This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-04-830
entitled 'Government Printing Office: Actions to Strengthen and Sustain
GPO's Transformation' which was released on June 30, 2004.
This text file was formatted by the U.S. General Accounting Office
(GAO) to be accessible to users with visual impairments, as part of a
longer term project to improve GAO products' accessibility. Every
attempt has been made to maintain the structural and data integrity of
the original printed product. Accessibility features, such as text
descriptions of tables, consecutively numbered footnotes placed at the
end of the file, and the text of agency comment letters, are provided
but may not exactly duplicate the presentation or format of the printed
version. The portable document format (PDF) file is an exact electronic
replica of the printed version. We welcome your feedback. Please E-mail
your comments regarding the contents or accessibility features of this
document to Webmaster@gao.gov.
This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright
protection in the United States. 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.
Report to Congressional Addressees:
June 2004:
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:
Actions to Strengthen and Sustain GPO's Transformation:
GAO-04-830:
GAO Highlights:
Highlights of GAO-04-830, a report to the Chairmen and Ranking Minority
Members, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate, and Subcommittee on
Legislative Branch, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. Senate
Why GAO Did This Study:
The transformation of the Government Printing Office (GPO) is under
way. This report captures the results of our efforts over the past year
to assess and help strengthen GPO’s transformation and strategic
planning efforts. It is the final part of GAO’s response to both a
mandate requiring GAO to examine the current state of printing and
dissemination of public government information and a congressional
request that we conduct a general management review of GPO focusing on
that GPO’s transformation and management.
What GAO Found:
Federal government printing and dissemination are changing due to the
underlying changes to the technological environment. The Public Printer
and his leadership team understand the effects of this technological
change on GPO and have begun an ambitious effort to transform GPO and
reexamine its mission. Federal agencies are publishing more documents
directly to the Web and are doing more of their printing and
dissemination of information without using GPO services. At the same
time, the public is obtaining government information from government
Web sites such as GPO Access rather than purchasing paper copies. As a
result, GPO has seen declines in its printing volumes, printing
revenues, and document sales. To assist in the transformation process
under way at GPO, GAO convened a panel of printing and information
dissemination experts, who developed a series of options for GPO to
consider in its strategic planning. The panel suggested that GPO
* develop a business plan to focus its mission on information
dissemination as its primary goal, rather than printing;
* demonstrate to its customers the value it can provide;
* improve and extend partnerships with agencies to help establish
itself as an information disseminator; and
* ensure that its internal operations are adequate for efficient and
effective management of core business functions and for service to its
customers.
GPO can also use other key practices that GAO identified to help
agencies successfully transform, such as involving employees to obtain
their ideas and gain their ownership for the transformation. GPO fully
applied one of these practices, related to ensuring that top management
drives the transformation, and has partially implemented each of the
remaining eight practices. To fully implement the remaining practices,
GPO needs to take actions including establishing its mission and
strategic goals and developing a documented plan for its
transformation.
GPO has taken some initial steps to adopt the best practices of other
public and private sector organizations, most notably with respect to
human capital management. GPO is actively implementing the
recommendations GAO made in October 2003 (see GAO-04-85). For example,
GPO reorganized the human capital office into customer-focused teams
devoted to meeting the human capital needs of GPO’s operating units.
Continued leadership attention is needed to build on the initial
progress made in information technology and financial management. For
example, GPO should implement an information technology investment
management process to help management choose, monitor, and evaluate
projects, and GPO should train its line managers to effectively use
financial data.
What GAO Recommends:
To further GPO’s transformation and build on the actions already taken
by GPO’s leaders, GAO is recommending that GPO leaders take steps to
improve planning and goal setting for the transformation. GAO is also
recommending that GPO begin adopting leading practices of world-class
organizations in financial management and information technology
management.
We provided a draft of this report in June 2004 to the Public Printer
for review and comment. The Public Printer agreed with our findings
and recommendations and noted that this report will be a major part of
GPO’s transformation process.
www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-04-830.
To view the full product, including the scope and methodology, click on
the link above. For more information, contact J. Christopher Mihm at
(202) 512-6806 or mihmj@gao.gov.
[End of section]
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
Government Printing and Dissemination Changes Are Forcing GPO's
Transformation:
GPO Has Made the Case for Change, but Actions to Advance Transformation
Needed:
World-Class Management Practices Can Strengthen GPO's Transformation:
Concluding Observations:
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
Appendixes:
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology:
Appendix II: Comments from the Government Printing Office:
Appendix III: Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO Services:
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Term Contracts:
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Procurement Purchasing:
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Regional Print Procurement:
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Information Dissemination:
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Customer Services:
Appendix IV: Panel of Experts:
Tables:
Table 1: Status of GPO's Adoption of Key Practices Associated with
Transformations:
Table 2: Printing, Binding, and Related Services Provided to the
Congress and Federal Agencies for Fiscal Year 2003:
Table 3: Executive Agency Familiarity with GPO Services:
Table 4: Executive Agency Level of Satisfaction with GPO Services:
Table 5: Satisfaction with Products and Services:
Table 6: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Term Contracts:
Table 7: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Procurement Purchasing:
Table 8: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Regional Procurement:
Table 9: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Information
Dissemination:
Table 10: Agency Ratings of GPO Customer Services:
Table 11: Agency Ratings of Most Recent Experience with GPO Customer
Services:
Figures:
Figure 1: GPO Retained Earnings for Fiscal Years 1998-2003:
Figure 2: GPO Revolving Fund Activities Accumulated Losses to Retained
Earnings for Fiscal Years 1999-2003 (Dollars in Millions):
Figure 3: GPO Revenues and Expenses from Sales of Publications for
Fiscal Years 1999-2003:
Figure 4: GPO's Organization as of June 2004:
Figure 5: Banner Displayed at GPO's Pueblo Document Distribution
Center:
Figure 6: Achieving Best Practices in Financial Management:
Abbreviations:
CFO: Chief Financial Officer:
CHCO: Chief Human Capital Officer:
CIO: Chief Information Officer:
COO: Chief Operating Officer:
DLC: Depository Library Council:
ECO: Employee Communications Office:
FDLP: Federal Depository Library Program:
GPO: Government Printing Office:
GPRA: Government Performance and Accountability Act:
IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers:
IT: Information Technology:
NDIIPP: National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation
Program:
OMB: Office of Management and Budget:
Letter June 30, 2004:
The Honorable Ted Stevens:
Chairman:
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd:
Ranking Minority Member:
Committee on Appropriations:
United States Senate:
The Honorable Ben Nighthorse Campbell:
Chairman:
The Honorable Richard J. Durbin:
Ranking Minority Member:
Subcommittee on Legislative Branch:
Committee on Appropriations:
United States Senate:
The transformation of the Government Printing Office (GPO) has begun.
The trend towards producing government documents through electronic
publishing technology and providing public government documents through
the Internet has affected all of GPO's programs, reducing the
production, procurement, and sales of printed products. These have
historically provided GPO with a vital source of revenue to supplement
its annual appropriation. GPO is making operational and cultural
changes to help ensure that it stays relevant and efficient, and that
it meets its customers' needs.
This report encompasses our body of work on GPO from the past year and
responds to both (1) a mandate from the Senate Committee on
Appropriations, included in Senate Report 107-209, to examine the
current state of printing and dissemination of federal government
information and provide strategic options for GPO to enhance the
efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of its printing and
dissemination operations and (2) your request that we conduct a general
management review of GPO to focus on GPO's efforts to transform. The
Subcommittee requested that the general management review be done in
conjunction with the committee's mandated review. We have issued
several products in response to and based on the legislative mandate
and request, including briefings on the current printing and
dissemination operations at GPO, the results of a panel discussion on
the future role of GPO and a survey of executive branch agencies' use
of GPO services, and selected approaches for workforce restructuring at
GPO. We have also issued a report containing recommendations to assist
GPO's transformation through strategic human capital management efforts
and a congressional testimony outlining technological changes affecting
GPO's mission.
This report summarizes and, as appropriate, expands upon and updates
our earlier work. First, in response to the Senate Committee's mandate,
we describe the current state of printing and dissemination of federal
government information, which is based on a survey of GPO's executive
branch customers and a panel of experts who discussed (1) trends in
printing, publishing, and dissemination and (2) the future role of GPO.
Second, our general management review focused on actions GPO's
leadership has taken and can take to transform itself and develop a
strategic plan, and how GPO can work towards building a world-class
organization.
In completing the general management review, we used as the analytical
framework for collecting data and reviewing GPO's transformational
efforts the key practices and implementation steps for mergers and
organizational transformations that we had previously
developed.[Footnote 1]
We performed our work from March 2003 through June 2004. During this
time we worked cooperatively with GPO leaders, meeting regularly with
them about the progress of their transformation initiatives and
providing them with information that they plan to use to develop GPO's
strategic plan and strengthen management. For the general management
review examining GPO's transformational efforts, we followed generally
accepted government auditing standards. Because the nature of the work
in response to the mandate was future oriented and focused on
technological developments, not organizational management, we
determined that it could not be considered an audit subject to
generally accepted government auditing standards. However, in our
approach to the work, we followed appropriate quality control
procedures consistent with the generally accepted standards. For
additional information on our scope and methodology, see appendix I.
Results in Brief:
Printing and dissemination in the federal government, as in private
industry, are being transformed by the changing technological
environment. Documents are increasingly being created and disseminated
electronically, sometimes without ever being printed on paper. Federal
agencies are publishing more documents directly to the Web and are
doing more of their printing and dissemination of information directly,
without using GPO services. At the same time, as more and more
government documents are being created and managed electronically, the
public is obtaining government information from government Web sites,
such as GPO Access (h [Hyperlink, http://www.gpoaccess.gov] ttp://
www.gpoaccess.gov), rather than purchasing paper copies of government
documents. As a result, GPO has seen declines in its printing volumes,
printing revenues, and document sales. The agency's procured printing
business has experienced a loss of $15.8 million over the past 5 years.
The sales program lost $77 million over the same period. In addition,
these changes are creating challenges for GPO's long-standing structure
for centralized printing and dissemination and its interactions with
customer agencies.
The Public Printer recognizes these challenges and in response has
embarked upon an ambitious transformation. To assist in this effort, a
panel of printing and dissemination experts that we convened provided a
number of suggestions for GPO to consider as it transforms itself. The
panel suggested that GPO do the following:
* Develop a business plan focused on information dissemination as its
primary goal, rather than printing.
* Collect data to demonstrate that the services it provides--printing
and publishing as well as information dissemination to the public
through its library system and Web site--add value.
* Establish partnerships with other agencies that disseminate
information and enhance its current partnerships.
* Ensure that its internal operations--including technology, how it
does business with its customers, management information systems, and
training--are adequate for efficient and effective management of core
business functions and for service to its customers.
In its efforts to transform, GPO can use the nine key practices listed
below that we identified in previous work. One of these practices,
related to ensuring that top management drives the transformation, has
already been fully applied by GPO's leadership, and GPO has begun to
implement each of the remaining eight practices. To fully implement the
remaining practices, GPO will need to take additional actions, such as
establishing its mission and strategic goals and developing a plan for
its transformation. The status of GPO's efforts with respect to the key
transformation practices is summarized in table 1.
Table 1: Status of GPO's Adoption of Key Practices Associated with
Transformations:
Practice: Ensure top leadership drives the transformation;
GPO status: GPO has fully implemented this practice through the Public
Printer's actions to make a clear and compelling case for transforming
GPO. He has also established an organizational structure to help
balance transformation with the delivery of services.
Practice: Establish a coherent mission and integrated strategic goals
to guide the transformation;
GPO status: GPO has not established a mission and strategic goals;
however, GPO has set goals for its individual operating units, which
help to create a more results- oriented culture.
Practice: Focus on a key set of principles and priorities at the outset
of the transformation;
GPO status: GPO has not adopted a set of agencywide principles or core
values; however, a GPO unit has benefited from establishing core
values.
Practice: Set implementation goals and a timeline to build momentum and
show progress from day one;
GPO status: GPO has not established specific time frames and goals for
its transformation; however, it has planned some initial steps to show
progress.
Practice: Dedicate an implementation team to manage the transformation
process;
GPO status: GPO's management council focuses on transformational
issues, but attention to the daily activities of the transformation
could be strengthened.
Practice: Use the performance management system to define the
responsibility and assure accountability for change;
GPO status: GPO is developing a new performance management system for
its executives, but needs to complete its strategic plan before it can
align performance expectations with organizational goals.
Practice: Establish a communication strategy to create shared
expectations and report related progress;
GPO status: GPO leadership has communicated early and often, ensured
consistency of message, and encouraged two-way communication. However,
employees want additional information to meet their specific needs.
Practice: Involve employees to obtain their ideas and gain ownership
for the transformation;
GPO status: GPO has informed employees of changes, but has the
opportunity to more fully involve them in the transformation.
Practice: Build a world-class organization;
GPO status: GPO has taken steps to apply best practices in human
capital, information technology, and financial management, but
significant challenges remain.
Source: GAO.
[End of table]
Throughout this report, we make recommendations to assist GPO with the
implementation of the eight practices that have not been completely
implemented.
GPO leadership has articulated a vision to transform GPO into a world-
class organization and has taken some initial steps toward this
objective, most notably with respect to human capital management. GPO's
Human Capital Office is using our October 2003 report[Footnote 2] as
GPO's roadmap for transforming its human capital management and is
actively implementing the recommendations we made. For example, the
Human Capital Office reorganized into customer-focused teams devoted to
meeting the human capital needs of GPO's operating units.[Footnote 3]
With respect to information technology and financial management, GPO
has taken initial steps towards improvement, but continued leadership
attention is needed. For example, the Chief Information Officer (CIO)
is issuing new security-related policies and procedures in response to
problems identified by an external audit organization, and the Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) has adopted the best practice of regularly
providing financial information to GPO's key decision makers. We make
recommendations to GPO leadership to build on its progress by further
adopting best practices in the areas of information technology and
financial management. For example, GPO should implement an information
technology investment management process to help management choose,
monitor, and evaluate projects. With regard to financial management,
GPO needs to train its line managers to effectively use the financial
data that they receive from the CFO.
We provided a draft of this report on June 9, 2004 to the Public
Printer for review and comment. We received written comments from the
Public Printer, which are reprinted in appendix II. The Public Printer
agreed with the content, findings, and recommendations of the draft
report, noting that our report will be a major part of GPO's
transformation process. GPO also provided minor technical
clarifications, which we incorporated as appropriate in this report.
Background:
GPO's mission includes both printing government documents and
disseminating them to the public. Under the public printing and
documents statutes of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, GPO's mission is to
fulfill the printing needs of the federal government and to distribute
those printed products to the public. All printing for the Congress,
the executive branch, and the judiciary--except for the Supreme Court-
-is to be done or contracted by GPO except for authorized
exemptions.[Footnote 4] The Superintendent of Documents, who heads
GPO's Information Dissemination division, disseminates these
government products to the public through a system of nearly 1,300
depository libraries nationwide (the Federal Depository Library
Program), GPO's Web site (GPO Access), telephone and fax ordering, an
on-line ordering site, and its bookstore in Washington, D.C. The
Superintendent of Documents is also responsible for classification and
bibliographic control of tangible and electronic government
publications.
Printing and related services. In providing printing and binding
services to the government, GPO generally dedicates its in-house
printing equipment to congressional printing, contracting out most
printing for the executive branch.[Footnote 5] Table 2 shows the costs
of these services in fiscal year 2003, as well as the source of these
printing services.
Table 2: Printing, Binding, and Related Services Provided to the
Congress and Federal Agencies for Fiscal Year 2003:
Dollars in millions.
Produced at in-house printing plant;
Billings for congressional services: $72.6;
Billings for federal agency services: $94.9.
Procured from private sector;
Billings for congressional services: $1.4;
Billings for federal agency services: $474.7.
Total;
Billings for congressional services: $74.0;
Billings for federal agency services: $569.6.
Source: GPO.
[End of table]
Documents printed for the Congress include the Congressional Record,
hearing transcripts, bills, resolutions, amendments, and committee
reports, among other things. GPO also provides publishing support staff
to the Congress. These support staff mainly perform print preparation
activities, such as typing, scanning, proofreading, and preparation of
electronic data for transmission to GPO.
