Federal Management and Workforce Issue Area Plan--Fiscal Years 1997-98
(Letter Report, 03/01/97, GAO/IAP-97-5).

GAO provided information on its Federal Management and Workforce issue
area plan for fiscal years 1997-1998.

GAO plans to: (1) identify cost-effective alternatives for downsizing
the federal workforce; (2) identify alternatives to the federal
government's performance management system; (3) identify options for
streamlining the administrative appeals process; (4) examine
alternatives to the civil service system; (5) identify ways to improve
the integrity and efficiency of federal benefits programs; and (6)
identify opportunities for privatizing the U.S. statistical system.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  IAP-97-5
     TITLE:  Federal Management and Workforce Issue Area Plan--Fiscal 
             Years 1997-98
      DATE:  03/01/97
   SUBJECT:  Reengineering (management)
             Federal downsizing
             Federal employees
             Privatization
             Personnel management
             Employee benefit plans
             Statistical data
             Data integrity

             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


General Government Division

March 1997

FEDERAL MANAGEMENT AND WORKFORCE
ISSUE AREA PLAN - FISCAL YEARS
1997-98

GAO/IAP-97-5



Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV


FOREWORD
============================================================ Chapter 0

As the investigative arm of Congress and the nation's auditor, the
General Accounting Office is charged with following the federal
dollar wherever it goes.  Reflecting stringent standards of
objectivity and independence, GAO's audits, evaluations, and
investigations promote a more efficient and cost-effective
government; expose waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in federal
programs; help Congress target budget reductions; assess financial
information management; and alert Congress to developing trends that
may have significant fiscal or budgetary consequences.  In fulfilling
its responsibilities, GAO performs original research and uses
hundreds of databases or creates its own when information is
unavailable elsewhere. 

To ensure that GAO's resources are directed toward the most important
issues facing Congress, each of GAO's issue areas develops a
strategic plan that describes the significance of the issues it
addresses, its objectives, and the focus of its work.  Each issue
area relies heavily on input from congressional committees, agency
officials, and subject-matter experts in developing its strategic
plan. 

The Federal Management and Workforce issue area (FMWI) focuses on the
analysis and evaluation of a broad range of crosscutting management,
workforce, and statistical issues.  These include the Government
Performance and Results Act, regulatory reform, downsizing and
privatization, oversight of the civil service, human resource
management practices at specific agencies, as well as the quality,
reliability, and usefulness of leading social and economic
statistical data. 

The issue area specifically covers the Executive Office of the
President, the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Personnel
Management, Merit Systems Protection Board, Office of Special
Counsel, Federal Labor Relations Authority, Office of Government
Ethics, Federal Sector Programs at the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, the Department of Commerce, Government Printing Office,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Library of Congress, and the National
Archives.  However, managerial, personnel, and
statistical/information issues bridge into virtually all other
agencies as well. 

Through consultation with key congressional committees, agency
officials, and subject-matter experts, FMWI has developed this
strategic plan to ensure that its resources are directed toward the
most important management, workforce, and statistical issues facing
Congress. 

On the pages that follow, we outline FMWI's most significant planned
work on these issues: 

  managing a government in transition,

  managing for results and accountability,

  reevaluating the merit system,

  redesigning compensation and benefits,

  collecting and disseminating information, and

  improving federal regulatory management. 

Because events may significantly affect even the most foresighted of
plans and because periodic measurement of performance against any
plan is essential, our planning process allows for updating the plan
and responding quickly to emerging issues.  If you have any questions
or suggestions about this plan, please call me at (202) 512-8676. 

Nye Stevens
Director
Federal Management and Workforce Issues


CONTENTS
============================================================ Chapter 1


   FOREWORD
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:1

1


   TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:2

4


   TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:3

8


   TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1:4

11


TABLE I:  KEY ISSUES
============================================================ Chapter 2

