Summary of FY 2001 Budget Request Statement of the Administrator Summary of FY 2000 Emergency Supplement Request Program Performance & Prospects Management Improvements & Challenges Operating Expenses, USAID Operating Expenses, Inspector General Foreign Service Disability and Retirement Fund Summary Tables Regions    Africa,    Asia & the Near East,    Europe & Eurasia,    Latin America & the Caribbean Central Programs BHR, Global, PPC Glossary Abbreviations & Acronyms Friday, 03-Aug-2001 23:37:53 EDT

MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS

USAID's management goal, "ensuring that we remain a premier bilateral development agency," expresses the Agency's commitment to being a leader in development assistance, to pioneering effective solutions to pressing development problems, and to delivering development assistance as efficiently and effectively as possible.

USAID is making substantial progress in building management systems and procedures needed for the Agency to deliver the best possible development results. Using a "Roadmap" to guide its efforts, USAID was able to enhance and strengthen on-going reforms. Management improvements implemented in 1999 increased accountability and moved the Agency closer to full compliance with statutory requirements aimed at more efficient and effective performance. Major Agency accomplishments include:

• Eliminated material weaknesses in Agency program performance reporting and the direct loan program;
• Developed a Reform Roadmap that outlines benchmarks for Agency management improvement activities;
• Disseminated standards on performance data and indicator quality and conducted performance-measurement workshops for field staff and partners;
• Drafted a five-year strategic plan to guide implementation of USAID information technology activities;
• Trained over 1,000 Agency professional personnel in the acquisition and assistance process and related procedural requirements;
• Acquired a commercial off-the-shelf core accounting system that will be the foundation for an integrated financial management system;
• Conducted an intensive review of staffing requirements and developed an annual foreign service recruitment plan to meet Agency personnel needs.

While much was accomplished, much remains to be done if USAID is to be managed in the most effective and efficient manner possible.

Specific Achievements in Agency Business Areas

Operations. USAID is engaged in efforts that promote organizational learning and improvements. The Reform Roadmap is based on results of an extensive staff and partner survey conducted in 1998. The Roadmap identifies important activities, indicators, and benchmarks for the Agency's management improvement efforts The Assistant Administrator for Policy and the Assistant Administrator for Management are responsible for overseeing implementation of the Roadmap.

As part of the ongoing effort to improve results measurement and reporting, USAID is concentrating on a variety of mechanisms to ensure that good data are available for decision making. The results reporting system has been streamlined to provide management with better and more timely information at a greatly reduced cost. USAID issued better guidance on data quality and improved Agency training on performance measurement and reporting. As a result of progress in this area, performance reporting has been removed from the Agency's list of material weaknesses.

In FY 2001, USAID plans to conduct Agency-wide evaluations of selected programs to address specific management questions about Agency program and operational performance. These evaluations will examine the effectiveness of activities in achieving results across Agency field-managed and central programs. They will also explore alternative approaches to achieving results in various goal and operational areas.

The Agency also assertively partnered with other donors to ensure harmony and coherence in policies and programs, with particular emphasis on issues involving trade, poverty, conflict prevention, emergency assistance and the environment.

Information Resources Management. The Agency has followed through on an information strategy to better support its business and comply with the Clinger-Cohen Act and the Government Performance and Results Act. The highest priority information management activity during 1999 was completion of Year 2000 compliance work for USAID mission critical systems. USAID completed the repair of all mission critical systems and has experienced no disruption in program or administrative operations as a result of the Y2K problem.

An Information Management Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2001 through 2005 has been developed. The plan will guide the evaluation and selection of information technology investments.

Despite these improvements, NMS is not adequate to our long-term needs to improve our overall financial management, and USAID is procuring a new core accounting system that will provide us with a tool that will increase our ability to provide timely data and analysis of how we are spending our resources. This will empower managers to run programs more efficiently, help us analyze program performance, increase our responsiveness to customers, and aid our ability to make crucial decisions about resource allocaton.

USAID instituted rigorous review of the processes on the New Management System (NMS) software. The error rate of software releases has dropped dramatically and fiscal year 1999 year-end closing was performed with minimal downtime, a significant improvement over previous closings.

USAID is examining different satellite network schemes to support smaller missions and regionalization of services. As a first step, USAID offices in Europe, Japan, Croatia, and Namibia were linked to USAID's Intranet via local commercial Internet services. Additional Very Small Apiture Terminals (VSAT) were installed at five of the smaller USAID missions and new firewall technologies were examined for Missions relying on the Internet for connectivity.

