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LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2005
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriation,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 10:30 a.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Wayne Allard (chairman) presiding.
Present: Senator Allard.
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
STATEMENT OF BRUCE R. JAMES, PUBLIC PRINTER
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR WAYNE ALLARD
Senator Allard. The subcommittee will come to order.
This morning, we meet to take testimony from three
legislative branch agencies, the Government Printing Office
(GPO), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and the Office of
Compliance. I want to welcome all of our witnesses.
We will first hear from Mr. Bruce James, Public Printer,
who will be presenting GPO's budget request for $131 million.
GPO's budget request is an increase of $11 million over the
current year, or a 9 percent increase.
Mr. James, you've made great strides in the past few years
in improving GPO's operations, including closing the retail
stores which had been in the red for some time, downsizing the
workforce to better meet GPO's needs, developing a strategic
plan, reorganizing the agency to better meet customer needs,
and seeking opportunities for relocating GPO's facility.
I would also note that GPO's financial situation has
improved considerably, generating net income in 2004 for the
first time since 1999. We look forward to reviewing the status
of your efforts to make further improvements to modernize the
Government Printing Office.
Following GPO, we will hear from Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin,
who is accompanied by his Deputy, Dr. Elizabeth Robinson. The
CBO's budget request of $36 million is a modest 3.5 percent
increase over the current year to maintain current operations.
And then, finally, we will take testimony from the
Executive Director of the Office of Compliance, Bill Thompson,
and the Chair of the Board of the Office of Compliance, Susan
Robfogel. The office is requesting a budget of $2.6 million for
fiscal year 2006. While this is a 9 percent increase, we
understand you believe additional funds over the requested
level may be needed to fully meet your mandate.
I will turn to my ranking member when he arrives, and in
the meantime, we will go ahead and take testimony from our
witnesses. We're going to start with Mr. James, Government
Printing Office. I appreciate everybody's timeliness this
morning, because I do like to get started on time, so Mr.
James, you're up.
OPENING STATEMENT OF BRUCE JAMES
Mr. James. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to
address you this morning, I have a prepared statement for the
record, if you'll accept that.
Senator Allard. We will make that a part of the record.
Mr. James. Thank you. I'd like to make a few comments.
First of all, you may observe the room is filled with people, I
think GPO has more people here this morning than you do, and
you might assume that I have all these wonderful people here in
case you ask any tough questions and I need answers, but that's
not really the reason. This is an opportunity that I think is
important for our people to see first hand what is on your
mind, and what it is that we need to be addressing.
Second, I have with me this morning a couple of our younger
staff. We put a great deal of effort on recruiting from college
campuses the best and brightest graduates to come in and join
our organization, and with me this morning I have one of them,
Ron Selby, who is a graduate of Cal Poly, and who's working in
our digital media group, establishing new standards for
Government information.
And I also have with me one of our interns, an intern from
Howard, here in town, Lonnie Stibey, and it's our hope that we
can attract her when she graduates from school into the
organization, too.
I realize, Mr. Chairman, that you're new in this position,
and we've not had a chance to talk about some of the background
of the GPO, and if I may, I'd like to use my time here to talk
about the big picture here for a minute, because I think you'll
find this useful.
We're in an interesting situation. We've had a disruptive
technology thrust upon us, and that disruptive technology is
the Internet, which is changing forever the way people will do
business in this country. It's changing the way information's
going to be handled, and it's changing the ability of Americans
to access the work of their Government. As you know, the
Government Printing Office goes back many years. When I was
sworn into office, I was fortunate to have Justice Kennedy
swear me in, and he gave me a little 15 minute talk. And during
that period of time, he didn't talk once about making printing
presses run faster. What he talked about was my responsibility
in helping to preserve our democracy, by making certain that
all Americans have access to information about the work of
their Government.
And so, in the past 2 years--and I've been there a little
over 2 years--what we've been looking at is what are the true
core requirements of the GPO, not just today, but what are
those requirements going to be into the future. And we've done
this by talking with all of the groups involved with the GPO,
from Congress to librarians to printers, to our customers in
the executive branch, to get a feeling from them about how
their requirements are changing and what they're going to need
in the future.
And we also talked with universities to see what they were
working on in their research laboratories, we talked with our
sister agencies that are involved with information, like the
Library of Congress, and the Archives of the United States. We
visited with the major technology companies to see what they're
working on in the future, and from all of this a pattern
emerged. And we took last year to come together, and I took
about 200 people at GPO working in small groups on the
development of a strategic vision for the agency, published
that vision in December of last year, and as I say to our
folks, this is not the final blueprint, this is the music, and
it's up to them to now fill in the words, but now we've got
everybody on the same page and I'm pleased to say that we've
gotten wide acceptance of the strategic plan, or our strategic
vision, from the various groups, again, that we do business
with.
The next thing that we've looked at doing here is to try to
decide where the funds are going to come from that are going to
be required to transform the GPO from an analog, print-centric
organization to a digital information organization, which is
what's needed in the future. And there will be, literally,
hundreds of millions of dollars involved in the cost of doing
this, and so we've looked at this and thought about this as if
it was business--how would we look at it? Well, we would have
two choices--perhaps more than two--but we'd have two distinct
choices.
One is to turn to the capital markets to raise the money,
and the other would be doing this from internally generated
funds. And, in the case of a Government agency, of course,
Congress is the capital market, we'd have to come to Congress
for the funds that are necessary to make the investment, and
continue to refresh the investment, and it's been very clear to
me in the year, year and a half that I've looked at this, that
Congress has priorities that are probably higher than the GPO,
and let me just put it that way, and so I just don't think it's
realistic to come to you and ask you for hundreds of millions
of dollars.
Instead we've looked at this and tried to determine how we
could do this using our own assets, and I think we've come up
with a very ingenious plan. It revolves around the facilities
that we have on North Capitol Street, which are historic, they
go back to the 1860's. We've acquired in that period of time
about 80 parcels of land that we've accumulated and built four
buildings altogether on that land. However, those buildings are
now obsolete for the purpose that we have today, they're
totally obsolete. They're very expensive to maintain; we
estimate that we're spending as much as $35 million a year to
maintain these obsolete buildings that we wouldn't have to
spend if we were in proper facilities, properly located, and
properly equipped.
So, what we've done is, because we're five blocks from the
U.S. Capitol, we realize that this land, these facilities could
be very valuable to the Government in the future. So, we've
looked at the possibility of doing a deal with the private
development community wherein we would lease the land in
exchange for payment coming from them. The payment, in turn,
would be used to build and equip a new facility, and it also
would be a continuing cash stream to us to be able to refresh
our technology without having to make a burden on taxpayers.
We've been at this for some time. We've engaged one of the
preeminent real estate advisory firms in the country to help us
with this, and we've been consulting with Members and staffs in
both the Senate and the House, and I think we are coming right
down the road. I hope to be able to institute that this year.
It is the single-most important thing in front of us.
The second thing that we're doing that is absolutely
critical to the future of Government information is the
development of what we're calling the ``Future Digital
System,'' sometimes it's referred to as the ``Digital Content
Management System''. It is a single system that is based on
what's going to be required to ingest Government documents that
are created in digital form, and to manage that information
through a life cycle, and the life cycle in the case of the
United States of America is in perpetuity. And in trying to get
our minds around what that is, we realize that's a long time.
And I guess you, philosophically, can argue whether it's
forever or not, but in perpetuity's a long time.
We've had that charge since 1813, of making certain that
the documents created by the United States Government are not
only available to the public, but that we keep them for future
generations. So, we're developing a large system. Again, we're
looking how to do this with internally generated funds. I
realize I can't just come to you and ask you to again put tens
of millions of dollars into this, and we think we have a way of
doing this and will be coming back to you in the next week or
two to talk about it. And that is, that we have a revolving
fund, and as the appropriations come each year--the two major
appropriations we get, one is for congressional printing and
binding, the other is for dissemination through the Federal
depository library program and through the Internet--we have
accumulated some surpluses from past years. I say they became
surpluses only because we've become more efficient. That money
was set aside to do work in the future, going back and taking
care of documents that were created by Congress and agencies
that would only be printed in future years, and we've just
gotten more efficient. And so, we see an opportunity to use
those funds to support the building of a future digital system.
And, again, I think it's an ingenious way of using that money,
it's a terrific investment. And so we'll be coming back to you,
Mr. Chairman, to talk about that in the next week or 2.
PREPARED STATEMENT
So, those are the major issues that we have here, I think
that we have proven that we can get our arms around this large
agency and sort of tame it, and bring it under control. We
introduced, as you pointed out, a number of practices in the
agency that now allow us to be able to predict what will
happen, and measure what we do, and make adjustments as
necessary to be prudent managers of the enterprise.
Mr. Chairman, those are my opening remarks, and I will be
pleased to answer any questions you may have.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Bruce R. James
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee Legislative Branch
Appropriations: It is an honor to be here today to present the
appropriations request of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) for
fiscal year 2006.
2004 results
I'm pleased to report that the GPO made significant progress during
fiscal year 2004--the first full year of our efforts to transform this
venerable agency from a 19th century printing factory into a 21st
century digital information factory.
We restored the GPO's finances to a positive basis for the first
time in 5 years, broadened the application of best practices throughout
our operations, prepared for the release of new product and service
options, and set in motion our plan to relocate to a modern facility.
With the release of our Strategic Vision for the 21st Century in
December, we set the GPO on a new course for the future.
Underscoring our progress are the results of the GAO's widely
anticipated study of Federal printing and information dissemination
activities, Government Printing Office: Actions to Strengthen and
Sustain GPO's Transformation, which was requested originally by this
committee in 2002 and released in June, 2004. The study validates our
efforts to redirect the GPO's focus toward information dissemination in
the digital era.
We generated consolidated net income in 2004 for the first time
since fiscal year 1999, reversing a trend that had depleted our
financial reserves and jeopardized our ability to finance needed
technological modernization. We also recorded a significant positive
adjustment to our long-term worker's compensation liability under FECA,
which further strengthened our finances.
We implemented plans to achieve savings and improve service
provision by outsourcing financial and IT support operations. We closed
our final ailing regional printing plant. A second retirement incentive
program, authorized by the Joint Committee on Printing, resulted in an
additional workforce reduction of 250 positions, yielding a cumulative
workforce reduction of approximately 550 positions, or nearly 20
percent, since January 2003.
We established an office to devise new product and service options
for Congress and Federal agencies. Security documents are gaining
increased attention throughout the Government--from biometric passports
to requirements for new security document standards contained in the
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004--and we view
this as a major new opportunity for the application of the GPO's expert
capabilities. We began reviewing options for developing GPO facilities
outside of Washington, DC, to enhance security and continuity of
operations.
During 2004 we began planning for the development of a Digital
Content Management System that will allow us to obtain, preserve, and
provide access to information produced by all three branches of
Government, and to material currently in the custody of the GPO and
Federal depository libraries nationwide. The Digital Content Management
System will enable the GPO's customers to electronically access the
content they want and allow us to deliver it in the formats they
desire.
As we reported to this Committee last year, a key to the GPO's
future will be relocating from our aging, oversized quarters to modern,
efficient facilities scaled and equipped to meet our needs in the 21st
century. Rather than burden the taxpayers with this project, we're
investigating opportunities to finance it through the redevelopment of
our current structures. In September 2004, following approval from the
Joint Committee on Printing, we selected an expert real estate advisory
firm to help guide us in this process, which we expect to culminate by
late 2007. We will seek legislative authority for this project and are
working on this with our oversight committees.
Because of the relentless scope and pace of changes in information
technology, the way the Government keeps America informed has been
forever altered. The GPO's historic mission places us at the very
epicenter of this change. We can no longer afford simply to react to
change in information dissemination. Instead, we have to lead it. Late
in the year we released our Strategic Vision of the 21st Century, which
positions us to transform the GPO into a 21st century digital
information service provider.