Issue                         Significance
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Managing a government in      Financial constraints and public expectations are
transition: What strategies   leading Congress to reconsider the government's
are appropriate for managing  scope and structure. Federal agencies are
a government undergoing       undergoing streamlining and restructuring to
fundamental change?           better meet the public's needs, while limiting
                              costs. Further, proposals are under consideration
                              to bring more market-like mechanisms into the
                              federal sector, ranging from outright
                              privatization, to incentives for agencies to be
                              more efficient, to creating performance-based
                              organizations (PBO) akin to those used in foreign
                              countries. Continued budget pressures likely will
                              engender further agency reorganizations and the
                              elimination of some programs or functions. To be
                              effective, any significant change will require
                              corresponding adjustments in the civil service as
                              well. Rightsizing government, for example, will
                              move strategic workforce planning to the forefront
                              of civil service issues; staffing levels,
                              productivity, and mission goals must be met while
                              maintaining fairness to federal employees,
                              minimizing disruption and expense to the agencies,
                              and ensuring a workforce that reflects the
                              American population.



Managing for results and      In crafting the Government Performance and Results
accountability: How can       Act (GPRA), Congress' intent was to shift the
agencies and their employees  focus of federal management, accountability, and
better focus on achieving     oversight away from agencies' activities and
results and ensuring          products and toward the results they achieve.
accountability?               Under the act, agencies are to develop their first
                              strategic and annual performance plans in the fall
                              of 1997. The planning and decisionmaking process
                              used to generate these documents is to be the
                              foundation for results-oriented management within
                              agencies. In the human resource management (HRM)
                              area, the means of creating corresponding
                              performance management and accountability
                              requirements at the team or individual employee
                              level are just beginning to be explored. Private
                              sector models may also prove useful, as may the
                              experiences of National Performance Review (NPR)
                              labs, GPRA pilots, and other government entities
                              in the forefront of the shift toward results-
                              oriented management.








Reevaluating the merit        The emerging emphasis on a results-oriented
system: How can the merit     government--as evidenced in particular by the
system effectively integrate  passage of GPRA--raises the challenge of creating
emerging principles of        a federal workforce equipped to operate in an
results-oriented              environment focused on mission accomplishment.
management?                   Decisions over what sort of civil service can
                              respond to these changing demands will determine
                              the eventual direction of civil service reform.
                              Deliberations over broad-based civil service
                              reform will entail reexamining the rationales
                              underlying the current system; determining areas
                              in which the system is outdated or ineffective;
                              examining alternative models, both from the
                              private sector, other government entities (such as
                              the new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
                              personnel system), NPR labs, and GPRA initiatives;
                              helping identify key principles to guide federal
                              HRM in the future; and addressing the issues of
                              delegation, decentralization, oversight, and
                              accountability.







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives                               Focus of work
---------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------
(1) Assess issues affecting agencies'    ï¿½ Determine downsizing's impact on
ability to cost effectively deliver      employee skill levels.
services in a downsized environment.
                                         ï¿½ Identify opportunities to achieve
(2) Identify opportunities to achieve    cost savings in specific government
savings, while ensuring quality          functions through managed competition.
services, by adjusting the public/
private sector mix used to provide       ï¿½ Align HRM systems with broader
federal services to the public.          management goals.

(3) Review strategies to align HRM       ï¿½ Identify implementation actions
systems with goals and mission           needed to capture anticipated savings
accomplishment.                          from reorganizations and
                                         dismantlements.
(4) Contribute to effective
implementation of agency                 ï¿½ Evaluate specific PBO proposals.
reorganizations.

(5) Assess the strengths and
limitations of the PBO concept.

(1) Identify changes needed in           ï¿½ Assist selected congressional
congressional decisionmaking in a        committees in applying information on
results-oriented environment.            program results to the legislative
                                         process.
(2) Examine the feasibility and utility
of results-oriented management in a      ï¿½ Assess federal experiences with
broad array of federal activities.       results-oriented management in such
                                         areas as intergovernmental programs,
(3) Identify alternatives to the         defense, regulatory programs, business-
federal government's performance         like operations, and science and
management system.                       research and development (R&D).

(4) Identify opportunities for           ï¿½ Assess the applicability to the civil
reforming the administrative redress     service of private sector incentive and
system.                                  rewards systems.

(5) Assess the changing role of          ï¿½ Identify and evaluate options and
leadership positions within the federal  legislative proposals for streamlining
workplace.                               and/or consolidating the administrative
                                         appeal process, and making effective
                                         use of alternative dispute resolution
                                         systems.

                                         ï¿½ Examine the development of the Senior
                                         Executive Service (SES) since passage
                                         of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA).

