Testimony 

Before the Subcommittee on Legislative 

Branch, Committee on Appropriations, 

U.S. House of Representatives

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO

For Release on Delivery 

Expected at 10:00 a.m. EST 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 U.S. GOVERNMENT 

ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 

OPERATIONS AND THE 

POTENTIAL IMPACT OF 

SEQUESTRATION 

Statement of Gene L. Dodaro 

Comptroller General of the United States

GAO-13-394T
February 2013

U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

Operations and Potential Impact of Sequestration

Highlights of GAO-13-394T, a testimony before 

the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch, 

Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of

Representatives

Background

The Government Accountability Office 

(GAO) mission is to support the 

Congress in meeting its constitutional 

responsibilities and to help improve the 

performance and accountability of the 

federal government for the benefit of 

the American people. GAO provides 

nonpartisan, objective, and reliable 

information to the Congress, federal 

agencies, and to the public and 

recommends improvements, when 

appropriate, on a wide variety of issues. 

GAO’s work spans the full breadth and 

scope of the federal government’s 

responsibilities.

This testimony addresses (1) the 

GAO’s approach to managing 

Congressional requests in a period of 

fiscal constraint and (2) the potential 

impact of a sequester on its ability to 

carry out its mission – now and in the 

future. 

GAO provides products spanning the 

extensive interests of the Congress. In 

fiscal year 2012, GAO provided reports 

to 95 percent of the standing 

committees of the Congress and about 

60 percent of their subcommittees. 

Additionally, senior GAO officials 

testified at 159 hearings on national 

and international issues.

GAO’s annualized fiscal year 2013 

continuing resolution (CR) funding level 

of $514.4 million reflects a decrease of 

about $42 million from fiscal year 2010 

levels. Since fiscal year 2010, GAO’s 

staffing level fell by 10.5 percent—due 

to extremely limited hiring in the face of 

ongoing attrition—dropping its full-time 

equalivant level (FTE) below 3,000 for 

the first time since 1935.

View GAO-13-394T. For more information, 

contact Gene L. Dodaro at (202) 512-5500 or 

dodarog@gao.gov.

In just this past fiscal year alone, GAO’s work yielded significant results across the 

government, including $55.8 billion in financial benefits—a return of $105 for every 

dollar invested in GAO and 1,440 other benefits—that is, recommendations that 

helped to change laws, improve public services, and promote sound management 

throughout government. Since 2002, GAO’s work has resulted in over 1⁄2 trillion

dollars in financial benefits and over 14 thousand other benefits for the American 

people. 

To manage its workload during a period of declining budgets and staff size, GAO gives 

priority to work that is statutorily mandated by Congress and to requests from 

Congressional Committee leaders which allows it to support these committees as they 

carry out their appropriation, authorization, and oversight activities. GAO also focuses 

on areas where there is the greatest potential for results, such as recommendations 

that identify cost savings and improve government operations and programs. Strategic 

planning and continuous dialog with Congressional leaders and their staffs also help 

GAO anticipate and respond to Congressional needs. 

In this period of fiscal austerity, GAO has been guided by two core principles—

maximizing its ability to provide Congress with high-quality, relevant, and insightful 

analyses and minimizing the impact on GAO’s people. To do so, GAO reduced 

engagement support costs, such as travel, by nearly 36 percent and infrastructure 

support costs, such as information technology, by nearly 21 percent. 

During fiscal year 2012, GAO began prudently planning for the possibility of a 

funding sequester in fiscal year 2013. Given the reductions in operational costs 

made already, a sequester at the proposed level of $27.3 million would impact the 

size of GAO’s workforce. It would reduce planned hiring by sixty percent, eroding 

the current staffing level to 2,875 FTE, which represents a significant reduction of 

472 FTEs, or more than 14 percent over the last 3 years. GAO would also reduce 

employee benefits which will negatively impact our ability to recruit and retain 

highly qualified staff and severely jeopardize our ability to build and develop the 

needed workforce for the future. It also would further reduce travel and contract 

resources used to complete Congressional engagements; and further reduce 

planned investments in information technology that have the potential to increase 

GAO’s efficiency and effectiveness and reduce costs in the future. The additional 

staffing reductions would also adversely impact GAO’s ability to:

• identify cost savings and other suggestions to help Congress address the 

government’s serious deficit and debt issues;

• provide timely and responsive information to support Congressional deliberations 

or reauthorization activities for pending programs; and

• effectively assist Congress in addressing the broad array of social, economic, and 

security challenges facing the nation.

It is imperative that GAO rebuild its staff capacity to a level that will enable us to 

optimize the benefits we yield for Congress and the nation. Given the size of the 

federal budget and the multi-year actions needed to address the seriousness of the 

government’s fiscal condition, investing resources to restore some of GAO’s staff 

capacity would be a prudent and wise investment that will produce positive outcomes 

for the Congress and our country.

 United States Government Accountability Office
Page 1 GAO-13-394T

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz, and Members of 

the Subcommittee:

I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to discuss the U.S. 

Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) management of 

Congressional requests, actions GAO has taken to reduce operating 

costs and achieve efficiencies, and the potential impact of a sequester 

on our ability to carry out our mission. Before I begin, I want to thank 

the subcommittee for its continued support of GAO. We very much 

appreciate the confidence you have shown in our efforts to help 

support the Congress in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities 

and to help improve government performance and accountability for 

the benefit of the American people. 

