The inspectors general of 24 federal agencies have provided the House leadership with lists of the top management and performance problems facing their agencies. The lists have prompted Republican House leaders to call on their colleagues to conduct more vigorous oversight of executive branch management.
The IGs described a wide range of problems, including an estimated $20 billion in overpayments made by Medicare in 1997, the backlog of civil rights complaints against the Agriculture Department and concerns that the National Weather Service's new $550 million computer system will not function properly when it is completed.
In a "Dear Colleague" letter, House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas, and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., said the IG lists "paint an alarming picture of the state of management in the federal government."
"The challenge for us is to act on these findings," the Republicans wrote. "More legislation isn't the main option. We need to use our existing tools to vigorously attack the problems. In particular, we in the Congress need to conduct vigorous oversight that will keep attention focused on these problems, keep asking tough questions about them, work cooperatively with the agencies and hold agencies accountable until the problems are resolved."
Armey requested the IG lists, along with an as-yet-unreleased General Accounting Office report on the top management challenges facing the executive branch.
Government's management problems have several causes, the IG reports suggest. Ten of the 24 largest government agencies have confused or even contradictory missions, stovepiped or obsolete organizational structures or a lack of the proper mix of skills among their workforces, the IGS reported. Fourteen of the agencies have problems managing grants and contracts; 19 of the 24 have serious financial management weaknesses; and 22 of the 24 have major information technology problems.
Armey and Burton said every member of the House should examine the IG lists.
"We constantly find ourselves barraged by high profile issues involving ideological and policy differences," Armey and Burton wrote. "It is all too easy to overlook everyday, nuts-and-bolts government performance problems that attract little public attention."
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