Major Management Challenges and Program Risks

This publication is part of GAO's performance and accountability series which provides a comprehensive assessment of government management, particularly the management challenges and program risks confronting federal agencies. Using a "performance-based management" approach, this landmark set of reports focuses on the results of government programs--how they affect the American taxpayer--rather than on the processes of government. This approach integrates thinking about organization, product and service delivery, use of technology, and human capital practices into every decision about the results that the government hopes to achieve. The series includes an overview volume discussing governmentwide management issues and 20 individual reports on the challenges facing specific cabinet departments and independent agencies. The reports take advantage of the wealth of new information made possible by management reform legislation, including audited financial statements for major federal agencies, mandated by the Chief Financial Officers Act, and strategic and performance plans required by the Government Performance and Results Act. In a companion volume to this series, GAO also updates its high-risk list of government operations and programs that are particularly vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.

GAO noted that: (1) in the wake of the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Congress provided State $1.45 billion in emergency funding to enhance security around the world; (2) this includes funds for an immediate response to the bombings, such as medical treatment, counterterrorism programs and rewards, and economic assistance, as well as funds to rebuild the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; (3) State will likely request several billion dollars in funds for new capital construction in the upcoming years; (4) State will face several management challenges in administering an expanded security construction program, including whether it can bring on board the appropriate amount of staff to plan and manage a large number of overseas construction projects; (5) GAO has reported that State relied on outdated and unsecured information and financial management systems that are vulnerable to year 2000 problems and security breaches; (6) State estimated in 1997 that it would need $2.7 billion over 5 years to achieve a modernized global infrastructure; (7) State has since taken steps to improve its information security and adopted an improved approach to addressing its year 2000 problems; (8) it has also begun to incorporate a comprehensive capital planning and investment process into its information technology investments; (9) however, State needs to ensure that it remediates on a timely basis its mission-critical systems; (10) in the financial management area, State received, for the first time, a clean opinion on its fiscal year 1997 financial statements; (11) State processes more than 8 million immigrant and nonimmigrant visa applications annually; (12) to reduce the program's vulnerability to fraud, State has put a number of controls in place to prevent unqualified individuals from receiving a visa, including a special computerized logarithmic name-checking capability and an anti-terrorism tipoff program; (13) in a major effort to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. foreign affairs operations, Congress directed the abolishment of the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the transfer of those functions into State; (14) a key issue is whether State can integrate these agencies in a manner that reduces overall costs while enhancing capability; (15) State is making progress in addressing these issues; and (16) State has also completed strategic and annual performance plans under the Government Performance and Results Act.