a

GAO

United States Government Accountability Office

Report to Congressional Requesters

February 2006 ARCHITECT OF THE 

CAPITOL

Management 

Challenges Remain

GAO-06-290
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

February 2006

ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL 

Management Challenges Remain 

Highlights of GAO-06-290, a report to 

congressional committees 

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) 

is responsible for the maintenance, 

renovation, and new construction 

of the Capitol Hill complex, which 

comprises more than three dozen 

facilities and consists of nine

jurisdictions, such as the U.S. 

Capitol and the Senate and House 

Office Buildings. In 2003, at the 

request of Congress, GAO issued a

management review of AOC that

contained recommendations in 

seven areas to help AOC become

more strategic and accountable. 

GAO reported on AOC’s progress in 

implementing those

recommendations in January and

August 2004. In 2005 and 2006, 

GAO briefed Congress on AOC’s 

recent progress in implementing

GAO’s recommendations and on

issues related to AOC’s project and 

facilities management. This report 

summarizes GAO’s (1) assessment 

of AOC’s progress in implementing 

previous GAO recommendations 

and in improving project and 

facilities management and (2) 

delineation of remaining

management challenges. 

What GAO Recommends

The implementation status of 

recommendations made in our 

previous reports along with

recommendations made following 

our recent reviews of project and 

facilities management is 

summarized in this report. In 

commenting on this report, AOC 

generally agreed with its content.

Overall, AOC is making progress in implementing GAO’s previous 

recommendations and in improving project and facilities management. For 

example, AOC has implemented 21 of 54 recommendations, established a 

central organization for managing major projects, and completed 

assessments of nearly all of the agency’s facilities, for use in developing a 

comprehensive facility maintenance and building renewal plan. AOC has 

also begun initiatives to develop meaningful performance measures and to 

restructure its project management information systems to provide better 

data for monitoring and reporting. These initiatives, though encouraging, are 

in their early stages, and it is too early to determine their success. In recent 

briefings provided to AOC management and congressional staff, GAO made 

additional recommendations to improve the accountability and effectiveness 

of AOC’s project and facilities management initiatives. 

AOC has made progress in some areas, but still has a significant amount of 

work ahead to achieve its ultimate goal of establishing a strong strategic 

management and accountability framework. Specifically, it has not 

completed initiatives to address two critical issues—communication with 

external stakeholders and development of internal controls—identified in 

previous GAO recommendations or in independent audits of AOC’s 2003 and 

2004 balance sheets. These issues affect a wide range of AOC operations. 

For example, communication with congressional stakeholders is essential to 

establish and clarify service and expectation levels. Internal controls, such 

as a reliable cost accounting system, sound procurement practices, and a 

comprehensive information security program, are necessary to, respectively,

improve project and facilities management, strengthen the integrity of AOC’s

procurement processes, and effectively safeguard AOC’s data and 

information assets. 

Leadership support is vital to ensure that needed improvements are given 

urgent attention; this support is also essential to ensure that improvements 

that have already been made are continuously evaluated and refined as 

needed. However, the key leadership positions of Chief Operating Officer,

Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Director of the Capitol 

Power Plant, Director of Congressional and External Relations, and Director 

of Planning and Project Management are currently vacant. Furthermore, the

term for the current Architect of the Capitol will expire in less than a year. 

AOC is at a critical juncture in its efforts to become more strategic and 

accountable. Quickly filling the vacant management positions with qualified 

people is essential for AOC to sustain and extend its recent improvements 

and to have a cohesive management team in place in the event of a turnover 

in the Architect of the Capitol position. AOC is now attempting to fill the 

vacant leadership positions, and, to mitigate the impact of these vacancies, it

recently appointed an Acting Chief Operating Officer--who is also

temporarily serving as the Acting Chief Financial Officer—and an Acting 

Chief Administrative Officer to help guide the agency’s improvement efforts.

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-290.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Patricia A. 

Dalton at (202) 512-2834 or

daltonp@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Contents

Letter 1

Results in Brief 4

Progress Made on Prior Recommendations but AOC Has Not 

Implemented Some Key Recommendations in Critical Areas 6

Progress and Challenges in Project Management 10

Progress and Challenges in Facilities Management 11

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 12

Appendixes

Appendix I: Summary of AOC’s Progress on General Management Review 

Recommendations 13

Appendix II: Progress and Challenges in Improving Project 

Management 20

Recommendations in September 2005 Briefing 22

Appendix III: Progress and Challenges in Improving Facilities 

Management 24

Recommendations Made in December 2005 and January 2006 

Briefings 27

Appendix IV: Status of AOC’s Progress on Recommendations 28

Appendix V: Major Contributors 48

Table Table 1: Current Status of Recommendations 28

Abbreviations

AOC Architect of the Capitol

CAFM computer-aided facility management

CAO chief administrative officer

CFO chief financial officer

COO chief operating officer

CPP capitol power plant

CVC capitol visitor center

EA enterprise architecture

FCA facility condition assessment

FTE full-time equivalent

IT information technology

OIRM Office of Information and Resource Management
Contents

Page ii GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

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Page 1 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

A

February 21, 2006 Letr

The Honorable Jerry Lewis

Chairman

The Honorable David Obey 

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Appropriations

United States House of Representatives

The Honorable Wayne Allard

Chairman

The Honorable Richard Durbin

Ranking Minority Member

Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch

Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

The Honorable Trent Lott

Chairman

The Honorable Christopher J. Dodd

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Rules and Administration

United States Senate

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for the maintenance, 

renovation, and new construction of the Capitol Hill complex, which 

comprises more than three dozen facilities, nearly 15 million square feet of 

space, and 370 acres of ground developed over 200 years. Organizationally, 

AOC consists of a centralized staff that perform administrative functions 

and staff who oversee nine “jurisdictions” or operational units that handle 

their own day-to-day operations. AOC’s jurisdictions include the buildings 

and grounds of the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress, and the Supreme 

Court; the House and Senate Office Buildings; the Capitol Power Plant 

(CPP); the Botanic Garden, and Security Programs. AOC operates in a 

challenging environment: the agency must preserve and modernize these 

high-profile, historic buildings while meeting the needs of Congress—

including its leadership, committees, individual members, and staffs—and 

the visiting public. AOC has managed major projects at the Library of 

Congress, the Supreme Court, and CPP, and is currently managing the 

construction of the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC)—the largest increment of 

growth in the history of the Capitol. However, Senate and House 

Appropriations Committees have raised concerns about management 
Page 2 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

shortcomings at AOC.1 For example, in 2001, the Senate Appropriations 

Committee cited several management issues, including a lack of strategic 

planning, inadequate financial and project management controls, and an 

unacceptably high level of worker injuries. 

To address congressional concerns, AOC has been working for several 

years to transform itself into a more strategic and accountable organization 

and to improve worker safety. This transformation is a long-term effort that 

involves a fundamental change in AOC’s culture. For example, AOC faces 

the challenge of how best to marshal its jurisdiction-based resources to 

address the strategic planning and other functional issues that cut across 

the organization. AOC also faces the challenge of how to shift from reacting 

to problems as they arise to proactively preventing problems by identifying 

and addressing their root causes. Changes of this magnitude require the 

sustained commitment of the agency’s top leadership. 

In January 2003, at the request of Congress, we issued a management 

review of AOC that contained recommendations that were intended to 

assist AOC in establishing a strategic management and accountability 

framework to drive its agency transformation efforts and address longstanding program issues, such as project management and worker safety.2

In February 2003, Congress further directed us to monitor AOC’s progress 

in implementing these recommendations and to assess the plan prepared 

by AOC’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) for describing the policies, 

procedures, and actions to carry out the responsibilities of that position. 3

 

In response to these mandates, we issued two reports in January 2004 and 

August 2004, which concluded the following: 4

• AOC was making progress on all recommendations. For example, to 

improve project management, AOC created a clearly defined, well1

Sen. Rep. No. 107-37, at 28-29 (2001) and H.R. Conf. Rpt. No. 107-148, at 73 (2001).

2

GAO, Architect of the Capitol: Management and Accountability Framework Needed for 

Organizational Transformation, GAO-03-231 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 17, 2003).

3

H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 108-10, at 1225 (2003); Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, 

Pub. L. No. 108-7, Sec. 1203 of Div. H, 117 Stat. 11, 373-374 (2003).

4

GAO, Architect of the Capitol: Status Report on Implementation of Management Review 

Recommendations, GAO-04-299 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 30, 2004) and GAO, Architect of the 

Capitol: Midyear Status Report on Implementation of Management Review 

Recommendations, GAO-04-966 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 31, 2004).
Page 3 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

documented, and transparent process for evaluating and prioritizing 

projects. To improve worker safety, AOC developed several broad 

performance measures, including two measures of the extent to which 

unsafe conditions exist within AOC and two measures to assess 

employees’ perception of safety. 

• AOC’s progress on individual recommendations, while commendable, 

represented only initial steps toward the agency’s goal of becoming a 

more strategic and accountable organization. Substantial work 

remained to achieve sustained, long-term management improvements, 

and greater effort would be needed to expedite these improvements. 

• Sustained commitment and assertive involvement of AOC’s leadership 

would be key to addressing AOC’s long-standing weaknesses and 

instilling lasting change.

• The COO’s plan—issued in December 2003—included action items 

related to several critical areas of improvement, such as strategic 

planning, organizational management and structure, project 

management, customer service, and communications. However, the 

plan was not sufficiently detailed to guide and communicate the 

agency’s performance and progress in these areas.

Our most recent efforts to monitor AOC’s progress included an evaluation 

of (1) the agency’s overall progress in responding to our recommendations 

in seven areas—strategic management, human capital management, 

project management, worker safety, recycling, financial management, and 

information technology (IT) management; (2) issues related to project 

management, including the extent to which AOC meets its original budget 

and schedule targets for major construction projects (i.e, projects over 

$250,000), and the initiatives that AOC is implementing to improve project 

management;5

 and (3) issues related to facilities management, including the 

extent to which AOC tracks facilities management performance and the 

initiatives that AOC is implementing to improve facilities management. We 

provided briefings to our congressional requesters on the results of our 

work in September and December 2005 and January 2006. This report 

summarizes those briefings and supplements the information presented in 

5

Excluding four projects—constructing the Capitol Visitor Center, modernizing the Supreme 

Court, expanding the West Refrigeration Plant, and increasing Perimeter Security.
Page 4 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

the briefings with examples from our other recent work related to AOC’s 

CVC project and financial management efforts. 

To evaluate AOC’s progress in responding to our recommendations, we 

interviewed AOC officials responsible for implementing the 

recommendations and analyzed documents related to AOC’s actions. To 

assess AOC’s progress and challenges in improving project management, 

we interviewed AOC officials, analyzed project budget and schedule data, 

and conducted seven project case studies.6

 To assess AOC’s progress and 

challenges in improving facilities management, we interviewed AOC 

officials, interviewed officials from comparable organizations (including 

the Smithsonian Institution, the state capitol complexes of Iowa and 

Virginia, and the University of Virginia), compared the performance 

measures for facilities management that AOC currently tracks with those 

used by industry associations and similar institutions, and analyzed 

information about facilities management initiatives at AOC. We conducted 

our work on the three reviews from December 2004 through January 2006 

in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Results in Brief Overall, AOC is making progress in fulfilling some previous 

recommendations and in improving project management and facilities 

management. For example, AOC has implemented 21 of 54 

recommendations made in previous reports (primarily related to strategic 

management, human capital management, worker safety, and recycling, 

although work remains to be done in each of these areas), established a 

central organization dedicated to managing major projects, and completed 

assessments of nearly all of the agency’s facilities, which will enable AOC 

to better monitor the condition of its facilities and develop a 

comprehensive plan for facility maintenance and building renewal. 

Furthermore, AOC has initiatives for additional improvements planned or 

underway, such as a “Strategic Performance Initiative”—a year-long effort 

to develop and implement meaningful performance measures and link 

these measures to daily activities and resource requirements. AOC is also 

6

Most of the projects used as case studies began before AOC had begun to apply best 

practices to project management in 2002, and all began before many current initiatives had 

been implemented. Therefore, these case studies may not reflect AOC’s current way of 

managing projects. However, since major projects take from five to eight years to complete, 

those project that were initiated after 2002 would not be far enough along in the 

construction process to evaluate the effect of best practices on AOC project management.
Page 5 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

evaluating its project management information systems to provide better 

data and replacing the existing computer-aided facility management 

(CAFM) system to enhance tracking and reporting capabilities. AOC’s 

progress is encouraging but, since these initiatives are in their early stages, 

it is too early to determine their success. 

Despite progress in some areas, AOC still has a significant amount of work 

ahead to reach its ultimate goal of establishing a strong strategic 

management and accountability framework. Specifically, two critical 

issues—communication with external stakeholders and internal controls—

underlie challenges that have been highlighted in previous GAO 

recommendations or in independent audits of AOC’s 2003 and 2004 balance 

sheets, such as:

• developing and implementing an effective communication strategy with 

congressional stakeholders; 

• establishing a strong foundation of financial accountability and control, 

including an effective internal control framework and cost accounting 

system; 

• establishing sound procurement practices; and

• improving IT management, including information security.

These issues affect a wide range of AOC operations. For example, 

communication with congressional stakeholders is essential to establish 

and clarify service and expectation levels and to obtain input on AOC’s 

initiatives. An effective cost accounting system is necessary for several 

project and facilities management improvements, such as developing a 

method to more accurately account for project costs and establishing and 

tracking performance measures for facilities management costs. Sound 

procurement practices are critical to improve the integrity of AOC’s project 

management and other procurement processes. Finally, improved IT 

management is necessary to effectively safeguard AOC’s data and 

information assets.

