	Interior’s Performance Plan Needs to Be Strengthened in Several Areas

Interior’s performance plan is not user friendly. It consists of nine components—a Departmental Overview and eight individual plans for each of Interior’s major agencies. The nine component performance plans and their respective subagency budget justifications account for about 3,500 pages of material. On a more substantive level, we reviewed Interior’s performance plan to determine whether it met the requirements of the Results Act and its related guidance. To do this, we collapsed the requirements for annual performance plans in the Results Act and related guidance into three core questions: (1) To what extent does the agency’s performance plan provide a clear picture of intended performance across the agency? (2) How well does the performance plan discuss the strategies and resources the agency will use to achieve its performance goals? (3) To what extent does the agency’s performance plan provide confidence that its performance information will be credible? Some Major Management Problems Are Not Adequately Discussed in Interior’s Performance Plan

Our past work at Interior has identified a number of major management problems. Among these are Interior’s need to (1) more effectively manage Indian trust funds and assets; (2) better coordinate crosscutting activities to avoid duplication and overlap; (3) adequately assess NPS’ employee housing needs; (4) provide adequate oversight and accountability over its field offices; and (5) have better information available for making decisions about the resources that Interior manages. The Results Act provides Interior with an opportunity to address these concerns through the development and implementation of its performance plan. We found, however, that while Interior has addressed some of these major management problems, it has not addressed all of them. Over the past 5 years, Interior’s subagencies have made steady progress in preparing reliable financial statements. However, even though most subagencies received clean audit opinions in fiscal year 1997, accounting and internal control weaknesses persist at several subagencies. These weaknesses include (1) accounting and internal controls over accounts receivable (BIA and USGS), revenue (BIA), and real and personal property (BIA and NPS), and (2) controls over computer systems for BIA, BOR, BLM, FWS, and MMS. Actions Under Way to Address Financial Management Problems

Interior has efforts under way to address many of these problem areas.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed its views on several important management issues facing the Department of the Interior, focusing on: (1) Interior's plans for measuring its performance as required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993; (2) whether major management problems GAO has reported on are being addressed in the agency's performance plan; and (3) financial management issues at Interior.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) Interior's performance plan is not user-friendly; (2) it consists of nine-components--a departmental overview and eight subagency plans which have to be reviewed in conjunction with the budget justifications; (3) understanding the totality of what the plans contain is an overwhelming and time-consuming task involving a review of about 3,500 pages of material; (4) on a more substantive level, the plan does not adequately provide a clear picture of intended performance across the Department, sufficiently discuss the strategies and resources that it will use to achieve its performance goals, or provide sufficient confidence that its performance information will be credible; (5) GAO's past work at Interior has identified a number of major management problems; (6) among these are Interior's need to: (a) more effectively manage Indian trust funds and assets; (b) better coordinate crosscutting activities to avoid duplication and overlap; (c) adequately assess the National Park Service's (NPS) employee housing needs; (d) provide adequate oversight and accountability over its field offices; and (e) have better information available for managing the nation's natural resources; (7) the Results Act provides Interior with an opportunity to address these concerns through the development and implementation of its performance plan; (8) GAO found, however, that while Interior has addressed some of GAO's concerns, it has not addressed all of them; (9) over the past five years, Interior's subagencies have made steady progress in preparing reliable financial statements; (10) however, even though most subagencies received clean audit opinions, accounting and internal control weaknesses persist at several subagencies; (11) these weaknesses relate to accounting and internal controls over accounts receivable, revenue, real and personal property, and controls over computer systems; and (12) Interior has efforts under way to address many of these problem areas.