The time has come for the GPO to fully assume its responsibilities
as the Government's primary resource for gathering, cataloging,
producing, providing, and preserving its published information in all
forms. This is the GPO's historic mission, tracing its beginning to
1813, when the antecedents of Federal Depository Library Program was
first enacted. But to fully assume it, we must embrace our historic
mission using the technology of the 21st century. Relying on the
creative energy of our dedicated workforce, and based on the
achievements we've logged over the past two years, we're well-
positioned to begin making our strategic vision of the GPO a reality.
fiscal year 2006 request
Our fiscal year 2006 request is designed to provide for the:
continuation of our congressional printing and binding operations at
required levels; continuation of our information dissemination services
at required levels; and investment in retraining our workforce to meet
the demands of technology.
Our fiscal year 2006 request is consistent with the financial goal
included in our Strategic Vision, which is to provide the resources
required to accomplish our vision using the GPO's own operations and
assets as well as normal appropriations, with the exception of a
onetime infusion of workforce development and training funds.
continuation of services
For the Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation, which
covers printing and information product services for Congress, we are
requesting $92.3 million. This is a modest rise over the level approved
by Congress for fiscal year 2005, based on anticipated direct cost
increases resulting primarily from contractual wage agreements and
projected changes in congressional workload consistent with second
session requirements.
For the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation of the Superintendent
of Documents, we are requesting $33.8 million, also a modest rise over
the fiscal year 2005 approved level. This appropriation provides for
the distribution of Government publications in both tangible and online
formats to Federal depository and international exchange libraries and
other recipients authorized by law, as well as the cataloging and
indexing of Government publications. Today, our online information
service, GPO Access (www.gpoaccess.gov), makes available free of charge
more than a quarter of a million titles from all three branches of the
Federal Government, and is used by the public to retrieve more than 37
million documents every month.
Since 1996, consistent with directions from Congress, the GPO has
been transitioning the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) to a
predominately electronic basis in full cooperation and consultation
with the library community. This initiative has resulted in an
exponential expansion of effective public access to Government
information without substantial increases in funding. At the same time,
we have continued to provide public access to information in tangible
formats in accordance with policy established by the Superintendent of
Documents.
We value our partnership with Federal depository libraries and
share their commitment to providing no-fee permanent public access to a
comprehensive body of official Federal Government information, in print
and electronic form. We will continue to expand electronic information
offerings through the FDLP and will continue to provide for
dissemination of tangible products to depository libraries in
accordance with existing policy, in full consultation with the library
community and our oversight committees in Congress.
investment in the gpo's future
For our revolving fund, we are requesting $5 million for
transitioning the GPO's workforce from traditional manufacturing and
distribution skills to the capabilities required for managing the life-
cycle of Government information products. These funds will be used to
define the workforce needed in the immediate future, assess the skills
of current employees, identify the gaps, and then design and deliver
targeted, just-in-time training to close those gaps.
Our Strategic Vision identifies unexpended balances of prior year
appropriations that have not yet expired as a potential source of funds
for investment in our signature initiative, the Digital Content
Management System. This system will serve both the FDLP as well as
ingest information products produced by Congress for public
dissemination. Under the language of our appropriations accounts,
unobligated or unexpended balances in these accounts or accounts for
similar purposes for preceding fiscal years may be transferred to the
GPO revolving fund for carrying out the purposes of these
appropriations subject to the approval of the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees. The GPO used this legislative provision once
before, in 2001, with the Committees' approval. For this appropriations
cycle, and with the approval of the Joint Committee on Printing, we
will seek the Committees' approval to transfer currently available
funds to the revolving fund where they would remain available until
expended in the development of the Digital Content Management System.
This funding would also be available to liquidate any shortfalls in
these appropriated accounts that may occur through fiscal year 2006.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Appropriations Committee, thank you
for all the support you have shown for our efforts to bring
transformation to the GPO. This past year has been one of unparalleled
accomplishment at the GPO. With your support we can continue that
record of achievement. I look forward to working with you in your
review and consideration of our request.
REDEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE HEADQUARTERS
Senator Allard. Mr. James, you have made tremendous strides
in your efforts to modernize GPO. One of the biggest obstacles
you face is your current facility on North Capitol Street--4
buildings and 8.5 acres--far more than GPO needs and costing
$35 million in operations and maintenance each year. What are
the options you are exploring to finance a new GPO facility?
Mr. James. The land that we have at North Capitol and H
Streets is one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in
the United States for potential development, and it's because
of its location, one block from Union Station, and five blocks
from the Capitol. It's clear that the District government would
be opposed to tearing down the historic buildings that we have,
and so we're going to have to preserve those historic
buildings, however we end up doing this, but we have vacant
land to go with these historic buildings, and my guess is that
we'll end up with a mix of offices, retail, residential and
perhaps, even, a hotel. And from our conversations with the
District government, they're quite excited about this, because
this fits into their general development scheme for the area
quite well. This can be the lynchpin for them in really helping
to develop that part of the city.
So, what we've been doing with The Staubach Company, our
real estate advisory firm, is looking at what would be the
highest and best use of that land, not just for us, but for the
city too, what are we going to end up with? Because what we
want to do is go out to developers and we want to do this on a
competitive process. We'll probably go through two stages--a
request for information and a request for proposal. But I don't
want to go out blind. I want to go out knowing what to expect
back, so I have an ability to evaluate what we're hearing.
Now, we've also been working with two other organizations
that have more real estate experience than we do, and that's
the General Services Administration, and the Architect of the
Capitol, both of whom have been very generous in sharing their
people with us as we set this process up. So, at the end of the
day, we would expect, through a competitive process, to get the
highest and best use of the property, and do it on a basis
where we, the Government, retain the ownership, at least of the
contiguous parcels on the west side of North Capitol, and at
some period in the future it reverts back to the Government, so
that we have a second bite at the apple.
Senator Allard. According to your strategic plan, GPO
``expects the terms of any redevelopment to be settled by mid-
2005.'' Are you on schedule?
Mr. James. Yes, sir. We are. We have been working
diligently in the last year on this, the final presentation
from Staubach is due to be made to me next Monday, we have
identified the issues that we need to work with Congress on,
we've had preliminary discussions with Congress on this, and
we'll be back in the next week or 2 asking permission to move
forward.
Senator Allard. Is legislation required to implement your
plan?
Mr. James. Mr. Chairman, we've looked very carefully at
this, and under the law, I can probably do quite a bit on my
own, obviously we wouldn't move without the concurrence of
Congress, but it looks like we are going to need legislation in
terms of the ability to keep the proceeds in redevelopment, but
if we don't have that it looks to us like the proceeds would go
back to the General Treasury.
Senator Allard. Have you shared the plan with the
appropriate committees of Congress?
Mr. James. We have shared the development of that plan,
we're getting ready to present the entire plan.
Senator Allard. When will the Congress be presented with a
plan?
Mr. James. Within a week or 2.
Senator Allard. Is your assumption that a new GPO building
will be operational in fiscal year 2007 realistic?
Mr. James. Well, my target is to be in a new facility--
which is separate and distinct from the redevelopment of the
existing facilities, they can't begin to redevelop the existing
facilities until we get out--so our goal is to be out and into
a new facility by December 2007. Now, I caution, that's a very
aggressive schedule, but I'm used to setting aggressive
schedules, and trying to get there. It is an aggressive
schedule.
Senator Allard. Will any appropriations be required for
this venture?
Mr. James. Well, we've had some discussions with your staff
about the future of appropriations, because we realize this
isn't just a 1-year deal here, and the economics look to us
like, quite frankly, we will be able to reduce our
appropriations requests in the future, not ask for more money,
and the reason I say that is, so much of what you appropriate
to use, particularly for congressional printing and binding,
encompasses the overhead that we have for maintaining this
ancient facility. And when that overhead is reduced, we should
be able to produce each page of a document for less money,
therefore reducing, overall, the costs to the Government.
FUTURE COST SAVINGS
Senator Allard. GPO's budget justification indicates that
once you have a new plant and equipment, you expect to be able
to reduce the congressional printing and binding appropriation
by 30 percent. What is the basis of this projection?
Mr. James. We estimate that we will be able, on the
congressional printing and binding portion of the
appropriation, we think by 2009, our request will be about 30
percent less than it would be if we maintained ourselves in the
same building.
Senator Allard. Where will the savings come from?
Mr. James. You know, I could probably best answer that
question by taking you for a 10 minute walk through our
facility. It was designed and built in the late 19th century
and early 20th century, and we're maintaining nearly 100
elevators that are in some cases 100 years old. We're
maintaining an ancient facility that, at one time, housed 8,500
people, and today we have less than 2,500 people in the
facility. As we embrace technology, and do things more
efficiently, we need fewer people. So, just by reducing those
costs, we will save about $35 million a year, just from that
alone.
SCHEDULE FOR NEW BUILDING
Senator Allard. Is your assumption that a new GPO building
will be operational in 2007 realistic?
Mr. James. Mr. Chairman, I'm a novice at this, I've only
been in Washington for 2 years, and of course, everybody tells
me how slowly things move, and I realize that I don't have the
same control on the project that I would if this were in the
private sector, but I see no obstacles at this point that would
keep us from meeting that aggressive schedule. There may be
something that comes up, certainly Congress could slow us down
and there would be other things that could slow us down, too,
but I think this is a doable schedule, and I think it's
realistic. It's very important that we have dates like that in
mind for my planners, the folks that are planning what the new
operation will look like, because as you might imagine, when we
move to a new facility, this will be the start of a new
culture. We will move from being print-centric with large--what
I call, heavy metal--printing presses, and instead we'll move
into digital production lines that are very efficient.
I had a conversation the other day with the Clerk of the
House about this, about the Congressional Record. I was talking
to Mr. Trandahl about it, and I said, ``For instance, we no
longer would have to think about giving each Member a complete
Record each day. We could, instead, do a customized Record
based on what their interests are, what their committees are,
and just custom-make exactly what they need, because the entire
Record's on the Internet, you can look it up on GPO Access or
Thomas, so instead, we could save paper, we could save time, we
could save energy, and make it much more efficient.'' So, we're
looking at building a platform that will be far more flexible
for our customers in the future.
DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Senator Allard. According to your statement, GPO will be
seeking congressional approval this year to reprogram $20
million from previously appropriated funds to develop a new
integrated digital content management system. Could you explain
what this is and why it is necessary?
Mr. James. Well, it's necessary because technology has
changed. Twelve years ago, the Government didn't have any
documents on the Internet. Last month, we estimate that 50
percent of all Government documents were born digital, to never
be printed by the Government. This doesn't relieve the
Government of the responsibility of having that information
available to citizens, and our web portal, GPO Access, is the
Government's principle point for citizens to enter and look at
the documents of Government. We have about 256,000 documents
available for citizens on GPO Access, we have about 1 million
downloads a day of Government documents. This didn't exist 10
years ago. So, we need to have a system that's robust enough to
handle that--and if I may add, if I may just extend that remark
slightly--there are profound changes coming down the road.
The Internet that we have today is nothing like what the
Internet 5 years from now is going to look like. The Internet 5
years from now will be running at 20,000 times the speed of
today's Internet. The way the Government gathers information
and the way we present information is going to change. We're
going to make far heavier use of video and audio, and what we
need to do is prepare the way, so that when you're ready to
introduce new ways of doing things, we have the support
mechanism in place.
LEASE OF CURRENT FACILITY
Senator Allard. If you're planning to lease the current
facility, are you counting on whoever leases it to maintain the
buildings, or will GPO need to do that, and is GPO going to
have a surplus out of this lease arrangement in order to pay
for the other building?
