GAO provided an overview of progress agencies have made to improve serious and widespread weaknesses that have been the focus of GAO's high-risk program for several years.

GAO noted that: (1) in GAO's 1997 update for the 105th Congress, GAO reported that progress had been made in addressing the 20 high-risk areas being tracked at that time; (2) GAO cautioned, however, that much more effort was needed to fully implement real solutions to these serious and long-standing problems; (3) also in 1997, GAO added five areas--the year 2000 computing challenge and information security as governmentwide risks, the Supplemental Security Income program, defense infrastructure, and the 2000 Decennial Census; (4) since 1997, agencies have focused on developing action plans and are trying to resolve weaknesses; Congress has heightened its attention by reviewing agencies' progress and taking legislative action; (5) because of sustained, tangible improvements in one area--the Customs Service's financial management--GAO is removing its high-risk designation, making this the sixth area to come off the high-risk list since GAO began this effort in 1990; (6) in the remaining areas, more needs to be done to achieve real and sustained improvements; (7) in many cases, agencies have agreed with GAO recommendations but have not yet fully implemented them; (8) also, many good plans have been conceived but the more difficult implementation task of successfully translating those plans into day-to-day management reality lies ahead; (9) it will take time to fully resolve most high-risk areas because they are deep-rooted, difficult problems in very large programs and organizations; (10) continued perseverance in addressing the 26 areas that are the current focus of GAO's high-risk initiative will ultimately yield significant benefits; (11) collectively, these areas affect almost all of the government's annual $1.7 trillion in revenue and span critical government programs and operations from certain benefit programs to large lending operations, major military and civilian agency contracting, and defense infrastructure; and (12) lasting solutions to high-risk problems offer the potential to save billions of dollars, dramatically improve services to the American public, and strengthen confidence in the accountability and performance of the national government.