencies and
    relationships among an organization's business operations and the
    underlying IT infrastructure and applications that support these
    operations. Employed in concert with other important management controls,
    such as portfoliobased capital planning and investment control processes,
    architectures can greatly increase the chances that organizations'
    operational and IT environments will be configured to optimize mission
    performance. Our experience with federal agencies has shown that investing
    in IT without defining these investments in the context of an enterprise
    architecture often results in systems that are duplicative, not well
    integrated, and unnecessarily costly to maintain and interface. The
    development of an enterprise architecture is an essential part of a
    successful organizational transformation.

    Our research has shown that an organization should ensure that adequate
    resources are provided for developing the architecture and that
    responsibility for directing, overseeing, and approving enterprise
    architecture development is assigned to a committee or group with

    representation from across the organization. Establishing this
    organizationwide responsibility and accountability is important in
    demonstrating the organization's commitment to building the management
    foundation and obtaining support for the development and use of the
    enterprise architecture from across the organization. This group should
    include executive-level representatives from each line of business, and
    these representatives should have the authority to commit resources to
    architecture-related efforts and enforce decisions within their respective
    organizational units. Our research shows that enterprise architecture
    efforts also benefit from developing an architecture program management
    plan that specifies how and when the architecture is to be developed,
    including a detailed work breakdown structure, resource estimates (e.g.,
    funding, staffing, and training), performance measures, and management
    controls for developing and maintaining the architecture. The plan
    demonstrates the organizations' commitment to managing enterprise
    architecture development and maintenance.

    Currently, GPO does not have such an enterprise architecture. Its CIO
    agrees that an enterprise architecture is an important tool and is working
    to develop one for GPO. As the first step towards developing an enterprise
    architecture, the CIO organization is in the process of documenting GPO's
    current business processes and supporting IT architecture (the "as-is"
    enterprise architecture). In doing this work, the agency is focusing first
    on those business items of greater interest to two sets of critical
    customers- the Congress and users of the Federal Register. The CIO has
    also hired a manager to lead this effort who has significant experience in
    the development and institutionalization of enterprise architecture and
    related processes.

    Investment Management	In concert with a properly developed and
    institutionalized enterprise architecture, an effective and efficient IT
    investment management process is key to a successful transformation
    effort. An effective and efficient IT investment process allows agencies
    to maximize the value of their IT investments and to minimize the risks of
    IT acquisitions. This is critically important because IT projects, while
    having the capability to significantly improve an organization's
    performance, can become very costly, risky, and unproductive. Federal
    agency IT projects too frequently incur cost overruns and schedule
    slippages while contributing little to mission-related outcomes.

    GPO's transformation may require significant investment in IT and related
    efforts. Therefore, it is essential that GPO effectively manage such

    investments. We have developed a guide to effective IT investment
    management based on a select/control/evaluate model:

    o 	Select. The organization (1) identifies and analyzes each project's
    risks and returns before committing significant funds to any project and
    (2) selects those IT projects that best support its mission needs. This
    process should be repeated each time, reselecting even ongoing
    investments, as described below.

    o 	Control. The organization ensures that, as projects develop and
    investment expenditures continue, the project continues to meet mission
    needs at the expected levels of cost and risk. If the project is not
    meeting expectations or if problems have arisen, steps are quickly taken
    to address the deficiencies. If mission needs have changed, the
    organization can adjust its objectives for the project and appropriately
    modify expected project outcomes.

    o 	Evaluate. The organization compares actual versus expected outcomes
    after a project is fully implemented. This is done to (1) assess the
    project's impact on mission performance, (2) identify any changes or
    modifications to the project that may be needed, and (3) revise the
    investment management process based on lessons learned.

    To oversee the investment management process, an investment review board
    is established, made up of managers, that is responsible and accountable
    for selecting and monitoring projects based on the agency's investment
    management criteria. The IT investment board is a key component in the
    investment management process. An organizationwide investment board has
    oversight responsibilities for developing and maintaining the
    organization's documented IT investment process. It plays a key role in
    establishing an appropriate IT investment management structure and
    processes for selecting, controlling, and evaluating IT investments. The
    organization may choose to make this board the same board that provides
    executive guidance and support for the enterprise architecture. Such
    overlap of responsibilities may enhance the ability of the board to ensure
    that investment decisions are consistent with the architecture and that it
    reflects the needs of the organization.

    This model allows an organization to effectively choose, monitor, and
    evaluate projects. GPO intends to complete a major transformation of
    itself within a few years, with most of its transformation based on
    improved IT

    capabilities. For an organization like GPO, in the midst of
    transformation, effective oversight of its IT investments is essential.

    Currently, GPO does not have an IT investment management process. GPO's
    CIO said that his review of projects at GPO indicated that in the past,
    for example, most projects were selected without documentation such as a
    cost-benefit analysis, economic justification, alternatives analysis, and
    fully validated requirements. The CIO's long-term goal is to implement a
    standard investment management process requiring such items. As a
    beginning, he is working on a list of required documents that each new
    information technology proposal will have to provide before it can be
    approved by GPO management. He is holding workshops aimed at introducing
    the business managers to this documentation and providing training in the
    meaning and use of these documents in support of project initiation.

    Software/System Development Underlying enterprise architecture management
    and investment

    and Acquisition Capability	management is the ability to effectively and
    efficiently develop and acquire systems and software. GPO's CIO is aware
    that his organization's development and acquisition capabilities could be
    improved and plans to take steps to achieve these improvements.

    The CIO has tasked one of his new managers to begin improving key process
    areas for software development and acquisition. On the basis of this
    manager's recommendation, GPO has selected the software acquisition models
    of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as its
    standard for this process. The IEEE defines a nine-step process for the
    acquisition of software, which GPO plans to implement for future software
    acquisitions. The CIO also plans to implement a process for software
    development, but has not determined which model to use.