Leadership support is vital to ensure that needed improvements are given 

urgent attention; this support is also essential to ensure that improvements 

that have already been made are continuously evaluated and refined, as 

needed. However, the senior leadership positions of COO, the Chief 

Financial Officer (CFO), the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), and the 
Page 6 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Director of the CPP are currently open. Other key management positions 

have been created recently, but are currently vacant, such as the Director 

of Congressional and External Relations and the Director of Planning and 

Project Management. Furthermore, the term for the current Architect of 

the Capitol will expire in less than one year. The agency is at a critical 

juncture in its transformation efforts. It is essential for AOC to quickly fill 

the management positions that are currently vacant to sustain 

improvements that have already been achieved, support further 

transformation efforts, and have a cohesive management team in place in 

the event of a turnover in the position of the Architect of the Capitol. AOC 

is in the process of hiring for the positions that are currently open. To help 

mitigate the impact of so many vacancies in key leadership positions, AOC 

recently appointed an Acting COO—who is also temporarily serving as the 

Acting CFO—and an Acting CAO to help guide the agency until the 

positions are filled. Once a permanent COO is in place, it will be 

particularly important for this person to provide strategic direction for 

AOC, including updating the COO action plan to help guide and 

communicate the agency’s transformation efforts.

We provided a draft of this report to AOC for review and comment. AOC 

officials provided oral comments in which they generally agreed with the 

content of this report that includes the implementation status of 

recommendations made to AOC in our previous reports and those 

recommendations made based on our recent reviews of project 

management and facilities management. AOC also provided technical 

corrections, which we have incorporated, as appropriate.

The following summarizes our three briefings, augmented with examples 

from other recent work. 

Progress Made on Prior 

Recommendations but 

AOC Has Not 

Implemented Some 

Key Recommendations 

in Critical Areas

AOC has implemented 21 of 54 recommendations that span seven areas—

strategic management, human capital management, project management, 

worker safety, recycling, financial management, and IT management. The 

agency is making progress primarily in the areas of strategic management, 

human capital management, project management (covered in the next 

section), worker safety, and recycling. For example, to improve strategic 

management, AOC released accountability reports in fiscal years 2003 and 

2004, developed a summary document to track key performance goals, 

established processes for obtaining employee and customer feedback, and 

initiated several new methods for communicating with employees. 

However, AOC has not implemented a key recommendation related to 
Page 7 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

communicating with external stakeholders—to develop protocols that 

establish and clarify service and expectation levels with congressional 

stakeholders. AOC’s Acting COO recognizes the importance of 

communication with congressional members and staff. Since October 2005, 

the Acting COO has met regularly with congressional stakeholders, 

including Appropriations Committee staff, and is developing further 

strategies to improve communication with congressional stakeholders. 

AOC is also hiring a Director of Congressional and External Relations who 

will be responsible for developing and maintaining positive relations with 

congressional members and staff.7

In addition, to strengthen human capital management, AOC has, among 

other things, linked its employee evaluation system to mission-critical 

goals, established monthly management meetings to share and assess data 

from employee relations offices, and identified a number of ways to collect, 

report, and analyze workforce data. However, with a large portion of 

employees with knowledge in specific trades eligible for immediate 

retirement, AOC leadership needs to ensure progress continues to identify 

current and future workforce gaps and develop strategies to address these 

gaps. To improve worker safety, AOC has made progress in developing 

safety policies, implementing a system to track investigations of incidents 

and follow up, completing a job hazard analysis process to report hazards, 

and establishing a safety-training curriculum that fully supports the goals of 

the safety policies. From fiscal year 2000 to 2005, AOC’s injury and illness 

rate declined from 17.9 to 5.7 injuries or illnesses per 100 employees. 

However, until AOC’s safety policies are fully implemented, the agency will 

not have a comprehensive picture of safety hazards. To improve recycling, 

AOC has significantly expanded the recycling program; developed a clear 

mission, goals, and performance measures for the program; and issued an 

environmental program plan. However, the agency still needs to evaluate 

the impact of the new performance measures on its current evaluation 

criteria and make any necessary changes. 

While AOC has made progress in financial management, substantial work 

remains to fulfill recommendations related to this area. For example, AOC 

had independent audits of its balance sheets for fiscal years 2003 and 2004

7

This function was previously carried out by AOC’s Chief of Staff. Upon the departure of the 

Chief of Staff, AOC changed the title of the position to Director of Congressional and 

External Relations.
Page 8 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

conducted.8 AOC received an unqualified or “clean” opinion of the balance 

sheets, but the audits identified a number of material weaknesses related to 

internal controls. For example, the audit for fiscal year 2004 found that 

AOC’s procurement system lacked controls to ensure that contract 

modifications were properly executed prior to initiation of the work, 

project costs were properly classified, and contract executed amounts 

were compared to contract value. Similarly, our separate, ongoing 

monitoring of the CVC project showed that AOC needed to take additional 

steps to ensure that it was: (1) receiving reasonable prices for proposed 

contract modifications, (2) obtaining adequate support for contractors’ 

requests for reimbursement of incurred costs, (3) adequately overseeing its 

contractors’ performance, and (4) taking appropriate steps to see that 

contractors were not doing work before it was appropriately authorized 

under approved contractual arrangements.9

 AOC is working to correct 

these weaknesses. 

To further improve financial management, AOC is developing an 

agencywide internal control framework and a cost accounting system, 

which are essential to improving accountability across all AOC operations. 

The internal control framework initiative is scheduled to be implemented 

by June 30, 2006, while the cost accounting system is scheduled to be 

implemented by September 30, 2006. However, this schedule is likely to be 

delayed by a lack of funding and qualified staffing resources. At the 

beginning of fiscal year 2006, AOC requested the contractors leading these 

initiatives to significantly scale back their development efforts, citing a lack 

of fiscal year 2006 funding resources. At that time, the Office of the CFO 

estimated that 10 positions—including senior manager level positions to 

help lead these initiatives—would be needed to implement the initiatives 

on schedule. AOC recently transferred authority to fill some of the 

positions from within AOC and reprogrammed funds to help continue these 

initiatives; as of January 2006, the contractors have resumed their 

development efforts. However, AOC transferred authority for only 4 of the 

estimated 10 positions, none of which were at the senior manager level. 10

8

The audits were limited in scope to the balance sheet and related notes. A full-scope audit 

of a complete set of its financial statements and related note disclosures for fiscal year 2005 

is currently under way.

9

GAO, Capitol Visitor Center: Priority Attention Needed to Manage Schedules and 

Contracts, GAO-05-714T (Washington, D.C.: May 17, 2005).

10AOC plans to provide the remaining six positions in fiscal years 2007 and 2008. 
Page 9 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

As of February 8, 2006, AOC had posted vacancy announcements to fill 

three of the four positions, but filling these positions could take several 

months.11 Leadership support—especially from the Architect, COO, and 

CFO—is critical to ensure that these important initiatives are appropriately 

funded, staffed, and monitored. Until these initiatives are implemented and 

operating effectively, AOC faces substantial risk in financial management.

AOC also has begun several initiatives to improve IT management, but 

substantial work remains, particularly in information security. To improve 

information security, AOC has issued a policy and a plan for performing 

risk assessments, issued and implemented an IT security training policy, 

and developed a plan to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of IT 

security policies and controls. However, AOC has yet to establish and 

implement key information security practices, such as completing risk 

assessments on all of its major applications, documenting the identified 

risks in system security plans, and developing and implementing 

appropriate security controls to mitigate the risks—including developing 

contingency plans for all systems and applications. Until AOC implements 

key information security practices, it will be challenged to effectively 

safeguard its data and information assets.

As part of our review of AOC’s progress in responding to previous 

recommendations, we followed up on our recommendation related to the 

COO action plan—issued by AOC’s previous COO in December 2003. In 

August 2004, we found that the plan was not sufficiently detailed to guide 

and communicate the agency’s performance and progress and 

recommended that the Architect of the Capitol and the COO consult with 

members of Congress and key committees on the specific information 

regarding AOC’s plans, policies, procedures, actions, and proposed 

organizational changes in order to enhance the usefulness of the COO 

action plan. The COO subsequently departed AOC and, despite the absence 

of a permanent COO, the agency has been continuing to follow the steps 

laid out in the action plan. For example, AOC has made progress in 

addressing elements of AOC project management that were recommended 

to be included in the action plan and has consulted with congressional 

stakeholders on project management initiatives, such as prioritizing 

projects and establishing a new project management organization. 

11The posted positions include two Senior Accountant positions and one Junior Accountant 

position.
Page 10 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

According to AOC officials, the action plan will be updated when a 

permanent COO is in place.

Appendix I provides a more complete summary of AOC’s progress in 

responding to recommendations. Appendix IV lists all 54 recommendations 

from previous reports—as well as recommendations from the recent 

project management and facilities management reviews—and details 

AOC’s progress on each recommendation.

Progress and 

Challenges in Project 

Management

According to AOC, 84 major construction projects (all 41 projects that were 

completed since January 1, 2003, in addition to all 43 active projects) were 

meeting budget targets as of September 2005. However, in some cases, 

AOC’s budget targets included higher construction contingency allowances 

than are typical for industry or AOC’s guidance. Furthermore, the budget 

status of projects constructed “in house” by AOC’s Construction Branch 

(rather than by contractors) could not be accurately determined because 

overhead costs for the branch may not have been charged to the 

appropriate project. AOC officials believe they are using appropriate 

contingency allowances, but acknowledged that estimating and accounting 

for the costs of projects could be improved. AOC also reported that about 

half of the projects were behind schedule based on the original estimated 

contract completion date, in part because of scope changes and unforeseen 

conditions. However, additional measures that reflect the customer’s 

needs, such as the “beneficial occupancy date,” could provide a more 

complete picture of AOC’s schedule performance.

AOC has initiatives—such as establishing an organization dedicated to 

managing major construction projects and reinstating a quarterly report on 

the budget and schedule progress of projects—that should improve project 

management and related communications with congressional 

stakeholders. However, AOC’s major construction projects generally take 

between 5 and eight years to complete, so it is too early to determine the 

results of AOC’s initiatives to improve project management. Meanwhile, 

better internal controls are needed to improve management and 

accountability, particularly in establishing and tracking budget targets, 

revising guidance manuals, and implementing controls concerning the 

quality of reports. We made recommendations aimed at improving internal 

controls in these areas, and AOC has made progress on these 

recommendations since we provided the briefings in September 2005. For 

example, AOC has begun an internal review of its Construction Branch 
Page 11 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

operations and included a “beneficial occupancy date” in tracking project 

schedules.

Appendix II provides a more complete summary of AOC’s progress in 

improving project management.

Progress and 

Challenges in Facilities 

Management

AOC tracks performance measures for the quality and timeliness of its 

facilities management services, but does not track comprehensive cost 

measures or evaluate (“benchmark”) its performance against that of any 

similar facilities management organizations. AOC’s current measures show 

that AOC’s customers are satisfied with the quality of AOC’s services and 

that AOC is meeting or exceeding the targets for its timeliness measures. 

However, the timeliness measures could be improved to better represent 

the amount of time required for—and spent on—specific tasks. Industry 

best practices that would improve accountability and provide useful 

information on trends in costs include developing and tracking cost 

performance measures and benchmarking performance against that of 

other organizations. AOC officials plan to develop cost measures after the 

completion of the new cost accounting system and the installation of a new 

CAFM system. 

To improve facilities management, AOC has several initiatives, including 

assessing the condition of its facilities to develop a comprehensive plan for 

facility maintenance and building renewal and switching to a new CAFM 

system that should enhance AOC’s tracking and reporting capabilities. 

These initiatives can help improve AOC’s ability to develop facilities 

management cost measures to facilitate the benchmarking of performance, 

as well as improve overall facilities management. However, assessing 

facility conditions has brought to light the magnitude of AOC’s deferred 

maintenance and other projects—at least $2.6 billion over nine years as 

initially estimated by an AOC contractor (and now being validated by 

AOC)—and the challenge of funding these projects. In addition, the new 

CAFM system will not be fully effective until, among other things, it is 

linked to the planned cost accounting system, the development and 

implementation of which has been delayed. In our briefings in December 

2005 and January 2006, we made recommendations aimed at improving 

AOC’s facilities management performance measures and the effectiveness 

of the new computer system.

Appendix III provides a more complete summary of AOC’s progress in 

improving facilities management.
Page 12 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Agency Comments and 

Our Evaluation

We provided the Architect of the Capitol a draft of this report for review 

and comment. We received oral comments from AOC officials stating that 

they generally agreed with the content of the information presented in this 

report—including the implementation status of recommendations made to 

AOC in our previous reports and recommendations based on our recent 

reviews of project and facilities management. AOC officials emphasized 

that GAO’s findings regarding project management largely reflected past 

problems and that AOC’s new Project Management Organization (now a 

division within AOC) is proceeding with a number of initiatives that are 

targeted to correct past problems and has plans to start additional 

initiatives. AOC officials also provided technical corrections to the report, 

which we have incorporated, as appropriate. 

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees. We are also sending this report to the Architect of the Capitol. 

We will make copies available to others upon request. In addition, this 

report will be available at no cost on the GAO Web site at 

http://www.gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional 

Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. If 

you or your staff have any questions about this report, you may contact me 

at (202) 512-2834 or at daltonp@gao.gov, or Sara Vermillion at (202) 512-

9913 or at vermillions@gao.gov. Major contributors to this report are listed 

in appendix V.

