With the third quarter of the current fiscal year (FY) now behind us, Federal agencies are entering the homestretch of the annual financial reporting cycle. Throughout the year, and for the first time ever, agencies submitted quarterly financial statements within 21 days of the end of the quarter. Using this as a yardstick to gauge their ability to meet financial reporting deadlines, agencies appear to be on track for meeting the November 15th Performance and Accountability Report (PAR) submission date.

Achieving this reporting goal indicates that agencies have the capability to produce timely and accurate financial information to manage their operations and plan for the future. Agencies with green PMA scores for their financial initiative have demonstrated that they are doing just that.

This quarter, we welcome the Department of Energy (DOE) to our group of four existing green agencies - the Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, and Social Security Administration. DOE has been a leader in complying with financial reporting requirements and is now making relevant financial information accessible to program managers in the agency.

I'm also pleased to report that implementation of Executive Order 13327, "Federal Real Property Asset Management," has been enthusiastically embraced across the government. Senior real property officers have been designated at all executive agencies and are actively participating in the interagency Federal Real Property Council. The council is directed to develop guidance, serve as a clearinghouse for best practices, and facilitate the efforts of the agency senior real property officers. Under the auspices of the Council's three committees (the Committees on Asset Management Plan, Performance Measures, and Property Inventory) and its working groups, agencies are already hard at work to provide the tools to allow us to improve the management of Federal real properties.

In conjunction with the executive order, a new program initiative - Federal Real Property Asset Management - has been added to the PMA. This new initiative applies to the largest Federal landholding agencies, which will be given a score on the status and progress of their real property management improvement efforts on the quarterly PMA scorecard. Initial scores for all agencies were set at "red" on this third quarter FY 2004 scorecard, but we look forward to working with the senior real property officers and the Council to progress from that point.