United States Department of Labor FY 2001 Annual Performance Plan

Revised Final
December 31, 2000

1. Introduction

The 1913 Act that created the Department of Labor (DOL) stated that its purpose "... shall be to foster, promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment." At that time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the price of pork chops in Washington, D.C. had risen to 22 cents per pound, and that the owners of power laundries in Milwaukee had begun to recognize that safer and healthier work processes benefitted them, as well as their mainly female workforce. Since that simpler era, our national experience has led us to a new comprehension of the nature and scope of the Department's purpose.

Although our vision has matured as the Department has addressed changing economies and a diversified workforce, our responsibility today remains the same. DOL must endeavor that all workers have the opportunity to find and hold secure jobs with good wages, reliable pensions, health benefits, opportunities to improve their skills, and safe and healthful workplaces free from discrimination.

DOL's work is organized around three strategic goals, which are outlined in this FY 2001 Annual Performance Plan. These goals build on our successes and respond to the challenge of helping every working American participate and prosper in today's economy. The three strategic goals are:

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These goals bridge the Department's many agencies and programs and serve the common purpose of helping America's workers meet the challenges they face today and in the future.

2. Overview of the DOL Strategic Plan

Labor's Strategic Plan for FY 1999-2004 outlines DOL's mission, vision, departmental structure, three strategic goals, and attendant outcome and performance goals which support the Secretary's vision, facilitate increased coordination, and foster greater cohesion within the Department. Through these strategic goals, DOL staff and the American public can see a direct link between the Department's purpose, its activities, and vision for the future.

The Department formalized the Strategic and Performance Plan Workgroup as a standing committee in support of its Management Review Council, which oversees DOL's integrated strategic management and performance planning process. During the summer of 1998, the Workgroup revised the original FY 1997-2002 Strategic Plan to reflect the consolidation of strategic goals in the FY 1999 Performance Plan and to make a number of other enhancements. To shepherd and synchronize implementation activities and documents to comply with the Government Performance and Results Act, also known as GPRA and the Results Act, DOL then created a departmental GPRA Staff, housed in the Office of Budget. The Deputy Secretary also initiated biannual Program Reviews for the Management Review Council to review mid- and end-of-year progress towards current annual performance goals. In the summer of 1999, the DOL Strategic Plan was again revised primarily to reflect the programs and objectives of the Workforce Investment Act. This revised strategic plan covering FY 1999-2004 provides a framework for the Department's FY 2001 Annual Performance Plan and a blueprint for the Department's major program initiatives through FY 2004.

A summary of the major elements addressed in the Strategic Plan are provided below. These elements provide the foundation for Departmental activities in the years ahead and a context for this document, the FY 2001 Annual Performance Plan.

2.1 Mission

The Department of Labor fosters and promotes the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements. In carrying out this mission, the Department administers a variety of Federal labor laws including those that guarantee workers' rights to safe and healthful working conditions; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment insurance; and other income support.

2.2 Vision

We will promote the economic well-being of workers and their families, help them share in the American dream through rising wages, pensions, health benefits and expanded economic opportunities, and foster safe and healthful workplaces that are free from discrimination.

2.3 DOL Strategic Goals

Through these strategic goals, DOL staff and the American public can see a direct link between the Department's mission and its activities:

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A Prepared Workforce:	Enhance opportunities for America's workforce
A Secure Workforce:	Promote the economic security of workers and families
Quality Workplaces:	Foster quality workplaces that are safe, healthy, and fair.

Associated with the each of these goals are specific programs designed to implement the Secretary of Labor's key priorities. These priorities are highlighted under the appropriate Strategic Goal in Section 4, FY 2001 Performance Goals, Strategies and Cross-Cutting Programs.

2.4 DOL Organization

The Department of Labor is organized into major program areas, each headed by an Assistant Secretary or Commissioner who administers the various statutes and programs for which the Department is responsible. These programs are carried out through a network of regional offices and a series of field, district, and area offices, as well as, in some cases, through local-level grantees and contractors. The agencies included in the Department's FY 2001 Performance Plan are as follows:

Employment and Training Administration (ETA)

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA)

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

Employment Standards Administration (ESA)

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Office of the Solicitor (SOL)

Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM)

Women's Bureau (WB)

Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)

Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS)

Office of the Inspector General (OIG)

3. Strategic Goals and The FY 2001 Budget

The Department has determined that global approaches are needed to respond to the dynamic changes affecting the future workforce and workplace. Its FY 2001 budget proposal is therefore structured around a series of initiatives that integrate the efforts of the Department's component agencies to make more effective use of limited resources, eliminate duplication and overlap, and organize efforts around evolving real-world problems rather than around existing organizational structures and tools. These initiatives may support two or more of the three DOL strategic goals.

This Plan establishes performance goals for FY 2001 which will lead to the accomplishment of DOL's strategic goals, and describes the means and strategies DOL will use to achieve results, as well as contributing partners. Activities are logically clustered around the accomplishment of its strategic goals. There are also some instances where an agency's contribution to a goal is not apparent. The Women's Bureau, for example, provides expertise and guidance to all DOL agencies as they work toward accomplishing those strategic goals that relate to working women and their families. The Office of the Solicitor is another example which provides legal advice and support to its "client" agencies within DOL.

A summary of FY 2001 Performance Goals and Measures is included in Appendix A. A detailed break-out of DOL's Program and Financial (P&F) Schedule activities by strategic goal can be found in Appendix C, and a cross-walk of Congressional Committees to strategic goals is presented in Appendix D.

Each strategic goal consists of intermediate outcome goals which in turn contain specific performance goals for the fiscal year. Each performance goal or result is measured by an indicator which is used to assess progress toward goal accomplishment.

This section provides a summary of the linkage between the strategic goals and the Department's budget activities and expenditures, as identified in the P&F schedules. For each strategic goal, a brief description of major new initiatives in the FY 2001 funding request is provided.

The 2001 budget reflects the Department of Labor's commitment to provide assurance that all workers have the opportunity to find and hold jobs, under reasonable working conditions, with good wages, reliable pensions, health benefits, and opportunities to improve their skills.

For these purposes, the Department's FY 2001 budget proposals provide a total request for $39.7 billion in budget authority and 17,450 full-time equivalents (FTE). The request for discretionary programs is $12.4 billion in budget authority, which is $1.2 billion above the FY 2000 level.

3.1 Strategic Goal 1 - A Prepared Workforce

This budget request reflects one of the President's top priorities: investing in education and training to ensure that every American has the schooling and the skills to succeed in the increasingly competitive global economy.

The Youth Opportunity Movement program will provide investments that help young people make a successful transition to the world of work and family responsibility. Another initiative working toward this goal is the Fathers Work/Families Win program which will provide competitive grants to State and local Workforce Investment Boards to lift low wage workers into quality jobs by upgrading their skills. These are some of the initiatives in this budget that focus first on youth and then target the high unemployment, low skills, and lack of work experience among youth and adults in some of our poorest communities.

Opportunity Gaps and Untapped Markets

There are several programs included within the Youth Opportunities Movement to address the opportunity gaps and reach untapped markets in order to advance the goal to promote a prepared workforce.

Youth Opportunity Grants

The FY 2001 budget includes $375 million for Youth Opportunity Grants, an increase of $125 million above FY 2000. This program is intended to provide comprehensive, longer term intervention in the lives of primarily out-of-school youth living in inner cities and high poverty areas to help them graduate from high school, get jobs, and progress in the workforce. Of the total request, $250 million in competitive grants will be distributed to 25 to 30 high poverty areas for the third year of funding. An additional $125 million is requested in FY 2001 to fund the first year of 12 to 15 new grants to high poverty areas. This program will serve an estimated 85,000 youth in FY2001.

Responsible Reintegration for Young Offenders

Also included in the FY 2001 budget is an initiative for Responsible Reintegration for Young Offenders funded at $75 million to address youth offender issues. This is a new initiative and will build on work begun earlier including $13.9 million in FY 2000 demonstration funds. This large scale Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Pilot and Demonstration initiative will help young offenders under age 35 to successfully reintegrate into the mainstream economy by linking them with essential services such as education, training, job placement, drug counseling, and mentoring. Through local competitive grants, this program would establish partnerships between the criminal justice system and local workforce investment systems, complementing a similar program in the Department of Justice. An estimated 19,000 youth will be served.

Safe Schools/Healthy Students

Also included in the FY 2001 budget is $40 million for the DOL to participate in the next competitive round of Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants. This is an effort begun in FY 1999 in collaboration with the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice to promote healthy childhood development and to prevent school violence and alcohol and other drug abuse through a comprehensive, community-wide approach. With DOL's participation, the activities for the next round of grants can be expanded to include connections among high schools, post-secondary schools, alternative schools, out-of-school youth programs, and work-based learning programs, in order to reduce violent behaviors.

Job Corps

The Job Corps will provide intensive skill training, academic and social education, and support to an estimated 73,000 participants at 122 centers in FY 2001. The budget request is $1.4 billion, a net increase of $35 million above FY 2000. The additional amounts include increases of $13.4 million for the operations costs of new centers, and $12.9 million for teacher and other staff salary increases. These increases are offset in part, by a decline in new center construction and modernization efforts.

Universal Reemployment

Because our changing economy often requires new skills of our Nation's workers, the budget continues the President's Universal Reemployment initiative path which aims to serve all dislocated workers in need of assistance by FY 2004. The initiative will provide all dislocated workers who want and need assistance the resources to train for or find new jobs; expand and improve the quality of employment services now available to all job seekers, enhance them for individuals receiving unemployment compensation; and ensure availability of the One Stop System, either in person or electronically, to help find jobs and training.

Among the programs to be funded in this effort are WIA Dislocated Workers employment and training activities, One Stop Career Centers, and Grants to States for Reemployment Services.

Dislocated worker employment and training activities under authority of WIA provides State formula grants, as well as a national emergency grant account, for retraining and adjustment services to laid off workers with a labor market attachment to help them return to work quickly. The FY 2001 request includes $1.771 billion for this program, an increase of $181 million above FY 2000 to support 984,000 participants. This increase is part of a build up which would assist all dislocated workers in need of these services.

The FY 2001 budget includes $154 million for new methods of providing employment and related information through One Stop Career Centers and its America's Labor Market

Information System (ALMIS), an net increase of $34 million above FY 2000. Services include America's Job Bank that lists about 1.6 million jobs, and America's Talent Bank that lists over 500,000 resumes.

Also included in the Universal Reemployment initiative for FY 2001 is an additional $50 million for Reemployment Services Grants. These grants, made through the Employment service, will provide targeted, staff-assisted services to unemployment insurance claimants identified as having a high probability of exhausting their benefits. This will speed their reentry into employment and reduce benefit duration.

Incumbent Workers

The budget includes a new employment and training assistance initiative for Incumbent Workers funded at $30 million in FY 2001 under WIA Pilot and Demonstration authority. The effort is intended to address the major job losses in the manufacturing industry where one half million jobs have been lost since March, 1998. Complementing activities carried out under the Universal Reemployment proposal, this initiative will boost skills and wages of non-management U.S. workers through competitive grants to States to train and upgrade the skills of incumbent workers and, through local partnerships, help firms with training, thereby preventing displacements before they occur. It is expected that the program will serve 20,000 participants.

Fathers Work/Families Win

Building on the investments and partnerships begun under the Welfare-to-Work program, the FY 2001 President's Budget includes $255 million for a new initiative entitled Fathers Work/Families Win to assist low-income working families, including non-custodial parents, get training and services necessary to obtain better jobs, higher wages and remain off cash assistance. Of this amount, $125 million would support competitive grants for the Fathers Work component to help about 40,000 non-custodial parents, primarily fathers, obtain or retain employment and progress up career ladders, including upgrading their skills so they can support their children. The remaining $130 million of the request is for Families Win to provide resources for case management and skill training to help about 40,000 low income parents stay in jobs, move up career ladders, and stay off cash assistance. Of these amounts, $10 million will be set aside for Indian and Native American workforce agencies.

These competitive grants will be awarded to State and local Workforce Investment Boards to enable States and local communities to complement welfare reform efforts by focusing on work connections, work support activities, and skills training. The initiative addresses families with incomes up to 200 percent of the poverty level.

Disability Policy And Programs:

The Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities was created in 1998 to develop and recommend to the President, a coordinated and aggressive Federal policy to eliminate employment barriers

for people with disabilities. The first Task Force annual report identified and recommended support of legislation to eliminate the barriers to health care for people with disabilities. The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act signed into law in 1999, will substantially expand our nation's pool of skilled workers with disabilities by enabling millions of people with disabilities to take jobs without fear of losing their Medicaid and Medicare coverage.

In December 1999, the second annual report of the Task Force identified and recommended support for the establishment of a new Office of Disability Policy, Evaluation and Technical Assistance to be headed by an Assistant Secretary within the Department of Labor. This new office will initially subsume the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities in an effort to reduce duplication and enhance coordination of Federal employment programs for people with disabilities. ODPET will bring a heightened and permanent disability focus within DOL through policy evaluation, technical assistance and development of best practices. The intent is to integrate these tools into all existing DOL programs and services so that people with disabilities maximize their overall efforts to obtain the necessary skills and training to succeed in the increasingly competitive global economy.

In addition, the budget also continues the competitive grants enacted in FY 2000, totaling $20 million annually to be awarded each year by DOL to partnerships of organizations to provide incentives for broader systems -- building efforts involving coordinated service delivery through, and linkages across, the One Stop Career Center system established under Title 1 of WIA of 1998. This effort will promote coordination among members of such partnerships, in order to ensure that people with disabilities are better prepared to enter, reenter, and remain in the workforce.

