Results Act: Comments on Selected Aspects of the Draft Strategic Plans of
the Departments of Energy and the Interior (Testimony, 07/17/97,
GAO/T-RCED-97-213).
GAO discussed the overall quality of the draft strategic plans of the
Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of the Interior, focusing
on: (1) DOE's draft plan as it relates to Power Marketing
Administrations (PMA), specifically whether it addresses the
cross-cutting nature of their activities; and (2) the Bureau of
Reclamation's mission statement, the coordination of cross-cutting
program activities in Reclamation and Geological Survey, and concerns
about the data and information management systems in both of these
Interior subagencies.
GAO noted that: (1) while DOE has made progress in developing its draft
strategic plan, the draft plan is still incomplete and does not fully
meet the requirements of the Results Act; (2) DOE has developed a draft
strategic plan that is appropriately focused on a Department-wide
mission that transcends the interests of individual programs; (3) the
document barely mentions PMAs specifically; (4) of particular concern to
this Subcommittee, it does not identify programs and activities, such as
those of PMAs, that are crosscutting or similar to those of other
agencies; (5) the function of the PMAs to market electricity relates to
the functions of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which
produce the electricity that the PMAs market; (6) the draft plan does
not recognize that the achievement of DOE's strategic goals will depend,
in part, upon its coordination with these agencies; (7) to assure that
the PMAs, Reclamation, and the Corps of Engineers are all moving toward
mutually reinforcing goals and objectives, GAO believes it is important
for DOE to address the coordination issue in its plan; (8) a significant
amount of work still needs to be done before Interior's draft strategic
plan can fulfill the requirements of the Results Act; (9) since programs
within Interior are carried out primarily through eight major autonomous
subagencies, the Department chose to implement the Act by developing a
draft plan overview for the Department as a whole and requiring each of
the subagencies to develop its own plans; (10) GAO focused on three key
areas of Interior's draft plan; (11) although Reclamation's mission
statement is comprehensive and covers its major responsibilities, this
Subcommittee and Reclamation disagree about its basic mission--which is
the foundation of the draft plan; (12) the consultation process provides
an ideal opportunity to address such issues; (13) as with Energy,
Interior's plan generally does not identify programs and activities that
are crosscutting or similar to those of other subagencies nor does it
indicate that coordination has occurred; (14) both Reclamation and
Geological Survey, as well as other agencies such as the Environmental
Protection Agency, address environmental water quality issues; (15)
however, the indication of any coordination of these plans to address
the issues of duplication and overlap; and (16) management of the
information needed to track and measure performance against goals is in*
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: T-RCED-97-213
TITLE: Results Act: Comments on Selected Aspects of the Draft
Strategic Plans of the Departments of Energy and the
Interior
DATE: 07/17/97
SUBJECT: Financial management
Strategic planning
Internal controls
Energy marketing
Congressional/executive relations
Agency missions
Interagency relations
Management information systems
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Before the House Committee on Resources, Subcommittee on Water and
Power, House of Representatives
For Release
on Delivery
Expected at
2 p.m. EDT
Thursday,
July 17, 1997
RESULTS ACT - COMMENTS ON SELECTED
ASPECTS OF THE DRAFT STRATEGIC
PLANS OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF ENERGY
AND THE INTERIOR
Statement of Susan D. Kladiva,
Acting Associate Director,
Energy, Resources, and Science Issues,
Resources, Community, and Economic
Development Division
GAO/T-RCED-97-213
GAO/RCED-97-213T
(141087)
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
PMA -
============================================================ Chapter 0
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for your invitation to testify this afternoon. I am
pleased to participate in this Subcommittee's review of the efforts
of the subagencies of the Department of the Interior and the
Department of Energy that you oversee to comply with the requirements
of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, which is
referred to as the Results Act. As you know, a primary purpose of
the Results Act is to improve federal program effectiveness and
accountability by promoting a new focus on results, service quality,
and customer satisfaction. As agreed, I will comment on the overall
quality of the draft strategic plans of Energy and the Interior.
With regard to Energy, I will also comment on the draft plan as it
relates to Power Marketing Administrations (PMA), specifically
addressing whether it addresses the cross-cutting nature of their
activities. With regard to Interior's draft plan, I will focus on
three key areas as they relate to the Bureau of Reclamation and the
U.S. Geological Survey. Those areas involve Reclamation's mission
statement, the coordination of cross-cutting program activities in
Reclamation and Geological Survey, and concerns about the data and
information management systems in both of these Interior subagencies.
