To further assess the applicability of GAO’s rightsizing framework, we  selected the embassies in Dakar, Senegal; Banjul, The Gambia; and  Nouakchott, Mauritania. Rightsizing Framework Can Be Applied and Used to Highlight Specific Issues at Each Embassy

Our work at the three posts in West Africa further demonstrated that our  framework and corresponding questions can provide a systematic  approach for assessing overseas workforce size and identifying options for  rightsizing in developing countries. Officials at the embassies in Dakar, Banjul, and  Nouakchott agreed that security vulnerability should be a key concern in  determining the size and composition of staffing levels at the posts and  should be addressed in conjunction with the other rightsizing elements of  mission and cost. Another management system is the Department of State’s Mission  Performance Plan (MPP). Officials in the Department of State’s Bureau of East Asian and  Pacific Affairs and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs also agreed that the  security, mission, cost, and option elements of the framework provide a  logical basis for planning and making rightsizing decisions. The Department of State said that the rightsizing questions provide a good  foundation for it to proceed in working with OMB and other agencies to  improve the process for determining overseas staffing levels. Scope and Methodology

To determine the extent to which our framework’s questions are  applicable in developing regions, we visited three West African  embassies—Dakar, Senegal; Banjul, The Gambia; and Nouakchott,  Mauritania. Cost  data were incomplete and fragmented. Dakar: Consideration of Rightsizing Actions and Options

Responses to the framework’s questions regarding rightsizing actions and  other options at Embassy Dakar highlighted the impact of security  conditions on anticipated staffing increases and the need to define and  document the embassy’s growing regional responsibilities as part of the  MPP process. GAO’s Comments

1. We did not set priorities for the elements in the framework that appear  in this report. 2. 3. 4.
Why GAO Did This Study

Since the mid-1990s, GAO has highlighted the need for the Department of State and other agencies to establish a systematic process for determining their overseas staffing levels. To support this long-standing need and in support of the President's Management Agenda, GAO developed a framework for assessing overseas workforce size and identified options for rightsizing. Because the framework was largely based on work at the U.S. embassy in Paris, GAO was asked to determine whether the rightsizing framework is applicable at U.S. embassies in developing countries. To accomplish this objective, we visited three U.S. embassies in West Africa--a medium-sized post in Dakar, Senegal; and two small embassies in Banjul, The Gambia; and Nouakchott, Mauritania--and applied the framework and its corresponding questions there.

What GAO Found

GAO's rightsizing framework can be applied at U.S. embassies in developing countries. Officials from the Bureau of African Affairs, and U.S. embassy officials in Dakar, Senegal; Banjul, The Gambia; and Nouakchott, Mauritania, said that the framework's questions highlighted specific issues at each post that should be considered in determining staffing levels. Officials in other State bureaus also believed that the security, mission, cost, and option components of the framework provided a logical basis for planning and making rightsizing decisions. At each of the posts GAO visited, application of the framework and corresponding questions generally highlighted (1) physical and technical security deficiencies that needed to be weighed against proposed staff increases; (2) mission priorities and requirements that are not fully documented or justified in the posts' Mission Performance Plans; (3) cost of operations data that were unavailable, incomplete, or fragmented across funding sources; and (4) rightsizing actions and other options that post managers should consider for adjusting the number of personnel.