Homeless Veterans Programs:

This request includes a plan to integrate DOL's Homeless Veterans Programs for (formerly funded within ETA) within the Veterans Employment and Training program. The budget includes $15 million, which is expected to provide employment and training services to an estimated 15,000 homeless veterans, with expected job placements of approximately 8,700.

Economic Indicators:

The conference-level budget request includes increases totaling $13 million for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to maintain its current programs and to develop a new time-use survey that will provide nationally representative estimates of how Americans spend their time in an average week. This will provide important and meaningful data in many areas such as the amount of time invested in the care of the young and the elderly in our society, variations between single and two-parent families, and time invested in skill acquisition.

3.2 Strategic Goal 2 - A Secure Workforce

Several initiatives have been designed to achieve significant progress in helping to promote an economically secure workforce.

Trade Adjustment Assistance:

The budget request includes a proposal to consolidate and reform and extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and NAFTA-Transitional Adjustment Assistance programs for workers who lose their jobs due to trade policies. This proposal would expand eligibility for TAA benefits to cover workers who lose jobs when plants or production shifts abroad (coverage which is now limited to shifts to Canada or Mexico), would raise the statutory cap on training expenses, and would otherwise harmonize the rules of the two programs and bring the trade program closer in line with the one-stop delivery system envisioned by WIA.

Pensions And Health Care:

Each year millions of Americans encounter life and work altering events - job loss, divorce, death of a spouse, or loss of dependent status - all of which may affect their health benefits. To address these events in workers' lives, the Department continues to support the Health Benefits Education Campaign that the Secretary launched in December 1998. The DOL will provide funds to continue the partnership with over 70 public and private sector organizations to provide information to health benefit plan participants that will enable them to better understand the new health benefit laws and apply them to their personal circumstances. In FY 2001, funding is also proposed to implement the Rapid ERISA Action Team initiative to preserve pension assets in employer bankruptcies.

3.3 Strategic Goal 3 - Quality Workplaces

The third goal is to guarantee every working American a safe and healthful workplace with equal opportunity for all. If an employer's practices threaten workers' safety and health, discriminate on the basis of gender, race, veterans' status, or disability, or deprive workers of fair wages, tough enforcement is necessary. To promote compliance with employment laws, there must be an appropriate balance of fair and consistent enforcement, cooperative partnerships, and compliance assistance and training. Also, the Department is committed to improving the working conditions of children domestically and abroad by eliminating violations of child labor laws and by raising core international labor standards to enhance economic stability abroad

Putting a Human Face on Globalization

The globalization of the economy has altered the way in which the American workforce has traditionally been structured. The challenge today is Putting a Human Face on Globalization in this interdependent economy. There are several proposals that address this issue and advance the goal of fostering quality workplaces.

In the new global economy there exists the opportunity to lift billions of people into a worldwide middle class and a decent standard of living. The FY 2001 budget proposals help to harmonize the Administration's goals of increasing trade and improving working conditions and labor standards for all workers. Raising global labor standards and improving worldwide enforcement of labor laws is vital to this effort. Achieving expanded opportunity and security for American workers has become increasingly dependent upon how effectively the U.S. addresses the international challenges of economic globalization.

International Child Labor

An estimated 250 million children between the ages of 5 to 14 years, are working in developing countries, and millions of these children work under abusive or dangerous conditions. The Administration has accomplished two major Child Labor milestones in recent years - dramatic growth in the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labor, and ratification of ILO convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

The FY 2001 request takes these efforts to the next level by supporting educational opportunities that not only encourage the removal of children from these abusive and dangerous working environments, but that provide them with real opportunities and real hope for a better future. The request includes a total of $100 million to support international efforts to eliminate child labor through a comprehensive strategy with two inter-related components: first, the U.S. contribution to IPEC will increase by 50% (to $45 million) for multilateral assistance which will increase the number of abused children served covering more industries and in more countries; second, a new program funded at $55 million will help countries enhance access to basic education as a viable alternative to work toward the elimination of child labor.

International Labor Standards

The FY 2001 budget expands upon the initiative begun in FY 2000 to provide both multilateral technical assistance through the ILO and bilateral assistance through DOL to help developing countries implement ILO Core Labor Standards. The multilateral component continues at a level of $20 million. For the bilateral programs, DOL is requesting $20 million, a $10 million

increase to help countries with which the U.S. has important relationships to develop and administer labor standards and social safety net programs.

Global HIV/AIDS Workplace Initiative

The budget also includes $10 million for a new Global HIV/AIDS Workplace initiative to provide multilateral assistance to the ILO to support health education and HIV prevention in the workplace.

Labor And Environmental Monitoring

As part of a $10 million joint DOL, Environmental Protection Agency, and State Department effort, the budget includes $4.3 million for DOL to improve its ability to assess the institutional capacity of developing countries to administer labor and environmental laws as part of an effort to improve the mobilization and targeting of U.S. and international technical assistance.

Living Our Values at Home

The modern American workplace is changing due to technological advances and the booming economy. Rigorous demands on companies and workers call for an investment in creating an environment in which our personal values are reflected at work.

Domestic Child Labor

The Department continues its commitment to reducing the more than 210,000 annual workplace injuries and fatalities to young workers in America. The budget includes $13 million for DOL domestic child labor activities, including $8 million to help eliminate domestic labor law violations including violations of child labor laws, particularly in the agricultural sector, and $5 million for demonstration programs to provide alternatives to field work for migrant youth. This amount includes $2.2 million for DOL to implement targeted enforcement tools, including "strike teams", in the agricultural and garment industries; and $0.5 million for enhanced education and outreach efforts as part of the "Safe Work/Safe Kids" initiative included within the Department's proposals in theFY 2001 budget that advance the Department's strategic goal of improving the quality of the workplace.

Expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Today, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows covered workers to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected, unpaid leave to care for a newborn or adopted child, attend to their own serious health needs, or care for a seriously ill parent, child, or spouse - making it less likely that employees will have to choose between work and family. The President continues to support expansion of the FMLA to reach workers in firms with 25 or more employees, extending coverage to 12 million more workers.

The President's budget includes $20 million to fund competitive planning grants for States and other interested entities to explore ways to make parental leave and other forms of family leave more affordable and accessible for American workers. Many workers face barriers, such as financial barriers, to taking advantage of unpaid leave. This initiative will help identify in more detail the workers who need financial assistance to take parental/family leave and to evaluate and develop options to aid these workers.

Minimum Wage

Despite the strongest economy in a generation, there are still millions of workers trying to raise a family and struggling to make ends meet. The President's proposal will increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 over two years. For someone who works full-time, this minimum wage increase will mean an additional $2,000 per year. A higher minimum wage will help over 10 million Americans. Seventy percent of the workers who would benefit are adults, age 20 or over, and 60 percent are women, many of whom are trying to raise their family on $5.15 an hour. This increase will help ensure that as costs continue to increase, parents who work hard and play by the rules can bring up their children out of poverty.

Equal Pay

The average woman who works full-time earns approximately 75 cents for each dollar that an average man earns. For women of color, the gap is even wider. This gap is, in part, attributable to differing levels of experience, education, and skill. However, even after accounting for these factors, a significant pay gap still remains between men and women in similar jobs.

The budget includes $17 million for the President's Equal Pay Initiative. This effort will train women in nontraditional jobs in the high-tech industry and other skills shortage industries, as well as furnish educational materials in One-Stop Career Centers, educate the public on the importance of equal pay issues, and implement industry partnerships. These proposals will complement already existing programs that provide legal guidelines and industry best practices to Federal contractors on equal pay issues.

The initiative dedicates $10 million from the current H-1B (nonimmigrant) fee for the Department to train women in nontraditional occupations such as high-tech industries. The initiative provides $7 million to help employers assess and improve their pay policies, to provide nontraditional apprenticeships, and support public education efforts. The President will call on Congress again to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen wage discrimination laws and provide for additional research, training, and public education efforts on this important subject.

Workplace Safety

Through OSHA and MSHA, DOL administers various laws that protect individuals in the workplace, ensuring industry compliance through an appropriate balance of fair and consistent enforcement, cooperative partnerships, and compliance assistance and training. These programs total about $668 million in FY 2001 which is an increase of $59 million over FY 2000.

For OSHA's workplace safety and health programs, the budget provides a total increase of $44.4 million. Funding is increased by $8.8 million to support a targeted interventions program that will focus front-line efforts on the most dangerous workplaces and hazards. Over the past several years, OSHA has undertaken measures to leverage its resources and utilize information to target firms with the highest workplace injury rates.

For outreach, education and training initiatives, activities are increased by $14.9 million. This request will complete OSHA's commitment to provide a compliance assistance specialist in every Federal area office, increase funding for Susan Harwood education and training grants to community-based organizations, universities, business groups, and unions, and the state consultation grants which provide small firms with safety and health advice.

An increase of $1.8 million is requested to fund a new State plan for the State of New Jersey to provide safety and health coverage for public sector employees. Additionally, the budget includes $3 million for OSHA's state plan partners, to support a nationwide strategic focus aimed at improving workplace safety and health for all workers and continue the development of State-specific objectives consistent with the Federal requirements. Federal funding in support of the states is required to enable these programs to keep pace with current program needs and to meet future demands.

A total increase of $14.2 million is requested for MSHA's Mine Safety and Health programs. To enhance protection of metal/nonmetal miners, funding is included to provide required training to miners and to allow for better auditing of accident and injury reporting. Additional funds are requested for the State grant program to provide training assistance to miners and mine operators. In addition, the FY2001 budget establishes a contingency fund to cover the costs of mine fire and explosion response and recovery when these costs exceed the normally anticipated.

Information Technology Initiative

The FY 2001 budget establishes a permanent, centralized IT investment fund for the DOL managed by the Chief Information Officer (CIO). In the past, DOL agencies have separately budgeted for and managed their own IT investments. While the investments met the immediate needs of the individual agency, it also had some unintended consequences such as incompatibility of systems across the Department, resulting in a compromised capacity to create an overall program that is effective and efficient.

As required by the Clinger Cohen Act, in 1996, the Department established a CIO accountable for IT management in the DOL, and implemented an IT Capital Investment Management process for selecting, controlling, and evaluating IT investments. The Department implemented the first phase of its new IT Capital Planning and Investment Management program in 1999, which identified needs considered to be essential to improving the overall condition of IT environment in support of Departmental programs.

For FY 2001, $60 million is requested to fund IT investments within three crosscutting areas: (1) Information Technology Architecture and Web Services; (2) Common Office Automation Implementation; and (3) Security - Critical Infrastructure Protection. These investments will enable the Department to implement a sound information technology investment strategy, and expand our Internet capacity for the Department's ELAWS program with improved access to information to the public on labor laws, pension and health care laws

CONCLUSION

These proposals, reinforces the traditions of American families and communities, for a stronger and more prosperous America. The new and innovative programs presented in this budget, represent an exciting, viable blueprint for FY 2001. The programs, policies and initiatives included within it are essential to the well-being of working men and women in the United States and abroad, and so every American stands to benefit from these proposals.

4. FY 2001 Performance Goals, Strategies & Cross-Cutting Programs

This FY 2001 Annual Performance Plan establishes performance goals for FY 2001 that will lead to the accomplishment of DOL's strategic goals. It also describes the means and strategies DOL will use to reach its goals. Consistent with guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Accounting Office (GAO), DOL has consolidated or aggregated many of its activities into logical clusters focused around the accomplishment of its strategic goals. For example, the work performed by OSHA and MSHA directed towards the reduction in injuries and illnesses described in the third strategic goal, Quality Workplaces, integrates the outcome goals for these agencies. In other cases, only one agency within the Department may contribute to a specific outcome goal.

Under the Workforce Investment Act, the performance indicators stipulated in the Act are to be developed through a process of negotiation between the states and the Department of Labor. The new Workforce Investment System has led to a retooling of the Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) performance goals. ETA has consulted with stakeholders concerning performance and accountability issues and will work in partnership to develop revised performance goals in 2001. Full implementation will occur beginning July 1, 2000. The national performance goals for the WIA performance indicators will represent an amalgamation of the goals negotiated with the states. The WIA-based performance goals indicated in this plan for WIA are preliminary and will be revised based on approval of the state plans for the vast majority of states that are not early implementers

This section presents DOL's FY 2001 performance goals under each strategic and outcome goal. Following the listing of performance goals is a summary of the means and strategies that will be used by DOL to achieve the outcome and performance goals. Related cross-cut programs and issues follow the strategies. A summary of FY 2001 Performance Goals and Measures is included in Appendix A. Appendix B displays individual matrices for each performance goal that include the following information :

Indicator -- The measures that will be used to assess progress towards performance goal accomplishment.

Source of data -- The measurement system(s) that will be used to collect performance Indicator data.

Baseline -- The baseline year and baseline level against which progress will be evaluated.

Comment -- Issues related to goal accomplishment, measurement systems, and strategies that provide a context or description of the performance goal or indicator.

4.1 DOL Strategic Goal 1 -- A Prepared Workforce

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The Secretary of Labor's key priorities for this strategic goal are to ensure that every American has the schooling, the training, and the skills to succeed in the increasingly competitive global economy and to help young people make a successful transition to the world of work and family responsibility. The performance goals in this section were developed to support the Secretary's initiatives that focus first on youth and then target the high unemployment, low skills, and lack of work experience among youth and adults in some of our poorest communities.

Department of Labor's programs and agencies support this strategic goal include the Employment and Training Administration's Welfare Investment Act (WIA) and Wagner-Peyser Act programs, the Veterans' Employment and Training Administration, the Women's Bureau, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For Strategic Goal One, the Secretary of Labor has established the followingkey priorities:

• Youth Opportunity Movement: The Youth Opportunity Movement includes several programs that advance the Department's goal to promote a prepared workforce by addressing the opportunity gaps and reaching untapped markets.