(1) Analyze need and alternative         ï¿½ Work with sources in government,
strategies for fundamentally reshaping   industry, and academia to explore
the public service.                      alternatives to the current civil
                                         service system.
(2) Examine the role of the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) and its       ï¿½ Determine how OPM and agency
oversight of agency HRM systems in a     oversight could be accomplished in a
results-oriented environment.            more decentralized, results-oriented
                                         environment.
(3) Identify alternatives for
streamlining and decentralizing federal  ï¿½ Assess applicability of private
HRM.                                     sector HRM models to the civil
                                         service.

                                         ï¿½ Assess the implementation of FAA's
                                         new decentralized personnel system.

                                         ï¿½ Assess methods and measurements that
                                         could be used to ensure agency
                                         accountability.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Issue                         Significance
----------------------------  --------------------------------------------------
Redesigning compensation and  In fiscal year 1998, the executive branch
benefits: What employee       (excluding the Postal Service) expects to spend
compensation and benefit      over $117 billion on current employee compensation
programs will best serve the  and benefits and more than $48 billion in payments
changing needs of the         to retirees. To maintain a quality workforce and
workforce?                    compete for talent with private sector employers
                              while keeping such costs under control, the civil
                              service will need to examine its compensation and
                              benefits package as a whole. The concept of a
                              career government workforce is being called into
                              question by rapid change in government
                              responsibilities and the skills needed to carry
                              them out. In addition, issues of fairness and
                              cutting costs in the federal employee retirement,
                              workers' compensation, and health benefits
                              programs will be of special concern. These
                              programs are expected to be considered by Congress
                              in the coming sessions.







Collecting and disseminating  Decisionmakers in the public and private sectors
information: How can          rely on federal statistics to understand current
accurate statistical data be  economic and social conditions, estimate the
gathered and disseminated     likely effects of their decisions, and forecast
cost-effectively?             future trends. Inaccurate or incomplete data limit
                              the ability of decisionmakers to plan, evaluate,
                              and improve programs. The implementation of GPRA
                              will increase the demand for statistical agencies
                              to produce the data needed to assess the outcomes
                              of federal programs. However, the government's
                              ability to produce needed information in a cost-
                              effective manner has been the subject of
                              considerable concern. In this regard, we have
                              designated the 2000 census as being at high-risk
                              for high cost and unsatisfactory results.
                              Furthermore, emerging electronic technologies have
                              generated debate over the cost-effectiveness of
                              traditional methods for disseminating government
                              information of all types.






Improving federal regulatory  Regulation, along with taxing and spending, is a
management: What              principal tool used by the federal government to
improvements are possible in  achieve federal goals. Both Congress and the
federal regulatory            executive branch have expressed renewed interest
management?                   in regulatory management issues to better ensure
                              that (1) the federal government only promulgates
                              regulations for which a clear need exists and that
                              do not go beyond congressional intent in the
                              underlying statute; (2) once a decision is made to
                              regulate, the regulation minimizes the cost and
                              other burdens in relation to the anticipated
                              benefits; and (3) all reasonable alternatives to
                              the regulatory action have been considered.
                              Prominent regulatory management initiatives under
                              consideration or in implementation include
                              mandatory cost/benefit analyses and risk
                              assessments, burden reduction, enhancements to
                              regulatory flexibility, and regulations that are
                              focused on desired outcomes as opposed to mandated
                              processes or actions. Also, Congress now receives
                              a copy of each regulation and may formally
                              disapprove those it believes are inappropriate. As
                              part of this process, GAO provides Congress with
                              information on each major rule's compliance with
                              regulatory procedural requirements.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objectives                               Focus of work
---------------------------------------  ---------------------------------------
(1) Examine the implications for the     ï¿½ Evaluate alternative approaches to
compensation and benefits of a more      providing federal benefits in an
transient federal workforce.             environment with more transition to and
                                         from the private sector.
(2) Assess alternatives in providing
workers compensation benefits.           ï¿½ Review options for restructuring
                                         federal workers' compensation
(3) Inform Congress of ways to improve   programs.
the efficiency and integrity of federal
retirement programs.                     ï¿½ Identify opportunities for budgetary
                                         savings in the design and operations of
(4) Identify ways to improve the         federal pension programs.
integrity and efficiency of federal
benefits programs.                       ï¿½ Review financing and operations of
                                         federal retirement programs.

