United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1998-06-30 monographic deposited born digital 42 p. GA 1.13:AIMD-98-131 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131 P0b002ee1803a3dfd f:ai98131 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131 AIMD-98-131 Information resources management Telecommunication equipment Accountability Telecommunication Cost control Internal controls Federal agency reorganization Cost effectiveness analysis Federal Telecommunications System 2000 FTS 2000 Letter Report AIMD

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to improve its management of telecommunications resources and act on opportunities to achieve savings.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) USDA has taken positive steps to begin correcting its telecommunications management weaknesses--improvements that the department says could reduce its $200 million-plus reported annual investment in telecommunications by as much as $70 million each year; (2) for example, USDA conducted a departmentwide reengineering study and is beginning to test a redesigned approach for managing telecommunications resources; (3) USDA has also taken action to eliminate some redundant services and reduce costs; (4) however, USDA has not achieved significant cost savings or management improvements because many of the department's corrective actions are incomplete or inadequate; (5) specifically, USDA has not: (a) established the sound management practices necessary for ensuring that telecommunications resources are cost-effectively managed and payments for unused, unnecessary, or uneconomical services are stopped; (b) consolidated and optimized telecommunications to achieve savings where opportunities exist to do so; (c) adequately planned integrated networks in support of information sharing needs; and (d) determined the extent to which the department is at risk for telephone abuse and fraud and acted to mitigate those risks nationwide; (6) further, it is unclear how and when these needed corrective actions will be implemented because the department has not established an effective action plan or strategy for addressing GAO's recommendations with timeframes, milestones, and resources for making improvements; and (7) a major factor contributing to this situation is that no one at USDA has been given overall responsibility, authority, and accountability for fixing USDA's long-standing telecommunications management problems. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131/html/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131/pdf/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131.pdf GAO/AIMD-98-131 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-98-131 Letter Report GAO/AIMD-98-131; USDA Telecommunications: Strong Leadership Needed to Resolve Management Weaknesses, Achieve Savings; Information resources management Telecommunication equipment Accountability Telecommunication Cost control Internal controls Federal agency reorganization Cost effectiveness analysis Federal Telecommunications System 2000 FTS 2000 Title 31 Section 3512 31 U.S.C. 3512 Volume 108 Page 3178 108 Stat. 3178 Volume 110 Page 684 110 Stat. 684 Public Law 103-354 Public Law 104-106