• Youth Opportunity Grants provide comprehensive, longer term intervention in the lives of primarily out-of-school youth living in inner cities and high poverty areas to help them graduate from high school, get jobs, and progress in the workforce.

• The Responsible Reintegration for Young Offenders initiative is a large scale WIA Pilot and Demonstration initiative to link youthful offenders under age 35 with essential services that can help make the difference in their choices in the future, such as education, training, job placement, drug counseling, and mentoring, as the primary tools for reintegrating this population into the mainstream economy. Through local competitive grants, this program would establish partnerships between the criminal justice system and local workforce investment systems, complementing a similar program in the Department of Justice.

• The Safe Schools/Healthy Students initiative began in FY 1999 in collaboration with the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice promotes healthy childhood development and aims to prevent school violence and alcohol and other drug abuse through a comprehensive, community-wide approach. With the Department's participation, the activities for FY 2001 can be expanded to include connections among high schools, post-secondary schools, alternative schools, out-of-school youth programs, and work-based learning programs, in order to reduce violent behaviors.

The FY 2001 outcome and performance goals for this strategic goal follow. Detailed information on every performance goal, including indicator, data source, baseline and explanatory comments, can be found in Appendix B.

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Operating Agencies: ETA, VETS, WB

Means and Strategies

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will provide financial support for continued services, improved effectiveness of service delivery, and grantee performance, and improved capacity to meet performance goals by: (1) increasing the utilization of resources available to help welfare recipients get unsubsidized jobs by continuing to work with other agencies to remove regulatory barriers among complementary Federal, state, and local programs, (2) providing incentives for WtW Formula grantees to achieve program goals by providing bonuses to high performing States in the year 2000 through measurement of the number of participants placed into unsubsidized jobs, job retention and earnings gains, and, (3) producing targeted technical assistance products and activities to expand the knowledge base to meet the specific needs of programs in urban and rural areas, those serving non-custodial parents, as well as individuals with disabilities. (1.1A)

• DOL will continue to improve the planning and management of the Registered Apprenticeship System by: (1) arranging for stakeholder input (2) assisting the reconstituted Federal Committee on Registered Apprenticeship to accomplishment its mission (3) improving the capacity to gather and analyze accurate, consistent, timely and high-quality information in support of registered apprenticeship programs, and (4) improving retention and assuring appropriate gains in starting wages and scheduled rate increases by increasing the number of quality assessments. (1.1F)

• DOL will compare the performance of VETS' service delivery systems in providing services to veterans versus those systems serving non-veterans, to help identify veterans' service areas needing performance improvement. (1.1J & K)

• DOL will increase the quality and amount of training provided annually to 1,500 veteran service provider staff by the National Veterans' Training Institute to meet veteran service providers' ongoing training needs -- resulting in large part from the relatively high turnover rates consistently prevalent among DVOP and LVER staff. (1.1J & K)

• DOL will continue to pilot test the use of Veterans employment representatives in matching qualified separating military personnel with employer needs for specific skills within a single geographic area. (1.1J & K)

• DOL will conduct workshops, training seminars, public forums, distribute Women's Bureau publications and provide intensive follow-up in order to ensure an increase in the number of women receiving employment, wage increases, upward mobility, and/or better-paying jobs. (1.1I)

• DOL will provide tools and information on equal pay, workplace safety and health, women's work rights, and pension equity to women workers, employers, legislators, and public policy officials that will result in an increase in the number of women prepared for the workplace and/or retirement. (1.1I)

• DOL will develop partnerships with employers and labor unions to increase the participation of women in apprenticeship and other nontraditional occupations, including occupations in telecommunications and other high technology industries. Women with physical and cognitive disabilities will be included in these efforts. (1.1I)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will enhance current workforce development systems in relation to the changing workforce development environment and the need for lifelong learning by: (1) assessing abilities to provide universal services to all through combinations of the Internet and One-Stop Centers, (2) identifying new ways to provide services to all workers, including low-income customers and persons with disabilities, and, (3) creating plans to educate and maintain capacity of staff to ensure that they can meet the demands.(1.1B & E)

• DOL (ETA) will streamline systems by identifying non-legislative barriers to integrated One-Stop service delivery by engaging the National Association of Counties and selected States to look at streamlining from Federal and state perspectives in order to identify common barriers and report on models of streamlined workforce systems that work. (1.1B)

• DOL (ETA) will promote the information and services in the America's Jobs Network by: (1) outreaching to low income groups in schools and neighborhoods through community-based organizations, enlisting their assistance in assessment and referral of individuals to the "best available training and employment opportunities," and (2) marketing the "Lifetime Learning Tax Credit" enacted in 1997 to assist adults who need to upgrade their skills and change careers. (1.1B)

• DOL will help customers and job seekers receive the appropriate level of service by financially assisting the States, developing and offering information and tools to be used by customers, improving access to information and services, and developing system-building infrastructure. (1.1C & D)

• Such system-building will support a three tiered delivery system for Wagner-Peyser services within the One-Stop delivery system-self-service, facilitated self-help service, and staff-assisted service. (1.1 D & E)

• DOL will seek to increase the number of apprenticeship programs and expand the number of registered female apprentices by: (1) promoting technical assistance to local, State, multi-State employers, employers' associations, and the unions, (2) participating actively in the local and State Workforce Investment Boards; and, (3) promoting registered apprenticeship to our Workforce Investment partners. (1.1F)

• DOL will develop an incentive, rewards, and sanctions process for grantees that supports desired actions and/or levels of performance while proscribing unacceptable actions or performance levels, thereby focusing State Employment Security Agencies and other grantees' efforts toward better performance on behalf of veterans.Nationwide standards of minimally acceptable performance levels applicable to each State can be set, with each State then negotiating specific levels at or above that floor level suitable to its own circumstances. Incentives and rewards in grants can then be established to benefit States that exceed their established performance level.Greater incentives will be provided for successful delivery of services to targeted veterans. (1.1 J &K)

• DOL will build on the launch of the Workforce Excellence Network to provide training, tools and assistance to Workforce Investment Areas and One-Stop partner programs using the Malcolm Baldrige criteria for performance excellence, quality and continuous improvement techniques, and customer satisfaction. DOL will provide recognition to workforce entities that achieve identified levels of performance excellence. (1.1A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

To measure system-wide outcomes of all related employment and training programs, to focus resources on results, and to simplify reporting requirements, DOL initiated the Workforce Development Performance Measurement Initiative and convened the Workforce Development Performance Measurement Group. DOL will build upon the earlier work of the Performance Measurement Group by working with its partners at the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education (ED), and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and their state and local partners, to establish the new system performance measures as part of the new Workforce Investment System and will address cross-cutting policy and related issues pertaining to systemic performance accountability.

The implementation of the Workforce Investment Act emphasizes the universal services available to the Nation's job-seekers, workers, and employers through the One-Stop Career Center System. Program and service integration in the system will continue to develop as partnerships are forged and strengthened among DOL agencies, other Federal programs, and State and local organizations. The effectiveness of the workforce investment system will be addressed through pilots, demonstrations, and research; capacity-building efforts for service providers and grantees; and, through testing and refinement of new workforce development performance measures.

As the Congressionally-delegated lead federal agency for the Welfare-to-Work legislation, DOL provides leadership for implementation of new programs and activities designed to move people from welfare to employment. DOL works closely with state and local government agency programs, HHS, HUD, the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Department of Interior (DOI), to assist individuals as they move from welfare to work, and to boost employment rates.

The Department's employment and training programs for veterans and soon-to-be-separated service members and their families are coordinated closely with VA and DOD. This Transition Assistance Program (TAP) operates across the country and has been shown to be effective in reducing the time of unemployment. When TAP is implemented at the local military bases, specific areas of coordination and cooperation are designated. For instance, DOL may provide the instructors for the typical three-day training, DOD the meeting space and logistical arrangements, and VA the assistance to service members who have service-incurred disabilities.

DOL, through VETS, will continue to lead a Federal Interagency Task Force on Certification and Licensing of Transitioning Military Personnel that will recommend a course of action to allow qualified military personnel to obtain both Federal and non-federal certifications and/or licenses necessary for civilian employment. Such an effort is necessary because veterans are not always credited with the training and experience received during military service when they seek civilian jobs. Thus, veterans are forced to spend money on unnecessary and duplicative training to obtain civilian licenses or certifications and, in the process, endure unnecessarily long periods of unemployment and underemployment. In FY 2001, DOL proposes to start compiling information on licenses, credentials, and other occupational requirements and then develop a database of this information. VETS will work with the Assistant Secretaries for Policy and ETA to develop an expert system to help determine what occupational requirements a service member or a job entrant will face in a particular occupation in a given state. VETS will expand from 5 to 7 the number of State pilot projects that are assisting transitioning service members with obtaining certification needed for the civilian counterpart of their military occupation

Cross-cutting federal efforts on the homeless make the Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Project (HVRP) an outstanding example of how different federal programs working together can effectively serve a population in need. In implementing HVRP, the Department works closely with HUD and VA to refer homeless veterans in need of shelter, substance abuse assistance or mental health counseling, to the appropriate programs. Once stabilized, these veterans are referred back to DOL HVRP programs for job-finding assistance.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies: ETA

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will continue to build the Youth Opportunity Movement to improve the capacity of the workforce development system to provide youth with skills, and offer them a comprehensive array of services so that they are able to successfully transition to the workforce as they continue their education and training. In collaboration with local youth providers, our partners, and stakeholders, four major themes will be emphasized:
  • Establishing strong local youth councils that bring together local workforce training providers, schools, community organizations, and others in an effort to strategically align and leverage resources to create community youth assistance strategies linked to local youth needs and labor market needs to improve the efficiency and quality of youth services;
  • Promoting the provision of a systematic offering of comprehensive youth services based upon individual assessment and tailored to the age and maturity level of each individual youth;
  • Encouraging and promoting youth connections to the One-Stop delivery system; and
  • Visiting and providing operational and technical assistance to grantees for the Safe Schools, Healthy Students and Responsible Reintegration for Young Offender programs to ensure that they become fully operational in the shortest time period and to avoid potentially harmful issues in program start-up.
  • Investing in a performance accountability system where data from performance measurement is built into a process for continuously improving the provision of services and activities and which promotes customer satisfaction (1.2A, B, E & F)

• DOL will enhance placement services, including longer follow-up for Job Corps graduates, fully implement school-to-work principles, and increase employer involvement in the development of occupational training programs by:
  • Placing continued emphasis on performance in the competitive procurement process;
  • -Incorporating findings from reports to-date from the long-term evaluation study of Job Corps and other external bodies, such as the Office of Inspector General and General Accounting Office, to enhance program design;
  • -Increasing students' use of technology in training and information access for jobs or further education;
  • -Creating partnerships with employers to customize training and provide work-based learning sites; and
  • -Maintaining a close working relationship between Job Corps, the School-to-Work Office, and BAT. (1.2 C)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

Opportunities for youth to make a successful transition to a career path will include development of Business and Community Visions for creating relationships and networks with employers, One-Stops, and WorkForce Investment Boards. DOL will also implement a youth development profession apprenticeship and accreditation to improve the skill of front-line staff delivery of services to youth.

Linkage with HHS programs will be established to provide shelter for runaway youth, drug prevention for youth in at-risk circumstances, educational or workforce activities for youth living in high poverty areas, and access to child-care services. Support will be given to coordinated activities with HUD's Youth Build and Jobs Plus programs, as well as outreach programs to youth in public housing.

HUD's Step Up Program, designed to provide education and training to increase registered apprenticeships for public housing residents, is another area of coordinated activity in which DOL apprenticeship representatives promote and provide technical advice and assistance at the state and local level. The occupational information resources of BLS and the work of the National Skills Standards Board also play an important part in this effort.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agency: BLS

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will continue to carry out its mandate as the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the field of labor economics. This includes producing impartial and objective essential economic data for the nation in the areas of employment and unemployment, price change, compensation, safety and health, productivity, and economic growth. Business, labor, governments, the media, and the public rely on these measures to develop economic policy and make well-informed decisions. (1.3 A & B)

• By utilizing technological advances, DOL will improve the operational processes used to develop economic data, specifically through the use of the BLS Statistical Program Model. (1.3 A & B)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will conduct a new time-use survey measuring how Americans spend their time. (1.3 B)

• DOL will complete the revision of the Consumer Price Index. (1.3B)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

DOL, as a producer of economic statistics on the U.S. economy, must work in partnership with other federal, state, and international statistical agencies. These organizations encounter common and sometimes overlapping issues that must be coordinated for the benefit of the users of these data. Such coordination not only maximizes DOL performance, but also helps to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and relevancy of economic measures produced by the Department.

As a federal statistical agency, the Department's BLS is a member of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, a committee of representatives from 15 agencies, which works to identify areas for collaboration. During FY 2001, the Council will work on enhancements to FedStats, a "one-stop shopping" web site for federal statistics, including the development of a national statistical information infrastructure.

As a member of the international statistical community, DOL also works with foreign statistical agencies and international organizations in efforts to enhance comparability of concepts and definitions. During FY 2001, a statistical working party led by DOL and sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, will address issues dealing with improving and standardizing the data on productivity and employment/unemployment used around the world.

4.2 DOL Strategic Goal 2 -- A Secure Workforce

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DOL is committed to protecting workers' hours, wages, and other conditions when on the job, providing unemployment and compensation benefits when workers are unable to work, and expanding, enhancing, and protecting workers' pension, health care, and other benefits.