GPO generally provides printing services to federal agencies through an
acquisition program that relies on the commercial sector by passing the
contractors' costs on to its government customers. Prequalified
businesses, small to large in size, compete for printing jobs that GPO
printing experts oversee to ensure that the contractors meet customer
requirements for quality. For this service, GPO attaches a 7 percent
surcharge that GPO officials have stated was established partly by what
the market will bear and partly by what is needed to cover GPO
expenses. GPO procures about 83 percent of printing for federal
agencies from private contractors and does the remaining 17 percent at
its own plant facilities. Most of the procured printing jobs (85
percent for the period from June 2002 to May 2003) were for under
$2,500 each.
Besides printing, GPO provides a range of services to agencies
including, for example, CD-ROM development and production, archiving/
storage, converting products to electronic format, Web hosting, and Web
page design and development.
Dissemination of government information. The Superintendent of
Documents is responsible for the acquisition, classification,
dissemination, and bibliographic control of tangible and electronic
government publications. Regardless of the printing source, Title 44
requires that federal agencies make all their publications available to
the Superintendent of Documents for cataloging and distribution.
The Superintendent of Documents manages a number of programs related to
distribution, including the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP),
which provides copies of government publications to libraries across
the country for public use.[Footnote 6] Generally, documents
distributed to the libraries are those that contain information on U.S.
government activities or are important reference publications. GPO
evaluates documents to determine whether they should be disseminated to
the depository libraries. When documents are printed through GPO, it
evaluates them at the time of printing; if documents are not printed
through GPO, agencies are to notify GPO of these documents, so that it
can evaluate them and arrange to receive any copies needed for
distribution. A relatively small percentage of the items printed
through GPO for the executive branch are designated as depository
items.
Another distribution program under the Superintendent of Documents is
the Sales of Publications Program, which purchases, warehouses, sells,
and distributes government documents. Publications are sold by mail,
telephone, and fax; through GPO's on-line bookstore; and at its
bookstore in Washington, D.C. In addition, GPO provides electronic
copies of the Congressional Record and other documents to the Congress,
the public, and the depository libraries in accordance with the
Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement
Act of 1993.
The Superintendent of Documents is also responsible for GPO's Web site,
GPO Access, which is one mechanism for electronic dissemination of
government documents to the public through links to over 268,000
individual titles on GPO's servers and other federal Web sites. More
than 2 billion documents have been retrieved by the public from GPO
Access since August 1994; almost 372 million downloads of government
information from GPO Access were made in fiscal year 2002 alone. About
two-thirds of new FDLP titles are available online.
GPO Is Funded by Appropriations and by a Revolving Fund:
GPO receives funding from two appropriations: (1) the Congressional
Printing and Binding Appropriation, which is used for in-house printing
of congressional activities and (2) the Salaries and Expenses
Appropriation, which is used for certain Superintendent of Documents
activities.
In addition to these appropriations, GPO has a business-oriented
revolving fund, which is used to fund its procured printing, document
sales, and other operations. The revolving fund was designed to
financially "break even" by recovering costs through rates, prices, and
other charges to customers for goods and services provided by GPO. The
revolving fund is supported by the 7 percent service charge levied on
agency customers of GPO-procured printing services and also receives
funds from sales of publications to the general public.
Trends in Printing and Information Dissemination:
Current printing industry trends show that the total volume of printed
material has been declining for the past few years, and this trend is
expected to continue. A major factor in this declining volume is the
use of electronic media options. The move to electronic dissemination
is the latest phase in the electronic publishing revolution that has
transformed the printing industry in recent decades. This revolution
was driven by the development of increasingly sophisticated electronic
publishing ("desktop publishing") software, run on personal computers,
that allows users to design documents including both images and text,
and the parallel development of electronic laser printer/copier
technology with capabilities that approach those of high-end presses.
These tools allow users to produce documents that formerly would have
required professional printing expertise and large printing systems.
These technologies have brought major economic and industrial changes
to the printing industry. As electronic publishing software becomes
increasingly sophisticated, user-friendly, and reliable, it approaches
the ideal of the print customer being able to produce files that can be
reproduced on the press with little or no intervention by printing
professionals. As the printing process is simplified, the customer can
take responsibility for more of the work. Thus, the technologies
diminish the value that printing organizations such as GPO add to the
printing process, particularly for simpler printing jobs. Nonetheless,
professional expertise remains critical for many aspects of printing,
and for many print jobs it is still not possible to bypass the printing
professional altogether.
The advent of the Internet permits the instantaneous distribution of
the electronic documents produced by the new publishing processes,
breaking the link between printing and dissemination. With the
increasing use of the Web, the electronic dissemination of information
becomes not only practical, but also more economical than dissemination
on paper.
As a result, many organizations are changing from a print to an
electronic focus. In the early stages of the electronic publishing
revolution, organizations tended to prepare a document for printing and
then convert the print layout to electronic form--in other words,
focusing on printing rather than dissemination. Increasingly, however,
organizations are changing their focus to providing information--not
necessarily on paper. Today an organization may employ computers to
generate both plates used for printing as well as electronic files for
dissemination. Tomorrow, the organization may create only an electronic
representation of the information, which can be disseminated through
various media, such as Web sites.[Footnote 7] A printed version would
be produced only upon request.
Government Printing and Dissemination Changes Are Forcing GPO's
Transformation:
As in private industry, printing and dissemination in the federal
government are being heavily affected by the changing technological
environment. This new environment presents both financial and
management challenges to GPO. Just as the volume of material provided
to private firms for printing has decreased over the past few years, so
has the volume of material that federal agencies provide to GPO for
printing. In addition, federal agencies are publishing more items
directly to the Web--without creating paper documents at all--and are
able to print and disseminate information without using GPO services.
Similarly, individuals are downloading documents from government Web
sites, such as GPO Access, rather than purchasing paper copies of
government documents, thus reducing document sales. As a result, GPO's
financial condition has deteriorated, and the relationship between GPO
and its federal agency customers has changed.
Changes in Government Printing and Dissemination Result in Reduced
Revenues:
The reduction in the demand for procured printing and for printed
government documents has resulted in reduced revenues to GPO. These
diminished revenues, combined with steady expenses and management's use
of retained earnings for GPO-wide needs, have totally depleted the
retained earnings from revolving fund activities. These retained
earnings have gone from a surplus of $100 million in fiscal year 1998
to a deficit of $19 million in fiscal year 2003. Figure 1 shows the
declining trend in retained earnings.
Figure 1: GPO Retained Earnings for Fiscal Years 1998-2003:
[See PDF for image]
Note: The accounting adjustment in 2000 reflects the reclassification
of the book value of an air-conditioning system. Dollar amounts have
not been adjusted for inflation.
[End of figure]
Specifically, most of the reductions to revenues for GPO's revolving
fund activities are from two sources: (1) losses to the sales of
publications operations[Footnote 8] and (2) adjustments to actuarial
calculations of future liabilities for GPO's workforce
compensation.[Footnote 9] Additional reductions to retained earnings
resulted from GPO's procured printing operations and:
regional printing.[Footnote 10] (See fig. 2.) Also, retained earnings
were used to provide the Retirement Separation Incentive Program for
reductions to GPO's workforce.[Footnote 11]
Figure 2: GPO Revolving Fund Activities Accumulated Losses to Retained
Earnings for Fiscal Years 1999-2003 (Dollars in Millions):
[See PDF for image]
Note: Dollar amounts have not been adjusted for inflation.
[End of figure]
Losses to the sales program account for the largest reductions to GPO's
retained earnings. The sales program has had a net loss of $77 million
over the past 5 years, $20 million in fiscal year 2003 alone. According
to GPO, these losses are due to a downward trend in customer demand for
printed publications that has significantly reduced document sales
revenues. For example, according to the Superintendent of Documents,
GPO sold 35,000 subscriptions to the Federal Register 10 years ago and
now sells 2,500; at the same time, over 4 million Federal Register
documents are downloaded:
each month from GPO Access.[Footnote 12] The Superintendent also
reported that the overall volume of sales has dropped from 24.3 million
copies sold in fiscal year 1993 to 4.4 million copies sold in fiscal
year 2002. As a result, revenues have not covered expenses, and the
sales program has sustained significant annual operating losses. (See
fig. 3.)
Figure 3: GPO Revenues and Expenses from Sales of Publications for
Fiscal Years 1999-2003:
[See PDF for image]
Note: Dollar amounts have not been adjusted for inflation.
[End of figure]
By comparison, the losses from GPO's procured printing business are
less significant: $15.8 million over the last 5 years. According to
GPO, its federal agency print jobs at one time generated close to $1
billion a year. In fiscal year 2003, the amount was just over half
that--$570 million.
Changes in Printing and Dissemination Affect How Federal Agencies Use
GPO Services:
These changes in federal printing and dissemination are also creating
challenges for GPO's long-standing structure for centralized printing
and dissemination. As mentioned earlier, agencies are to notify GPO of
published documents (if they used other printing sources), which allows
GPO to review agency documents to determine whether the documents
should be disseminated to the depository libraries. If they should be,
GPO can then add a rider to the agency's print contract to obtain the
number of copies that it needs for dissemination.[Footnote 13] However,
if agencies do not notify GPO of their intent to print, these documents
become "fugitive documents" and may not be available to the public
through the depository library program.
In responding to our surveys, executive branch agencies reported that
they are producing a significant portion of their total printing volume
internally, generally on desktop publishing and reproduction equipment
instead of large-scale printing equipment. In addition, while most
agencies (16 of 21) reported that they have established procedures to
ensure that documents that should be disseminated through the libraries
are forwarded to GPO, 5 of 21 did not have such procedures, thus
potentially adding to the fugitive document problem.
Responding agencies also reported that although currently more
government documents are still being printed than are being published
electronically, more and more documents are being published directly to
the Web, and their numbers are expected to grow in the future. Most
agencies reported that documents published directly to the Web were not
of the type that is required to be sent to GPO for dissemination.
However, a GPO official, in commenting on this, said that unless there
is a specific reason why a document should not be disseminated to the
public, such as if it is classified or of administrative interest only,
GPO should have the opportunity to evaluate whether that document is
suitable for dissemination through its depository library system.
Of the five agencies that did publish eligible documents
electronically, only one said that it had submitted these documents to
GPO. As electronic publishing continues to grow, such conditions may
contribute further to the fugitive document problem.
Change in Printing and Dissemination Affect Relationship between GPO
and Executive Branch Customers:
The ongoing agency shift toward electronic publishing is also creating
challenges for GPO's existing relationships with its executive branch
customers. In responding to our surveys, executive branch agencies
expressed overall satisfaction with GPO's products and services and
expressed a desire to continue to use these services for at least part
of their publishing needs. However, these agencies reported a few areas
in which GPO could improve--for example, in the presentation of new
products and services. (We provide further results from our surveys on
agency satisfaction in app. III.)
Further, some agencies indicated that they were less familiar with and
less likely to use GPO's electronic products and services. As shown in
table 3, these agencies were hardly or not at all familiar with
services such as Web page design and development (8 of 28), Web hosting
services (8 of 29), and electronic publishing services (5 of 28). As a
consequence, these agencies were also less likely to use these
services. With the expected growth in electronic publishing and other
services, making customer agencies fully aware of GPO's capabilities in
these areas is important. Table 3 provides agency responses on their
familiarity with various GPO products and services.
Table 3: Executive Agency Familiarity with GPO Services:
GPO product/service: Archiving/storage;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 9;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Binding;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Extremely: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 12;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: CD-ROM development and production;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 12;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Hardly or not at all:
4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Converting products to electronic format;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 13;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Hardly or not at all:
4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Custom finishing;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Duplication/print on demand;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 9;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Moderately: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Electronic publishing;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 9;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Federal Depository Library Program;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 12;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 10;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 1;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Hardly or not at all:
2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Financial management services;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 9;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Moderately: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: GPO sales program;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Institute for Federal Printing and Electronic
Publishing;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 12;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Large format printing;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Production Inventory Control System;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Hardly or not at all:
6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Preflighting[ B];
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 9;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Press sheet inspection[ C];
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 14;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 10;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Moderately: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 1;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Printing (in-house);
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 17;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 1;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Product dissemination;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 7;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Reimbursable storage/distribution;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 2;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 10;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Hardly or not at all:
6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Typography/design;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 12;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Very: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 3;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Web hosting;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Extremely: 1;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 4;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Moderately: 6;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 10;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 29.
GPO product/service: Web page design/development;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Extremely: 1;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Very: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/ services: Moderately: 5;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Somewhat: 9;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Hardly or not at all: 8;
Agency familiarity with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[A] Not all agencies answered every question.
[B] Preflighting is checking printed or electronic copy before printed
copies are made.
[C] Press sheet inspection is a review of printed sheets before
printed copies are made.
[End of table]
A few of the responding agencies reported less than satisfied ratings
for some GPO products and services. Among these services were financial
management services (7 of 23) and Web page design/development (3 of
10). Agencies also reported not using some GPO products and services,
including Web hosting and Web page design/development services (18 of
28), converting products to electronic format (11 of 28), and
electronic publishing services (9 of 28). Table 4 shows the results of
our survey on agency satisfaction with GPO services, which includes
agencies' reports of products and services that they do not use.
Table 4: Executive Agency Level of Satisfaction with GPO Services:
GPO product/service: Archiving/storage;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 15;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Binding;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: CD-ROM development and production;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Converting products to electronic format;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 11;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Custom finishing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 12;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Duplication/print on demand;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Electronic publishing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Federal Depository Library Program;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Financial management services;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: GPO sales program;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Institute for Federal Printing and Electronic
Publishing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 11;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Large format printing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Production Inventory Control System;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 11;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Preflighting;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 8;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Press sheet inspection;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 8;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Printing (in-house);
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Product dissemination;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Reimbursable storage/distribution;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 19;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Typography/design;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Web hosting;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 18;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Web page design/development;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 18;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[A] Not all agencies answered every question.
[End of table]
GPO Is Taking Action to Address Challenges:
GPO officials agreed with our assessment of the impact of technological
change and said they are taking action to make GPO a more customer-
focused organization. According to these officials, GPO is:
* taking a new direction with its Office of Sales and Marketing,
including hiring an outside expert and establishing nine national
account managers, who spend most of their time in the field building
relationships with key customers, analyzing their business processes,
identifying current and future needs, and offering solutions;
* working with its largest agency customer, the Department of Defense,
to determine how to work more closely with large in-house printing
operations;
* evaluating recommendations received from the Depository Library
Council; and:
* continuing to implement a Demonstration Print Procurement Project,
jointly announced with the Office of Management and Budget on June 6,
2003.
The Demonstration Print Procurement Project is to provide a Web-based
system that will be a one-stop, integrated print ordering and invoicing
system. The system is to allow agencies to order their own printing at
reduced rates, with the option of buying additional printing
procurement services from GPO. According to GPO, this project is also
designed to address many of the issues identified through our executive
branch surveys, particularly the depository library fugitive document
problem.
Recommended Next Steps:
Although executive branch agencies generally expressed satisfaction
with GPO products and services, their survey responses indicate some
areas for improvement. Accordingly, we recommend that the Public
Printer:
* work with executive branch agencies to examine the nature of their
in-house printing and determine whether GPO could provide these
services more economically;
* address the few areas in which executive branch agencies rated GPO's
products, services, and performance as below average;
* reexamine GPO's marketing of electronic services to ensure that
agencies are aware of them; and:
* use the results of our surveys to work with agencies to establish
processes that will ensure that eligible documents (whether printed or
electronic) are forwarded to GPO for dissemination to the public, as
required by law.
Expert Panel Suggests Strategic Options for GPO's Future Role:
The Public Printer and his leadership team recognize the challenges
that they face in the very competitive printing and dissemination
marketplace and have embarked upon an ambitious effort to transform the
agency. First and foremost, the Public Printer agrees with the need to
reexamine the mission of the agency within the context of technological
change that underlies GPO's current situation. To assist in that
process, our expert panel developed a series of options for GPO to
consider in its planning. Briefly, the panel suggested that GPO:
* develop a business plan to focus its mission on information
dissemination as its primary goal, rather than printing;
* demonstrate to its customers--including agencies and the public--the
value it can provide;
* improve and extend partnerships with agencies to help establish
itself as an information disseminator; and:
* ensure that its internal operations--including technology, how it
conducts business with its customers, management information systems,
and training--are adequate for efficient and effective management of
core business functions and for service to its customers.