For the purposes of this testimony, we consider Interior's draft
strategic plan to be a combination of the Department-wide strategic
overview and the included subagency draft plans.
In summary, our principal points are the following:
While the Department of Energy has made progress in developing its
draft strategic plan, the draft plan is still incomplete and does not
fully meet the requirements of the Results Act. The Department of
Energy has developed a draft strategic plan that is appropriately
focused on a Department-wide mission that transcends the interests of
individual programs. Accordingly, the document barely mentions PMAs
specifically. However, of particular concern to this Subcommittee,
it does not identify programs and activities, such as those of PMAs,
that are cross-cutting or similar to those of other agencies. The
function of the PMAs to market electricity relates to the functions
of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which produce
the electricity that the PMAs market. However, the draft plan does
not recognize that the achievement of Energy's strategic goals will
depend, in part, upon its coordination with these agencies. To
assure that the PMAs, Reclamation, and the Corps of Engineers are all
moving toward mutually reinforcing goals and objectives, we believe
it is important for Energy to address the coordination issue in its
plan.
A significant amount of work still needs to be done before Interior's
draft strategic plan can fulfill the requirements of the Results Act.
Since programs within Interior are carried out primarily through
eight major autonomous subagencies, the Department chose to implement
the Act by developing a draft plan overview for the Department as a
whole and requiring each of the subagencies to develop its own plans.
I would like to focus on three key areas of Interior's draft plan.
First, although Reclamation's mission statement is comprehensive and
covers its major responsibilities, this Subcommittee and Reclamation
disagree about its basic mission--which is the foundation of the
draft plan. The consultation process provides an ideal opportunity
to address such issues. Second, as with Energy, Interior's plan
generally does not identify programs and activities that are
cross-cutting or similar to those of other subagencies nor does it
indicate that coordination has occurred. For example, both
Reclamation and Geological Survey, as well as other agencies such as
the Environmental Protection Agency, address environmental water
quality issues. However, there is no indication of any coordination
of these plans to address the issues of duplication and overlap.
Third, management of the information needed to track and measure
performance against goals is in need of attention. Interior's
Inspector General's reports on Reclamation and the Geological Survey
have identified uncorrected accounting and internal control
difficulties that have implications for implementation of the Results
Act.
BACKGROUND
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:1
As a starting point, the Results Act requires virtually every
executive agency to develop a strategic plan covering at least 5
years. The plans are required to contain six major elements. They
are (1) a comprehensive mission statement; (2) agency-wide long-term
goals and objectives for all major functions and operations; (3)
approaches (or strategies) and the various resources needed to
achieve the goals and objectives; (4) the relationship between the
long-term goals and objectives and the annual performance goals; (5)
an identification of key factors, external to the agency and beyond
its control, that could significantly affect achievement of the
strategic goals; and (6) a description of how program evaluations
were used to establish or revise strategic goals and a schedule for
future program evaluations. In developing their plans, agencies are
required to consult with the Congress and to solicit the views of
other stakeholders. In preparation for meeting these requirements,
executive agencies have been preparing their plans and submitting
drafts to the Congress as a basis for consultation.
Our comments are based on the most recent draft strategic plans
provided to the House of Representatives staff team working with
them.\1 The comments are also based on our past and ongoing work at
the various agencies. This testimony is based on recent work done at
the request of the House leadership. Reports on that work are
expected to be released next month.
It is important to recognize that the final draft strategic plans are
not due to the Congress and the Office of Management and Budget until
September 1997. Furthermore, the Results Act anticipated that it may
take several planning cycles to perfect the process and that the
final plans would be continually refined as future planning cycles
occur. Thus, our comments reflect a snapshot of the plans at this
time, and are intended to provide some insights that may help this
Subcommittee and the agencies work together to successfully implement
the Results Act.
--------------------
\1 The June 16, 1997, draft plan from the Department of Energy and
the draft from the Department of the Interior available to the
Congress as of June 18, 1997, including the April 9, 1997, draft from
Reclamation and the June 6, 1996, draft from the Geological Survey.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S DRAFT
STRATEGIC PLAN
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:2
Generally speaking, while the Department of Energy has made progress
in developing its draft strategic plan, it is still incomplete and
does not fully meet the requirements of the Results Act. Energy's
draft plan appropriately focuses on a Department-wide mission that
transcends the interests of individual programs. Energy's mission
statement provides a short overarching statement, but the substance
of its functions is described by what it calls four business lines.