Mr. James. We won't be doing the maintenance, Mr. Chairman.
The developer that we pick together will be doing this.
Senator Allard. And the Government will continue to own
those buildings?
Mr. James. Yes, sir.
Senator Allard. And the land, too?
Mr. James. Yes, sir.
Senator Allard. And, have you got some figures on what it's
going to cost to maintain and operate the lease site?
Mr. James. We're not going to know that until we go out for
proposals from developers. And again, this is not our money,
this is not taxpayer's money that we're putting into this
development project. This will be capital the developer raises
and brings to the project. The developer's the one who will be
responsible for building anything, changing anything, with his
own funds, and for paying the cost of maintaining it, paying
the costs of leasing it, collecting the rents, doing all the
things that would normally be done. We simply sit there with a
lease that is guaranteed, of course, by the fact that we own
the land, and the buildings, we own those, so that's our
guarantee, and we will get then, each year, or each month or
however the arrangement is made, we will get a sum of money
paid to us.
Senator Allard. You had a number of developers who were
interested in this project, is that right?
Mr. James. I believe we have gone through the steps of
making certain that the world's premier developers are aware of
this. We believe that we will have great interest in this
project, from the best developers in the world.
Senator Allard. At this point in time, how would you
characterize the interest in this venture? High, medium or low?
Mr. James. Very high.
DIGITIZATION EFFORT
Senator Allard. Okay. One of the efforts you had was to
digitize and authenticate all known Federal documents. How far
along are you in that goal?
Mr. James. Today any document that is possible to digitize,
we're digitizing, every new document coming along, and we've
been doing that for some time. But, of course, we have a lot of
documents that have been issued over the years, going back to
1789 and even before that that are considered Federal
documents, that are available only in paper, and therefore
they're in just a few locations around the country. Scholars
have access to those documents but the general public doesn't
have access to that information. And so we think to have a
truly usable database of Federal information, that it's going
to be important to go back and digitize those documents, to
find them and digitize them. The good news is that we already
own those documents, we the Government own those documents, and
they're maintained at Federal depository libraries in
partnership with the Government. Fifty-three of those
libraries, called regional depositories, have very extensive
collections, and we've talked with several of them that would
be interested in participating with us in this project in
furnishing those documents back to us.
We are looking right now at building a new business unit at
the GPO that we'll call the digital media group, and we're
setting the standards, we're getting our arms around that
project right now. And this is going to become a very important
part of retraining our workforce. We have a lot of people with
skills in platemaking, printing, and binding that won't be
needed in the future. Instead, it will be people with digital
skills, and so what we'll be doing is transforming those jobs
from the old world into the new world as we establish the
digital media group.
We've talked with our customers, and we have roughly 500
agencies in the Government who are our customers, many of whom
have requirements to digitize documents. We've discussed with
them the possibility of building this enterprise of digitizing
Federal documents in the depository library system, and also
offering services to other Government agencies, and we've
received a lot of interest in that.
Senator Allard. Are you far enough along to have an idea as
to how long it will take to do this and what the cost might be?
Mr. James. If we do this smartly, there isn't going to be
any additional burden of cost, and I say that because we're
taking people that are already on our payroll that we're
already paying, and we're going to move them from the job
they're doing today into this new area. So, it's not going to
be additional cost. My goal is to have 70 percent of all the
retrospective documents into a digital system by the end of
2007. We think that's a realistic and practical goal.
TRANSITIONING THE WORKFORCE
Senator Allard. Okay, now along with this transition that
you're talking about, going into the digital age, you've
requested in your budget $5 million that has been defined as
``transitioning the GPO workforce.'' What will be the impact if
we're unable to provide this appropriation?
Mr. James. Well, it would probably cost the jobs of 400 or
500 Government workers, and we'd probably get back to you,
talking about the fact that we're going to have to terminate
those workers, because they wouldn't have the skills that we
need for the new world. We think this $5 million is a really
modest investment in taking people who have proven their
ability to be good employees, and who have been dedicated and
loyal to the Government, many of them for more than 30 years,
and give them the benefit of acquiring new skills, and this is
the right thing to do.
SMART PASSPORT
Senator Allard. Let me move over to your working with the
State Department on what's been referred to as a ``Smart
Passport.'' What's the status of that effort, and what impact
will this activity have on GPO's future?
Mr. James. As we've looked at the future, it's very clear,
Mr. Chairman, that security and intelligent documents are going
to become more and more important to the GPO. It's going to
comprise a significant portion of our business 5 years down the
road. The start of it is the putting of an electronic chip and
antenna into the new U.S. passport.
We've been at work on this project with our customer, the
State Department, for nearly 1\1/2\ years. We've been looking
at the various possibilities, how we're going to do this, how
this chip is going to be included in the passport. We
manufactured the very first electronic passport about 3 months
ago as a test, and my understanding is that the State
Department is going to be rolling out the electronic passport,
which we produce, later this summer in an official version--the
version that you would carry or diplomats would carry--to test
it. We know what happens with a traditional passport when it
goes through a washing machine, we know what happens to the old
passports. What we don't know is what happens with the new
electronic passport if you leave it in the trunk of your car.
So, we'd like to get some information, the State Department
would, before they begin to issue those to general citizens,
but they expect that early next calendar year they'll be
rolling out those passports.
FEDERAL DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES
Senator Allard. On the Federal depository library system,
is the depository library community satisfied with your
approach, going to the electronic dissemination of information?
Mr. James. Well, there are thousands of people involved in
the Federal depository library community. As my opening remarks
indicated, we have experienced a very disruptive technology.
It's not only disrupted our lives and your lives, but it
certainly is having a profound effect on libraries. I think we
have general concurrence throughout the community of the
importance of building the digital database of all U.S.
Government documents from the beginning of time until now, and
keeping that current. We're 100 percent on the same page.
Our instructions from the Appropriations Committees over
the years have been to transform the depository library system
from a paper system to an electronic delivery system. And we've
been doing that and today, most of the documents we deliver are
in electronic form, we no longer print them.
But there's certainly documents left that we are printing,
and there are certain communities within the Federal depository
library system that still have a need for paper documents, and
we're going to have to find a way to continue to provide those
paper documents as long as they need them. And every day we
work on this issue with the depository libraries.
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE FIELD OFFICES
Senator Allard. GPO has 20 field offices for print
procurement. What is the status of any effort to realign any of
those offices?
Mr. James. Mr. Chairman, they are more than just offices
that purchase printing. As I'm sure you know, the GPO doesn't
print only in our own plant. Most of the Government's
requirements are placed into private sector. Last year we sent
work to 2,568 printers around the country. We buy printing very
efficiently. Now our regional offices help us in buying
printing efficiently, and in making certain that printing is
widely distributed throughout the United States.
However, they also work with our customers, our customers
being the agencies of Government, and there are very few people
who run programs in other Government agencies that have skills
and knowledge about information, how it's created, how it's
processed, and how it's used. Today, of course, it's always
digital as well as printing, so our people have those skills,
and we work with our agency customers in helping them to
accomplish their mission.
Now, whether or not we need 20 offices is the question, and
we are continuing to examine that and look at whether there is
a more efficient way of providing a high level of service to
our customers.
INTERNAL CONTROLS
Senator Allard. One final question, the Inspector General
has suggested that perhaps there needed to be improvement in
the contracting processes, particularly on your internal
controls. His concern was it would help prevent the potential
for waste, fraud and abuse. What steps are you taking to meet
those concerns?
Mr. James. I could not agree more with them. We did not
have, when I arrived, the proper methods, the proper
techniques, the proper technology to efficiently and
effectively manage this contracting. And we've taken very
aggressive steps to make the investments necessary to get this
under control, and I can report to you that I completely agree
with the Inspector General, and we are moving on this as
promptly as we possibly can.
Senator Allard. That's all the questions I have, Mr. James,
and we need to move forward because I think we've got a vote
scheduled for 11:30.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
There will perhaps be some other questions from the
subcommittee and I think perhaps Senator Durbin might have some
questions from that side of the aisle, and I ask that you could
respond promptly when you get those questions. Is 10 days a
reasonable time period?
Mr. James. Absolutely.
Senator Allard. We thank you for your testimony, and then
we'll move on to the next panel. Thank you, Mr. James.
Mr. James. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the Office for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
Questions Submitted by Senator Richard J. Durbin
Question.. Mr. James, what changes does GPO plan on making with
regard to the production of U. S. passports?
Answer. In cooperation with the State Department and other Federal
agencies, a major effort is underway at the GPO that will lead to the
introduction of an electronic passport in 2005.
The new electronic passport will enhance the security of millions
of Americans traveling around the world and facilitate the movement of
travelers at ports of entry. The electronic passport will contain an
embedded computer chip that complies with the recommendations of the
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and will be consistent
with the provisions of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry
Reform Act of 2002. The electronic passport is a significant step
forward in the utilization of advanced information technology to meet
the requirements of one of our most important customers, the State
Department.
The development and production of the electronic passport will be a
three-phase project:
--The GPO will produce test passports using chip solutions provided
by commercial vendors that manufacture this technology. The
National Institute of Standards and Technology will then test
the electronic passports for their ability to meet durability,
security, and electronic requirements.
--Once testing results are completed and the final vendor(s)
selected, the State Department will conduct an operational
field test, and then begin issuing electronic passports to
Federal employees. The current timeline for these activities is
in the summer and fall of 2005.
--The first electronic passports are currently expected to be issued
to the general public later this year, with full deployment at
all Department of State passport agencies in 2006.
Question. Where are you considering locating your GPO continuity of
operations facilities outside of the Washington, DC, area?
Answer. As provided for in the GPO's Strategic Vision for the 21st
Century, submitted to Congress in December 2004, we are reviewing
options to establish an ancillary facility outside of Washington, DC,
for the production of U.S. passports and other security and intelligent
documents. In view of the events of September 11, 2001, and the
subsequent anthrax and ricin attacks on U.S. Capitol buildings, we
believe it is essential that a geographically separate facility be
established to produce these essential products in the event that
current capabilities at the GPO become unavailable.
We are currently discussing location options and capabilities with
officials of the State Department. Optimally, this facility would be
located at the Nevada Test Site, which can provide a maximum level of
security for these important documents. However, we are prepared to
work with the State Department and our oversight committees to fully
review the cost and benefits of alternative location options.
Question. You have conducted two buyouts since 2003, both of which
substantially reduced your workforce. Do you have the staffing to
ensure that GPO is able to carry out its mission successfully?
Answer. The buyouts we conducted in 2003 and 2004, with the
approval of the Joint Committee on Printing as required by our
retirement incentive legislation, reduced our workforce by
approximately 550 positions, or 20 percent, yielding annual savings of
about $38 million. The buyouts were conducted at a time when nearly
half of GPO's workforce was retirement-eligible. Also, many of the
positions that were reduced came from our publication sales program
area, which was unable to continue supporting a personnel
infrastructure of its previous size. With reorganization of our
functions, over the past year we were able to meet our mission
requirements while continuing to carry out transformation activities to
prepare GPO to meet the requirements of the 21st century. We are
closely monitoring our mission performance and taking all necessary
actions to manage customer expectations from Congress, Federal
agencies, and the public.
Question. Your Strategic Vision document outlines a new
organization for the GPO. Can you please explain it for us?
Answer. To better address the many challenges and opportunities
posed by the 21st century publishing environment, GPO will reconfigure
its organizational structure around six business lines. These new
Business Units will be phased in over the next two years in the
following order:
--Security and Intelligent Documents.--This line of business will
work with Federal agencies to assist in the safe and secure
design, production, and distribution of security and
intelligent documents, many of which will incorporate
electronic and other fraud and counterfeit protection features.
