In fiscal year 2001, our work will continue to focus on the major issues facing the Congress, including Social Security solvency, education, economic development, Medicare reform, national security, international affairs, and government management reforms and computer security. Our teams are in the field, gathering facts, providing analyses, and developing recommendations to assist congressional decisionmakers.

Another top priority in fiscal year 2001 will be working with leaders on the Hill to help the Congress strengthen its approach to oversight, with an emphasis on looking hard at what government does, how it does it, and the long-term consequences of today's policy choices. GAO's 2001 Performance and Accountability Series and High-Risk Update will serve as a solid foundation for congressional oversight. We also have several key initiatives in progress to improve how we serve the Congress, among them:

an expanded client feedback system;

protocols governing our dealings with federal agencies; and

new high-level advisory bodies to gain the expertise of business leaders, former Cabinet officials, and other experts and to open new avenues for sharing our own expertise with other accountability organizations.

We are also preparing to carry out two new responsibilities assigned by the previous Congress. We will chair a panel to review the government's A-76 process for obtaining services through competitive sourcing. If the needed funding is provided, we will also review the costs and benefits of major regulations under the Truth in Regulating Act (P.L. 106-312, Oct. 17, 2000).

Performance Targets

With our agency's realignment nearing completion and a year's experience with using our strategic plan to drive our work, we reset some of our quantitative performance targets for fiscal year 2001 and posted them on the Web in a revised performance plan (PDF). At the agency level, the targets remained the same, with two exceptions:

On the basis of a reassessment of what we expect to result from our work, we raised our target for other benefits from 640 actions taken on our recommendations to 700.

We reduced our target for the number of times we expect to testify before the Congress from 250 to 150. We made this change for several reasons: First, the number of hearings typically conducted in years when both a new Congress and a new administration take office is lower than in other years. Second, the delay in the presidential transition resulted in fewer congressional hearings being held. Finally, the 50/50 split in the Senate and the change in leadership of many House committees also reduced the number of hearings being held.

Our other targets for fiscal year 2001 call for GAO to achieve

$23 billion in financial benefits,

a 75-percent implementation rate for recommendations we made 4 years ago, and

975 new recommendations for improved government operations and services.

For our management measure of timeliness, we will continue to work toward our idealistic target of delivering 100 percent of our products on time. In addition, we have adjusted some of our qualitative performance goals now that we have a clearer understanding of how to put our strategic plan into action. Later in this report, we cover the targets for each of our four strategic goals and revisions to the qualitative performance goals. These changes are detailed in our revised performance plan for fiscal year 2001 (PDF).

For fiscal year 2002, our quantitative targets call for GAO to achieve

$24 billion in financial benefits,

720 actions taken on our recommendations,

a 75-percent implementation rate for recommendations we made 4 years ago,

233 testimonies given before the Congress, and

1,000 new recommendations made to improve government operations and services.

We will also continue to pursue our management measure of 100-percent on-time delivery.

Budget Request

To continue our efforts to support the Congress and maintain current operations, we have requested a budget for fiscal year 2002 of about $430.3 million. This funding level will allow us to fully staff at our authorized total level of 3,275 full-time equivalent personnel. We will increase our emphasis on areas of congressional and public interest and, internally, will continue initiatives addressing our two major management challenges: human capital and information technology. Our request includes $5.2 million to carry out responsibilities created by the Truth in Regulating Act.

GAO's Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2002, by Strategic Goal

Strategic goal																																																														Dollars in thousands																		Full-time equivalent staff
Goal 1: The well-being and financial security of the American people																																																														$100,737																		965
Goal 2: Changing security threats and the challenges of global interdependence																																																														78,936																		720
Goal 3: A results-oriented and accountable federal government																																																														112,814																		976
Goal 4: GAO as a model organization for the federal government																																																														137,808																		614
Total																																																														$430,295																		3,275

For a more detailed discussion of GAO's planned activities for fiscal year 2001 and 2002, please download the PDF of the full-length version of this report.