We shared the results of the panel with GPO leadership, who commented
that the panel's suggestions dovetail well with their own assessments.
These leaders stated that they are using the results of the panel as a
key part of the agency's ongoing strategic planning process. The panel
members are listed in appendix IV.
Create a New Vision Focusing on Dissemination:
In view of the changing federal government printing and dissemination
environment, the panel suggested that GPO first needs to create a new
vision of itself as a disseminator of information, and not only a
printer of documents. As one panel member put it, GPO should end up
resembling a bank of information rather than a mint that stamps paper.
As a first step in this new vision, according to the panel, GPO needs
to develop a business plan that emphasizes direct electronic
dissemination methods over distribution of paper documents. The panel
identified several elements that could be included in such a business
plan:
Improving GPO Access. GPO Access should be upgraded, and particular
emphasis should be placed on improving the search capabilities.
Investigating methods to disseminate information directly. For example,
GPO could develop additional services to "push" data and documents into
the hands of those who need or want them. To become more active in
disseminating data, GPO could provide information to public interest or
advocacy groups that are interested in tracking government information
on certain subjects. These groups require something like a news
clipping service, and the panel suggested that this is one way in which
GPO could provide "value-added" service for which it could collect
fees.[Footnote 14]
Modernizing production processes. GPO should be moving toward
production processes that will allow it to prepare a document once for
distribution through various media (print or electronic). In the past,
most organizations have focused on printing paper documents that are
then turned into electronic ones. According to the panel members, the
strategy for the future is to publish electronically and print only
when necessary.
Promote the federal use of metadata. GPO should support the use of
metadata--descriptive information about the data provided that is
carried along with the data--across the federal government as a
requirement for electronic publishing.
Providing increased support to the depository libraries. According to
the panel, the depository libraries will continue to play an important
role in providing access to electronically disseminated government
information--through GPO Access and other tools--to that portion of the
public that does not have access to the Internet. To support this role,
GPO will have to ensure that the depository libraries receive training
in electronic search tools, especially in GPO Access.
GPO officials stated that its Office of Innovation and New
Technologies, established in early 2003, is leading an effort to
transform GPO into an agency "at the cutting edge of multichannel
information dissemination."[Footnote 15] A major goal in this effort is
to disseminate information while still addressing the need "to
electronically preserve, authenticate, and version the documents of our
democracy." Also, GPO has established an Office of New Business
Development that is to develop new products and service ideas that will
result in increased revenues. GPO officials stated that they are using
the results of the panel discussion to categorize and prioritize their
initial compilation of ideas for new products and services and, in this
context, plan to assess how these ideas would improve operations and
revenue.
Demonstrate Value to Customers and the Public:
The panel also agreed that, while GPO appears to provide value to
agencies because of its expertise in printing and dissemination, it is
not clear that agencies and the general public realize this. Therefore,
GPO should focus on demonstrating its value to federal agencies and to
the public. According to the panel, areas that GPO could emphasize
include the following:
Providing competitively priced printing that meets customer needs. GPO
should collect the data to show that it can, in fact, provide the "best
value" for the government print dollar. GPO should demonstrate its
capabilities by assisting agencies to select optimal alternatives for
obtaining their printing.
Providing expert assistance in electronic dissemination. Given GPO's
major role in providing information dissemination, one panel member
suggested that GPO provide its expert advice on electronic Web site
dissemination to agencies. Once again, GPO could develop information
that demonstrates how it can add value in this area.
Disseminating government information to the public. GPO should focus on
demonstrating the usefulness of agencies' sharing information with GPO
for public dissemination. In addition, the depository libraries and GPO
Access should be made better known to the public. GPO could demonstrate
its value to the public as a trusted source of authentic government
information.
GPO agreed that demonstrating its value is an important part of its new
customer service direction. GPO's Office of Sales and Marketing is also
working to augment customer service, including hiring an outside expert
and establishing nine national account managers, as mentioned earlier.
Establish Partnerships with Collaborating and Customer Agencies:
According to the panel, GPO should establish partnerships with other
agencies and enhance the partnerships it already has. These
partnerships can be used to assist GPO in establishing itself as a
disseminator and depository of information and to expand agencies' use
of GPO in this role. Specifically, the panel suggested that GPO
establish partnerships with the other information dissemination and
preservation agencies (such as the National Library of Medicine, the
Office of Scientific and Technical Information, the Library of
Congress, and the National Archives and Records Administration) with
which it has related responsibilities. Through ongoing dialogue with
these agencies, GPO will be able to (1) coordinate standards and best
practices for digitizing documents and (2) work with agencies to
archive documents in order to keep them permanently available to the
public. GPO could be successfully marketed as the source of government
information for public use.
In addition, the panel suggested that GPO improve and expand its
partnerships with other agencies. Most agencies consider GPO a resource
for printing documents; however, it now has the capability to assist in
the collection and dissemination of electronic information.
GPO agreed that partnerships with other agencies, particularly the
information dissemination agencies, would be a key item in its
transformation. GPO has made efforts to join various working groups
within the government working on information dissemination issues. Most
recently, the Public Printer has been added to the oversight committee
of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation
Program (NDIIPP), a national cooperative effort to archive and preserve
digital information, led by the Library of Congress.
Improve Internal Operations:
The panel suggested that GPO would need to improve its internal
operations to be successful in the very competitive printing and
dissemination marketplace. Panel members suggested that GPO consider
the following strategies.
Emphasize the use of technology to address future needs. The panel
members suggested that GPO hire a chief technical officer (in addition
to its chief information officer), who would focus on bringing in new
printing and dissemination technologies while maintaining older
technologies.
Improve how it conducts business with its customers. An electronic
means for submitting printing requests would streamline the printing
process for GPO customers. One panel member noted that when his
organization started an electronic submission system for manuscripts,
the number of requests it received increased dramatically because such
systems made it easier for the user. (GPO's demonstration project,
currently being piloted at the Department of Labor, includes use of a
Web-based tool for submitting printing requests.)
Improving management information systems. GPO should overhaul its
outdated management information systems and acquire new ones that can
provide management with the information it needs to effectively monitor
operations and to make good business decisions.
Enhance employee training. GPO's transformation should include
significant improvements to employee training. GPO customer service
employees should have the knowledge they need to effectively assist
customers not only in printing publications and creating electronic
documents, but also in advising customers on the best form of
dissemination (paper or electronic) for their jobs.
GPO agreed that its internal operations need improvement. Among its
actions to address the adequacy of its internal functions, GPO has
hired a chief technical officer. The chief technical officer serves as
a codirector of the Innovation and New Technology Office and provides
principal guidance in the creation and development of technology
designed to accelerate the transformation of GPO into a 21st century
information organization using state of the art solutions to provide
the highest quality government information services to the nation.
GPO Has Made the Case for Change, but Actions to Advance Transformation
Needed:
Large-scale change management initiatives, such as organizational
transformations, are not simple endeavors and require the concentrated
efforts of both leadership and employees to realize intended synergies
and to accomplish new organizational goals. We have identified a number
of key practices and related implementation steps that have
consistently been found at the center of successful
transformations.[Footnote 16] Collectively, these key practices and
implementation steps can help agencies transform their cultures so that
they have the capacity to fulfill their promises, meet current and
emerging needs, maximize their performance, and ensure accountability.
GPO has applied some key practices as part of its transformation
effort, such as involving top leadership and strategically
communicating with employees and other stakeholders. However, it has
not fully applied key practices that emphasize planning and goal
setting. For example, GPO has not developed a plan for its
transformation that would include goals and strategies to achieve its
goals. Such a plan is important to pinpoint performance shortfalls and
gaps and suggest midcourse corrections.
GPO's Leadership Has Clearly Articulated the Need to Transform and
Taken Steps to Ensure the Continued Delivery of Services:
Because transformation of an organization entails fundamental change,
strong and inspirational leadership is indispensable. Our work has
found that leadership articulating a succinct and compelling reason for
change helps employees, customers, and stakeholders understand the
expected outcomes of the transformation and engenders not only their
cooperation, but also their ownership of these outcomes. In addition,
to ensure that the productivity and effectiveness of the organization
do not decline, leadership must also balance the continued delivery of
services with transformation activities.
Key transformation practice:
Ensure top leadership drives the transformation;
Implementation steps:
* Define and articulate a succinct and compelling reason for change;
* Balance continued delivery of services with transformation
activities.
On several occasions and to different audiences, the Public Printer has
reiterated the need for GPO to move from the 19th century to the 21st
century. The Public Printer bases his case for change on three
interrelated points that are consistent with our findings discussed
above:
* GPO's printing business and customer base has decreased significantly
in recent years due to the government's and public's increased use of
and reliance on electronic documents, necessitating GPO to establish
itself as the leading organization within the federal government for
dealing with the collection, authentication, and preservation of
government documents--rather than a traditional printing operation.
* GPO has failed to update its technological abilities to keep pace
with changes in the information dissemination environment, and as a
result must update its technology to address the needs of today's
customers and information users and stay alert to future trends and
changing needs.
* GPO's retained earnings, which were normally available to fund
technological investment, are virtually depleted, requiring GPO to
change the way in which it does business to ensure that it can reverse
the trend of financial losses.
GPO's precarious financial condition makes it essential that its
leaders effectively balance transformation efforts with the continued
delivery of services. The Public Printer created and filled eight top
leadership positions. The creation of these positions recognized that
the demands of transforming while managing an ongoing operation can
strain leadership, as well as the importance of organizational
structure as a key factor affecting an agency's management control
environment. These positions, which had no counterpart in GPO's former
organization, can help ensure that GPO balances its transformation
efforts with its day-to-day operations. For example, the Chief
Operating Officer (COO) focuses primarily on day-to-day activities, the
Chief of Staff focuses on strategic planning, and the Chief Human
Capital Officer (CHCO), CIO, and CFO address both types of activities
within their respective functional areas.[Footnote 17] (See fig. 4.)
Figure 4: GPO's Organization as of June 2004:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
GPO Has Set Interim Goals for Its Operating Units While It Works on a
Strategic Plan:
The mission and strategic goals of a transformed organization must
become the focus of the transformation, define the culture, and serve
as the vehicle for employees to unite and rally around. In successful
transformation efforts, developing, communicating, and constantly
reinforcing the mission and strategic goals give employees, customers,
and stakeholders a sense of what the organization intends to
accomplish, as well as helping employees determine how their positions
fit in with the new organization and what they need to do differently
to help the new organization achieve success. Adopting leading
practices for results-oriented strategic planning and reporting,
including those mandated for executive agencies in the Government
Performance and Results Act (GPRA), can help focus transformation
efforts. While GPO is not required to follow GPRA, the act can provide
a relevant framework for GPO to follow in developing its strategic
plan.[Footnote 18] GPRA requires that strategic plans include several
elements, including a mission statement, goals and objectives, and
approaches or strategies to achieve goals and objectives. The framework
can help an agency meet management control standards by enabling top
management review of actual performance against planned
performance.[Footnote 19]
Key transformation practice:
Establish a coherent mission and integrated strategic goals to guide
the transformation;
Implementation step:
Adopt leading practices for results-oriented strategic planning and
reporting.
GPO is establishing a mission and strategic goals. Its overall approach
is to consider the information gathered in the past year on GPO's
current environment--including the results of our work--and develop its
strategic plan by the summer of 2004. Specific responsibilities for
drafting a strategic plan have been placed with the Chief of Staff,
who, beginning in April 2004, held biweekly meetings with the Public
Printer to discuss the direction for the strategic plan.[Footnote 20]
These meetings were meant to provide the Chief of Staff with updates on
the Public Printer's vision, which, according to a GPO official, is
being developed as he meets with stakeholders and industry leaders.
Over the past year, the Public Printer has spoken with employees,
stakeholders, and the Congress to help focus and refine a vision for
GPO's future. On April 28, 2004, the Public Printer made his most clear
and direct statement of his vision for GPO thus far, stating that GPO
has "begun to develop a new vision for the GPO: an agency whose primary
mission will be to capture digitally, organize, maintain, authenticate,
distribute, and provide permanent public access to the information
products and services of the federal government." GPO's strategic plan
has the potential to unite employees around the new mission and
determine what they need to do to help GPO transform and achieve
success in the new environment.
Although GPO has not fully developed its mission and strategic goals,
GPO's leadership has started to change GPO's culture by setting interim
goals for major operating units. Managers told us that in the past,
GPO's culture was to not set goals in order to avoid being held
accountable for results. More specifically, GPO did not set or track
any organizational goals and, therefore, did not develop the capacity
to measure performance. The COO began to change GPO's culture by
leading an initiative in October 2003 to develop goals for its
operating units and told us that it was important to begin to focus
managers' attention on priority issues and hold them accountable for
progress. He said he viewed the interim goals as a necessary step to
prepare GPO managers to operate in a results-oriented environment after
GPO's strategic plan is completed.
The COO met with the heads of each business unit to develop goals that
they thought would be consistent with GPO's yet-to-be-developed
strategic mission based on discussions with the Public Printer. Once
the goals were developed, the COO and business unit managers identified
areas where some interdependence with other managers' goals might
exist. Each manager is responsible for achieving between 6 and 11 goals
that are specific to his or her business unit, and 6 additional goals
that are common across GPO. The common goals are as follows:
* offer training opportunities to all employees in necessary job
skills;
* establish baseline information on customer satisfaction;
* resolve all reportable conditions from financial audits;
* establish a line of communication through regular meetings to
disseminate information;
* complete second-level reorganizations; and:
* establish adequate off-site backup to enable continuity of essential
operations.
GPO's efforts to set goals are a significant step toward strengthening
communication and accountability; however, many of the goals do not
emphasize outcomes. For example, one of the goals for both the Customer
Services and Information Dissemination divisions is to implement the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) compact demonstration
program.[Footnote 21] While this demonstrates that GPO has incorporated
cross-cutting goals between its operating units, this goal is a
statement of a task to be accomplished rather than an outcome to be
achieved.
While goals are important for establishing accountability, so too are
measures, because they allow leaders to perform their management
control responsibilities for monitoring performance and ensuring
resolution of identified performance gaps. GPO's COO has stated that he
would like to strengthen performance measurement as GPO sets its goals
for fiscal year 2005. To this end, GPO has the opportunity to learn
from the practices of leading organizations that implemented results-
oriented management. Among other things, such leading organizations
generally developed measures that were tied to program goals,
demonstrated the degree to which the desired results were achieved, and
were limited to the vital few that were considered essential to
producing data for decision making.[Footnote 22]
Recommended Next Steps:
Consistent with the efforts under way, the Public Printer should ensure
that GPO's strategic planning process includes development of:
* a comprehensive agency mission statement to define the basic purpose
of GPO;
* agencywide long-term goals and objectives to explain what results are
expected from the agency's main functions and when to expect those
results;
* approaches or strategies to achieve goals and objectives to align
GPO's activities, core processes, and resources to support achievement
of GPO's strategic goals and mission;
* a description of the relationship between the long-term and annual
goals to show expected progress;
* an identification of key external factors to help determine what
actions will be needed to meet the goals; and:
* a description of program evaluations used to establish or revise
strategic goals, and a schedule for future program evaluations.
The Public Printer should reinforce a focus on results by continuing
efforts to set goals, measure performance, and hold managers
accountable by adopting leading practices of organizations that have
been successful in measuring their performance. First, the measures
that GPO develops should be:
* tied to program goals and demonstrate the degree to which the desired
results were achieved,
* limited to the vital few that are considered essential to producing
data for decision making,
* responsive to multiple priorities, and:
* responsibility-linked to establish accountability for results.
Second, GPO leadership needs to recognize the cost and effort involved
in gathering and analyzing performance data and make sure that the data
it collects are sufficiently complete, accurate, and consistent to be
useful in decision making.
