From: jlohrmann@igc.apc.org Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc Date: 25 Jan 93 23:14 PST Subject: GAO Transition Reports - Abstracts Message-ID: <1483600070@igc.apc.org>

From: <jlohrmann> Subject: GAO Transition Reports - Abstracts

From: Lee Sakkas <URLS@MARIST.BITNET> Subject: GAO Transistion Reports - Abstracts To: Multiple recipients of list CLINTON <CLINTON@MARIST.BITNET>

The reports abstracted below are now available via Anonymous FTP from the GAO. I have downloaded them and propose to post them to CLINTON one at a time - one a day. They average about 35000 bytes per report. I will identify each report with GAO Report - SUBJECT in the subject line giving you the opportunity to exercise your delete key. This is the transition info paid for by us, the taxpayer, now available to us, the taxpayer. Do I sense a trend? Lee Sakkas --------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. General Accounting Office Transition Report Series - 1993

Files containing the text of the following reports are available via Anonymous FTP from the GAO-REPORTS subdirectory at CU.NIH.GOV.

1. Budget Issues. OCG-93-1TR. December 1992. 35 pp. (The file is CG01T93.TXT 40017 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues concerning the federal budget deficit problem and the factors involved in reducing the deficit.

GAO noted that: (1) the 1992 budget deficit totalled $290 billion or 4.9 percent of the gross national product; (2) the actual budget deficit totalled $386 billion, but was partially offset by $90 billion in trust fund surpluses; (3) the trust fund surplus is expected to decrease as the baby boom generation reaches retirement; (4) the 1992 deficit was held down by delaying funding for the savings and loan crisis and many unfunded costs resulting from future claims; (5) the deficit has grown because of the recession, inadequate cuts in domestic programs, and a combination of an accelerated defense buildup and a simultaneous reduction in taxes; and (6) solving the deficit problem will require a long-term fiscal policy path based on macroeconomic grounds, emphasizing the budget's investment portion, and examining the areas where the budget has had the largest increase.

2. Investment. OCG-93-2TR. December 1992. 35 pp. (The file is CG02T93.TXT 38862 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the federal government's need to increase investment, both public and private.

GAO found that: (1) during the last two decades, growth in U.S. productivity has slowed substantially; (2) U.S. investment is at its lowest level in three decades; (3) the federal government's impact on state and local governments and the private sector in the last decade has been increasingly unfavorable; and (4) recent trends in the investment share of the budget represent the accumulated results of a large number of individual budget decisions regarding dozens of programs.

3. Government Management Issues. OCG-93-3TR. December 1992. 45 pp. (The file is CG03T93.TXT 49297 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information on federal government management issues, focusing on: (1) the constraints and incentives that managers contend with to achieve program results; and (2) key elements for federal management improvement.

GAO noted that: (1) many agencies lack a strategic vision for the future, adequate oversight and evaluation systems, and qualified personnel; (2) reasons for inefficient government management include the federal government's overwhelming size, political environment, and operating cultures that resist agency mission definition, lack of control over its services, and reliance on noncareer executive program managers; (3) the federal government could learn effective management techniques from other foreign and state governments' experiences; and (4) to improve the effectiveness of government management, the federal government needs long-term strategic plans, improved financial and program information, a results-oriented environment, continuity in leadership, a revised budget process, reorganization of its central management agencies, and revised agency organizational structures.

4. Financial Management Issues. OCG-93-4TR. December 1992. 43 pp. (The file is CG04T93.TXT 44599 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed major federal policy, management, and program issues facing Congress and the new administration in the area of financial management.

GAO found that: (1) widespread financial management weaknesses are crippling the effectiveness of the federal government; (2) financial data are often inadequate or erroneous; (3) financial systems and controls are unreliable; (4) results-oriented reports on the financial condition of the United States are largely nonexistent; and (5) the Chief Financial Officers Act established a leadership structure consisting of a new Deputy Director for Management and a Controller in the Office of Management and Budget and qualified chief financial officers in all major agencies.

