Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Labor's (DOL) plan to develop and implement an electronic reporting and disclosure system and the status of the Department's efforts.

GAO noted that: (1) DOL's implementation plan provides a general overview of the steps DOL will take to implement electronic filing of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) reports, create an electronic database, and make report data electronically accessible to the public through the Internet; (2) DOL officials cite labor organizations as the predominant filers of LMRDA reports; therefore, DOL is basing its development of its electronic reporting system on labor organizations' reporting requirements and will consider the feasibility of adding other filers after it has gained experience from the labor organizations' reporting; (3) according to DOL officials, they consulted with various agencies, vendors, and knowledgeable personnel about DOL's approach and the best practices for implementing this project; (4) DOL officials relied on contractors' help to develop the general plan and the timeline for the project's implementation; (5) DOL has also developed an internal operating plan to track the evolution of the project's progress, milestones, and costs for the current fiscal year; (6) DOL had made limited progress implementing its plan as of February 1999, but according to DOL officials the project is generally progressing on schedule; (7) DOL officials estimated that they had accomplished about 10 percent of the plan as of February 1999; (8) DOL plans to take 3 years to implement the project, expecting full implementation by the end of fiscal year 2001; (9) DOL will operate two systems--the paper one currently in effect and the electronic one--until it has developed filing experience under the electronic system and the demand for historical reports that cannot be converted to fit the new system has been reduced; (10) the total project cost is estimated to be about $4.2 million; and (11) as of February 1999, $1.5 million was available to fund the project.