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It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO. Because this work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately. GAO-13-406SP: Fiscal Year 2014 Performance Plan: GAO Supports Congressional Decision-making, Saves Resources, and Helps Improve Government: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the Congress; it exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. As a legislative branch agency, GAO is exempt from many laws that apply to executive branch agencies. However, GAO generally holds itself to the requirements of many of the laws, including the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), as amended. Among other things, under GPRA, each agency must prepare an annual "performance plan covering each program activity set forth in the budget of such agency." This section of GAO's fiscal year 2014 budget request constitutes its performance plan. GAO is unique in its audit and evaluation capacity to support the Congress by performing original research, providing technical assistance, and conducting analyses to help the Congress make informed decisions across all segments of the federal budget, resulting in tangible results and enhanced oversight. GAO's work directly contributes to improvements in a broad array of federal programs affecting Americans everywhere. Once again GAO demonstrated its core values of accountability, integrity, and reliability, in ensuring that it continues to provide high-quality, high-value, and independent support to the Congress in ways that generate material benefits to the nation. Given GAO's reputation for consistently producing high quality work that is typically based on original research, it is not surprising that congressional demand for GAO products and services remains high during these challenging times. Figure 1, below, provides information on the number of congressional requests received by GAO each year by source over the past 10 years. Figure 1: Congressional Requests Received: [Refer to PDF for image: multiple line graph] Fiscal year: 2003; Full Committee Requests: 449; Sub-Committee Requests: 390; Member Requests: 177; Mandates: 95. Fiscal year: 2004; Full Committee Requests: 451; Sub-Committee Requests: 391; Member Requests: 166; Mandates: 110. Fiscal year: 2005; Full Committee Requests: 434; Sub-Committee Requests: 349; Member Requests: 135; Mandates: 109. Fiscal year: 2006; Full Committee Requests: 430; Sub-Committee Requests: 413; Member Requests: 139; Mandates: 82. Fiscal year: 2007; Full Committee Requests: 608; Sub-Committee Requests: 394; Member Requests: 134; Mandates: 75. Fiscal year: 2008; Full Committee Requests: 475; Sub-Committee Requests: 381; Member Requests: 190; Mandates: 160. Fiscal year: 2009; Full Committee Requests: 362; Sub-Committee Requests: 316; Member Requests: 115; Mandates: 131. Fiscal year: 2010; Full Committee Requests: 376; Sub-Committee Requests: 320; Member Requests: 105; Mandates: 173. Fiscal year: 2011; Full Committee Requests: 387; Sub-Committee Requests: 353; Member Requests: 93; Mandates: 89. Fiscal year: 2012; Full Committee Requests: 349; Sub-Committee Requests: 300; Member Requests: 97; Mandates: 195. [End of figure] Even during the constrained budgetary environment seen this past year, GAO continues to be one of the best investments in the federal government. For example, in fiscal year 2012, GAO's work yielded significant results across the government, including financial benefits of $55.8 billion--a return of $105 for every dollar invested in GAO-- and more than 1,440 other benefits that helped to change laws, improve services to the public, and promote sound management throughout government. In fiscal year 2012, about 80 percent of GAO's recommendations had been adopted by the Congress and federal agencies within the last 4 years. In addition, GAO issue-area experts testified 159 times before the Congress on a wide range of issues, such as military capabilities and readiness, the government's fiscal position, and health care needs and financing. A list of selected testimony topics presented by GAO in fiscal year 2012 is included in Table 1. Table 1: Selected Testimony Topics for Fiscal Year 2012. Goal 1: Address Current and Emerging Challenges to the Well-Being and Financial Security of the American People. * DOD and VA Health Care Integration; * Mortgage Finance Risk Management; * Oversight of Medicaid Payments; * Federal Real Property Management; * Small Employers Challenges to Pension Plan Sponsorship; * Federal Reserve System's Emergency Assistance; * Retirement Security for Unemployed Older Workers; * FDA's Ability to Respond to Drug Shortages. Goal 2: Respond to Changing Security Threats and the Challenges of Global Interdependence. * National Nuclear Security Administration Management; * Visa Waiver Program; * Securing the Modernized Electricity Grid; * TSA's Process for Vetting Foreign Flight Students; * Support and Security Capabilities in Iraq; * Joint Strike Fighter Restructuring. Goal 3: Help Transform the Federal Government to Address National Challenges. * Arlington National Cemetery Contract Management; * Fraud Prevention in Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Program; * Reducing Improper Payments; * IRS's Opportunities to Improve the Taxpayer Experience. * Social Security Administration Technology Modernization. * Federal Workforce Challenges. [End of table] GAO Services Integral to Congressional Priorities: GAO's continued high performance is evidence of the critical role it plays in helping the Congress and the American people better understand important issues, both as they emerge and over the long term. GAO issues hundreds of products annually in response to congressional requests and mandates, including issuing several products under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act on securities markets and financial institutions, and several reports on insurance markets and publicly financed health insurance programs related to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Also, the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act and the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009 require GAO reviews of the assistance strategy for Pakistan, as well as U.S. campaign plans for Afghanistan, where GAO maintains an in- country presence. In February 2012, GAO issued its second annual report (GAO-12-342SP) to the Congress in response to the Duplication Mandate, a statutory requirement that requires GAO to identify federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives--either within departments or government- wide--that have duplicative goals or activities and report annually to the Congress on the findings as well as actions to reduce such duplication. The 2012 report identified 51 areas where programs may be able to achieve greater efficiencies or become more effective in providing government services. The 2012 report identified 32 duplication, overlap, and fragmentation issues, as well as 19 other areas that provide opportunities for cost savings and revenue enhancement. GAO plans to issue its third report in this series in April 2013. Ineffective acquisition practices and collaboration efforts in the Department of Defense's $37.5 billion Unmanned Aircraft Systems acquisition portfolio; 20 different entities administering 160 programs, tax expenditures and other tools to support homeownership and rental housing; and information and coordination problems with four multi-billion dollar Federal Emergency Management Agency grant programs were among the 32 areas where GAO found evidence of duplication, overlap, or fragmentation. Among the 19 additional opportunities GAO identified where agencies or the Congress could take action to either reduce the cost of government operations or enhance revenue collection for the Treasury, GAO found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services can better detect and recover billions of dollars of improper payments of claims; the Air Force can reduce its overall food service costs by millions of dollars annually by reviewing food service contracts and adjusting them when appropriate; and marketing the Department of Energy's excess uranium could provide billions in revenue for the government. GAO's biennial High Risk Series identifies opportunities for cost savings and improvements in federal agency and program management that offer the potential to save billions of dollars, dramatically improve service to the public, and strengthen confidence and trust in the performance and accountability of the U.S. government. The High Risk Series focuses on federal areas and programs at risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or those in need of broad-based transformation. Overall, the High Risk Series has served to identify and help resolve serious weaknesses in areas that involve substantial resources and provide critical services to the public. In fiscal year 2012, GAO issued 188 reports, delivered 55 testimonies to the Congress, and prepared numerous other products, such as briefings and presentations, related to the High Risk Series. In addition, GAO documented $28.4 billion in financial benefits and 515 nonfinancial benefits related to high risk areas. Table 2 