--Digital Media Services.--This unit will develop and maintain the
resources necessary to provide services to Federal agencies and
the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), to allow them to
both add content to GPO's Digital Content Management System,
and to withdraw or receive content to produce specific products
and services. It will also house GPO's creative capabilities
for customers.
--Customer Services.--This is an existing GPO business unit that will
be organized around its customers, with a team of GPO employees
assigned to each principal agency customer. Each team will have
a manager whose responsibility it is to become an authority on
the mission of their customer agency and will be supported by a
national account manager whose responsibility it is to develop
new business from the agency and to visit the agency's
principal locations on a regular basis to consult with program
managers.
--Library Services and Content Management.--This unit will continue
to manage the FDLP under the direction of Congress to ensure
equitable, secure, convenient, and permanent public access to
Government information in tangible and digital forms. It will
oversee the development of processes and standards to ensure
the timely inclusion of all past, present and future Government
publications, whether born digital or created through
digitization of print material, into the GPO Digital Content
Management System to create a complete FDLP digital information
collection that can be authenticated and preserved for future
generations.
--Publication and Information Sales Program.--This unit will develop
a capability to fulfill customer orders through other
booksellers. GPO will continue to provide subscription services
for Government periodical publications that can be fulfilled
directly from the printer or its mail house, and that are
economically viable. Back copies will be provided by a contract
vendor employing on-demand printing technology to back a modest
inventory. It will also focus on developing unique collections
of digital information, which will be ``pushed'' over the
Internet to primarily business customers on a subscription
basis.
--Official Journals of Government.--This business line will continue
to meet congressional and agency needs for these types of
traditional products while at the same time ensuring the proper
coordination of their digital versions with other GPO business
operations and meeting GPO's electronic information
dissemination mandate.
Question. Tell us what you see as the future of the Federal
Depository Library Program.
Answer. As stated in our Strategic Vision, it is clear that all
future Government information, including text and graphics, still and
moving images, and sound, will either be born digital or transformed
into digital structure for manipulation, storage and delivery to end
users. It is the convergence of text, still and moving images, and
sound, into a single electronic content database that will
revolutionize future communications.
The Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) will determine the
content of GPO's new Digital Content System, set standards for Federal
documents, authenticate documents, catalog and manage the content, and
determine the standards for preservation of the content for future
generations. This will be done in context with the development of our
proposed the Digital Content Management System.
The FDLP will also set the standards for digitizing retrospective
tangible documents, acquire both the tangible documents and digitizing
services and provide quality assurance for the content. The goal is to
digitize all retrospective documents that can be authenticated back to
the Federalist Papers. We expect to complete 70 percent of this task by
December 2007.
Our proposed Digital Content Management System is under development
by GPO's Office of Innovation and New Technology, in collaboration with
other business units, and is scheduled for full implementation by
December 2007. The hardware and software associated with the system
will be managed by GPO's Office of Information Technology and Systems.
Question. What actions have you taken in fiscal year 2005 to
provide incentives for depository libraries to remain in the Federal
Depository Library Program?
Answer. GPO has been in continuous communication with the
depository library community about the incentives to remain in the
FDLP. Many of the incentives suggested by the community have been
documented in a report available at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/
fdlp/pubs/proceedings/incentives_progress_
oct2004.pdf. A number of these suggestions have been or are being
implemented:
--GPO is launching the first phase of its new integrated library
system (ILS) later this month. This system allows GPO to share
cataloging information about Government publications with all
members of the depository library program and reduces the need
for individual libraries to invest local resources to create
cataloging information or pay fees to obtain this information
from others. The ILS will also allow the GPO to deliver
customized information to each of the member libraries based on
their individual library profile and generate electronic
shipping lists and other useful reports that the libraries have
requested.
--GPO plans to expand its ability to connect citizens who are
searching the Internet for Government documents to depository
libraries who hold the documents by using the OCLC world
catalog of electronic library records, called WorldCat.
Currently, this access is available through the GPO Access web
site at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html and access is
based on the current depository library item selections.
--The GPO staff responsible for FDLP planning recently completed
research and prepared a white paper on the special needs and
concerns of public libraries as members of the FDLP. This
paper, which will be issued later this summer, was prepared in
response to concerns voiced in a breakout session for public
libraries during the recent Federal Depository Library Council
Meeting in Albuquerque, NM. The study helps GPO to understand
the issues public libraries currently face, so it can better
meet the needs of these FDLP partners. GPO will work through
regional depository libraries to develop strategies to support
public libraries that participate in the FDLP.
--Federal agencies are producing over 90 percent of their new
publications in electronic format. Many of these publications
are posted on agency web sites and never sent to GPO, or
elsewhere, for printing. The depository community has asked GPO
to takes steps to ensure that this born digital content is
captured as part of the FDLP. Harvesting such electronic
documents is part of our proposed Digital Content Management
System. Additional information about the Digital Content
Management System can be found at http://www.gpo.gov/projects/
fdsys.htm.
--In accordance with our Strategic Vision, and with the approval of
the Joint Committee on Printing, our new Library Services and
Content Management business unit will support the Federal
depository library community in its efforts to create a
reasonable number of comprehensive collections of tangible
Government publications in view of changing library resources
and technology. GPO will also develop two complete collections,
as last resorts, that will store both tangible and digital
versions of all publications.
--GPO is developing an electronic depository library manual in a
collaborative effort with volunteers from the depository
library community http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/
im_volunteer_reg.html. This manual consolidates and updates
existing policies and allows for best practices and lessons
learned to be shared across the FDLP. It is intended to
simplify and clarify the instructions, policies and procedures
to make it easier to administer the FDLP.
--At the 2005 Spring Federal Depository Library Council meeting, GPO
offered training to support new and experienced depository
librarians in learning more about the FDLP. Specifically
designed to respond to community requests, GPO offered
educational sessions aimed to introduce novice depository
librarians to the FDLP. In response to requests from the
attendees at these sessions, the educational programs will be
repeated at the 2005 Fall Federal Depository Library Conference
to ensure this basic training is made widely available to the
community.
--Beginning with the 2003 Spring Federal Depository Library Council
meeting, GPO has hosted a series of breakout sessions for the
segments of the FDLP community. The breakout sessions are
organized by the type of library to make sure that the unique
concerns of each type and size of library are identified. These
listening sessions are informal gatherings that allow community
members to raise concerns and issues confronting their
community and library. FDLP members can communicate directly
with GPO staff about their particular concerns. A number of GPO
staff attend each session and compile lists of community
concerns so GPO can develop policies and strategies which
present viable solutions to these problems.
--Beginning in February 1, 2005, GPO added information to the records
in OCLC's world catalog of library documents, known as
WorldCat. The goal of the project is to allow Government
documents in 30 regional depository libraries to be more easily
found by citizens. GPO created an automated loading process for
OCLC to improve the visibility of documents that may be found
in depository libraries. This service will enable citizens to
more easily locate Government documents and increase the
circulation and interlibrary loans of Government publications.
It was discussed in the February 15, 2005 issue of GPO's
Federal Depository Library Program newsletter, ``Administrative
Notes'', at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/
adnotes/ad02_031505.html#8.
--In 2004, GPO established a special web site called ``Resources for
Federal Depository Library Directors''. Because many directors
have unique challenges balancing local needs and national
responsibilities as depositories, a web site that offers
consolidated depository resources was viewed as beneficial to
that specific part of the community. The web site home page is
linked from the FDLP Desktop, specifically at http://
www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/directors/index.html.
--GPO recognizes the contributions individual libraries make to the
FDLP by the annual awarding of the Federal Depository Library
of the Year. The award, made by the Public Printer, provides
special recognition for a depository library that furthers the
goals of the FDLP by ensuring that the American public has free
access to its Government's information. Criteria for the award
includes outstanding public services, such as significant
promotion of the Government documents and services in the
library and in the community, substantial cooperative efforts
with other depository and non-depository libraries to share
knowledge and Government information resources with a larger
community, access to a well-defined collection of depository
tangible and electronic resources to meet the needs of the
library's service area; and exceptional care and preservation
of the depository collection. Nominations for the 2005 Federal
Depository Library of the Year Award can be submitted at http:/
/www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/fdlofyear/application05.html.
Nominations for the award are solicited every summer and the
award is presented at the Fall Conference by the Public
Printer. The Representatives and Senators who represent the
state and district from which the winning library is located
are invited to attend the awards ceremony to also recognize the
depository.
--GPO promotes the FDLP and individual libraries in other ways. GPO
creates mass marketing literature, CD-ROM's, bookmarks, logos,
graphics, posters, and print/radio public service announcements
about libraries in the FDLP are received by public radio and
newspapers in their local communities. On a daily basis, the
support staff at GPO create educational and promotional
materials for the FDLP to enhance the visibility of the
depository library community and the services they provide.
Question. Can you update the subcommittee on your efforts to
relocate the GPO?
Answer. Since arriving at the GPO a little more than two years ago,
I have made the future of the GPO's buildings and productive assets my
highest priority. In view of my longstanding experience in the printing
and publishing industries, as well as my discussions about the matter
with officials from the Office of Management and Budget, the General
Services Administration, and the Office of the Architect of the
Capitol, it is clear to me that the GPO's current structures are too
large, too antiquated, and too inefficient to serve our needs or those
of our customers in Congress, Federal agencies, and the public.
Other Public Printers over the past half-century reached similar
conclusions and tried without success to obtain right-sized, modern
facilities. Over the past generation, as the GPO's workforce has
declined from a high of nearly 8,500 to about 2,400 today and new
technology has become available, the problems posed by our current
structures have only grown more acute. Our buildings now present an
economic and functional impediment to our future, especially as we move
to transform this venerable agency into a digital processing facility
for the 21st century.
Our central office complex comprises approximately 1.5 million
square feet of office and industrial space distributed among four
multistory buildings constructed between 65 and 100 years ago. Other
than infrequent direct appropriations for large scale building
projects, the operating, maintenance, and repair (OMR) costs of our
facilities must be recovered through the prices we charge Congress,
Federal agencies, and the public for the printing and information
dissemination work we are required to perform.
Because of the age and inefficiency of our buildings, the OMR
component of our prices has become enormously burdensome, today
totaling approximately $35 million annually, or about 12 percent of our
costs, without taking into account any capital expenditures for new
equipment or for the upgrading or replacement of our buildings or their
systems. These costs will only increase if we stay here. Over the next
5 to 10 years, we estimate that the GPO will need to spend between $275
million and $350 million to maintain, repair, and secure our current
facilities. These are costs that can and should be avoided. Spending at
this rate will drain our reserves of funds needed for essential
investment in information technologies and drive the GPO into
functional obsolescence in the not-too-distant future. I truly believe
that our historic mission to provide for the information needs of
Congress, Federal agencies, and the American people is much too
important to have our future sacrificed to the upkeep of facilities
that are no longer suited to our needs.
As a solution, we propose the adoption of an innovative public-
private partnership approach under which we would relocate to a modern,
in-line facility in the Washington, DC, area that would be equipped
with technologies appropriate to our current and future mission.
Instead of taxpayer-supported appropriations, we propose to use the
value of the GPO's current real estate assets to underwrite this
project. Under our proposal, we would leverage the aggregate net
present values of the reduced OMR costs available in a new facility,
currently estimated at approximately $148 million, and the
redevelopment value of the GPO's current real estate holdings,
currently estimated at approximately $236 million, through lease or
other arrangements with one or more private developers. As a result,
this approach will have direct impacts that will satisfy the
requirements of our Strategic Vision for the 21st Century:
--The proceeds from the transactions will be sufficient to pay all
costs associated with the new structure and equipment and
moving expenses;
--The new operating environment will permit us to avoid having to
incur OMR costs at the currently wasteful rate, resulting in a
savings stream over each year of our occupancy of our new
building that will directly lower our future requests from
Congress for the Congressional Printing and Binding
Appropriation and the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation of
the Superintendent of Documents; and
--A sufficient cash flow will be generated by the lease (or similar)
arrangement on our existing site to meet capital requirements
for investment in and replenishment of evolving information
technologies to support the needs of congressional and agency
customers as well as the information dissemination programs
covered by the Superintendent of Documents' Salaries and
Expenses Appropriation.