These are energy resources, national security, environmental quality,
and science and technology. Energy's draft plan also includes a
section on corporate management, which cuts across the business
lines.
However, of particular concern to this Subcommittee, the draft plan
does not identify programs and activities that are cross-cutting or
similar to those of other agencies, such as those of Energy's Power
Marketing Administrations. Although Energy is sharing its draft plan
with other federal agencies for coordination, it believes its
functions are unique. On the basis of our work, however, we believe
that Energy's four broad business lines do involve or overlap those
of other agencies.
For example, in the energy resources area, the PMAs market
electricity that is generated by the Bureau of Reclamation and the
Corps of Engineers. The strategic goal for energy resources focuses
on developing and promoting sustainable, secure, and competitive
energy systems. One of the specific strategies for achieving this
goal is to promote the safety and reliability of the energy utility
systems. Energy included performance measures in the plan, one of
which relates directly to the activities of the PMAs--minimizing the
amount of time that the federal transmission system is inoperable and
operating it in a manner that significantly exceeds performance
standards.\2 Because the PMAs do not control the generation of
electricity, they cannot achieve their goal without close
coordination with Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers. It is
important for Energy to address this coordination issue in its plan
to ensure that program efforts are mutually reinforcing.
--------------------
\2 Although the Results Act does not require performance measures in
the strategic plan, Energy has included a number of them it its draft
plan.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S
DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3
A significant amount of work still needs to be done before Interior's
draft strategic plan can fulfill the requirements of the Results Act.
Since programs within Interior are carried out primarily through
eight major decentralized subagencies, the Department chose to
implement the Results Act by preparing a draft plan overview for the
Department as a whole and requiring that each of its subagencies
develop its own plan. The eight major subagencies within Interior
include Reclamation, the Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land
Management, the Minerals Management Service, the Office of Surface
Mining, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and
the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In addition to providing the broad
framework for the Department, the Interior-wide draft plan is to
provide linkage between the departmental level and the individual
subagency plans.
Although the draft plans of some subagencies address all six required
elements, Interior's draft plan cannot be considered complete because
half of the subagency draft plans are missing certain elements. In
addition, the plan does not include clear linkages between the
subagencies' goals and objectives and those of the Department, as
well as across the subagencies. Furthermore, even the subagency
draft plans that include all of the elements need further work and
development in several areas. For example, although Reclamation and
Geological Survey included all six elements in their plans, most of
Reclamation's and half of Geological Survey's elements could be
further developed and clarified. For example, some of Reclamation's
long-term goals and objectives are not expressed in outcome-oriented
terms and require subjective determinations of achievement.
Similarly, the objectives and performance measures contained in the
Geological Survey's draft plan are generally focused more on outputs
than on results-oriented outcomes. This fails to meet an important
objective of the Results Act, which is to provide for more objective
measurements of program success or failure. We are providing
detailed comments on Reclamation's and Geological Survey's draft
plans in attached appendixes.
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION'S
MISSIONS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.1
This Subcommittee's May 29, 1997, letter to the Commissioner of
Reclamation expressed several concerns about Reclamation's draft
strategic plan, including the appropriate missions, goals, and
objectives. For example, you noted that Reclamation seems to be
abandoning its original mission of developing water resources in
favor of managing water resources. You questioned whether
Reclamation is the appropriate agency to be carrying out the
activities related to this management mission. You also questioned
Reclamation's foregoing its mission to maintain facilities
constructed by Reclamation and held in title by the United States in
light of its statement that it is no longer seeking congressional
appropriations to replace, rehabilitate, or renovate facilities
related to the reimbursable functions of a project. Reclamation was
established in 1902, and its role as a water resource agency has
evolved and changed over the years. Its present-day mission is a
legitimate and suitable subject for negotiation. It is the basic
premise from which the remainder of the strategic plan flows. The
Results Act consultation process provides an ideal framework for
discussing such issues.
CROSS-CUTTING PROGRAM
ACTIVITIES
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.2
Interior's draft plan provides little evidence of coordination. The
plan does not address how Reclamation or the Geological Survey will
coordinate cross-cutting programs with the other Interior agencies or
agencies outside of Interior to support its overall goals.
