A Report by a Panel of the National Academy of Public Administration for the US Congress, Congressional Research Service, and the Government Printing Office

The conference report to the 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act mandated that the National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) conduct a broad operational review of GPO to (1) update past studies of GPO operations; (2) examine the feasibility of GPO continuing to perform executive branch printing; and (3) identify additional cost saving operational alternatives beyond those that GPO has already implemented.The Academy formed a five-member Panel of Fellows to conduct a ten-month study of the agency’s current role, its operations, and its future direction. The Panel determined that the federal government in the digital age must continue to ensure that the public has permanent access to authentic government information and that GPO has a critical role to play in meeting this need. GPO leaders have made significant progress in “rebooting” the agency from a print-centric to a content-centric focus, but the agency needs to make further business and operational changes. The Panel issued fifteen recommendations intended to position the federal government for the digital age, strengthen GPO’s business model, and further GPO’s continuing transformation. Among other things, the Panel recommended that Congress establish an inter-agency process to develop a government-wide strategy for managing the life-cycle of digital government information; GPO should provide an expanded set of services supporting the life cycle management of digital government information; GPO and Congress should explore alternative funding models for the Federal Digital System; and GPO should continue to perform executive branch printing, while further reducing costs and improving service to customers

Transitions in Defense Management Reform: A Review of the Government Accountability Office's Chief Managment Officer Recommendation and Comments for the New Administration

Public Administration Review; Nov/Dec 2008The Government Accountability Office believes the answer to the U.S. Defense Department’s persistent management problems is to be found in the creation of a new position, chief management officer, to oversee defense business transformation. The recommendation for this position is reviewed and used to raise questions and spur inquiry in the areas of evidence-based reform, the relationship between policy and administration, auditor overreach, and sustaining reforms through transition. Th e latter portion is expanded in this time of transition, and recommendations are made to the new administration to develop a management agenda, to the defense career executives to facilitate the transition, and to the next comptroller general to consider how the Government Accountability Office’s varied roles produce outputs that align with the desired outcomes in both the policy and administration domains