They help the Congress and the  executive branch carry out their responsibilities while improving the  government’s performance and enhancing its accountability. GAO has played an important role in  describing the current state of government contracting, identifying the  challenges agencies face, and recommending specific steps agencies  should take to improve their acquisition and contracting outcomes. Helping the Congress through Insight

GAO’s work helps to identify programs, policies, and practices that are  working well, and opportunities to improve their linkages across agencies,  across all levels of government, and with nongovernmental partners in  order to achieve positive national outcomes. The following are a few  examples of our recent efforts to assist the Congress with such insight:  Providing a comprehensive framework for congressional oversight  of hurricanes Katrina and Rita: We developed a number of crosscutting  and comprehensive reviews of aspects of the preparedness for, response  to, and recovery from the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. Building on this work, we continue to support your  Committee and others through a range of audit and evaluation  engagements to examine federal programs that provide rebuilding  assistance to the Gulf Coast, including the federal government’s  contribution to the rebuilding effort and the role it might play over the  long term. We are examining lessons learned from past national  emergencies and catastrophic disasters—both at home and abroad—that  may prove useful in identifying ways to approach rebuilding. Helping the Congress through Foresight

Our products and assistance to the Congress also focus on a wide range of  emerging needs and identify and address governance issues that must be  addressed to respond to a broad range of 21st Century challenges and  opportunities. As the Chief  Accountability Officer of the United States Government, I continue to call  attention to our long-term fiscal challenge and the risks it poses to our  nation’s future. Congressional Support to Enhance GAO’s Effectiveness

Continuously improving on the critical role we play in supporting the  Congress will require modest enhancements to GAO’s resources and  authorities that I proposed in our fiscal year 2008 budget request and  discussed in my Senate appropriations hearing. Our fiscal year 2008  budget request seeks the resources necessary to allow us to rebuild and  enhance our workforce, knowledge capacity, employee programs, and  critical infrastructure. GAO is  an invaluable tool for helping the Congress review, reprioritize, and revise  existing mandatory and discretionary spending programs and tax policies. In addition to providing the resources we need to support the Congress,  we will also be seeking enactment of a set of statutory provisions that  would enhance our ability to provide the Congress the information and  analysis it needs to discharge its constitutional responsibilities. Among  other things, we will seek to modernize authority for the Comptroller  General and his/her authorized representatives to administer oaths in  performance of the work of the office. We are working with the cognizant entities and the  appropriate authorization and oversight committees to discuss the  potential impact of legislative relief for these issues. Appendix I: GAO’s Suggested Areas for Oversight for the 110th Congress

1. Reduce the Tax Gap  2. Appendix II: GAO’s 2007 High-Risk List

Addressing Challenges In Broad-Based Transformations     Strategic Human Capital Management    Managing Federal Real Property    Protecting the Federal Government’s Information Systems and the Nation’s Critical  Implementing and Transforming the Department of Homeland Security     Establishing Appropriate And Effective Information-Sharing Mechanisms to Improve    DOD Approach to Business Transformation    DOD Personnel Security Clearance Program     FAA Air Traffic Control Modernization     Financing the Nation’s Transportation System(New)
Ensuring the Effective Protection of Technologies Critical to U.S. National Security  Interests(New)
Transforming Federal Oversight of Food Safety(New)

Appendix IV: Budget Authority in Fiscal Year 2006 Dollars and Full-Time Equivalent Usage, Fiscal Years 1992 - 2007

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the  United States.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Committee sought GAO's views on the role GAO has played in assisting congressional oversight and the authorities and resources GAO needs to further improve its assistance to the Congress. Today's testimony discusses some of the ways that GAO has helped "set the table" for this Committee, the Congress, the executive branch, and the nation to engage in a constructive and informed dialogue about the challenges and opportunities our nation is facing in the 21st century. It also discusses the authority and resources GAO will need to address the critical oversight and other needs of the Congress.

What GAO Found

GAO is a key tool for the Congress as it works to improve economy, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, and ethics within the federal government. To better meet the needs of the Congress, GAO has transformed itself to provide a range of key oversight, insight, and foresight services while "leading by example" in transforming how government should do business. GAO's oversight work has traditionally focused on ensuring government entities are spending funds as intended by the Congress and complying with applicable laws and regulations, while guarding against fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. For example, since the early 1990s, GAO has updated its list of government programs and operations across government that it identifies as "high risk." It has contributed to the Congress enacting a series of governmentwide reforms and achieving tens of billions of dollars in financial benefits. Last November, GAO issued recommendations for oversight in the 110th Congress ranging from Iraq, to food safety, to the tax gap. GAO work also provides important insight into what programs, policies, and operations are working well; best practices to be shared and benchmarked; how agencies can improve the linkages across the silos of government; and how different levels of government and their nongovernmental partners can be better aligned to achieve important outcomes for the nation. For example, GAO developed a number of crosscutting and comprehensive reviews of the preparedness for, response to, and recovery from the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes. GAO has issued over 40 related reports and testimonies, and in work for this Committee and others GAO is examining lessons learned from past national emergencies and catastrophic disasters--both at home and abroad--that may prove useful in identifying ways to approach rebuilding. Finally, GAO's work can provide the Congress with foresight by highlighting the long-term implications of today's decisions and identifying key trends and emerging challenges facing our nation before they reach crisis proportions. As the Chief Accountability Officer of the United States Government, the Comptroller General continues to call attention to the nation's long-term fiscal challenge and the risks it poses to our nation's future. Continuously improving on the critical role GAO plays in supporting the Congress will require enhancements to GAO's resources and authorities. GAO's fiscal year 2008 budget request seeks resources to allow it to rebuild and enhance its workforce, knowledge capacity, employee programs, and infrastructure. GAO will be proposing changes to its authority, such as the ability to administer oaths in conducting its work, relief from certain mandated reviews, additional human capital flexibilities, and the creation of a Board of Contract Appeals at GAO. Finally, the Comptroller General has noted that GAO should be increased in size over the next 6 years to address the current and anticipated needs of the Congress.