United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-06-27 monographic deposited born digital 21 p. GA 1.13:GGD-97-99 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99 P0b002ee18038e910 f:gg97099 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99 GGD-97-99 Periodicals Budget outlays Federal procurement Procurement procedures Executive agencies Cost control Telecommunication Agency missions Internet Letter Report GGD

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on executive branch expenditures for both subscriptions and news clippings operations in fiscal year (FY) 1996, focusing on: (1) the number of subscription copies of selected major newspapers that are normally used to prepare news clippings products; (2) the employee benefits reported from subscriptions and news clippings products; (3) whether guidance is provided to employees about procuring subscriptions and producing and distributing news clippings products; and (4) whether the departments and agencies have made or plan to make changes to improve their subscriptions procurement processes and news clippings operations. Because of the broad scope and relatively short timeframe for completing the review, GAO did not independently verify the accuracy of the information provided.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) for FY 1996, 42 federal organizations reported estimated expenditures of about $73 million for subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, periodicals, and automated news services and about $8 million for news clippings operations; (2) although federal organizations provided GAO with these expenditure data, it should be emphasized that some of these data are estimates only; (3) federal organizations do not typically account for these expenditures separately from other types of expenditures, and some reporting officials told GAO they had difficulty making accurate estimates; (4) federal organizations reported procuring multiple copies of major newspapers, such as The Washington Post, that are normally used to prepare news clippings products; (5) while a few federal organizations reported procuring 1 or 2 copies of these major newspapers, other organizations reported procuring over 200 copies of 1 of more of the newspapers; (6) federal organizations generally reported that subscriptions and news clippings products benefit their employees and increase productivity; (7) the procurement of subscriptions by executive agencies, like the acquisition of other services, is covered under the Federal Acquisition Regulation; (8) twenty-eight organizations responding to GAO's survey, or at least 1 of their components, reported having guidance for procuring subscriptions; (9) twenty-two of the 28 federal organizations reported providing organization-specific guidance, such as requiring management approval to ensure that the subscriptions are mission-related; (10) furthermore, 24 federal organizations, or at least 1 of their components, reported having guidance on how news clippings products should be produced and distributed in the organization, such as sending the news clippings products only to high-level officials; (11) several federal organizations noted recent or planned actions to improve their subscriptions procurement processes or preparation of their news clippings products; and (12) these actions included reducing overall spending on subscriptions, centralizing the subscription process, eliminating subscriptions to electronic wire services in favor of available Internet services, and changing news clippings products from paper copies to the electronic media. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99/html/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99.pdf GAO/GGD-97-99 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-97-99 Letter Report GAO/GGD-97-99; Subscriptions and News Clippings: Expenditures and Related Information Reported by Federal Organizations; Periodicals Budget outlays Federal procurement Procurement procedures Executive agencies Cost control Telecommunication Agency missions Internet Title 5 Section 101 Title 5 Section 102 Title 5 Section 104(1) 5 U.S.C. 101 5 U.S.C. 102 5 U.S.C. 104(1) Title 31 Section 3324 Title 31 Section 9101 31 U.S.C. 3324 31 U.S.C. 9101