    IT Security	Dramatic increases in computer interconnectivity, especially
    in the use of the Internet, are revolutionizing the way our government,
    our nation, and much of the world communicate and do business. The
    benefits from this have been enormous. However, this widespread
    interconnectivity poses significant risks to computer systems and, more
    importantly, to the critical operations and infrastructures they support,
    such as telecommunications, power distribution, and national defense. The
    same factors that benefit operations-speed and accessibility-if not
    properly controlled, also make it possible for individuals and
    organizations to inexpensively interfere with or eavesdrop on these
    operations from remote locations for purposes of fraud or sabotage, or for
    other malicious or mischievous purposes. In

    addition, natural disasters and inadvertent errors by authorized computer
    users can have devastating consequences if information resources are
    poorly protected.

    As GPO transforms, its information resources will become increasingly
    dependent upon correctly functioning IT. Whereas in the past, GPO needed
    only to have several paper copies of each document available, greater
    security measures will be required as GPO implements a database for
    permanent public access to all federal government information.

    GPO's current information security could be improved. In fiscal year 2003,
    an independent audit of GPO's internal controls, done as part of a review
    of GPO's financial statements,36 found that GPO did not have in place an
    effective security management structure that provides a framework and
    continuing cycle of activity for managing risk, developing security
    policies, and monitoring the accuracy of GPO's computer security controls.
    Among the specific findings:

    o 	Security-related policies and procedures had not been documented or had
    not been kept current and did not reflect GPO's current environment. These
    policies also provided no guidance for developing risk assessment
    programs.

    o 	Local network administrators did not have guidance in developing formal
    procedures to perform network administration duties, such as creating and
    maintaining user accounts, periodically reviewing user accounts, and
    reviewing audit logs.

    o 	GPO had not established a comprehensive business continuity and
    disaster recovery plan for its mainframe, client-server platforms, and
    major software applications.

    The CIO has ongoing projects aimed at addressing each of the issues
    outlined by the audit organization. First, he is in the process of issuing
    new security-related policies and procedures reflecting GPO's current
    environment. The CIO's security organization is also working on policies
    and procedures and guidance for local network administrators. Finally, GPO
    is negotiating with other legislative branch agencies to use their

    36GPO Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2003, Independent Auditor's Report
    (Washington, D.C.: 2003).

    backup computer facility and is developing a business continuity and
    disaster recovery plan for GPO's platforms and major software
    applications.

    IT Human Capital	As mentioned earlier, the Public Printer has emphasized
    the importance of strategically managing GPO's people in order to
    successfully transform the organization. The CIO, like other GPO managers,
    considers human capital a vital part of his organization's operations as
    well as critical to the success of GPO's transformation efforts.

    The CIO and his managers are reviewing the current human capital situation
    and taking interim steps to improve. At the same time, they are working
    with GPO's human capital organization to develop a strategy to improve
    GPO's human capital management capability for the long term. For example,
    the CIO has tasked each IT area manager to complete such a review of his
    or her staff and report the results to the CIO. While a few needed skill
    sets will be hired from the outside, the emphasis for the CIO organization
    in the near term will be on finding needed skills inside the organization
    and retraining individuals with related skills. The CIO is also providing
    training to his CIO staff on project management and related issues.

    Recommended Next Steps	Like efforts in other parts of GPO, the CIO's
    actions to improve GPO's IT capabilities are important first steps.
    However, much more needs to be done to establish an effective IT
    investment process, to establish an enterprise architecture, and to
    improve the agency's system development and acquisition, security, and
    human capital capabilities. Therefore, we recommend that the Public
    Printer direct the GPO CIO to do the following.

    o 	Begin an effort to create and implement a comprehensive plan for the
    development of an enterprise architecture that addresses completion of
    GPO's current or "as-is" architecture, development of a target or "to-be"
    architecture, and development of a capital investment plan for
    transitioning from the current to the target architecture. As part of the
    capital investment plan, designate an architecture review board of agency
    executives who are responsible and accountable for overseeing and
    approving architecture development and maintenance, and establish an
    enterprise architecture program management plan.

    o 	Begin an effort to develop and implement an investment management
    process by (1) developing guidance for the selection, control, and
    evaluation processes and then (2) establishing an investment review

    board responsible and accountable for endorsing the guidance, monitoring
    its implementation, and executing decisions on projects based on the
    guidance.

    o 	Develop and implement a comprehensive plan for software development and
    acquisition process improvement that specifies measurable goals and time
    frames, sets priorities for initiatives, estimates resource requirements
    (for training staff and funding), and defines a process improvement
    management structure.

    o 	Establish the appropriate security and business continuity policies,
    procedures, and systems to ensure that its information products are
    adequately protected.

    o 	Ensure that GPO's Human Capital Office, in its efforts to develop and
    implement a human capital strategy, considers the special needs of IT
    human capital.

    Financial Management's Role in Supporting Transformation

    Sound financial management practices that produce reliable and timely
    financial information for management decision making are a vital part of a
    strategic plan to achieve transformation. In recent testimony37 the Public
    Printer acknowledged that GPO is in a precarious financial position with
    sustained significant financial losses over the past 5 years, which appear
    to be structural in nature. Such structural losses point out the clear
    need for transformation. In response to GPO's financial condition, the
    Public Printer has taken positive, immediate steps to stem losses, cut
    costs, and curtail certain program activities.