Cross-cutting program efforts present the logical need to coordinate
efforts to ensure that goals are consistent and, as appropriate, that
program efforts are mutually reinforcing. We have found that when
this is not done, overlap and duplication can undermine efforts to
establish clear missions and goals. Cross-cutting issues arise in
several Interior programs. For example:
-- Environmental protection and remediation programs.
Reclamation's draft strategic plan addresses reducing, on a
site-specific basis, sources of pollution that impact water
quality, and the Geological Survey's plan addresses water
quality studies. The Environmental Protection Agency and the
Department of Energy also have environmental protection
objectives related to water quality, but these are not
mentioned.
-- Indian programs. Most Interior agencies, including Reclamation
and Geological Survey, have a role in helping Interior carry out
its trust responsibility to American Indians and tribes. For
example, Reclamation is responsible for constructing and
operating water, irrigation, and power facilities for American
Indians and tribes. Yet, the draft plan contains no discussion
of coordination with Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.
-- Recreation programs. Reclamation manages programs that provide
recreational opportunities for the public, as do other Interior
agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the National
Park Service, and agencies outside of Interior, such as the
Forest Service. Again, coordination is not discussed in the
Reclamation draft plan.
DATA AND INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.3
The fiscal years 1995 and 1996 financial statement audit reports of
the Department of the Interior's Inspector General identified certain
uncorrected accounting and internal control weaknesses which, if left
uncorrected, will present difficulties for the implementation of the
Results Act. For example, the Geological Survey audit identified
problems in accounting for the costs of projects, while the Inspector
General cited open recommendations on project cost allocations dating
back to the early 1990s which Reclamation has yet to fully implement.
Furthermore, Interior's draft plan does not yet address how financial
information will be used to support the measurement of strategic
goals. Identifying performance measures and ensuring the development
of reliable financial and program performance information will be
major challenges for Interior and its subagencies.
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 0:3.4
In summary, both the Departments of Energy and the Interior have made
progress toward meeting the requirements of the Results Act. The
continuing consultation process provides the opportunity for this
Subcommittee to ensure that the agencies' priorities are consistent
with those of the Congress and that the functions are complementary
and not unnecessarily duplicative.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes our prepared statement, which has
highlighted the aspects of the draft strategic plans that we believe
are of particular interest to you. We will be pleased to answer any
questions that you or Members of the Subcommittee may have.
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION
=========================================================== Appendix I
1. Six key elements envisioned by Results Act
The Bureau of Reclamation's draft strategic plan contains each of the
six key elements that the Government Performance and Results Act
envisions would be in a successful strategic plan. However, most of
the elements need further development and clarity.
Mission statement. The mission statement is comprehensive and covers
the major responsibilities of Reclamation. However, as presented in
our testimony, the missions are not in line with the missions that
this Subcommittee believes are appropriate.
Long-term goals and objectives. While the draft plan identifies
general goals and objectives to be accomplished by Reclamation, many
of them could be strengthened if they were expressed in more
outcome-oriented terms. Of the 18 outcome goals identified in the
draft plan, there are at least 5 that are difficult to categorize as
outcome-oriented. For example, one of the outcome goals is to
"manage the Nation's western water resources wisely for present and
future generations." Stated in this manner makes a determination of
whether or not this goal is ever achieved quite subjective. The goal
could be improved to allow for a more objective measurement of
program success or failure. Another one of the outcome goals calls
for Reclamation to "assist Indian tribes to develop and manage their
water resources for present and future generations." As stated, this
goal appears to be more output-oriented than outcome-oriented since
it focuses on process not results.
How the goals are to be achieved. The draft plan contains a
description of how the goals and objectives are to be achieved for
each outcome goal. However, the discussion provided is general and
does not include information on the level of resources needed to
carry out the draft plan--human, capital, or information.
How the goals relate to performance plans. The draft plan describes
how Reclamation's strategic goals will be linked to annual
performance plans as envisioned by the Results Act. However, it is
not clear to us how progress toward many of the strategic goals
identified in the draft plan is measurable. Specifically, it is not
clear to us that progress against 30 of the 67 strategic goals
identified in the draft plan can be measured. It is not clear how
the annual performance plans that are linked to these 30 goals will
be effective.
External factors. While the draft plan contains a listing of key
uncontrollable factors that could impact the achievement of
Reclamation's goals, there is no assessment of these impacts.
Without an assessment, the Congress or Bureau management may not be
able to determine the likelihood of achieving the strategic goals.