                                         ï¿½ Analyze and compare the financing and
                                         cost/benefit features of federal and
                                         nonfederal retirement programs.

                                         ï¿½ Explore alternatives for controlling
                                         costs in the Federal Employees Health
                                         Benefits Program.

(1) Assist Congress in determining how   ï¿½ Work with government, business,
the structure of the U.S. statistical    academia, and other countries to
system can best serve the nation's       identify improvements that can be made
domestic and international need for      to the current fragmented system and
relevant, accurate, and timely           opportunities and alternatives for
statistical data in the most cost-       privatizing appropriate parts of the
effective manner.                        U.S. statistical system.

(2) Identify measures Congress and the   ï¿½ Advise Congress on the importance of
Bureau of the Census can take to         its timely involvement in
improve the accuracy and reduce the      decisionmaking, suggest ways to improve
cost of, and effectively implement, the  accuracy and reduce costs of the
2000 census.                             decennial census, and monitor
                                         implementation.
(3) Improve the quality of economic,
sociodemographic, and lobbying           ï¿½ Assess the quality of federal
registration statistics used to          statistics and the processes used to
formulate and assess public policy       make improvements once problems are
implementation and effectiveness.        identified.

(4) Assist Congress and the executive    ï¿½ Suggest ways the government can
branch in developing a framework for     publish, archive, and disseminate
publishing, archiving, and               information more effectively and
disseminating government information.    economically.

(1) Assist Congress in reviewing its     ï¿½ Assess the applicability of a
approach to regulatory oversight.        results/outcome orientation to the
                                         federal agencies' regulatory
(2) Examine alternatives to regulatory   approaches.
emphasis on procedural compliance.
                                         ï¿½ Examine how agencies (1) proactively
(3) Evaluate agencies' actions to        inform and (2) respond to inquiries
provide information on regulatory        from businesses and others in the
requirements and compliance              regulated community on the regulations
strategies.                              with which they are to comply and the
                                         way in which they must comply.
(4) Review methods used to determine
the appropriateness of the regulations   ï¿½ Assess the merits of alternative
federal agencies promulgate.             processes to determine that the
                                         regulations federal agencies issue are
                                         needed and minimize regulatory
                                         burdens.

                                         ï¿½ Evaluate how cost-benefit information
                                         is used in regulatory decisionmaking.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE II:  PLANNED MAJOR WORK
============================================================ Chapter 3

Issue                    Planned major job starts
-----------------------  -------------------------------------------------------
Managing a government    ï¿½ Review the impacts of federal downsizing on agencies'
in transition            ability to deliver services and oversee contracts.

                         ï¿½ Assess whether program performance and efficiency
                         improved in cases where federal agencies were given
                         greater operational authority.

                         ï¿½ Assess the effectiveness of federal career transition
                         programs.

                         ï¿½ Assess the applicability of the PBO approach for
                         specific federal agencies.

                         ï¿½ Survey issues that need to be addressed as
                         consideration is given to privatizing and contracting
                         out services performed by the government.

                         ï¿½ Identify opportunities to achieve cost savings in
                         specific government functions through such approaches
                         as privatization or competitive incentives.

                         ï¿½ Review strategies to align federal HRM systems with
                         organizational goals and missions.

                         ï¿½ Assess whether restructuring initiatives are
                         achieving anticipated service improvements and cost
                         savings.

                         ï¿½ Assess the feasibility of applying the PBO concept to
                         specific proposed candidates.

                         ï¿½ Examine management oversight of contractors and
                         identify possible improvements.


Managing for results     ï¿½ Determine whether the strategic plans developed under
and accountability       GPRA are useful documents for leading and managing
                         agencies.

                         ï¿½ Assess the progress agencies have made in linking
                         their strategic goals to daily operations through
                         annual performance plans.

                         ï¿½ Identify specific challenges and opportunities for
                         Congress' use of performance information generated
                         under GPRA.

                         ï¿½ Assess the feasibility of aligning performance
                         management systems with agency missions.

                         ï¿½ Review private sector approaches to performance
                         management for individuals and groups.

                         ï¿½ Examine the experience of the SES since the passage
                         of CSRA and identify areas for improvement.