    Given the importance of GPO's business transformation, it is imperative
    that transformation efforts be clearly linked to financial management
    results and receive the sustained leadership needed to improve the
    economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of GPO's business operations
    through its transformation plan. The transformation plan should provide a
    strategic-level "road map" from the current environment to the planned
    future environment, including a link to current cost-cutting and other

    37Bruce R. James, Public Printer of the United States, Statement Before
    the Committee on House Administration U.S. House of Representatives
    "Transformation of the U.S. Government Printing Office to Meet the Demands
    of the 21st Century" (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 28, 2004).

    financial improvement initiatives. In addition, management needs reliable
    and up-to-date information on progress, including financial results.

    As discussed in our executive guide on best practices in financial
    management,38 dramatic changes over the past decade in the business
    environment have driven finance organizations to reevaluate their role.
    The role of financial management and reporting will be critical to
    managing the progress and impact of GPO's transformation efforts.

    In the transformation environment, GPO will need to define a vision for
    its financial management organization such that it is a value-creating,
    customer-focused partner in business results in order to build a
    world-class finance organization and to help achieve GPO's transformation
    goals. As reported and shown in figure 6, certain success factors, goals,
    and practices are instrumental in achieving financial management
    excellence.

    38U.S. General Accounting Office, Executive Guide: Creating Value Through
    World-class Financial Management, GAO/AIMD-00-134 (Washington, D.C.: April
    2000).

    Figure 6: Achieving Best Practices in Financial Management

    Source: GAO.

    We compared best practices that would be most applicable to GPO's
    financial management operations and transformation efforts to many of the
    activities and goals planned by GPO. Overall, GPO and its CFO have taken
    many actions and have plans for efforts that are consistent with many best
    practices in financial management; however, additional emphasis is needed
    for other best practices that enhance GPO's transformation and to ensure
    that planned efforts are fully supported. In addition, GPO's strategic
    planning for transformation should include the actions, plans, and goals
    to be initiated by its CFO and its financial management team to ensure
    that

    GPO's weakening financial position does not undermine its transformation
    goals.

    Making Financial Management an Entitywide Priority

    Our prior report observes that the chief executive should recognize the
    important role the finance organization plays in improving overall
    business performance and involve key business managers in financial
    management improvement initiatives. This is especially important in a
    transformation environment. In order to make financial management an
    entitywide priority, the organization should (1) build a foundation of
    control and accountability, (2) provide clear strong executive leadership,
    and (3) use training to change the culture and engage line managers.

    GPO has shown that financial reporting and the audit process are important
    management and oversight tools for building a foundation of control and
    accountability by routinely receiving "unqualified" audit opinions on its
    annual financial statements. In addition, GPO receives an opinion on its
    management assertion on internal controls from its external auditor.
    Additional accountability is provided through oversight from the GPO
    Office of Inspector General established by Title 44, U.S. Code, section
    3901. Also, GPO has expanded reported financial information beyond audited
    financial statements to include performance information on revolving fund
    operations such as printing and binding operations, purchased printing,
    and procured printing.

    Our executive guide on best practices in financial management also
    recognizes that the chief executive officers of leading organizations
    understand the important role that the CFO and the finance organization
    play in improving overall business performance of the organization.
    Consequently, the CFO is a central figure on the top management team and
    heavily involved in strategic planning and decision making. In this
    regard, the Public Printer established the CFO position shortly after
    arriving at GPO and has included the CFO as a member of the management
    council.

    The key to successfully managing change and changing organizational
    culture is gaining the support of line management. To change the
    organizational culture and enlist the support of line managers, many
    organizations use training programs. This training may be geared towards
    providing line managers with a greater appreciation of the financial
    implications of their business decisions and transformation efforts.

    GPO has engaged its nonfinancial managers with financial-related goals.
    For example, customer services, which includes purchased printing, has a
    goal of increasing revenue by identifying potential government work and
    increasing business to GPO. As discussed earlier in this report, account
    managers are assigned to increase revenue from federal agencies through
    regular customer agency visits, presentations at selected agencies to
    highlight GPO services, and targeting customers for specialized outreach
    efforts.

    GPO could provide a greater emphasis on training its nonfinancial managers
    on the financial implications of business decisions and the value of
    financial information. Training on how to fully use the financial
    information they receive not only produces better managers, but also helps
    break down functional barriers that can affect productivity and impede
    improvement efforts, especially in a time of transformation. In addition,
    training and other tools facilitate and accelerate the pace of the change
    initiative, which helps to reduce the opposition that could ultimately
    undermine the effort.

    Redefine the Role of Finance

    Today, leading finance organizations are focusing more on internal
    customer requirements by providing products and service that directly
    support strategic decision making and ultimately improve overall business
    performance. Again, this is critical in a transformation environment. Best
    practices reported by our prior review of leading financial organizations
    include actions to (1) assess the finance organization's current role in
    meeting mission objectives, (2) maximize the efficiency of day-to-day
    accounting activities, and (3) organize finance to add value.

    Consistent with best practices for redefining financial operations, GPO
    has plans to integrate on-line workflow systems for all major operations
    including the receipts and processing operations, to streamline the budget
    formulation process, and to eliminate all paper-based accounting and
    budget reports. Customer feedback is also useful both in the future to
    assess the perceived benefits of changes related to transformation and to
    use as a baseline on which to compare future changes. The CFO plans to
    establish a baseline of information on customer satisfaction based on our
    survey of GPO's major customers. This includes a planned assessment of
    customer satisfaction with services provided, identification of areas for
    improvement, implementation of plans to increase the value and efficiency
    of services provided, and identification of key performance measures.

    Provide Meaningful Information to Decision Makers

    Financial information is meaningful when it is useful, relevant, timely,
    and reliable. Therefore, organizations should have the systems and
    processes required to produce meaningful financial information needed for
    management decisions. Financial organizations should (1) develop systems
    that support the partnership between finance and operations, (2)
    reengineer processes in conjunction with new technology, and (3) translate
    financial data into meaningful information.