Patricia A. Dalton

Managing Director, 

Physical Infrastructure Team
Page 13 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Appendix I

Summary of AOC’s Progress on General Apendxies

Management Review Recommendations ApendxiI

Under the congressional mandate to monitor the Architect of the Capitol’s 

(AOC) progress, we evaluated AOC’s response to 54 recommendations in 

seven areas: strategic management, human capital management, project 

management, worker safety, recycling, financial management, and 

information technology (IT) management. We provided briefings on our 

work in September 2005. Appendix IV lists all 54 recommendations and 

details AOC’s progress on each recommendation. Appendix IV also 

includes the most recent recommendations resulting from our review of 

AOC’s project management and facilities management.

AOC has implemented 21 of 54 recommendations and is making progress 

primarily in the areas of strategic management, human capital 

management, project management (discussed in detail in app. II), worker 

safety, and recycling, although work remains in all of these areas. While 

AOC has also made progress in financial management and IT management, 

substantial work remains to fulfill recommendations related to these areas, 

particularly in financial management. Many of the recommendations that 

have not been implemented require significant organizational changes; 

leadership support for these changes is vital to ensure their success as well 

as the continued success of initiatives that AOC has in place. 

Strategic Management Strategic management recommendations were designed to help AOC 

improve strategic planning efforts and organizational alignment, establish 

meaningful performance measures, obtain feedback from employees and 

customers, improve internal and external communications, and strengthen 

the relationship between AOC and congressional stakeholders. In 

response, AOC released accountability reports for fiscal years 2003 and 

2004 and developed a summary document to track performance for each of 

its strategic goals. The agency has also established processes for obtaining 

feedback from employees and customers, which should improve 

communications with these groups. To further improve communication 

with employees, AOC has implemented a variety of communication 

methods to convey information to employees, including a weekly 

newsletter on project updates, policy announcements, management and 

communication tips, and other agencywide messages. However, AOC still 

needs to improve communication with external stakeholders. For example, 

AOC has not fully implemented protocols to establish and clarify service 

and expectation levels with congressional stakeholders. Without such 

protocols, neither AOC nor congressional stakeholders can be assured that 

agency efforts and resources are targeted to their highest priorities. The 

Acting Chief Operating Officer (COO) recognizes the importance of 
Appendix I

Summary of AOC’s Progress on General 

Management Review Recommendations

Page 14 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

communication with congressional members and staff. Since October 2005, 

the Acting COO has been meeting regularly with congressional 

stakeholders, including Appropriations Committee staff, and is developing 

further strategies to improve communication with congressional 

stakeholders. AOC is also in the process of hiring a Director of 

Congressional and External Relations who will be responsible for 

developing and maintaining positive relations with congressional members 

and staff. In addition, AOC has not developed a comprehensive set of 

outcome-based and performance-based measures that would enable AOC 

and Congress to assess AOC’s progress. AOC has developed a document—

the “AOC dashboard”—that includes several high-level indicators to track 

performance for each of its strategic goals as well as a target goal for each 

indicator. The dashboard is a positive step that needs further development 

as AOC revises its goals and objectives and assign measures to each area in 

fiscal year 2006. 

Human Capital Management Human capital management recommendations were aimed at 

strengthening AOC’s human capital policies and performance. In response, 

AOC implemented a performance management approach by developing 

strategic goals and measuring performance and linked its employee 

evaluation system to mission-critical goals. In addition, AOC management 

has improved the way it gathers and assesses data from employee relations 

offices by holding monthly meetings to share and discuss data, make 

recommendations, and take action. AOC has also identified a number of 

ways to collect, report, and analyze workforce data and has developed a 

report that forecasts future workforce needs. However, with a large portion 

of employees with knowledge in specific trades eligible for immediate 

retirement, AOC leadership needs to ensure progress continues to 

complete ongoing efforts to identify gaps in current and future workforce 

needs and develop strategies to address these gaps. Completing these 

efforts should further improve its employee evaluation system and AOC’s 

ability to strategically plan for future workforce needs. 

Worker Safety Worker safety recommendations were designed to enhance AOC’s ongoing 

efforts to establish a strategy for the worker safety program by developing 

performance measures for safety goals and objectives, establish policies 

for reporting hazards, establish a system for conducting investigations and 

follow-up, and implement a safety-training curriculum. In response, AOC 

has developed 23 of 35 specialized safety policies; implemented a system to 

track investigations of incidents and follow-up; completed a job hazard 
Appendix I

Summary of AOC’s Progress on General 

Management Review Recommendations

Page 15 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

analysis process to report hazards; and established training that supports 

the goals of the safety policies. Overall, AOC’s injury and illness rate 

declined from 17.9 in fiscal year 2000 to 5.7 in fiscal year 2005. However, 

until AOC fully implements the specialized safety policies, particularly a 

policy on hazard assessment and control, the agency will not be able to 

develop a comprehensive picture of AOC hazards. During our Capitol 

Visitor Center (CVC) monitoring work, we noted that worker injury rates 

for the CVC construction site were higher than the rates for comparable 

sites and that gaps existed in the management of worker safety at the CVC 

site. AOC has taken action to address this issue; the injury and illness rate 

for the CVC project declined from 9.1 in 2003 and 12.2 in 2004, to 5.9 for the 

first 10 months of 2005—below the 2003 industry average of 6.1. 

Recycling Recycling recommendations were designed to help AOC adopt a strategic 

approach to recycling by developing a mission and goals for the recycling 

program, establishing performance measures for the program, examining 

the roles and responsibilities of recycling staff, and holding staff 

accountable for achieving goals. In response, AOC has developed a clear 

mission, goals, and performance measures for AOC’s recycling program 

and issued an environmental program plan. AOC has also included 

recycling tasks in recycling staff position descriptions and recycling 

objectives in AOC’s evaluation system for recycling managers. However, 

AOC still needs to evaluate the impact of the new performance measures 

on its current evaluation criteria and make any necessary changes. 

According to AOC officials, the AOC recycling program has undergone 

significant expansion over the past five years, while at the same time 

becoming more efficient. Initially consisting of recycling of paper, cans, 

bottles, and scrap metal, the AOC recycling program has now been 

expanded to include items such as toner cartridges, carpeting, concrete, 

ceiling tiles, batteries, pallets, wooden spools, hard plastics, and electronic 

wastes such as computers. The program has also been expanded by 

increasing the number of locations at which recycling is taking place. The 

paper recycling program has maintained a “zero percent off-specification” 

(formerly referred to as “contamination”) rate for the past two years, down 

from historical contamination rates as high as 50 percent.

Financial Management Financial management recommendations were aimed at helping AOC 

improve financial management by institutionalizing sound financial 

management practices; strengthening accountability and control through 
Appendix I

Summary of AOC’s Progress on General 

Management Review Recommendations

Page 16 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

senior management’s visible support for efforts to prepare auditable 

financial statements and implement internal controls; and enhancing the 

successful development of appropriate cost accounting and meaningful 

financial, cost, and performance reporting. AOC made progress in financial 

accountability by issuing its initial agencywide accountability reports in 

December 2004 and February 2006, in which the results of audits covering 

AOC’s fiscal year 2003 and 2004 balance sheets, respectively, were 

presented; requesting a full-scope audit of a complete set of its financial 

statements and related note disclosures for fiscal year 2005; and beginning 

development of an AOC-wide internal control framework and a cost 

accounting system. While these initiatives reflect progress, until they are 

implemented AOC will continue to face significant risk in financial 

management and program operations. 

The AOC received an unqualified or “clean” opinion on its balance sheet for 

fiscal year 2003 and its comparative balance sheet for fiscal years 

2003/2004. However, the Independent Auditor’s Report on Internal Control

for fiscal year 2003 noted a number of internal control weaknesses that 

AOC has been working to correct, including weaknesses in the areas of:

capitalizing work-in-process expenses, allocating overhead to project 

costs, accounts payable cutoff, capital and operating leases, payroll record 

retention, and IT controls. As reported in AOC’s 2004 Accountability 

Report, the AOC has fully addressed six out of seven material weaknesses 

identified in the fiscal year 2003 auditor’s report. The fiscal year 2004 

auditor’s report identified weaknesses in the areas of: internal control 

assessments, annual leave processing, timekeeping controls, procurement 

system controls for contracts, procurement processes for capital and 

operating leases, and IT security. 

To further improve financial management, AOC is developing an 

agencywide internal control framework and a cost accounting system, 

which are essential to improving accountability across all AOC operations; 

however, it is unlikely that these initiatives will be completed by their 

scheduled implementation dates of June 30, 2006, and September 30, 2006. 

During fiscal year 2005, AOC approved the establishment of an AOC-wide 

internal control framework. AOC began developing a process to formally 

evaluate, document, and recommend improvements on the effectiveness of 

the design and operations of its internal control structure. In developing 

this framework, AOC has begun to identify key financial and operational 

processes, updating process documentation and flowcharts, perform risk 

analyses, update and benchmark controls, and document any identified 

deficiencies. In addition, in an effort to move AOC’s financial system from a 
Appendix I

Summary of AOC’s Progress on General 

Management Review Recommendations

Page 17 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

budget-based system to a performance-based system, AOC is developing a 

cost accounting system, which would align goals, activities, and outputs; it 

would also improve systems and reporting across the agency, including 

project management and facilities management. AOC plans to implement 

the new performance-based system in phases to make an orderly transition 

from the current budget-based financial system. Those plans include pilot 

deployment of an interim cost structure for managers through fiscal year 

2006, followed by the development of a structure for general and 

administrative cost reporting, and the development of a structure for 

jurisdictional services in fiscal year 2007. However, AOC’s schedule for 

implementing these key initiatives is likely to be delayed by a lack of 

funding and qualified staff resources. At the beginning of fiscal year 2006, 

AOC requested the contractors leading the internal control and cost 

accounting initiatives to significantly scale back their development efforts, 

citing a lack of fiscal year 2006 funding resources. At that time, the Office of 

the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) estimated that 10 positions—including 

senior manager level positions to help lead these initiatives—would be 

needed to implement the initiatives on schedule. AOC recently transferred 

authority to fill some of the positions from within AOC and reprogrammed 

funds to help continue these initiatives; as of January 2006, the contractors 

have resumed their development efforts. However, AOC transferred 

authority for only four of the estimated 10 positions—none were at the 

senior manager level.1

 As of February 8, 2006, AOC had posted three of the 

four vacancy announcements (two Senior Accountant positions and one 

Junior Accountant position), but filling these positions could take several 

months. Leadership support—especially from the Architect of the Capitol, 

COO, and CFO—is critical to ensure that these important initiatives are 

appropriately funded, staffed, and monitored. Until these initiatives are 

implemented and operating effectively, AOC faces substantial risk in 

financial management.

In total, the extent of progress on the financial management reporting 

improvement efforts has been limited. Successful completion of the 

development and implementation of these important financial management 

initiatives will require additional AOC funding and qualified staff, close 

monitoring, and strong and visible support of these initiatives by AOC 

leadership. AOC will continue to face significant risk in financial 

management and its program operations until these key accountability and 

management control initiatives are fully implemented.

1

AOC plans to provide the remaining six positions in fiscal years 2007 and 2008. 
Appendix I

Summary of AOC’s Progress on General 

Management Review Recommendations

Page 18 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

IT Management IT management recommendations were designed to help AOC adopt an 

agencywide approach to information management by: developing and 

implementing IT investment management processes to support informed 

executive decision making; developing, implementing, and maintaining an 

enterprise architecture2

 to guide and constrain IT investments throughout 

AOC; and establishing and implementing an information security program. 

In response, AOC established a Director of the Office of Information and 

Resource Management to manage IT across the agency. AOC has also taken 

important initial steps to address the management and structure needed to 

establish a sound IT investment management process, such as assigning 

roles, responsibilities, and the authority needed to manage its IT 

investment portfolio. AOC, moreover, is in the process of instituting an 

approval process and mechanism to screen all proposed IT projects using 

standardized criteria. Further, AOC has established the management 

structure for developing, implementing, and maintaining an enterprise 

architecture, such as designating a chief enterprise architect to guide 

architecture development and maintenance and developing an updated 

version of its architecture that was approved by the senior policy 

committee, which includes senior representatives from across the agency. 

In addition, AOC has established some aspects of an effective information 

security program, such as issuing a policy and a plan for performing risk 

assessments; issuing and implementing an IT security training policy; and 

developing a plan to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of IT security 

policies and controls. 

However, more work remains to be done to fully implement our 

recommendations. In particular, AOC has yet to fully develop and 

implement important key steps in their IT investment management 

process, such as developing an overall approach to portfolio management 

that incorporates existing and proposed projects into the investment 

decision making process and documenting and implementing a sound 

investment control process to monitor all current and proposed IT 

2

An enterprise architecture can be viewed as a link between an organization’s strategic plan 

and the program and supporting system implementation investments that it intends to 

pursue to systematically achieve its strategic goals and outcomes. As such, the architecture 

is basically a blueprint, defined largely by interrelated models, that describes (in both 

business and technological terms) an entity’s “as is” or current environment, its “to be” or 

future environment, and its investment plan for transitioning from the current to the future 

environment. The use of such a blueprint is a recognized hallmark of organizations that 

effectively leverage technology in the transformation and modernization of business 

operations and supporting systems.
Appendix I

Summary of AOC’s Progress on General 

Management Review Recommendations

Page 19 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

investments. Furthermore, AOC has yet to establish and implement key 

practices associated with developing, implementing, and maintaining an 

enterprise architecture, such as ensuring that the architecture addresses 

security and ensuring that metrics are used to measure progress, quality, 

compliance, and return on investment. Moreover, as stated above, the 

agency has yet to establish and implement key information security 

practices, such as completing risk assessments on all of its major 

applications, documenting the identified risks in system security plans, and 

developing and implementing appropriate security controls to mitigate the 

risks—including developing contingency plans for all systems and 

applications. Until AOC completes and implements plans for improvement 

that are consistent with all our recommendations, it will be challenged in 

its ability to effectively use IT to optimize mission performance. 

