In line with congressional expectations, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty  reduced its budget from $208 million in fiscal year 1994 to approximately  $71 million in fiscal year 1996 by taking the following actions. This is a potentially important duplication issue  that the Board has not reviewed. The Board intends to use this information to  strategically reallocate approximately $4.5 million in language service  funds from emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe to several  African countries and selected countries in other regions. The Board’s fiscal  year 2001 Results Act performance plan is deficient because of missing or  imprecise performance goals and indicators and a lack of key  implementation strategies and related resource requirements. Finally, the  Board has developed a strategic planning and performance management  system that consists of Results Act planning, the annual language service  review, and the program reviews of individual language services. This  system is intended to help ensure that U.S. international broadcasting  resources are used in the most effective manner possible. Improved program quality  measures would also benefit the annual language service review process  and the Board’s Results Act planning, each of which incorporate program  quality as a performance measure. Recommendations

To strengthen the Board’s management oversight and provide greater  assurance that international broadcasting funds are being effectively  expended, we recommend that the Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of  Governors include in the Board’s performance plan a clearer indication of how its  broadcast missions, strategic objectives, performance goals, and  performance indicators relate to each other; and establish audience and  other goals, as appropriate, at the individual language service level; include implementation strategies and related resource requirements in  its performance plan; analyze overseas news-gathering networks across its broadcast entities  to determine if resources could be more effectively deployed; and institute a standardized approach to conducting program quality  assessments and require that program reviews produce a detailed action  plan that responds to specific audience size and composition targets  established at the Results Act and annual language service review level. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The Chairman of the House Committee on the Budget requested that we  examine whether the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (1) responded  to the specific mandates regarding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s  operations, (2) implemented an annual language service review process,  and (3) instituted a strategic planning and performance management  system. To assess whether the Board has responded to the specific cost-cutting  mandates and expectations established in the 1994 International  Broadcasting Act, we examined the Board’s transmission consolidation  efforts, the history of consolidation activities in connection with Radio  Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s move from Munich to Prague, the Board’s  efforts to privatize Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s operations by fiscal  year 1999, and the Board’s efforts to adopt digital production technology  for each broadcast entity. 2. 3. 4.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined whether the Broadcasting Board of Governors: broadcasters (1) responded to the specific limitations and cost-cutting expectations regarding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's operations; (2) implemented an annual language service review process; and (3) instituted a strategic planning and performance management system.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) the Board met its mandates under the 1994 U.S. International Broadcasting Act to reduce Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's annual budget by lowering its budget from $208 million in fiscal year (FY) 1994 to approximately $71 million in FY 1996; (2) it did this by taking several actions including relocating its operation from Munich, Germany, to Prague, Czech Republic and significantly reducing staff; (3) additional savings were made by: (a) eliminating several hundred hours of broadcast overlap; (b) eliminating and modifying a limited number of language services; (c) consolidating transmission operations under the International Broadcasting Bureau; and (d) deploying digital sound recording and editing technology, which has increased Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's staff efficiency and effectiveness; (4) the Board completed a comprehensive language service review in January 2000 that sought to systematically evaluate U.S. international broadcast priorities and program impact; (5) the Board intends to use this information to strategically reallocate approximately $4.5 million in language service funds from emerging democracies in Central and Eastern Europe to several African countries and selected countries in other regions; (6) according to the Board, it intends to continue to use the annual language service review process to strategically analyze broadcast priorities, program funding, and resource allocations; (7) the Board has not yet established an effective strategic planning and performance management system that incorporates Government Performance and Results Act planning, the annual language service review process, and the program reviews of individual language services conducted by the International Broadcasting Bureau and the surrogate broadcasters; (8) the Board's FY 2001 performance plan is deficient because of missing or imprecise performance goals or indicators and a lack of key implementation strategies and related resource requirements that detail the key issues facing the Board; (9) the Board has not established a standard program review approach, which would help ensure that consistent and meaningful measures of program quality are developed across broadcast entities; and (10) it has also not incorporated specific audience size and composition targets into the program review process, which would help ensure that program reviews culminate in a written report that identifies the specific actions needed to achieve agreed-upon performance goals.