On May 24, 2005, I transmitted a plan to the GPO's oversight
committees on how these goals can be attained. It was developed by The
Staubach Company, one of the foremost real estate advisory firms in the
Nation, selected competitively for this purpose by the GPO with the
participation and assistance of the General Services Administration and
the Office of the Architect of the Capitol, and working under a
contract approved by the Joint Committee on Printing in September 2004.
At its core, the plan relies on making a strategic, innovative use of
the ``lazy asset'' that the GPO's current structures have become to
underwrite our relocation and reduce the future costs of our products
and services.
The plan supplements draft legislative language that would
authorize us to carry out our relocation/redevelopment partnerships,
which has been supplied to the Senate Rules and Administration
Committee and the House Administration Committee for review. We are
preparing to provide our oversight committees with briefings on the
Staubach plan as well as any additional information they need in their
consideration of our draft legislative language.
Question. Are you consulting closely with the all members of the
depository library community about the new directions for the GPO?
Answer. GPO has been in continuous communication and consultation
with the depository library community about our Strategic Vision,
important planning documents, and various policy statements in numerous
ways:
--Regular meetings with the Depository Library Council and a
significant population of the FDLP librarians at the Federal
Depository Conference/Fall Council Meeting and Spring Council
Meeting.
--Hosting biweekly conference and telephone calls and maintaining
routine e-mail communication with the Depository Library
Council members throughout the year.
--Routinely posting important announcements and issue updates to
FDLP-L, GPO's broadcast email announcement service http://
www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/fdlplist.html.
--Routinely posting proposed policy changes and planning documents to
the GPO web sites in order to gather public comments. Postings
are typically made to the FDLP Desktop in such places as News
and Updates http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/. Comments
are always solicited through FDLP-L and other discussion lists.
--Monitoring and responding to postings on the Government documents
discussion list and other related Government information
discussion lists.
--Regularly briefing and soliciting input at major professional
library conferences (American Library Association, Special
Libraries Association, American Association of Law Libraries,
Association of College and Research Libraries, various state
library association meetings).
--Regularly briefing and collaborating at special events and on
special projects (Federal CIO Council working groups, Library
of Congress, Federal Library and Information Center, and the
Center for Networked Information).
Question. Does your Salaries and Expenses request for fiscal year
2006 ensure that important Government materials will continue to be
distributed in print, as determined by the depository library
community?
Answer. At the level we have requested, and in combination with
adjustments we are currently making to spending under this account, our
fiscal year 2006 Salaries and Expenses Appropriation submission will
cover the distribution of tangible products required by the depository
library community.
Question. It is my understanding that GPO is facing a shortfall in
fiscal year 2005 in the Salaries and Expenses account. What is the
magnitude of the shortfall and when did GPO first become aware of the
shortfall? What has GPO done to date to mitigate this shortfall?
Answer. Earlier this year, following consultation with our
oversight committees, the Superintendent of Documents issued a
statement pledging to continue the distribution of tangible products to
Federal depository libraries consistent with the needs of the
depository library community. Accordingly, we are making necessary
adjustments to spending under the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation
to cover the anticipated volume of tangible product distribution work,
which at this point in time is projected to require an estimated $2.6
million more than was originally budgeted for this purpose. As a result
of these adjustments, staffing changes, and adjustments to overhead
cost allocations, we project that spending for fiscal year 2005
Salaries and Expenses requirements will be completely within the amount
appropriated.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
STATEMENT OF DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, DIRECTOR
Senator Allard. The next panel is the Congressional Budget
office. Dr. Holtz-Eakin, it's good to see you again.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. It's good to see you, sir.
Senator Allard. I get to hear from you from time to time
since I serve on the Budget Committee. Proceed with your
testimony when you're ready.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. Mr. Chairman, the CBO's pleased to be here
today and we do have a written statement which we've submitted
for the record, I will be brief.
I want to begin by thanking this subcommittee for its
support in the past, most recently in our fiscal year 2005
appropriation and some reprogramming we did with the 2004
funds, and going forward, we have what we believe is a fairly
plain, vanilla request. As you noted at the outset, it's a
request for a bit under $36 million, a rise of $1.2 million
over last year, or 3.5 percent. The strategy in putting that
together was to fully fund the personnel costs in the CBO
budget, that's about 90 percent of our budget. They will rise,
between paying benefits, a bit over 5 percent per year, and
we'll hit the top line 3.5 percent rise by cutting back, most
notably, in IT expenditures where things will fall by another
19 percent, and a bit in other areas as well.
We are able to do this by taking advantage of past efforts
in cost-saving technologies, our budget analysis data system,
moving that from a mainframe to a server platform, online
application techniques, extensive use of our website for
distributing documents to the public instead of printing and
mailing them out. We also benefit from partnering with other
congressional agencies. Our new financial management system, in
partnership with the Library of Congress is in the National
Finance Center for payroll, so we don't have to use the capital
for facilities, so we have the ability to do this, and the
bottom line, of course, is performance. And as we put in our
written testimony and traditionally included in our budget
submission operating plans, the CBO is providing the Congress
good service for this money, and it represents a good buy,
that's been true in the past, we hope to continue that in the
future.
I thank you for the chance to be here today.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am pleased to
present the fiscal year 2006 budget request for the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO).
CBO is a small legislative support agency. Its mission is to
provide the Congress with timely, objective, nonpartisan analyses of
the budget and the economy and to furnish the information and cost
estimates required for the Congressional budget process. That mission
is its single ``program.'' Approximately 90 percent of CBO's
appropriation is devoted to personnel, and the remaining 10 percent, to
information technology, equipment, supplies, and other small purchases.
Appreciating the need for fiscal restraint, CBO has attempted to
maintain its existing level of personnel by saving money in, and
through, information technology and through other measures. CBO's
proposed budget for fiscal year 2006 represents slightly less than a
``current services'' request, in which the increases from 2005 are
solely to cover estimated increases in pay, benefits, and general
inflation. The request totals $35,853,000--a $1.2 million, or 3.5
percent, increase over the appropriation for fiscal year 2005 (after
the 0.8 percent rescission).
The requested increase is dominated by $1.6 million for increases
in staff salaries and benefits, which are estimated to grow by 5.2
percent in 2006. CBO's information technology accounts will decrease by
$354,000, or 19 percent, which has been made possible by an adjustment
to the replacement cycle for equipment and savings from converting the
Budget Analysis Data System from a mainframe platform to 21st century
technology. The remainder of CBO's nonpersonnel budget will decrease by
1.1 percent. CBO will generate savings in printing, storage, and
postage costs by increasingly relying on online distribution of its
publications.
With the requested funds for 2006, CBO plans to continue to support
the Congress in exercising its responsibilities for the budget of the
U.S. government. CBO supports the Congressional budget process by
providing analyses required by law or requested by the Committees on
the Budget, the Committees on Appropriations, the Senate Committee on
Finance, the House Committee on Ways and Means, other committees, and
individual Members. Contributing in various forms, CBO:
--Reports on the outlook for the budget and the economy to help the
Congress prepare for the legislative year;
--Analyzes the likely effects of the President's budgetary proposals
on federal spending and revenues;
--Estimates the costs of legislative proposals, including formal cost
estimates for all bills reported by committees of the House and
Senate and statements about federal mandates on states,
localities, and the private sector;
--Prepares Monthly Budget Reviews, annual reviews of unauthorized
appropriations and expiring authorizations, and the biannual
volume Budget Options;
--Conducts policy studies of governmental activities having major
economic and budgetary impacts; and
--Constructs analytic models to project short- and long-term costs
and receipts of government programs.
In fiscal year 2006, CBO's request will allow the agency to build
on current efforts--specifically, to do the following:
--Increase the number and reduce the preparation time of reports and
in-depth analyses for the Congress. The request will support a
workload of approximately 2,000 formal legislative and mandate
cost estimates as well as more than 100 analytical reports,
about 70 other publications and products, and a robust schedule
of Congressional testimony.
--Support 235 FTEs (full-time-equivalent positions), the same number
as in 2005, including an across-the-board pay adjustment of 3.1
percent for staff earning a salary of $100,000 or less. That
adjustment is consistent with the ones requested by other
legislative branch agencies. The budget also reflects a
projected increase of 7 percent for benefits, and funds a
combination of promotions and merit increases for all staff,
including those whose salary exceeds $100,000 and who therefore
do not receive an automatic annual increase;
--Provide for CBO's share of the Federal Accounting Standards
Advisory Board's budget ($430,000);
--Continue support for telecommunications services to the Alternate
Computing Facility ($75,000);
--Maintain and expand CBO's disaster recovery capabilities ($60,000);
--Maintain and enhance the Budget Analysis Data System, the agency's
mission critical system for developing and maintaining
scorekeeping data and budget projections for use by the
appropriations and budget committees ($20,000); and
--Sustain and develop CBO's financial management system, Momentum
($100,000).
Before I close, I would like to point out a few ways in which CBO
has streamlined some operations, as well as mention cross-servicing
arrangements and management improvements that CBO has undertaken or
expanded upon over the past several years.
First, in terms of streamlining, CBO: Reduced the footprint and
staff of its library by 50 percent by increasingly relying on the print
and online services provided by the Library of Congress; and eliminated
storage services and reduced printing and mailing costs, as the
agency's Web site has become the primary vehicle for disseminating CBO
publications.
Second, pursuing cross servicing, CBO does the following:
--Coordinates with the Library of Congress for financial management,
reporting, travel, and other related financial and accounting
services--including using the same contractor that the Library
does for audit services. (CBO received a clean opinion on its
first audit of its financial statements this year.)
--Partners with the Library for implementation and maintenance of an
integrated financial management and procurement system
(Momentum) that provides accurate, relevant, and timely
information to management for decisionmaking.
--Utilizes the National Finance Center for payroll processing.
--Receives support from the House Information Resources office for
CBO's computer data center.
--Receives maintenance services from the Architect of the Capitol for
CBO's work space.
--Contracts with the Government Printing Office for printing
services.
Last, CBO's management improvements include these:
--Expanding the use of information technology to develop an improved
report production system, an electronic distribution system for
publications and cost estimates (relying on the Web), an online
job announcement system, an online job application system, a
resume tracking system, and a property management inventory
system.
--Discontinuing contracting for mainframe computing services by
reprogramming the Budget Analysis Data System to run on CBO-
maintained servers. That conversion alone will save CBO
approximately $200,000 a year in its future budget submissions.
As reflected in CBO's fiscal year 2006 budget request, those
ongoing efforts have allowed CBO to keep cost increases to a minimum.
Finally, I would like to thank the Subcommittee for its support of
CBO's 2005 budget request. The funding provided this year will allow
CBO to continue providing the Congress with vital analyses as well as
enable the agency to make smart investments in core areas, which will
enhance productivity and reduce costs.
Senator Allard. Well, thank you. You're accompanied by Dr.
Robinson at the table. I appreciate the modesty of your budget.
It's important that CBO set an example. I try to set an example
in my office, returning unspent dollars, and I'm glad to see
that you have put together a modest budget here to meet your
needs.
RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS
Some of the questions that might come up--is it enough? You
do have some big issues that you're working on--Social
Security, Medicare, health insurance, prescription drugs--these
are not easy programs to work with, and do you have the
resources you need to meet your core mission?
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. For this submission, we believe we do.