COO Action Plan As part of our progress review, we followed up on our recommendation 

related to the COO action plan—issued by AOC’s previous COO in 

December 2003—which recommended that the Architect of the Capitol and 

the COO consult with members of Congress and key committees on the 

specific information regarding AOC’s plans, policies, procedures, actions, 

and proposed organizational changes in order to enhance the usefulness of 

the COO action plan. The agency has been continuing to follow the steps 

laid out in the action plan, despite the absence of a permanent COO. For 

example, AOC has made progress in addressing elements of AOC project 

management that were recommended to be included in the action plan. 

According to AOC officials, the action plan will be updated when a 

permanent COO is in place.
Page 20 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Appendix II

Progress and Challenges in Improving Project 

Management ApendxiI

To evaluate AOC’s efforts to improve project management, we (1) 

determined the extent to which AOC is meeting it original budget and 

schedule targets for major construction projects (projects costing over 

$250,000, not including four construction projects—building the CVC, 

modernizing the Supreme Court, expanding the West Refrigeration Plant, 

and increasing Perimeter Security) and (2) identified initiatives that AOC is 

implementing to improve project management and challenges that remain. 

We provided briefings on this work in September 2005.

At the time of our briefings, AOC reported that all recent major projects 

were meeting budget targets. However, AOC’s budget targets are based on 

cost estimates that include construction contingencies that are sometimes 

5 percent higher than both industry standards and AOC’s own guidance.1

Although higher budget targets reduce the need for AOC to request 

additional funds to complete projects, higher targets could also reduce the 

incentive for AOC to prudently manage project funds and tie up excess 

funds that could be used for other capital projects. For example, 41 

projects completed from January 2003 to April 2005 had excess funding 

totaling about $5.5 million. In addition, the overhead costs of projects 

constructed “in house” by AOC’s Construction Branch (rather than by 

contractors) may not have been accurately charged to the correct project 

because these charges do not receive the same level of review as those of 

outside contractors. According to AOC officials, using a contingency higher 

than 10 or 15 percent requires documented rationale for why the 

percentage is higher than prescribed by AOC guidance. AOC officials stated 

that they believe that their contingency allowances are appropriate for the 

environment in which AOC operates, but acknowledged that estimating 

and accounting for the costs of projects could be improved. 

AOC also reported that about half of recent projects were behind schedule 

based on the original estimated contract completion date, in part because 

of scope changes, unforeseen conditions, and changes in jurisdictions’ (the 

customers’) priorities. However, additional measures that reflect the 

customers’ needs, such as the “beneficial occupancy date” could provide a 

more complete assessment of AOC’s schedule performance. Since our 

1

A “contingency” is project funding set aside or planned to cover events that may or may not 

occur. The Construction Management Association of America cites construction 

contingencies of up to 15 percent as appropriate for renovation work, which is typically 

done by AOC. AOC guidance also specifies a contingency of 15 percent.
Appendix II

Progress and Challenges in Improving 

Project Management

Page 21 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

briefings, AOC has tracked the beneficial occupancy date, as well as the 

original estimated contract completion date.

AOC has initiatives in several areas—planning, project management 

organization and accountability, and communication—that are designed to 

improve project management. For example, AOC continues to refine its 

planning process to identify, develop, and prioritize capital projects. The 

most recent refinements include adding the results of completed facility 

condition assessments and using two new criteria to evaluate projects—

“urgency” and “type of project.” AOC also implemented a Project 

Management Organization to align project and construction management 

to provide “cradle to grave” project oversight. Under this new organization, 

AOC is:

• using “jurisdictional executives” as liaisons with jurisdictions;

• tracking performance measures for budget and completion dates and 

quality of project design;

• using a governmentwide system to evaluate and record contractor 

performance;

• maintaining central files for key project documentation to improve 

access and accountability; and 

• enforcing liquidated damages against contractors on delayed projects to 

motivate them to meet contract commitments.2

Finally, AOC has reinstated a quarterly report to Congress to communicate 

the budget and schedule status of ongoing projects. 

While these initiatives are promising, AOC faces the challenge of 

developing better internal controls to improve management oversight and 

accountability. Meeting this challenge will improve the chances of success 

for AOC’s initiatives. For example, AOC’s planning process would benefit 

from more complete information on the initial scope of projects. For the 

2

AOC is required by law to include a liquidated damages provision in all construction 

contracts over $50,000. Liquidated damages are assessed against a contractor for a delay 

when the contractor is responsible for the delay. The damages are based on a daily rate and 

the number of days that the project’s completion is delayed.
Appendix II

Progress and Challenges in Improving 

Project Management

Page 22 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

new Project Management Organization, AOC has not implemented a 

customer satisfaction survey to track the quality of construction services, 

fully clarified staff roles and responsibilities, or updated guidance manuals. 

The quarterly report does not accurately reflect the performance of 

projects constructed by AOC’s Construction Branch because the agency 

does not have a method for calculating current working estimates for this 

branch. Furthermore, the quarterly report must be compiled manually 

because AOC’s information systems do not adequately support project 

management and reporting needs. 

Recommendations in 

September 2005 

Briefing

To improve internal controls related to project management, we 

recommended that AOC:

• develop a method to establish and track more accurate budget targets, 

which could include tracking and reporting on the accuracy of cost 

estimates compared with bids, the accuracy of project budgets 

compared with final project costs, the amount of excess project funds 

and how these funds are used, and cost data for the Construction 

Branch;

• expedite the development of a customer satisfaction survey for 

construction services;

• clarify the roles and responsibilities of staff in the new Project 

Management Organization;

• revise project management guidance manuals; and 

• develop or modify information systems to provide needed cost and 

schedule data on projects and track reasons for changes across all 

projects.

AOC generally agreed with our recommendations and, since September 

2005, has made progress in addressing these recommendations by 

• developing and tracking new cost measures on a monthly basis, 

• piloting the use of a project closeout sheet to verify reallocation of 

excess funds, 

• initiating an internal review of AOC's Construction Branch’s operations,
Appendix II

Progress and Challenges in Improving 

Project Management

Page 23 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

• initiating the development of a customer satisfaction survey for 

construction services,

• communicating and clarifying staff roles through regular staff meetings, 

and

• analyzing the Project Management Organization’s information needs to 

determine the requirements for a new or revised information system.
Page 24 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Appendix III

Progress and Challenges in Improving 

Facilities Management ApendxiI

To evaluate AOC’s efforts to improve facilities management, we reviewed 

(1) the extent to which AOC tracks facilities management performance and 

(2) the initiatives AOC is implementing to improve facilities management 

and the challenges that remain.1

 We provided briefings on our work in 

December 2005 and January 2006.

AOC tracks performance measures for quality and timeliness of facility 

management services; these measures indicate that AOC’s customers are 

satisfied with the quality of AOC’s services and that AOC is providing the 

services in a timely manner. For example, in 2004, all but one of AOC’s 

quality ratings were above 80 percent and almost half were above 90 

percent. AOC is also meeting or exceeding its timeliness targets. For 

example, in September 2005, AOC closed 88 percent of the demand work 

orders that were closable that month and completed 95 percent of the 

orders in less than 30 days.2

 However, AOC’s timeliness measures could be 

improved to better represent the amount of time required for specific tasks. 

AOC uses a standard timeliness measure of 30 days for all tasks, even 

though many tasks take less time to complete. For example, the Senate 

jurisdiction allots 24 hours for decorative paint repair, 1 week to paint an 

entire area, and 2 weeks to refinish furniture. The Smithsonian Institution, 

an organization with characteristics similar to AOC, tracks multiple time 

frames that are more relevant for specific tasks, such as 24 hours, 3 days, 

and within 30 days. Not tracking more specific timeliness measures hinders 

AOC in accurately determining whether tasks are completed in a timely 

manner, and identifying which tasks may need additional resources.

AOC does not track comprehensive cost performance measures or evaluate 

(or “benchmark”) its performance with that of similar facilities 

management organizations. While AOC has the capability to track a limited 

number of annual complex-wide cost measures, it does not 

comprehensively and routinely track specific cost measures, such as the 

cost per square foot of cleaning or maintenance and repairs. By not 

tracking these performance measures, AOC cannot understand how those 

costs compare with those of similar institutions, or identify how its costs 

1

Facilities management includes operations and maintenance, facilities planning, and 

facilities support service functions.

2

Demand work orders usually involve a specific request for service made to an AOC Service 

Center. Work orders, which may be planned (preventive maintenance work order) or 

unplanned (demand work order), are sheets that detail a task to be completed. Usually this 

involves the maintenance or repair of a particular building or equipment.
Appendix III

Progress and Challenges in Improving 

Facilities Management

Page 25 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

may be increasing or decreasing over time. However, to track cost 

performance measures, AOC must first develop and implement a cost 

accounting system. As discussed earlier in this report, development and 

implementation of this cost accounting system has been delayed due to 

lack of adequate resources and personnel. Furthermore, while AOC 

internally compares the performance of individual jurisdictions in areas 

such as customer satisfaction and timeliness, the agency does not 

benchmark its performance against that of external organizations. Even 

though AOC’s facilities are somewhat unusual, benchmarking could help 

identify areas where costs may be high or cost trends differ. AOC officials 

told us that the agency has implemented cost accounting pilot initiatives in 

several jurisdictions and acknowledge that benchmarking performance 

against that of comparable external organizations would be beneficial.

AOC has several initiatives under way that should help improve its ability 

to develop and track cost performance measures and benchmark 

performance. 

• Conducting facility assessments to develop a comprehensive plan for 

facility maintenance and building renewal: The Facility Condition 

Assessment (FCA) initiative establishes an ongoing process for 

monitoring facility conditions and enables AOC to develop a 

comprehensive plan for facility maintenance and building renewal. 

FCAs help AOC prioritize projects for budget requests and increase 

AOC’s accountability, since they enable AOC to directly link facility 

needs and budget plans. AOC has completed all but two FCAs—for the 

Library of Congress Building and Grounds and the Supreme Court. 

While FCAs have enabled AOC to develop a comprehensive plan for 

facility maintenance and building renewal, the assessments have also 

documented the magnitude of AOC’s deferred maintenance and other 

projects—$2.6 billion over nine years—and the challenge of funding 

these projects. Funding for only a limited number of these projects has 

been integrated into AOC’s Capital Improvement Plan process. 

According to AOC officials, they plan to discuss funding needs with 

appropriators as part of the Capital Improvement Plan process, using 

the FCA results to help appropriators better understand the funding 

needs. 

• Switching to a new Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) 

system to enhance tracking and reporting capabilities: AOC uses its 

current CAFM system to track demand work orders, but does not 

consistently track preventive maintenance work orders (even though 
Appendix III

Progress and Challenges in Improving 

Facilities Management

Page 26 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

the current system is capable of tracking these work orders).3 By not 

tracking preventive maintenance work orders, AOC cannot compare 

how much preventive maintenance jurisdictions are performing with 

how much is recommended. AOC is replacing its existing CAFM system 

because the vendor is phasing out support for that system. According to 

AOC officials, the new system will have improved tracking and reporting 

capabilities, which will make it easier for the jurisdictions to use the 

system to track preventive maintenance work orders, as well as develop 

cost performance measures. However, the new CAFM system must be 

used in conjunction with a new cost accounting system (as noted above, 

development and implementation of this system has been delayed) 

before AOC will be able to fully utilize data provided by the new CAFM 

system. 

• Consolidating service contracts to save money on contract 

administration: AOC jurisdictions consolidate contracts for some 

services, such as elevator maintenance and hazardous waste disposal. 

Currently, 20 percent of services conducted in multiple jurisdictions are 

under consolidated contracts. Contract consolidation can save money 

because the administrative functions for the contract are centralized; 

AOC could also gain from additional economies of scale. AOC officials 

acknowledge that there are additional opportunities for consolidation, 

including window cleaning and fire alarm testing and certification. 

• Standardizing facility inspection practices to make inspections 

consistent across jurisdictions: AOC has a comprehensive, 

jurisdictionwide inspection program. For example, over 95 percent of 

AOC’s assets are being inspected through modes such as FCAs and 

Night Custodial Inspections. Although jurisdictions currently conduct 

inspections independently using their own procedures, AOC plans to 

evaluate the inspections and merge them into a comprehensive 

inspection manual that standardizes the preferred inspection 

procedures across jurisdictions. According to AOC officials, the 

standardization of inspections across jurisdictions will help ensure that 

inspections are performed consistently across jurisdictions and that 

they are completed as efficiently as possible using a minimum of 

resources.

3

According to AOC officials, preventive maintenance data for the House, Senate, and Capitol 

jurisdictions have been loaded into the current CAFM system.
Appendix III

Progress and Challenges in Improving 

Facilities Management

Page 27 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Recommendations 

Made in December 

2005 and January 2006 

Briefings

To improve how AOC measures its performance in the areas of timeliness 

and cost, the agency should:

• develop and track more specific timeliness measures that more 

accurately reflect the amount of time required to complete tasks;

• develop the capability to comprehensively and routinely track cost 

measures; and

• benchmark appropriate existing and new performance measures against 

those of similar institutions, such as the Smithsonian Institution and 

state capitols.

AOC should use the new CAFM system to track preventive maintenance 

and demand work orders across all jurisdictions, including the time taken 

to complete work orders.

AOC generally agreed with our findings and the areas identified for 

improvement, such as developing cost measures, benchmarking, and 

tracking preventive maintenance work orders. AOC officials noted that 

they also had identified these areas and have taken steps toward 

implementing improvements.
Page 28 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations ApendxiIV

The following table includes all recommendations made as part of our 

general management review. In addition, the table includes new 

recommendations resulting from our reviews of project management and 

facilities management. For recommendations that have been implemented, 

the “status” column includes the month and year of the GAO report that 

acknowledges the completion of that recommendation.