5. Information Management and Technology Issues. OCG-93-5TR. December 1992. 33 pp. (The file is CG05T93.TXT 34354 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed widespread weaknesses in federal information resources management.

GAO found that: (1) the government is falling behind the private sector in using information technology to streamline its operations and improve service to the public; (2) agencies may lack the essential information needed to manage programs effectively; (3) projects have run into serious trouble due to lack of modernized government information systems; (4) agency executives do not pay enough attention to the role of information technology in achieving fundamental improvements in agency operations; and (5) the agency unit responsible for information resources management often lacks appropriate authority to use technology to reduce administrative costs, increase productivity, and enhance service to the public.

6. Program Evaluation Issues. OCG-93-6TR. December 1992. Letter Report. 30 pp. (The file is CG06T93.TXT 32690 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the need for sound, evaluative information on how federal programs are operating and what they are actually accomplishing.

GAO found that: (1) program evaluations contribute systematic information to federal decisionmaking; (2) between 1984 and 1988, there was a 12-percent decline in the number of professional staff in agency program evaluation units; (3) funds for program evaluation dropped 37 percent between 1980 and 1984; (4) program implementation evaluations help agencies understand why their outreach may not be successful and the barriers to overcome before participation can increase; and (5) some agencies have conducted evaluation studies, but the information produced is either flawed or improperly used for budget policy.

7. The Public Service. OCG-93-7TR. December 1992. 33 pp. (The file is CG07T93.TXT 32993 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues relating to the need to acquire and retain a competent and motivated federal work force.

GAO noted that: (1) to attract and retain a high-quality work force, the government must sustain the initiatives begun in the last 4 years and respond to other emerging issues; (2) federal managers do not always have the flexibility, systems, or processes they need to downsize the federal work force effectively; and (3) issues facing the federal government include modernizing employment practices, enhancing federal work-force management, fully implementing pay reform, improving federal recruitment efforts and labor-management relations, and reforming health benefits.

8. Health Care Reform. OCG-93-8TR. December 1992. 34 pp. (The file is CG08T93.TXT 34841 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized federal policy and management issues relating to health care reform.

GAO noted that: (1) the new administration faces the challenge of finding a better way to manage and finance the U.S. health care system while preserving high-quality innovative medical care; (2) the United States has the highest health care system costs in the industrialized world, but is not serving large portions of the population; (3) nearly 34 million Americans are uninsured and millions more are underinsured; (4) the United States needs to adopt features common to health care programs in other countries; and (5) a reformed U.S. system must build on the strengths of the nation's current health care system.

9. National Security Issues. OCG-93-9TR. December 1992. Letter Report. 42 pp. (The file is CG09T93.TXT 44752 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major defense policy, management, and program issues, focusing on: (1) military roles and missions; (2) managing the downsized and restructured military force; (3) U.S. commitments, forward presence, and security assistance programs; (4) the spread of mass destruction weapons; (5) weapons system acquisition; (6) environmental concerns; (7) inventory and other management concerns; and (8) financial management.

GAO found that: (1) the reassessment of military roles and missions will require a change in the defense establishment's organizational culture and could lead to more cost-effective means of meeting defense needs; (2) the Department of Defense (DOD) will need to maintain high levels of military capability while reducing the number of military and civilian employees; (3) worldwide political realignments necessitate the change in U.S. overseas military presence and security assistance programs to reflect new U.S. commitments to allies and others; (4) increased international cooperation, with U.S. leadership, will be required to control international technology transfers and to dispose of nuclear and chemical weapons; (5) DOD needs to reform its acquisition process in the face of budget cuts, but DOD will need to maintain industrial base supporting security needs; (6) DOD faces many environmental challenges, such as complying with clean air and water legislation and cleaning up hazardous wastes; and (7) DOD needs to continues its initiatives in inventory acquisition, management, and control, and in personnel and financial management to ensure efficiency and cost control.

10. Financial Services Industry Issues. OCG-93-10TR. December 1992. 32 pp. (The file is CG10T93.TXT 33514 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues relating to the federal government's regulation of and relationship with the financial services industry, focusing on: (1) federal regulation of financial institutions; (2) rapidly changing financial markets; and (3) federal regulation of insurance industry solvency.