shows GAO's current High Risk List, updated in February 2013. Table 2: GAO's High Risk List as of February 2013. Strengthening the Foundation for Efficiency and Effectiveness: * Limiting the Federal Government's Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks (new). * Management of Federal Oil and Gas Resources. * Modernizing the U.S. Financial Regulatory System and Federal Role in Housing Finance. * Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve Sustainable Financial Viability. * Funding the Nation's Surface Transportation System. * Strategic Human Capital Management. * Managing Federal Real Property. Transforming DOD Program Management: * DOD Approach to Business Transformation. * DOD Business Systems Modernization. * DOD Support Infrastructure Management. * DOD Financial Management. * DOD Supply Chain Management. * DOD Weapon Systems Acquisition. Ensuring Public Safety and Security: * Mitigating Gaps in Weather Satellite Data (new). * Strengthening Department of Homeland Security Management Functions. * Establishing Effective Mechanisms for Sharing and Managing Terrorism- Related Information to Protect the Homeland. * Protecting the Federal Government's Information Systems and the Nation's Cyber Critical Infrastructures. * Ensuring the Effective Protection of Technologies Critical to U.S. National Security Interests. * Revamping Federal Oversight of Food Safety. * Protecting Public Health through Enhanced Oversight of Medical Products. * Transforming EPA's Processes for Assessing and Controlling Toxic Chemicals. Managing Federal Contracting More Effectively: * DOD Contract Management. * DOE's Contract Management for the National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Environmental Management. * NASA Acquisition Management. Assessing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Tax Law Administration: * Enforcement of Tax Laws. Modernizing and Safeguarding Insurance and Benefit Programs: * Improving and Modernizing Federal Disability Programs. * Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Insurance Programs. * Medicare Program. * Medicaid Program. * National Flood Insurance Program. [End of table] GAO Hopes to Increase Staff Capacity to Meet Congressional Priorities: GAO depends on a talented, diverse, high-performing, and knowledge- based workforce to carry out its mission in support of the Congress. GAO continues to include human capital, particularly succession planning and development, as one of its internal management challenges that could affect performance and progress toward goals. Since fiscal year 2010, GAO has extremely limited hiring to a minimum number of critical positions in the face of continued attrition. At the end of fiscal year 2012, for the first time since 1935, GAO's staffing level dropped below 3,000 FTE. By the end of fiscal year 2012, GAO's FTE had been reduced by over 10 percent from the fiscal year 2010 level. GAO also faces significant succession challenges as more of its workforce, especially senior managers, become retirement eligible. By the end of fiscal year 2013, 9 percent of GAO's total analysts, about 26 percent of supervisory analysts and 40 percent of senior executive staff will be eligible for retirement. Also, GAO projects losing 400 additional staff in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 through normal attrition. Therefore, it is essential that GAO be able to replace some of the lost staff capacity to avoid further erosion of its knowledge base and ensure it can continue to respond to the most pressing issues facing the nation. During fiscal year 2012, GAO began prudently planning for the possibility of a funding sequester in fiscal year 2013. We have made smart reductions in our infrastructure operations and limited hiring as much as possible. While we as an agency will be able to avoid furloughs, it is not without consequences to our people and our ability to support the Congress. With the sequester now upon us, we have updated our fiscal year 2013 operating plan to reflect the 5 percent or $25.7 million sequester reduction and accompanying 0.2 percent or $1 million rescission, for a net appropriation of $479.5 million. Combined with $46.4 million in reimbursements, offsetting collections, and non-legislative branch appropriations, GAO’s total budgetary resources for fiscal year 2013 are $525.9 million. Our post-sequester fiscal year 2013 operating plan includes the capacity to hire 61 interns, 100 entry-level people into our Professional Development Program (PDP), and 77 critical hires in our more senior and specialized areas to help address succession planning needs and critical skill gaps. This represents a reduction of nearly 60 percent from our planned hiring for fiscal year 2013, further eroding our staffing level to a nearly historic low of 2,884 FTE, a reduction of 463 FTE, or more than 13 percent over the last 3 years.Over the last two years, GAO has actively reduced operating costs, improved efficiencies, and enhanced workforce and budget flexibilities. Since fiscal year 2010, GAO has reduced its internal support costs by nearly 21 percent and its travel costs by nearly 36 percent. GAO plans to maintain these reduced funding levels in fiscal year 2014. For example, GAO optimized the space in its headquarters building which allowed it to lease space to the Department of Justice, thus securing an additional revenue source beginning in January 2013. In fiscal years 2012 and 2013, GAO explored additional cost-saving measures including: * pursuing opportunities to reduce GAO's physical footprint in a number of its field offices through an enhanced telework pilot program, including office sharing and hoteling components, which reduce infrastructure costs starting in fiscal year 2013; * expanding desktop video-conference capability and information sharing which enhanced communications and workforce flexibility, and avoided travel costs; * exploring alternative ways to deliver products to the Congress and the public more efficiently and effectively; * evaluating GAO's model for utilizing staff on engagements to enhance agility and responsiveness; and: * assessing opportunities to reengineer GAO's engagement-management process to identify areas that can be streamlined or standardized to yield improvements in the efficiency of its work without sacrificing quality. In fiscal year 2014 and beyond, it will be critical for GAO to continue efforts to rebuild staff capacity to the target goal of 3,250 FTE to ensure that GAO has the depth, organizational agility, and broad-based skills needed to optimize its ability to contribute to the vast array of topics about which the Congress seeks analysis and advice. In light of GAO's commitment to minimize costs and improve efficiencies while maintaining the quality of its support to the Congress, for fiscal year 2014 GAO is seeking an appropriation of $505.4 million--an increase of 5.4 percent over its fiscal year 2013 annualized funding level. The fiscal year 2014 budget request supports an FTE level of 2,945, funds mandatory pay costs, and provides essential funding for staff recognition and benefits programs and critical engagement support. These funds are essential to ensure GAO can provide staff meaningful benefits and appropriate resources, and helps ensure GAO can compete with other agencies, nonprofit institutions, and private firms who offer these benefits. GAO also plans to fund limited, targeted investments in information technology and building infrastructure from savings within these programs. Investment in GAO's systems and building will help ensure continued productivity and effectiveness and avoid more costly maintenance and repairs. A summary of GAO's funding sources is shown in Table 3. In addition to its appropriation request, GAO estimates that about $12 million in reimbursements from program and financial audits will be available to offset costs, including: * program and financial audits of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); * reviews of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); and: * operation of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. In fiscal year 2014, GAO is also requesting authority to use $31.9 million in offsetting collections, including: * rental income from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Justice for rental of space in the GAO headquarters building; * financial audits of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), SEC, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (IRS and the Schedule of Public Debt); and: * a proposal to collect a small filing fee from vendors to cover the cost to develop, maintain, and operate an electronic filing system for bid protests. Table 3: Fiscal Year 2010-2014 Sources of Funds (dollars in thousands): Funding Source: Salaries and Expenses Appropriation; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual Amount: $556,325; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual Amount: $546,075; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual Amount: $511,201; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimated Amount: $479,548; Fiscal Year 2014 Requested Amount: $524,339. Funding Source: Non-legislative-branch appropriation; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual Amount: $21,804. Funding Source: USCCR Inspector General activities[A]; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual Amount: $250; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimated Amount: $419; Fiscal Year 2014 Requested Amount: $250. Funding Source: Bid protest user fee; Fiscal Year 2014 Requested Amount: $450. Funding Source: Reimbursements; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual Amount: $10,214; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual Amount: $6,648; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual Amount: $1,362; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimated Amount: $19,556; Fiscal Year 2014 Requested Amount: $12,006. Funding Source: Offsetting collections; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual Amount: $10,892; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual Amount: $15,031; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual Amount: $20,840; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimated Amount: $27,835; Fiscal Year 2014 Requested Amount: $31,918. Funding Source: Total resources; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual: FTE: 3,347; Amount: $599,235; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual: FTE: 3,212; Amount: $567,754; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual: FTE: 2,997; Amount: $533,653; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimate: FTE: 2,884; Amount: $527,358; Fiscal Year 2014 Request: FTE: 2,945; Amount: $550,207. [A] Funds transferred from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to fund Inspector General activities. [End of table] The Strategic Plan Illustrates the Wide Array of Issues That GAO Covers: In February 2012, GAO issued an interim update to its strategic plan for fiscal years 2010 through 2015.[Footnote 1] GAO plans to issue the next full update in 2014. GAO's strategic goals and objectives reflect the wide array of national and international issues that GAO covers in its mission to support the Congress. In fiscal year 2012 GAO work supported 95 percent of all standing congressional committees and about 60 percent of their subcommittees. Consequently, the scope of GAO's work is broad-based which allows GAO to respond to domestic and international challenges, such as threats confronting U.S. national security interests; fiscal sustainability and debt challenges; economic recovery and restored job growth; and advances in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. GAO seeks not only to help position the government to better manage risks that could compromise the nation's security, health, and solvency, but also to identify opportunities for managing government resources wisely for a more sustainable future. To fulfill its mission, GAO organizes and manages its resources to support four broad strategic goals. GAO's audit, evaluation, and investigative work is primarily aligned under the first three strategic goals. The first three goals include helping to address challenges to the well-being and financial security of the American people, responding to changing security threats and global interdependence, and transforming the federal government to address national challenges. Strategic Goal 4 is an internal goal focused on enhancing GAO's value through improving efficiency, effectiveness, and quality, and institutional stewardship and resource management. Following is the list of GAO's three external strategic goals and the related strategic objectives. Goal 1: Address Current and Emerging Challenges to the Well-being and Financial Security of the American People: * Financing and Programs to Serve the Health Needs of an Aging and Diverse Population; * Lifelong Learning to Enhance U.S. Competitiveness; * Benefits and Protections for Workers, Families, and Children; * Financial Security for an Aging Population; * A Responsive, Fair, and Effective System of Justice; * Viable Communities; * A Stable Financial System and Consumer Protection; * Responsible Stewardship of Natural Resources and the Environment; * A Viable, Efficient, Safe, and Accessible National Infrastructure; Goal 2: Respond to Changing Security Threats and the Challenges of Global Interdependence: * Protect and Secure the Homeland from Threats and Disasters; * Ensure Military Capabilities and Readiness; * Advance and Protect U.S. Foreign Policy Interests; * Respond to the Impact of Global Market Forces on U.S. Economic and Security Interests. Goal 3: Help Transform the Federal Government to Address National Challenges: * Analyze the Government's Fiscal Position and Opportunities to Strengthen Approaches to Address the Current and Projected Fiscal Gap; * Improve Financial Management and Internal Controls to Prevent Fraud, Waste, and Abuse; * Support Congressional Oversight of Major Management Challenges and Program Risks. Goal 4: Maximize the Value of GAO by Enabling Quality, Timely Service to the Congress and Being a Leading Practices Federal Agency: * Improve efficiency and effectiveness in performing GAO's mission and delivering quality products and services to the Congress and the American people; * Maintain and enhance a diverse workforce and inclusive work environment through strengthened recruiting, retention, development, and reward programs; * Expand networks, collaborations, and partnerships that promote professional standards and enhance GAO's knowledge, agility, and response time; * Be a responsible steward of GAO's human, information, fiscal, technological, and physical resources. Figure 2: GAO's Strategic Planning Hierarchy: [Refer to PDF for image: illustration and associated information] Strategic Goals: 4; Strategic Objectives: 20; Performance Goals: 96; Key Efforts: 300+. Each strategic goal is composed of strategic objectives, for which there are specific strategies taking the form of performance goals, each of which has a set of key efforts. The figure below illustrates this hierarchy and the text box on the right provides an example of structure of one of GAO's strategic goals. GAO's audit, evaluation, and investigative work is primarily aligned under the first three strategic goals, which span domestic and international issues affecting the lives of all Americans and influencing the extent to which the federal government serves the nation's current and future interests. Strategic Goal 1: Provide Timely, Quality Service to the Congress and the Federal Government to Address Current and Emerging Challenges to the Well-being and Financial Security of the American People. Strategic Objective: Viable National Infrastructure. Performance Goal: Assess federal regulation of transportation safety and efforts to fund improvements in safety. Key Efforts: * Assess federal oversight of aviation safety; * Assess federal oversight of safety in highway, rail, pipeline, and other surface modes; * Review the use of federal grants and other strategies to improve safety outcomes. [End of figure] GAO's High Performance Due to Dedicated Workforce: GAO achieves a high level of performance through the outstanding efforts of its professional, multidisciplinary, and diverse staff. Recognizing that GAO's accomplishments are a direct result of its dedicated workforce, GAO continuously strive to maintain a work environment that promotes employee well-being and productivity, and to serve as a leading-practices agency. In 2012, GAO was once again recognized as one of the "Best Places to Work." The annual survey conducted by the Partnership for Public Service identified GAO as number 2 in its overall rankings for all mid-sized agencies and number 1 in its valuing diversity ranking across the entire federal government. Performance Measurement: To help GAO determine how well it is meeting the needs of the Congress and maximizing its value as a leading-practices organization, GAO assesses its performance annually using a balanced set of quantitative performance measures that focus on four key areas--results, client, people, and internal operations. Results: Focusing on results and the effectiveness of the processes needed to achieve them is fundamental to accomplishing the mission. To assess results, GAO measures financial benefits, other (nonfinancial) benefits, GAO recommendations implemented, and percentage of new products with recommendations. Client: To judge how well GAO is serving the client, GAO measures the number of congressional hearings where GAO is asked to present expert testimony as well as GAO's timeliness in delivering products to the Congress. People: As GAO's most important asset, people define GAO's character and capacity to perform. A variety of data sources, including an internal survey, provide information to help measure how well GAO is attracting and retaining high-quality staff and how well GAO is developing, supporting, using, and leading staff. Internal operations: GAO's mission and people are supported by internal administrative services, including information management, building management, knowledge, human capital, and financial management services. Through an internal customer satisfaction survey, GAO gathers information on how well the internal operations help employees get their jobs done and improve employees' quality of work life. Setting Performance Targets: To establish