1). Labor’s Decentralized Organization Presents Challenges for Strategic Planning

Labor’s decentralized structure makes it both more important and more difficult to ensure a system of accountability as envisioned in the Results Act. Labor’s September 30, 1997, strategic plan reflects Labor’s decentralized approach and the difficulty it presents for establishing departmentwide goals and monitoring their attainment. However, it also makes adopting the better management practices envisioned by the Results Act more challenging. That is, articulating a comprehensive departmentwide mission statement, which is linked to results-oriented goals, objectives, and performance measures, is difficult because of the historical lack of central planning and the existing decentralized organizational structure. Labor chose to present individual plans for 15 of its 24 component offices along with a strategic plan overview. Labor’s overview contains six departmentwide goals. A mission-focused rather than organizationally focused planning process would improve Labor’s ability to examine its operations to find a less costly, more effective means of meeting its mission. Effective Information Management Is Essential

Realizing the benefits of strategic planning will require that Labor has effective information management systems. Labor appointed a chief information officer in August 1996. In 1996, OMB raised a question regarding this individual also serving as the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, since the Clinger-Cohen Act requires that information resources management be the primary function of the chief information officer. The annual performance plans are to include performance goals for an agency’s program activities as listed in the budget, a summary of the necessary resources to conduct these activities, the performance indicators that will be used to measure performance, and a discussion of how the performance data will be validated and verified. Some Challenges of Information Resource Management Are Common to Labor and Other Federal Agencies

Information management is the subject of two new areas we have added this year to our list of areas at high risk of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement: information security and the year 2000 problem, both of which apply to Labor as well as to all other government agencies. Information security generally involves an agency’s ability to adequately protect the information it collects from unauthorized access. The second area involves the need for computer systems to be changed to accommodate dates beyond the year 1999. challenge to obtain complete, reliable, and consistent information throughout the Department is formidable.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the: (1) Department of Labor's progress in strategic planning as envisioned by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993; and (2) challenge Labor faces in ensuring the effective information management necessary for Labor to fully realize the benefits of that planning.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) Labor's decentralized management structure makes adopting the better management practices envisioned by the Results Act--that is, articulating a comprehensive departmentwide mission statement linked to obvious results-oriented goals, objectives, and performance measures--more challenging; (2) Labor's September 30, 1997, strategic plan reflected its decentralized approach and the difficulty it presents for establishing departmentwide goals and monitoring their attainment; (3) Labor chose to present individual plans for 15 of its 24 component offices along with a strategic plan overview; (4) the overview contained five departmentwide goals that are generally results-oriented and a departmentwide management goal; (5) however, GAO is concerned that the lack of a departmentwide perspective in the development of Labor's strategic plan makes it organizationally driven rather than focused on mission; (6) several of the goals of the component units responsible for ensuring safe and healthful workplaces are similar yet listed separately for each unit; (7) a more mission-focused approach would improve Labor's ability to identify ways in which its operations might be improved to minimize potential duplication and promote efficiencies; (8) in order to measure performance--the next step required under the Results Act--Labor will need information that is sufficiently complete, reliable, and consistent to be useful in decisionmaking; (9) GAO's work has raised questions about how well Labor is meeting this management challenge; (10) GAO has found data to be missing, unreliable, or inconsistent in agencies throughout the Department; (11) Labor, as well as all other federal agencies, must also address two information management issues GAO has described this year as high risk because of vulnerabilities to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement; (12) the first, information security, involves the agency's ability to protect information from unauthorized access; (13) the second requires Labor to rapidly change its computer systems to accomodate dates in the 21st century; and (14) while Labor has appointed a chief information officer, as required under the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, to oversee these and other information management issues, questions remain as to whether or not other duties required of the individual appointed will allow her to devote the attention necessary to ensure success in this critical management area.