GAO noted that the: (1) federal government's many legislative and administrative attempts to address weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the financial services industry do not completely address such areas as the cleanup of the savings and loan association industry, modernization of the financial regulation structure, changes in the financial services industry, and serious weaknesses in insurance industry regulation; (2) federal government must be able to respond to such developments as the globalization of trading markets, new trading systems, new financial products, oversight of the investment advisory industry, and government securities markets; and (3) federal government has ultimate responsibility for the safety and soundness of insurance solvency regulation and can enhance regulation consistency and strengthen states' regulatory capabilities.

11. International Trade Issues. OCG-93-11TR. December 1992. 27 pp. (The file is CG11T93.TXT 28858 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues relating to the federal government's role in international trade, focusing on: (1) enhancing U.S. competitiveness in an interdependent world; (2) promoting U.S. exports; (3) managing the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) export programs; (4) negotiating and administering trade agreements; and (5) analyzing national security-related foreign investments.

GAO noted that: (1) international trade has become an increasingly critical part of the U.S. economy, although many believe that the United States is losing ground in global competition; (2) the Department of Commerce and USDA have addressed some organizational and management problems in their export promotion programs, but there is still a need for a comprehensive, government-wide strategy for those programs, which are spread among several agencies; (3) although multilateral trade negotiations which could enhance U.S. exports have not been completed, the United States has successfully advanced some bilateral trade agreements; and (4) the federal government needs to enhance its procedures for monitoring and analyzing proposed foreign investments in U.S. firms conducting national security-related work.

12. Commerce Issues. OCG-93-12TR. December 1992. 32 pp. (The file is CG12T93.TXT 34374 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information on federal commerce issues, focusing on the Department of Commerce's: (1) role in competitiveness issues; (2) infrastructure investment requirements and mission effectiveness; (3) improvement of its economic statistics; and (4) planning of a more accurate, less costly 2000 Census.

GAO noted that: (1) the current federal structure may not facilitate productivity and competitiveness improvement; (2) Commerce lacks the prominence, resources, and a clear strategy to significantly affect competitive improvement; (3) Commerce estimates that it needs investments totalling $7.4 billion to repair its deteriorating infrastructure; (4) a decentralized statistical system and a lack of leadership and coordination have resulted in a lack of reliable data on which Commerce could base policy; (5) the 1990 census contained 14.1 million errors, cost 25 percent more than the 1980 census, and continued the trend of steady decline in census accuracy; and (6) Commerce needs to decide on the content of the questionnaire, whether to use sampling, and to improve the address list and geographic information.

13. Energy Issues. OCG-93-13TR. December 1992. 31 pp. (The file is CG13T93.TXT 32781 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information on federal energy and science issues facing Congress and the new administration.

GAO noted that: (1) the United States depends upon petroleum and other fossil fuels for 85 percent of its general energy consumption and 70 percent of its energy production; (2) petroleum's low price discouraged development of alternative fuels, limited efforts to conserve energy, and increased U.S. dependence on foreign oil sources; (3) additional market incentives such as new regulatory and tax policies are needed to make energy prices better reflect societal costs; (4) in response to changing world events and safety problems within the nuclear weapons complex, DOE has shifted its mission from nuclear weapons production to environmental restoration and waste management; (5) DOE laboratories must focus their mission away from basic nuclear research and toward improving economic competitiveness, environmental clean-up management, and developing U.S. infrastructure; (6) the DOE planned waste disposal repository is seriously behind schedule, over budget, and has not resolved technical, logistical, and environmental impact issues; and (7) DOE, in conjunction with other agencies, needs to address nuclear facility safety and nonproliferation concerns in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

14. Transportation Issues. OCG-93-14TR. December 1992. Letter Report. 34 pp. (The file is CG14T93.TXT 39929 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major federal policy, management, and program issues involving transportation, focusing on: (1) investment in surface transportation infrastructure; (2) modernization of air traffic control and airports; (3) transportation safety; (4) airline competition and access to international markets; (5) Coast Guard acquisition programs and environmental protection; and (6) financial systems and grant oversight.

GAO found that: (1) congressional legislation guided investment in surface transportation facilities by emphasizing integrated transportation systems and supporting new technology; (2) the air traffic control system modernization and airport development programs need set goals and improved management to make the best use of available funding; (3) the Department of Transportation (DOT) needs to strengthen its regulation and enforcement of safety standards, and to better target its resources at safety risks; (4) DOT needs to eliminate barriers to airline competition, enhance access to capital for weaker airlines, and facilitate access to foreign markets; (5) the Coast Guard needs to improve its acquisition process and environmental oversight; and (6) DOT needs to consolidate its financial systems and improve grant oversight.

15. Food and Agriculture Issues. OCG-93-15TR. December 1992. 34 pp. (The file is CG15T93.TXT 37989 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed major federal policy, management, and program issues facing Congress and the new administration in the areas of food and agriculture.

GAO found that: (1) since 1988, fiscal pressures have enhanced the importance of reforming farm credit and risk protection, as well as coordinating federal programs for ensuring food safety and quality; (2) the Department of Agriculture (USDA) needs to simplify and streamline its organization to become more accessible and responsive to its highly diverse clients; (3) the 1985 and 1990 farm bills moved U.S. agriculture towards a greater market orientation, helping to make U.S. farm commodities more competitive in the marketplace; (4) several USDA programs aimed at providing loans, crop insurance, and disaster assistance to farmers expose the federal government to high risks of large financial losses; (5) many of the federal assistance programs target the agricultural sector even though farming is no longer a major economic base for many rural communities; and (6) there are consistently documented structural flaws in the federal government's food safety system.

16. Environmental Protection Issues. OCG-93-16TR. December 1992. 29 pp. (The file is CG16T93.TXT 31151 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the major environmental policy issues facing Congress and the new administration.

GAO found that: (1) the federal budget deficit and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act make increased funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unlikely; (2) a key to improved environmental management is establishing priorities among programs on the basis of the risk to public health and the environment; (3) greater use of nonregulatory alternatives will help industry achieve greater cost efficiencies in complying with environmental standards; (4) EPA has not collected the information necessary to judge the success of its programs; and (5) an unprecedented level of international cooperation will be needed to resolve the environmental problems.

17. Natural Resources Management Issues. OCG-93-17TR. December 1992. 35 pp. (The file is CG17T93.TXT 38083 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed major federal policy, management, and program issues facing Congress and the new administration in natural resources management.

GAO found that: (1) increases in annual appropriations for managing natural resources have not been large enough to fulfill infrastructure and staffing needs; (2) an alternative for addressing the declining condition of the nation's natural resources and related infrastructure is to obtain new sources of funding; and (3) there is a need for providing the proper balance between the nation's natural resources use and conservation for future generations.

18. Education Issues. OCG-93-18TR. December 1992. 38 pp. (The file is CG18T93.TXT 42491 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information on education issues facing Congress and the new administration, focusing on the need to: (1) enhance federal efforts to meet national educational goals; (2) reduce the cost and preserve the integrity of the student loan program; and (3) strengthen departmental management.

GAO noted that: (1) the current education system is not meeting industry standards for a more highly skilled work force; (2) while the United States spends $221 billion in cooperative education, it fails to provide basic reasoning and problem- solving skills to its students and remains behind other industrialized nations in the areas of mathematics and science; (3) one in three youths has insufficient skills to gain entry level, semiskilled, or high wage occupations; (4) the Department of Education needs to help schools adjust to a higher proportion of poor, minority, and immigrant children, support development of higher educational standards, develop new forms of student assessment, assist program integration, develop an effective national strategy for school-to-work transition, and promote school reform while maximizing its resources; and (5) Education must correct general, human resource, and financial managerial problems, particularly with its student assistance programs.

19. Labor Issues. OCG-93-19TR. December 1992. 38 pp. (The file is CG19T93.TXT 41450 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information on federal labor issues facing Congress and the new administration.