Department of Labor programs and agencies that support this strategic goal include the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA); the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC); the Employment and Training Administration's Unemployment Compensation programs; Trade Adjustment Assistance and North American Free Trade Agreement (TAA/NAFTA) programs; Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Dislocated Worker Assistance; the Employment Standards Administration's Wage and Hour Division; Office of Labor- Management Standards and Workers' Compensation programs; and the Office of the Inspector General.

For Strategic Goal Two, the Secretary of Labor has established the following key priorities:

• Domestic Child Labor: The Department continues its commitment to reducing workplace injuries and fatalities to young workers in America, with initiatives aimed at eliminating domestic violations of child labor laws and enhancing education and outreach efforts as part of the "Safe Work/Safe Kids" program.

• Pensions and Health Care: The Department continues to support the Health Benefits Education Campaign that the Secretary launched in December 1998 to address major life and work altering events - job loss, divorce, death of a spouse, or loss of dependent status - which may affect health benefits.

• Trade Adjustment Assistance: The Department proposes to consolidate, reform and extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and NAFTA- Transitional Adjustment Assistance programs for workers who lose their jobs due to trade policies. The resulting program would expand eligibility for TAA benefits to cover workers who lose jobs when production shifts abroad, would raise the cap on training expenses, and would guarantee funds for unexpected cost increases.

• Universal Reemployment: Through the President's Universal Reemployment initiative, the Department plans to provide all dislocated workers who want and need assistance the resources to train for or find new jobs, expand and increase quality of employment services now available to all job seekers, enhance services for the individuals receiving unemployment compensation; and ensure availability of the One Stop System, either personally or electronically, to help find jobs and training. Among the programs included in this effort are WIA Dislocated Workers Employment and Training activities, a new initiative addressing the needs of incumbent workers, One Stop Career Centers, and Grants to States for Reemployment Services.

The new Incumbent Workers initiative is intended to address the major job losses in the manufacturing industry where a half million jobs have been lost since March 1998. The program will boost the skills and wages of non-management U.S. workers through competitive grants to States to train and upgrade the skills of incumbent workers and, through local partnerships, help firms with training, thereby preventing displacements before they occur.

The FY 2001 outcome and performance goals for this strategic goal follow. Detailed information on every performance goal, including indicator, data source, baseline and explanatory comments, can be found in Appendix B.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies: ESA, PWBA, PBGC

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will continue initiatives to increase compliance with labor standards by: targeting certain low-wage industries for focused education/outreach and enforcement interventions; targeting child labor compliance, particularly in agriculture and the restaurant and grocery industries where data indicate that the risk of serious injury to young workers is greatest; building partnerships with other governmental, non-governmental, and business organizations to promote compliance; and, enhancing the scope and effectiveness of ESA's education and enforcement interventions to obtain lasting future compliance. (2.1A, D)
• DOL will continue to measure compliance results achieved by establishing baselines of compliance in targeted industries through ESA's investigation-based compliance surveys, and conducting subsequent compliance surveys in those industries in which baselines have already been established. (2.1A, D)
• DOL will continue its initiative to rewrite the Child Labor Hazardous Orders to reflect current workplace technologies and hazards. (2.1A, D)
• DOL will secure reports required from unions and others under the LMRDA and make them available for public disclosure. DOL also will administer programs to secure timely, accurate, and complete LMRDA reports.
• DOL will foster partnerships with international unions to promote voluntary compliance standards by affiliates with LMRDA reporting, fiduciary, and union officer election requirements. DOL also will provide compliance assistance to union officials and outreach to union members. A program of contacts at ESA's field office level to obtain timely reports by unions with receipts of more than $200,000 that were delinquent in the prior year will be continued. (2.1E)
• DOL will continue to target and investigate pension, health care and other plan violations where participants are most susceptible to actual loss of benefits, or "populations" of plan participants who are potentially exposed to the greatest risk of falling victim to unlawful conduct. The solicitor will continue to support PWBA's enforcement efforts by pursuing litigation to remove bad actors and to make financial recoveries on behalf of plan participants. (2.1F & G)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will accelerate progress toward achieving labor law compliance for garment and farm workers by providing needed additional resources for ESA enforcement staff - increased in FY 1999 and FY 2000 -- to make more effective and sustained interventions, including better detection of violations, more timely litigation, developing appropriate cases for criminal prosecution, and enhancing education and outreach efforts. While the Department has been vigorously pursuing and elaborating its compliance strategy in these sectors, progress is slow, worker exploitation is still very common, and it has become increasingly clear that sustained efforts are required. (2.1A, D)
• DOL will enhance its ongoing child labor compliance initiative by expanding on its current focus on the garment industry and agriculture. DOL will seek to increase compliance with child labor safety standards and reduce on-the-job injuries and fatalities of young workers in the restaurant and grocery industries where data indicate the risk to young workers is greatest. DOL will increase its complianceactivities, enhance itscooperative efforts with the States, and forge additional partnerships with national, multi-establishment firms employ large numbers of young workers and with employer and employee organizations to improve youth safety in the workplace. (2.1A, D)
• DOL will continue the development and begin ESA's implementation of its Technology for Excellent Customer Service (TECS) system that will provide nationwide toll-free access to (1) promptly identify and refer calls unrelated to Wage and Hour activities to the appropriate agency; (2) answer commonly asked questions quickly and accurately; and (3) eventually accept complaints alleging violations and refer them electronically to the proper field office. (2.1A, D)
• DOL will assure an effective compliance program in the Pacific territories, especially in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), where over 90 percent of the private sector jobs are held by guest workers who are the subject of pervasive exploitation. Because of serious pervasive violations, continued enforcement and litigation-- which is both challenging and expensive given the location--is necessary to realize effective protection of workers in the CNMI. (2.1A, D)
• DOL plans to test and implement computer-based improvements to the LMRDA reporting and public disclosure program initiated by ESA in FY 1998. The improvements include a system for the electronic submission of LM-2, 3, and 4 union annual financial reports, an Internet-based public disclosure system, and a computerized desk audit system to detect reporting deficiencies and permit better targeting of reporting enforcement efforts. DOL will further develop the Internet-based public disclosure system to incorporate union trusteeship reports and reports filed by employers, consultants, union officers and employees, and surety companies under the LMRDA. (2.1E)

DOL. will enforce the new health care provisions in ERISA to ensure there is compliance with the new health care laws. (2.1G)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

To carry out its several enforcement responsibilities, ESA cooperates with the DOJ, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), Health and Human Services (HHS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and others, as well as coordinates with other internal DOL agencies such as the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and the Solicitor of Labor. Cooperative efforts include partnership between the ESA/Wage and Hour Division and ETA relating to migrant and seasonal labor issues, and programs designed to increase compliance in the "Salad Bowl" and poultry processing industries. ESA works with DOD and the GSA with respect to applicable wage determinations for government contracts. ESA/WHD works closely with ETA, USDA, and the states to explore the interaction of workplace laws and welfare reform. ESA/WHD is a key player on DOJ's Worker Exploitation Task Force.

The ESA/Wage and Hour Division is the lead agency in the Department coordinating the Secretary's domestic child labor initiative, "Safe Work/Safe Kids." This is a multi-prong strategy of enforcement,education, and partnerships to ensure that young people have opportunities for legal, constructive early work experience which is safe and enhances, rather than competes with, their education. Two multi-year performance goals have been added to reflect this Secretarial priority.

In accordance with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA), the Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) provides one-stop service as a clearinghouse for ESA WHD/OFCCP compliance assistance information, inquiries and comments on enforcement activity. OSBP serves a cross-cutting function by coordinating with ESA and other DOL enforcement agencies on customer/stakeholder feedback to resolve problems and improve agency operations.

ESA's enforcement programs maintain close ties and share information with other law enforcement agencies. In Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) criminal enforcement matters, cooperation may extend, as appropriate, to participation in joint investigations with other federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as well as other DOL agencies. Each initiative to coordinate with other agencies is designed to increase compliance with worker protection laws leveraging resources, reducing overlapping activity, and utilizing the strengths of each entity.

In addition, PWBA and SOL coordinate enforcement, policy, regulatory, and public information programs with numerous federal, state, and local entities in carrying out the Department's ERISA and Federal Employee Retirement Security Act responsibilities. Under ERISA, DOL/PWBA shares enforcement responsibilities with the Treasury Department, the IRS, and DOL's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Cooperation with these agencies promotes increased benefit coverage by minimizing regulatory and administrative burdens, to the extent appropriate, with respect to ERISA's statutory and regulatory requirements.

Additionally, DOL/PWBA often coordinates enforcement actions with financial institution regulatory agencies, such as the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, state insurance and financial regulatory entities, DOL's Office of Inspector General, as well as with the enforcement agencies such as the FBI, US Postal Service, and state and local law enforcement agencies.

The President's "Worker Exploitation Task Force", co-chaired by the Solicitor of Labor and the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, facilitates criminal investigations and prosecutions involving undocumented foreign nationals who are lured to this country and then exploited. The task force consists of representatives from DOJ's Civil Rights Division, Violence Against Women Office, and Office of Victims of Crime, as well as the FBI, INS, DOL, and the State Department.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies: ETA, ESA, PWBA, PBGC, WB, SOL, OIG

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• Develop and implement improvements to UI PERFORMS to enhance performance planning, facilitate performance achievement, and assess the effectiveness of program improvement efforts. ( 2.2A)

• Engage in ongoing discussions with states, employers, and claimants to improve communication, identify issues and needs, and promote input in the design of programs. ( 2.2A)

• DOL will continue to implement the pension and health education campaigns to (1) raise public awareness about where to seek assistance about their rights, (2) educate workers and their employers about health and pension plans, (3) provide individual technical assistance to workers who have questions about their health and pension benefits or need assistance in obtaining those benefits, and (4) provide information to employers and plan sponsors about their responsibilities under the various laws. An informed and knowledgeable consumer is an asset to ensuring compliance with the laws and will positively impact our efforts at recovering benefits for participants. (2.2B)
• DOL will promote greater overall levels of retirement savings by encouraging individuals to begin saving at a younger age; improving individuals' understanding of their savings options and the consequences of their choices and encouraging businesses, especially smaller companies, to provide greater educational services to their employees. As part of this effort, PWBA will increase the number of targeted educational materials distributed which promote pensions for women, minorities, and small businesses. (2.2 C)
• DOL will promote increased benefit coverage by PWBA's continued work with other Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Agencies (Treasury and IRS) to minimize regulatory and administrative burdens with respect to the requirements of the ERISA. For example, this is accomplished by exploring alternative means of compliance such as the electronic filing of plan documents. DOL and the other ERISA agencies have already worked to shorten the Form 5500 annual report filed by pension and other benefit plans. (2.2C)
• DOL promotes a secure workforce by making ESA's Federal Employees' Compensation Program a model for workers' compensation programs. FECA's non-adversarial structure allows DOL to work in partnership with employee unions and Federal agencies to achieve better outcomes. DOL will emphasize early return to work as a winning outcome for both workers and employers. (2.2D)
• DOL will continue building new and improved automated data processing tools to support the timeliness and quality of Federal employee compensation case handling, case management, and return to work. (2.2D)
• To support the Federal Worker 2000 Presidential initiative, DOL will continue to provide public recognition of Federal agency performance to reduce Lost Production Days and improve the timeliness of filing Notices of Injury. (2.2D)
• Using the FECA future benefit liability model developed by ESA in FY 1999, DOL will share forecasting information and work with Federal employing agencies to reduce benefit costs. (2.2D)
• DOL will continue the Quality Case Management Program in which new injury cases receive early intervention from nurses allowing case management to begin at a point when it can be much more effective. Telephone intervention in the Continuation of Pay period, initiated in FY 2000, will be used to further reduce disability days. (2.2D)
• DOL will take the lead in working in partnership with all Federal employing agencies to speed new injury reporting so that earlier case management can begin, improve the flow of information to improve the quality of case handling, and promote light duty and other new job opportunities for returning workers to work. (2.2D)
• DOL will improve overall management of its Federal Employees' Compensation Fund, and will implement technology upgrades to improve service and to reduce costs and customer burdens. (2.2E & F)
• Via the Periodic Roll Management system, expanded in FY 1999 and incorporated into FECA's overall case management process, DOL will continue to review long term cases on the disability roll and reevaluate case status for changes in medical condition and potential for return to work. (2.2E)
• DOL will continue to apply fee schedules to medical, pharmacy and hospital services under FECA (2.2 F)
• DOL will start implementing the Davis-Bacon reengineering approach selected as the best long-term avenue for improving the timeliness, accuracy, and reliability of Davis-Bacon wage determinations. The goal (for FY 2002) is for ESA to be able to survey every area of the country for all four types of construction at least every three years. (2.2G)
• DOL will assume responsibility for under-funded defined benefit pension plans where necessary to ensure that participants' pension benefits are continuously provided. More than 2,900 trusteed plans (with 500,000 participants) will be under PBGC's management in FY 2001. To manage this workload PBGC will continue to improve in the delivery of customer service by listening to customers and assessing ways to better meet their needs. (2.2H)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• Develop Federal or model State legislation that will ensure the availability of unemployment benefits in the event of a recession, encourage States to make the program more accessible to unemployed workers, and provide the administrative resources necessary to operate and improve State administrative operations and service delivery, in cooperation with State partners and stakeholders. (2.2A)
• Through ESA's Office of Workers' Compensation Program work with OSHA, DOL will assist Federal agencies to reduce injuries, improve timely filing of injury reports, and assist injured workers to obtain benefits and return to work. Specific actions include conducting periodic conferences, technical assistance or informational meetings with the agencies, expanding electronic filing of claims documents, and widening access to OWCP case data and other program information through the Internet and other automated applications. DOL will also conduct periodic "focus group" meetings and survey to identify agency assistance requirements and improve its assistance program (2.2D)
• PBGC will improve its ability to provide estimated benefits, and will send more frequent information to participants. (2.2H)
• DOL will monitor activities and assist states in their efforts to promote retirement savings. The SAVER Act of 1996 requires DOL to assist states to organize and conduct conferences in conjunction with a National Summit to take place in 2001. Accordingly, PWBA will help coordinate and fund mini-Summits in up to 5 states. (2.2C)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

DOL will work closely with the Congress, States, Treasury, OMB, the Council of Economic Advisors and National Economic Council, and stakeholders to ensure the integrity of the Unemployment Insurance Fund, reform Unemployment Insurance administrative financing, and expand the safety net for low-wage workers who lose their jobs. In addition, links will be forged with SSA for electronic exchange of data to increase the speed and accuracy of determinations on UI claims, thus reducing both errors and fraud. DOL/ETA also will continue to work with Treasury, SSA, and BLS to develop harmonized wage definitions, simplify tax reporting, and enhance electronic reporting in order to reduce employers' costs of submitting tax forms and provide ETA and other agencies with more timely information for ensuring program integrity. ETA will continue to work with States and BLS to improve accuracy and accessibility of UI data, particularly the accuracy of claim data used for economic indicators, and the accessibility to State wage records for program outcome data on post-program earnings for a variety of workforce development programs.