    Our executive guide for best practices in financial management suggests
    that relevant financial information should be presented in an
    understandable, simple format, with suitable amounts of detail showing the
    financial impact and results of cost-cutting initiatives and
    transformation efforts. Leading finance organizations have designed
    reporting formats around key business drivers to provide executives and
    managers with relevant, forward-looking information on business unit
    performance. We believe that such reports can be a key to linking GPO's
    financial management efforts to transformation.

    GPO provides financial information to its key decision makers that is
    consistent with best practices for reports that are useful and relevant to
    key decision makers. The GPO CFO provides monthly summaries for each of
    GPO's key operational areas, including plant operations, customer service,
    sales program, salaries and expenses programs, and administrative support
    operations, as well as other information on the status of appropriated
    funds, billings, and contractors. The information includes cumulative
    year-to-date summaries, profit and loss statements, use of employees and
    staff levels, and other information specific to each operational area. The
    CFO organization is developing plans to provide financial, administrative,
    and analytical support to all of GPO in addition to the monthly
    information packages provided to the management council.

    GPO is also developing plans to replace legacy information systems to
    integrate and streamline internal and external ordering as well as
    inventory and accounts payable processes. GPO expects to greatly improve
    the monthly financial processes with information necessary to make
    calculations regarding time spent on performance or cost analysis and on
    transaction processing. This information can be useful in gauging office
    efficiencies as a result of changes and transformation efforts.

    Build a Team That Delivers Results

    The finance function has evolved over the past decade from a paper-driven,
    labor-intensive, clerical role to a more consultative role as advisor,
    analyst, and business partner. Many leading finance organizations have
    seen a corresponding shift in the mix of skills and competencies required
    to perform this new role.

    GPO has plans and goals that are consistent with best practices for
    financial organizations. GPO should ensure that these plans are completed,
    fully supported, and expanded, especially in light of the critical
    function that finance will play in GPO's transformation efforts.
    Specifically, the CFO is completing input for training plans that include
    both skill and education assessments of administrative support staff,
    budget operations staff, and staff in the Office of Comptroller. The CFO
    stated that he is directly involved in recruiting talented staff for GPO's
    financial operations and is coordinating with the human resource office on
    developing a career path and opportunities for rotational assignments for
    financial-related staff.

    While these planned and developed efforts are consistent with best
    practices for financial organizations, GPO should keep focused on the need
    to ensure that its financial professionals are equipped to meet new
    challenges and support their agency's mission and goals. This requires GPO
    to develop a finance team with the right mix of skills and competencies
    and to play the role needed in GPO's transformation efforts.

    GPO has taken actions through ongoing efforts and planned goals that are
    often consistent with best practices for financial management.
    Nevertheless, unless it includes critical financial management activities
    in strategic plans for transformation, GPO creates the risk of undermining
    its ultimate goal of successful transformation. Without the link to
    transformation, GPO may lack the commitment to sustain sound financial
    management and lose the benefit of best practices that may be used as
    tools to assist decision makers during a period of great change.

    We recommend that GPO

    o 	emphasize training on the usefulness and understanding of financial
    information to nonfinancial managers who are critical to GPO's business
    operations;

    o 	ensure that planned GPO and CFO efforts and goals in redefining the
    role of finance, providing information to decision makers, and building a

    team that delivers results receive the full and consistent support of
    GPO's top management;

    o 	ensure that management is receiving the financial information needed to
    manage day-to-day operations and track progress against transformation
    goals; and

    o 	recognize the importance of financial management and reporting in
    strategic plans for transformation.

    Concluding Observations

    The Public Printer has taken action to transform GPO in response to
    changes in the environment for printing and information dissemination.
    Change is not optional for GPO-it is required, and it is driven by
    declines in GPO's printing volumes, printing revenues, and document sales.
    The panel we convened of printing and information dissemination experts
    identified options for GPO's future that focused on GPO's role in
    information dissemination rather than printing. GPO leadership is using
    the panel's suggestions to inform its strategic plan and set a direction
    for the agency's transformation.

    We have noted that setting a clear direction for the future is vital to
    GPO's transformation. GPO's draft strategic plan is to be completed
    imminently; however, its transformation efforts are at a critical
    juncture, and GPO leadership will need to take further actions to
    strengthen and sustain GPO's transformation by using the nine key
    practices that we identified to help agencies successfully transform. One
    of these practices, related to ensuring that top management drives the
    transformation, has already been fully applied by GPO's leadership. Our
    recommendations, outlined in this report, will assist GPO with the
    implementation of the eight practices where GPO's efforts are still under
    way.

    GPO leadership has articulated a vision to transform GPO into a worldclass
    organization and has taken some initial steps toward this objective. GPO
    is actively implementing our prior recommendations to strengthen strategic
    human capital management and has also taken steps toward improving
    information technology and information technology management. GPO could
    build on this progress by focusing additional leadership attention on
    adopting best practices in these areas.

    Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

    We provided a draft of this report on June 9, 2004, to the Public Printer
    for review and comment. We received written comments from the Public
    Printer, which are reprinted in appendix II. The Public Printer agreed
    with the content, findings, and recommendations of the draft report.

    In his written comments, the Public Printer stated that this report,
    together with our October 2003 report on human capital management, will
    support many future actions that are necessary to bring about a successful
    transformation of GPO. For example, GPO will use our recommendations,
    along with the panel's suggestions, to develop a customer service model
    that partners with GPO's agency customers to meet their publishing needs.
    Further, the Public Printer said that he fully agrees with our assessment
    of GPO's human capital environment and will make significant investments
    in workforce development in order to train existing employees in the
    skills required for 21st century printing and information processing. In
    addition, he added that GPO is moving toward becoming a world-class
    organization in both financial management and information technology
    management by adopting leading business practices.

