Key Issues Concerning Department of State's New Financial Management Centers

Gao ID: NSIAD-85-97 June 5, 1985

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of State's efforts to establish financial management centers (FMC) overseas, including: (1) the adequacy of transition plans for integrating the new centers with the existing regional centers; (2) the effect of personnel and equipment problems on establishing the new centers; and (3) the costs associated with establishing the new centers.

GAO found that: (1) the plans to implement the new financial management system did not address how currency buying will be carried out and how staffing reassignments will be handled; (2) overall costs to open FMC have been understated; and (3) State has not yet decided which overseas posts FMC will service and which posts regional administrative management centers (RAMC) will service. GAO also found that: (1) State increased its efforts to recruit and train sufficient personnel to staff new FMC; (2) the lack of availability of repair parts and service personnel for computer equipment affected operations; and (3) cost-benefit analyses performed early in the program may not be valid because the system's design has been changed numerous times.

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: Joseph E. Kelley Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 512-4128


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