Government Printing: GPO Faces Management Challenges (Statement/Record,
07/29/98, GAO/T-GGD-98-180).

On the basis of the management audit of the Government Printing Office
(GPO) that Booz-Allen & Hamilton did in collaboration with GAO, GAO
concludes that GPO has significant and persistent management problems,
beginning with the lack of a clearly-defined strategic mission and plan
for achieving it. These issues are relevant to congressional
consideration of the terms under which GPO is to be granted a greater
degree of independence and autonomy than its present relationship to the
Joint Committee on Printing affords.

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

 REPORTNUM:  T-GGD-98-180
     TITLE:  Government Printing: GPO Faces Management Challenges
      DATE:  07/29/98
   SUBJECT:  Government publications
             Government information dissemination
             Strategic planning
             Financial management
             Federal agency reorganization
             Proposed legislation

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


Before the Committee on Rules and Administration
U.S.  Senate

For Release on Delivery
Expected at
9:30 a.m.  EDT
Wednesday
July 29, 1998

GOVERNMENT PRINTING - GPO FACES
MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Statement for the Record of
L.  Nye Stevens
Director, Federal Management
 and Workforce Issues
General Government Division

GAO/T-GGD-98-180

GAO/GGD-98-180T


(410354)


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


============================================================ Chapter 0

Mr.  Chairman and Members of the Committee: 

Thank you for this opportunity to participate in your hearing on S. 
2288, The Wendell H.  Ford Government Publications Act of 1998.  As
agreed with the Committee, we will not comment on the provisions of
the bill today, but will use the prospect of a major redefinition of
printing and publication responsibilities as a backdrop for
discussion of the management audit of the Government Printing Office
that was recently delivered to you and other congressional
stakeholders.  This report was mandated by the Legislative Branch
Appropriations Act for 1998.  The conference report accompanying the
act directed us to make extensive use of outside consultants in
conducting the audit.  We contracted with Booz-Allen & Hamilton for
conduct of the audit in December of last year, on a competitive
basis. 

We worked closely with Booz-Allen during the 5 months it took to
conduct the audit and prepare the report.  To assure a sound approach
to the study, we reviewed the contractor's workplans, regularly
discussed the progress of agreed-upon tasks and development of
findings, reviewed evidentiary support, and participated with
Booz-Allen in several briefings for GPO management and congressional
sponsors of the work.  The final report, delivered to us by
Booz-Allen on May 21, makes some 90 recommendations organized under
the topics of marketing, sales and distribution, procurement
services, human resources, financial management, and information
technology.  The Public Printer's comments are included in the final
report. 

I am accompanied by Joyce Doria, the Booz-Allen partner for the
study, and Jack Mayer, who managed the project for Booz-Allen.  I
will leave it to them to summarize the study's findings and
recommendations.  I would like to make a single broad point that
relates these findings to the bill you have before you today.  That
point is that the bill as presently written does not take into
account the need to fix GPO's management deficiencies. 

S.2288 would establish the Government Publications Office as an
independent entity with substantially more authority, and autonomy,
than the Government Printing Office enjoys today.  The Joint
Committee on Printing, which today closely oversees the work of GPO,
would be eliminated.  In its discussions with GPO's customers,
Booz-Allen found little support for eliminating GPO and thereby
forcing the branches and agencies of government to develop their own
means of publishing and distributing the information they produce. 
The dissemination of government information is an important
governmental function, and Booz-Allen found no evidence that people
believe otherwise.  However, this finding was closely linked with the
strong desire on the part of GPO's customers to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.  The Booz-Allen
study confirmed that there were many ways in which GPO's management
could be improved to better focus on and meet the needs of its
customers in Congress, the executive branch, and the user community. 
Its recommendations, beginning with the need for a future-oriented
and proactive strategic plan to guide the institution's direction and
focus accountability, provide a guidepost for the management and
operational improvements that are needed. 

S.2288, in its present form, would not require the newly-constituted
Government Publications Office to make these needed management
improvements.  In fact, as an organization with freedom to depart
from the standard governmentwide human resource management,
procurement, and budget oversight requirements, the reconstituted GPO
would be outside the accountability framework that shapes oversight
of most executive branch entities.  We realize that one of the
purposes of the proposed reorganization is to provide GPO the
independence and autonomy that would enable it to serve all three
branches of government.  Nevertheless, the need would remain for some
form of systematic accountability for efficiency and performance.  We
believe that making the agency subject to some specially-tailored
provisions of the Government Performance and Results Act, just as the
Postal Service is, would impose strategic planning and performance
reporting requirements that could only be therapeutic.  Similarly,
although the bill does provide for the preparation and audit of
annual financial statements, adding GPO to the list of agencies
subject to the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 would expand the
agency's financial management obligations and help deter fraud,
waste, and abuse of government resources.  Finally, explicitly
relating any new GPO information responsibilities to those of
executive agencies under such statutes as the Paperwork Reduction
Act, the Federal Records Act, and the Freedom of Information Act,
would help clarify GPO's intended role. 

In short, Mr.  Chairman, based on the management audit Booz-Allen
conducted in collaboration with us, we believe that GPO has
significant and persistent management problems, beginning with the
lack of a clearly-defined strategic mission and plan for achieving
it.  These issues are relevant to congressional consideration of the
terms under which GPO is to be granted a greater degree of
independence and autonomy than its present relationship to the Joint
Committee on Printing affords.  My colleagues from Booz-Allen will
present their findings in some more detail, and then we will be
pleased to respond to whatever questions you or the other members of
the Committee may have. 


*** End of document. ***