DOL will work across agencies to provide more effective job-finding services to support both better income replacement to the involuntary unemployed by lowering benefit exhaustion, while keeping the aggregate UI tax burden low and promoting high employment levels.

To fulfill the Department's employee benefit plan responsibilities, PWBA works with HHS, Treasury, the National Economic Council, the Bureau of Census, BLS, the Thrift Savings Board, the Solicitor's Office, and the SBA. PWBA has established a federal-state-local partnership to help employee benefit plan participants who are at risk, (e.g., dislocated workers) understand not only their rights, but also how their employment status may affect their pension and health benefits.

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program involves every federal agency in the filing and management of injury compensation claims. The FECA program coordinates with the Office of Personnel Management on matters of benefit elections, and in some specialized claims, with state and local police agencies on matters of entitlement and benefits. Federal agencies that undertake special initiatives work closely with FECA program offices at the national and regional levels to evaluate best practices. Other efforts improve communication and cooperation to reduce lost productivity due to workplace injuries. Through the Agency Query System (AQS), the Department provides secure, on-line information to enable agencies to provide better service to their injured employees and assist in FECA claims processing and case management. In new injury cases, the Department assigns nurses to coordinate among injured workers, agencies, and medical providers to resolve issues and facilitate recovery and return to work. ESA's OWCP is working in partnership with all federal agencies to improve timeliness of injury claims submissions -- in part through expansion of electronic links for claims submission -- and to increase re-employment opportunities, and has established ongoing measures of agency performance, which are posted on the Internet.

On July 2, 1999 the President signed the Federal Worker 2000 initiative requiring Federal agencies to reduce new workplace accident/illness rates, speed the timeliness of reporting new injuries to the Department of Labor, and reduce lost production days rates. ESA/OWCP will work with federal agencies to meet these goals by intervening in lost time cases, providing case management, and tracking disability time lost during the Continuation of Pay period immediately following an injury. ESA/OWCP will measure agencies' quarterly performance on its Federal Worker 2000 website. ESA/OWCP will continue to track and post detailed agency (sub-agency) performance in terms of timely injury notice submission, another of its Federal Worker 2000 goals. ESA/OWCP will work in tandem with OSHA to help agencies reduce accidents/illnesses as well as speed return to work.

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Means & Strategies

Operating Agency: ETA

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will provide access to training and reemployment services to more dislocated workers through increased ETA formula-funded grants to states and discretionary emergency grants and dislocated worker education on services available and access points by continuing support of the national toll-free telephone system.. (2.3A & B)
• DOL will expand and enhance ETA's coverage of trade adjustment assistance by supporting the enactment of TAA reform legislation which provides for certification of workers displaced by shifts of production to offshore locations, increases the funds available for worker retraining and reduces the time provided for the issuance of TAA certifications. (2.3B)
• DOL will assist communities in developing comprehensive economic adjustment strategies to deal with dislocations with community-wide impact by continuing to work with other Federal agencies to support such strategies. (2.3 A, B & C)
• DOL will improve capability of dislocated worker service deliverers by sharing lessons learned with the workforce investment system and others through conferences, ETA's web site, and other means of dissemination. (2.3A & B)
• DOL will improve services to dislocated workers who are likely to exhaust Unemployment Insurance benefits under ETA's Worker Profiling and Re-employment Services component of the workforce system by providing Wagner-Peyser Act and WIA Title I re-employment services (e.g., job search workshops, counseling, referrals to suitable openings) and other needed assistance. (2.3A & B)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will visit and provide operational and technical assistance to Incumbent Worker grantees to ensure that they become fully operational in the shortest time period and to avoid problems in program start-up. (2.3 C)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

The Department collaborates with other federal agencies, including Commerce, SBA, HUD and Treasury, and state and local governments in economic development and community adjustment efforts in areas affected by worker dislocations, including trade-impacted regions. These government entities work with the Community Adjustment and Investment Programs at the North American Development Bank to help to increase employment opportunities for dislocated workers.

Through the creation of America's Learning Exchange, ETA is helping to create a training marketplace to link training providers with individuals and employers who need new skills. The Exchange involves a partnership with 16 states, the Public Broadcasting System, and the American Society of Training and Development.

4.3 DOL Strategic Goal 3 -- Quality Workplaces

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This strategic goal is aimed at guaranteeing every working American a safe and healthful workplace with equal opportunity for all. Also, the Department is committed to raising core international labor standards and improving the working conditions of children throughout the world.

Department of Labor programs and agencies that support this strategic goal include the Employment Standards Administration's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, the Employment and Training Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and support agencies, including the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, the Women's Bureau, the Office of the Solicitor, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management.

The Secretary of Labor's key priorities for this strategic goal are:

• International Labor Standards: The Department recognizes the opportunity to lift billions of people into a worldwide middle class and a decent standard of living in the new global economy. Raising global labor standards and improving worldwide enforcement of labor laws is vital to this effort. The Department proposes to support educational opportunities that not only encourage the removal of children from abusive and dangerous working environments, but provide them with real opportunities and real hope for a better future. The Department will also continue its commitment to assist countries to develop and administer labor standards and social safety net programs.
• Equal Pay: The Department's Equal Pay initiative will train women in nontraditional jobs in the high-tech industry and other skills shortage industries, as well as furnish educational materials in One-Stop Career Centers, develop service announcements on equal pay, and implement industry partnerships in an effort to reduce the significant pay gap between men and women. These new initiatives will complement already existing programs that provide legal guidelines and industry best practices to Federal contractors on equal pay issues.
• Workplace Safety: Consistent with the Department's commitment to ensuring safe and healthful workplaces, DOL proposes to enhance the comprehensive compliance assistance program to enable every OSHA office to provide direct outreach and training assistance to employers and employee groups, and to increase the number of training grants. Efforts to improve the safety and health programs of high-hazard employers and those with the worst safety and health programs will continue.

The FY 2001 outcome and performance goals for this strategic goal follow. Detailed information on every performance goal, including indicator, data source, baseline and explanatory comments, can be found in Appendix B.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies: OSHA, MSHA

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will continue to conduct its mandated mine inspection program, together with investigations prompted by accidents, safety, and discrimination complaints, and identification of mine operators who demonstrate reckless disregard for safety or health standards. (3.1 A & B)
• DOL will continue to assist the mining industry and labor to improve safety and health conditions and practices, with an emphasis on: assisting mine operators to solve difficult safety problems; providing education, training and informational outreach programs; providing technical assistance; and approving and certifying mining equipment, materials, and explosives. MSHA will expand existing outreach efforts in the mining community to identify and to communicate with historically non-participating audiences where intervention could have a significant impact, specifically including new operators, new miners, non-participatory operators, and contractors. MSHA's outreach efforts include: workshops on the hazard of silica and best practices to prevent silicosis; seminars training classes and published reports on the latest scientific and technical information; and informational meetings discussing the civil penalty process. Technical assistance includes analysis of accident investigations and proposed solutions to prevent future occurrences where specific equipment is involved. (3.1 A & B)
• DOL will continue to award grant funds to participating mining States to support health and safety training: review existing mining regulations - new approved noise and training regulations and proposed dust regulations and diesel particulate matter; and assess civil penalties for violations to create an incentive for the operator to comply with the regulations. (3.1 A & B)
• DOL will continue to develop cost-effective workplace standards based on common sense, and to maintain a strong OSHA enforcement presence as an appropriate response for employers who fail to meet their safety and health responsibilities. OSHA enforcement will continue to feature innovations that include site-specific programs, improved targeting, and an emphasis on reducing injuries, illnesses and fatalities. Specifically, OSHA will continue to target significant types of workplace injuries and illnesses (silica and lead exposure severity and amputations) and industries characterized by high-hazard workplaces (the shipyard, food-processing, nursing home, logging and construction industries) in line with its Strategic plan. (3.1 C-G)
• DOL will continue to utilize a variety of OSHA compliance assistance, outreach and cooperative approaches to contribute to reductions in injury and illness rates through increased voluntary compliance. Approaches include the Consultation and Voluntary Protection Programs, Susan Harwood Training Grants, local partnership agreements, and enhanced OSHA field compliance assistance.⁽¹⁾ (3.1 C-G)
• DOL will continue to work with its state plan partners to support the implementation of individual state strategic and annual performance plans that target reductions in exposures and injuries, illnesses and fatalities. For example, Nevada is targeting manufacturing, construction, and hotels/casinos; Michigan is targeting metal forging and stamping, fabricated structural metal products, and meat products; and Alaska is targeting logging and seafood processing. (3.1 C-D, F-G)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• Strengthen MSHA's metal and nonmetal safety, health, and training programs. Focus will be on meeting mandated inspection goals, conducting systematic inspection of contractors working on mine property, ensuring that all miners receive basic safety and health training, improving miners' health protection, and providing compliance assistance. (3.1 A, B)
• Increase the audits of accident, injury and illness reporting of mine operators. MSHA relies on this reported data to track, identify, and respond to mine safety and health problems. Accurate and reliable data must be available for MSHA to direct and use its resources effectively. Increased audits by MSHA will improve injury and illness reporting compliance, which in turn will lead to improving the Agency's ability to identify and target safety and health hazards. (3.1 A, B)
• Enhance education and training assistance to miners through an increase to State Grant funding to help reach miners affected under the new training regulation (approximately 10,000 aggregate operations). (3.1 A, B)
• Improve mine emergency operations to include installing a wireless local area network on emergency response vehicles and upgrading the borehole television system and seismic location system, (3.1 A)
• Support fire and explosion response requirements. The rehabilitation/recovery of an underground coal mine after a mine fire or explosion poses serious hazards to all personnel involved. MSHA closely monitors this rehabilitation process and substantial costs are incurred for mine rescue teams and supplies, analytical equipment and operators, technical specialists, and overhead. During the past year, MSHA has been involved with four major mine fires, lasting from two to five months. (3.1B)
• Provide a chest x-ray screening program for approximately 47,000 underground and 39,000 surface coal miners over a 5-year period. This will help monitor the effectiveness of the Agency's respirable dust-control measures in the battle against black lung disease. The prevalence of occupationally-related lung diseases among coal miners continues to be a devastating health problem. Concern over the existing program to combat black lung disease has led MSHA to focus more resources on its coal mine respirable dust program, and the Agency is implementing changes that affect every aspect of the Federal dust program. (3.1 B)
• DOL will develop a comprehensive approach to targeted interventions in workplace safety and health by ensuring that sufficient resources are directed to those industries and hazards identified as needing priority attention. OSHA's resources will be directed to the most significant workplace injuries and most hazardous industries and workplaces. In particular, the planned Construction Data Initiative will provide contractor-specific injury and illness data and project-specific injury and illness data to enable the Agency to begin developing a targeting system for high-hazard workplaces in the construction sector. (3.1 C-G).
• DOL will increase outreach, education and training efforts to populations and hazards that represent emerging safety and health needs in the 21^st century. OSHA will utilize a variety of tools to reach small businesses and targeted audiences, including: on-site consultation, training grants, distance learning, and partnerships. Specific initiatives include program increases for Susan Harwood Training Grants, the Consultation program, publications targeting the non-English speaking workforce, completing the establishment of compliance assistance specialists in OSHA's Federal Area Offices, and the development of outreach materials for use in conjunction with the newly established compliance assistance specialist positions. (3.1 C-G)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

Within the Department, OSHA, MSHA, BLS, and ESA work together to accomplish performance goals for reducing workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. OSHA and BLS collaborate to ensure that workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities are accurately reported. They have worked on a new record keeping rule that will offer clearer definition of work-relatedness, a better explanation of what constitutes light duty, and a much improved and simpler record keeping form. Collaborative efforts to ensure consistency in regulatory actions that affect workers in both OSHA and MSHA jurisdictions are ongoing. MSHA provides expertise to evaluate laboratories under OSHA's certification program of Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories, while OSHA performs asbestos analysis for MSHA.