GPO Can Strengthen Its Transformation by Focusing on a Key Set of
Principles and Priorities:
Principles are the core values of the new organization; like the
mission and strategic goals, they can serve as an anchor that remains
valid and enduring while organizations, personnel, programs, and
processes may change. Core values define the attributes that are
intrinsically important to what the new organization does and how it
will do it. They represent the institutional beliefs and boundaries
that are essential to building a new culture for the organization.
Key transformation practice:
Focus on a key set of principles and priorities at the outset of the
transformation;
Implementation step: Embed core values in every aspect of the
organization to reinforce the new culture.
GPO leadership has not adopted a set of agencywide core values to help
unify GPO to achieve its transformation, but has created a task team
under the direction of the Deputy Chief of Staff to develop them.
Although the core values have yet to be developed, they are referenced
in draft performance agreements for its senior managers.
The experience of a GPO unit demonstrates the benefits of having core
values. According to the Director of the Pueblo Document Distribution
Center, core values were developed in 1998 that helped change the
center's culture and focus employees on improving the center's
performance. The employees at Pueblo had a series of meetings to
develop and agree on the core values, thereby taking ownership of them
and reinforcing employees' understanding that they were responsible for
the success of the Pueblo facility. Figure 5 shows a banner detailing
these core values that hangs prominently in the facility.
Figure 5: Banner Displayed at GPO's Pueblo Document Distribution
Center:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
Employees said that the banner is a constant reminder that their
individual and organizational success is dependent on how well they
employ the core values as they serve their customers. The Pueblo
Document Distribution Center Director said that establishing core
values has helped employees take ownership for improving customer
service, as measured by the center's per order error rate. He said that
the employees understand the importance of these core values because
most of their work is done on a reimbursable basis for other federal
agency customers, the center's primary source of funding. Efforts to
improve customer service are consistent with the recommendation made by
the panel of printing and information dissemination experts we
convened.
Recommended Next Steps:
The Public Printer should:
* articulate to all employees how the core values can guide GPO's
transformation and serve to anchor GPO's transformation efforts and:
* ensure core values developed by units within GPO are consistent with
GPO's agencywide core values.
GPO Does Not Have a Transformation Plan, but Has Taken Steps to
Demonstrate Progress:
Because a transformation is a substantial commitment that could take
years to complete, it must be carefully and closely managed. As a
result, it is essential to establish and track implementation goals and
establish a timeline to pinpoint performance shortfalls and gaps and
suggest midcourse corrections. Further, research suggests that failure
to adequately address--and often even consider--a wide variety of
people and cultural issues is at the heart of unsuccessful
transformations. Thus, people and cultural issues must be monitored
from day one of a transformation.
Key transformation practice:
Set implementation goals and a timeline to build momentum and show
progress from day one;
Implementation steps:
* Make public implementation goals and timeline;
* Seek and monitor employee attitudes and take appropriate follow-up
actions;
* Identify cultural features of transforming organizations;
* Attract and retain key talent;
* Establish an organizationwide knowledge and skills inventory.
Make public implementation goals and timeline. GPO has not established
a transformation plan with specific time frames and goals for which
leadership would be held accountable. Although GPO leadership has
stated that a critical phase of its transformation is to develop a
strategic plan by the summer of 2004, other more specific goals and
timelines for the transformation, which could be linked to those being
included in the strategic plan, are under development.
GPO has the opportunity to ensure that its transformation remains on
track and is ultimately successful by applying project management
principles. Project management is a control mechanism that provides
some assurance that desired outcomes can be achieved. It involves
establishing key goals, tasks, time frames, and responsibilities that
guide project accomplishment and ensure accountability. GPO leaders
have acknowledged general weaknesses in GPO's project management
capabilities and have identified this as a skills gap that is being
addressed through training initiatives. By enhancing project management
skills at various levels of the organization and applying project
management principles to key efforts like the transformation, GPO can
have greater assurance that these efforts will produce desired
outcomes.
Seek and monitor employee attitudes and take appropriate follow-up
actions. Because people are the drivers of any merger or
transformation, monitoring their attitudes is vital. Top leadership
should also take appropriate follow-up actions to avoid creating
negative attitudes that may translate into actions that could have a
detrimental effect on the transformation.
In February 2003, GPO leadership sought employee attitudes by
implementing an employee climate survey, an important first step to
establish a baseline on employee attitudes and concerns. After the
survey was completed, GPO leadership adopted recommendations to address
employee concerns. GPO will have the opportunity to take additional
follow-up actions based on a second employee survey it plans to
administer in the coming months. This survey has the potential to
provide GPO leadership with updated information on GPO employee
attitudes and views on GPO's transformation.
Identify cultural features of transforming organizations. Because a
change of culture is at the heart of a successful transformation, it is
important for leadership to gain a better understanding of the
organization's beliefs and values prior to, or early in, the
transformation process. By listening to GPO employees and customers,
GPO management determined that its culture was not sufficiently
customer focused in dealing with agencies' printing needs. Instead, GPO
relied on the requirement in Title 44 that federal agencies use GPO for
their printing needs and made little effort to develop customer
relationships and anticipate the needs of its customers. As mentioned
earlier, to foster a more customer-oriented culture, GPO has created
new positions, national account managers, responsible for developing
relationships with customer agencies. The national account managers'
role is to develop relationships with agency customers and provide them
with information about the products and services that GPO can offer to
meet their information dissemination needs.
Similarly, GPO's former CHCO spoke with GPO employees about their views
of the Human Capital Office and identified features of the office's
culture that he is trying to change. The recent restructing of the
Human Capital Office is aimed at creating a culture that is more
customer focused, breaking down organizational barriers, and enhancing
internal and external communication. For example, the Human Capital
Office has been reorganized into teams dedicated to support GPO's
operating units. These teams will be able to address the full range of
human resources activities, from hiring to retirement, as well as
worker safety issues. According to GPO, physically locating the human
capital team members with the business unit staff ensures that the
operating units' human resources needs are more easily met, improves
communication between the units and the Human Capital Office, and
allows for faster decision making.
Attract and retain key talent. Success is more likely when the best
people are selected for each position based on the competencies needed
for the new organization. To help ensure that GPO retained key talent
needed for GPO's transformation, the Public Printer appointed
experienced GPO employees to fill the top management positions of
Superintendent of Documents, Managing Director of Customer Services,
and Managing Director of Plant Operations. (One of the three employees
has over 40 years of experience at GPO.) According to the Public
Printer, each of these individuals is committed to helping GPO
transform and successfully meet the needs and demands of GPO's
customers in the 21st century. In addition, these appointments ensured
that a vast amount of institutional knowledge remained at GPO during
the transformation and were meant to give other current GPO employees a
clear message that, while GPO is transforming and changing the way it
does business, there is a place for current GPO employees at all levels
of the new organization.
To ensure that GPO attracts the people it needs to successfully
transform and to obtain the next generation of technical skills needed
to prepare GPO for the challenges of the 21st century, the Public
Printer has increased the recruitment of outstanding college scholars.
GPO has implemented a recruiting initiative at universities and
colleges that emphasize fields of study that would benefit GPO in
meeting its current and emerging needs. For example, the initiative
will target graduates in printing and graphic communication;
electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering; and business
administration.
In response to a request from the General Counsel of GPO, we recently
provided an advance decision that GPO may use appropriated funds to
provide recruitment and relocation payments and retention allowances to
certain GPO employees, but suggested that it consult with the Joint
Committee on Printing before doing so.[Footnote 23] GPO is exploring
these and other strategies to enhance its ability to recruit and retain
top talent with needed skills and knowledge. We have reported that
agencies have successfully used human capital flexibilities, such as
recruitment and retention allowances, as important human capital
strategies to assist in reaching program goals.[Footnote 24]
Establish an organizationwide knowledge and skills inventory. A
knowledge and skills inventory can help a transforming organization
identify the skills and competencies of the existing workforce that can
help the organization adapt to its new mission. In addition, a
transforming organization needs to define the critical skills and
competencies that it will require in the future to meet its strategic
program goals and identify how it will obtain these requirements,
including those that it will need to acquire, develop, and retain
(including full-and part-time federal staff and contractors) to meet
future needs.[Footnote 25]
GPO's Human Capital Office is planning to complete a knowledge and
skills inventory to identify the skills and competencies of the
existing workforce. In a memorandum to all GPO employees, the former
CHCO explained that the Workforce Development Department will undertake
a comprehensive skills assessment involving all employees to
strategically determine how GPO will need to retrain the workforce as
the transformation proceeds. The skills assessment will include a
number of measurement tools and methods, including skills tests,
electronic and paper-based surveys, interviews, focus groups, and
observations of work. The knowledge and skills inventory could help GPO
as it reorganizes and shifts focus to new missions and competencies.
Knowledge and skills inventories have been used by agencies to identify
related training needs. We have reported that agencies have used a
variety of approaches in assessing skills and competencies to identify
training needs. For example, agencies used workforce planning models;
assessed the workforce in view of organizational, occupational, and
unit-based competency standards; and evaluated job performance
appraisals and information from individual development plans.
[Footnote 26]
While GPO completes the skills assessment of its current employees, it
plans to also complete a systematic identification of new skills and
competencies that it will need in the future. When GPO leadership
completes both of these efforts, it will be able to pinpoint skills
gaps within its workforce and develop strategies to ensure that GPO
retains, develops, and acquires employees with these skills. These
efforts can serve to help employees understand how they can enhance
their skills to contribute to GPO's future and are consistent with the
recommendation to strengthen training made by the panel of printing and
information dissemination experts that we convened.
The skills inventory is an important step to ensure that GPO employs
people with the skills necessary for its future mission. However, until
GPO leadership finalizes the mission and goals of the transformed GPO,
it cannot determine fully the skills needed to achieve current and
future programmatic results or develop strategies focused on those
skills.
Recommended Next Steps:
The Public Printer should develop a documented transformation plan
that:
* outlines his goals for the transformation and when he expects to meet
these goals and:
* identifies critical phases and essential activities that need to be
completed.
The CHCO should:
* determine, based on the results of the upcoming employee survey,
whether any changes are needed to the transformation strategies and:
* ensure that the development of human capital strategies focuses on
the skills gaps identified by GPO leadership.
GPO's Management Team Is in Place, but Attention to Daily
Transformational Activities Could Be Strengthened:
Dedicating a strong and stable implementation team that will be
responsible for the transformation's day-to-day management is important
to ensuring that it receives the focused, full-time attention needed to
be sustained and successful. Specifically, the implementation team is
important to ensuring that various change initiatives are sequenced and
implemented in a coherent and integrated way. Top leadership must vest
the team with the necessary authority and resources to set priorities,
make timely decisions, and move quickly to implement top leadership's
decisions about the transformation.
Key transformation practice:
Dedicate an implementation team to manage the transformation process;
Implementation steps:
* Establish networks to support implementation team;
* Select high-performing team members.
The Public Printer has put in place a senior management team, referred
to as the management council, which can help bring GPO into the future.
This council is composed of the COO, CFO, CHCO, CIO, Superintendent of
Documents, Managing Director of Plant Operations, Managing Director of
Customer Services, the Chief of Staff, the Deputy Chief of Staff,
General Counsel, and the Inspector General. According to GPO officials,
the management council does not have regularly scheduled meetings and
only meets when convened by the Public Printer. About 80 percent of the
management council's time is devoted to long-term, transformational
activities, while 20 percent of the time is devoted to addressing day-
to-day operational issues.
A second management team, referred to as the operations council, is
composed of the CFO, CHCO, CIO, Superintendent of Documents, Managing
Director of Plant Operations, and Managing Director of Customer
Services; this council meets weekly with the COO. According to GPO
officials, this council spends about 80 percent of its time dealing
with day-to-day operations and 20 percent with transformation issues.
Although the operations council occasionally discusses transformation-
related issues, its meetings are not structured around specific
transformation tasks or decisions required to make progress on the
transformation. Instead, the meetings give each member of the council
an opportunity to provide an update on issues affecting his or her
unit's operations, improve communication among GPO's top managers, and
ensure that crosscutting issues in day-to-day operations receive
management attention.
GPO leadership recognizes the importance of establishing networks to
support its transformation efforts, and it is creating a network of
task forces to lead the development of various transformational
strategies. For example, GPO created a task force to focus on "revenue
enhancements and new investments." This task force will be chaired by
the CFO, and will include members of other GPO business units, such as
New Business Development and Information Technology and Systems. The
Public Printer directed the chairpersons of the task teams to select
task force members and develop the strategies that will be the basis
for GPO's strategic plan by June 17, 2004. Our work on transformations
has found that establishing networks, including a senior executive
council, functional teams, or crosscutting teams, can help the
implementation team conduct the day-to-day activities of the
transformation and help ensure that efforts are coordinated and
integrated.
GPO leaders have acknowledged that creating the support capacity and
accountability for daily transformation activities could help ensure
that the transformation continues to make progress. These leaders said
that responsibilities for day-to-day transformation activities could
include setting priorities, proposing milestones, tracking progress,
providing analysis to support decision making, and coordinating among
teams.
Recommended Next Steps:
The Public Printer should establish a transformation team, or augment
the management council, to address the day-to-day management of GPO's
transformation effort. The team should include high-performing
employees who have knowledge and competencies that could help GPO plan
its future. Establishing such a team could create the focus needed to
stimulate and sustain GPO's transformation efforts.
GPO Is Planning Changes to Strengthen Its Performance Management
System:
A performance management system can help manage and direct the
transformation process and serves as the basis for setting expectations
for individuals' roles in the transformation. To be successful,
transformation efforts must have leaders, managers, and employees who
have the individual competencies to integrate and create synergy among
the multiple operating units involved in the transformation effort.
Individual performance and contributions are evaluated on competencies
such as change management, cultural sensitivity, teamwork and
collaboration, and information sharing. Leaders, managers, and
employees who demonstrate these competencies are rewarded for their
success in contributing to the achievement of the transformation
process.
Key transformation practice:
Use the performance management system to define responsibility and
assure accountability for change;
Implementation step:
Adopt leading practices to implement effective performance management
systems with adequate safeguards.
GPO plans to implement a new performance management system for its
executives and will later work on changes for employees at other
organizational levels. As part of this effort, GPO is exploring the use
of competencies to provide a fuller assessment of performance. For
example, GPO has developed performance agreements for its senior
managers based upon the executive core qualifications adopted by the
Office of Personnel Management for senior executives and included
responsibilities such as leading strategic change. Each responsibility
will be linked to three or four competencies. Additionally, the draft
performance agreements include interim goals that GPO developed for its
operating units and other elements that we have identified as important
for executive performance.[Footnote 27] They include, for example,
specific levels of performance that GPO plans to link to strategic
objectives to help senior executives see how they directly contribute
to organizational results.
Until GPO's strategic plan is completed, however, GPO will not be able
to fully align individual performance competencies or expectations with
organizational goals. The completion of the strategic plan will provide
human capital officials with the information needed to develop
competencies and expectations for employees that have a direct link to
GPO's goals, providing employees with the information they need to
understand how their performance leads to organizational success.
As part of GPO's effort to strengthen performance management, GPO plans
to pilot a new system that, beginning with its senior executives, will
more closely link an individual's pay with his or her performance.
Linking pay to performance is a key practice for effective performance
management. We have reported that efforts to link pay to performance
require adequate safeguards,[Footnote 28] including reasonable
transparency and appropriate accountability mechanisms, to ensure the
fair, effective, and nondiscriminatory implementation of the system.
The Human Resources Office has begun developing a pay-for-performance
program that will use measures of effectiveness that directly link
individual performance with organizational goals and objectives. The
newly established Workforce Development, Education and Training Office
will be required to develop and deliver training to supervisors and
managers on performance management. The objective is to ensure that
supervisors and managers are equipped with the necessary skills to
effectively manage their employees, help drive change efforts, and
achieve results.
Recommended Next Steps:
The CHCO should continue developing a performance management system for
all GPO employees that creates a line of sight by linking employee
performance with agency goals. The CHCO should ensure that GPO's new
performance management system has adequate safeguards, including
reasonable transparency and appropriate accountability mechanisms, to
ensure the fair, effective, and nondiscriminatory implementation of the
system.
