OMB's High-Risk Program

GAO examined the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) update of its high-risk program, as presented in the President's fiscal year 1995 budget submission. For the 1995 budget submission, OMB decided to delete 26 areas from the program. GAO disagrees with OMB's deletion decision in three areas--contract administration controls at the Defense Department, the Energy Department's weapons complex reconfiguration, and staffing at the Bureau of Prisons. Of the 84 active areas on OMB's high-risk list, GAO disagrees with OMB's progress assessment for three areas--the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, Superfund program controls, and financial management at the Treasury Department.

GAO found that it: (1) agrees with OMB deletions in 8 of the 26 areas, disagrees with OMB in 3 of the 26 areas, and has no basis to evaluate the deletion decisions for 15 areas; (2) disagrees with the OMB decision to delete the Department of Defense's contract administration controls, the Department of Energy's weapons complex reconfiguration, and the Bureau of Prisons' staffing plans; (3) agrees with OMB progress assessments in 64 of the 84 areas, disagrees with OMB assessments in 3 of the 84 areas, and has no basis for evaluating the assessments for 17 areas; and (4) disagrees with OMB progress assessments of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, Superfund Program controls, and Department of the Treasury's financial management controls.