    GPO also provided minor technical clarifications, which we incorporated as
    appropriate in this report.

    We are sending copies to the Public Printer, as well as the Joint
    Committee on Printing, the House Appropriations Legislative Subcommittee,
    the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the House Committee
    on Administration. We will also make copies available to others upon
    request. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on GAO's
    Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

    If you have any questions about this report, please contact J. Christopher
    Mihm or Steven Lozano on (202) 512-6806 or mihmj@gao.gov and
    lozanos@gao.gov. Questions concerning the expert panel, the survey of
    executive branch agencies, and information technology issues should be
    directed to Linda Koontz at (202) 512-6240 or Tonia Johnson at (202)
    5126447 or koontzl@gao.gov and johnsontl@gao.gov. Questions about GPO's
    financial management should be directed to Jeanette Franzel at (202)
    5129471 or Jack Hufnagle at (202) 512-9470 or franzelj@gao.gov or
    hufnaglej@gao.gov. Other contributors to this report were Barbara Collier,

    Benjamin Crawford, William Reinsberg, Amy Rosewarne, and Warren Smith.

    J. Christopher Mihm Managing Director, Strategic Issues

    Linda Koontz Director, Information Technology

    Jeanette Franzel Director, Financial Management and Assurance

    Appendix I

    Scope and Methodology

    To help explore the options for the future for the Government Prining
    Office (GPO), we contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to
    convene a panel of experts to discuss (1) trends in printing, publishing,
    and dissemination and (2) the future role of GPO. In working with the
    National Academy to develop an agenda for the panel sessions, we consulted
    with key officials at GPO, representatives of library associations,
    including the Association of Research Libraries and the American Library
    Association, and other subject matter experts. The National Academy
    assembled a panel of experts on printing and publishing technologies,
    information dissemination technologies, the printing industry, and trends
    in printing and dissemination. This panel met on December 8 and 9, 2003.

    To obtain information on GPO's printing and dissemination activities-
    including revenues and costs-we collected and analyzed key documents and
    data, including laws and regulations; studies of GPO operations; prior
    audits; historical trends for printing volumes and prices; and financial,
    budget, and appropriations reports and data. We did not independently
    verify GPO's financial information, but did perform limited tests of the
    work performed by external auditors. We also interviewed appropriate
    officials from GPO, the Library of Congress, and the Office of Management
    and Budget. To determine how GPO collects and disseminates government
    information, we collected and analyzed documents and data on the
    depository libraries, the cataloging and indexing program, and the
    International Exchange Service program. We also interviewed appropriate
    officials from GPO.

    To determine executive branch agencies' current reported printing
    expenditures, equipment inventories, and preferences, familiarity and
    level of satisfaction with services provided by GPO, and current methods
    for disseminating information to the public, we developed two surveys of
    GPO's customers in the executive branch. We sent our first survey to
    executive agencies that are major users of GPO's printing programs and
    services. It contained questions on the department's or agency's (1)
    familiarity with these programs and services and (2) level of satisfaction
    with the customer service function. These major users, according to GPO,
    account for the majority of printing done through GPO. We sent one survey
    each to 7 independent agencies and 11 departments that manage printing
    centrally. We also sent one survey each to 15 component agencies within 3
    departments that manage printing in a decentralized manner. A total of 33
    departments and agencies were surveyed. The response rate for the user
    survey was 91 percent (30 of 33 departments and agencies).

    Appendix I Scope and Methodology

    We sent our second survey to print officers who manage printing services
    for departments and agencies. These print officers act as liaisons to GPO
    and manage in-house printing operations. This survey contained questions
    concerning the department's or agency's (1) level of satisfaction with
    GPO's procured printing and information dissemination functions; (2)
    printing preferences, equipment inventories, and expenditures; and (3)
    information dissemination processes. These agencies include those that
    were sent the user survey plus two others that do not use GPO services. We
    sent this survey to 11 departments that manage printing centrally, 15
    component agencies within 3 departments that manage printing in a
    decentralized manner, and 9 independent agencies. A total of 35
    departments and agencies were surveyed. The response rate for the print
    officer survey was 83 percent (29 of 35 departments and agencies).

    To develop these survey instruments, we researched executive agencies'
    printing and dissemination issues with the assistance of GPO's Customer
    Services and Organizational Assistance Offices. We used this research to
    develop a series of questions designed to obtain and aggregate the
    information that we needed to answer our objectives. After we developed
    the questions and created the two survey instruments, we shared them with
    GPO officials. We received feedback on the survey questions from a number
    of internal GPO organizations including Printing Procurement, Customer
    Services, Information Dissemination, and Organizational Assistance.

    We pretested the executive branch surveys with staff at the Department of
    Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. We chose these
    agencies because each had a long-term relationship with GPO, experience
    with agency printing, and familiarity with governmentwide printing and
    dissemination issues. Finally, we reviewed customer lists to determine the
    appropriate agencies to receive the executive branch surveys. We did not
    independently verify agencies' responses to the surveys.

    To assess GPO's actions and plans for the transformation, we reviewed
    statements by the Public Printer, Superintendent of Documents, and other
    senior leaders; analyzed draft performance agreements, employee surveys,
    communication plans, and strategic planning documents; GPO policies and
    procedures; organizational charts; audited financial statements;
    information from GPO's intranet; communications with employees from the
    Employee Communications Office and Public Relations; and other relevant
    documentation.

