U.S. Commission on Civil Rights:
Agency Lacks Basic Management Controls
T-HEHS-97-177: Published: Jul 17, 1997. Publicly Released: Jul 17, 1997.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
Contact:
(202) 512-3000
contact@gao.gov
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov
GAO discussed the findings in its recent report on the management of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, focusing on the: (1) general management issues; and (2) management of the Commission's projects.
GAO noted that: (1) GAO found broad management problems at the Commission on Civil Rights; (2) the Commission appears to be an agency in disarray, with limited awareness of how its resources are used; (3) for example, the Commission could not provide key cost information for individual aspects of its operations, such as its regional offices, its complaints referral process, its clearinghouse, its public service announcements, and, in one case, a project; (4) furthermore, significant agency records documenting Commission decision-making were reported lost, misplaced, or nonexistent; (5) the Commission has not established accountability for resources and does not maintain appropriate documentation of agency operations; (6) lack of these basic, well-established management controls makes the Commission vulnerable to resource losses due to waste or abuse; (7) Commission records indicate that projects accounted for only about 10 percent of the agency's appropriations during fiscal years 1993 through 1996 despite the broad array of civil rights issues addressed; (8) furthermore, GAO's work showed that management of the 12 Commission projects completed or ongoing during this 4-year period appeared weak or nonexistent; (9) the Commission's guidance for carrying out projects is outdated, and the practice described to GAO for conducting projects, including specifying anticipated costs, completion dates, and staffing, was largely ignored; (10) for instance, 7 of the 12 projects had no specific proposals showing their estimated time frames, costs, staffing, or completion dates; (11) specific time frames were not set for most projects, and when they were, project completion dates exceeded the estimates by at least 2 years; (12) overall, projects took a long time to complete, generally 4 years or more; (13) some projects took so long that Commission staff proposed holding additional hearings to obtain more current information; (14) poor project implementation likely contributed to the lengthy time frames; (15) moreover, GAO found that Commission management did not systematically monitor projects to ensure quality and timeliness; (16) finally, Commission project reports are disseminated to the public through three different offices, none of which appears to coordinate with the others to prevent duplication; (17) GAO made several recommendations in its report about improving management at the Commission; and (18) even though the commissioners did not all agree with GAO's findings, they did agree to implement the recommendations.
Dec 17, 2020
-
Intelligence Community:
Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen Workforce Diversity Planning and OversightGAO-21-83: Published: Dec 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 17, 2020.
Dec 3, 2020
-
Gender Pay Differences:
The Pay Gap for Federal Workers Has Continued to Narrow, but Better Quality Data on Promotions Are NeededGAO-21-67: Published: Dec 3, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 3, 2020.
Oct 19, 2020
-
VA Health Care:
Better Data Needed to Assess the Health Outcomes of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender VeteransGAO-21-69: Published: Oct 19, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 19, 2020.
Oct 16, 2020
-
Workplace Sexual Harassment:
Experts Suggest Expanding Data Collection to Improve Understanding of Prevalence and CostsGAO-20-564: Published: Sep 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Oct 16, 2020.
Sep 8, 2020
-
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:
Efforts to Promote Diversity and InclusionGAO-20-637: Published: Sep 8, 2020. Publicly Released: Sep 8, 2020.
Jul 22, 2020
-
Sexual Harassment:
VA Needs to Better Protect EmployeesGAO-20-654T: Published: Jul 22, 2020. Publicly Released: Jul 22, 2020.
Jun 23, 2020
-
USAID:
Mixed Progress in Increasing Diversity, and Actions Needed to Consistently Meet EEO RequirementsGAO-20-477: Published: Jun 23, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 23, 2020.
Jun 17, 2020
-
State Department:
Additional Steps Are Needed to Identify Barriers to Workforce DiversityGAO-20-515T: Published: Jun 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 17, 2020.
Jun 11, 2020
-
Disability Employment:
Hiring Has Increased but Actions Needed to Assess Retention, Training, and Reasonable Accommodation EffortsGAO-20-384: Published: Jun 11, 2020. Publicly Released: Jun 11, 2020.
Mar 19, 2020
-
Sexual Harassment in STEM Research:
Agencies Have Taken Actions, but Need Complaint Procedures, Overall Plans, and Better CollaborationGAO-20-187: Published: Mar 19, 2020. Publicly Released: Mar 19, 2020.
Looking for more? Browse all our products here