Table 1: Current Status of Recommendations

GAO Recommendation Status

Strategic management

1. Improve strategic planning and organizational alignment 

by involving key congressional and other external 

stakeholders in AOC’s strategic planning efforts and in any 

organizational changes that may result from these efforts.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has involved congressional and other stakeholders 

in strategic planning efforts and organizational changes. For example, AOC 

sought input and guidance from congressional stakeholders and GAO on its 

efforts to align its activities, core processes, and resources with its mission 

and strategic goals, which resulted in a revised organizational structure. In 

addition, AOC has shared its strategic plan and its performance plan with its 

congressional and other stakeholders and has received guidance on how to 

improve future reports. AOC has also worked with congressional and other 

stakeholders on several management changes such as instituting a Capitol 

Visitor’s Center Executive Director and a Director of Congressional and 

External Relations. In a November 2005 letter to appropriators, the Architect 

of the Capitol provided an update on several key strategic planning efforts 

and plans for fiscal year 2006. The Acting COO currently provides periodic 

briefings to congressional stakeholders including information on updates to 

the strategic plan. AOC is in the process of hiring a permanent COO, who 

will be responsible for continuing to consult with Congress on AOC’s 

strategic planning efforts and organizational changes. 

2. To strengthen the relationship between AOC and its 

congressional and other stakeholders, we recommend that 

the Architect of the Capitol direct the COO to actively 

consult with Congress on the design and implementation 

of meaningful outcome-based and performance-based 

measures that are useful to both AOC and Congress. This 

will enable AOC and Congress to assess AOC’s progress. 

Aug. 2004

Making progress: Although AOC has not developed a comprehensive set 

of performance measures, the agency has developed a document—the 

AOC dashboard—that summarizes performance in each of its strategic 

focus areas: project management, facilities management, human capital 

management, and organizational excellence. The dashboard includes 

several high-level indicators to track performance for each of the strategic 

goals as well as a target goal for each indicator. AOC plans to revise goals 

and objectives and assign measures to each area in fiscal year 2006. AOC 

is in the process of hiring a permanent COO, who will be responsible for 

consulting with Congress and communicating AOC’s progress on the design 

and implementation of a comprehensive set of outcome-based and 

performance-based measures. 
Appendix IV

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Recommendations

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GAO Recommendation Status

3. Develop a comprehensive strategy to improve internal 

and external communications by providing opportunities 

for routine employee input and feedback.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has established a process for obtaining 

employee input and feedback and finalized a process manual for employee 

feedback. The process manual provides guidance for obtaining employee 

feedback using a four-step approach: identifying concerns, obtaining data, 

giving feedback, and following up on results. The process manual also 

details responsibilities for staff and provides an implementation plan. While 

AOC has provided opportunities for routine employee feedback, it is 

important for AOC to collect a consistent and comprehensive set of data on 

a regular basis in order to monitor progress against an established baseline.

4. Gather and analyze employee feedback from focus 

groups or surveys before fiscal year 2005, as well as 

communicate how it is taking actions to address any 

identified employee concerns.

Jan. 2004

Implemented February 2006: AOC held focus group sessions in 

September 2004 and has communicated planned actions to employees by 

issuing three brochures. According to AOC, it has begun to implement 

several of the planned actions and will continue to communicate with 

employees as each action plan is implemented. In addition, AOC has issued 

a focus group guide that outlines procedures for conducting focus groups 

and reporting on the results. 

5. To improve communications with employees, we 

recommend that the Architect of the Capitol direct the 

COO to fully and effectively implement the basic 

framework as defined in its communications plan and 

process manuals, and finalize its draft employee feedback 

manual to assure that the current progress already made 

is maintained. 

Aug. 2004

Implemented February 2006: AOC implemented the basic framework in its 

communications plan through a variety of communication methods to 

convey information to employees including a weekly newsletter on project 

updates, policy announcements, management and communication tips, and 

other agencywide messages. AOC has also distributed a process manual 

for employee feedback. 

6. Develop a comprehensive strategy to improve internal 

and external communications by completing the 

development of congressional protocols by involving 

stakeholders.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: According to AOC officials, the protocols that AOC 

drafted were not considered to be viable by congressional stakeholders. 

AOC is developing an alternative to formal protocols by documenting 

internal procedures for communicating with congressional staff such as 

returning calls within 24 hours and written requests within 5 days. AOC’s 

Acting COO/CFO explained that this effort would help clarify service and 

expectation levels. 7. Conduct a pilot of its congressional protocols in one or 

more of its jurisdictions to determine how well its protocols 

would work in addressing customer requests for service, 

while balancing the need of multiple requests with the 

strategic plan and corresponding project priorities of the 

agency. 

Jan. 2004

8. Develop a comprehensive strategy to improve internal 

and external communications by improving annual 

accountability reporting through annual performance 

planning and reporting.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled our recommendation 

through the release of its fiscal year 2003 accountability report and its plans 

to publish its fiscal year 2004 accountability report and fiscal year 2005 

performance and accountability report. In addition, AOC released a 

performance plan in April 2005 that details steps to achieve its strategic 

goals and objectives. AOC staff, AOC Audit Committee staff, GAO, and 

other congressional stakeholders are involved in the development of these 

reports. AOC plans to monitor the progress toward meeting milestones 

outlined in its performance plan through monthly assessment meetings. 

(Continued From Previous Page)
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9. Develop a comprehensive strategy to improve internal 

and external communications by continuing to regularly 

measure customer satisfaction AOC-wide. 

Jan. 2003

Implemented January 2004a: AOC fulfilled our recommendation by 

implementing the annual building services customer satisfaction survey. 

Information from the survey will be incorporated into AOC’s business plan 

and will be useful in monitoring the quality of AOC’s services and the 

progress of AOC’s improvement initiatives.

10. To strengthen the relationship between AOC and its 

congressional and other stakeholders, we recommend that 

the Architect of the Capitol direct the COO to expedite the 

release of the 2003 building services customer satisfaction 

survey, as a transparency and accountability mechanism 

and to provide Congress and other stakeholders 

assurance that actions are being taken in response to their 

feedback.

Aug. 2004

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled our recommendation by 

releasing the results of the 2003 building services customer satisfaction 

survey in its 2004 report. The report tracked customer satisfaction between 

2002 and 2004. In addition, AOC provided customers with letters detailing 

actions planned to address their concerns. 

11. Establish action-oriented implementation goals over 

the long term and a time line with milestone dates to track 

the organization’s progress towards achieving those 

implementation goals. The Architect of the Capitol should 

work with key congressional and other stakeholders to 

develop plans. 

Jan. 2003

Implemented January 2004a: AOC fulfilled our recommendation by issuing 

its draft performance plan in March 2003, which was prepared to satisfy a 

congressional requirement for the development of a management 

improvement plan. This draft performance plan for fiscal years 2003-2007 

established action-oriented implementation goals over the long term and a 

time line with milestone dates to track the organization’s progress toward 

achieving those goals. 

(Continued From Previous Page)
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12. To enhance the usefulness of the COO action plan, we 

recommend that the Architect of the Capitol and the COO 

consult with members of Congress and key committees on 

the specific information regarding AOC’s plans, policies, 

procedures, actions, and proposed organizational 

changes. As part of this effort, the Architect and the COO 

should work with Congress to determine Congress’s 

information needs and the timing and format of delivery of 

that information that will best meet Congress’s needs. 

Furthermore, consistent with our findings and 

recommendations with respect to congressional and other 

stakeholder involvement in general and the Capitol 

complex master plan in particular, as well as our original 

January 2003 management review, specific emphasis 

should be placed on AOC’s project management. 

Particular issues to be discussed could include how:

AOC’s projects’ priorities are determined;

AOC monitors and controls project cost, quality, and 

timeliness; 

AOC uses lessons learned from projects and seeks to 

incorporate best practices; 

project management accountability is assigned and 

managed; and

AOC determines the best mix of in-house and contractor 

support when designing projects.

Subsequent COO action plans and status reports will likely 

be most helpful to Congress to the extent that they are 

rigorously specific as to the problem or issue that needs to 

be addressed, the actions that are being taken in 

response, the progress to date, and milestones for 

additional actions. 

Aug. 2004

Making progress: AOC cannot fully implement this recommendation until a 

permanent COO is in place. In the interim, AOC has made initial progress in 

addressing elements of AOC project management that were recommended 

to be included in the action plan. For example, AOC has implemented a 

process to prioritize projects. To monitor projects, AOC has issued quarterly 

reports to Congress on the cost and schedule of active projects, including 

real-time performance metrics and budgetary-risk forecasting, based on 

feedback from congressional staff. To benefit from lessons learned, AOC 

has developed a design services survey and has plans to implement a 

construction services survey. To improve accountability, AOC has 

established a project management organization with a project manager 

dedicated to each project from start to finish. AOC’s Director of Project 

Management holds periodic briefings with congressional staff in order to 

better understand their information needs as it relates to project reporting. In 

addition, project performance measures are included in a document called 

the AOC dashboard that summarizes performance in each of its strategic 

focus areas. 

Once a permanent COO is in place, AOC leadership needs to complete an 

action plan that addresses items outlined in this recommendation. Time 

frames, action items, issues, progress, and milestones on each of these 

items should be included as key elements in the action plan. GAO continues 

to believe that it is critical for the new COO to actively consult with members 

of Congress and key committees on the development and implementation of 

this plan, including providing specific information on AOC’s plans, policies, 

procedures, actions, and proposed organizational changes. 

13. Further refine its employee feedback efforts by 

establishing a method(s) to collect consistent and 

comprehensive information on a regular basis and to allow 

AOC to track results over time against an established 

baseline.

Oct. 2005

Making progress: AOC has established the results of its 2004 focus groups 

as a baseline for its work environment assessment. According to AOC, its 

Quality Management group will issue a specific guide to consistently follow 

up the work environment assessment as a separate effort from the regular 

annual employee feedback research. AOC does not plan to follow up on its 

focus groups for at least three years. 

14. Improve its communications strategy for employee 

feedback (as documented in its employee feedback 

manual) to ensure that employees and external 

stakeholders receive an adequate level of detail about 

employee feedback initiative results and related agency 

actions in a timely manner. The communications strategy 

should also emphasize the need to summarize the 

documents and provide a consistent level of detail. 

Oct. 2005

Making progress: AOC’s Quality Management group has prepared a 

second version of the employee feedback process manual to reflect GAO 

recommendations on stakeholder communication. As of December 2005, 

the manual is undergoing review by the quality council prior to being 

submitted for signature.

(Continued From Previous Page)
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Human Capital Management

15. Strengthen performance measurement and strategic 

human capital management by developing annual goals 

and measuring performance.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has implemented a performance 

management approach that includes strategic planning, annual 

performance planning and reporting, and assessment of AOC’s progress in 

meeting agencywide milestones and measures. AOC has identified four 

strategic goals: facilities management, project management, human capital 

management, and organizational excellence. AOC has also identified a 

number of measures to monitor and evaluate performance, and these 

measures will serve as the basis for employees’ annual performance goals 

as well as the assessment of AOC’s overall success in meeting its strategic 

goals. The measures include quality facility management; projects delivered 

on time, on budget, and of high quality; highly skilled and motivated 

employees; and effects of managerial oversight. In addition, AOC has 

developed a document—the AOC dashboard—that summarizes 

performance in each of its strategic focus areas: project management, 

facilities management, human capital management, and organizational 

excellence. The dashboard includes several high-level indicators to track 

performance for each of the strategic goals as well as a target goal for each 

indicator. 

16. Strengthen performance measurement and strategic 

human capital management by creating “a line of sight” 

linking AOC’s senior executive and employee performance 

management systems to mission-critical goals.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation. 

AOC’s senior executive performance management system and its employee 

performance evaluation system are linked to AOC’s mission-critical goals. 

Employees are expected to ensure completion of a performance plan that 

outlines performance standards for each critical task related to the 

employee’s position. The employee’s performance is evaluated against the 

established performance plan as it relates to AOC’s strategic goals and 

objectives. The employee is given a rating of “outstanding,” “fully successful,” 

or “unsuccessful” for each element, as well as a summary rating. 

17. Strengthen performance measurement and strategic 

human capital management by establishing agencywide 

core and technical competencies and holding employees 

accountable for these competencies as a part of the 

performance management system.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has identified core competencies for all positions. 

AOC is in the process of developing competencies for all AOC employees 

through the use of a skills survey. AOC’s Workforce Planning and 

Management Office will compare the survey results with established 

competencies before including the competencies in its evaluation system. 

18. Strengthen performance measurement and strategic 

human capital management by developing the capacity to 

collect and analyze workforce data.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC’s Workforce Planning and Management Office has 

identified numerous ways to collect, report, and analyze workforce data. 

Several data sources have been identified and used for analysis, resulting in 

reports on the agency’s workforce, such as retirement reports. AOC plans to 

use the information in these reports for agencywide planning. AOC has 

developed a system to report and monitor full-time equivalents (FTEs). 

However, GAO continues to have concerns about the reliability of the data 

AOC is collecting, particularly related to AOC’s ability to estimate, track, and 

report on FTEs. 

19. Strengthen performance measurement and strategic 

human capital management by identifying current and 

future workforce needs and developing strategies to fill 

gaps.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC’s Workforce Planning and Management Office 

recently developed a report on agencywide retirement that forecasts future 

workforce needs on the basis of anticipated retirements, turnover trends, 

and historical hiring practices. AOC plans to use the report’s findings to 

identify gaps in current and future workforce needs. AOC needs to develop 

strategies to address workforce gaps.

