The State Department could save millions of dollars a year by simplifying the way it moves employees overseas, the General Accounting Office has reported.
According to the report, "State Department: Using Best Practices to Relocate Employees Could Reduce Costs and Improve Service" (NSIAD-98-19), the more than 3,000 employees transferred overseas by the State Department each year must go through a maze of bureaucratic obstacles to get themselves and their belongings to their new stations. At least 12 bureaus and offices in the department are involved in the relocation process. Employees must fill out numerous forms and contact roughly a dozen officials to complete the relocation process.
"State's process for transferring employees overseas is inefficient, cumbersome and costly," GAO charged. "The Department of State has an opportunity to significantly streamline its employee transfer process, enabling it to provide better services to its employees and to reduce costs."
The State Department spent $62 million relocating employees in 1996. GAO suggested the department could cut its costs by creating a central office that would serve as a one-stop shop for employees on the move. GAO also said the department should consider outsourcing several functions, including medical services and relocation management services.
The report recommended that the Secretary of State create a task force to come up with a strategy for streamlining the relocation process. But in its response to a draft of the report, the State Department said it is too busy with the reorganization of the foreign affairs agencies to focus on the relocation process.
"Given the magnitude of the consolidation and reengineering efforts already underway at the department, we do not consider the establishment of a special team to redesign the employee transfer process to be practical or cost-effective at this time," State said.
GAO suggested that Congress direct the State Department to use the report's suggestions.
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