Program evaluations. The document contains a section labeled
"program evaluation." However, it does not adequately address this
aspect of the draft plan. For example, according to the Results Act,
the plan is to address what program evaluations were used in
establishing or revising the general goals and objectives identified
in the plan. But, no such discussion is in the draft plan.
Furthermore, a discussion of future program evaluation
efforts--another requirement of the Results Act--is limited to an
acknowledgement that Reclamation will engage its customers in
discussions concerning their expectations and views with no
discussion of how the comments will be used or evaluated or when this
work will be done.
2. Key statutory authorities
The Reclamation draft plan reflects consideration of the key
statutory provisions authorizing its activities and programs.
However, it does not generally present clear linkages between the
stated goals and objectives and the relevant major statutory
responsibilities. For example, Reclamation's draft plan provides few
linkages between the large number of outcome goals and 5-year
strategic goals and its many different statutory authorities. The
draft plan contains 18 outcome goals and over 60 5-year strategic
goals, which contain few statutory references. The Results Act does
not require a statement of major statutory responsibilities to be
included within an agency's goals and objectives, but a concise
discussion of major statutory provisions and their relationship to
the goals and objectives in the draft strategic plan may facilitate a
better understanding of the diversity of Reclamation's overall
mission and goals.\3
3. Interagency coordination for cross-cutting programs
Reclamation's strategic plan does not address how it will coordinate
cross-cutting programs with other Interior subagencies. For example,
Reclamation has responsibility that cuts across the following
programs of other Interior subagencies.
-- Environmental protection and remediation programs.
Reclamation's draft plan addresses reducing, on a site-specific
basis, sources of pollution that impact water quality; and the
Geological Survey 's draft plan addresses water quality studies.
-- Indian programs. Reclamation is responsible for constructing
and operating water, irrigation, and power facilities for Indian
tribes. The Bureau coordinates with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs on water settlements.
-- Land and natural resource management. Reclamation is
responsible for water resource management. In this role, the
Bureau is responsible for coordinating dam and dam safety
programs with the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian
Affairs, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service.
Furthermore, the Geological Survey performs studies,
investigations, and mapping services related to land and natural
resources that are relevant to Interior agencies that manage
federal land and natural resources, including Reclamation, the
Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and
the National Park Service. In addition, Reclamation's draft
plan addresses natural resource management as a competing goal
to its program for providing water and power to Western states,
communities, and tribes; but it does not say how it will measure
achievement of these competing goals.
-- Recreation programs. Reclamation manages programs that provide
numerous recreational opportunities for the public as do other
agencies in Interior, such as the Bureau of Land Management and
the National Park Service.
In addition, the draft plan does not discuss how Reclamation has
coordinated with other federal agencies that have substantial
responsibilities impacting on its activities. These include the
Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the
Power Marketing Administrations within the Department of Energy.
4. Data and information systems reliability
Interior's Office of Inspector General's fiscal years 1995 and 1996
financial audit report for Reclamation identified the following
system weaknesses that need to be corrected to ensure the reliability
of Reclamation's information:
-- Lack of a subsidiary accounting system for fixed assets and lack
of periodic reconciliations of fixed-asset subsidiary records to
the general ledger.
-- Uncorrected problems in certain program cost allocations, which
are needed to ensure the reliability of information on
investments in program assets.
In addition, the Office of the Inspector General identified
inadequate computer systems controls which result in a risk that
financial data could be inappropriately manipulated.
--------------------
\3 Office of Management and Budget Circular A-11 suggests that an
agency's mission statement may include a brief discussion of the
agency's enabling or authorizing legislation. This suggestion,
however, does not extend to the statement of goals and objectives.
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
========================================================== Appendix II
1. Six key elements envisioned by Results Act
The Geological Survey's draft plan discusses each of the six key
elements that the Government Performance and Results Act envisions
would be in a successful strategic plan. However, three of the
elements are not adequately addressed--how the goals are to be
achieved, the relationship between long-term goals and annual
performance plans, and program evaluations.
Mission statement. The Geological Survey's draft plan contains a
comprehensive mission statement, which is "provides the Nation with
reliable, impartial information to describe and understand the
Earth." It then describes how the information is to be used. In
combination, the mission statement and the additional explanation of
how the information developed by the Geological Survey is to be used
are results-oriented and cover its major responsibilities.