(Continued From Previous Page)
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20. Strengthen AOC’s human capital policies, procedures, 

and processes by continuing to develop and implement 

agencywide human capital policies and procedures and 

holding management and employees accountable for 

following these policies and procedures.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has approved a policy development 

schedule to revise human capital policies as part of its human capital plan. 

In addition, AOC developed a document for supervisors, Supervisors’ Tools 

of the Trade, which provides supplemental guidance on human capital 

policies as needed. Supervisors are rated for performance in human capital 

management as part of AOC’s evaluation system. However, it is important 

that AOC continue to monitor whether supervisors and managers are fairly 

administering the policies as the revisions are implemented. 

21. Strengthen AOC’s human capital policies, procedures, 

and processes by assessing ways in which AOC 

management could better gather and analyze data from 

the various employee relations offices and employee 

advisory council while maintaining employee 

confidentiality. 

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation by 

holding monthly meetings between the Human Resources Director, Equal 

Employment Opportunity and Conciliation Program Director, the chair of the 

employee advisory council and the employment council, and the employee 

assistance program manager and the Deputy Chief of Staff to review and 

discuss employee relations data. The group makes recommendations to 

senior management based on findings and takes action on the items. 

According to AOC, the importance of maintaining employee confidentiality is 

emphasized at each meeting. 

22. To improve communications with employees, we 

recommend that the Architect of the Capitol direct the 

COO to conduct an analysis of both AOC management 

and employee needs with respect to resolving employee 

concerns and issues, as well as assessing the capacity of 

existing offices to fulfill those needs. 

Aug. 2004

Closed – not implemented: Although AOC has not completed an 

assessment of the capacity of existing offices to resolve employee concerns 

and issues and does not plan to do so, the agency has implemented a 

variety of mechanisms to resolve employee concerns and issues. According 

to AOC, multiple offices and programs address employee concerns and 

issues, including the Equal Employment Office, the Employee Assistance 

Programs, the standard grievance process, and the external Office of 

Compliance process. In addition, AOC holds monthly meetings between 

representatives of these offices to review and discuss employee relations 

data. The group makes recommendations to senior management based on 

findings and takes action on the items. Employees in bargaining units are 

also represented by the union and have a process in place to resolve 

individual employee issues. In October 2005, AOC issued a brochure to all 

employees on all Equal Employment Office policies and the available 

programs. In addition, AOC is currently developing a proposal that would 

establish a mediation program as part of AOC’s operational business 

strategy. After implementing the pilot program, AOC plans to assess its use 

and effectiveness and make any needed modifications before making it a 

permanent program and expanding the group of trained mediators. AOC 

should continue to monitor the effectiveness of the programs through 

employee feedback. 

23. Establish a direct reporting relationship between the 

ombudsperson and the Architect of the Capitol consistent 

with professional standards.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has not had an ombudsperson on staff 

for several years. According to AOC, if an ombudsperson is needed, a direct 

reporting relationship between the ombudsperson and the Architect would 

be established once hired. 

(Continued From Previous Page)
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Worker safety

24. Identify performance measures for safety goals and 

objectives, including measures for how AOC will 

implement the 43 specialized safety programs and how 

superintendents and employees will be held accountable 

for achieving results.a

Jan. 2003

Making progress: Although AOC has made significant progress to develop 

written safety policies, full implementation of the safety policies has not 

occurred. As of December 2005, 23 of AOC’s 35 safety policies have been 

written and approved by the Architect’s office. The AOC has developed 

workbooks to help AOC staff implement the safety policies. AOC plans to 

include a schedule for releasing the remaining safety policies in the Office of 

Safety and Health Program Plan. GAO will continue to monitor the progress 

of the safety policies.

25. Establish clearly defined and documented policies and 

procedures for reporting hazards similar to those that 

apply to injury and illness reporting.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has completed a job hazard analysis (JHA) process 

including describing the steps associated with each job task, identifying 

potential hazards associated with each task, developing appropriate 

controls to eliminate or reduce the hazards, developing a training program to 

perform JHAs, and assisting first-line supervisors with performing qualitative 

JHAs. In addition, AOC has completed a “step-by-step plan” that provides a 

general approach for jurisdictions to manage implementation of the JHA 

process. Finally, AOC has included a telephone number for reporting 

hazards in its monthly safety newsletters, which are distributed AOC-wide. 

AOC is currently in the process of finalizing its hazard assessment and 

control policy for distribution to agency reviewers.

26. Establish a consistent AOC-wide system for 

conducting investigations and follow-up.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC fulfilled this recommendation with the 

approval of its interim incident notification, investigation, and reporting 

policy. AOC also implemented the incident analysis module, a component of 

the facility management assistant program. This module provides an 

electronic recordkeeping approach to track the investigation of incidents 

associated with AOC personnel and property. In addition, the module 

interfaces with the facility management assistant program by creating a 

deficiency report when corrective actions associated with an incident are 

identified. Moreover, an AOC-wide incident investigation form has been 

implemented across the jurisdictions. Finally, lessons learned are shared in 

a number of ways, including through AOC’s safety support group.

27. Establish a safety-training curriculum that fully 

supports all of the goals of the safety program and further 

evaluate the effectiveness of the training provided.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation in 

establishing training that supports the goals of the current safety policies. 

For example, during the implementation review process, AOC revalidated 

training requirements against regulatory requirements. Moreover, Safety 

Policy Managers have worked with the Human Resources Management 

Division (HRMD) to ensure that training required by upcoming policies has 

been identified. In addition, AOC has completed a training workbook 

exercise to assess the overall impact of required safety policy training on its 

budget. Also, central staff safety professionals continue to audit training 

courses and provide feedback to course instructors. Finally, the AOC has 

been using injury and illness data to identify training needs. 

28. Assign clear responsibility for tracking and recording 

training received by AOC employees, including 

maintaining an inventory of employees’ certifications and 

licenses.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has chosen a data management system—AVUE—

that will, among other things, track and record the training, licensing, and 

certification requirements received by employees. Safety personnel have 

met with AVUE designers to ensure that the designers fully understand 

AOC’s safety training needs. AOC is working with AVUE to obtain a delivery 

schedule.

(Continued From Previous Page)
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29. Clarify and explore the possibility of expanding the role 

of the Office of the Attending Physician (OAP) in helping 

AOC meet its safety goals, consistent with the broad 

responsibilities laid out in the 1998 Memorandum of 

Understanding between AOC and OAP.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation by 

working with OAP to ensure that the lists of medical surveillance program 

participants are current. In addition, OAP is providing reports to AOC 

jurisdictions when employees are either (1) due or (2) past due for their 

medical surveillance exams. AOC is also drafting a document on the scope 

of medical surveillance services to better define and communicate the 

agency’s requirements to OAP to ensure a common understanding and set 

of expectations.

30. Establish a senior management work group that will 

routinely discuss workers’ compensation cases and costs, 

and develop strategies to reduce these injuries and costs.

Jan. 2003

Implemented August 2004b: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation by 

developing performance measures to assess the long-term impact and 

trends of workers’ compensation injuries and costs. In addition, through the 

Safety, Health, and Environment Council (SHEC), safety and human 

resource officials are exchanging information and data in order to control 

workers’ compensation injuries and costs. Finally, through SHEC, the 

relationship between safety and workers’ compensation injuries and 

illnesses is being promoted. 

31. To enhance worker safety performance measures at 

AOC, the Architect of the Capitol should direct the COO to 

expand upon its safety perception survey by developing a 

more rigorous methodological approach and collecting 

such information on a more regular basis.

Aug. 2004

Making progress: AOC plans to include safety-related questions as part of 

an agencywide work environment assessment. AOC's Quality Management 

group is currently developing a guide for conducting the work environment 

assessment. The worker safety questions should be designed to elicit full 

and honest views on worker safety. 

Recycling 

32. Develop a clear mission and goals for AOC’s recycling 

program with input from key congressional stakeholders 

as part of its proposed environmental master plan. AOC 

may want to establish reasonable goals based on the total 

waste stream—information it plans to obtain as part of its 

long-term environmental management plan—that could 

potentially be recycled.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation. AOC 

drafted a mission statement, goals, and performance measures for its 

recycling program and shared this draft with congressional stakeholders. 

The mission for the recycling program is to foster an environment that 

encourages recycling by the legislative branch staff through convenient and 

efficient programs, resulting in the diversion of wastes from the solid waste 

stream. AOC established three main goals for its recycling program: (1) 

increase overall recycling rates by diverting office wastes, (2) increase 

overall recycling tonnage by diverting non-office wastes, and (3) improving 

communication and coordination among interested Legislative Branch 

agencies by establishing a recycling working group by the end of fiscal year 

2006. 

33. To further assist AOC in developing a more strategic 

approach for its recycling programs and to ensure that 

congressional input is obtained when it would be most 

useful, we recommend that the Architect of the Capitol 

direct the COO to obtain preliminary input from 

congressional stakeholders on its environmental program 

plan—particularly as the plan relates to the mission and 

goals of AOC’s recycling programs—prior to the 

completion of the plan. 

Aug. 2004

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation. AOC 

relied on input from internal and external stakeholders, including 

congressional stakeholders, to assist in the development of the mission, 

goals, and performance measures as part of its recycling program. 

(Continued From Previous Page)
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34. Develop a performance measurement, monitoring, and 

evaluation system that supports accomplishing AOC’s 

recycling mission and goals.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC submitted performance measures that support the 

recycling program mission and goals to congressional stakeholders on 

November 3, 2005. AOC plans to evaluate the impact of the new 

performance measures on its current evaluation criteria and will make 

changes as needed in 2006. Recycling managers are currently rated in 

AOC’s evaluation system for success in several recycling-related tasks. In 

addition, AOC has an environmental services indefinite-delivery, indefinitequantity contract that, according to AOC, will allow for the quick procurement 

of consultant services and other services in support of the implementation 

plan.

35. Examine the roles and responsibilities of AOC’s 

recycling program staff to ensure that they are performing 

the right jobs with the necessary authority, and holding the 

staff accountable for achieving program and agency 

results through AOC’s performance management system.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has included recycling tasks in position 

descriptions and has included recycling responsibilities for supervisors in its 

evaluation system. For example, the performance evaluation system 

includes recycling objectives in the ratings of recycling managers. In 

addition, AOC has included recycling as an objective in its business plan for 

the House and Senate. AOC plans to evaluate the impact of the new 

performance measures on its current evaluation criteria and will make 

changes as needed in 2006. 

Financial management

36. Continue to improve AOC’s approach to financial 

management by developing strategies to institutionalize 

financial management practices that will support 

budgeting, financial, and program management at AOC. 

Such strategies could include developing performance 

goals and measures and associated roles aimed at 

increasing the accountability of nonfinancial managers 

and staff, such as jurisdictional superintendents, program 

managers, and other AOC staff—whose support is critical 

to the success of AOC’s financial management 

initiatives—and ensuring that these staff received the 

training needed to effectively carry out their roles and 

responsibilities. 

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC continues to make progress institutionalizing 

financial management best practices to support efforts to improve 

budgeting, financial management, and program management. AOC 

continued its efforts to annually produce audited financial statements and 

took action in March 2005 to authorize the development of an AOC-wide 

internal control framework. To date, AOC reports that it has partially 

completed the development of this framework. Also, important work has 

begun to identify changes to systems, procedures, and reporting methods 

needed to implement a new financial, cost, and performance reporting 

system (the cost accounting system), which is intended to provide operating 

managers with timely and useful information to enhance their management 

and oversight. However, AOC’s progress has been slower than originally 

anticipated and insufficient resources have delayed implementation of these 

initiatives. As a result, significant work remains to be done to successfully 

implement many of the initiatives and, collectively, to institutionalize the 

range of financial management best practices envisioned by this 

recommendation. To do so, it is imperative that adequate resources be 

continually identified and provided to implement and maintain these 

improvement efforts. The initiatives represent significant cultural and 

operational changes that will directly affect many of AOC’s operations. 

Successfully dealing with these changes will require strong and visible 

senior management support to help ensure that the initiatives’ 

implementation is effectively monitored and that, if necessary, actions are 

taken to keep the implementation on track. The Office of the CFO has thus 

far relied extensively on contractor support to plan and initiate actions 

needed to implement many of these initiatives. By not having AOC staff 

resources actively involved in the planning stages of these important 

accountability initiatives serves to limit the transfer of institutional knowledge 

that was developed by the contractor to the AOC staff.

(Continued From Previous Page)
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37. To help strengthen and sustain AOC’s emerging 

foundation of financial accountability and control, we 

recommend that the Architect of the Capitol, the COO, the 

Chief Financial Officer, and other senior management 

provide strong and visible support for efforts to prepare 

auditable financial statements and implement an effective 

internal control framework by monitoring the 

implementation and related milestones for each effort, 

ensuring the commitment to and support to for each effort 

by participating AOC units, and acting to resolve any 

impediments that may arise. 

Aug. 2004

Making progress: Organizationally, AOC made progress in strengthening 

its foundation of financial accountability and control by issuing its first and 

second agency-wide accountability reports in December 2004 and 2005, in 

which the results of audits covering AOC’s fiscal year 2003 and 2004 

balance sheets, respectively, were presented; requesting a full scope audit 

of a complete set of financial statements and related footnote disclosures for 

fiscal year 2005; beginning the development of an AOC-wide internal control 

framework. 