targets for all of GAO's measures, GAO considers its past performance, including recent patterns and 4-year rolling averages, as well as relevant upcoming events and external factors that influence its work. On the basis of this information, the teams and offices that are directly engaged in the work discuss with top executives their views of what GAO has planned to accomplish in the strategic plan and what they believe they can accomplish in the upcoming fiscal year. The GAO Executive Committee then establishes targets for the performance measures. Once approved by the Comptroller General, the targets become final and are presented in GAO's annual performance plan and budget. GAO may adjust these targets after they are initially published, when GAO's expected future work or level of funding warrants doing so. If GAO makes changes, the changed targets are included in later documents, such as in the annual GAO Performance and Accountability Report, and indicate that they have been changed. An agency-wide summary of annual performance measures and targets for fiscal years 2009-2014 is included in Table 4. For more details on how GAO measures performance, including details on fiscal year 2012 performance, please see the Fiscal Year 2012 Performance and Accountability Report at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-2SP]. Table 4: Agency-wide Summary of Annual Measures and Targets. Performance measure: Results; Financial benefits; 2009 Actual: $43.0 billion; 2010 Actual: $49.9 billion; 2011 Actual: $45.7 billion; 2012 Actual: $55.8 billion; 2013 Target: $44.0 billion; 2014 Target: $44.0 billion. Nonfinancial benefits; 2009 Actual: 1,315; 2010 Actual: 1,361; 2011 Actual: 1,318; 2012 Actual: 1,440; 2013 Target: 1,200; 2014 Target: 1,200. Past recommendations implemented; 2009 Actual: 80%; 2010 Actual: 82%; 2011 Actual: 80%; 2012 Actual: 80%; 2013 Target: 80%; 2014 Target: 80%. New products with recommendations; 2009 Actual: 68%; 2010 Actual: 61%; 2011 Actual: 68%; 2012 Actual: 67%; 2013 Target: 60%; 2014 Target: 60%. Performance measure: Client; Testimonies; 2009 Actual: 203; 2010 Actual: 192; 2011 Actual: 174; 2012 Actual: 159; 2013 Target: 170; 2014 Target: 170. Timeliness[A]; 2009 Actual: 95%; 2010 Actual: 95%; 2011 Actual: 95%; 2012 Actual: 95%; 2013 Target: 90%; 2014 Target: 90%. Performance measure: People; New hire rate; 2009 Actual: 99%; 2010 Actual: 95%; 2011 Actual: 84%; 2012 Actual: 76%; 2013 Target: 95%; 2014 Target: 95%. Retention rate: With retirements; 2009 Actual: 94%; 2010 Actual: 94%; 2011 Actual: 92%; 2012 Actual: 93%; 2013 Target: 90%; 2014 Target: 90%. Retention rate: Without retirements; 2009 Actual: 96%; 2010 Actual: 96%; 2011 Actual: 96%; 2012 Actual: 96%; 2013 Target: 94%; 2014 Target: 94%. Staff development[B]; 2009 Actual: 79%; 2010 Actual: 79%; 2011 Actual: 79%; 2012 Actual: 80%; 2013 Target: 76%; 2014 Target: 76%. Staff utilization[B,C]; 2009 Actual: 78%; 2010 Actual: 77%; 2011 Actual: 78%; 2012 Actual: 76%; 2013 Target: 75%; 2014 Target: 75%. Effective leadership by supervisors[B,D]; 2009 Actual: 83%; 2010 Actual: 83%; 2011 Actual: 83%; 2012 Actual: 82%; 2013 Target: 80%; 2014 Target: 80%. Organizational climate[D]; 2009 Actual: 79%; 2010 Actual: 79%; 2011 Actual: 80%; 2012 Actual: 78%; 2013 Target: 75%; 2014 Target: 75%. Performance measure: Internal operations[E]; Help to get job done; 2009 Actual: 4.03; 2010 Actual: 3.94; 2011 Actual: 3.98; 2012 Actual: N/A[F]; 2013 Target: 4.00; 2014 Target: 4.00. Quality of work life; 2009 Actual: 4.01; 2010 Actual: 3.94; 2011 Actual: 3.99; 2012 Actual: N/A[F]; 2013 Target: 4.00; 2014 Target: 4.00. [A] The timeliness measure is based on one question on a form sent out to selected clients. The response rate for the form in fiscal year 2012 was 22 percent, and 99 percent of the clients who responded answered this question. The percentage shown in the table represents the percentage of respondents who answered favorably to this question on the form. [B] This measure is derived from GAO's annual agency-wide employee feedback survey. From the staff who expressed an opinion, GAO calculated the percentage of those who selected favorable responses to the related survey questions. Responses of "no basis to judge/not applicable" or "no answer" were excluded from the calculation. While including these responses in the calculation would result in a different percentage, GAO's method of calculation is an acceptable survey practice, and we believe it produces a better and more valid measure because it represents only those employees who have an opinion on the questions. [C] GAO's employee feedback survey asks staff how often the following occurred in the last 12 months: (1) my job made good use of my skills, (2) GAO provided me with opportunities to do challenging work, and (3) in general, I was utilized effectively. [D] In fiscal year 2009, GAO changed the name of this measure from "Leadership" to its current nomenclature to clarify that the measure reflects employees' satisfaction with their immediate supervisors' leadership. In fiscal year 2010, GAO changed one of the questions for this measure. [E] For GAO's internal operations measures, GAO asks staff to rate 30 internal services available to them, indicating on a five-point scale, with 5 being the highest, their satisfaction with each service from "very dissatisfied" to "very satisfied" or to indicate if they did not use the service. [F] The agency-wide employee feedback survey was not conducted in fiscal year 2012. [End of table] Budgetary Resources by Goal: Table 5 provides an overview of how GAO's human capital and budgetary resources are allocated among the strategic goals for fiscal years 2010 through 2014. Table 5: Budgetary Resources by Strategic Goal: Strategic Goal: Goal 1: Address current and emerging challenges to the well-being and financial security of the American people; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual: FTE: 1,186; Amount: $208 million; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual: FTE: 1,352; Amount: $245 million; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual: FTE: 1,251; Amount: $209 million; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimate: FTE: 1,136; Amount: $202 million; Fiscal Year 2014 Estimate: FTE: 1,158; Amount: $211 million. Strategic Goal: Goal 2; Respond to changing security threats and the challenges of global interdependence; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual: FTE: 877; Amount: $171 million; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual: FTE: 817; Amount: $145 million; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual: FTE: 773; Amount: $128 million; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimate: FTE: 680; Amount: $116 million; Fiscal Year 2014 Estimate: FTE: 695; Amount: $120 million. Strategic Goal: Goal 3; Help transform the federal government to address national challenges; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual: FTE: 1,166; Amount: $195 million; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual: FTE: 944; Amount: $164 million; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual: FTE: 892; Amount: $154 million; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimate: FTE: 785; Amount: $158 million; Fiscal Year 2014 Estimate: FTE: 802; Amount: $169 million. Strategic Goal: Goal 4; Maximize the value of GAO by enabling quality, timely service to the Congress and being a leading practices federal agency; Fiscal Year 2010 Actual: FTE: 116; Amount: $26 million; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual: FTE: 99; Amount: $14 million; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual: FTE: 81; Amount: $19 million; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimate: FTE: 73; Amount: $13 million; Fiscal Year 2014 Estimate: FTE: 75; Amount: $13 million. Direct Congressional Support[A]: Fiscal Year 2010 Actual: FTE: [Empty]; Amount: [Empty]; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual: FTE: [Empty]; Amount: [Empty]; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual: FTE: [Empty]; Amount: $23 million; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimate: FTE: 210; Amount: $37 million; Fiscal Year 2014 Estimate: FTE: 215; Amount: $37 million. Total budgetary resources: Fiscal Year 2010 Actual: FTE: 3,345; Amount: $600 million; Fiscal Year 2011 Actual: FTE: 3,212; Amount: $568 million; Fiscal Year 2012 Actual: FTE: 2,997; Amount: $533 million; Fiscal Year 2013 Estimate: FTE: 2,884; Amount: $526 million; Fiscal Year 2014 Estimate: FTE: 2.945; Amount: $550 million. [A] In fiscal year 2012 a new cost category was added to present resources which directly support Congress and which represent GAO's fulfillment of its statutory responsibilities which were not engagement specific. Examples of this work include General Counsel statutory procurement activities, follow-up on the status of GAO recommendations, and the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board activities. Previously, this work was not separately disclosed but rather was allocated to the other cost categories. [End of table] Performance Plans by Strategic Goal: The following sections provide more detailed information on GAO's performance results, strategic objectives, and plans for