Paperwork Reduction Act
Changes Needed to Annual Report Gao ID: GAO-02-651R April 29, 2002The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) prepares an annual report on the implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. OIRA's fiscal year 2002 report differed from the agency's previous reports in two important respects. First, the report provided agency-specific information on paperwork burden-hour estimates and violations only for the cabinet departments and the Environmental Protection Agency, but not for for the 12 independent agencies that had been included previously. Second, the report merged data on causes of changes in agencies' burden-hour estimates that previously had been presented separately. According to OIRA the agencies were excluded because (1) OMB's authority over the independent agencies is limited, (2) most independent agencies have total burden inventories under 10 million hours, and (3) OMB can best use its limited resources by focusing on the agencies that impose the most paperwork burden and over which OMB has more authority. OIRA classifies modifications in agencies' burden-hour estimates as either "adjustments" or "program changes." Although OIRA reported adjustments and program changes as separate data in fiscal years 2000 and 2001, the fiscal year 2002 report only included information in one column. As a result, it is no longer possible to determine the specific causes of the program changes reported.
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Director: Team: Phone:GAO-02-651R, Paperwork Reduction Act: Changes Needed to Annual Report
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GAO-02-554R:
United States General Accounting Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
April 29, 2002:
The Honorable Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
Director
Office of Management and Budget:
Subject: Paperwork Reduction Act: Changes Needed to Annual Report:
Dear Mr. Daniels:
On April 11, 2002, we testified before the House Committee on
Government Reform's Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources
and Regulatory Affairs about the implementation of the Paperwork
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995.[Footnote 1] Our testimony was based in
part on information that was collected by the Office of Management and
Budget's (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to
prepare its annual report to Congress on the implementation of the
PRA. As was mentioned in our testimony, OIRA's fiscal year 2002 report
differed from the agency's previous reports in two important respects.
First, the report provided agency-specific information on paperwork
burden-hour estimates and violations only for the cabinet departments
and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and did not include any
such information for 12 independent agencies that had been included in
previous reports. Second, the report merged data on the causes of
changes in agencies' burden-hour estimates that previously had been
presented separately. This letter is intended to bring those issues
directly to your attention and to recommend corrective actions.
Most Independent Agencies Not Included in Annual Report:
In previous annual reports on the PRA, OIRA provided agency-specific
burden-hour estimates and information on PRA violations for 27
departments and agencies, including 13 independent agencies that are
not cabinet-level departments. However, OMB Bulletin No. 02-02 (Oct.
17, 2001) asked only one independent agency”EPA”to submit the
information used to compile the fiscal year 2002 report. OIRA did not
indicate in the bulletin why other agencies were not required to
provide information. However, in his prepared statement at the April
11, 2001, hearing, the OIRA administrator said the agencies were
excluded because (1) OMB's authority over the independent agencies is
limited, so its "ability to influence their information collection
policies through OMB oversight is constrained;" (2) most independent
agencies have total burden inventories of under 10 million hours; and
(3) OMB has limited resources, and it can best use those resources by
focusing on the agencies that impose the most paperwork burden and
over which OMB has "the most direct authority under the PRA to approve
or disapprove information collections."
We do not believe that these explanations justify the exclusion of all
but one of the independent agencies from OMB's annual report. Data
that we obtained from the Regulatory Information Service Center
indicated that some of the excluded independent agencies had larger
estimated paperwork inventories and numbers of violations than several
of the agencies that were included in OIRA's report.[Footnote 2] As of
September 30, 2001, 6 of the 12 independent agencies that OIRA omitted
from its fiscal year 2002 report estimated their paperwork burden at
more than 10 million hours.[Footnote 3] One of these agencies (the
Securities and Exchange Commission) estimated its burden at 114.3
million hours. In contrast, 3 of the 15 departments and agencies that
were included in the report estimated that their paperwork burden was
less than 10 million hours.[Footnote 4] Also, two of the independent
agencies not included in this year's report (the Federal Emergency
Management Agency and the Small Business Administration) had more PRA
violations last year than eight of the agencies that OIRA included in
this year's report.