GPO Has Improved Communication, but Can Better Address Employee Needs:
Communication, an important management control, is most effective when
done early, clearly, and often, and when it is downward, upward, and
lateral. Successful organizations have comprehensive communication
strategies that reach out to employees, customers, and stakeholders and
seek to genuinely engage them in the transformation process.
Key implementation practice:
Establish a communication strategy to create shared expectations and
report related progress;
Implementation steps:
* Communicate early and often to build trust;
* Ensure consistency of message;
* Encourage two-way communication;
* Provide information to meet specific needs of employees.
The Public Printer communicated his intention to transform GPO early
and often and to various audiences. For example, in his confirmation
hearing in October 2002, the Public Printer told Congress that GPO
"must step back and take a new look at the changing and emerging
information needs of its customers and develop a deeper understanding
of its true strengths so that it can determine how best to build a new
business model." Then again, just 8 days after the Public Printer took
office, he publicly stated his intention to transform GPO. In his
communications with employees, the Public Printer has also frequently
expressed his intention to transform GPO. For example, GPO's biweekly
management newsletter, the GPO Link, often contains articles about
GPO's transformation. Transforming organizations have found that
communicating information early and often helps to build an
understanding of the purpose of the planned changes and builds trust
among employees and stakeholders.
GPO leadership has communicated a consistent message about the
transformation to employees, customers, and other stakeholders through
such methods as sponsoring conferences, attending customers' meetings,
and speaking with relevant trade magazines. For example, in
correspondence with the Congress, employees, and the library community,
the Public Printer and other senior managers have used similar terms
and concepts when discussing GPO's transformation. This consistency is
important in ensuring that GPO's employees, customers, and other
stakeholders understand the current environment under which GPO
operates. A message to employees and others affected by a
transformation that is consistent in tone and content can alleviate the
uncertainties generated during the unsettled times of large-scale
change management initiatives.
GPO leadership has encouraged two-way communication by instituting
methods for employees and others to provide feedback and ask questions.
For example, GPO's intranet site has a section called "Ask the Public
Printer." On the site, the Public Printer fields questions on issues
ranging from training opportunities, to building renovation issues, to
contingency planning. In addition, the Public Printer holds periodic
town hall meetings that include time for employees in attendance to ask
him questions in person. In addition, stakeholders have been asked to
communicate with GPO leaders. For example, on January 22, 2004, the
Depository Library Council[Footnote 29] provided GPO with advice on
topics that the Public Printer identified as important to the future of
GPO. The Public Printer expects to use feedback from stakeholders such
as the Depository Library Council as GPO develops its strategic plan.
Two-way communication is central to forming the effective internal and
external partnerships that are vital to the success of any
organization.
GPO leadership has also made significant efforts to improve
communication between management and employees. For example, GPO
established the Employee Communications Office, which was developed
with the vision "to have the best informed workforce in the U.S.
Government by over-communicating organizational clarity and the mission
and vision of the new GPO." An important initiative undertaken by the
Employee Communications Office is the development of GPO Link, a
biweekly newsletter that reports on activities of GPO's top managers.
Despite these efforts, because GPO's future mission and strategies have
not yet been decided, the Public Printer has been unable to communicate
the nature of the change that GPO needs to make in a way that addresses
the specific needs of employees. During a communications focus group
GPO held in October 2003, employees stated that recent efforts to
improve communication were positive, but failed to provide the specific
information needed to alleviate job concerns. These concerns were also
voiced during town hall meetings led by the Public Printer in January
2004 and were consistent with concerns raised by union representatives
in their discussions with us about GPO's transformation. Employees have
indicated they are unsure about their future in the new GPO, and are
seeking specific information on the skills they will need to remain
useful to GPO. Communicating with employees about their specific
concerns can help them understand how they might be affected and how
their responsibilities might change with the new organization.
GPO managers, union leaders, and employees have indicated that
employees are unsure of their role in GPO's transformation. Union
leaders told us that much of the communication has been rhetoric with
insufficient detail regarding how the transformation will affect
employees. For example, the Public Printer has stated that the
transformation will bring GPO into the 21st century, but the specifics
of what jobs might be lost or changed have not been discussed because
GPO is developing its mission and strategic plan.
Recommended Next Steps:
The Public Printer can augment GPO's communication about the
transformation to include additional information that employees can use
to understand their role in building the GPO of the 21st century. As
GPO's strategic planning effort moves forward, communication with
employees should include topics such as GPO's new mission, strategic
goals, and in particular, employee concerns about their role in the new
environment. As key decisions are made, communication should address
how GPO's transformation will affect employees so that they understand
how their jobs may be affected, what their rights and protections might
be, and how their responsibilities might change.
GPO Can Expand the Involvement of Employees in the Transformation:
Employee involvement strengthens the transformation process by
including frontline perspectives and experiences. Further, employee
involvement helps to create the opportunity to establish new networks
and break down existing organizational silos, increase employees'
understanding and acceptance of organizational goals and objectives,
and gain ownership for new policies and procedures.
Key transformation practice:
Involve employees to obtain their ideas and gain their ownership for
the transformation;
Implementation steps:
* Use employee teams;
* Involve employees in planning and sharing performance information;
* Incorporate employee feedback into new policies and procedures;
* Delegate authority to appropriate organizational levels.
The former and Acting CHCO, CIO, CFO, and Managing Director of Customer
Services told us that they are adopting team-based approaches for
accomplishing their units' goals, which includes improved customer
service. For example, GPO combined the former procurement division with
the customer services division to create teams of employees who have a
range of skills to address customer needs. Previously, GPO's customers
were shuffled between these two divisions, neither of which was clearly
accountable for addressing the customers' needs. A GPO official
explained that by changing to a team approach, where a group of about
five employees is responsible for all work with a customer,
accountability for meeting the needs of that customer is clear and may
lead to improved service. A teams-based approach to operations can
create an environment characterized by open communication, enhanced
flexibility in meeting job demands, and a sense of shared
responsibility for accomplishing organization goals and objectives.
GPO units can expand the involvement of employees and use their
feedback in planning and sharing performance information, which can
help employees accept and understand the goals of their units and their
role in achieving them. For example, GPO officials told us that the CFO
has shared goals for his division with his managers, who have, in turn,
shared the goals with their employees. Therefore, all employees under
the CFO know the goals of the division and how their work and
performance helps realize the goals. However, not all division managers
have shared goals with their employees. The practice of involving
employees in planning and sharing performance information can be
transferred to other GPO units as GPO's transformation progresses.
Major transformations, like GPO's, often include redesigning work
processes, changing work rules, or making other changes that are of
particular concern to employees. GPO has made or plans to make changes
to many of its policies and procedures. As we mentioned earlier, for
example, GPO is planning to pilot test a new pay-for-performance
system, beginning with its senior managers. We have reported on other
agencies' attempts to involve employees and unions in developing
aspects of its personnel systems.[Footnote 30] For example, at the
Department of Homeland Security, employees and union representatives
played a role in shaping the design of a proposed personnel system. The
design process attempted to include employees by creating multiple
opportunities for employees to provide feedback.
GPO has taken some actions to delegate authority to employees. Soon
after the new Public Printer took office, GPO instituted a time-off
awards program, which provides supervisors with a means to recognize
employees for their productivity, creativity, dedication, and
outstanding contributions to the mission of GPO. Before GPO created
this award program, supervisors did not have the authority to recognize
and reward outstanding performance. In a transformation, employees are
more likely to support changes when they have the necessary authority
and flexibility--along with commensurate accountability and
incentives--to advance the organization's goals and improve
performance.
Delegating certain personnel authorities is important for managers and
supervisors who know the most about an organization's programs and can
use those authorities to make those programs work. The former Deputy
Public Printer told us that decision making on many day-to-day matters
was centralized within his office. For example, his approval was
required for all training requests from GPO employees. The current
Public Printer has delegated authority to approve training to lower
level managers who are more familiar with the employees' work
requirements and, therefore, have a better understanding of the
training individual employees need to improve their performance.
We have reported that agency managers and employees have important
roles in the success of training and development activities.[Footnote
31] Managers are responsible not only for reinforcing new competencies,
skills, and behaviors but also for removing barriers to help employees
implement learned behaviors on the job. Furthermore, if managers
understand and support the objectives of training and development
efforts, they can provide opportunities for employees to successfully
use new skills and competencies and can model the behavior they expect
to see in their employees. Employees also need to understand the goals
of agencies' training and development efforts and accept responsibility
for developing their competencies and careers, as well as for improving
their organizations' performance.
Recommended Next Steps:
GPO leadership should involve employees more in planning and decision
making for the future, allowing employees to gain ownership of the
transformation. For example, the CHCO should incorporate employee
feedback as part of the process for developing GPO's pay for
performance system and in training and development activities.
World-Class Management Practices Can Strengthen GPO's Transformation:
Successful change efforts start with a vision of radically improved
performance and the relentless pursuit of that vision. Leaders of
successful transformations seek to implement best practices in systems
and processes and guard against automatically retaining the approaches
used in the past. Instead of developing optimal systems and processes,
transforming organizations risk devoting attention to attempting to
mend less than fully efficient and effective systems and processes
merely because they are already in place. Over the longer term, leaders
of successful mergers and acquisitions, like leaders of successful
organizations generally, seek to learn from best practices and create a
set of systems and processes that are tailored to the specific needs
and circumstances of the transforming organization.
GPO leadership has articulated a vision to transform GPO into a world-
class organization and has taken some initial steps toward this
objective, most notably with respect to human capital management.
However, because significant change efforts are difficult and take a
long time, continued leadership attention is needed. The commitment of
the Public Printer, the appointment of a COO, and other key leadership
selections are positive steps in this regard. In particular, we have
reported that COOs can be part of a broader effort to elevate attention
to management and transformation issues, integrate various key
management and transformation efforts, and institutionalize
accountability for addressing management issues leading a
transformation. By their very nature, the problems and challenges
facing agencies are crosscutting and thus require coordinated and
integrated solutions. However, the risk is that management
responsibilities (including, but not limited to, information
technology, financial management, and human capital) will be
"stovepiped" and thus will not be carried out in a comprehensive,
ongoing, and integrated manner.[Footnote 32]
GPO Has Taken Numerous Actions to Strengthen Human Capital Management:
Having effective human capital policies and procedures is a critical
factor in an organization's management control environment. GPO's
efforts to strengthen human capital management demonstrate a commitment
to these management controls.
In October 2003, we reported on how GPO leadership could advance its
transformation through strategic human capital management and made
numerous recommendations to GPO leadership that were based on leading
practices in strategic human capital management.[Footnote 33] Taken as
a whole, these recommendations represent a framework for radically
improving GPO's human capital practices. GPO's Human Capital Office is
using our October 2003 report[Footnote 34] as GPO's roadmap for
transforming its human capital management and is actively implementing
the recommendations we made. Much of GPO's progress in improving its
human capital management has been described previously in this report.
Our recommendations focus on four interrelated areas:
* communicating the role of managers in GPO's transformation,
* strengthening the role of the human resources office,
* developing a strategic workforce plan to ensure GPO has the skills
and knowledge it needs for the future, and:
* using a strategic performance management system to drive change.
GPO has made clear progress toward adopting the leading practices that
we described in our October report, and has shown a continuing interest
in improving GPO's Human Capital Office by identifying management best
practices used by other organizations. The experience of transforming
organizations, including GAO, has shown that transformation must be
based on the best, most up-to-date management practices to reach its
full potential.[Footnote 35] Consistent with this practice, GPO
leadership requested our assistance in identifying and describing
approaches and strategies used by other organizations to restructure
their workforces.
In response to this request, on January 20, 2004, we briefed GPO
leadership on the workforce restructuring efforts of the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, GAO, and the Treasury's Financial
Management Service. The briefing presented the lessons that these
agencies learned from their workforce restructuring efforts, with
particular emphasis on efforts to assist employees in finding other
employment. The approaches and strategies we highlighted were
retraining, outplacement assistance, workforce restructuring planning,
communication, and employee and union involvement. Our briefing
contained specific examples, related agency materials, and contacts
that could provide further information and assistance to GPO.
GPO's CIO Organization Has Begun to Transform:
The Public Printer has stated that the new vision of GPO will be an
agency whose primary mission will be to capture digitally, organize,
maintain, authenticate, distribute, and provide permanent public access
to the information products and services of the federal government. To
execute this vision, he states that GPO must deploy the technology
needed by federal agencies and the public to gather and produce digital
documents in a uniformly structured database in order to authenticate
documents disseminated over the Internet and to preserve the
information for permanent public access.
However, improved information technology (IT) systems such as those
contained in the Public Printer's vision are not simple to develop or
acquire. Through our research of best IT management practices and our
evaluations of agency IT management performance, we have identified a
set of essential and complementary management disciplines that provide
a sound foundation for IT management. These include:
* enterprise architecture,
* IT investment management,
* software/system development and acquisition,
* information security, and:
* IT human capital.
GPO's CIO understands that his IT organization, like all of GPO, will
have to transform to meet current and future needs. More specifically,
he acknowledges the need to establish IT management policies,
procedures, and practices in the key areas listed above. The CIO has
taken steps, or plans to take steps, to begin improving IT in each of
these areas.
Enterprise Architecture:
An enterprise architecture is to an organization's operations and
systems as a set of blueprints is to a building. That is, building
blueprints provide those who own, construct, and maintain the building
with a clear and understandable picture of the building's uses,
features, functions, and supporting systems, including relevant
building standards. Further, the building blueprints capture the
relationships among building components and govern the construction
process. Enterprise architectures do nothing less, providing to people
at all organizational levels an explicit, common, and meaningful
structural frame of reference that allows an agency to understand
(1) what the enterprise does; (2) when, where, how, and why it does it;
and (3) what it uses to do it.
An enterprise architecture provides a clear and comprehensive picture
of the structure of an entity, whether an organization or a functional
or mission area. This picture consists of snapshots of both the
enterprise's current or "as-is" technical and operational environments,
its target or "to-be" technical and operational environments, and a
capital investment roadmap for transitioning from the current
environment to the target environment. An enterprise architecture is an
essential tool for effectively and efficiently engineering business
practices, implementing and evolving supporting systems, and
transforming an organization. Managed properly, it can clarify and help
optimize the interdependencies and relationships among an
organization's business operations and the underlying IT infrastructure
and applications that support these operations. Employed in concert
with other important management controls, such as portfolio-based
capital planning and investment control processes, architectures can
greatly increase the chances that organizations' operational and IT
environments will be configured to optimize mission performance. Our
experience with federal agencies has shown that investing in IT without
defining these investments in the context of an enterprise architecture
often results in systems that are duplicative, not well integrated, and
unnecessarily costly to maintain and interface. The development of an
enterprise architecture is an essential part of a successful
organizational transformation.
Our research has shown that an organization should ensure that adequate
resources are provided for developing the architecture and that
responsibility for directing, overseeing, and approving enterprise
architecture development is assigned to a committee or group with
representation from across the organization. Establishing this
organizationwide responsibility and accountability is important in
demonstrating the organization's commitment to building the management
foundation and obtaining support for the development and use of the
enterprise architecture from across the organization. This group should
include executive-level representatives from each line of business, and
these representatives should have the authority to commit resources to
architecture-related efforts and enforce decisions within their
respective organizational units. Our research shows that enterprise
architecture efforts also benefit from developing an architecture
program management plan that specifies how and when the architecture is
to be developed, including a detailed work breakdown structure,
resource estimates (e.g., funding, staffing, and training), performance
measures, and management controls for developing and maintaining the
architecture. The plan demonstrates the organizations' commitment to
managing enterprise architecture development and maintenance.
Currently, GPO does not have such an enterprise architecture. Its CIO
agrees that an enterprise architecture is an important tool and is
working to develop one for GPO. As the first step towards developing an
enterprise architecture, the CIO organization is in the process of
documenting GPO's current business processes and supporting IT
architecture (the "as-is" enterprise architecture). In doing this work,
the agency is focusing first on those business items of greater
interest to two sets of critical customers--the Congress and users of
the Federal Register. The CIO has also hired a manager to lead this
effort who has significant experience in the development and
institutionalization of enterprise architecture and related processes.