OSHA and ESA coordinate under the Department's Safe Work/Safe Kids initiative to help ensure that teens have safe and positive work experiences. Safe Work/Safe Kids embraces a strategy of enhanced enforcement, increased education, strong partnerships, and heightened public awareness. For example, when recently, in Webster, New York, a 12-year-old boy severed his arm below the elbow while operating an auger, the ESA's Wage and Hour Division cited the employer for employing a child under the legal age for employment, for permitting a child under 18 years to operate a machine prohibited by a Hazardous Occupations Order, and for permitting a child to work in a warehouse, a prohibited area. OSHA also cited the firm for failing to properly guard the auger, an alleged serious violation.

Both MSHA and OSHA work closely with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is responsible for conducting research on occupational safety and health issues. One of the disadvantages that both agencies face as they seek to reduce the risk of occupational illness is a lack of good, solid data that ties specific illnesses to specific workplace conditions. Next year, NIOSH will launch another occupational exposure survey to find out more about workplace hazards, exposures and controls in industries covered by both MSHA and OSHA. The new survey will cover both more industries and more issues than the surveys NIOSH conducted in the 1970's and 1980's. NIOSH also has supported OSHA in verifying the science on workplace ergonomics in their literature review, which OSHA relied on in its proposed ergonomics standard. NIOSH concluded that there is clear evidence that poor ergonomic conditions are causing injuries in the workplace, and that there are solutions that work.

NIOSH is also assisting in MSHA's pilot "Miners' Choice Health Screening" chest x-ray program to determine the extent of black lung disease in the Nation. NIOSH is coordinating the readings and notifies the miner--a voluntary participant; MSHA is only given the statistical information.

To help the Department meet its performance goal of reducing illnesses due to silica exposure and other workplace-related diseases, MSHA and NIOSH have developed working relationships in several areas, including respirator performance, explosives research, and medical research. An example of a successful joint program was the Department of Labor's National Campaign to Eliminate Silicosis, which was launched by MSHA, OSHA, and NIOSH, in partnership with the American Lung Association. This effort led to stepped up focus on compliance assistance and enforcement initiatives across all occupations where overexposure to silica must be reduced.

To help accomplish the goal to identify and remove potential risks to construction workers, OSHA is coordinating with the Federal Highway Administration and others in a Work Zone Safety Awareness Week program. Road construction workers are exposed to safety and health hazards which often lead to serious physical harm and death. Road construction zones nationwide are estimated to increase by 66% over the next six years. The majority of fatalities involve workers struck by motorists and construction vehicles. Roadway workers also face hazards from crane use, trench activities, falls from heights, lead exposure, silica exposure, and other hazards. OSHA has also launched inspections to reduce fatalities, injuries, and illnesses at road construction zones in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ohio.

OSHA has coordinated with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to issue a Hazard Information Bulletin to regarding Lyme disease that includes the present state of knowledge regarding the disease and protective measures of which workers and employers need to be aware. The Bulletin advised on the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease, as well as on preventive measures for decreasing the risk of Lyme disease transmission. Most cases of early Lyme disease can be successfully treated with commonly available antibiotics; therefore, early diagnosis and initiation of therapy are important to ensure the best possible treatment outcome.

Realizing the need to reach out to the small business community, OSHA is taking major steps to work with the SBA, and in particular with the SBA's Office of Advocacy. OSHA has developed a strong working relationship with the Advocate in Washington, D.C., and is partnering with the Regional Advocates network to conduct Small Business Forums in each region. OSHA is developing a small business guide on amputations that will identify the major types of equipment that cause amputations in various industries and provide abatement strategies. OSHA offers many resources designed specifically for smaller employers.

The Agency wants to encourage small businesses to establish safety and health programs and find and fix hazards to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. OSHA's webpage for small businesses provides one-stop shopping for the most popular materials for small businesses - from free on-site consultation, to interactive computer software, to technical information and easy-to-follow guides for specific OSHA standards. It also includes links to local OSHA offices and to the Small Business Administration.

Several other Federal Government agencies have safety and health responsibilities which overlap those of OSHA, MSHA and ESA, including the U.S. Coast Guard (for protection of workers in industries dealing with water safety), the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Railroad Administration, the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Through the use of Memoranda of Understanding and other interagency agreements, MSHA, OSHA and ESA continue to work toward eliminating duplication and minimizing overlap of activities.

In recent years, OSHA has also participated in initiatives expanding the Voluntary Protection Program to Federal agencies. The Department of Interior's National Park Service is currently implementing its own VPP project. With regard to broader safety and health efforts in Federal agencies, OSHA has implemented the President's initiative, Federal Worker 2000, to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses in Federal agencies, and working in tandem with ESA, reduce the average duration of time away from work due to work injuries and speed return to work.

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Means & Strategies

Operating Agencies: ESA, OASAM

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will fully implement a tiered compliance evaluation strategy with respect to the Executive Order, disability and veterans programs to increase the number of contacts with Federal contractors and subcontractors, and allow the flexibility to tailor reviews to focus on indicated possible problems without conducting a full investigation in every case. (3.2 A)
• DOL will fully implement the 60-2 regulations and the Equal Opportunity Survey. The use of this Survey advances electronic submission of compliance-related data by Federal contractors and electronic analysis of that data by OFCCP, thereby increasing OFCCP's compliance monitoring efficiency and effectiveness. (3.2A)
• DOL will continue technical assistance training sessions for stakeholder organizations to disseminate publications, guidebooks, studies, and Internet communications on key issues. (3.2A)
• DOL will continue promotion of industry best practices in affirmative action and anti-discrimination programs by acknowledging employer efforts with the Exemplary Voluntary Efforts (EVE) Award, the Secretary's Opportunity Award, the Exemplary Public Interest Contribution (EPIC) Award, and the Industry Liaison Group Award. (3.2A)
• DOL will continue promoting voluntary compliance through the review of MOAs submitted by States in accordance with 29 CFR Part 37 implementing the nondiscrimination provisions of Section 188 of the WIA and national programs procedures. (3.2B)
• DOL will continue conducting follow-up reviews for any entities found in non-compliance during the program year to ensure that voluntary compliance is achieved and avoid the need to institute enforcement action by DOL. (3.2B)
• DOL will continue its education and outreach efforts to increase access for all persons with disabilities, who are seeking services funded under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) including guidance to ensure access to federally funded programs for persons of Limited English Proficiency. (3.2B)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will develop and deliver 60-2 training courses for ESA's compliance officers focusing on the assessment and evaluation of Federal contractors and subcontractors with respect to equal pay. (3.2A)
• DOL will publish a summary report on the results of its Corporate Management Reviews conducted from FY 1998 - FY 2000, including a summary of best practices gathered from these Fortune 1000 firms. (3.2A)
• DOL will identify and disseminate model employer recruitment practices and will assist contractors in identifying resources for recruiting qualified individuals with disabilities, protected veterans, women, and minorities. Such resources may include, but not be limited to, America's Job Bank and the nationwide network of One-Stop Career Centers established by the Workforce Investment Act. (3.2A)
• DOL will increase outreach, education, and technical assistance to Federal contractors and subcontractors on equal pay issues by highlighting industry best practices. (3.2A)
• DOL will implement an equal pay-industry partnership initiative designed as a collaborative effort between ESA's OFCCP and Federal contractors/contractor organizations. The results will be used to help determine the industries and geographic locations where OFCCP's technical assistance efforts are most needed. The results will also be used to develop "best practices" guidelines. (3.2A)
• DOL will continue outreach efforts such as technical assistance and educational brochures. Educational materials will be translated into different languages to keep the public informed regarding the EEO requirements of Federal contractors and subcontractors. (3.2A)
• DOL will enhance enforcement of applicable disability laws by conducting compliance reviews and providing technical assistance and training to stakeholders. Enforcement efforts will focus on fostering universal access and pay equity for persons with disabilities, women, and minorities participating in DOL financial assistance programs within the One-Stop delivery and Job Corps programs funded and authorized under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). (3.2B)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

ESA/OFCCP is a key player on a team assembled by the Secretary to develop innovative, cooperative programs and policies to foster and implement the Administration and Secretary's Equal Pay initiative. The interagency team unites ESA/OFCCP with the Women's Bureau, ETA, MSHA,OSBP, PWBA, and other agencies in this effort. ESA/OFCCP has established a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the ESA/Wage and Hour Division to facilitate information exchange and effective enforcement of the Family and Medical Leave Act. An MOU with the DOL Veterans' Employment and Training Service provides for coordinated public outreach efforts and information sharing regarding covered veterans.

Outside the Department, ESA/OFCCP's MOU with the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Special Counsel provides for referral of complaints involving national origin discrimination, information sharing, and coordinated public outreach efforts. An MOU with DOJ's Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) allows for prompt referral to INS of all suspected violations concerning employment of unauthorized workers. ESA/OFCCP's MOU with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provides procedures for the coordinated collection, sharing, and analysis of data regarding individual or class complaints of discrimination on the basis of race, gender, national origin, or disability status. ESA coordinated and finalized another MOU with EEOC. Other MOUs were initiated with the Department of Transportation and the General Services Administration. ESA/OFCCP participated in meetings convened by the White House and the Civil Rights Working Group to discuss implementation of OMB guidance on how race and ethnicity data are to be submitted for the 2000 Census. ESA/OFCCP has been tracking this issue and examining the impact on its enforcement efforts.

Similar to OFCCP, the Civil Rights Center works closely with DOL agencies, other federal agencies such as Justice, EEOC, HHS, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to ensure equal opportunity compliance. In addition, the Civil Rights Center has membership on the Council of Federal Sector EEO and Civil Rights Directors as well as ongoing relationships with the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Agencies, and the National Association of Cities and Counties, the Interstate Association of Personnel in Employment Security to enhance its enforcement and civil rights compliance efforts.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies: ETA

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will increase the availability and use of child care by: (1) facilitating the development of States' consortia of representatives from the child care industry, government entities and community basedorganizations, (2)providing consultative and technical assistance in the development, maintenance, and expansion of Statewide systems for child care, including the exchange of the most current information, and, (3) maintaining, improving, and sustaining collaborative relationships, including cross-cutting linkages. (3.3A)
• DOL will improve the planning and management of the Registered Apprenticeship System by: (1) arranging for stakeholder service input, (2) assisting the reconstituted Federal Committee on Registered Apprenticeship in the accomplishment of their mission, and, (3) improving the capacity to gather and analyze accurate, consistent, timely and high-quality information in support of child care registered apprenticeship programs. (3.3A)
• DOL will continue to research and promote best practices in the workplace to increase public awareness of issues around balancing work and family needs by expanding its Internet web site, preparing resource kits, and conducting regional forums and conferences. (3.3 B)
• DOL will establish a network referred to as the Work and Family Exchange to serve as a vehicle for helping employers learn how to make their workplaces family-friendly. The Exchange will bring together employers who (1) have recently implemented family-friendly options and need minimal technical assistance to help them succeed, and (2) seek to voluntarily mentor other employers on how to make their workplaces family-friendly. The Exchange will also serve as an outreach vehicle to employers for educating employees using available literature on work and family issues and approaches to supporting their employees' work and family needs. Such information will also be accessible on the Internet. (3.3.B)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

In developing policies and programs that affect working women and their families, the Women's Bureau provides leadership and assistance to other agencies within the Department and to other federal agencies, such as SBA, DOT and HHS, and to private sector entities, various non-governmental organizations, and state and local governments. An example of these cooperative efforts includes the partnerships with the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training and child care stakeholders, such as HHS's Administration for Children and Families and USDA's Office of Community Development, to plan regional activities promoting the provision of child care by businesses. The Bureau is also a member of the Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics which, in response to a Presidential Executive Order, will develop an annual compendium of the most important indicators of the well-being of the Nation's families. The Women's Bureau is also working with SBA, the Department of Commerce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and private employer entities to reach out to businesses in order to promote a family friendly work environment.

DOL will continue to work with HHS on Head Start and child care issues; with USDA and HUD to promote the Step Up program; with Job Corps coordinators on efforts to establish child care facilities at Job Corps Centers; with the Women's Bureau to tap its child care expertise; and with SBA to encourage program graduates to become independent providers of child care.