Further cuts would jeopardize the core mission, because it
would have to come from pay and personnel--we don't have the
flexibility to put it somewhere else, and in the end, those are
the resources that are most central for addressing those
issues.
Going forward, I echo your views that we must be cognizant
of the need for spending discipline. Our ability to replicate
3.5 percent per year on an ongoing basis is really limited,
benefits are going up faster than that, and we are 90 percent
personnel, and we cannot continually go back to the other small
pieces of our budget and find the savings necessary to keep it
that low, but for the moment, this submission will do the job.
BUDGET FORECASTING
Senator Allard. Two years ago, CBO requested and received
two additional staff.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. We did, and we thank you, for the support
there, it helped us to undertake the dynamic scoring of the
President's budget which was a new initiative when I arrived.
We, at the moment, believe we have the right FTEs to do the job
we're being asked.
Senator Allard. I'm one of the members pushing for dynamic
scoring.
What has been your accuracy, your track record for coming
up with the right figures that over time, proved out? Can you
show a record of improvement in forecasting?
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. We believe it's important for the Congress
to know exactly what they're getting, and we have, on the
website, and we can provide to you in great detail, the track
record of our accuracy both in economic forecasting, and most
importantly, budget forecasting, from the perspective both of
spending, and revenues. I believe that most people would like
us to do better, that includes us as well, but we have a track
record that's comparable to any agency in the Government and
any company in the private sector that attempts to do this.
Senator Allard. Well, it's not easy.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. I'm glad you said that.
Senator Allard. It's so unpredictable, and there's no way
you have of knowing what those incidents might be that might
have an impact on budget projections.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. The most important part of the budget
projection has traditionally been forecasting receipts, and
there the central issue is having accurate, up to date
information about the structure of income tax returns, what--in
particular--the high income individuals who pay the vast
majority of individual income taxes are doing, and the fact
that we receive--as does everyone else--income tax information
about 2 years after it's actually filed, is one of the real big
problems. We first have to actually forecast where we are, and
then make a forecast for the future, and that is the one area
where we have mentioned to all the departments in the fiscal
agencies, that getting that data out more quickly would be
helpful.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
Senator Allard. That's all the questions I have. Again, I
would ask you the same as I did the previous panel, we'd like
to have a prompt response to any questions we may submit to you
from this subcommittee. Would 10 days be a reasonable time to
expect you to be able to get back to us?
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. That would be fine, we look forward to any
questions you might have.
Senator Allard. That's all we have, and thank you very much
for your testimony, and I think you're doing a good job.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin. Well, thank you, and I appreciate the
chance to be here.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the Office for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
Questions Submitted by Senator J. Durbin
coordinating efforts with other legislative branch agencies
Question. How do you coordinate with other Legislative Branch
agencies including GAO and CRS to ensure that there is not duplication
in the work that each agency does?
Answer. There are a number of actions undertaken by CBO and other
legislative branch agencies to ensure there is not duplication in the
work that we each do. On a continuing basis, the heads of each agency
meet to discuss mutual challenges, share experiences, share information
on key areas of work, and identify opportunities for collaboration as
well as ensure there is no duplication of work between the agencies.
Additionally, senior executives from each of our agencies meet through
various forums to discuss work and collaborative efforts. The Chief
Administrative Officers (CAO) Council currently is meeting monthly to
better integrate and collaborate efforts on emergency preparedness and
continuity of operations planning; the Chief Financial Officers (CFO)
Council meets at least quarterly to share information on internal
budget and financial management matters; a Chief Information Officers
(CIO) Council has just been formed for the legislative branch agency IT
employees to share information; and, for several years now,
representatives from GAO, CRS and CBO have been meeting quarterly to
discuss work efforts and ensure there is appropriate communication
between the agencies on pending assignments.
It should also be emphasized that several actions have already
taken place to coordinate major activities between CBO and other
legislative branch agencies. For example, we have had a long-standing
agreement with the Library of Congress for the Library to provide
support to CBO on a finance and accounting system. Together with the
Library, we recently completed a transition to a new finance and
accounting system (Momentum) and the Library and CBO have worked very
closely together to ensure a successful transition to the new system.
CBO also shares an IT data center with the House of Representatives,
and we receive building support from the Architect of the Capitol in
the Ford House Office Building.
elimination of certain staff positions
Question. CBO reported that it has eliminated the need for certain
staff positions (e.g., library services, publications) by adopting best
practices in document distribution and information services. What are
these best practices and how can other agencies use them to achieve
savings? What additional opportunities exist across the agency to
streamline positions?
Answer. CBO eliminated a position in its library by increasingly
relying on the print and online services provided by the Library of
Congress. CBO also eliminated the position of printing assistant and
transferred the person occupying that position to the agency's IT
(information technology) group to help meet responsibilities there. The
change was made possible by decreasing CBO's printing and distribution
of hard copies of publications and relying even more than in the past
on e-mail dissemination and the agency's Web site to provide access to
publications and cost estimates. To bolster that approach, CBO improved
its new-document notification system by adding an option for
subscribers to receive instantaneous notification as each document in a
selected area of interest is released. (Previously, the only option was
to receive a next-day summary.) Those changes met the need of
interested parties on the Hill and in the press for quick and reliable
access (at no marginal cost to CBO). The Agency will continue to review
library and publication distribution services to identify other areas
of possible streamlining.
document distribution system
Question. CBO is currently reviewing its document distribution
system, with an aim toward streamlining. Has CBO undertaken any efforts
to coordinate the streamlining of document distribution with other
legislative branch agencies? What actions are being considered and how
significant are the expected results, including cost savings?
Answer. CBO contracts with the Government Printing Office (GPO) for
printing and periodically coordinates with that agency to ensure that
GPO's distribution of CBO's publications to the depository libraries is
appropriate. Otherwise, CBO has not coordinated its document
distribution with other legislative branch agencies, primarily because
its distribution of hard copies is modest and time-sensitive.
CBO is printing and mailing fewer publications. First, it has cut
the numbers generally. It has also eliminated any automatic
distribution to members of the public. Whereas CBO used to send copies
of a few of its publications automatically to members of the public who
expressed a general interest, it now awaits their specific requests.
Moreover, the agency's reliance on electronic distribution is allowing
it to dispense with its outside storage facility and, instead, maintain
a small inventory in its basement storage room in the Ford House Office
Building. The savings from reduced printing and mailing have not yet
been realized, so precise figures are not available, but CBO is aiming
for savings of up to 30 percent, or in the tens of thousands of
dollars. The recurring annual savings from eliminating the outside
storage facility is about $20,000.
library staff reductions
Question. CBO reported that in recent years, it has successfully
reduced the footprint and staff of its library by one-half by
increasingly relying on the print and on-line services provided by the
Library of Congress (LOC). What additional opportunities exist to rely
on the services provided by LOC or other agencies?
Answer. We believe that opportunities exist to better coordinate
our needs for journals and books with the Library of Congress and/or
other agencies' libraries. At CBO, we are increasingly relying on the
availability of on-line journals, periodicals, subscriptions, etc.
Either through our own contacts with vendors or through collaborative
efforts with the Library, we have been able to meet most of our needs
for journals and periodicals through on-line services. However, we've
discovered that a number of scholarly and academic books needed by CBO
employees are not yet available on-line. In these instances, we rely on
the availability of these publications in the Library, or we purchase
them directly for CBO. We are currently reviewing how we obtain
journals and books for CBO employees, and are looking at options for
agreements with the Library of Congress or other agencies' libraries to
better meet our needs. Although we have not yet identified specific
ways to rely on these services of other organizations, we expect that
our review will help us in this effort.
property management inventory system
Question. CBO reported that it had recently implemented a new
property management inventory system. How is the new property
management system being used to strengthen internal control and improve
the safeguarding of assets? Can you describe the benefits, in both
qualitative and quantitative terms, what CBO expects from the new
property management system?
Answer. The new property management system has strengthened
internal control and improved the safeguarding of assets by providing a
documented, standardized process for asset control and the tools
necessary to track our inventory from cradle to grave. The software
uses a common database for both Inventory Control and Asset Management
to eliminate the possibility of equipment appearing in one database but
not the other. However, for control purposes, employees responsible for
inventory control do not have access to the asset management interface
or vice-versa.
All assets are bar coded and entered into the system upon receipt.
They are tracked through their life. At disposal, all equipment is
documented on a property disposal form, cross-checked by individuals in
different units, and approved for excessing by the Assistant Director
for Management, Business, and Information Systems. All capital assets
are inventoried on an annual basis. As an additional safeguard, an
independent auditor physically sees each piece of capital equipment and
also verifies its financial data.
Since CBO is a small agency with less than 5,000 physical assets we
were able to select a low-cost, off-the-shelf, commercial property
management system. The total cost for this new system was $17,000.
Annual maintenance and support is approximately $4,000. If CBO
developed a custom product in-house or contracted out development, the
cost would have been ten to twenty times more. The new system is
significantly easier to use than the prior one, both for inventory
control and for asset management. This has reduced training costs as
well as staff time in entering and maintaining asset data. It has
proven extremely helpful in planning computer and monitor buys and in
better managing equipment replacement cycles. In the old system, CBO
largely used spreadsheets and an extremely manual process for asset
management, particularly depreciation calculations. Since the new
system combines inventory and asset management in one application, we
are very near our goal of eliminating separate record keeping and
reporting for asset management. This will reduce the likelihood of
errors and result in a substantial time savings.
audit of cbo financial statements
Question. CBO reported that it is working towards an independent
audit of all CBO financial statements. Only a balance sheet audit was
performed in fiscal year 2003. What is the expected timeline for having
an audit of all CBO financial statements? In requesting proposals for
audit work, what efforts have been made to minimize costs by
coordinating with other Legislative Branch agencies regarding lessons
learned from their first audits?
Answer. CBO is under contract with Kearney and Company (auditing
firm) to have all fiscal year 2004 financial statements audited by
August 31, 2005. In order to streamline costs, CBO made a conscious
decision to contract with the same auditing firm as the Library of
Congress (LOC), since LOC provides CBO with financial management
support. Given this fact, CBO was able to incorporate lessons learned
from LOC's previous audits as well as reduce costs of the contract
because audit work performed on LOC's financial management processes
and systems are the same or very similar in nature to that of CBO.
automated financial management system
Question. CBO reported the recent implementation of a new automated
financial management system ``in cooperation with the Library of
Congress.'' How is CBO using the new financial management system to
improve performance and streamline operations? Can you describe the
benefits, in both qualitative and quantitative terms, which CBO expects
from the new financial management system?
Answer. CBO is using its new automated financial management system
to provide end-to-end acquisition and financial management. This system
has eliminated redundancies in fiscal and acquisition operations. For
example, CBO has been able to eliminate manually maintained
spreadsheets as well as eliminate manual hard copy certification
functions. These actions have streamlined the coordination processing
time and reduced the error rate because information is not duplicated
in various systems. This timesaving will provide acquisition and
financial managers with more time to analyze and interpret resource
data in order to further reduce costs though enhanced acquisition
planning and resource management. Also, this new system will strengthen
internal management control procedures, since the system is designed to
provide electronic authentication of system users throughout the
approval and certification process. The checks and balances maintained
in this system will ensure clean auditable financial statements. In
addition, CBO plans to provide management with real-time and near real-
time reporting capability to aid CBO decision makers in making sound
short and long- term investment decisions.
OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM W. THOMPSON, II, EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
ACCOMPANIED BY SUSAN S. ROBFOGEL, ESQUIRE, CHAIR, BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Senator Allard. I'm going to call on the next panel now,
which is the Office of Compliance. Here is Mr. Bill Thompson,
and you have with you, Chair of the Board, Susan Robfogel.