Investment Management:
In concert with a properly developed and institutionalized enterprise
architecture, an effective and efficient IT investment management
process is key to a successful transformation effort. An effective and
efficient IT investment process allows agencies to maximize the value
of their IT investments and to minimize the risks of IT acquisitions.
This is critically important because IT projects, while having the
capability to significantly improve an organization's performance, can
become very costly, risky, and unproductive. Federal agency IT projects
too frequently incur cost overruns and schedule slippages while
contributing little to mission-related outcomes.
GPO's transformation may require significant investment in IT and
related efforts. Therefore, it is essential that GPO effectively manage
such investments. We have developed a guide to effective IT investment
management based on a select/control/evaluate model:
* Select. The organization (1) identifies and analyzes each project's
risks and returns before committing significant funds to any project
and (2) selects those IT projects that best support its mission needs.
This process should be repeated each time, reselecting even ongoing
investments, as described below.
* Control. The organization ensures that, as projects develop and
investment expenditures continue, the project continues to meet mission
needs at the expected levels of cost and risk. If the project is not
meeting expectations or if problems have arisen, steps are quickly
taken to address the deficiencies. If mission needs have changed, the
organization can adjust its objectives for the project and
appropriately modify expected project outcomes.
* Evaluate. The organization compares actual versus expected outcomes
after a project is fully implemented. This is done to (1) assess the
project's impact on mission performance, (2) identify any changes or
modifications to the project that may be needed, and (3) revise the
investment management process based on lessons learned.
To oversee the investment management process, an investment review
board is established, made up of managers, that is responsible and
accountable for selecting and monitoring projects based on the agency's
investment management criteria. The IT investment board is a key
component in the investment management process. An organizationwide
investment board has oversight responsibilities for developing and
maintaining the organization's documented IT investment process. It
plays a key role in establishing an appropriate IT investment
management structure and processes for selecting, controlling, and
evaluating IT investments. The organization may choose to make this
board the same board that provides executive guidance and support for
the enterprise architecture. Such overlap of responsibilities may
enhance the ability of the board to ensure that investment decisions
are consistent with the architecture and that it reflects the needs of
the organization.
This model allows an organization to effectively choose, monitor, and
evaluate projects. GPO intends to complete a major transformation of
itself within a few years, with most of its transformation based on
improved IT capabilities. For an organization like GPO, in the midst of
transformation, effective oversight of its IT investments is essential.
Currently, GPO does not have an IT investment management process. GPO's
CIO said that his review of projects at GPO indicated that in the past,
for example, most projects were selected without documentation such as
a cost-benefit analysis, economic justification, alternatives
analysis, and fully validated requirements. The CIO's long-term goal is
to implement a standard investment management process requiring such
items. As a beginning, he is working on a list of required documents
that each new information technology proposal will have to provide
before it can be approved by GPO management. He is holding workshops
aimed at introducing the business managers to this documentation and
providing training in the meaning and use of these documents in support
of project initiation.
Software/System Development and Acquisition Capability:
Underlying enterprise architecture management and investment
management is the ability to effectively and efficiently develop and
acquire systems and software. GPO's CIO is aware that his
organization's development and acquisition capabilities could be
improved and plans to take steps to achieve these improvements.
The CIO has tasked one of his new managers to begin improving key
process areas for software development and acquisition. On the basis of
this manager's recommendation, GPO has selected the software
acquisition models of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) as its standard for this process. The IEEE defines a
nine-step process for the acquisition of software, which GPO plans to
implement for future software acquisitions. The CIO also plans to
implement a process for software development, but has not determined
which model to use.
IT Security:
Dramatic increases in computer interconnectivity, especially in the use
of the Internet, are revolutionizing the way our government, our
nation, and much of the world communicate and do business. The benefits
from this have been enormous. However, this widespread
interconnectivity poses significant risks to computer systems and, more
importantly, to the critical operations and infrastructures they
support, such as telecommunications, power distribution, and national
defense. The same factors that benefit operations--speed and
accessibility--if not properly controlled, also make it possible for
individuals and organizations to inexpensively interfere with or
eavesdrop on these operations from remote locations for purposes of
fraud or sabotage, or for other malicious or mischievous purposes. In
addition, natural disasters and inadvertent errors by authorized
computer users can have devastating consequences if information
resources are poorly protected.
As GPO transforms, its information resources will become increasingly
dependent upon correctly functioning IT. Whereas in the past, GPO
needed only to have several paper copies of each document available,
greater security measures will be required as GPO implements a database
for permanent public access to all federal government information.
GPO's current information security could be improved. In fiscal year
2003, an independent audit of GPO's internal controls, done as part of
a review of GPO's financial statements,[Footnote 36] found that GPO did
not have in place an effective security management structure that
provides a framework and continuing cycle of activity for managing
risk, developing security policies, and monitoring the accuracy of
GPO's computer security controls. Among the specific findings:
* Security-related policies and procedures had not been documented or
had not been kept current and did not reflect GPO's current
environment. These policies also provided no guidance for developing
risk assessment programs.
* Local network administrators did not have guidance in developing
formal procedures to perform network administration duties, such as
creating and maintaining user accounts, periodically reviewing user
accounts, and reviewing audit logs.
* GPO had not established a comprehensive business continuity and
disaster recovery plan for its mainframe, client-server platforms, and
major software applications.
The CIO has ongoing projects aimed at addressing each of the issues
outlined by the audit organization. First, he is in the process of
issuing new security-related policies and procedures reflecting GPO's
current environment. The CIO's security organization is also working on
policies and procedures and guidance for local network administrators.
Finally, GPO is negotiating with other legislative branch agencies to
use their backup computer facility and is developing a business
continuity and disaster recovery plan for GPO's platforms and major
software applications.
IT Human Capital:
As mentioned earlier, the Public Printer has emphasized the importance
of strategically managing GPO's people in order to successfully
transform the organization. The CIO, like other GPO managers, considers
human capital a vital part of his organization's operations as well as
critical to the success of GPO's transformation efforts.
The CIO and his managers are reviewing the current human capital
situation and taking interim steps to improve. At the same time, they
are working with GPO's human capital organization to develop a strategy
to improve GPO's human capital management capability for the long term.
For example, the CIO has tasked each IT area manager to complete such a
review of his or her staff and report the results to the CIO. While a
few needed skill sets will be hired from the outside, the emphasis for
the CIO organization in the near term will be on finding needed skills
inside the organization and retraining individuals with related skills.
The CIO is also providing training to his CIO staff on project
management and related issues.
Recommended Next Steps:
Like efforts in other parts of GPO, the CIO's actions to improve GPO's
IT capabilities are important first steps. However, much more needs to
be done to establish an effective IT investment process, to establish
an enterprise architecture, and to improve the agency's system
development and acquisition, security, and human capital capabilities.
Therefore, we recommend that the Public Printer direct the GPO CIO to
do the following.
* Begin an effort to create and implement a comprehensive plan for the
development of an enterprise architecture that addresses completion of
GPO's current or "as-is" architecture, development of a target or "to-
be" architecture, and development of a capital investment plan for
transitioning from the current to the target architecture. As part of
the capital investment plan, designate an architecture review board of
agency executives who are responsible and accountable for overseeing
and approving architecture development and maintenance, and establish
an enterprise architecture program management plan.
* Begin an effort to develop and implement an investment management
process by (1) developing guidance for the selection, control, and
evaluation processes and then (2) establishing an investment review
board responsible and accountable for endorsing the guidance,
monitoring its implementation, and executing decisions on projects
based on the guidance.
* Develop and implement a comprehensive plan for software development
and acquisition process improvement that specifies measurable goals and
time frames, sets priorities for initiatives, estimates resource
requirements (for training staff and funding), and defines a process
improvement management structure.
* Establish the appropriate security and business continuity policies,
procedures, and systems to ensure that its information products are
adequately protected.
* Ensure that GPO's Human Capital Office, in its efforts to develop and
implement a human capital strategy, considers the special needs of IT
human capital.
Financial Management's Role in Supporting Transformation:
Sound financial management practices that produce reliable and timely
financial information for management decision making are a vital part
of a strategic plan to achieve transformation. In recent
testimony[Footnote 37] the Public Printer acknowledged that GPO is in a
precarious financial position with sustained significant financial
losses over the past 5 years, which appear to be structural in nature.
Such structural losses point out the clear need for transformation. In
response to GPO's financial condition, the Public Printer has taken
positive, immediate steps to stem losses, cut costs, and curtail
certain program activities.
Given the importance of GPO's business transformation, it is imperative
that transformation efforts be clearly linked to financial management
results and receive the sustained leadership needed to improve the
economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of GPO's business operations
through its transformation plan. The transformation plan should provide
a strategic-level "road map" from the current environment to the
planned future environment, including a link to current cost-cutting
and other financial improvement initiatives. In addition, management
needs reliable and up-to-date information on progress, including
financial results.
As discussed in our executive guide on best practices in financial
management,[Footnote 38] dramatic changes over the past decade in the
business environment have driven finance organizations to reevaluate
their role. The role of financial management and reporting will be
critical to managing the progress and impact of GPO's transformation
efforts.
In the transformation environment, GPO will need to define a vision for
its financial management organization such that it is a value-creating,
customer-focused partner in business results in order to build a world-
class finance organization and to help achieve GPO's transformation
goals. As reported and shown in figure 6, certain success factors,
goals, and practices are instrumental in achieving financial management
excellence.
Figure 6: Achieving Best Practices in Financial Management:
[See PDF for image]
[End of figure]
We compared best practices that would be most applicable to GPO's
financial management operations and transformation efforts to many of
the activities and goals planned by GPO. Overall, GPO and its CFO have
taken many actions and have plans for efforts that are consistent with
many best practices in financial management; however, additional
emphasis is needed for other best practices that enhance GPO's
transformation and to ensure that planned efforts are fully supported.
In addition, GPO's strategic planning for transformation should include
the actions, plans, and goals to be initiated by its CFO and its
financial management team to ensure that GPO's weakening financial
position does not undermine its transformation goals.
Making Financial Management an Entitywide Priority:
Our prior report observes that the chief executive should recognize the
important role the finance organization plays in improving overall
business performance and involve key business managers in financial
management improvement initiatives. This is especially important in a
transformation environment. In order to make financial management an
entitywide priority, the organization should (1) build a foundation of
control and accountability, (2) provide clear strong executive
leadership, and (3) use training to change the culture and engage line
managers.
GPO has shown that financial reporting and the audit process are
important management and oversight tools for building a foundation of
control and accountability by routinely receiving "unqualified" audit
opinions on its annual financial statements. In addition, GPO receives
an opinion on its management assertion on internal controls from its
external auditor. Additional accountability is provided through
oversight from the GPO Office of Inspector General established by Title
44, U.S. Code, section 3901. Also, GPO has expanded reported financial
information beyond audited financial statements to include performance
information on revolving fund operations such as printing and binding
operations, purchased printing, and procured printing.
Our executive guide on best practices in financial management also
recognizes that the chief executive officers of leading organizations
understand the important role that the CFO and the finance organization
play in improving overall business performance of the organization.
Consequently, the CFO is a central figure on the top management team
and heavily involved in strategic planning and decision making. In this
regard, the Public Printer established the CFO position shortly after
arriving at GPO and has included the CFO as a member of the management
council.
The key to successfully managing change and changing organizational
culture is gaining the support of line management. To change the
organizational culture and enlist the support of line managers, many
organizations use training programs. This training may be geared
towards providing line managers with a greater appreciation of the
financial implications of their business decisions and transformation
efforts.
GPO has engaged its nonfinancial managers with financial-related goals.
For example, customer services, which includes purchased printing, has
a goal of increasing revenue by identifying potential government work
and increasing business to GPO. As discussed earlier in this report,
account managers are assigned to increase revenue from federal agencies
through regular customer agency visits, presentations at selected
agencies to highlight GPO services, and targeting customers for
specialized outreach efforts.
GPO could provide a greater emphasis on training its nonfinancial
managers on the financial implications of business decisions and the
value of financial information. Training on how to fully use the
financial information they receive not only produces better managers,
but also helps break down functional barriers that can affect
productivity and impede improvement efforts, especially in a time of
transformation. In addition, training and other tools facilitate and
accelerate the pace of the change initiative, which helps to reduce the
opposition that could ultimately undermine the effort.
Redefine the Role of Finance:
Today, leading finance organizations are focusing more on internal
customer requirements by providing products and service that directly
support strategic decision making and ultimately improve overall
business performance. Again, this is critical in a transformation
environment. Best practices reported by our prior review of leading
financial organizations include actions to (1) assess the finance
organization's current role in meeting mission objectives, (2) maximize
the efficiency of day-to-day accounting activities, and (3) organize
finance to add value.
Consistent with best practices for redefining financial operations, GPO
has plans to integrate on-line workflow systems for all major
operations including the receipts and processing operations, to
streamline the budget formulation process, and to eliminate all paper-
based accounting and budget reports. Customer feedback is also useful
both in the future to assess the perceived benefits of changes related
to transformation and to use as a baseline on which to compare future
changes. The CFO plans to establish a baseline of information on
customer satisfaction based on our survey of GPO's major customers.
This includes a planned assessment of customer satisfaction with
services provided, identification of areas for improvement,
implementation of plans to increase the value and efficiency of
services provided, and identification of key performance measures.
Provide Meaningful Information to Decision Makers:
Financial information is meaningful when it is useful, relevant,
timely, and reliable. Therefore, organizations should have the systems
and processes required to produce meaningful financial information
needed for management decisions. Financial organizations should (1)
develop systems that support the partnership between finance and
operations, (2) reengineer processes in conjunction with new
technology, and (3) translate financial data into meaningful
information.
Our executive guide for best practices in financial management suggests
that relevant financial information should be presented in an
understandable, simple format, with suitable amounts of detail showing
the financial impact and results of cost-cutting initiatives and
transformation efforts. Leading finance organizations have designed
reporting formats around key business drivers to provide executives and
managers with relevant, forward-looking information on business unit
performance. We believe that such reports can be a key to linking GPO's
financial management efforts to transformation.
GPO provides financial information to its key decision makers that is
consistent with best practices for reports that are useful and relevant
to key decision makers. The GPO CFO provides monthly summaries for each
of GPO's key operational areas, including plant operations, customer
service, sales program, salaries and expenses programs, and
administrative support operations, as well as other information on the
status of appropriated funds, billings, and contractors. The
information includes cumulative year-to-date summaries, profit and loss
statements, use of employees and staff levels, and other information
specific to each operational area. The CFO organization is developing
plans to provide financial, administrative, and analytical support to
all of GPO in addition to the monthly information packages provided to
the management council.
GPO is also developing plans to replace legacy information systems to
integrate and streamline internal and external ordering as well as
inventory and accounts payable processes. GPO expects to greatly
improve the monthly financial processes with information necessary to
make calculations regarding time spent on performance or cost analysis
and on transaction processing. This information can be useful in
gauging office efficiencies as a result of changes and transformation
efforts.
Build a Team That Delivers Results:
The finance function has evolved over the past decade from a paper-
driven, labor-intensive, clerical role to a more consultative role as
advisor, analyst, and business partner. Many leading finance
organizations have seen a corresponding shift in the mix of skills and
competencies required to perform this new role.
GPO has plans and goals that are consistent with best practices for
financial organizations. GPO should ensure that these plans are
completed, fully supported, and expanded, especially in light of the
critical function that finance will play in GPO's transformation
efforts. Specifically, the CFO is completing input for training plans
that include both skill and education assessments of administrative
support staff, budget operations staff, and staff in the Office of
Comptroller. The CFO stated that he is directly involved in recruiting
talented staff for GPO's financial operations and is coordinating with
the human resource office on developing a career path and opportunities
for rotational assignments for financial-related staff.
While these planned and developed efforts are consistent with best
practices for financial organizations, GPO should keep focused on the
need to ensure that its financial professionals are equipped to meet
new challenges and support their agency's mission and goals. This
requires GPO to develop a finance team with the right mix of skills and
competencies and to play the role needed in GPO's transformation
efforts.
GPO has taken actions through ongoing efforts and planned goals that
are often consistent with best practices for financial management.