each of the four strategic goals. These objectives, along with the performance goals and key efforts that support them, are discussed fully in GAO's strategic plan, which is available on the web at www.gao.gov. Specifically, for Goals 1, 2, and 3--the external goals--GAO presents performance results for the three annual measures assessed at the goal level. Goal 1: GAO's first strategic goal upholds GAO's mission to support the Congress in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities by focusing on work that helps address the current and emerging challenges affecting the well-being and financial security of the American people. Primary GAO Teams Contributing to Goal 1: Education, Workforce, and Income Security; Financial Markets and Community Investment; Health Care; Homeland Security and Justice; Natural Resources and Environment; Physical Infrastructure. Supporting GAO Teams: Applied Research and Methods; Financial Management and Assurance; General Counsel; Information Technology. The following table presents selected benefits attributable to Goal 1 in fiscal year 2012. Table 6: Selected Goal 1 Benefits in Fiscal Year 2012. Financial benefits: * Informed legislation aimed at reducing payments to Medicare Advantage Program ($12.4 billion); * Found that a federal ethanol tax was duplicative with a federal renewable fuel standard ($4.5 billion); * Prompted elimination of seller-funded down-payment assistance for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgages ($2.5 billion). Other (nonfinancial) benefits: * Improved Veterans Administration (VA) long-term care strategic planning and budgeting; * Triggered Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement action against banking institution for deceptive marketing practices; * Found that eight key federal agencies had not fully complied with requirements of the Native American Graves Protection and Reparation Act; * Improved reporting in child fatality data to help prevent deaths from maltreatment. Testimonies: * Retirement security for unemployed older workers; * Federal Reserve system's polices and processes for managing emergency assistance; * Climate change adaptation; * The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ability to respond to drug shortages. [End of table] A summary of Goal 1 performance results and targets is shown in the following table. Table 7: Strategic Goal 1's Annual Performance Results and Targets: Performance measure: Financial benefits; 2009 Actual[A]: $12.1 billion; 2010 Actual[B]: $17.8 billion; 2011 Actual]: $12.6 billion; 2012 Actual]: $25.7 billion; 2013 Target[C]: $11.5 billion; 2014 Target: $12.5 billion. Performance measure: Other (nonfinancial) benefits; 2009 Actual[A]: 224; 2010 Actual[B]: 233; 2011 Actual]: 243; 2012 Actual]: 275; 2013 Target[C]: 231; 2014 Target: 231. Performance measure: Testimonies; 2009 Actual[A]: 85; 2010 Actual[B]: 86; 2011 Actual]: 84; 2012 Actual]: 61; 2013 Target[C]: 70; 2014 Target: 70. [A] In fiscal year 2009, GAO did not meet the target for goal 1 financial benefits. Because financial benefits often result from work completed in prior years, GAO set its fiscal year 2009 target on the basis of GAO's assessment of the progress agencies were making in implementing past recommendations. [B] In fiscal year 2010, gao exceeded its target for goal 1 financial benefits by $4.4 billion due to higher than estimated savings from work on the Medicare Advantage program and insurance claims for Federal Housing Administration insured mortgages. [C] Fiscal year 2013 targets for all three performance measures differ from those gao reported in its fiscal year 2013 performance plan in February 2012. Specifically, GAO has increased the financial benefits target from $11.0 to $11.5 billion and the nonfinancial benefits from 225 to 231, and decreased the testimony target from 85 to 70. [End of table] Table 8 provides examples of work GAO plans to conduct during fiscal years 2013 and 2014 under Goal 1. Table 8: Examples of Planned Work under Goal 1: Financial Security: * Evaluate consumer protection for financial services and products; * Assess the effectiveness of small business assistance programs; * Evaluate the implementation of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Social Programs: * Review federal efforts to provide employment and training services to veterans; * Assess the impact of marriage and divorce on retirement security; * Assess Medicare and Medicaid payment methods and program management; * Assess implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Effective Systems: * Assess federal efforts to improve real property acquisition and management; * Review federal farm safety net programs; * Assess USPS financial issues including the results from contract revenue initiatives and the Postal Service's proposal to administer its own health care plan; * Evaluate federal climate change adaptation efforts. [End of table] Goal 2: GAO's second strategic goal focuses on helping the Congress and the federal government in responding to changing security threats and the challenges of global interdependence. The federal government is working to promote foreign policy goals, sound trade policies, and other strategies to advance the interests of the United States and its allies. The federal government is also working to balance national security demands overseas and at home with demands related to an evolving national security environment. The following table presents selected benefits attributable to Goal 2 in fiscal year 2012. Primary GAO Teams Contributing to Goal 2: Acquisition and Sourcing Management; Defense Capabilities and Management; Homeland Security and Justice; International Affairs and Trade. Supporting GAO Teams: Applied Research and Methods; Financial Management and Assurance; Financial Markets and Community Investment; General Counsel; Information Technology; Natural Resources and Environment. Table 9: Selected Goal 2 Benefits in Fiscal Year 2012. Financial benefits: * Contributed to NASA's decision to cancel the Constellation/Ares I Project ($8 billion); * Assessed DOD's Tour Initiative in South Korea ($3.1 billion); * Made recommendations that led to reduced fiscal year 2011 Preparedness Grant funding ($882 million); * Contributed to DOD's avoidance of excess inventory costs ($797 million). Other (nonfinancial) benefits: * Improved the targeting of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Bonus Formula for the National Flood Insurance Program; * Contributed to the successful reform of DOD's personnel security clearance program; * Helped secure national security abroad by recommending improvements to the monitoring of U.S. arms sent to Persian Gulf Countries; * Helped secure sensitive federal information by recommending improvements to the encrypting of the federal government's mobile technologies. Testimonies: * National Nuclear Security Administration management; * Border security; * Transitioning from a military presence to a diplomatic presence in Iraq; * DOD contracting and management challenges; * Joint Strike Fighter restructuring. [End of table] A summary of Goal 2 performance results and targets are shown in the following table. Table 10: Strategic Goal 2's Annual Performance Results and Targets: Performance measure: Financial benefits; 2009 Actual: $12.4 billion; 2010 Actual[A]: $20.5 billion; 2011 Actual: $25.9 billion; 2012 Actual: $13.4 billion; 2013 Target[B]: $12.7 billion; 2014 Target: $12.7 billion. Performance measure: Other (nonfinancial) benefits; 2009 Actual: 457; 2010 Actual[A]: 444; 2011 Actual: 447; 2012 Actual: 513; 2013 Target[B]: 338; 2014 Target: 338. Performance measure: Testimonies; 2009 Actual: 67; 2010 Actual[A]: 58; 2011 Actual: 48; 2012 Actual: 54; 2013 Target[B]: 45; 2014 Target: 45. [A] In fiscal year 2010, GAO exceeded its target for goal 2 financial benefits by $6.7 billion. GAO recorded larger than anticipated financial benefits from reductions DOD made to the Army's Future Combat System vehicle program and the Missile Defense Agency's cancellation of the Kinetic Energy Interceptor program and second airborne laser aircraft prototype. [B] Fiscal year 2013 targets for all three performance measures differ from those GAO reported in its fiscal year 2013 performance budget in February 2012. Specifically, GAO has increased financial benefits from $11.4 billion to 12.7 billion, decreased nonfinancial benefits from 450 to 338, and decreased testimonies from 50 to 45. [End of table] Table 11 provides examples of work GAO plans to conduct during fiscal years 2013 and 2014 under Goal 2. Table 11: Examples of Planned Work under Goal 2. Weapon Systems Costs: * Assess the soundness and efficiency of DOD's highest cost weapon acquisition programs; * Evaluate DOD's efforts to ensure its weapon systems investment plans are affordable; * Evaluate efforts to modernize the nuclear security enterprise. Foreign Operations: * Evaluate the U.S. Export-Import Bank's and other agencies' efforts to promote U.S. exports; * Monitor the transition from a military-led to a civilian-led presence in post conflict areas; * Assess the efficiency and fiscal sustainability of foreign assistance. Cyber Security: * Assess DOD's role in enhancing its cyber capabilities and reducing cyber vulnerabilities. Other