To increase the number of states with child care apprenticeship programs, DOL will lead efforts that coordinate closely with the National Association of State and Territorial Apprenticeship Directors. DOL, through its interagency leadership in School-to-Work and Welfare-to-Work programs, will continue to provide opportunities for child care experience and training. DOL also will coordinate with state education and health and human service agencies in states that have adopted child care apprenticeship programs.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies: ILAB

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• Through IPEC, DOL will continue to provide support for innovative projects, including projects to prevent and eliminate child labor in specific sectors or industries; statistical development of and monitoring of child labor trends; responding to requests from countries with demonstrated commitment towards eliminating child labor; and supporting the campaign to raise public awareness on exploitative child labor and promote actions to eliminate it. Activities will reinforce the ILO's campaign to prioritize action against the worst forms of child labor. (3.4 A)
• To educate the public and policy makers, DOL will continue to conduct research and publish reports dealing with child labor exploitation and techniques to reduce its incidence around the world. (3.4 A)
• Working in partnership with the ILO, DOL will support improved implementation of internationally recognized core labor standards (i.e. basic workers' rights), including implementation of ILO convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. (3.4 A & B)
• DOL will continue to work in developing countries to improve economic opportunities and security for workers through human capital development, social insurance reform, and improvements in workplace safety and labor market efficiency. (3.4 B)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will commit significant additional U.S. resources to projects on the worst forms of child labor. This support will require the ILO to commit additional staff and administrative support to effectively administer the projects, and to encourage other countries, international agencies, and the private sector to match DOL's contributions. (3.4 A)

• DOL will step-up its efforts to support new and innovative approaches to the elimination of child labor by moving to yet another challenging level, that of the national timebound approach to eliminate child labor and promote basic, quality education. The aim of this approach is to encourage comprehensive, integrated and collaborative action by multiple partners within a given time frame in selected countries. Success in the three countries selected initially (El Salvador, Nepal, and Tanzania) will provide the impetus and models for more countries to try this innovative approach, thereby increasing the impact in the elimination of child labor around the world. In the implementation of these efforts, DOL and ILO-IPEC will seek new partnerships with other international organizations and financial institutions to join in efforts to combat child labor and bring together additional resources on basic education, school feeding programs, and school-based child health and nutrition programs. (3.4 A)

• DOL will also implement a new education initiative to provide access to basic education in areas around the world where there is a high incidence of abusive and exploitative child labor. This initiative will complement DOL's ongoing efforts through the ILO, particularly in countries where significant resources are being committed to remove children from exploitative and/or hazardous work, to ensure that those children have access to quality basic education as an alternative to child labor. In developing this initiative, DOL will consult and coordinate with USAID, and other agencies. (3.4 A)

• A comprehensive system to assess the performance of DOL investments to protect workers' basic rights and improve economic opportunities for workers will be in place. This system will enable DOL to objectively monitor project performance against GPRA goals, and will provide the necessary information to determine when and where to make adjustments in the design and implementation of projects. (3.4B)

• DOL will target an increased amount of funds at countries at risk of losing their eligibility to benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) Enhancement due to systemic violations of basic workers' rights. (3.4B)

• DOL will require that countries benefitting from a DOL funded projects also participate in its funding to demonstrate the nation's commitment to workers's rights and to expanding economic opportunities for workers. (3.4 B)

Cross-Cutting Programs and Issues

DOL works closely with the Department of State, as well as USAID, the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and Education, to encourage countries to improve the implementation of core labor standards.

The Department intends to take an integrated approach to advancing the international commitment to implementing core labor standards and economically empowering workers with activities and resources coordinated by ILAB and supported by DOL's regulatory agencies, BLS, ETA, Women's Bureau, and SOL.

By providing technical assistance in these areas to our trading partners and thereby helping to "level-up"global working conditions, DOL will not only support achievement of its international goals, but will promote its goals of providing a secure workforce and quality workplace in this country.

On child labor issues, DOL works closely with the ILO's International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) to develop regional, country, and sector specific projects to reduce the incidence of abusive child labor and develop educational opportunities for children. In the development of certain projects, DOL works with U.S. and foreign industry representatives and non-governmental organizations to ensure that programs are effective and credible.

5. Performance Measurement

The Department of Labor recognizes that GPRA requires a combination of valid indicators of program accomplishments and continuous assessment of performance against those indicators. Obtaining and using valid data is the crucial first step. The Department has positioned itself to make comprehensive improvements in the quality, timeliness, and accuracy of the data it uses to monitor program performance.

Several approaches to improve performance measurement were initiated in FY 2000 and will continue into FY 2001. At the agency and program level, specific steps will be taken to address known challenges in data quality. The Department will actively assist individual program areas to identify better data sources, improve reporting procedures, and increase the validity of indicators that are used to define program success.

Working together, DOL executives and program managers will continuously improve the quality of the indicators, data sources and baselines enumerated in Appendix B. The Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretaries and agency heads play key roles in the Department-wide effort to assess both data quality and program performance throughout DOL. The goal is to build confidence that the detailed measures being used by DOL components support the Department's three strategic goals and ultimately lead to a prepared and secure American workforce, and quality workplaces in our nation and throughout the world.

5.1 Addressing Specific Performance Measurement Challenges

Within the larger Departmental framework, individual DOL agencies will address data challenges that are unique to the agency's program environment and develop solutions that are consistent with the Department's reporting requirements. While some DOL programs currently have adequate systems in place, others must overcome barriers to the production of timely, accurate, and relevant performance data. In FY 2001, DOL and its agencies will continue efforts initiated in FY 2000 to address three issues: lack of data, insufficient validation of data, and untimely reporting. The following examples describe several initiatives in progress to improve the measurement of our program results.

The Employment Standards Administration will continue its efforts to improve data measuring the results of three major programs in FY 2001. First, the Wage and Hour program has introduced a new computer system, the Wage and Hour Investigative and Reporting Database (WHISARD), permitting more timely access to extensive information. Because there is no unbiased database on labor standards violations or compliance, Wage and Hour faces a major challenge in determining industry-wide levels of compliance and measuring changes in that compliance. To determine the impact of Wage and Hour efforts, a statistically sound method has been developed for establishing baselines and measuring compliance using investigation- based compliance surveys of targeted industries and areas. Data on the outcomes of repeat investigations will also be used to evaluate the relative effectiveness, or return on investment, of the various types of interventions.

The new WHISARD system provides many advantages when compared to its predecessor. For example, data is entered into the system directly at the source (by Wage and Hour investigators) rather than manually batched and mailed to a central source for data entry later. As a result, data is much more current, which facilitates tracking the progress of investigative activity. Information on a complainant's case is readily available which enhances customer service and satisfaction. All users of the WHISARD system have direct access which was not previously possible and enhances efficiency and enforcement effectiveness. In addition, WHISARD can produce data on a much broader range of activities, such as local enforcement initiatives, which was not possible with the prior system, and assists in the agency's strategic planning activities.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' (OFCCP) Case Management System (CMS) is used to measure program performance. Through software and hardware enhancements, field office managers are now able to access CMS data to track the accomplishments of individual organizational units. OFCCP completed cognitive testing and field testing of its Equal Opportunity (EO) Survey in FY 2000. Once the EO Survey is implemented, federal contractor response data will be input into a database and analyzed, with the results of data analysis to be used in making scheduling determinations for compliance evaluations. Development of the database structure, including refinement of the analytical model, will be implemented in FY 2001.

Increasingly sophisticated databases detailing the case histories of injured federal workers have been developed in the course of formulating new strategies for the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program. These systems allow tracking of the goal of reducing lost production days, but also permit precise evaluation of various program initiatives such as the impact of alternative return to work techniques on various groupings of employees or injury categories.

The Federal Employees' Compensation automated system is undergoing a complete redesign covering every major staff function. The redesign will replace a patchwork of loosely-linked programs each with its own database and rules, and provide a single automated system that will make data accessible to all users. This redesign will allow workers' compensation claims staff to work more efficiently while providing improved customer service to injured workers, medical providers, and employing Federal agencies.

The Department's Employment and Training Administration will take specific actions to improve its data collection methods. The Department is seeking OMB approval to implement quarterly performance reporting by States and other employment and training program grantees and, based on OMB's recommendations, will publish a proposal in the Federal Register and obtain public comments. Under current legislation, the Department receives information on employment and training programs on a program year basis, and the data is not available for 15 months after the fiscal year. The approval and enactment of this proposal would significantly improve the timeliness of information on the results of major programs, and assist the Department to respond more effectively to program needs.

The Department continues to address the need to assure the accuracy and reliability of performance data submitted by our employment and training system partners which serves as the foundation for key program decisions. The development of a comprehensive data validity system for the core indicators of the WIA program, Wagner-Peyser, and other key employment and training programs is in the preliminary stages, and this project will extend into FY 2001.

GAO and OIG reports have raised particular concerns about the accuracy of data on the employment placement and retention of Job Corps participants. Job Corps program indicators will undergo continuous improvement during FY 2001. Revisions to Job Corps' procedures have already addressed some of the issues cited by GAO and OIG, and additional changes are in process. For example, data collection for both the initial job placement and retention in employment measures are now conducted by a neutral third party to provide increased assurance of validity. The Department is continuing to work with OIG to introduce additional improvements to the reliability of Job Corps measurements and procedures.

In FY 2001, progress will continue to be made for indicators where data are currently unavailable or incomplete. For example, for employment outcomes for TAA/NAFTA program participants, the expansion of pension coverage, or indicators affected by implementation of WIA, baselines will be established and refined. This will be done at the Agency and program level in conjunction with the Department-wide effort to improve the quality of indicators, which is described below.

5.2 Improving Performance Indicators

DOL strategic goals are carried out by agencies that vary considerably in structure and mission Some agencies have a function that is largely regulatory (OSHA and MSHA), some (e.g., BLS) gather data, others (ILAB, the Women's Bureau) have a significant advocacy function. The Department's focus across these diverse agencies and programs is to ensure that the indicators selected provide an effective, and to the maximum extent possible, quantifiable measures of the accomplishment of performance and outcome goals. The Department also recognizes the need for an information technology infrastructure that meets daily operational requirements and satisfies the data collection, validation, analysis, and information dissemination that is central to GPRA. DOL will continue on-going initiatives to strengthen two types of information systems -- theperformance measurement systems that provide the foundation for program evaluations, both tactical and strategic, and the financial and cost accounting systems used to monitor the cost of performance.

5.3 Linking Costs to Performance

The Department has a solid financial systems infrastructure from which a cost accounting capability will be developed using the resources of a reliable, established accounting system -- the Department of Labor Accounting and Related Systems (DOLAR$). DOLAR$, serving as the system of record for financial results throughout the Department, has been modified to capture, aggregate, allocate and report costs. A new cost accounting module has been developed to allow aggregation of costs across agency lines and to allocate direct and indirect costs to the Strategic Outcome and Performance Goal levels established in the Department's Strategic Plan.

The Department has maintained cost accounting information, beginning in FY 1999, for the outcome goals in the Department's Strategic Plan. In addition, DOL will continue to develop the capability to consolidate data from a variety of program and financial system sources and link that data as needed to meet the performance reporting requirements of GPRA.

6. Maintaining a Departmental Strategic Management Focus

The Department has adopted the strategic management and results oriented focus of the Government Performance and Results Act as a dynamic, core approach to ensuring that our constituents will receive program services of the highest quality at the most efficient cost. Full implementation of GPRA continues to present challenges to the Department with its diverse missions, agencies, partners and constituents. The formulation of the Department's three strategic goals - a prepared workforce, a secure workforce and quality workplaces - which cut across traditional program lines has provided a focal point for our strategic, results oriented management efforts. Current Departmental priorities to strengthen our strategic management approach include improving the outcome focus of our performance goals to ensure program accomplishments will achieve our strategic goals, enhancing the quality of data used to measure performance, and routinely evaluating our results.

To meet the additional challenges to full GPRA implementation, management processes have been put into place to foster inter-agency coordination, on-going monitoring of progress and active executive oversight. Coordination of the Department's strategic management efforts has been strengthened by the establishment of a dedicated GPRA staff and an inter-agency working group which meet together throughout the year to facilitate GPRA implementation. The Department has initiated systems to ensure routine assessment of progress against our performance goals, and the Deputy Secretary and agency executives meet several times each year to review performance results. The OIG also works closely with the Department to provide the Secretary with information and advice on how to attain the highest possible program accomplishments and accountability.

6.1 Management Initiatives in the FY 2001 Annual Performance Plan

As part of its overarching management focus, the Department has also established long term management initiatives and performance goals to address cross-cutting Departmental functions such as financial, information technology, and human resources management which contribute to the achievement of the Department's strategic and performance goals. These management goals, the strategies to achieve them, and the external factors that may affect accomplishment of the goals are detailed in the sections that follow.

6.1.1 Financial Management

Maintaining the integrity and stewardship of the Department's financial resources is the principal strategic goal for the Department's financial management program. In obtaining an unqualified audit opinion on the

Department's financial statements, DOL can measure its overall effectiveness. The Department has obtained

an unqualified opinion on both its FY 1997, FY 1998 and FY 1999 Consolidated Financial Statements. However, recently enacted legislation and new accounting standards place significant new responsibilities on the Departments's financial management community. The FY 2001 financial management performance goals for the Department address the efforts needed to meet new financial systems and accounting standards.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies: All DOL agencies

Sustained Efforts in FY 2001:

• The Department will have corrected the majority of system weaknesses for those that were out of compliance with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA). Ongoing effort will be to closely monitor all system modifications to ensure continued compliance with FFMIA. (FM1)
• The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board's Managerial Cost Accounting standard phases in progressively detailed requirements over several years. DOL plans call for maintaining initial FY 1999 cost accounting information for the eleven outcome goals in the FY 2000 Performance Plan. In addition, the OCFO has partnered with DOL agencies to initiate several cost accounting pilot projects in order to meet some of these new requirements. (FM2)
• The government-wide Human Resources Committee of the CFO Council, chaired by the Department's Chief Financial Officer, has established core competency guidelines. GAO audits have identified financial management training programs as inadequate to bringing financial managers up to the task of operating modern financial management systems. The Department will participate in the achievement of several professional development goals established by the CFO Council, which include conducting needs assessments, establishing individual development plans, promoting attainment of professional certifications and attaining a significant increase in the hours of continuing professional education per financial management employee in the Department. The Department will continue to upgrade the number and variety of courses made available to financial management personnel, including introduction of distributed learning techniques. (FM1 & 2)

• To leverage collective recruitment efforts, meet the demands of the new government-wide financial legislation, and address the rapid changes in the DOL financial workforce, the Department's Chief Financial Officer Advisory Council developed the Financial Management Careers Program (FMIP) to develop highly qualified individuals who will undertake future leadership roles in financial management. We will continue to hire and train individuals under this program. (FM1 & 2)

Efforts to modernize DOL's Central Accounting System (DOLAR$) will continue to ensure ongoing compliance with regulations, conformance with technical standards, and the ability to provide accurate and timely financial management information to meet both internal and external demands. (FM1 & 2)

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• Cost accounting applications will extend beyond the outcome goal level to developing cost information in support of the Department's performance goals in the FY 2000 Performance Plan. (FM2)

• The Office of the Chief Financial Officer will continue a DOL-wide program to target financial management training in critical skill areas including the application of cost accounting standards and financial management systems development training. The Financial Management Careers Program will include a number of new learning options, including a variety of college courses via the Internet. (FM1 & 2)

• The OCFO will review Departmental performance plans, data sources that support those plans, and other documents that assess performance plan quality (e.g., GAO, OMB, OIG reports) in order to assist program agencies' to meet their financial performance goals. (FM1 & 2).