Long-term goals and objectives. The draft plan discusses long-term
goals and objectives that are logically related to the mission and
generally expressed in measurable form. The draft plan expresses
each of the Geological Survey's goals as "national goal/desired
outcome" and identifies the role of the Geological Survey in
providing information in support of that goal. However, the
objectives and performance measures are generally focused more on
outputs when they could have been strengthened by focusing more on
results-oriented outcomes.\4 For example, one of the
objectives/performance measures is to provide geological descriptions
of a number of important aquifers by 2002.
How the goals are to be achieved. The Geological Survey's draft plan
describes the approaches or strategies to achieve its goals and
objectives as envisioned by the Results Act. However, this area of
the draft plan needs further development since, among other things,
it does not provide details concerning the resources (human, capital,
or information) required to achieve the desired results. Also, the
draft plan does not address what changes, if any, will be made to
provide the Geological Survey's managers with the authority needed to
implement the draft plan or how they will be held accountable.
One of the strategies involves customer service. The draft plan
states that customer service and satisfaction is being incorporated
into the overall strategic planning process as a critical component
of the Geological Survey's business. It further states that various
means of assessing customer service activities are ongoing in every
Geological Survey program and cites examples. In addition, the
Geological Survey has published a customer service plan focusing on
improving the access to and delivery of existing Geological Survey
information to customers. First issued in August 1994, it presents
the Geological Survey's goals and objectives for customer service as
well as customer service standards. A Geological Survey-wide team
will review the goals, redefine standards, monitor and evaluate
progress (including proactively obtaining feedback from customers),
and track milestones and accomplishments.
How the goals relate to performance plans. The Geological Survey's
draft plan describes the relationship between long-term goals and
annual performance goals, including identifying key terms and
performance measures that are generally measurable. The draft plan
explicitly recognizes the need for a clear linkage between annual
goals and the program activity structure listed in the budget.
However, it does not identify whether any revisions will be needed to
budget account and program activity structures to better link them
with the objectives, goals, and activities discussed in the draft
plan.
External factors. The draft plan identifies eight external
factors--referred to as "driving forces"--that could significantly
influence and create alternatives for the Geological Survey:
devolution of federal government functions, new technologies,
demographic changes, public investment in science, society's concept
of "public good," economic versus environmental interests, global
interdependence, and scarcity and management of natural resources.
These factors appear to have been considered in developing the draft
plan's goals and objectives. Although noting recent organization
changes, such as the merger of the National Biological Service and
downsizing, the draft plan does not explicitly identify how these
external factors could affect achievement of the goals.
Program evaluations. The Geological Survey's draft plan identifies
33 prior evaluations and other documents that were used in
establishing the goals for the subagency. The draft plan states a
goal of conducting external peer reviews about every 5 years,
combined with "more frequent" internal management reviews.
Furthermore, it states that a list is being developed of several
program-level evaluations that are planned for the next several
years. However, the draft plan does not identify the key issues of
the evaluations or how any findings may be used to improve
performance.
2. Key statutory authorities
The Geological Survey's draft plan reflects consideration of the key
statutory provisions authorizing its activities and programs.
However, it does not generally present clear linkages between the
stated goals and objectives and the Geological Survey's relevant
major statutory responsibilities. The Results Act does not require a
statement of major statutory responsibilities to be included within
an agency's goals and objectives, but a concise discussion of major
statutory provisions and their relationship to the goals and
objectives in the draft strategic plan may facilitate a better
understanding of the diversity of the Geological Survey's overall
mission and goals.\5
3. Interagency coordination for cross-cutting programs
The Geological Survey's draft plan does not identify program areas
that are similar to or have the same purposes as programs in other
agencies. But, as we identified, the Geological Survey has
cross-cutting issues. In land and resource management, it performs
studies, investigations, and mapping services related to land and
natural resources that are relevant to Department of Interior
agencies that manage federal land and natural resources, including
Reclamation, the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife
Service, and the National Park Service.
4. Data and information systems reliability
Interior's Office of Inspector General's financial audit report for
fiscal year 1996 identified inadequate controls at the Geological
Survey for proper recording of reimbursable program costs due to a
project cost accounting system weakness. If uncorrected, this could
impair the reliability of project cost information.
--------------------
\4 Although the Results Act does not require performance measures in
the strategic plan, the Geological Survey included a number of them
in its document.
\5 Office of Management and Budget Circular A-11 suggests that an
agency's mission statement may include a brief discussion of the
agency's enabling or authorizing legislation. This suggestion,
however, does not extend to the statement of goals and objectives.
*** End of document. ***