Global Threats: * Assess the U.S. government's implementation of sanctions against Iran; * Review U.S. and foreign efforts to deter, detect, and thwart terrorists aiming to disrupt the international aviation and maritime systems; * Evaluate the effectiveness of government programs designed to protect critical technologies and DOD's actions to identify gaps and vulnerabilities in its global supplier base; * Review proposals and initiatives for reforming the U.S. immigration system. [End of table] Goal 3: GAO's third strategic goal is to help transform the federal government to address national challenges through a focus on the collaborative and integrated elements needed for the federal government to achieve results. Work under this goal includes assessing the government's fiscal position and options for closing the gap, as well as identifying management challenges, program risk; and fraud, waste, and abuse. Primary GAO Teams Contributing to Goal 3: Applied Research and Methods; Financial Management and Assurance; Forensic Audits and Investigative Service; Information Technology; Strategic Issues. Supporting GAO Teams: Acquisition and Sourcing Management; General Counsel; Natural Resources and Environment. The following table presents selected benefits attributable to Goal 3 in fiscal year 2012. Table 12: Selected Goal 3 Benefits in Fiscal Year 2012. Financial benefits: * Increased liquidity of the Treasury Inflation Protected Securities Program ($2.2 billion); * Reduced federal improper payments ($1.4 billion); * Improved reviews of selected federal financial management system modernization projects ($1.3 billion). Other (nonfinancial) benefits: * Prompted changes in the Federal Acquisition Regulation to better identify and prevent personal conflicts of interest; * Recommended adopting a crosscutting approach to improve federal government performance; * Helped to rationalize the number of interagency contracts through the requirement of a business case for any new interagency contracts; * Identified counterfeit parts that could enter the DOD supply chain; * Helped prevent fraud in the Head Start Program; * Improved IRS controls to better prioritize unpaid payroll taxes for collection. Testimonies: * Cyber security vulnerabilities in the electricity grid; * DOD's acquisition workforce capacity; * Doctor shopping in Medicare Part D; * Improved tax information could help pay for college. [End of table] A summary of Goal 3 performance results and targets is shown in the following table. Table 13: Strategic Goal 3's Annual Performance Results and Targets: Performance measure: Financial benefits; 2009 Actual: $18.5 billion; 2010 Actual[A]: $11.6 billion; 2011 Actual[A]: $7.2 billion; 2012 Actual: $16.7 billion; 2013 Target[B]: $5.8 billion; 2014 Target: $5.8 billion. Performance measure: Other (nonfinancial) benefits; 2009 Actual: 634; 2010 Actual[A]: 684; 2011 Actual[A]: 628; 2012 Actual: 652; 2013 Target[B]: 520; 2014 Target: 520. Performance measure: Testimonies; 2009 Actual: 49; 2010 Actual[A]: 45; 2011 Actual[A]: 39; 2012 Actual: 41; 2013 Target[B]: 29; 2014 Target: 29. [A] GAO's fiscal year 2010 and 2011 Goal 3 financial benefits were less than the target. Because financial benefits often result from work completed in prior years, GAO set its target based on an assessment of the progress agencies make in implementing recommendations. [B] GAO's fiscal year 2013 targets for all three performance measures differ from those we reported in GAO's fiscal year 2013 performance budget in February 2012. Specifically, GAO decreased financial benefits from $7.3 to $5.75 billion, nonfinancial benefits from 525 to 520, and testimonies from 40 to 29. [End of table] Table 14 provides examples of work GAO plans to conduct during fiscal years 2013 and 2014 under Goal 3. Table 14: Examples of Planned Work under Goal 3. Management Challenges/Risks: * Review DOD's efforts to address long-standing financial management deficiencies; * Assess federal agencies' reliance on contractors and their ability to provide effective contract management and oversight; * Identify ways to improve NASA's acquisition of major space flight projects; * Identify critical skills gaps and related human capital issues across the government. Accountability: * Conduct annual financial audits of the IRS, SEC, FDIC, TARP, CFPB, FHFA, the Bureau of the Public Debt, and consolidated financial audit of the federal government; * Conduct audits of federal internal controls needed to ensure accountability over resources and payments, including improper payment controls; * Assess efforts to increase transparency of federal spending; * Identify fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs; * Assess and promote use of program evaluation in program management and policy making government-wide. Fiscal Condition of the Government: * Evaluate government efforts to reduce the gap between taxes owed and taxes collected; * Review issues related to financing the federal government's growing debt. Technology Assessments: * Continue work as deemed necessary by the Congress on topics such as homeland security, information technology, climate change nanotechnology, synthetic biology, and hypersonic aviation. [End of table] Goal 4: GAO's fourth goal is to maximize the value of GAO by enabling quality, timely service to the Congress and being a leading practices federal agency through an internal focus on improving efficiency and effectiveness in performing work; maintaining and enhancing a diverse workforce; expanding collaboration to promote professional standards; and being a responsible steward of resources. Lead GAO Team for Goal 4: Chief Administrative Officer (CAO/CFO). Primary GAO Teams Contributing to Goal 4: Field Operations; Financial Management and Business Operations; Human Capital; Information Systems and Technology Services; Infrastructure Operations; Professional Development Program. Supporting GAO Teams: Applied Research and Methods; Audit Policy and Quality Assurance; Congressional Relations; General Counsel; Opportunity and Inclusiveness; Public Affairs; Strategic Planning and External Liaison. The following table presents selected accomplishments attributable to Goal 4 in fiscal year 2012. Table 15: Selected Goal 4 Accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2012. Enhancing support for reporting on GAO's work: * Transitioned to an electronic report review process for unclassified products to reduce the administrative and environmental burden; * Deployed phase 1 of a new Engagement Management System (EMS), which will save staff time on engagements and improve access to management information; * Completed Engagement Efficiency Initiative resulting in 31 recommendations for process improvements across the end-to-end engagement management process; * Established Continuous Process Improvement Office (CPIO) and CPIO Leadership Board. Promoting a fair and unbiased work environment: * Developed new performance competencies, standards, and related management processes to continue GAO's commitment to ensuring fairness and equity in its performance management process; * Created a Human Capital Governance Board to continue GAO's commitment to ensuring an inclusive and inviting workplace; * Completed Part II of GAO's diversity training, which focused on diversity and inclusion; * Established a financial literacy program to improve access to information, raise awareness, and help educate GAO employees on personal financial matters. Enhancing professional standards and collaboration with others: * Organized and hosted a joint meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Public Debt and Global Financial Crisis Task Force that resulted in identifying areas of collaboration; * GAO's Chief Operating Officer and the Oregon State Auditor are co- chairing the task force responsible for updating the National Intergovernmental Audit Forum's strategic plan. [End of table] Table 16 provides examples of work GAO plans to conduct during fiscal years 2013 and 2014 under Goal 4. Table 16: Planned Work under Goal 4. Human Capital Management: * Implementing new performance-management and compensation systems; * Focusing on succession planning; * Shifting the training focus to provide more "just-in-time" training; * Fully implementing a new system that will support all essential HR functions, including self service and electronic workflow. Engagement Efficiency: * Implementing actions to significantly improve efficiency in the end- to-end engagement management process based on recommendations made in fiscal year 2012, while maintaining adherence to essential quality standards; * Analyzing GAO's staff utilization model and implementing changes to enhance agility and responsiveness; * Continuing pursuit of alternative methods for communicating the results of GAO work including significantly improving GAO's ability to quickly and easily provide important content in easy-to-use formats. Responsible Agency Stewardship: * Continuing to pursue operational efficiencies in administrative support areas; * Conducting a pilot of expanded telework and workspace sharing that will reduce infrastructure costs and enhance employee flexibility; * Rollout use of non-contract airfares agency-wide as an additional option for employees