However, the extent of this progress has been limited because (1) the scope 

of the follow-up financial audit, which was originally planned to cover all of 

AOC’s financial statements, was again limited to AOC’s balance sheet, (2) 

the internal control framework, which was initially planned to be designed 

and authorized by the start of fiscal 2005, was authorized for development in 

March 2005, and (3) due to a lack of fiscal year 2006 resources, 

development and implementation work on the internal control framework 

has been delayed. Based on what we have learned, we believe AOC’s 

schedule for full implementation of this framework (June 2006) will likely slip. 

While these initiatives reflect a degree of progress, until they are 

implemented AOC will continue to face increased risk in financial 

management and in its program operations.

The AOC received an unqualified or “clean” opinion on its balance sheets for 

fiscal years 2003 and 2004. However, both of these audits identified a 

number of internal control weaknesses that AOC has been working to 

correct, the 2003 auditor’s report included weaknesses in the areas of: 

capitalizing work-in-process expenses, allocating overhead to project costs, 

accounts payable cutoff, capital and operating leases, payroll record 

retention, and information technology controls. As reported in AOC’s 2004 

Accountability Report, the AOC has fully addressed six out of seven material 

weaknesses reported in the 2003 report. In the fiscal year 2004 auditor’s 

report, the auditor’s reported weaknesses in the areas of: (1) Internal 

Control Assessments – AOC lacks a formal and systematic process to 

assess and evaluate the design and operation of internal controls, (2) 

Annual Leave – AOC lacks controls to ensure differences in leave balances 

across systems were identified, manual adjustments were approved, 

monitored, and reversed upon system posting, and leave earning rates were 

consistent with years in service, (3) Timekeeping Controls – AOC did not 

have effective controls over time and attendance processing to detect time 

charge modifications after supervisory approval had been made, to require 

employees and supervisors to regularly sign and attest to the accuracy of 

timesheets, (4) Construction Work-In-Process (this weakness was also 

reported in the fiscal year 2003 audit report of the CVC Base Building) – 

AOC does not maintain a formal system that ensures execution of a contract 

or modification before the initiation of work, (5) Capital and Operating 

Leases – AOC does not have an effective policy to timely identify the 

execution or modification of lease agreements and perform the requisite 

analyses to determine if they are capital or operating leases for financial 

reporting, and (6) Information Technology Controls – AOC does not have an 

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 38 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

effective information system security program resulting in weaknesses in 

their information system control environment. 

With regard to the specific focus of this recommendation—the need for 

visible and strong senior management support for audit and internal control 

initiatives—senior management will need to increase its focus on managing 

and overseeing these important accountability and control initiatives that are 

in process in order to help ensure their success.

38. To enhance the successful development of useful 

financial, cost, and performance reporting for major 

operating units and appropriate cost accounting, we 

recommend that the Architect of the Capitol direct the 

COO and the Chief Financial Officer to work with operating 

managers to assess the usefulness of financial-statementlevel information, take an active role in AOC near-term 

efforts to develop agencywide performance measures, 

and review all available options to determine whether 

substantial work can begin, prior to fiscal year 2006, on 

the analyses needed to identify changes necessary to 

implement useful cost accounting at AOC.

Aug. 2004

Making progress: Organizationally, AOC has made progress in developing 

a cost accounting system and useful financial and performance reports for 

major operating units. The Office of the CFO reports progress in conducting 

analyses designed to identify the changes needed to improve cost and 

performance-based management, systems, and reporting methods. The 

analyses—performed by outside contractors—assessed the current cost 

and reporting systems and made recommendations related to defining 

common lines of business and activities, identifying activity-related outputs, 

and linking activities and outputs to strategic goals and performance 

outcomes. Acknowledging that financial-statement-level information was not 

directly useful to line managers, the Office of the CFO has met with the 

jurisdictions to identify financial-related information and reports that 

managers can use to enhance their operational management and oversight. 

AOC management was briefed on the results of the analyses and related 

recommendations and plans to implement the new performance-based 

system in phases to make an orderly transition from the current budgetbased financial system. Those plans include pilot deployment of an interim 

cost structure for managers through fiscal year 2006, followed by the 

development of a structure for General and Administrative cost reporting, 

and development of a structure for jurisdictional services in fiscal year 2007. 

Currently, due to lack of fiscal year 2006 resources all work being performed 

by the contractor has been delayed. AOC plans to resume work using inhouse staff whose positions have been funded and approved, but currently 

these positions remain unfilled. AOC plans to request fiscal year 2007 funds 

to continue involvement of the contractor to work with this staff going forward 

on an “as needed” basis. It is likely that this shortage of resources will delay 

the scheduled date (9/30/2006) for full system implementation. With regard 

to the focus of this recommendation—that the COO and the CFO work with 

operating managers on each of these initiatives—the Acting COO/CFO will 

need to closely monitor and oversee the development of these initiatives and 

work to ensure that managers use the information to improve their 

operational management and oversight.

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 39 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

39. To enhance the successful development of useful 

financial, cost, and performance reporting for major 

operating units and appropriate cost accounting, we 

recommend that the Architect of the Capitol direct the 

COO and the CFO to have senior management visibly 

demonstrate its continuing commitment to and support for 

making AOC-wide system, procedural, and cultural 

changes necessary to provide managers with timely 

financial, cost, and performance information by monitoring 

the efforts’ implementation and related milestones, 

ensuring the commitment to and support for the efforts by 

participating AOC units, and acting to resolve any 

impediments that may arise. 

Aug. 2004

Making progress: As noted in our analysis of AOC’s progress in 

implementing the previous recommendation, AOC has made progress in 

efforts to develop cost accounting and useful financial, cost, and 

performance reporting for major operating units. However, with regard to the 

focus of this recommendation—the need for senior management to visibly 

demonstrate its continuing commitment to and support for the changes 

needed to implement these important management initiatives by monitoring 

implementation efforts, ensuring the commitment and support of 

participating AOC units, and acting to resolve any impediments that may 

arise—AOC senior management will need to take concerted action to visibly 

demonstrate its commitment and support to making the AOC-wide system, 

procedural, and cultural changes necessary to provide managers with timely 

financial, cost, and performance information needed to improve their 

oversight and management of operations.

With many of AOC’s top leadership positions currently vacant, including the 

COO, the CFO, the Director of Congressional and External Relations, and 

the Director of Planning and Project Management, AOC will have difficulties 

in the short-term effectively achieving the level of leadership called for by 

this recommendation. Furthermore, the term for the current Architect of the 

Capitol will expire in less than a year. In an attempt to mitigate the impact of 

so many vacancies in key leadership positions, AOC recently appointed an 

Acting COO, and asked this individual to also temporarily fill the position of 

the Acting CFO to guide the agency’s transformation efforts until qualified 

permanent candidates can be hired. It is essential for AOC to quickly fill the 

management positions that are currently vacant to sustain improvements 

that have already been achieved, support further transformation efforts, and 

have a cohesive management team in place in the event of a turnover in the 

position of the Architect of the Capitol. 

Information technology management

40. Establish a chief information officer or comparable 

senior executive, with the responsibility, authority, and 

adequate resources for managing IT across the agency, 

who is a full participant in AOC’s senior decision making 

processes and has clearly defined roles, responsibilities, 

and accountabilities.

Jan. 2003

Implemented January 2004a: AOC fulfilled this recommendation by issuing 

a centralized IT management policy that assigned a senior executive—

namely, the Office of Information and Resource Management (OIRM) 

director—the role, responsibility and authority for managing IT across the 

agency, including the development, management, and oversight of IT. In 

addition, the policy made the OIRM director a key participant in executive 

decision making, such as serving as the principal adviser to the Architect of 

the Capitol in applying IT to improve business processes. The OIRM 

director’s role also includes controlling AOC’s IT budget and chairing the IT 

project management board.

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 40 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

41. Develop and implement IT investment management 

processes with the full support and participation of AOC’s 

senior leadership. Specifically, the Architect of the Capitol 

must develop a plan for developing and implementing the 

investment management processes, as appropriate, that 

are outlined in our IT investment management guide. At a 

minimum, the plan should specify measurable tasks, 

goals, time frames, and resources required to develop and 

implement the processes. The Architect of the Capitol 

should focus first on the management processes 

associated with controlling existing projects and 

establishing the management structures to effectively 

implement an IT management process.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: The AOC IT investment review board charter was 

approved by the Deputy Chief of Staff in July 2004. This board includes 

senior-level managers across the agency. AOC reports that it is in the 

process of implementing a project review board to oversee all IT projects 

and to monitor schedules, costs, and risks. AOC recently approved a new IT 

investment management policy which describes the roles and authority of 

the boards involved in overseeing IT investments such as the Enterprise 

Architecture Executive Steering committee and the Business Systems 

Modernization Office. The IT investment management policy also describes 

the process for requesting funding and monitoring such investments. AOC 

has taken important initial steps to address the management and structure 

needed to establish a sound IT investment management process, such as 

assigning roles, responsibilities and the authority needed to manage its IT 

investment portfolio. However, the agency has yet to provide a plan that lays 

out its efforts to implement the processes and to control existing investments 

which includes specifying the measurable tasks, goals, time frames, and 

resources.

42. Plan for and implement those practices in our IT 

investment management guide associated with corporate, 

portfolio-based investment decision making, such as 

(1) implementing criteria to select investments that will 

best support the organization’s strategic goals, objectives, 

and mission, (2) using these criteria to consistently 

analyze and prioritize all IT investments, (3) ensuring that 

the optimal investment portfolio with manageable risks 

and returns is selected and funded, and (4) overseeing 

each investment within the portfolio to ensure that it 

achieves its cost, benefit, schedule, and risk expectations.

Jan. 2004

Making progress: AOC reports that, to prioritize investments, it is using an 

IT request form to quantify investment requests by their urgency, value, and 

risk. Although AOC is in the process of instituting an approval process and 

mechanism to screen all proposed IT projects using standardized criteria, it 

has yet to fully develop and implement important key steps in their IT 

investment process. For example, AOC has yet to develop an overall 

approach to portfolio management that incorporates existing and proposed 

projects into the investment decision-making process and document and 

implement a sound investment control process to monitor all their current 

and proposed IT investments.

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 41 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

43. Develop, implement, and maintain an enterprise 

architecture (EA) to guide and constrain IT projects 

throughout AOC. The Architect of the Capitol should 

implement the practices, as appropriate, as outlined in the 

Chief Information Officer Council’s architecture 

management guide. As a first step, the Architect of the 

Capitol should establish the management structure for 

developing, implementing, and maintaining an EA by 

implementing the following actions:

developing an agencywide policy statement providing a 

clear mandate for developing, implementing, and 

maintaining the architecture;

establishing an executive body composed of stakeholders 

from AOC mission-critical program offices to guide the 

strategy for developing the EA and ensure agency support 

and resources for it; and

designating an individual who serves as a chief enterprise 

architect to develop policy, lead the development of the EA, 

and manage it as a formal program.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has (1) developed a written and approved 

agencywide IT policy that provides for developing, implementing, and 

maintaining an EA; (2) assigned responsibility for guiding EA development 

and obtaining approval of the EA from the agency’s senior leadership team, 

which includes senior representatives from across the agency, such as the 

Director of Congressional and External Relations, the Chief Administrative 

Officer, and the superintendents of the House and Senate offices and of the 

Capitol buildings; (3) designated a chief enterprise architect, who is 

responsible for EA development and maintenance; and (4) developed an 

architecture that was approved by the senior leadership team on November 

1, 2004. However, the EA is not yet complete, although AOC’s plans call for 

evolving the architecture through a series of incremental versions. 

According to AOC officials, the other practices needed to effectively 

develop, implement, and maintain the architecture, contained in relevant 

guidance, such as GAO’s enterprise architecture management maturity 

framework, have not yet been implemented. For example, AOC has not 

developed and implemented, among other things, communications, 

configuration, quality, and risk management plans; employed an 

independent verification and validation (IV&V) contractor; or developed 

metrics for measuring and reporting EA compliance. According to AOC, it 

has recently awarded a contract to a qualified vendor to work with its Chief 

Enterprise Architect and Business Systems Modernization Office in 

performing an IV&V of AOC’s EA against GAO's framework for assessing 

and improving enterprise architecture. Work under the contract began, 

according to AOC, in January 2006 and will continue through April 2006. 

44. Plan for and implement the practices in our 

architecture management guide associated with leveraging 

an EA for organizational transformation, such as (1) 

ensuring that adequate resources are devoted to the 

program (funding, people, tools, and technology); (2) 

ensuring that the architecture describes both the “as is” 

and the “to be” environments in terms of performance; (3) 

ensuring that architecture business, performance, 

information and data, applications and services, and 

technology descriptions address security; and (4) ensuring 

that metrics are used to measure EA progress, quality, 

compliance, and return on investment.

Jan. 2004

Making progress: According to AOC, in December 2005, the executive 

steering committee approved its updated EA (EAFY06). In developing the 

architecture, AOC used the federal enterprise architecture framework and 

this version contains both an “as is” and a “to be” architectural description 

and a sequencing plan. However, the architecture does not include all the 

elements of a well-defined architecture. For example, the “as is” and “to be” 

descriptions do not address security as laid out in AOC’s security plan. AOC 

officials stated that the alignment between the EA and security system 

development life cycle is in progress. AOC also stated that it plans to 

continue to refine and expand on the architecture, based on the agency’s 

goals, objectives, and business needs. Further, AOC stated that, once 

selected, the verification and validation contractor will measure EA 

progress, quality, compliance, and return on investment using metrics.

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 42 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

45. Require disciplined and rigorous processes for 

managing the development and acquisition of IT systems 

and implement the processes throughout AOC. 