    Appendix I Scope and Methodology

    To obtain additional information and perspectives on GPO's transformation
    issues, we interviewed key senior GPO officials, including the Deputy
    Public Printer; Chief Operating Officer; Chief of Staff; Deputy Chief of
    Staff; Superintendent of Documents; Deputy Superintendent of Documents;
    Managing Director of Plant Operations; Managing Director of Customer
    Services; the former and Acting Chief Human Capital Officer; Chief
    Financial Officer; Chief Information Officer; and Director, Office of
    Innovations and New Technology. We also interviewed GPO officials at the
    next level of management responsible for information dissemination,
    customer service, and human capital. To get employee perspectives, we
    spoke with union leaders, attended town hall meetings, and analyzed
    results of the employee survey and focus groups held by the Human Capital
    Office. In addition, we visited the Pueblo, Colorado, Document
    Distribution Center to talk with frontline managers about their views of
    the transformation.

    We used the practices presented in our report Results Oriented Cultures:
    Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational Transformations,
    GAO-03-669, to guide our analysis of the actions taken by GPO to
    transform. We developed the recommended next steps by referring to our
    other models, guides, reports, and products on transforming organizations,
    strategic human capital management, and best practices for information
    technology and financial management, and by identifying additional
    practices that were associated with and would further complement or
    support current GPO efforts.

    We performed our work from March 2003 through June 2004. During this time
    we worked cooperatively with GPO leaders, meeting regularly with them
    about the progress of their transformation initiatives and providing them
    with information that they plan to use to develop GPO's strategic plan and
    strengthen management. Because of this collaborative, cooperative
    approach, we determined that our work in response to the mandate could not
    be considered an audit subject to generally accepted government auditing
    standards. However, in our approach to the work, we followed appropriate
    quality control procedures consistent with the generally accepted
    standards. For the general management review examining GPO's
    transformational efforts, we did follow generally accepted government
    auditing standards.

    Appendix II

    Comments from the Government Printing Office

    Appendix II
    Comments from the Government Printing
    Office

    Appendix III

    Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO Services

    Agencies responding to our surveys were generally satisfied with the
    Government Printing Office (GPO) and its services. Many agencies rated
    certain services favorably:

    o 	18 of 19 that use electronic publishing services rated these as average
    or above,

    o 	16 of 17 that use large-format printing services rated these as average
    or above, and

    o 	16 of 17 that use services to convert products to electronic format
    rated these as average or above.

    However, a few of the responding agencies suggested areas in which GPO
    could improve, as the following examples illustrate:

    o 	7 of 23 that use financial management services (such as billings,
    payments, and automated transfers) rated these as below average or poor;

    o 	3 of 10 that use Web page design/development rated it as below average
    or poor; and

    o 	5 of 24 that use the Federal Depository Library Program rated it as
    below average or poor.

    Table 5 (repeated from the body of the report) summarizes (1) agency
    users' levels of satisfaction with GPO's services and (2) products and
    services that they do not use.

                                      Appendix III
                         Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
                                        Services

     Table 5: Satisfaction with Products and Services Agency satisfaction with GPO
                                   products/services

                                         Above            Below      Don't
        GPO product/service   Excellent average Average average Poor  use  Totala
         Archiving/storage            1       4       6       0    2    15
              Binding                 4       9       4       0    2     9
    CD-ROM development and         3       4       9       1    2     9
             production
    Converting products to         3       6       7       0    1    11
         electronic format
          Custom finishing            4       6       4       0    2    12
        Duplication/print on          5       5       6       1    2     9
               demand
    Electronic publishing          4       7       7       0    1     9
         Federal Depository           9       6       4       3    2     3
          Library Program
        Financial management          2       4      10       3    4     5
              services
         GPO sales program            5       4      10       2    1     5
    Institute for Federal
            Printing and             11       7       5       0    1     4
    Electronic Publishing
    Large format printing          4       3       9       0    1    10
        Production Inventory          2       4      11       1    1     9
           Control System
           Preflighting b             2       8       6       0    2    10
    Press sheet inspection         8       9       5       0    2     4
                 c

    Printing (in-house) 7 7 5 2 2 5 28 Product dissemination 4 7 6 1 2 7 27
    Reimbursable storage/distribution 1 2 4 0 2 19 28 Typography/design 3 9 4
    1 2 9 28 Web hosting 1 2 5 1 1 18 28 Web page design/development 1 2 4 1 2
    18 28

    Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    aNot all agencies answered every question.
    bPreflighting is checking printed or electronic copy before printed copies
    are made.
    cPress sheet inspection is a review of printed sheets before printed
    copies are made.

    As the table shows, in responding to questions on customer satisfaction,
    some agencies indicated that they did not use certain electronic services:

    o 	18 of 28 do not use Web hosting and Web page design/development
    services,

    o 	11 of 28 do not use services to convert products to electronic format,
    and

                                      Appendix III
                         Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
                                        Services

    o  9 of 28 do not use electronic publishing services. Some responding
    agencies identified other services that they did not use:

    o  19 of 28 do not use reimbursable storage and distribution services,

    o  15 of 28 do not use archiving and storage services,

    o  12 of 28 do not use custom-finishing services,

    o  10 of 27 do not use large format printing services, and

    o  10 of 28 do not use preflighting services.

    In addition, we asked agencies about specific GPO services, which are
    reported in the sections that follow.

    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Term Contracts

    Most of the responding agencies' print officers were generally satisfied
    with GPO's Print Procurement Term Contracts organization-the group that
    awards and manages long-term multiple print contracts. All print officers
    responding to our survey rated this organization as average or above in
    the following areas:

    o  accessibility by phone,

    o  cost of products and services, and

    o  knowledge of products and services. Among the few less-than-average
    ratings were

    o 	presentation of new products and services-4 of 20 rated GPO's
    performance below average,

    o  timeliness-3 of 23 rated GPO's performance below average, and

    o 	responsiveness to customer needs-2 of 24 rated GPO's performance below
    average.

    Table 6 shows the specific responses.