after a successful pilot program. The pilot found that the use of non-refundable fares when appropriate circumstances are met resulted in greater flexibility in booking less costly airfares. [End of table] Management Challenges: The Comptroller General, the Executive Committee, and other senior executives identify management challenges through the agency's strategic planning, management, internal controls, and budgetary processes. Under strategic Goal 4, several performance goals and underlying key efforts focus attention on each of GAO's management challenges. GAO monitors its progress in addressing these challenges through its annual performance and accountability process. Each year GAO also asks its Inspector General to examine management's assessment of the challenges and the agency's progress in addressing them. For fiscal year 2014, GAO will continue focusing high-level management attention on human capital issues and on the new challenge identified last year related to improving engagement efficiency and delivery of timely and quality information to the Congress. Human Capital Challenge: Having a talented, diverse, high-performing, knowledge-based workforce is essential to carrying out GAO's mission. Like other federal agencies, GAO was challenged to address several critical human capital management issues while doing more with less. These issues included preparing for the retirement of executives and other senior managers, creating and maintaining a performance-based culture that helps to motivate and retain talented people, and implementing workplace practices that meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce in a fair and equitable manner. As a result, in fiscal year 2012, GAO focused its efforts on a few top priorities to sustain an agile, well-trained, balanced, and diverse workforce. Specifically, in this period of constrained resources, GAO: * recruited and hired staff to fill a small number of senior executive positions and a few critical hires to address succession planning needs; * identified candidates for the executive development program and provided them a more cost-effective, enhanced leadership training program; * launched an enhanced telework pilot program in conjunction with a workspace sharing initiative; and: * developed a new performance appraisal system. Although GAO has made progress, the overarching human capital issue that GAO expects to continue to face for the foreseeable future is ensuring that GAO supports the mission of the agency with the right resources, where and when they are needed, in the face of declining budgets while providing meaningful rewards and recognition needed to retain its highly skilled workforce. For the first time in a long time, GAO has had extremely limited hiring over 2 consecutive years, and as a result, the proportion of entry-level staff is not where it needs to be to ensure a pipeline for the future. GAO will continue to address these human capital issues in fiscal years 2013 and 2014. Succession planning - Succession planning remains critical. By the end of fiscal year 2013, about 34 percent of senior executives and about 23 percent of supervisory analysts will be eligible to retire. Thus, GAO will continue to emphasize the need for senior executives to work closely with less senior staff to ensure that critical knowledge and expertise are not lost. GAO will also continue to develop current employees to take on more responsibility and ensure that employees who are eligible to advance to key positions have the requisite skills and experience to succeed. Hiring - While budgetary constraints have significantly limited GAO's recent hiring to address only critical skills gaps, GAO has developed recruitment plans that are inclusive of all of its workforce needs. To ensure a pipeline for the future, a high priority will be to attract and hire entry-level staff to the extent that GAO's budget will support it. GAO will also continue to maintain relationships and partnerships with colleges, universities, and professional associations so as not to lose access to well-qualified, diverse, entry-level candidates. Training and staff development - We will continue to align training for its employees based on GAO's learning needs analysis, work demands from the Congress, and the emerging areas of emphasis identified in the strategic plan and by experts. GAO will also continue to enhance its learning delivery methods by using all available technologies, including distance learning and online courses. Performance management and rewards - GAO will implement a new performance appraisal system and finalize a revised system to reward and recognize high-performing staff. Also, GAO plans to continue to support other programs and workplace practices that will help us motivate and retain employees. Such steps are needed particularly in light of budget limitations. GAO will continue to work with union partners and other employee advisory groups to implement human capital programs in a manner that helps meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce in a fair, equitable, and inclusive manner. GAO will also continue to explore ways to leverage technology to help us improve the accuracy and efficiency of human capital processes and management, and work closely with outside organizations to help stay informed of prevailing and leading human capital practices. Engagement Efficiency Challenge: In the Fiscal Year 2011 Performance and Accountability Report, GAO identified a new management challenge stemming from a continuing high workload in a time of declining budgets and staff size. The agency made improving the efficiency with which it conducts its mission work a priority and identified three areas of focus--managing and conducting engagements, utilizing resources, and communicating its message. GAO made significant progress in initiating work in these areas in fiscal year 2012. Specifically, in 2012, GAO: * completed an end-to-end analysis of the engagement process that identified 31 areas of opportunity for improved efficiency; * established a new Office of Continuous Process Improvement (CPIO) that reports to the Chief Operating Officer to focus exclusively on continuous process improvement and implement projects to improve efficiency; and: * created an executive-level governance structure for prioritizing and directing process improvement initiatives. Figure: [Refer to PDF for image: photograph] CPIO team works to map and identify efficiency improvements in GAO's engagement process. [End of figure] These three steps represent the underlying core organizational commitment to improving engagement processes and efficiency. In addition, GAO completed six projects to help address process inefficiencies and enhance organizational focus on ensuring efficient outcomes along with quality outcomes. Specifically, GAO: * streamlined a final report review process by reducing documentation requirements and moving to electronic routing; * revised report production standards and processes to clarify roles and expectations and improve publication production efficiency: * streamlined the agenda for regular senior-level engagement review meetings by eliminating discussion of non-material topics; * expanded access to a key engagement system to support improved decision making and management of engagements; * consolidated results of key management meetings in one place on the agency's internal website to facilitate easy access; and: * incorporated efficiency-oriented behaviors into GAO's new performance appraisal system. GAO also has a number of projects under way that will deliver results in the near-term while others are longer-term efforts. Specifically, GAO is: * identifying changes to key steps and decision points in the engagement process to ensure resource investments on individual engagements are in line with client needs and needed scope of work; * conducting market research to identify possible alternatives for more efficiently creating content, meeting review and fact-checking procedures, and distributing and publishing reports and content in multiple formats; * developing guidance and tools to ensure staff and managers are more keenly focused on managing resources committed and expended on engagements; * identifying project management principles and best practices that will be adopted for all engagements; * pursuing major enhancements to key engagement support and management systems to reduce rework and improve systems support and management information; * assessing client needs and the media marketplace to identify new ways of communicating the message; * assessing ways to more efficiently manage staff on and across engagements; and: * clarifying roles and responsibilities for engagement team members and stakeholders--including their responsibilities for reviewing draft products to reduce redundancies and unneeded work. In fiscal year 2013 GAO will continue to identify other areas of opportunity for improved efficiency and will continually prioritize how to utilize resources to ensure the most significant efficiency gains. In addition, GAO will develop performance metrics for the process improvement program to show the effect improvement initiatives are having on agency operations. Collecting Input from Experts: GAO will