Nevertheless, unless it includes critical financial management
activities in strategic plans for transformation, GPO creates the risk
of undermining its ultimate goal of successful transformation. Without
the link to transformation, GPO may lack the commitment to sustain
sound financial management and lose the benefit of best practices that
may be used as tools to assist decision makers during a period of great
change.
We recommend that GPO:
* emphasize training on the usefulness and understanding of financial
information to nonfinancial managers who are critical to GPO's business
operations;
* ensure that planned GPO and CFO efforts and goals in redefining the
role of finance, providing information to decision makers, and building
a team that delivers results receive the full and consistent support of
GPO's top management;
* ensure that management is receiving the financial information needed
to manage day-to-day operations and track progress against
transformation goals; and:
* recognize the importance of financial management and reporting in
strategic plans for transformation.
Concluding Observations:
The Public Printer has taken action to transform GPO in response to
changes in the environment for printing and information dissemination.
Change is not optional for GPO--it is required, and it is driven by
declines in GPO's printing volumes, printing revenues, and document
sales. The panel we convened of printing and information dissemination
experts identified options for GPO's future that focused on GPO's role
in information dissemination rather than printing. GPO leadership is
using the panel's suggestions to inform its strategic plan and set a
direction for the agency's transformation.
We have noted that setting a clear direction for the future is vital to
GPO's transformation. GPO's draft strategic plan is to be completed
imminently; however, its transformation efforts are at a critical
juncture, and GPO leadership will need to take further actions to
strengthen and sustain GPO's transformation by using the nine key
practices that we identified to help agencies successfully transform.
One of these practices, related to ensuring that top management drives
the transformation, has already been fully applied by GPO's leadership.
Our recommendations, outlined in this report, will assist GPO with the
implementation of the eight practices where GPO's efforts are still
under way.
GPO leadership has articulated a vision to transform GPO into a world-
class organization and has taken some initial steps toward this
objective. GPO is actively implementing our prior recommendations to
strengthen strategic human capital management and has also taken steps
toward improving information technology and information technology
management. GPO could build on this progress by focusing additional
leadership attention on adopting best practices in these areas.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
We provided a draft of this report on June 9, 2004, to the Public
Printer for review and comment. We received written comments from the
Public Printer, which are reprinted in appendix II. The Public Printer
agreed with the content, findings, and recommendations of the draft
report.
In his written comments, the Public Printer stated that this report,
together with our October 2003 report on human capital management, will
support many future actions that are necessary to bring about a
successful transformation of GPO. For example, GPO will use our
recommendations, along with the panel's suggestions, to develop a
customer service model that partners with GPO's agency customers to
meet their publishing needs. Further, the Public Printer said that he
fully agrees with our assessment of GPO's human capital environment and
will make significant investments in workforce development in order to
train existing employees in the skills required for 21st century
printing and information processing. In addition, he added that GPO is
moving toward becoming a world-class organization in both financial
management and information technology management by adopting leading
business practices.
GPO also provided minor technical clarifications, which we incorporated
as appropriate in this report.
We are sending copies to the Public Printer, as well as the Joint
Committee on Printing, the House Appropriations Legislative
Subcommittee, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the
House Committee on Administration. We will also make copies available
to others upon request. In addition, the report will be available at no
charge on GAO's Web site at h [Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov].
If you have any questions about this report, please contact J.
Christopher Mihm or Steven Lozano on (202) 512-6806 or [Hyperlink,
mihmj@gao.gov] and [Hyperlink, lozanos@gao.gov]. Questions concerning
the expert panel, the survey of executive branch agencies, and
information technology issues should be directed to Linda Koontz at
(202) 512-6240 or Tonia Johnson at (202) 512-6447 or [Hyperlink,
koontzl@gao.gov] and [Hyperlink, johnsontl@gao.gov]. Questions about
GPO's financial management should be directed to Jeanette Franzel at
(202) 512-9471 or Jack Hufnagle at (202) 512-9470 or [Hyperlink,
franzelj@gao.gov] or [Hyperlink, hufnaglej@gao.gov]. Other contributors
to this report were Barbara Collier, Benjamin Crawford, William
Reinsberg, Amy Rosewarne, and Warren Smith.
Signed by:
J. Christopher Mihm:
Managing Director, Strategic Issues:
Linda Koontz:
Director, Information Technology:
Jeanette Franzel:
Director, Financial Management and Assurance:
[End of section]
Appendixes:
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology:
To help explore the options for the future for the Government Prining
Office (GPO), we contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to
convene a panel of experts to discuss (1) trends in printing,
publishing, and dissemination and (2) the future role of GPO. In
working with the National Academy to develop an agenda for the panel
sessions, we consulted with key officials at GPO, representatives of
library associations, including the Association of Research Libraries
and the American Library Association, and other subject matter experts.
The National Academy assembled a panel of experts on printing and
publishing technologies, information dissemination technologies, the
printing industry, and trends in printing and dissemination. This panel
met on December 8 and 9, 2003.
To obtain information on GPO's printing and dissemination activities--
including revenues and costs--we collected and analyzed key documents
and data, including laws and regulations; studies of GPO operations;
prior audits; historical trends for printing volumes and prices; and
financial, budget, and appropriations reports and data. We did not
independently verify GPO's financial information, but did perform
limited tests of the work performed by external auditors. We also
interviewed appropriate officials from GPO, the Library of Congress,
and the Office of Management and Budget. To determine how GPO collects
and disseminates government information, we collected and analyzed
documents and data on the depository libraries, the cataloging and
indexing program, and the International Exchange Service program. We
also interviewed appropriate officials from GPO.
To determine executive branch agencies' current reported printing
expenditures, equipment inventories, and preferences, familiarity and
level of satisfaction with services provided by GPO, and current
methods for disseminating information to the public, we developed two
surveys of GPO's customers in the executive branch. We sent our first
survey to executive agencies that are major users of GPO's printing
programs and services. It contained questions on the department's or
agency's (1) familiarity with these programs and services and (2) level
of satisfaction with the customer service function. These major users,
according to GPO, account for the majority of printing done through
GPO. We sent one survey each to 7 independent agencies and 11
departments that manage printing centrally. We also sent one survey
each to 15 component agencies within 3 departments that manage printing
in a decentralized manner. A total of 33 departments and agencies were
surveyed. The response rate for the user survey was 91 percent (30 of
33 departments and agencies).
We sent our second survey to print officers who manage printing
services for departments and agencies. These print officers act as
liaisons to GPO and manage in-house printing operations. This survey
contained questions concerning the department's or agency's (1) level
of satisfaction with GPO's procured printing and information
dissemination functions; (2) printing preferences, equipment
inventories, and expenditures; and (3) information dissemination
processes. These agencies include those that were sent the user survey
plus two others that do not use GPO services. We sent this survey to 11
departments that manage printing centrally, 15 component agencies
within 3 departments that manage printing in a decentralized manner,
and 9 independent agencies. A total of 35 departments and agencies were
surveyed. The response rate for the print officer survey was 83 percent
(29 of 35 departments and agencies).
To develop these survey instruments, we researched executive agencies'
printing and dissemination issues with the assistance of GPO's Customer
Services and Organizational Assistance Offices. We used this research
to develop a series of questions designed to obtain and aggregate the
information that we needed to answer our objectives. After we developed
the questions and created the two survey instruments, we shared them
with GPO officials. We received feedback on the survey questions from a
number of internal GPO organizations including Printing Procurement,
Customer Services, Information Dissemination, and Organizational
Assistance.
We pretested the executive branch surveys with staff at the Department
of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. We chose
these agencies because each had a long-term relationship with GPO,
experience with agency printing, and familiarity with governmentwide
printing and dissemination issues. Finally, we reviewed customer lists
to determine the appropriate agencies to receive the executive branch
surveys. We did not independently verify agencies' responses to the
surveys.
To assess GPO's actions and plans for the transformation, we reviewed
statements by the Public Printer, Superintendent of Documents, and
other senior leaders; analyzed draft performance agreements, employee
surveys, communication plans, and strategic planning documents; GPO
policies and procedures; organizational charts; audited financial
statements; information from GPO's intranet; communications with
employees from the Employee Communications Office and Public Relations;
and other relevant documentation.
To obtain additional information and perspectives on GPO's
transformation issues, we interviewed key senior GPO officials,
including the Deputy Public Printer; Chief Operating Officer; Chief of
Staff; Deputy Chief of Staff; Superintendent of Documents; Deputy
Superintendent of Documents; Managing Director of Plant Operations;
Managing Director of Customer Services; the former and Acting Chief
Human Capital Officer; Chief Financial Officer; Chief Information
Officer; and Director, Office of Innovations and New Technology. We
also interviewed GPO officials at the next level of management
responsible for information dissemination, customer service, and human
capital. To get employee perspectives, we spoke with union leaders,
attended town hall meetings, and analyzed results of the employee
survey and focus groups held by the Human Capital Office. In addition,
we visited the Pueblo, Colorado, Document Distribution Center to talk
with frontline managers about their views of the transformation.
We used the practices presented in our report Results Oriented
Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational
Transformations,
[Hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-669], to guide
our analysis of the actions taken by GPO to transform. We developed
the recommended next steps by referring to our other models, guides,
reports, and products on transforming organizations, strategic human
capital management, and best practices for information technology and
financial management, and by identifying additional practices that
were associated with and would further complement or support current
GPO efforts.
We performed our work from March 2003 through June 2004. During this
time we worked cooperatively with GPO leaders, meeting regularly with
them about the progress of their transformation initiatives and
providing them with information that they plan to use to develop GPO's
strategic plan and strengthen management. Because of this
collaborative, cooperative approach, we determined that our work in
response to the mandate could not be considered an audit subject to
generally accepted government auditing standards. However, in our
approach to the work, we followed appropriate quality control
procedures consistent with the generally accepted standards. For the
general management review examining GPO's transformational efforts, we
did follow generally accepted government auditing standards.
[End of section]
Appendix II: Comments from the Government Printing Office:
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:
Bruce R. James:
Public Printer:
June 17, 2004:
Mr. J. Christopher Mihm:
Managing Director, Strategic Issues:
U.S. General Accounting Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Mr. Mihm:
1 am pleased with the opportunity to provide comments on the General
Accounting Office's (GAO) Report, entitled GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:
Actions to Strengthen and Sustain GPO's Transformation. As you fully
recognize in your report, the Federal government printing and
dissemination is dramatically changing due to technological
advancements in the printing and publishing industry. GPO must
transform itself to meet these challenges in order to become a viable
and effective 21sT century government enterprise. GPO has initiated the
transformation process and has already made numerous changes to its
operations, which GAO acknowledges in its report. However, there is
still much more to accomplish and I believe that our present course of
action, when fully implemented, will make the GPO a more efficient,
economical, and effective organization.
GAO's thorough review of the federal printing operations and GPO's
activities, coupled with the suggestions made by the Panel of Experts
convened at GAO's request by the National Academy of Sciences, lends
credibility to the need for GPO to change and head in a new direction.
That process has begun and it will include the development of a GPO
strategic business plan that will focus on a new primary mission, one
centered on new electronic publishing and information dissemination
technology, not printing. I agree with your report recommendations and
have already made great strides implementing them. This report,
together with your October 2003 report on human capital management,
will support many future actions that are necessary to bring about a
successful transformation of GPO.
Your survey findings have shown that Federal agencies do value GPO's
services and wish to continue working with us in the future. That
acceptability will serve as a major organizational incentive to build
upon our past successes in order to provide new and improved products
and services to our customer base. Many areas that customers have
identified as needing improvement relate to new products and services
that GPO offers, but have failed to do an effective job of marketing.
Efforts are underway to better communicate with our customer base and
to provide a wider range of new GPO services.
Using your recommendations, along with the panel's suggestions, GPO
will develop a customer service model that partners with its agency
customers at the program level in order to provide a range of support
and solutions for their publishing needs and responsibilities from
creation to dissemination whether digital or printed publications.
The time has arrived to build a new model for government publishing
based on the technologies now available and those that will soon be
here. While it is clear that no one can fully anticipate the future
evolution of technology and its impact on publishing, it is also clear
that digital technology, as we know it today, will be the fundamental
building block for the future as far as we can see. GPO must deploy the
technology needed by its Federal customers and the public to gather and
produce digital documents in a uniformly structured database in order
to authenticate documents disseminated over the Internet and to
preserve the information for permanent public access.
1 fully agree with your assessment of GPO's human capital environment
and the need for change. GPO will make significant investments in
workforce development in order to train its existing employees in the
skills required for 21st century printing and information processing.
In addition, we are also moving toward becoming a world-class
organization in both financial management and information technology
management by adopting leading business practices that will make these
functions an integral part of the entire GPO.
I would like to extend my appreciation to the GAO personnel who
performed this review, and for their communication and assistance
throughout the review process. Their professionalism in dealing with
GPO's managers and employees allowed for this review to be completed in
a cooperative manner and led to a general acceptance of many
recommendations presented throughout the report. GPO will move forward
now to continue its transformation and this report will be a major part
of that process.
Sincerely,
Signed by:
Bruce R. James:
Public Printer:
[End of section]
Appendix III: Executive Agency Satisfaction with GPO Services:
Agencies responding to our surveys were generally satisfied with the
Government Printing Office (GPO) and its services. Many agencies rated
certain services favorably:
* 18 of 19 that use electronic publishing services rated these as
average or above,
* 16 of 17 that use large-format printing services rated these as
average or above, and:
* 16 of 17 that use services to convert products to electronic format
rated these as average or above.
However, a few of the responding agencies suggested areas in which GPO
could improve, as the following examples illustrate:
* 7 of 23 that use financial management services (such as billings,
payments, and automated transfers) rated these as below average or
poor;
* 3 of 10 that use Web page design/development rated it as below
average or poor; and:
* 5 of 24 that use the Federal Depository Library Program rated it as
below average or poor.
Table 5 (repeated from the body of the report) summarizes (1) agency
users' levels of satisfaction with GPO's services and (2) products and
services that they do not use.
Table 5: Satisfaction with Products and Services:
GPO product/service: Archiving/storage;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 15;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Binding;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: CD-ROM development and production;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Converting products to electronic format;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 11;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Custom finishing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 12;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Duplication/print on demand;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Electronic publishing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Federal Depository Library Program;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Financial management services;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: GPO sales program;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Institute for Federal Printing and Electronic
Publishing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 11;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Large format printing;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Production Inventory Control System;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 11;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Preflighting[B];
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 8;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 10;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Press sheet inspection[C];
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 8;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Printing (in-house);
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Product dissemination;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 6;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 7;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 27.
GPO product/service: Reimbursable storage/distribution;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 0;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 19;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Typography/design;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 3;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 9;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Web hosting;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Above average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Average: 5;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Poor: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 18;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
GPO product/service: Web page design/development;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Excellent: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Above average: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Average: 4;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Below average: 1;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/ services: Poor: 2;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Don't use: 18;
Agency satisfaction with GPO products/services: Total[A]: 28.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[A] Not all agencies answered every question.
[B] Preflighting is checking printed or electronic copy before printed
copies are made.
[C] Press sheet inspection is a review of printed sheets before printed
copies are made.
[End of table]
As the table shows, in responding to questions on customer
satisfaction, some agencies indicated that they did not use certain
electronic services:
* 18 of 28 do not use Web hosting and Web page design/development
services,
* 11 of 28 do not use services to convert products to electronic
format, and:
* 9 of 28 do not use electronic publishing services.
Some responding agencies identified other services that they did not
use:
* 19 of 28 do not use reimbursable storage and distribution services,
* 15 of 28 do not use archiving and storage services,
* 12 of 28 do not use custom-finishing services,
* 10 of 27 do not use large format printing services, and:
* 10 of 28 do not use preflighting services.
In addition, we asked agencies about specific GPO services, which are
reported in the sections that follow.
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Term Contracts:
Most of the responding agencies' print officers were generally
satisfied with GPO's Print Procurement Term Contracts organization--the
group that awards and manages long-term multiple print contracts. All
print officers responding to our survey rated this organization as
average or above in the following areas:
* accessibility by phone,
* cost of products and services, and:
* knowledge of products and services.