Proceed to your testimony when you're ready, Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Thompson. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, we're pleased to be
here this morning, and we both prepared statements that we
would like submitted for the record.
I'm going to cut to the chase here because of the time. The
office has, essentially, three functions, the first of which is
operating a dispute resolution program that handles everything
from sexual harassment to disputes about paying overtime. That
program proceeds very quietly and efficiently; we are not here
today about any issue with the funding there.
Secondarily, we're doing education. We're doing a lot with
a little; we've revamped our website recently, and I think it's
been considered by people we've talked to as one of the better
websites they've seen from a regulatory agency.
The third area that we're responsible for is occupational
safety, public accommodation and access, and there we are not
faring so well. As you may recall, about 1 year ago there was a
report that recommended that we needed additional funds in
order to be able to satisfy our mandatory requirement of
complete inspections of the entire campus every 2 years. The
GAO report also recommended that we change our methodology to
be more complete in both our inspections and our interactions
with the agencies which we are inspecting. We have done that,
and the result of the experience that we've had is that the
process is much more time consuming than we thought previously.
At the time we made our initial request for the fiscal year
2006 budget--which has a 9 percent increase--most of that,
other than the COLA, was for one full-time position for an
inspector of Occupational Safety and Health. In the months that
have passed since then, as we got further into this new
inspection process, it's become clear to us that we need
additional funding. As a consequence, we are in the process of
submitting an amended budget request. With that, I'll turn it
over to Susan Robfogel.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of William W. Thompson, II
Thank you Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee for the
opportunity to appear before you today in support of the fiscal year
2006 budget request of the Office of Compliance.
With me today are Susan S. Robfogel, Esq., Chair of the Board of
Directors of the Office, General Counsel Peter Ames Eveleth, Deputy
Executive Director Alma Candelaria, and Administrative and Budget
Officer Beth Hughes Brown.
We present you for the second time a completely zero based budget.
The accuracy of this year's largest budget cost allocation--staff
time--has significantly improved because we have conducted periodic
sampling to account for staff time needed to carry out each of our
major function categories.
This calendar year also marks the 10th anniversary of the passage
of the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995. As we end the agency's
first decade, we can look back at much progress, and some rough patches
along the way. In February, 2004, the Government Accountability Office
issued its major Report ``Office of Compliance: Status of Management
Control Efforts to Improve Effectiveness'' GAO-04-400. At approximately
the same time, the Office issued its first comprehensive Strategic Plan
for fiscal years 2004-2006. Both of these documents reflect the
continuing improvement in the Office's focus on its core missions, and
its growing engagement with Congress and Legislative Branch agencies in
collaborative initiatives to enhance our services in the mandated areas
of dispute resolution, safety and health enforcement, and education and
outreach to our regulated community.
As recommended in the 2004 GAO Report, we are continuing to shift
our focus in providing these services to a more interactive approach,
enabling regulated employers to achieve greater voluntary compliance
with the requirements of the Congressional Accountability Act. In light
of the employment, security and safety challenges Legislative Branch
agencies and employees face, one of our primary goals is to enable the
regulated community to achieve substantial compliance with all
requirements of the Act. And, we are doing all of this with a current
budget of less than $2.5 million.
dispute resolution
The Office's day-to-day employment dispute resolution function
involving controversies under ten different laws, everything from
alleged discrimination to the failure to pay required overtime,
proceeds efficiently--although largely unnoticed--because of the
confidential nature of the vast bulk of these cases. Hundreds of
disputes in nearly all Legislative Branch agencies, as well as in
offices of Members and committees of both chambers have quietly moved
through the administrative dispute resolution system. The assistance to
employing offices and employees provided by this discreet service is
perhaps one of the great untold success stories of the past decade
regarding the quality of Congress's internal operations.
safety and health enforcement
However, the current situation regarding the Office's ability to
carry out the Accountability Act's mandate in the areas of Occupational
Safety and Health and public accommodation for the disabled is
substantially more challenging. The Office has successfully encouraged
major strides by the Office of the Architect and the other responsible
agencies in improving conditions across the campus. However, GAO's 2004
Report ``Office of Compliance: Status of Management Control Efforts to
Improve Effectiveness'' GAO-04-400 confirmed the necessity of the
Office's repeated budget requests for additional OSH staff and
resources. GAO found that ``In contrast to most other CAA requirements,
OOC is not fully in compliance with the CAA requirement that it
`conduct periodic inspections of all facilities' of the agencies
covered by the provision.'' GAO also found a ``dramatic increase'' in
the number of health and safety inspections requested by employing
offices and covered employees, and observed that the Office's resources
``have not kept pace with this growth.''
We have pointed out this structural shortfall in several past
several budget requests, but we do not have resources at the level
necessary to enable us to biennially assess the health, safety, and
emergency response situation across the entire campus in a complete or
timely manner. Under the Office's current General Counsel, the care and
quality of our inspections has improved dramatically. However, doing a
more interactive and thorough job of inspecting requires substantially
more resources and more time.
In response to the requirements of the CAA and GAO's
recommendation, the Office is now in the midst of a definitive effort
to establish the required authoritative and comprehensive OSH base line
for all 17 million square feet of covered space in the D.C. metro area.
Our General Counsel, who was appointed late in fiscal year 2003, has
determined that the completion of the much more thorough, comprehensive
and consultative biennial base line inspection mandated by the CAA and
underscored in GAO's report will be substantially more time consuming
and resource intensive than we had anticipated even as late as our
fiscal year 2006 budget request. Even with the additional inspector FTE
we have requested for fiscal year 2006, the General Counsel will not be
able to complete a timely, comprehensive picture of the current safety,
health and emergency response dangers across the entire campus.
Hazards, some of which may be serious, remain unidentified.
educating our constituency
The Office is also mandated by Congress to ``carry out a program of
education for Members of Congress and other employing authorities of
the Legislative Branch of the Federal Government respecting the laws
made applicable to them and a program to inform individuals of their
rights under laws made applicable to the Legislative Branch of the
Federal Government. . . .'' 2 U.S.C. 1381(h)(1). While the Office
continues to carry out this core mandate of the Act through various
educational and outreach activities, we have been testing the limits of
our capacity to become more pro-active in this area. Various additional
outreach initiatives, such as further upgrading of educational products
and a planned mediation workshop are occurring this year, but our long
term ability to build on the momentum expected from these and previous
enhancements will ultimately be dependent upon additional resources and
information infrastructure access.
conclusion
On behalf of the Board of Directors the appointees and the entire
staff of the Office of Compliance, I respectfully request that the
Committee respond favorably to the Office's fiscal year 2006 budget
request. We will be happy to respond to any further questions which you
may have.
appendix--the congressional mandate
The Office of Compliance was established to administer and enforce
the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 1301, et seq.
The Congressional Accountability Act applies 12 workplace, employment,
and safety laws to Congress and other agencies and Instrumentalities of
the Legislative Branch. These laws include: the Occupational Safety and
Health Act of 1970; the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Act;
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Americans with
Disabilities Act; the Rehabilitation Act of 1970; the Family Medical
Leave Act; the Fair Labor Standards Act; the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act; the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act;
the Employee Polygraph Protection Act; and veteran's employment and
reemployment rights at Chapter 43 of Title 38 of the U.S. Code. The Act
was amended in 1998 to apply the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act.
Currently, the Office has regulatory responsibility for employers
in the Legislative Branch employing approximately 30,500 employees. The
Office is also charged by the Act to make recommendations to Congress
as to whether additional employment and public services and
accommodations laws should be made applicable to the employing offices
within the Legislative Branch.
Under the direction of the Executive Director, the Office
administers a dispute resolution system to resolve disputes and
complaints arising under the Act, and carries out an education and
training program for the regulated community on the rights and
responsibilities under the Act.
The General Counsel has independent investigatory and enforcement
authority with respect to certain of the laws administered under the
Act and represents the Office in all judicial proceedings under the
Act.
the board of directors and staff
The Office has a five-member, non-partisan Board of Directors
appointed by the Majority and Minority Leaders of both houses of
Congress. The Board members, who serve five-year terms, come from
across the United States, and are chosen for their expertise in the
laws administered under the Act. In a major vote of confidence in the
current leadership of the Office, Congress enacted legislation in 2004
granting authority to appoint the current chair and members of the
Board to a second 5 year term in office. The Board acts as an
adjudicative body in reviewing appeals by parties aggrieved by
decisions of Hearing Officers on complaints filed with the Office and
advises Congress on needed changes and amendments to the Act.
The Office of Compliance currently has 16 full-time employees and
pays the part-time Board members on a ``when-actually-employed'' basis.
Our employee complement performs a multiplicity of functions,
including: administrative dispute resolution, occupational safety and
health and disability access enforcement, labor relations regulatory
activity, education, Congressional relations, professional support for
the Board of Directors, and general administrative and fiscal
functions. The Office performs the functions of multiple agencies in
and for the Executive Branch, including but not limited to, the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and
the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The Office regularly contracts
for the part-time, as-needed services of approximately 25 other
individuals as mediators, Hearing Officers, and safety and health
investigators. The Office's senior full-time safety and health
investigator is on permanent detail from the Department of Labor's
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
incomplete biennial osh-ada inspection
During fiscal year 2004, our Office of the General Counsel (OGC)
was able to inspect only about 4 million square feet within 25
Legislative Branch facilities (some with multiple buildings). The
General Counsel was unable despite best efforts to examine all
Legislative Branch facilities during the 108th Congress biennial cycle
of inspections, including large areas within the House and Senate
Office Buildings and the U.S. Capitol Building space used for Member
offices, Committee staff offices, and other non-AOC spaces as required
by the Congressional Accountability Act. Therefore, it is certain that
many hazards remain unidentified at this time.
The total amount of covered premises in the metropolitan Washington
region is in excess of 17 million square feet. Because of the
comprehensive thoroughness with which the fiscal year 2004 inspections
were carried out, as was encouraged by GAO's February 2004 Report, over
2,300 serious hazards were identified in the 25 facilities inspected,
as compared to 360 violations discovered in the same facilities and
areas during the 107th Congress biennial inspection.
As part of the revamped inspection regimen, the Office is now
utilizing a widely recognized risk assessment code (RAC) to classify
all hazards found to exist in the ongoing inspections. The time and
costs required to conduct more interactive and comprehensive
inspections, and the nearly seven-fold increase in the number of
violations identified just during 2004 has made manifest that the
Office's current level of resources are completely inadequate to
complete the ongoing inspection of all covered facilities in the D.C.
metro area in the foreseeable future or to timely respond to requests
for inspections by employing offices and employees.
more consultation and collegiality
GAO also recommended that ``OOC should establish congressional and
agency protocols . . . between the Congress, legislative branch
agencies, and OOC on what can be expected as OOC carries out its
work.'' (GAO Report, Introduction) The Office of Compliance is
developing new approaches to OSH regulatory activities which involve
greater consultation, coordination, and transparency in both the
investigatory and enforcement phases. This effort requires partnerships
with employing offices and employees and a concomitant educational and
training initiative to improve management and employee understanding of
best practices. These activities are focused on fostering more
cooperative efforts at achieving compliance with standards but they do
not negate the statutory mandate to enforce the law.
As we have mentioned, the fiscal year 2004 OSH inspection regimen
was undertaken with much greater consultation with stakeholders. More
interactive methods are more resource and labor intensive, and have
further contributed to the Office's inability timely to complete the
biennial inspection of the entire campus.
strains on agency resources
During the past two fiscal years, the Office has reallocated
significant resources toward OSH investigations at the expense of other
mandates. For example, 0.5 FTE has been temporarily reallocated within
the Office of General Counsel from legal support to contract
investigation just to maintain the current level of inspections. In
addition, one FTE has also been moved from the administrative dispute
resolution support staff to provide administrative assistance to the
Office of General Counsel. Contractor funds have been reprogrammed to
provide additional resources for increasing the use of contracted OSH
inspectors. Further withdrawal of resources from the other dispute
resolution and educational mandates of the Act will substantially
impact the Office's ability to maintain a dispute resolution program
which ensures that employees and employing offices in the House of
Representatives, Senate and other Legislative Branch Instrumentalities
receive the quality of mediation and hearing services which the
Congress expects.