                                      Appendix III
                         Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
                                        Services

    Table 6: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Term Contracts Agency ratings of
                                   GPO term contracts

                                          Above           Below       No
                                                                     basis
              Feature         Excellent average Average average Poor  to   Totala
                                                                     judge
          Ability to solve            7      10       6       1    0     0
              problems
    Accessibility by phone         4      10      10       0    0     0
            Accuracy of               6      11       5       1    0     0
            information
        Communication skills          5      10       8       1    0     0
        Cost of products and          6       7      10       0    0     0
              services
              Courtesy                7       9       7       1    0     0
        Presentation of new           1       6       9       4    0     3
    products and services
           Product and/or             4      11       9       0    0     0
         services knowledge
          Professionalism             6      10       7       1    0     0
         Responsiveness to            7       7       8       2    0     0
           customer needs
             Timeliness               6       6       8       3    0     0

    Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    aNot all agencies answered every question.

    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Procurement Purchasing

    Most of the responding agencies' print officers also were generally
    satisfied with GPO's Print Procurement Purchasing organization-the
    organization that manages one-time print procurements. Among the areas in
    which the organization was highly rated were

    o  ability to solve problems-all ratings were average or above,

    o  accessibility by phone-all ratings were average or above, and

    o  communication skills-all ratings were average or above. Among the few
    less than average ratings were

    o 	presentation of new products and services-4 of 16 rated this below
    average,

    o 	responsiveness to customer needs-2 of 19 rated this below average, and

    o  timeliness-1 of 19 rated this below average.

                                      Appendix III
                         Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
                                        Services

                         Table 7 shows the specific responses.

      Table 7: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Procurement Purchasing Agency
                         ratings of GPO procurement purchasing

                                          Above           Below        No
                                                                      basis
               Feature         Excellent average Average average Poor  to   Total
                                                                      judge
          Ability to solve             5       6       8       0    0     0
              problems
    Accessibility by phone          4       9       6       0    0     0
    Accuracy of information         4      10       5       0    0     0
        Communication skills           3       9       7       0    0     0
        Cost of products and           5       7       7       0    0     0
              services
              Courtesy                 4      10       5       0    0     0
         Presentation of new           1       4       7       4    0     3
        products and services
    Product and/or service          4       8       6       1    0     0
              knowledge
           Professionalism             5       6       8       0    0     0
          Responsiveness to            5       6       6       2    0     0
           customer needs
             Timeliness                5       5       8       1    0     0

                     Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Regional Print Procurement

    Most of the responding agencies' print officers were satisfied with GPO's
    regional print procurement organizations, which manage print contracting
    for agency organizations outside of Washington, D.C. Among the areas in
    which these organizations were favorably rated were

    o  ability to solve problems-all ratings were average or above,

    o  accessibility by phone-all ratings were average or above, and

    o  accuracy of information-all ratings were average or above. Among the
    few less-than-average ratings were

    o 	presentation of new products and services-2 of 15 rated this below
    average, and

    o  product and services knowledge-1 of 21 rated this below average.

                                      Appendix III
                         Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
                                        Services

                         Table 8 shows the specific responses.

    Table 8: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Regional Procurement Agency
                          ratings of GPO regional procurement

                                          Above           Below       No
                                                                      basis
               Feature         Excellent average Average average Poor  to   Total
                                                                      judge     a
          Ability to solve             6      12       4       0    0     0
              problems
    Accessibility by phone          7       8       7       0    0     0
    Accuracy of information         7      11       3       0    0     0
        Communication skills           3      13       6       0    0     0
        Costs of products and          5      10       7       0    0     0
              services
              Courtesy                 7      11       4       0    0     0
         Presentation of new           1       5       7       2    0     6
        products and services
    Product and/or service          4      10       6       1    0     0
              knowledge
           Professionalism             7      10       5       0    0     0
          Responsiveness to            8      10       4       0    0     0
           customer needs
             Timeliness                8       8       6       0    0     0

    Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    aNot all agencies answered every question.

    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Information Dissemination

    Most of the responding agencies' print officers were generally satisfied
    with GPO's information dissemination. Among the areas in which this
    function was favorably rated were

    o  courtesy-all rated average or above,

    o  product and/or service knowledge-all rated average or above, and

    o  professionalism-all rated average or above. Among the few less than
    average ratings were

    o 	presentation of new products and services-3 of 13 rated this below
    average, and

    o  accessibility by phone-3 of 22 rated this poor.

                                      Appendix III
                         Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
                                        Services

                         Table 9 shows the specific responses.

    Table 9: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Information Dissemination Agency
                        ratings of GPO information dissemination

                                          Above            Below       No
                                                                      basis
               Feature         Excellent average Average average Poor  to   Total
                                                                      judge     a
          Ability to solve             6       4      10       1    0     1
              problems
    Accessibility by phone          4       4      11       0    3     0
    Accuracy of information         6       6       8       1    1     1
        Communication skills           6       3      13       1    0     0
        Costs of products and          2       4      10       1    1     4
              services
              Courtesy                 6       5      11       0    0     0
         Presentation of new           0       4       6       3    0     9
        products and services
    Product and/or service          4       5      10       0    0     3
              knowledge
           Professionalism             6       3      12       0    0     0
          Responsiveness to            6       3      11       0    2     0
           customer needs
             Timeliness                6       3      11       0    2     0

    Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    aNot all agencies answered every question.

    Level of Satisfaction with GPO Customer Services

    Most responding agencies were generally satisfied with the Customer
    Services program. Among the areas rated as average or above were

    o  ability to solve problems,

    o  accessibility by phone,

    o  accuracy of information,
    o courtesy, and

    o  professionalism.
    Among the few less than average ratings were

    o 	presentation of new products and services-9 of 25 rated below average
    or poor,

                                      Appendix III
                         Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
                                        Services

    o  cost of products and services-4 of 26 rated below average or poor, and

    o 	timeliness and responsiveness to customer needs-2 of 28 rated below
    average.