Specifically, these processes should include the following:

quality assurance processes, including developing a 

quality assurance plan and identifying applicable process 

and product standards that will be used in developing and 

assessing project processes and products;

configuration management processes, including 

establishing a repository or configuration management 

system to maintain and control configuration management 

items;

risk management processes, including developing a 

project risk management plan, identifying and prioritizing 

potential problems, implementing risk mitigation strategies, 

as required, and tracking and reporting progress against 

the plans; and

contract tracking and oversight processes, including 

developing a plan for tracking contractor activities, 

measuring contractor performance and conducting 

periodic reviews, and conducting internal reviews of 

tracking and oversight activities.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: In August 2005, AOC completed its new IT investment 

management policy. In the policy, AOC states that the system development 

lifecycle is used throughout the investment management process to provide 

guidance and documentation support for the project. In addition, AOC 

officials said that its draft system development lifecycle guidelines address 

acquisition processes such as configuration management and risk 

management and that its quality assurance processes have been developed 

and are being refined to ensure the use of standardized project 

documentation. However, we have not received evidence that these 

acquisition processes have been implemented throughout the agency. 

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 43 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

46. Establish and implement an information security 

program. Specifically, the Architect of the Capitol should 

establish an information security program by taking the 

following steps: 

designate a security officer and provide him or her with the 

authority and resources to implement an agencywide 

security program; 

develop and implement policy and guidance to perform risk 

assessments continually; 

use the results of the risk assessments to develop and 

implement appropriate controls; 

develop policies for security training and awareness and 

provide the training; and 

monitor and evaluate policy and control effectiveness.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has (1) designated a security officer with the 

authority to implement an agencywide security program; developed a 

security plan (dated September 2004); and, according to AOC officials, 

assigned resources (funding and staff) to implement the security program; 

(2) developed and issued a policy for performing risk assessments as well 

as a plan for performing risk assessments on its 50 major applications by 

March 2008; (3) acquired risk assessment technology to assess and 

manage the technical controls on all AOC general support system; (4) 

developed and issued a policy for IT security training and completed the 

annual awareness training for all employees, but has not implemented 

training based on user roles and responsibilities; and (5) developed a plan 

to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of policies and controls. 

However, AOC does not have any systems certified and accredited and has 

not completed risk assessments on all of its major applications; 

documented the identified risks in system security plans; and developed 

controls to mitigate the risks, such as developing contingency plans for all 

systems. According to AOC, its certification and accreditation process has 

been planned, resourced, and initiated and phase I, which addresses the 

general support systems and mission critical applications, is expected to be 

completed by the second quarter of fiscal year 2006. However, in the 

interim, AOC’s internal systems and applications remain potentially 

vulnerable and AOC has not developed and implemented a risk-mitigation 

strategy to carry it through this interim period. AOC stated that they believe 

that their strong perimeter defenses (i.e., firewalls) and polices will help 

carry the agency through the interim while they mitigate internal risks. 

According to AOC, it cannot evaluate the effectiveness of IT security 

controls until it determines if its security policies meet the minimum security 

standards established by the Chief Information Officers Council and 

National Institute of Science and Technology’s Federal Information 

Technology Security Assessment Framework. AOC officials stated that a 

self assessment of its IT security polices was conducted and documented. 

They also added that they plan to mitigate the results of the findings through 

a plan of action and milestones. However, no time frame was provided.

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 44 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Project management

GAO Recommendation Status

47. Develop a Capitol complex master plan and complete 

condition assessments of all buildings and facilities under 

the jurisdiction of AOC.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC is currently developing the Capitol complex master 

plan and has completed facility assessments for most of the facilities within 

the complex. The Capitol complex master plan has three components: (1) 

vision statement, (2) framework (concept) plan and (3) jurisdiction plans. 

The draft vision statement has been completed. The framework plan is in 

progress. An expert advisory panel reviewed the vision statement in 

December 2004 and the draft concept plan in March 2005, and the planning 

models are being refined and expanded in response to the panel’s input. 

Jurisdiction plans have been launched in each jurisdiction except the 

Supreme Court. The master plan is scheduled for completion by the end of 

2006. The draft will be prepared in the spring of 2006, and extensive 

consultations will occur in the spring, summer, and fall of 2006 before the 

master plan is finalized.

AOC has completed all facility condition assessments except those for the 

Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. AOC has not received funding 

for the Library assessment and plans to conduct the assessment for the 

Supreme Court after renovations are completed.

48. In order to improve Capitol complex master planning 

efforts, we recommend that the Architect of the Capitol, 

with support from the COO, lead efforts to ensure that 

congressional and other stakeholders are engaged early 

and throughout the development of the Capitol complex 

master plan. 

Aug. 2004

Making progress: AOC has involved congressional stakeholders and AOC 

stakeholders in the development of the Capitol complex master plan. For 

example, the House Jurisdiction plan was accelerated ahead of the 

remaining master plan because of early funding provided by the House. 

According to AOC, throughout this process, there was extensive 

consultation with House leadership, congressional members, staff, and 

stakeholders. In addition, briefings were conducted at standing meetings 

between AOC and House leaders and consultations with AOC staff were 

conducted. GAO will continue to monitor stakeholder involvement 

throughout the development of the master plan.

49. Develop a process for assigning project priorities that 

is based on clearly defined, well-documented, consistently 

applied, and transparent criteria.

Jan. 2003

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation. AOC 

implemented a program development process in 2003 that rated projects in 

five categories: (1) historic preservation and stewardship, (2) fire, life, safety, 

and code compliance, (3) impact on mission, (4) economics, and (5) 

security, with a score from 1 to 100. In the spring of 2004, AOC improved the 

program development process by establishing extensive procedures 

designed to ensure that project scopes fully met both customer needs and 

all criteria and standards. The project evaluation criteria are currently being 

expanded to include urgency (such as immediate, high, medium, or low) and 

classification of a project (such as deferred maintenance or capital 

improvement). This expansion of the evaluation criteria results from 

information being received from FCAs. In September 2005, the AOC’s 

project prioritization panel will evaluate these recommended changes. 

Assuming approval, they will be applied to projects in the fiscal year 2007 

budget submission and fully implemented effective with the project call of 

2006.

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 45 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

50. In order to improve the process for prioritizing projects, 

we recommend that the Architect of the Capitol, with 

support from the COO, lead efforts to ensure that AOC 

informs and obtains agreement from congressional and 

other stakeholders on how and why specific projects are 

submitted for funding. 

Aug. 2004

Making progress: AOC has held and continues to hold regular briefings 

with congressional staff since developing a program development process. 

According to AOC officials, the agency has received positive feedback and a 

high level of support for the process. As we reported previously, although the 

prioritization process is a useful tool, it does not address the underlying 

need to inform and get agreement from congressional and other 

stakeholders on how and why AOC submits projects for funding. 

51. Develop tools to effectively communicate priorities and 

progress of projects, as a part of a broader communication 

strategy.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has developed and communicated the program 

development process prioritization procedures to all parties through various 

means, including regular briefings to congressional stakeholders. AOC has 

also developed quarterly status reports on the budget and schedule status 

of projects that are released to congressional appropriators. However, AOC 

still needs to develop a method to more accurately account for overhead 

costs charged by its construction branch and calculate current working 

estimates for projects constructed by the branch. AOC is currently 

conducting a peer review of Construction Branch operations. In addition, 

AOC needs to automate the generation of the quarterly report to provide 

timely and accurate data. 

52. Define project-management-related performance 

measures to achieve mission-critical strategic and annual 

performance goals.

Jan. 2003

Making progress: AOC has reported on construction schedule and budget 

performance measures. AOC also established a survey and performance 

measures on the quality of design and project management services. AOC 

is developing a similar survey of performance measures for quality of 

construction services. 

53. To strengthen the relationship between AOC and its 

congressional and other stakeholders, we recommend that 

the Architect of the Capitol direct the COO to work with 

Congress on the design and implementation of a 

transparent process to facilitate an understanding between 

AOC and its congressional stakeholders about how AOC 

targets its efforts and resources to the highest project 

priorities and how strategic and tactical decisions and 

trade-offs are made.

Aug. 2004

Making progress: In 2003, AOC implemented a program development 

process that rated projects in five categories: (1) historic preservation and 

stewardship, (2) fire, life, safety, and code compliance, (3) impact on 

mission, (4) economics, and (5) security, with a score from 1 to 100. 

Through this process, AOC created its first capital improvement plan in 2004 

and a fiscal year 2005 line item construction program that included 

consideration of these ratings. In the spring of 2004, AOC improved the 

program development process by establishing extensive procedures 

designed to ensure that project scopes fully met both customer needs and 

all criteria and standards requirements. In addition, AOC enhanced 

procedures for determining project costs, and these improvements were 

reflected in the procedures used in determining the fiscal year 2006 line item 

construction program. AOC recently approved a predesign manual to help 

ensure correct project scopes. The COO will be responsible for continuing to 

work with AOC’s congressional stakeholders as this process is refined. 

54. Align project management staff and resources with 

AOC’s mission-critical goals. 

Jan. 2003

.

Implemented February 2006: AOC has fulfilled this recommendation. In 

October 2005, AOC implemented a project management organization. The 

organization includes 32 personnel with responsibilities for project 

management, construction management, and inspection. The organization 

is focused on “cradle-to-grave” project delivery. Duties considered to be 

“collateral,” such as design reviews, are being reassigned to other AOC 

officials outside of the new organization. 

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 46 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

GAO Recommendation Status

55. Develop a method to establish and track more accurate 

budget targets. This method could include tracking and 

reporting on the following to help AOC refine targets:

Accuracy of cost estimates compared to bids,

Accuracy of budget compared to final project costs,

Amount of excess project funds and how funds are used, 

Cost data for the Construction Branch, including current 

working estimates.

Sept. 2005

Making progress: AOC has established two measures, which will be 

tracked on a monthly basis, to help develop more accurate budget targets. 

These measures are: (1) ratio of the government estimate to the average of 

the bid amounts and (2) the contract award cost versus the government 

estimate. AOC is also planning to add an additional measure for the 

accuracy of the budget compared to final project costs. In addition, AOC’s 

project management organization is piloting the use of a project closeout 

sheet that project managers are required to complete at the conclusion of 

each project. The sheet, among other things, requires the project manager 

to list a final project cost and the amount of money available to give back to 

the jurisdiction. Finally, AOC is examining what plans, tools, and measures 

are used to conduct construction branch work as part of an ongoing internal 

review of construction branch operations.

56. Expedite the development of a customer satisfaction 

survey for construction services.

Sept. 2005

Making progress: AOC is developing a customer satisfaction survey for 

construction services which AOC expects to be completed by the end of the 

first quarter of calendar year 2006.

57. Clarify roles and responsibilities of staff, including the 

role of Jurisdictional Executives and responsibility for 

developing Programs of Requirements. 

Sept. 2005

Making progress: According to an AOC official, AOC’s new organizational 

structure has been approved. However, position descriptions are still 

undergoing an internal review that is not expected to be completed until the 

middle of next year. However, AOC is clarifying roles of the newly aligned 

project management organization through regular staff meetings. AOC has 

developed a project development document that, once approved, will be 

used to define the roles of planning and project managers.

58. Revise project management manuals to reflect 

changes in how AOC plans for, designs, and constructs 

projects; develop management controls to ensure 

compliance with manuals.

Sept. 2005

Making progress: Currently, AOC revises its project management and predesign manuals revisions every two years and the manuals were last 

revised in 2004. The pre-design manual will be updated once the project 

development document used to clarify the roles of planning and project 

managers is approved. AOC does not plan to revise the project 

management manual until the end of 2006. 

59. Develop or modify information systems to provide 

needed cost schedule data on projects and track reasons 

for changes across all projects.

Sept. 2005

Making progress: AOC has created a steering group (the Project 

Information Center Business Reengineering Task Force, which meets every 

2 weeks) to conduct an enterprise architecture analysis—a requirements 

analysis of its information system. According to AOC, the task force will 

identify AOC’s information system needs, then AOC will determine if the 

system needs replacement, modification, or better support. AOC plans to 

include a funding request in its fiscal year 2007 budget request for whatever 

course of action is recommended.

Facilities management

60. To improve how AOC measures its performance in the 

areas of timeliness and cost, the agency should:

develop more specific timeliness measures that more 

accurately reflect the amount of time required to complete 

tasks, develop the capability to comprehensively and 

routinely track cost performance measures, and

benchmark performance measures against those of similar 

institutions, such as the Smithsonian Institution and state 

capitols.

Dec. 2005

New

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Status of AOC’s Progress on 

Recommendations

Page 47 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

a

GAO, Architect of the Capitol: Status Report on Implementation of Management Review 

Recommendations, GAO-04-299 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 30, 2004). 

b

GAO, Architect of the Capitol: Midyear Status Report on Implementation of Management Review 

Recommendations, GAO-04-966 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 31, 2004).

GAO Recommendation Status

61. Use the new CAFM system to track preventive 

maintenance and demand work orders across all 

jurisdictions, including the time taken to complete work 

orders.

Dec. 2005

New

(Continued From Previous Page)
Page 48 GAO-06-290 Architect of the Capitol

Appendix V

Major Contributors ApendxiV

Shirley L. Abel

William B. Bates

Carole J. Cimitile

John C. Craig

George A. Depaoli

Tamera L. Dorland

Sharon E. Dyer

Elizabeth R. Eisenstadt

Elena P. Epps

Brett S. Fallavollita

Denise M. Fantone

Kara A. Finnegan-Irving

Jeanette M. Franzel

Mark L. Goldstein

Randolph C. Hite

Neelaxi Lakhmani

Steven G. Lozano

Kieran McCarthy

Susan Michal-Smith

Amanda K. Miller

Sara Ann Moessbauer

John J. Reilly, Jr.

William H. Roach, Jr.

Matthew C. Rosenberg

Kris Trueblood

Sarah E. Veale

William F. Wadsworth

(543152)
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