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GAO-11-343SP 1 (2011-02-01)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabmkg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Government Accountability Office--Fiscal Year 2012 Performance Plan Fiscal Year 2012 Performance Plan GAO's Mission and Responsibilities The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the Congress, and exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government. GAO's work directly contributes to improvements in a broad array of federal programs affecting Americans everywhere. For example, in fiscal year 2010 our work yielded significant results across the government, including financial benefits of $49.9 billion-a return of $87 for every dollar invested in GAO-and 1,361 nonfinancial benefits that helped to change laws, such as the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010; to improve services to the public; and to promote sound management throughout government. Over the past 4 years GAO's return on investment has been $94 for every dollar spent. GAO issue-area experts testified 192 times before the Congress on a wide range of issues, such as, the first-time homebuyer tax credit, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funding for broadband services, the Department of Defense's planning for the drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq, the Medicare prescription drug program, processing of Veterans Affairs disability claims, pay and benefits for deployed federal civilians, and air cargo security. On average, over the past 4 years, GAO issue-area experts annually testified 242 times before the Congress. As a legislative-branch agency, we are exempt from many laws that apply to executive-branch agencies. However, we generally hold ourselves to the spirit of many of the laws, including the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010. Among other things, GPRA, as amended, requires each agency to prepare an annual performance plan covering each program activity set forth in the budget of such agency. This section of our budget submission constitutes our performance plan for fiscal year 2012. Current Environment Demands Fiscal Discipline Looking ahead to fiscal year 2012, GAO is acutely aware of our dual responsibilities in a time of fiscal austerity. First, Congress has rightly come to rely upon GAO to help lawmakers identify billions of dollars in cost savings opportunities to tighten federal budgets or to point out revenue enhancement opportunities. We know our mission becomes critically important when the nation faces difficult financial times. But second, GAO must also ensure it meets this first responsibility while implementing all possible cost savings in its own operations without diminishing our traditionally high-quality work that lays the foundation for critical decision-making and oversight by the Congress. In light of our commitment to reduce our own costs as much as possible, for fiscal year 2012 we are seeking to maintain our funding level of $556.8 million-consistent with our fiscal year 2010 appropriation and 2011 continuing resolution levels. Although operating at a flat budget for 3 years provides some operational challenges, we have carefully considered our resource requirements and made tradeoffs to ensure that we try to support a capacity of 3,220 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff to provide insightful analyses on the most important priorities for congressional oversight. In anticipation of flat funding in fiscal year 2011, we implemented actions in fiscal year 2010 to reduce planned hiring and manage our FTE usage at 3,220 FTEs. We have also planned significant reductions in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 to streamline our operations, reduce discretionary spending, reduce and defer GAO-11-343SP 1

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