GAO Guidance Documents from Federal Agencies How agencies clarify legal information, respond to questions, and inform the public Highlights from GAO-15-368 --- Where Does Guidance Fit In? Statute: Congress provides authority to agencies; Legally binding Regulations: Statutes are implemented by regulations, which are legally enforceable; Legally binding Guidance: Agency may explain how regulations are interpreted; Not legally binding --- Why Do Agencies Use Guidance Documents? [IMAGE: Stacks of papers.] Explain new regulations Respond to stakeholder questions Clarify existing policies Share leadership priorities and initiatives [IMAGE: Head with gears inside.] Guidance documents can prompt changes in behavior of regulated parties and the general public. --- Types of Guidance Documents [IMAGE: Signed document.] Include interpretive memos, policy statements, circulars, memoranda, bulletins, and advisories. [IMAGE: Tall stack of documents.] Non-significant Guidance Documents - Agencies consider most guidance documents "non-significantÓ " - Not subject to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements - Currently no specific government-wide policies for production [IMAGE: Short stack of documents.] Significant Guidance Documents - Agencies consider guidance documents with broad or substantial effects "significantÓ " - Subject to requirements in OMBÕs Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices and some are reviewed by OMB before issuance - Agencies must have written procedures for internal approval - Must be listed on a departmental website --- [IMAGE: Logos of the departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor.] GAO examined guidance processes at the departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Labor, and selected subagencies within these departments. --- How Did Selected Agencies Disseminate their Guidance? Website: 25 E-mail: 22 Meetings: 22 E-mail Lists: 19 External Partners: 17 Social Media: 13 Mass Media: 11 Newsletters: 7 Data from 25 selected subagencies on dissemination methods [IMAGE: Bar chart icon.] Agencies issue anywhere from about ten to over a hundred guidance documents each year. --- How Can Internal Controls be Applied to Guidance Processes? [IMAGE: Figure with magnifying glass.] Risk assessment: Assessing the level of risk helps agencies determine potential legal implications and appropriate levels of review. [IMAGE: Figure with check list.] Control activities: Maintaining written policies and procedures helps ensure that officials understand how to adequately review guidance before issuance. [IMAGE: Figure with communication tools.] Information and communication: Obtaining feedback from management, internal offices, the public, and other interested parties is essential to ensuring guidance is effective. [IMAGE: Figure with spyglass.] Monitoring: Ongoing monitoring processes can help ensure that agencies use applicable feedback to improve future guidance and revisions of guidance. --- Looking for more information? Visit GAO.GOV/GAO-15-368 --- [IMAGE: GAO logo] --- This work has been released into the public domain.