Among the few less-than-average ratings were:
* presentation of new products and services--4 of 20 rated GPO's
performance below average,
* timeliness--3 of 23 rated GPO's performance below average, and:
* responsiveness to customer needs--2 of 24 rated GPO's performance
below average.
Table 6 shows the specific responses.
Table 6: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Term Contracts:
Feature: Ability to solve problems;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 24.
Feature: Accessibility by phone;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 24.
Feature: Accuracy of information;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 23.
Feature: Communication skills;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 24.
Feature: Cost of products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 23.
Feature: Courtesy;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 24.
Feature: Presentation of new products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 23.
Feature: Product and/or services knowledge;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 24.
Feature: Professionalism;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 24.
Feature: Responsiveness to customer needs;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 24.
Feature: Timeliness;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Above average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Below average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO term contracts: Total[A]: 23.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[A] Not all agencies answered every question.
[End of table]
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Procurement Purchasing:
Most of the responding agencies' print officers also were generally
satisfied with GPO's Print Procurement Purchasing organization--the
organization that manages one-time print procurements. Among the areas
in which the organization was highly rated were:
* ability to solve problems--all ratings were average or above,
* accessibility by phone--all ratings were average or above, and:
* communication skills--all ratings were average or above.
Among the few less than average ratings were:
* presentation of new products and services--4 of 16 rated this below
average,
* responsiveness to customer needs--2 of 19 rated this below average,
and:
* timeliness--1 of 19 rated this below average.
Table 7 shows the specific responses.
Table 7: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Procurement Purchasing:
Feature: Ability to solve problems;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Accessibility by phone;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Accuracy of information;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Communication skills;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Cost of products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Courtesy;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Presentation of new products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Product and/or service knowledge;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Professionalism;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Responsiveness to customer needs;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Feature: Timeliness;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Above average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO procurement purchasing: Total: 19.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[End of table]
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Regional Print Procurement:
Most of the responding agencies' print officers were satisfied with
GPO's regional print procurement organizations, which manage print
contracting for agency organizations outside of Washington, D.C. Among
the areas in which these organizations were favorably rated were:
* ability to solve problems--all ratings were average or above,
* accessibility by phone--all ratings were average or above, and:
* accuracy of information--all ratings were average or above.
Among the few less-than-average ratings were:
* presentation of new products and services--2 of 15 rated this below
average, and:
* product and services knowledge--1 of 21 rated this below average.
Table 8 shows the specific responses.
Table 8: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Regional Procurement:
Feature: Ability to solve problems;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 12;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Accessibility by phone;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Accuracy of information;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 21.
Feature: Communication skills;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 13;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Costs of products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Courtesy;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Presentation of new products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 21.
Feature: Product and/or service knowledge;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 21.
Feature: Professionalism;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Responsiveness to customer needs;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Timeliness;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Excellent: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Above average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO regional procurement: Total[A]: 22.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[A] Not all agencies answered every question.
[End of table]
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Information Dissemination:
Most of the responding agencies' print officers were generally
satisfied with GPO's information dissemination. Among the areas in
which this function was favorably rated were:
* courtesy--all rated average or above,
* product and/or service knowledge--all rated average or above, and:
* professionalism--all rated average or above.
Among the few less than average ratings were:
* presentation of new products and services--3 of 13 rated this below
average, and:
* accessibility by phone--3 of 22 rated this poor.
Table 9 shows the specific responses.
Table 9: Agency Print Officers' Ratings of GPO Information
Dissemination:
Feature: Ability to solve problems;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Accessibility by phone;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Accuracy of information;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 23.
Feature: Communication skills;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 13;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 23.
Feature: Costs of products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Courtesy;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Presentation of new products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Product and/or service knowledge;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Professionalism;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 12;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 21.
Feature: Responsiveness to customer needs;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Feature: Timeliness;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Above average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Poor: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO information dissemination: Total[A]: 22.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[A] Not all agencies answered every question.
[End of table]
Level of Satisfaction with GPO Customer Services:
Most responding agencies were generally satisfied with the Customer
Services program. Among the areas rated as average or above were:
* ability to solve problems,
* accessibility by phone,
* accuracy of information,
* courtesy, and:
* professionalism.
Among the few less than average ratings were:
* presentation of new products and services--9 of 25 rated below
average or poor,
* cost of products and services--4 of 26 rated below average or poor,
and:
* timeliness and responsiveness to customer needs--2 of 28 rated below
average.
Table 10 shows the specific responses.
Table 10: Agency Ratings of GPO Customer Services:
Feature: Ability to solve problems;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Accessibility by phone;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 11;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Accuracy of information;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Communication skills;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 13;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Cost of products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 6;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Courtesy;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 14;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Presentation of new products and services;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 4;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 3;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Product and/or service knowledge;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 5;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 12;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 1;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Professionalism;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 12;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Responsiveness to customer needs;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 7;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 10;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Feature: Timeliness;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Excellent: 8;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Above average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Average: 9;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Below average: 2;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Poor: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: No basis to judge: 0;
Agency ratings of GPO customer services: Total: 28.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[End of table]
Most of the responding agencies were generally satisfied with their
most recent experience with this program. Specifically,
* 27 of 29 were able to reach a customer service representative, and:
* 27 of 29 felt that the customer service representatives were helpful.
Among the few less than positive ratings were:
* 7 of 29 strongly agreed or agreed that additional contact was
required to resolve the matter,
* 3 of 28 disagreed that their complaint was resolved in a timely
manner,
* 3 of 29 disagreed that their question was answered in a timely
manner.
Table 11 shows the specific responses.
Table 11: Agency Ratings of Most Recent Experience with GPO Customer
Services:
Feature: Able to directly reach a GPO customer representative;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly agree: 13;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Agree: 14;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Neither agree nor disagree: 1;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Disagree: 1;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly disagree: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
No basis to judge: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Total: 29.
Feature: Question answered in reasonable time period;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly agree: 12;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Agree: 14;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Neither agree nor disagree: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Disagree: 3;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly disagree: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
No basis to judge: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Total: 29.
Feature: Customer rep did not know how to handle problem;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly agree: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Agree: 2;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Neither agree nor disagree: 2;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Disagree: 19;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly disagree: 6;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
No basis to judge: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Total: 29.
Feature: Complaint resolved in timely fashion;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly agree: 5;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Agree: 18;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Neither agree nor disagree: 2;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Disagree: 1;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly disagree: 2;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
No basis to judge: 1;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Total: 29.
Feature: Needed additional contact to resolve matter;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly agree: 2;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Agree: 5;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Neither agree nor disagree: 5;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Disagree: 14;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly disagree: 3;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
No basis to judge: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Total: 29.
Feature: Customer rep was willing to help;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly agree: 14;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Agree: 13;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Neither agree nor disagree: 1;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Disagree: 1;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Strongly disagree: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
No basis to judge: 0;
Agency rating of most recent contact with GPO customer services:
Total: 29.
Source: GAO analysis of agency-reported data.
[End of table]
[End of section]
Appendix IV: Panel of Experts:
Prudence S. Adler:
Associate Executive Director:
Federal Relations and Information Policy:
Association of Research Libraries:
Jamie Callan:
Associate Professor:
School of Computer Science:
Carnegie Mellon University:
Bonnie C. Carroll:
President and Founder:
Information International Associates, Inc.:
Gary Cosimini:
Business Development Director:
Creative Pro Product Group:
Adobe Systems Incorporated:
John S. Erickson:
Principal Scientist:
Digital Media Systems Lab:
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories:
Michael Jensen:
Director of Web Communications:
National Academies Press:
P. K. Kannan:
Associate Professor:
Robert H. Smith School of Business:
University of Maryland:
Nick Kemp:
Senior Vice President of Operations:
Nature Publishing Group:
William C. Lamparter:
President and Principal:
PrintCom Consulting Group:
Craig Nevill-Manning:
Senior Staff:
Research Scientist:
Google Inc.:
Barbara Kline Pope:
Executive Director:
National Academies Press:
MacKenzie Smith:
Associate Director for Technology:
MIT Library:
(450295):
FOOTNOTES
[1] U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures:
Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational
Transformations, GAO-03-669 (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 2003), and
Highlights of a GAO Forum: Mergers and Transformation: Lessons Learned
for a Department of Homeland Security and Other Federal Agencies, GAO-
03-293SP (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 14, 2002).
[2] U.S. General Accounting Office, Government Printing Office:
Advancing GPO's Transformation Effort through Strategic Human Capital
Management, GAO-04-85 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 20, 2003).
[3] GPO's six operating units are the Customer Services division;
Information Dissemination division; plant operations division; office
of information technology and systems; office of human capital; and
office of finance and administration.
[4] 44 U.S.C. §501. Departments, agencies, or their components may be
exempted from the provisions of Title 44 by having (1) their own
authorized printing plant approved by the Joint Committee on Printing,
(2) a statutory exemption, or (3) a waiver from the Joint Committee on
Printing to procure printing without going through GPO.
[5] Among the printing it performs in house for executive agencies is
the Federal Register.
[6] Examples of other distribution-related programs are the
International Exchange Service, administered by GPO on behalf of the
Library of Congress, to exchange U.S. government publications for
foreign government publications, which can then be made available to
the public; the By-Law Distribution program, which supports the
requirements of executive agencies and the Congress by providing
publications prescribed by statute free of charge to authorized
recipients; and Agency Distribution Services, which support the
requirements of executive branch agencies for distribution of
publications through the performance or procurement of mail list
distribution or order-fulfillment services.
[7] Using tools such as the Extensible Markup Language (XML), for
example, an organization could prepare one document that would
automatically be interpreted to display appropriately on a number of
different display devices, including paper. For more information on
XML, see U.S. General Accounting Office, Electronic Government:
Challenges to Effective Adoption of the Extensible Markup Language,
GAO-02-327 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 5, 2002).
[8] The sales of publications program absorbed additional expenses of
$12 million for the direct write-down of the Integrated Processing
System, a major system intended to automate certain functions for the
document sales program and products. Sales of publications operations
also include the distribution of publications on behalf of customer
agencies. In addition, GPO management stated that the sales program had
accumulated overhead expenses of $54.7 million over the same 5-year
period, which contributed to its overall losses.
[9] GPO used $53.3 million to comply with new intragovernmental
accounting requirements under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act
(U.S. Treasury, Financial Management Service, Federal
Intragovernmental Transactions Accounting Policies Guide, Sept. 28,
2001).
[10] GPO closed its last remaining regional printing office in Denver,
Colorado, on April 21, 2004.
[11] The Retirement Separation Incentive Program had total expenses of
$10.4 million to reduce the GPO workforce.
[12] Judith C. Russell, U.S. Superintendent of Documents, "The Federal
Depository Library Program: Current and Future Challenges of the
Electronic Transition," paper presented at the annual meeting of the
American Association of Law Libraries (Seattle, Wash.: July 15, 2003).
[13] Receiving these copies at the rate of the original order is much
less expensive than arranging a separate print run.
[14] GPO is authorized to collect fees to reimburse its revolving fund
for services and supplies provided, including charges for overhead. 44
U.S.C. §309(b)(1).
[15] The mission of this office is to find new technologies that can
help GPO with the challenges of acquiring, authenticating, versioning,
disseminating, and preserving digital information. According to GPO,
each of these functions related to digital asset management is crucial
to its future.
[16] U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Cultures:
Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational
Transformations, GAO-03-669 (Washington, D.C.: July 2, 2003).
[17] On June 3, 2004, GPO's Chief of Staff was appointed to serve as
Acting CHCO and the Public Printer's Special Assistant following the
departure of the CHCO. The Acting CHCO stated that GPO would continue
implementing the many transformation efforts initiated by the Human
Capital Office.
[18] U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Government: GPRA
Has Established a Solid Foundation for Achieving Greater Results, GAO-
04-38 (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 10, 2004).
[19] U.S. General Accounting Office, Standards for Internal Control in
the Federal Government, GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: November
1999).
[20] GPO's Chief of Staff will continue to have responsibility for
GPO's strategic planning in his new position as Special Assistant to
the Public Printer and Acting CHCO.
[21] GPO and OMB entered a compact on June 6, 2003, in which GPO would
create a demonstration project designed to provide federal agencies
flexibility in choosing their own printing services.
[22] U.S. General Accounting Office, Executive Guide: Effectively
Implementing the Government Performance and Results Act, GGD-96-118
(Washington, D.C.: June 1996).
[23] B-301837 (Apr. 28, 2004).
[24] U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Effective Use of
Flexibilities Can Assist Agencies in Managing Their Workforces, GAO-03-
2 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 6, 2002).
[25] U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Key Principles for
Effective Strategic Workforce Planning, GAO-04-39 (Washington, D.C.:
Dec. 11, 2003).
[26] U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Selected Agencies'
Experiences and Lessons Learned in Designing Training and Development
Programs, GAO-04-291 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 30, 2004).
[27] U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Senior Executive
Performance Management Can Be Significantly Strengthened to Achieve
Results, GAO-04-614 (Washington, D.C.: May 26, 2004).
[28] GAO-03-488.
[29] The Depository Library Council is an organization established to
provide advice on policy matters dealing with the Depository Library
Program.
[30] U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: DHS Personnel
System Design Effort Provides for Collaboration and Employee
Participation, GAO-03-1099 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 30, 2003).
[31] U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: A Guide for
Assessing Strategic Training and Development Efforts in the Federal
Government, GAO-04-546G (Washington, D.C.: March 2004).
[32] U.S. General Accounting Office, Human Capital: Observations on
Agencies' Implementation of the Chief Human Capital Officers Act, GAO-
04-800T (Washington, D.C.: May 18, 2004).
[33] GAO-04-85.
[34] U.S. General Accounting Office, Government Printing Office:
Advancing GPO's Transformation Effort through Strategic Human Capital
Management, GAO-04-85 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 20, 2003).
[35] U.S. General Accounting Office, Results-Oriented Government:
Shaping the Government to Meet 21ST Century Challenges, GAO-03-1168T
(Washington, D.C.: Sept. 17, 2003).
[36] GPO Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2003, Independent Auditor's Report
(Washington, D.C.: 2003).
[37] Bruce R. James, Public Printer of the United States, Statement
Before the Committee on House Administration U.S. House of
Representatives "Transformation of the U.S. Government Printing Office
to Meet the Demands of the 21ST Century" (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 28,
2004).
[38] U.S. General Accounting Office, Executive Guide: Creating Value
Through World-class Financial Management, GAO/AIMD-00-134 (Washington,
D.C.: April 2000).
GAO's Mission:
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress,
exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional
responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability
of the federal government for the American people. GAO examines the use
of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides
analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help Congress make
informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO's commitment to
good government is reflected in its core values of accountability,
integrity, and reliability.
Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony:
The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no
cost is through the Internet. GAO's Web site ( www.gao.gov ) contains
abstracts and full-text files of current reports and testimony and an
expanding archive of older products. The Web site features a search
engine to help you locate documents using key words and phrases. You
can print these documents in their entirety, including charts and other
graphics.
Each day, GAO issues a list of newly released reports, testimony, and
correspondence. GAO posts this list, known as "Today's Reports," on its
Web site daily. The list contains links to the full-text document
files. To have GAO e-mail this list to you every afternoon, go to
www.gao.gov and select "Subscribe to e-mail alerts" under the "Order
GAO Products" heading.
Order by Mail or Phone:
The first copy of each printed report is free. Additional copies are $2
each. A check or money order should be made out to the Superintendent
of Documents. GAO also accepts VISA and Mastercard. Orders for 100 or
more copies mailed to a single address are discounted 25 percent.
Orders should be sent to:
U.S. General Accounting Office
441 G Street NW,
Room LM Washington,
D.C. 20548:
To order by Phone:
Voice: (202) 512-6000:
TDD: (202) 512-2537:
Fax: (202) 512-6061:
To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs:
Contact:
Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm E-mail: fraudnet@gao.gov
Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202) 512-7470:
Public Affairs:
Jeff Nelligan, managing director, NelliganJ@gao.gov (202) 512-4800 U.S.
General Accounting Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149 Washington, D.C.
20548: