Summary

GAO reviewed the Department of Justice's management structure and management support systems to assess how departmentwide management support functions assist the Attorney General in directing and overseeing Justice's operations.

GAO found that Justice needs: (1) an institutional process for developing long-range departmental goals to guide its program planning and budgeting decisions; (2) an established means for overseeing program planning to ensure that the Attorney General's priorities are adequately addressed; (3) to clarify responsibilities for overseeing debt collection activities; and (4) a departmentwide program to ensure that automatic data processing (ADP) and telecommunications techniques are planned, acquired, and used effectively and economically. GAO also found that: (1) a stronger information resources management (IRM) system could have helped Justice's development of a litigative case management system to provide basic program data; (2) Justice financial management systems do not properly account for and control resources or permit adequate monitoring of program performance; and (3) Justice could use different processes for assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations, specifically, audit and evaluation, position management reviews, and productivity management.