NTSB is charged by Congress with investigating every civil  aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in other  modes of transportation—railroad, highway, marine and pipeline. NTSB  determines the probable cause of the accidents and issues safety  recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. This review focuses on the extent to which NTSB has achieved  measurable improvements from actions the agency has taken in five  management and operational areas based on prior GAO  recommendations. In addition, NTSB increased  the amount of training it delivered at the Training Center. Results across NTSB Management Areas

Our analysis found varying degrees of improvement associated with  NTSB’s actions in each of the management and operational areas we  selected for review. The automation of NTSB’s recommendation follow-up process has  reduced the amount of time it takes to formally respond to agencies about  whether planned actions to implement an NTSB recommendation are  acceptable. We compared NTSB employees’ responses with employees in  a group of small federal and independent agencies and found that  NTSB employees’ satisfaction level increased while the proportion of  employees from small agencies responding positively to this question  during the same period was relatively unchanged from 57 percent in  2004 to 59 percent in 2012. Furthermore, because of lingering concerns, NTSB continues to monitor  employees’ views about employee and management communication to  address any remaining weaknesses. The federal survey of NTSB employees  indicated an increase in the positive responses, from 54 percent to  about 71 percent. Managers/supervisors/team leaders work well with employees of  different backgrounds. The proportion of NTSB employees reporting  positive responses on this survey question from 2004 to 2012  declined from 66 percent to 60 percent. NTSB’s total workforce increased 6 percent over the same period, from  378 in 2008 to 402 in fiscal year 2012. We compared these figures  to those representing comparative groups in the civilian labor force and  found that NTSB’s investigator and investigation-related workforce had a  smaller proportion of minority and other groups, including African  American, Asian, Hispanic, and women than the civilian labor force. However, as  mentioned previously, NTSB has taken steps to implement initiatives as a  result of its diversity management strategy, including its recently  completed diversity and inclusiveness survey, which the agency plans to  use to identify gaps in its diversity and inclusiveness efforts and to  benchmark future progress. It is too soon to tell whether initiatives, such  as its recruitment strategies, will lead to additional changes in its  workforce diversity profile. In 2011, NTSB  implemented a cost accounting system that includes a time and  attendance program in response to a GAO recommendation. NTSB officials stated that  they are currently focused on ensuring the quality of the time and  attendance data before developing goals, targets, and management tools  or using such information to make resource or operational decisions. Thus, NTSB has not yet fully achieved its vision  of using the data to improve labor productivity and mission effectiveness. Recommendation

NTSB needs to continue its improvement efforts in each of the five areas  discussed in this report. Further, to improve financial management and  provide information to managers for operational decisions, we  recommend that the Chairman of the NTSB direct senior management to  develop a strategy for maximizing the utility of NTSB’s cost accounting  system. Agency Comments

We provided a draft of this report to NTSB for its review and comment. NTSB agreed with  our recommendation and provided technical clarifications that we  incorporated as appropriate. Appendix I: Objective, Scope, and Methodology

Our objective in this review was to assess whether there have been  management and operational improvements associated with the National  Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) actions in areas where GAO had  conducted previous work and made recommendations. Many of the 13 recommendations within these  areas required only a single action by NTSB to implement (e.g. It is these latter types of  recommendations that we focused on in this review, and based on these  criteria, we identified 5 for review:  increase the utilization of the Training Center,  improve the process for changing the status of recommendations  through computerization and concurrent review, develop mechanisms to facilitate communication from staff to develop strategies for diversity management as part of the human develop a full cost accounting system to track time employees spend  on each investigation in training. The measures we identified for each recommendation are: (1)  Training Center utilization—utilization of classroom and non-classroom  space and operating deficit; (2) recommendation close-out process— average time to respond to agency proposals; (3) employee and  management communication—employee responses to Office of  Personnel Management’s (OPM) federal employee surveys; (4) diversity  management—employee responses to OPM’s federal employee surveys  and NTSB employment levels of women and members of racial and  ethnic groups; and (5) financial management—cost accounting reports  used to measure performance.
Why GAO Did This Study

The NTSB plays a vital role in transportation safety. It is charged with investigating all civil aviation accidents in the United States and selected accidents in other transportation modes, determining the probable cause of these accidents, and making appropriate recommendations, as well as performing safety studies.
In 2006, NTSB's reauthorization legislation mandated GAO to annually evaluate its programs. From 2006 to 2008, GAO made 21 recommendations to NTSB aimed at improving management and operations across several areas. Since that time, NTSB has taken action to address all 21 recommendations. Some of these were completed by requiring only a single action, whereas others required continuing effort to achieve operational improvement. For this review, GAO examined the extent to which desired outcomes are being achieved in five areas where continuing effort was necessary. GAO analyzed workforce, financial, and program data, and interviewed agency officials about actions NTSB has taken.

What GAO Found

GAOs analysis found varying degrees of improvement associated with the National Transportation Safety Boards (NTSB) actions in areas selected for review.
 Training Center utilization . NTSB increased utilization of its Training Centerboth non-classroom and classroom spacesince 2006. NTSB has also set and achieved its cost recovery goal at the Training Center in the last 2 fiscal years, allowing NTSB to recover half of its operating costs.
 Recommendation close-out process . By automating the recommendation follow-up process, NTSB has reduced by about 3 months the amount of time it takes to respond to agencies on whether planned actions to implement NTSB recommendations are acceptable; this allows agencies to move forward with approved actions sooner than under NTSBs former paper-driven process.
 Communication . NTSB employees responses on federal employee surveys from 2004 to 2012 indicated an increase from 49 to 57 percent in employees positive responses regarding managers communication about agency goals, and from 44 to 49 percent regarding the amount of information received. We compared NTSB employees responses to those of employees from a group of small agencies and found that NTSB employees satisfaction level was about the same or more positive depending on the question. NTSB officials continue to monitor employees views about communication to address any remaining concerns.
 Diversity management . NTSB employees positive responses to the federal employee survey questions about managers commitment to diversity and NTSBs diversity policies and programs increased from about 54 percent to over 70 percent from 2004 to 2012. However, employees positive responses to the question about managers ability to work well with employees with different backgrounds declined 6 percentage points over the same period. In addition, the proportion of minority and women employees in NTSBs workforce, including in its investigator staff, showed little appreciable change over the period 2008 to 2012. NTSBs workforce had a smaller proportion of some minority groups than the civilian labor force. NTSB officials are using results from their recent diversity survey to identify gaps in their diversity management efforts and to benchmark future progress. It is too soon to tell whether NTSBs actions will lead to additional changes in its workforce diversity profile.
 Financial management . To improve operational effectiveness, NTSB has implemented a cost accounting system that includes a time and attendance program to track staff hours and costs related to accident investigations. NTSB is currently focused on ensuring the quality of the time and attendance data, but has not yet developed a strategy to maximize the utility of its cost accounting system for making resource and operational decisions. Thus, NTSB has not yet fully achieved its vision of using the data to improve labor productivity and mission effectiveness.

What GAO Recommends

In each of the five areas NTSB needs to continue its improvement efforts. Further, GAO recommends that NTSB senior managers develop a strategy for maximizing the utility of NTSB's cost accounting system. GAO provided a draft of this report to officials at NTSB. NTSB officials concurred with the recommendation and provided technical comments, which GAO incorporated as appropriate.