GAO noted that: (1) the Department of Labor needs to foster competition and assist workers to adapt to the changing environment of the work place; (2) Labor faces significant challenges because of an inadequate education system, an increasing unskilled work force, and a large number of temporarily dislocated workers who need job retraining; (3) problems with some of the government's 125 employment programs include inadequate state and federal oversight, inefficient service, a lack of coordination between programs, extreme high cost, and questionable program effectiveness; (4) Labor needs to provide workers with greater access to unemployment and retirement benefits; and (5) solutions to ensure the safety and health of workers are needed.

20. Health and Human Services Issues. OCG-93-20TR. December 1992. 33 pp. (The file is CG20T93.TXT 36319 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized information on federal health and human services issues facing Congress and the new administration.

GAO noted that: (1) social security, Medicare, and Medicaid accounted for 87 percent of the Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) budget; (2) challenges facing HHS include ensuring health care access, controlling escalating costs, and curbing Medicare losses through the detection of fraud, waste, and abuse; (3) public confidence needs to be restored in the social security system by ensuring that adequate funds are present during economic downturns, providing better benefit information, and increasing the timely distribution of benefits; (4) welfare reform implementation has been slowed by increasing caseloads and state budget constraints; and (5) HHS needs to upgrade current child welfare programs by focusing on prevention and early intervention and creating a federal strategy for collecting data.

21. Veterans Affairs Issues. OCG-93-21TR. December 1992. 31 pp. (The file is CG21T93.TXT 32985 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized federal policy and management issues relating to veterans affairs.

GAO noted that: (1) the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) delivers a wide array of medical disability compensation, pension, housing, insurance, education, and burial services in more than 1,000 facilities at a cost of $34 billion annually; (2) to contain the rising federal deficit, VA will have to operate its programs and activities with constrained resources; (3) VA has numerous opportunities to operate more cost effectively while preserving or enhancing the quality of services provided to veterans; (4) national health reform could be the most significant challenge facing VA since it could reduce demand for inpatient care by almost 50 percent; and (5) other challenges facing VA include how best to serve an aging veteran population, fully incorporate evolving medical treatment patterns, and innovating claims-processing technologies.

22. Housing and Community Development Issues. OCG-93-22TR. December 1992. 29 pp. (The file is CG22T93.TXT 29960 Bytes)t

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues relating to housing and community development.

GAO noted that housing and community development issues included: (1) providing affordable housing for the nation's poor; (2) strengthening the Department of Housing and Urban Development's management; (3) controlling housing loan and lead-based paint cost exposure; (4) promoting community development; and (5) reexamining strategies for responding to disasters.

23. Justice Issues. OCG-93-23TR. December 1992. 39 pp. (The file is CG23T93.TXT 37804 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized federal policy and management issues in the justice area.

GAO noted that justice issues include: (1) strengthening leadership and management functions at the Department of Justice; (2) investigating and prosecuting white-collar crime; (3) making needed policy and management decisions on immigration issues; (4) responding to a rapid rise in the federal prison population; and (5) making the government's antidrug efforts more effective.

24. Internal Revenue Service Issues. OCG-93-24TR. December 1992. 33 pp. (The file is CG24T93.TXT 33057 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major policy, management, and program issues at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), focusing on: (1) tax system administration; (2) computer system modernization; (3) human resources; (4) the IRS strategic business process; (5) tax gap reduction; (6) financial management; (7) criminal investigation resources management; and (8) calls for a consumption tax.

GAO found that: (1) IRS needs to reassess its traditional functional and organizational structure to improve its tax system administration; (2) tax systems modernization requires the redesign of IRS automated systems and the formalization of an operational strategy; (3) IRS needs better personnel management, training, and integrity in the face of its modernization program and personnel downsizing; (4) to support its strategic business process, IRS needs to develop performance measures related to voluntary compliance, reducing taxpayer burden, and improving productivity and customer satisfaction; (5) IRS needs to improve its management of unpaid tax collections, increase voluntary compliance, and rethink its enforcement approach; (6) IRS needs to integrate its financial management systems to accurately allocate taxes and provide comprehensive and reliable financial information; (7) IRS needs to prioritize the demands on its criminal investigation resources; and (8) IRS needs to be able to quickly analyze its administration of any new consumption tax and advise policymakers of its implications.