    Table 10 shows the specific responses.

                        Agency ratings of GPO customer services

                   Table 10: Agency Ratings of GPO Customer Services
                    No                                                                Ability                                                                                                    Cost of                                      Presentation                Product                                              Responsiveness
      Above  Below  basis  Feature Excellent average Average average Poor judge Total to solve 8 10 10 0 0 0  Accessibility 8 11 9 0 0 0  Accuracy of 9 10 9 0 0 0  Communication 10 4 13 1 0 0  products 6 7 9 3 1 2  Courtesy 14 7 7 0 0 0     of new    4 2 10 8 1 3   and/or   5 9 12 1 0 1  Professionalism 12 8 8 0 0 0   to customer   9 7 10 2 0 0
                    to                                                                problems                  by phone                  information                  skills                      and                                        products and                service                                                  needs
                                                                                                                                                                                                 services                                       services                 knowledge                                                                          Timeliness 8 9 9 2 0 0

    Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    Most of the responding agencies were generally satisfied with their most
    recent experience with this program. Specifically,

    o  27 of 29 were able to reach a customer service representative, and

    o  27 of 29 felt that the customer service representatives were helpful.
    Among the few less than positive ratings were

    o 	7 of 29 strongly agreed or agreed that additional contact was required
    to resolve the matter,

    o  3 of 28 disagreed that their complaint was resolved in a timely manner,

    o  3 of 29 disagreed that their question was answered in a timely manner.

    Appendix III
    Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO
    Services

                         Table 11 shows the specific responses.

            Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services

          Table 11: Agency Ratings of Most Recent Experience with GPO Customer
                                        Services
                                                                                                                                                  Question                                                                                 Needed
                                                                                                   Able to                                        answered                 Customer                              Complaint               additional
     Strongly  Neither  Strongly  No    Feature agree Agree nor      Disagree disagree  to   Total directly 13 14 1 1 0 0  representative            in     12 14 0 3 0 0  rep did  0 2 2 19 6 0  problem        resolved  5 18 2 1 2 1  contact to 2 5 5 14 3 0  Customer 14 13 1 1 0 0
               agree             basis                      disagree                   judge       reach a                                       reasonable                not know                              in timely                resolve                 rep was
                                                                                                     GPO                                            time                    how to                                fashion                  matter                 willing
                                                                                                   customer                                        period                   handle                                                                                to help

                     Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.

    Appendix IV

    Panel of Experts

    Prudence S. Adler
    Associate Executive Director
    Federal Relations and Information Policy
    Association of Research Libraries

    Jamie Callan
    Associate Professor
    School of Computer Science
    Carnegie Mellon University

    Bonnie C. Carroll
    President and Founder
    Information International Associates, Inc.

    Gary Cosimini
    Business Development Director
    Creative Pro Product Group
    Adobe Systems Incorporated

    John S. Erickson
    Principal Scientist
    Digital Media Systems Lab
    Hewlett-Packard Laboratories

    Michael Jensen
    Director of Web Communications
    National Academies Press

    P. K. Kannan
    Associate Professor
    Robert H. Smith School of Business
    University of Maryland

    Nick Kemp
    Senior Vice President of Operations
    Nature Publishing Group

    William C. Lamparter
    President and Principal
    PrintCom Consulting Group

    Appendix IV Panel of Experts

    Craig Nevill-Manning Senior Staff Research Scientist Google Inc.

    Barbara Kline Pope Executive Director National Academies Press

    MacKenzie Smith Associate Director for Technology MIT Library

    GAO's Mission	The General Accounting Office, the audit, evaluation and
    investigative arm of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its
    constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and
    accountability of the federal government for the American people. GAO
    examines the use of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies;
    and provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help
    Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO's
    commitment to good government is reflected in its core values of
    accountability, integrity, and reliability.

    Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony

    The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no cost
    is through the Internet. GAO's Web site (www.gao.gov) contains abstracts
    and fulltext files of current reports and testimony and an expanding
    archive of older products. The Web site features a search engine to help
    you locate documents using key words and phrases. You can print these
    documents in their entirety, including charts and other graphics.

    Each day, GAO issues a list of newly released reports, testimony, and
    correspondence. GAO posts this list, known as "Today's Reports," on its
    Web site daily. The list contains links to the full-text document files.
    To have GAO e-mail this list to you every afternoon, go to www.gao.gov and
    select "Subscribe to e-mail alerts" under the "Order GAO Products"
    heading.

    Order by Mail or Phone	The first copy of each printed report is free.
    Additional copies are $2 each. A check or money order should be made out
    to the Superintendent of Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard.
    Orders for 100 or more copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25
    percent. Orders should be sent to:

    U.S. General Accounting Office 441 G Street NW, Room LM Washington, D.C.
    20548

    To order by Phone: 	Voice: (202) 512-6000 TDD: (202) 512-2537 Fax: (202)
    512-6061

    To Report Fraud, Contact:

    Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htmWaste, and Abuse in E-mail:
    fraudnet@gao.gov Federal Programs Automated answering system: (800)
    424-5454 or (202) 512-7470

    Public Affairs	Jeff Nelligan, Managing Director, NelliganJ@gao.gov (202)
    512-4800 U.S. General Accounting Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149
    Washington, D.C. 20548

                                   Presorted Standard
                                  Postage & Fees Paid
                                          GAO
                                    Permit No. GI00

    United States
    General Accounting Office
    Washington, D.C. 20548-0001

    Official Business
    Penalty for Private Use $300

    Address Service Requested
    *** End of document. ***