Summary

After an Office of Management and Budget survey to identify unneeded executive reports to Congress, GAO identified several reporting requirements which it believes that Congress should consider in legislative proposals designed to achieve cost savings and eliminate or modify unneeded reporting requirements.

GAO found that the original purpose for the Secretary of the Interior's report on oil well shutdowns and the flaring of natural gas which is required by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments of 1978 has been superseded by full decontrol of oil prices in 1981 and a current phaseout of controls over natural gas prices; therefore, GAO review and evaluation of this report is unnecessary. Furthermore, since Interior is responsible for monitoring offshore oil and gas well production, the Secretary's annual reporting requirement of production is unnecessary. In addition, GAO found that a separate annual report to Congress on Office of Personnel Management and Merit Systems Protection Board activities is unnecessary and, by eliminating the requirement, GAO would have more flexibility in planning and scheduling work at these agencies and avoid possible duplication. Further, GAO found that the Congressional Budget Act's requirement for an annual GAO report on progress to improve program and budget information is no longer needed since periodic GAO reports and testimony keep Congress aware of this progress. Finally, GAO found that the Amtrak Improvement Act could be revised to make the performance and audit report function discretionary rather than mandatory, which would give GAO more flexibility in planning and scheduling Amtrak work.