continue to gather information and perspectives for strategic and annual planning efforts through a series of forums, advisory boards, and panels; periodic scans of international and national issues that affect the political and social environment in which the agency works; and GAO's speakers' series. GAO's advisory boards and panels will support strategic and annual work planning by alerting GAO to issues, trends, and lessons learned across the national and international audit community that should be factored into GAO's work. During fiscal years 2013 and 2014, GAO will rely on the following: The Comptroller General's Advisory Board, whose 40 or so members from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors have broad expertise in areas related to GAO's strategic objectives. The Domestic Working Group composed of the Comptroller General and the heads of 19 federal, state, and local audit organizations that meet informally to exchange information and pursue opportunities to collaborate on accountability issues that affect all levels of government. The Global Working Group provides an opportunity for selected Auditors General from around the world to informally discuss emerging issues of concern, as well as to explore ways to work more closely together. GAO periodically conducts leadership forums and roundtables on topics affecting the federal government's role in meeting national challenges. Selected leaders and experts in various fields from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors are convened at these meetings to discuss certain key issues. The goal of each event is to produce dialogue that stimulates new partnerships and identifies actions designed to address the respective issues. A report summarizing the discussions on a non- attribution basis and noting the participants who attended is published after each forum and roundtable. In fiscal year 2013, GAO plans to hold forums on nanotechnology and practices in data analytics for fraud prevention. GAO also will continue to work with a number of issue- specific and technical panels to improve strategic and annual work planning, such as the following: The Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards provides input and recommendations to the Comptroller General in his role of promulgating generally accepted government auditing standards, popularly known as "the Yellow Book." These standards provide a framework for conducting high-quality audits with competence, integrity, objectivity, and independence. Audits performed in accordance with these standards provide information used for oversight, accountability, transparency, and improvements in government programs and operations. The Accountability Advisory Council, composed of experts from the financial management community, advises GAO on vital and emerging issues related to federal financial management and performance/ accountability reporting, primarily in conjunction with GAO's continued efforts to audit the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements. The Executive Council on Information Management and Technology, whose members are experts from the public and private sectors and representatives of related professional organizations, helps GAO to identify high-risk and emerging issues in the IT arena. The Comptroller General's Educators' Advisory Panel, composed of deans, professors, and other academics from prominent universities across the United States, advises GAO on strategic planning matters and recruiting, retaining, and developing staff. Collaborating with Other Organizations: In addition to these formal advisory bodies, GAO also networks with federal, state, local, and international officials with similar or complementary missions, notably through organizations such as the following: The National Intergovernmental Audit Forum: The National Intergovernmental Audit Forum, (NIAF) and 10 regional intergovernmental audit forums through which GAO will consult regularly with federal inspectors general and state and local auditors. The forum exists to improve coordination, communication, and cooperation among its members, private-sector firms, and other accountability organizations in order to address common challenges; enhance government performance, accountability, and transparency; and increase public trust. In fiscal 2013 and 2014, the NIAF and each regional forum will hold meetings to share best practices and address common issues facing the audit community. In addition, the NIAF will update its Strategic Plan to provide a foundation for the Forum's operations over the next several years. Figure: [Refer to PDF for image: photograph] Comptroller General Gene Dodaro delivers plenary address at the 19th Biennial Forum of Government Auditors. [End of figure] The Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency: The Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency is a federal IG coordinating council created by statute in 2008, which combines what was formerly known as the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency. GAO collaborates with this council and individual IGs to facilitate GAO's audit work, coordinate to avoid overlap and duplication of effort, and share best practices. The International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI): GAO's primary vehicle for collaborating internationally is INTOSAI, the professional organization of the national audit offices of 191 countries, plus the European Court of Auditors and several associate members. GAO will continue to be an active member of international teams working on INTOSAI's 2011-2016 strategic goals of enhancing (1) professional standards, (2) capacity building, (3) knowledge sharing, and (4) organizational excellence. For example, GAO participates in INTOSAI's knowledge sharing groups on public debt information technology environmental auditing program evaluation international money laundering and corruption accountability for, and audit of disaster- related aid value and benefit of SAIs and key national indicators. GAO chairs the newly established working group on financial modernization and regulatory reform of financial markets and institutions that will serve as a forum to share knowledge about the implementation of regulatory reforms and monitor emerging issues related to market conditions. GAO also chairs the Finance and Administration Task Force on Strategic Planning that will be responsible for coordinating the development of the next INTOSAI strategic plan for 2017-2022. By collaborating with others, GAO plans to continue strengthening professional standards, providing technical assistance, leveraging resources, and developing and disseminating best practices. For example, in fiscal years 2013 and 2014, GAO plans to do the following: * Participate in the XXI International Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions, which will be held in Beijing, China, and will focus on national audit policy, governance, and the long-term sustainability of finance policies. * Lead a newly established standing working group to coordinate and strengthen efforts to assess the progress of reforms to regulate financial markets and institutions, as well as to help Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) share and access, as appropriate, timely and useful information to help evaluate responses to current market conditions or future financial crises. * Continue to advance INTOSAI's capacity-building goal through the Comptroller General's Vice Chairmanship through 2013 of the steering committee overseeing implementation of INTOSAI Donor Cooperation. Through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between INTOSAI and 19 donor organizations, the initiative aims to coordinate efforts to strengthen SAIs in developing countries. GAO will continue to play a significant role in focusing the Donor Cooperation agenda and the dialogue on the most critical issues in 2013, including development of an SAI performance measurement framework and the launch of a multi- donor trust fund to serve as an additional funding mechanism to support the objectives of the MOU. * Continuing work on a global call for Donor Cooperation proposals, aimed at identifying and obtaining support for demand-led SAI capacity development initiatives. Efforts will also continue in 2013 on the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) Implementation Initiative, a program launched through the INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation that facilitates and supports SAIs in the implementation of INTOSAI Standards. * Continue to actively participate in development, implementation, and harmonization of ISSAI through GAO membership in the subcommittees of INTOSAI's Professional Standards Committee. * Directly build the capacity of national audit offices around the world through GAO's 4-month International Audit Fellowship program. Since the program's inception in 1979, more than 500 officials from over 100 countries have participated. GAO has received more than 40 nominations to participate in the 2013 class. Footnotes: [1] Our complete set of strategic planning and performance and accountability reports are available on our website at [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/sp.html]. [End of document]