By FY 2001, USAID plans to maintain full Internet and Intranet connectivity and telecommunications capability at all large Agency locations overseas and to connect a majority of smaller locations. Further, a pilot Extranet will enhance the Agency's ability to work with its partners. The Extranet will allow USAID to share more information with partners in a Web environment without the broader access provided through the Internet.

An Information System Security Program Plan was developed which outlines plans for bringing the Agency into full compliance with the Computer Security Act and OMB guidance by fiscal year 2003. The plan directly addresses information security concerns and leverages knowledge and resources from national and other Federal agencies' information security initiatives. In FY 2001 and beyond, USAID will implement information system security plans at the Agency's Washington offices and field missions and continue the process of modernizing Agency systems consistent with the technical architecture adopted in FY 2000. A program to implement best practices has been recognized by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) community and the Inspector General for its quality and effectiveness.

Acquisition and Assistance. We believe that greater teamwork between contracting personnel and technical staff in Washington led to better and early procurement planning. These joint efforts helped eliminate a number of routine obligation obstacles. The availability of expanded training courses, for both procurement and non-procurement professionals, helped to improve staff knowledge of acquisition and assistance requirements.

Over 360 procurement personnel including contracting officer, executive officers and foreign service national staff attended 24 Acquisition and Assistance certification courses during FY 1999 in seven overseas missions and in Washington. A significant portion of the training for non-procurement personnel was provided as a part of the in-house Reaching for Results Course. Approximately 14 courses were held and a total of 500 professionals were trained, including activity managers and cognizant technical officers (CTO). In addition, approximately 185 activity managers and CTOs received training through commercial vendors related to grants management and performance based contracting.

USAID has developed and is testing an interim system to capture acquisition and assistance data from field missions. If testing and rollout are successful, the system will enable the Agency to fully meet statutory reporting requirements to the Federal Procurement Data Center and the Small Business Administration. It will also enable USAID to address ad-hoc information requests from Congress, OMB and other oversight entities.

Financial Management. USAID continued to implement a strategy for an integrated financial management program that will support operational efficiency and data integrity. A Chief Financial Officer (CFO) was appointed in February 1999. In March, a central program management office was established under the direction of the CFO to oversee business planning, acquisition planning and systems implementation of an integrated financial systems program. This office is responsible for the integrated modernization of those financial and mixed-financial systems included within the guidance of OMB Circular A-127.

USAID completed detailed requirements analysis and acquired a new core accounting system that will serve as the cornerstone of the Agency's modernization program. The requirements conform to the standards and guidelines prescribed by OMB. The current plan is to implement the new system in Washington in October 2000 and to implement in the field offices during 2001 and 2002.

USAID completed actions to establish an effective system of checks and balances for the direct loan program. The loan servicing function was outsourced to a commercial bank and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) certified the Agency to manage the Development Credit Authority. Most significantly, this enabled the Agency to eliminate the direct loan program from the list of Agency material weaknesses.

Administrative Management. With the relocation of headquarters staff to the Ronald Reagan building complete, greater emphasis is being placed on achieving operational efficiencies both in Washington and overseas.

USAID has taken the lead in providing services in a number of countries as a part of International Cooperative Administrative Support Service (ICASS). We are currently providing administrative support services in two missions. Beginning in FY 2000, USAID expects to offer administrative support services in nearly a dozen missions.

Human Resources Management. The Agency undertook several initiatives to ensure that there is adequate staff with appropriate skills to fulfill its mandate. An intensive position review effort helped reshape the workforce to reinforce financial, managerial and technical accountability for USAID managed resources.

The Agency's Management Council, functioning as the approval authority for all outside hires, ensured that only positions representing a long-term need were filled. Additionally, an annual Foreign Service recruitment plan, reflecting the human resource needs of the Agency, was developed and approved.

Building staff knowledge and skills is critical for effective management and oversight of Agency resources. While the Agency has reduced its staff by 35% since 1993, it strives to maintain the technical skills of the staff. USAID has shifted to competency based training for both existing staff and new entrants. A series of new staff training programs have been developed. These new courses focus on Senior Leadership, Managing for Results, Leadership, Teamwork, and Organization and Operations. Training will be available early in FY 2000 and continue in FY 2001 and beyond.

Technical training was provided in a variety of fields. Procurement training included procurement management certification, contract law, contract administration and simplified acquisitions and grants management. Other technical training included language training, computer training, and training to keep staff current in technical specialties such as health and population, democracy and governance, environment, human capacity development and economic growth.

A new entrant training program was developed. Beginning in October 1999, new entrants began completing relevant training before starting their initial overseas assignment. Upon completing training, their knowledge will be assessed to ensure that they possess the requisite primary technical skills, managerial skills and interpersonal skills.