United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2008-04-02 monographic deposited born digital 18 p. GA 1.13:GAO-08-611T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T P0b002ee180393760 f:d08611t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T GAO-08-611T Advisory committees Conflict of interests Federal advisory bodies National policies Performance measures Policy evaluation Strategic planning Policies and procedures Testimony A81489 Because advisory committees provide input to federal decision makers on significant national issues, it is essential that their membership be, and be perceived as being, free from conflicts of interest and balanced as a whole. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) was enacted in 1972, in part, because of concerns that special interests had too much influence over federal agency decision makers. The General Services Administration (GSA) develops guidance on establishing and managing FACA committees. The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) develops regulations and guidance for statutory conflict-of- interest provisions that apply to some advisory committee members. As requested, this testimony discusses key findings and conclusions in our 2004 report, Federal Advisory Committees: Additional Guidance Could Help Agencies Better Ensure Independence and Balance; GAO's recommendations to GSA and OGE and their responses; and potential changes to FACA that could better ensure the independence and balance of advisory committees. For our 2004 work, we reviewed policies and procedures issued by GSA, OGE, and nine federal agencies that sponsor many committees. For this testimony, we obtained information from GSA and OGE on actions they have taken to implement our recommendations; we also reviewed data in GSA's FACA data base on advisory committee appointments. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T.pdf GAO-08-611T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-611T Testimony GAO-08-611T; Federal Advisory Committee Act: Issues Related to the Independence and Balance of Advisory Committees; Advisory committees Conflict of interests Federal advisory bodies National policies Performance measures Policy evaluation Strategic planning Policies and procedures Title 5 Appendix 2 5 U.S.C. App. 2 Volume 86 Page 770 86 Stat. 770 Public Law 92-463