This reduction in demand has resulted in GPO’s  procured printing business, which was once financially self- sustaining, experiencing losses in 3 of the past 5 years, with a net  loss of $15.8 million over that period. Ongoing technological changes are also creating challenges for  GPO’s longstanding structure for centralized printing and  dissemination. GPO Is Making Progress in Its Transformation

The Public Printer and his leadership team recognize the challenges  that they face in this changing environment and have embarked  upon an ambitious effort to transform the agency. To assist in that process, our panel of  printing and dissemination experts developed a series of options for  GPO to consider in its planning. GPO officials responded positively to these results, commenting that  that the panel’s suggestions dovetail well with their own  assessments. In addition, these officials stated that they are using  the results of the panel as a key part of the agency’s ongoing  strategic planning process. ●  Regarding GPO’s mission to disseminate information, GPO officials  stated that its Office of Innovation and New Technology, established  in early 2003, is leading an effort to transform GPO into an agency  “at the cutting edge of multichannel information dissemination.” A  major goal in this effort is to disseminate information while still  addressing the need “to electronically preserve, authenticate, and  version the documents of our democracy.” In addition, the Public  Printer has been added to the oversight committee of the National  Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, a  national cooperative effort to archive and preserve digital  information, led by the Library of Congress. In our October 2003 report, we stated that under the Public Printer’s  direction, GPO also had taken several steps that recognize the  important role strategic human capital management plays in its  transformation. For example, GPO established and filled the  position of Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), shifted the focus  of existing training, expanded opportunities for more staff to attend  needed training, and enhanced recruitment strategies. We also made  numerous recommendations to GPO on the steps it should take to  strengthen its human capital management in support of its  transformation. In addition, according to the CHCO, the human resources office has  been reorganized into teams responsible for a particular GPO  division, serving as a “one-stop shop” for all of the divisions’ human  resource needs. As a first step in GPO’s strategic workforce plan, GPO’s CHCO plans  to conduct a skills assessment of its workforce within the next  6 months. Finally, GPO’s CHCO is initiating a pay for performance pilot  program. Specifically, we  suggested that the agency consider  ●  working with executive branch agencies to examine the nature of  their in-house printing and determine whether it could provide these  services more economically;  ●  addressing the few areas in which executive branch agencies rated  its products, services, and performance as below average,  ●  re-examining its marketing of electronic services to ensure that  agencies are aware of them; and  ●  using the results of the surveys to work with agencies to establish  processes that will ensure that eligible documents (whether printed  or electronic) are forwarded to GPO for dissemination to the public,  as required by law. In summary, the new printing and dissemination environment at the  beginning of the 21st century has created significant challenges for  GPO. Agency leadership recognizes these challenges and has made a  commitment to transform the agency to function effectively within  this changed environment. To help explore GPO’s options for the future, we contracted with  the National Academy of Sciences to convene a panel of experts to  discuss (1) trends in printing, publishing, and dissemination and  (2) the future role of GPO. The National Academy assembled a panel of experts on printing and  publishing technologies, information dissemination technologies,  the printing industry, and trends in printing and dissemination.
Why GAO Did This Study

Advances in technology have led to more organizations making information available over the Internet and the World Wide Web rather than through print, significantly changing the nature of printing and information dissemination. Government Printing Office (GPO) management recognizes that the new environment in which it operates requires that the agency modernize and transform itself and the way it does business. To assist in this transformation, GAO has been performing a comprehensive review of government printing and information dissemination and of GPO's operations. In this testimony, GAO summarizes the result of its work to date, for which GAO convened a panel of experts on printing and dissemination (assembled with the help of the National Academy of Sciences) to develop options for GPO to consider in its transformation, and surveyed executive branch customers regarding their practices and preferences for printing and dissemination, as well as on their interactions with GPO. The testimony reports on how changes in the technological environment are presenting challenges to GPO and on its progress in addressing actions that GAO's work indicates could advance its transformation effort.

What GAO Found

The changing technological environment is creating challenges for GPO. Specifically, the agency has seen declines in its printing volumes, printing revenues, and document sales. At the same time, more and more government documents are being created and downloaded electronically, many from its Web site (GPO Access). The agency's procured printing business, once selfsustaining, has experienced losses in 3 of the past 5 years, showing a net loss of $15.8 million. The sales program lost $77.1 million over the same period. In addition, these changes are creating challenges for GPO's longstanding structure for centralized printing and dissemination and its interactions with customer agencies. The Public Printer recognizes these challenges and in response has embarked upon an ambitious transformation effort. To assist in this effort, the panel of printing and dissemination experts GAO convened suggested that in its planning, GPO should focus on dissemination, rather than printing. The panel also provided specific options for it to consider as it transforms itself. GPO officials welcomed the options presented, commenting that the panel's suggestions dovetail well with their own assessments. In addition, these officials stated that they are using the results of the panel as a key part of the agency's ongoing strategic planning process. In addition, in October 2003, we reported that under the Public Printer's direction, GPO had taken several steps that recognize the important role that strategic human capital management plays in its transformation, including establishing and filling the position of Chief Human Capital Officer. At that time, we made numerous recommendations on the further actions it could take to strengthen its human capital management. In response, GPO is beginning to address these recommendations. For example, it has reorganized its human resources office into teams responsible for each of its divisions, serving as a "one-stop shop" for all of a division's human resource needs. It also plans to conduct a skills assessment of its workforce and is initiating a pay for performance pilot.