                         ï¿½ Examine the adequacy and completeness of agency data
                         submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity
                         Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) system
                         costs.

                         ï¿½ Assess agencies' capacity to provide meaningful
                         performance information in a form useful to
                         decisionmakers and the public.

                         ï¿½ Examine the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1990 on
                         compensatory damage awards in EEO cases.


Reevaluating the merit   ï¿½ Assess implementation of FAA's new decentralized
system                   personnel system.

                         ï¿½ Assess the implications of leading private and public
                         sector HRM models for results-oriented government.

                         ï¿½ Review conversions and noncompetitive appointments to
                         career positions in the executive branch.

                         ï¿½ Evaluate OPM's plans for oversight in a
                         decentralized, results-oriented environment.

                         ï¿½ Assess ways of measuring performance to ensure agency
                         accountability in the HRM area.

                         ï¿½ Evaluate the role of labor-management partnerships in
                         federal labor relations.

                         ï¿½ Examine experiences of OPM research and demonstration
                         projects.


Redesigning              ï¿½ Examine workers' compensation administration and
compensation and         costs.
benefits
                         ï¿½ Identify options for federal pensions based on
                         annuity cost of living adjustment methodologies and
                         practices in private pensions.

                         ï¿½ Describe lessons learned from states that have
                         adopted or switched to defined contribution-only
                         pension plans.

                         ï¿½ Identify federal pension reform options by exploring
                         developments in hybrid pension plans that combine
                         features of defined benefit and defined contribution
                         into a single retirement plan.

                         ï¿½ Identify the reasons for changes in Civil Service
                         Retirement System and Federal Employees Retirement
                         System agency costs.

                         ï¿½ Identify issues in resumption of federal
                         responsibility for the District of Columbia pension
                         system.

                         ï¿½ Examine the administration and costs of federal
                         health benefits.

                         ï¿½ Examine the role federal benefits play in workforce
                         operations and management.


Collecting and           ï¿½ Assess methodologies used by foreign countries to
disseminating            develop inflation indexes and uses for these indexes
information              for taxes and payments.

                         ï¿½ Identify opportunities for improving the
                         methodologies used to develop the Consumer Price
                         Index.

                         ï¿½ Assess issues associated with proposals to link,
                         consolidate, or privatize statistical agencies.

                         ï¿½ Analyze the efficiency of the U.S. statistical
                         system.

                         ï¿½ Compare key dimensions of the U.S. statistical system
                         with those of foreign countries.

                         ï¿½ Assess the accuracy of immigration statistics and the
                         structure and capacity of the system used to produce
                         such statistics.

                         ï¿½ Assess statistical agency performance in implementing
                         GPRA.

                         ï¿½ Monitor progress toward reducing the risk of a failed
                         2000 census.

                         ï¿½ Assess cost and operations of the 1998 dress
                         rehearsal for the 2000 census.

                         ï¿½ Monitor implementation of Lobby Reform law.

                         ï¿½ Analyze the government's process for archiving
                         information.

                         ï¿½ Assess use of Internet for obtaining and
                         disseminating information.


Improving federal        ï¿½ Examine the status of agencies' efforts to move
regulatory management    toward results-oriented regulations and regulatory
                         approaches.

                         ï¿½ Review the availability of regulatory information
                         that meets "customer" needs.

                         ï¿½ Review the administration's enforcement of
                         governmentwide paperwork reduction goals.

                         ï¿½ Examine the Office of Management and Budget's report
                         on the costs and benefits of regulations.

                         ï¿½ Review agencies' compliance with the Small Business
                         Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TABLE III:  GAO CONTACTS
============================================================ Chapter 4


      DIRECTOR
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.1

Nye Stevens (202) 512-8676


      ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.2

Michael Brostek (202) 512-9039
Bernard L.  Ungar (202) 512-4232


      ASSISTANT DIRECTORS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4:0.3

Stephen E.  Altman
James H.  Burow
Richard W.  Caradine
Curtis W.  Copeland
Larry H.  Endy
James M.  McDermott
J.  Christopher Mihm
John K.  Needham
Xavier R.  Richardson
Norman A.  Stubenhofer
Steven J.  Wozny
Margaret T.  Wrightson


*** End of document. ***