Section 3514(a) of the PRA requires OIRA to keep Congress "fully and
currently informed" of the major activities under the act, and
specifically requires that its report include "a list of any increase
in the collection of information burden" and "a list of all violations
of this chapter." We do not believe that OIRA's annual report for
fiscal year 2002 fully satisfies these requirements. Meeting these
reporting requirements is not, in our opinion, a function of resources
or differences in OIRA's authority regarding independent regulatory
agencies. Although OIRA can provide summary data for agencies with
little PRA activity, we believe that it should provide detailed
information on at least those agencies whose paperwork estimates
and/or number of violations exceed those of the departments and
agencies that are included in its report.
Reasons for Program Changes are Unclear:
OIRA classifies modifications in agencies' burden-hour estimates as
either "adjustments" or "program changes." Adjustments are caused by
factors not related to deliberate government action, such as changes
in the population responding to a requirement or agency reestimates of
the burden associated with a collection of information. Program
changes are the result of deliberate federal government action (e.g.,
the addition or deletion of questions on a form), and can occur as a
result of new statutory requirements, agency-initiated actions, or
through the expiration or reinstatement of OIRA-approved collections.
In the annual PRA reports for fiscal years 2000 and 2001, OIRA
indicated in separate columns in its summary table whether the
fluctuations in agencies' burden-hour estimates that were caused by
program changes were, in turn, caused by new statutes or agency
actions. By providing this information in separate columns, the reader
could determine whether any program change increase or decrease in an
agency's estimated paperwork burden was attributable to Congress or
the agency itself. However, in the annual report for fiscal year 2002
that was released on April 11, 2002, the agency actions/new statutes
information was provided in a single column. As a result, Congress and
the public are no longer able to determine the specific causes of the
program changes reported.
We believe that OIRA could improve the quality and transparency of the
information in its annual report by reporting the program changes due
to new statutes and agency actions in separate columns of its summary
table. Also, OIRA could enhance information quality and transparency
even further by providing another column to the table identifying the
changes due to reinstatements and/or expirations. For several years,
readers of the annual report who wanted to know how many of the
changes in agencies' burden estimates were due to reinstatements
and/or expirations had to calculate those amounts by subtracting the
"new statutes" and "agency action" values from the program change
totals. Adding a column that explicitly shows the changes due to
reinstatements and/or expirations would eliminate the need for
Congress and the public to perform those calculations.
Recommendations:
We recommend that the director of OMB ensure that OIRA's annual report
on the PRA for fiscal year 2003 contain burden-hour estimates and
information on PRA violations for all of the agencies covered by the
act. At a minimum, the report should include agency-specific data on
burden estimates and violations for all agencies whose burden
estimates and/or number of violations exceed those of the cabinet
departments traditionally included in the report.
We also recommend that the director ensure that the fiscal year 2003
report's summary burden-hour table identify in separate columns the
program changes that are attributable to new statutes, agency actions,
and reinstatements and/or expirations. Doing so will enable Congress
and the public to better understand why agencies' burden estimates
change, and will improve the transparency and accessibility of
government information.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
On April 17, 2002, we provided a draft of this report to the director
of OMB for his review and comment. On April 25, 2002, OIRA officials
told us that the agency would reconsider its decision to limit the
scope and detail of the annual report on the PRA in light of our
recommendations. In particular, they said that OMB would include the
12 agencies in its fiscal year 2003 annual report that had been
omitted in the fiscal year 2002 report.
We are sending copies of this letter to the appropriate congressional
committees and the administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs. The letter is also available on GAO's homepage at [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov]. If you or your staff have any questions on the
matters discussed in this letter, you may contact Curtis Copeland or
me at (202) 512-6806.
Sincerely yours,
Signed by:
Victor S. Rezendes:
Managing Director:
Strategic Issues:
Enclosure:
[End of section]
Footnote:
[1] U.S. General Accounting Office, Paperwork Reduction Act: Burden
Increases and Violations Persist, [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-598T] (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 11,
2002).
[2] The Regulatory Information Service Center is part of the General
Services Administration but works closely with OIRA to provide
information to the president, Congress, and the public about federal
regulations. It maintains a database that includes information on all
information collection review actions by OIRA.
[3] These six agencies were the Federal Communications Commission
(40.1 million hours), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (10.5
million hours), the Federal Trade Commission (72.6 million hours), the
Securities and Exchange Commission (114.3 million hours), the Social
Security Administration (24.2 million hours), and the Federal
Acquisition Regulations (submitted by the General Services
Administration) (23.8 million hours).
[4] These agencies were the departments of Energy (3.9 million hours),
Interior (7.6 million hours), and Veterans Affairs (5.3 million hours).
