June 21, 2001
WASHINGTON - Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman
Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Ranking Republican Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.,
and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind.,
and Ranking Democrat Henry Waxman, D-Calif., emphasized Thursday
the importance of agency implementation of the Government
Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) but expressed concern that the
effort may be getting off on the wrong foot.
Enacted in 1998, GPEA requires federal agencies, by 2003, to
provide the public or businesses that deal with federal agencies
the option of submitting or receiving information
electronically. Agency compliance with GPEA is an important step
toward the realization of e-government.
But the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported Thursday
that agency plans for implementing GPEA do not adequately
address the requirements set forth by the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) in May 2000.
Lieberman expressed concern that because the plans are
incomplete, not only will OMB be unable to monitor agency
progress, but Congressional oversight committees will be
similarly impeded.
"Although complying with GPEA may be difficult,"
Lieberman added, "it is essential that agency heads and the
OMB provide strong leadership to realize the Act’s vision of a
government connected to the public via the Internet."
Burton said, "We want the government to act more like a
private business. They need to use information technology to
increase productivity and improve service. Citizens should be
able to file government forms electronically. So should small
businesses. We’re going to continue to oversee this process to
make sure Federal agencies are following through."
"Agencies' difficulties in complying with the
requirements of GPEA demonstrate how far government has to go in
its management of information technology, " Thompson said.
"We must proceed cautiously as we pursue an electronic
government -- if we simply automate current processes, we may
make matters worse."
Waxman said, "GPEA was enacted to expand the
opportunities for individuals and businesses to file information
electronically. It has yet to be demonstrated whether
electronically submitting information reduces the number of
burden hours it takes people to complete required submissions.
It may have other benefits such as easy access to forms or
relief from the cost of postage. However, even these limited
benefits will not be realized unless agencies fully comply with
the act."
Lieberman has requested a series of reports from the General
Accounting Office (GAO) to examine the progress of GPEA
implementation, and Burton held a committee hearing Thursday to
examine the same issue.
In a September 2000 report, GAO said OMB had developed useful
guidance for implementing GPEA, but that agencies would still
have to address serious challenges including ensuring the
involvement of agencies’ top management and addressing a
variety of information technology management issues.
In its written testimony for Thursday’s hearing, however,
the GAO concluded "OMB will be challenged in providing
oversight of agency GPEA activities because the [implementation]
plans submitted by the agencies [in October 2000] do not
document key strategic actions, nor do they specify when they
will be undertaken."
GAO explained that two months after issuing the comprehensive
guidance, OMB released subsequent reporting guidance for the
agencies which "did not stipulate a full report on the
variety of strategic actions and other tasks that agencies were
expected to perform . . . ."