Since I was appointed in fiscal year 2002, the Office has
consistently asked for an additional FTE and other funding for safety
and health inspections and enforcement, as well as major increases for
other underfunded mandates. The Office's responsibility in this area
has assumed even more critical importance in the wake of 9/11. While
appropriations have increased, the underlying structural shortcomings
in our funding base make our ability to fully and timely implement the
Congressional inspection and enforcement mandate impossible. The Office
has been criticized by appropriators for the size of its requested
budget increases over the past several years. However, as the Office
still operates with a smaller budget than it had in fiscal year 1997,
we respectfully submit that the requested increases have been made in
large part in order to regain lost resources necessary for this agency
adequately to respond to the Congressional mandate in the Act.
Senator Allard. Ms. Robfogel.
Ms. Robfogel. Mr. Chairman, my purpose in being here today
is to speak on behalf of the Board, and to let you know that
the Board fully endorses the request as it's been articulated
by our Executive Director. Although we are a part-time Board--
we all have other occupations--we take our responsibility for
health and safety very, very seriously. It's an awesome
responsibility that we have, and we've spent a great deal of
time discussing this issue with our executive staff and we are
fully convinced that every possible dollar has been reallocated
to the safety and health inspection area that can possible be
reallocated. That means if we cut expenditures for any other
part of the Office any more than we already have, the Office
would not be able to function. And I thought it was important
that you hear that from us, as well. We think this is the only
way that we will be able to accomplish the mandate for safety
that falls to us.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Susan S. Robfogel, Esq.
Thank you Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee for the
opportunity to appear with Executive Director Thompson before you today
in support of the fiscal year 2006 budget request of the Office of
Compliance.
The Board is acutely aware of its awesome responsibility for the
health and safety of those who work on or visit the Capitol Hill
campus.
To protect the men and women who come to the Capitol, we must have
enough inspectors to inspect the buildings, help to remediate noted
deficiencies and reinspect to ensure compliance.
Currently we are functioning with only one staff inspector who is
on assignment from the Department of Labor. In addition, we employ
contract inspectors, as funds permit. Simply put, it is not enough
manpower to inspect the entire Capitol Hill campus in a two year
period.
As a Board, we have questioned our executive staff and we are fully
satisfied that they are doing everything they can do to support the
inspection mandate, including reassigning staff and resources from
other functions to meet the need for inspectors.
We need more people either through direct hiring or by assigning
additional inspectors to us from DOL.
We need your help to keep us all safe.
We will be happy to respond to any questions which you may have.
Senator Allard. Thank you very much for your testimony. I
was one of those that promoted the idea that Congress live
under the same laws as everybody else, and pushed the idea that
we needed to get those provisions that traditionally Congress
has been exempted from, and bring them into the operation of
our own legislative branch. Then members will gain a greater
appreciation of the total impact. If you live under the laws
that you pass, it makes a better person out of you, and I think
it makes a better legislator out of you. I think that's what
James Madison had in mind when he got up and talked about a
citizen legislator, somebody who lived under the laws that they
passed.
HEALTH AND SAFETY INSPECTIONS
One of the areas that is a little bit troublesome is in the
health and safety inspection area, you alluded to that in your
statement. We've got an article here from by The Hill newspaper
on April 19 of this year, which discussed the hazards of the
Capitol. It says we had 2,666 citations, and this is much
higher than what we had in the 2002 inspection. Was that the
last inspection before you had this inspection?
Mr. Thompson. That was the last comprehensive inspection.
The 107th Congress was done in 2002, and this is the same
square footage that we had in 2004.
Most of the violations that we had in 2002, a lot of
progress is being made on. The new violations spread across the
spectrum of very serious to the not so serious, but the
inspection experience was that there are still more serious
violations that we are trying to get after.
Senator Allard. Now, on these violations, what kind of
follow up is there? Is the follow up fairly immediate after you
discovered the violations? How are they abated, and how are we
doing on correcting health and safety violations?
Mr. Thompson. Under our new regimen, Mr. Chairman, we make
every effort to have the agency actually accompany our
inspectors, so they see what our inspectors see at the same
time. To the extent that there are clear and simple fixes, we
actually have had experiences where the changes were made as we
went.
For those things that are not being fixed immediately, they
need to be thought about before we can decide exactly what
we've got. We follow up as quickly as possible with the agency,
both orally and in writing, listing the violations and a
description of what we found.
With regard to follow up inspections, that's a very
significant part of what we've been doing since the 2004
inspection. Our inspectors go out and the agencies' inspectors
fix the things that they can fix, and we also are having a lot
of interaction with the agencies.
Senator Allard. In the 108th Congress, you were not able to
complete your inspection, is that correct?
Mr. Thompson. We were not able to complete the inspection,
I'm sad to say, Senator. For the inspections going forward,
that is something we are absolutely bound and determined not to
happen this time around, which is the reason for our increased
request.
Senator Allard. Okay, and the additional resources that you
need to finish and complete your final inspection for this
Congress is how much?
Mr. Thompson. We have given your staff two options, the FTE
option with cost over a 2 year period--fiscal year 2006 and
fiscal year 2007--approximately $570,000. In the contractor
version of the same, we use contractors to do the inspection.
The cost is approximately $475,000, so there's a savings by
using the contractors.
Senator Allard. Do you have to bring on new people?
Mr. Thompson. We have a stable of contractors that we've
been using, I don't know that we'd be able to use them for that
many hours, but the community out there has a very good
selection.
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT ON THE STATUS OF MANAGEMENT IN
THE OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE
Senator Allard. The GAO issued a report and recommendations
regarding the status of management in your agency. How are you
doing in responding to their recommendations, and developing
quantifiable measures to record progress toward goals? I would
think that it would be easy for you to set goals and objectives
that are measurable.
Mr. Thompson. Yes, thank you for asking that question,
because that's a core effort we're making right now.
We see the GAO engagement as more than simply oversight. We
have embraced the GAO as a consultant. They made 15
recommendations in their report last year. Of those 15
recommendations, we've been able to accomplish about half thus
far, and are working on all of them. There are a few that we
are sort of stymied on with regard to the lack of funds, but I
can report to you that as late as last month, we met with the
GAO for two purposes: one, to report to them on how we're doing
with regard to all of their recommendations, and two, to
develop with them some preliminary measures, some quantifiable
measures that we are working on as the first step toward our
next strategic plan.
RISING CASELOAD
Senator Allard. You had a rising caseload in alternative
dispute resolutions, is that right and if so, why?
Mr. Thompson. The caseload at the office is increasing. If
you correct the figures as the GAO suggested that we do for two
large files that go back to 2000, there are about 300 people
involved in the two cases. If you back those numbers out,
essentially I'm just going to run five numbers here, for each
step of our process, counseling, mediation, complaints, appeals
to the Board of Directors, Appeals to the Federal circuit. If
you take the average over the 10 years we've been in the system
versus the average over the last few years, what you get is
numbers like this: 82 for the old average, 88 for the new
average, 65 versus 73, 9 versus 11, 4 versus 6 and for appeals
to the Federal circuit, the old average is 2, now we're running
at 7, so we have a significant increase in the caseload.
I think the reasons for that--but there's no way to
scientifically confirm this--our best educated guess is that it
is a combination of things. One is people knowing more about
the office, since as time goes by we're doing a much better job
of educating the community. Number two, I think the workforce
is becoming more sophisticated in general. And number three,
frankly, I think there was a period of time when I first got
here where you would hear stories that, ``Well, that Office of
Compliance is just for show,'' and I think over time the
quality of what we've been doing, the quality of the Board's
decisionmaking have demonstrated our worth.
Senator Allard. Now, the 200 and 300 complaints that you
had come in, can you explain in more detail what that was all
about?
Mr. Thompson. Yes, there were two large cases, one was a
group of female cleaning people who were sponsored, I believe,
if my recollection is correct, by their collective bargaining
representative, and they were claiming sex discrimination.
The second group was the Black Capitol Police Officer's
Association which came into the office about 4 days after I got
there as the new Executive Director. Their claim was racial
discrimination through the hiring and promotion of Capitol
Police, that case is now a case in the Federal court, it's
still at the trial level, and the Architect's cases were also
in court.
CHANGES IN THE CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
Senator Allard. Based on your experience, your staff's
experience, how would you assess the effectiveness of the
Congressional Accountability Act, and are there any changes to
the law that you'd recommend to improve its effectiveness?
Mr. Thompson. I would say the law is quite effective in
that there is a place for all employees to go with regard to 12
different statutes. I think we educate people on their rights
and responsibilities under the laws, and with regard to the
improvements, the Board of Directors has submitted, as required
by the statute last year, 2004, a formal report and
recommendation which includes a number of changes to the Act
itself and some additional laws. There was inconclusive
evidence to determine whether other agencies needed that, and
we will make available that formal report to you and your
staff.
Senator Allard. We'd appreciate that. Thank you very much.
I don't have anything else. Go ahead.
Ms. Robfogel. Mr. Chairman, there's one other change to our
statute that our Board has recommended and that was recommended
in the GAO analysis that I think it's important you be aware
of. When our statute was passed, it was passed with term
limits, the Board would be appointed for a single, 5-year term,
and our executive staff would be appointed for a single 5-year
term. The GAO has recognized that it is very difficult to
accomplish continuity, and to accomplish the purposes for which
the statute is established if the whole office turns over that
frequently. Congress last year amended the statute to permit
the Board members to be reappointed for an additional term. We
are hoping very much that the legislation will be amended to
also permit the reappointment of the executive staff so that
all of the work that is currently in process will be able to
continue.
Senator Allard. So, we have term limits on the executive
staff?
Ms. Robfogel. Currently that is the situation.
The term limits with respect to the Board have essentially
been eliminated, at least to the extent of permitting three
members of the Board whose terms expired to be reappointed, and
we have been told that the other two members of the Board,
whose terms will be over in the next month, that they will also
have their term limits lifted.
Senator Allard. So, we have staggered terms now for the
Board members?
Ms. Robfogel. By just several months, yes.
Senator Allard. I think we may need to look at that closer,
we should stagger Board member terms out over several years.
Ms. Robfogel. That would be a massive improvement, and we
also think there needs to be some relief on the executive staff
side.
Senator Allard. But they serve at your pleasure, you have
oversight on the executive board, you hire----
Ms. Robfogel. They serve at my pleasure, actually.
Senator Allard. As Chairman of the Board.
Ms. Robfogel. Yes.
Senator Allard. So, even though they've performed well over
a certain period of time, you cannot reappoint them?
Ms. Robfogel. I can not reappoint them, and I can not move
people from one position in the office to another position in
the office. Once someone has served on the executive staff,
he's got to leave at the end of the 5 years.
Senator Allard. We're going to take a close look at why
that provision is there, see if we can figure out congressional
intent, apparently Government Affairs has oversight on that.
Ms. Robfogel. They do.
Senator Allard. So, maybe we'll communicate with them a
little bit and see what their views are on this issue.
Ms. Robfogel. I would appreciate that, Mr. Chairman.
CONCLUSION OF HEARINGS
Senator Allard. I will now put this subcommittee in recess
until May 17 when we take testimony regarding the Capitol
Visitor Center. Thank you for your testimony, this has been a
good, helpful morning with testimony from all panels, and we
thank you all.
[Whereupon, at 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, May 11, the hearings
were concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, May 17.]