DEPARTMENT
OF STATE
The Department
of State (DOS) has improved in the first quarter of 2003 by making progress
in four of five PMA areas.
Initiative |
Status |
Progress |
Human
Capital — DOS is red in status because it has not resolved
its human capital challenges, such as skill and staffing gaps,
integration of its three separate workforces, and strategic management
of human resources. DOS has made significant gains in the past
year, including a record number of applicants for the Foreign
Service exam and increased leadership and management training. |
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Competitive
Sourcing — DOS is in red status due to the fact it has
not met the competitive sourcing goal of 15 percent. Its primary
challenge is building up the expertise to enable it to hold competitions
effectively. State has made some progress, including targeting
funding to the effort and revising the Foreign Affairs Manual
to cover competitive sourcing, obtaining expert contractual assistance,
and hiring a competitive sourcing manager. However, progress has
slipped from green to yellow reflecting insufficient progress
overall. |
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Financial
Performance — State's progress is green because the
Regional Financial Management System (RFMS) system implementation
continues on track, and State has worked diligently to eliminate
material weaknesses. Forty-four posts have been transitioned to
RFMS. Twenty-five percent of State's transactions are now covered
by the new system. The system is expected to be fully completed
during 2003. The status remains red pending removal of material
weaknesses. |
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Expanding
E-Government —
Status remains red; however, State' progress has been upgraded
to yellow. Significant slippage in implementation and quality
of deliverables remains (particularly security action plans);
however, State used this quarter to focus senior management on
Enterprise Architecture development and security certification
and accreditation. |
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Budget/Performance
Integration — State’s status remains red because
it has yet to connect performance of its programs with budgetary
decisions relating to those programs. State has also put budget
and planning staffs together in a resource management office.
It has also begun to institute accountability for achieving performance
goals as part of annual manager evaluations. |
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A
Rightsized Overseas Presence —
The State Department has worked closely with OMB to review current
staffing and costs overseas and to develop future plans for overseas
presence. The 2002 State Department authorizations bill mandates
that the State Department establish an inter-agency working group
to review rightsizing of posts worldwide in 2003. Over the past
year, OMB and the State Department have worked with agencies to
develop a capital surcharge proposal to cover Agency costs for housing
their employees at facilities paid for by the State Department.
The Administration will continue to advance this initiative. |
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U.S.
Agency for International
Development (AID)
Historically,
USAID has had significant difficulties managing thousands of projects
in over 80 countires because of obsolete management systems. The agency
faces serious challenges in improving, given the low starting point
for each agenda item.
Initiative |
Status |
Progress |
Human
Capital — More than 40 percent of USAID workforce can
retire within five years. So, the agency had increased recruitment
with it New Entry Professional program. Yet, USAID has not finalized
a strategic plan, and has not yet evaluated the reorganization
of its Washington headquarters. |
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Competitive
Sourcing — USAID has not yet provided a competition
plan that commits the agency to competing any of the neary 600
commercial positions on its FAIR Act Inventory. |
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Financial
Performance — For the first time, USAID got audit opinions
on three of the 2001 finanacial statements and has increased financial
reporting capacity. USAID anticipates an improved 2002 audit,
and plans to deploy an integrated agency-wide accounting system. |
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Enhancing
E-Government —
USAID has improved its process for overseeing information technology
investments and has an enterprise architecture with strong technology
layer. USAID has begun active participation in government-wide
initiatives and has improved collaboration with the Department
of State. The agency still needs to strengthen its business cases
for proposed information technology investments and continue work
in a comprehenisve modernization strategy for the agency. |
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Budget/Performance
Integration — While unable to support its 2004 Budget
request according to performance criteria, USAID has developed
a model for resource allocation and begun implementing full-cost
accounting. |
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Reform
of Food Aid Programs —
The Administration has successfully reformed food aid policy to
provide greater certainty of funding, target funding to feeding
hungry people and to increase consistency in USDA and USAID management
of food aid programs. Bases on these successes, this initiative
will no longer be monitored as part of the President's Management
agenda. |
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Program
Assessments - State, USAID, and other International Affairs Agencies
Program assessments
were completed for 17 international affairs programs, including nine in
the Department of State, three in USAID, two in the Department of the
Treasury, and one each in the Export-Import Band, the Ovesees Private
Investment Corporation, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
In part,
international affairs programs are hampered in demonstrating performance
by the inherent difficulty in quantitatively measuring certain foreign
policy results. However, the programs that rated perticulary low in this
area will focus their efforts in 2003 on putting into effect clear quantitative,
or objective qualtitative performance measures, and on adjusting strategic
and performance plans as appropriate to facilitate performance measurement.
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