6.1.2 Information Technology Management

The Department of Labor will improve mission performance, productivity, and administrative processes through better utilization of Information Technology (IT). The focus of this endeavor is to reduce risks, improve efficiencies, and contain costs through greater integration of Departmental T systems, thereby providing DOL employees with quality, reliable automated tools and useful information so they can better perform their jobs.

In line with the Information Technology Management Reform Act, the Department implemented an IT Capital Investment Management process for selecting, controlling, and evaluating IT investments. This process includes an automated IT portfolio evaluation and tracking system, with review and decision making through a Technical Review Board composed of DOL agencies' IT professionals and the Management Review Council chaired by the Deputy Secretary. I

In addition to the program-specific automated system initiatives of individual DOL agencies, DOL will expand capability for information delivery to the public via its Internet World Wide Web sites. Public access will become both easier and more beneficial as DOL carries out plans to expand information sources available, provide expert systems, and add search capabilities.

The Department's key performance goals and measures for information technology management

in FY 2001 are detailed below.

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Means and Strategies

Operating Agencies:

Sustained Efforts in 2001:

• The Department will continue to support all communication technology currently in place, remote access, and Internet/Intranet (LaborNet) access requirements.
• Accommodation of increased demands for communication resources brought about by implementation of the People Power system and an increasing number of Flexiplace employees will be continued.
• Analysis of DOL host computer systems for vulnerabilities and performance testing of critical systems will be continued. Risk analysis of major application systems and implementation of the Departmental System Security Plan will provide support to employees meeting continual requirements for critical infrastructure protection.
• Departmental initiatives to integrate People Power software applications into automated processing and information systems will be continued with a Human Resource functionality expansion allowing managers and employees to initiate personnel processing actions. Additional administrative applications will also be interfaced with the People Power database and workflow structures.
• Expansion of DOL Internet site search tool functionality to enhance information retrieval capability and Internet publishing to include audio/video mediums will be continued.
• The Department will maintain the Chief Information Officer Database providing current IT environmental information and will fully implement an automated DOL IT Capital Planning system.
• The Department will focus on Internet service as we continue to comply with Government-wide initiatives such as the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996 (EFOIA), Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA), expansion of information access under Government Information Locator System established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and implementation of regulatory development activities to include public review and commenting on proposed regulations.

Significant New or Enhanced Efforts in 2001:

• The Department will implement a common office automation suite of software DOL-wide.
• The Department will implement an interoperability standard in order to enhance internal communication, improve effectiveness and efficiency of constituent functions.
• Performance and operational requirements for the communications infrastructure to support the integrated People Power payroll and personnel application will be defined and developed.
• Develop an environment for workgroups to conduct collaborative development and review of material and documents (including automated document review and approval) eliminating traditional serial processes with paper based routing/approval and to implement new administrative processes as workflow applications.

6.1.3 Human Resources Management

The Department recognizes that to maximize successful operations, ongoing investments in human capital are necessary. This will be achieved through making DOL a model workplace that facilitates the recruitment and retention of a diverse, highly-skilled workforce capable of meeting strategic and performance goals, while creating a "family-friendly" environment that is accessible to all employees and enables them to better balance their work and family obligations. The acquisition of needed new skills and ongoing skills improvement among the DOL workforce will be facilitated through lifelong learning initiatives.

DOL has initiated lifelong learning programs that will help produce a workforce with job skills necessary to meet evolving program needs, re-engineered work processes, and rapidly changing technological advances. Emphasis will be placed on skills involving team work, coaching, mentoring, problem solving, and analysis. Employees in occupations that are no longer necessary as a result of technology or changing business practices will be afforded the opportunity to be retrained, and succession planning and other planned management approaches to an aging workforce will be pursued.

An aggressive outreach and recruitment targeting effort for under-represented groups will be pursued to attract a diverse and highly skilled workforce reflective of America. To address the growing challenge of attracting and retaining employees who have highly sought after technical skills, DOL will pursue the use of various Departmental/OPM direct hiring authorities and additional personnel and workplace flexibilities. DOL will use every opportunity to expand existing labor-partnership efforts to assure joint cooperation with employee organizations to progressively address workplace issues and provide the highest quality services to the American public. Alternative Dispute Resolution techniques will be the preferred method of resolving informal equal opportunity complaints and grievances.

In support of the Federal Worker 2000 Presidential Initiative on Safety, the Department will provide a safe and healthful workplace for its employees that enhances productivity and cost effectiveness. The physical fitness and mental health of employees are actively promoted by providing voluntary programs and services which are readily available.

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Means and Strategies

Sustained efforts in FY 2001:

• The Department will continue efforts to find and test alternative methods for presenting training, and for dissemination of material (emphasizing various IT mediums) that can be used to guide employees in career planning and development. (HR1)
• The Department will provide common needs learning experiences to meet specific agency requirements, and expand on learning development efforts by conducting periodic surveys to continually determine DOL agency training needs and approaches. (HR1)
• There will be a continual effort to enhance the partnership between the Department and the National Council of Field Labor Locals (NCFLL) at all organizational levels; and to reduce third-party cases involving Labor/Management Relations through training and pre-decisional involvement and communication. (HR1)
• The Department will continue to offer referral services for employees in Work-Life areas of child care, elder care, and adoptive services. Services will include a toll free "1-800" telephone counseling service and the use of the Internet as an additional feature to access referral resources. (HR1)
• The Department will provide technical assistance to DOL agencies in managing Workers' Compensation programs, including helping agencies in their efforts to identify candidates eligible to return to duty through workplace accommodation, flexiplace, or assistive technologies. (HR2, HR3)
• DOL will monitor on-the-job accidents, injuries, and illnesses and will provide accident and injury statistics to assist in identifying problems, corrective actions, and best practices necessary to reduce accident and injury rates. (HR2, HR3)
• DOL will review internal practices and procedures to improve claims processing and increase worker accommodations. (HR2, HR3)
• DOL will continue to review internal agency EEO practices and procedures, and educate managers and supervisors on their responsibilities under applicable EEO laws and regulations to foster equal opportunity workplaces. (HR4)

Significant, New or Enhanced Efforts in FY 2001:

• DOL will establish interactive cross agency training and tutorial programs, college and university level programs on line via the Internet, and where funding permits, classroom-based video-conferencing and laboratory classrooms. (HR1)
• A nationwide program for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve DOL workplace disputes and grievances in a more timely and cost-effective manner will be implemented. (HR1)
• As a measure of implementing the Federal Worker 2000 Presidential Initiative on Safety, reports generated by the Departmental Safety and Health Information Management System (SHIMS) will be used to target resources toward agencies and work sites with elevated injury rates. The Department will identify and implement best practices used to reduce the incidence of accidents and to manage lost-time injury cases. (HR2, HR3)

6.2 Program Improvement Opportunities Identified by OIG, GAO, and DOL Management

The Department of Labor is committed to working with the OIG and GAO to improve its management systems and procedures. Periodic reporting to the Department's Management Review Council on the status of corrective actions responsive to audit recommendations will be maintained throughout the year. The budget process will consider the resources needed in each year to take necessary corrective actions on audit recommendations. OIG, GAO, and DOL managers have identified a number of management improvement opportunities; the actions DOL plans to take in FY 2000 to address them are highlighted below.

6.2.1 GAO High Risk and Other Audits

None of the Department's programs are the subject of management weaknesses reported in the current GAO high risk audit series. However, this Performance Plan addresses the Year 2000 Information Technology compliance issue which is the subject of a government-wide GAO audit in its high risk series.

The Department expects to close out most open GAO audits before the end of FY 2000 including:

• The efficiency of youth services will be improved through consolidation of programs and introduction of systems that reflect one-stop principles of customer focus, integration and accountability for performance.

The GAO also issued an audit report addressing the Department's and other federal agencies' implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act. While the audit did not make specific recommendations for formal follow up, the Department took prompt action to strengthen GPRA implementation. This Performance Plan has been developed within a "one Department" framework unifying all agency programs within the three over-arching strategic goals discussed above. The most significant management challenges in FY 2000 and beyond will be in continuing our GPRA implementation efforts by -- developing the systems infrastructure and management processes needed to identify and measure program results and costs throughout the Department.

6.2.2 Program Improvement Opportunities Identified by the OIG and DOL Management.

Improving program performance is a priority of the Department, and OIG audit reports and DOL management processes identify issues on a regular basis to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of DOL's services to America's workers and employers. Many issues arising from OIG audits and management processes are resolved within a limited time frame. However, some opportunities for program improvement require a more sustained effort over several years, and are included within the scope of our GPRA plans. Examples of several long-term program improvement initiatives which are referenced both in the Department's FY 2001 plan and in a listing of top management issues prepared by OIG on December 8, 1999, are discussed below. Other issues presented in OIG's recent paper should be incorporated in agency level annual performance plans.

• Effectiveness of the Welfare-to-Work Initiative The OIG conducted audits of numerous Welfare to Work grantees during the past year in order to assess their status, identify vulnerabilities, and recommend timely corrective actions. The audits concluded that Welfare to Work implementation is proceeding slowly because of unforseen or unconsidered factors when the States developed their service and outcome levels and spending estimates. Section 4 of this plan discusses the Department's ambitious outcome goals for the Welfare-to-Work program coupled with incentives to high performing States which are expected to encourage our program partners to advance the implementation of this program.

• Quality of Program Results Data The OIG's paper on top management issues notes that the Department continues to face a number of challenges in achieving the full accountability envisioned by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board's Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard Number 4, which is aimed at providing reliable and timely accounting for the full cost of Federal programs and activities, and by the Government Performance and Results Act. OIG discussed the importance of linking financial and performance data, noting the need for the Department to ensure the successful expansion of financial accounting, including cost accounting to identify the full cost of specific programs and activities. With respect to GPRA implementation, the OIG discussed the Department's limitations to access, or control over the quality of, program results data that will be used to determine the attainment of its strategic plan goals.

Both the linking of financial and performance data and the data limitations concerns noted by OIG are addressed in this annual performance plan, in Sections 5 and 6, and the Department is working closely with OIG in improving the implementation of GPRA. For example, as cited in OIG's top management issues paper, the Employment and Training Administration, in conjunction with OIG, developed a guide to review the quality of State management information system data. Section 5 references a recently initiated project which will extend into FY 2001 to develop a comprehensive data validity system for the core indicators under the Department's employment and training programs, and discusses the Department's efforts to continue the linking of cost information to performance. The Department has also developed a performance goal (FM 2) for FY 2001 to meet all new accounting standards issued by the Federal Accounting Systems Advisory Board, including the Managerial Cost Accounting Standard.

• Protection of Worker Benefit Funds Under this topic, OIG discussed an audit report regarding the potential for the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) program to achieve significant reductions in medical costs. In addition to implementing the specific recommendations provided by OIG, the Department has also established a FY 2001 performance goal (2.2F) for the FECA program to reduce the overall average medical service cost per case.

• Compliance with New Financial Management Requirements OIG noted in the top management issues paper the need for the Department to make every effort to ensure actions are taken to correct deficiencies in financial management systems identified through Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FMFIA) reviews, and mentioned those systems which were found to be out of compliance during FY 1998. Section 6 of this plan establishes as a performance goal (FM1) for FY 2001 that all DOL financial systems meet the standards set in the FMFIA and the Government Management Reform Act (GMRA). Similar goals have been included in the Department's FY 1999 and FY 2000 plans and are ensuring the Department's continuing focus on this issue. As a result, corrective action schedules and related project plans were established during FY 1999 for all but one of the systems cited in the FY 1998 audit, and options are under study for bringing the remaining system into compliance.

6.3 Enhancing DOL's Customer Focus

Many of DOL's component agencies' Strategic Plans include the integration of customer service concerns into their day-to-day operations. DOL customers' feedback is instructive in measuring how well services are provided, identifying how services might be better delivered, and determining whether DOL's program goals effectively address customers' needs. DOL component agencies, as part of their service delivery initiatives, will conduct customer surveys, using appropriate sampling techniques, to obtain this feedback at a reasonable cost.

Additionally, in accordance with the provisions of the Workforce Investment Act, DOL's Employment and Training Administration will be embedding customer satisfaction in its performance measurement strategy and linking awards and sanctions to performance. Customer satisfaction measures will be part of the core measures for evaluating local and State programs with participant and employer customer satisfaction serving as an important basis for the award of incentives and sanctions under the WIA. DOL is also working with several research firms on the development of customer satisfaction measurement instruments and the bench-marking of results against private sector companies, such as hotels, department stores and fast food restaurants.

Not only will DOL improve processes for "listening" to its customers, but it will work towards improving the communication process with its customers, focusing efforts on improving the understandability of workplace standards by developing "plain language" regulations. Technology will be applied across the Department to improve the dissemination of these regulations, issue technical assistance material, respond to individual customer's problems, and collect public comments. DOL agencies will work collaboratively to share these and other techniques that provide the feedback needed to fully measure program results.

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Appendix A.

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1. OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) is used to provide models of excellence in the hazardous industries and processes; VPP companies share their experience and learning with others in their industry. The Susan Harwood training grant program provides funds to nonprofit organizations to develop and deliver safety and health training to their constituents, in locations, industries, workplaces where OSHA's normal program endeavors do not reach.