25. Foreign Economic Assistance Issues. OCG-93-25TR. December 1992. 28 pp. (The file is CG25T93.TXT 26636 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues relating to foreign economic assistance, focusing on: (1) a reassessment of the goals and rationale for foreign economic assistance; (2) management accountability in aid programs; (3) the Agency for International Development's (AID) work-force planning system; and (4) effective information resource management and financial management and accounting systems.

GAO noted that: (1) the federal government needs to comprehensively reexamine foreign assistance goals and objectives, and AID needs to clearly articulate its strategic mission; (2) AID lacks a strong centralized policy and priority-setting mechanisms and systems to ensure the accountability of its decentralized units; (3) AID has not systematically planned for its work-force needs, and many AID employees lack the skills they need to perform their responsibilities; (4) AID information resource management include undefined information needs, duplicate data, redundant, outdated, and unintegrated information systems, and nonexistent or inadequate support, standards, and procedures; and (5) serious problems in AID accounting and financial reporting systems hinder its appropriations tracking, property control and inventory, and resource tracking.

26. Foreign Affairs Issues. OCG-93-26TR. December 1992. 34 pp. (The file is CG26T93.TXT 32702 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO summarized issues relating to major foreign affairs policy, management, and programs, focusing on: (1) post-Cold War diplomacy; (2) international broadcasting; (3) program management; (4) U.S. participation in United Nations (UN) organizations; (5) international narcotics control programs; and (6) refugee program administration.

GAO noted that: (1) the United States faces a challenge in adjusting its foreign policy and diplomatic activities to a more global foreign policy that promotes broader U.S. interests; (2) many believe that Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty broadcasts are relics of the Cold War and should be terminated; (3) the Department of State has key management control weaknesses in its financial operations, personnel management, property management, foreign support services, and cashiering operations; (4) UN management reforms have encouraged the United States to pay its assessed contributions as a UN member; (5) State needs to streamline its counternarcotics programming and management system by designing and using better review and evaluation procedures and promoting more international cooperation and support; and (6) the federal government needs to comprehensively review its role in refugee crises and repatriations, the impact of increased refugee admissions, and the apportionment of admissions among different refugee populations.

27. NASA Issues. OCG-93-27TR. December 1992. 25 pp. (The file is CG27T93.TXT 25576 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major policy, management, and program issues at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), focusing on: (1) aligning plans with likely budgets; (2) systems development management; (3) improving operations and oversight; and (4) preserving U.S. aeronautics leadership.

GAO found that NASA: (1) strategic and program plans call for unrealistic funding levels well above what will be available, but NASA is working to improve its strategic plan; (2) needs to reevaluate its research and development efforts to make them more cost-effective, and recognize changes in priorities and needs; (3) needs to improve its operations management and oversight of its space shuttle program to enhance efficiency and effectiveness; and (4) needs to improve its budgetary support for the U.S. aeronautics industry and give more emphasis to systems technology.

28. General Services Issues. OCG-93-28TR. December 1992. 31 pp. (The file is CG28T93.TXT 31371 Bytes)

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed major policy, management, and program issues at the General Services Administration (GSA), focusing on: (1) GSA roles as provider and regulator; (2) improving delivery services based on entrepreneurial and competitive principles; (3) internal management systems; (4) GSA oversight of governmentwide procurement practices; and (5) congressional oversight.

GAO found that: (1) GSA continues to be preoccupied with the delivery of services rather than its policy and regulatory functions, to the detriment of efficient asset management, but GSA recently established an organization to emphasize a more proactive role in governmentwide asset management; (2) GSA needs to operate in a more business-like mode to increase efficiency and cost savings; (3) GSA needs to improve its general management and internal control systems to guard against waste, fraud, and abuse; (4) GSA needs to improve its governmentwide procurement programs to eliminate poor contract performers and common or systemic problems; and (5) current GSA practices and divided congressional jurisdiction hinder Congress' oversight of GSA.

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