FERC Can Improve Its Operational Performance by Broadening and Deepening Current Management Efforts

Gao ID: AFMD-84-8 January 30, 1984

GAO examined the overall operational performance of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to assess its management of operational performance and to identify opportunities for improvement. Operational performance is measured by timeliness, productivity, and quality of work and is a key indicator of management's effectiveness in using its resources to accomplish its work load.

Although FERC operational performance has improved since 1980, GAO found the need for further improvement in the areas of productivity and quality. Increases in productivity were significantly less than in previous years and were more moderate than improvements in timeliness. Despite overall gains in productivity, many organizational subdivisions experienced declines. GAO was unable to evaluate the quality of work because FERC has not developed any evaluation criteria, but GAO feels that this performance attribute requires attention to improve overall operational performance. FERC improved its timeliness by initiating specific improvement projects and emphasizing the importance of timeliness to all levels of management through techniques such as developing measures, setting goals, and developing a system of accountability.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Brian L. Usilaner Team: General Accounting Office: General Government Division Phone: (202) 275-6205


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