Since fiscal year 2010, GAO has dramatically reduced its staffing level 

and operating costs in response to budget constraints. GAO’s 

Executive Committee has been guided by two core principles 

throughout this environment of constrained resources and fiscal 

austerity. First, GAO continues to seek ways to maximize its support to 

the Congress and the nation. Second, we have sought to minimize the 

impact on GAO’s dedicated and talented people. It is through the 

commitment, hard work, and expertise of our staff that GAO is able to 

provide a continuing valuable service to the Congress and the nation. 

During this period, GAO’s staffing level dropped by 350 full-time 

equivalents (FTE) in fiscal year 2012, falling below 3,000 FTE for the 

first time since 1935 due to extremely limited hiring in the face of 

ongoing attrition. This significant reduction in our staffing level severely 

jeopardizes our ability to adequately support the Congress in a timely 

manner, now and into the future. It is imperative that we rebuild our 

staff capacity to a level that will enable us to optimize the benefits we 

yield for the Congress and the nation going forward. Given the size of 

the federal budget and the multiyear actions needed to address the 

seriousness of the government’s fiscal condition, investing resources 

to restore some of our staff capacity would be both prudent and wise. 
Page 2 GAO-13-394T

To manage our congressional workload during this period of declining 

budgets and staff resources, we continue to take steps to ensure our 

work supports Congressional legislative and oversight priorities and 

focuses on areas where there is the greatest potential for results in 

producing cost savings and improving government’s performance. 

GAO gives priority to mandates and requests from Congressional 

committee leaders which allows us to support Congressional 

committees as they carry out their appropriation, authorization, and 

oversight activities. GAO also focuses on areas where there is the 

greatest potential for results, such as recommendations that identify 

cost savings, improve government agencies, and provide other 

benefits, such as improving public safety and security. 

High demand coupled with continuing budget constraints and fewer 

resources necessitates that we prioritize requests for our work in close 

consultation with Congressional committee leaders.

In fiscal year 2012 demand for our services remained high with 924 

congressional requests and mandates1

Figure 1: Congressional Requests Received – FY 2003 - FY 2012

as illustrated in Figure 1. 

 

1 Congress may enact legislation that includes a requirement for GAO to conduct a 

particular study; we refer to these types of statutorily mandated work as “mandates.” 

Repeal or modification of a statutory mandate that has not already been fulfilled 

requires a statutory change. Committee and Conference Reports may also include 

requests that GAO study a particular problem or issue. At GAO, we also refer to 

these report requests as "mandates," even though the requested work is not required 

by law and does not require a statutory change to modify it.

0 

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012

Full 

Committee 

Requests

SubCommittee 

Requests

Member 

Requests

Mandates

Managing Workload 

by Focusing 

Resources on 

Congressional 

Priorities and 

Achieving Results

Focusing on Congressional 

Priorities
Page 3 GAO-13-394T

While we have worked extremely hard to prioritize our work and 

produce results, GAO is at its lowest staffing level since 1935. As 

shown in Figure 2, our staffing levels have dramatically decreased 

over the last three years – a decline of 350 full time equivalent (FTE)

or a reduction of 10.5 percent. 

Figure 2: Actual and Estimated Staffing — FY 2010 - FY 2013

GAO’s results include generating recommendations that save 

resources and increase revenue; improve the accountability, 

operations, and services of government agencies; increase the 

effectiveness of federal spending, and provide other benefits. 

Additional information on GAO’s mission and services to support the 

Congress is included in Appendix I.

Since fiscal year 2002, GAO’s work has resulted in substantial 

financial and other benefits for the American people, including: 

• over 1⁄2 trillion dollars in financial benefits; 

• 14,083 program and operational benefits that helped to change 

laws, improve public services, and promote sound management 

throughout government; and

• 12,485 products including 22,548 recommendations.

In fiscal year 2012 alone, GAO provided services that spanned across 

the broad range of federal programs and activities. We provided 

results that supported 95 percent of the standing committees of the 

Congress and about 60 percent of their subcommittees. Senior GAO 

officials testified at 159 hearings on national and international issues

as shown in Table 1. 

2,600

2,700

2,800

2,900

3,000

3,100

3,200

3,300

3,400

FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2013

(Actual) (Actual) (Actual) (Estimated without 

sequester)

(Estimated with 

sequester)

FTE

Producing Results

Scope of GAO’s Work 
Page 4 GAO-13-394T

Table 1: Selected Testimony Topics for Fiscal Year 2012

by Strategic Goal2

Goal 1: Address Current and Emerging Challenges to the Well-Being and 

Financial Security of the American People

• DOD and VA Health Care Integration • Fragmented Economic Development 

Programs

• Medicare Durable Medical Equipment • Mortgage Finance Risk Management

• FDA’s Ability to Respond to Drug 

Shortages

• Federal Reserve System’s 

Emergency Assistance

• Oversight of Medicaid Payments • Climate Change Adaptation

• Urgent Local Workforce Needs • Unmanned Aircraft Systems

• Modernizing SSA’s Disability 

Programs

• Unconventional Oil and Gas 

Production

• Unemployed Older Workers • Commercial Space Transportation

• School Bullying • Improving Homelessness Programs

• Transportation Issues and 

Management Challenges

• Los Angeles Federal Courthouse 

Construction

• Small Employers Challenges to 

Pension Plan Sponsorship 

• Federal Housing Administration’s 

Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund

• Federal Real Property Management

Goal 2: Respond to Changing Security Threats and the Challenges of 

Global Interdependence

• National Nuclear Security 

Administration Management

• DOD’s Civilian Workforce

• Deepwater Horizon • Personnel Security Clearances

• Securing the Modernized Electricity 

Grid

• Military Base Realignments and 

Closures

• Visa Waiver Program • Joint Striker Fighter Restructuring

• TSA’s Process for Vetting Foreign 

Flight Students

• DOD Satellite Acquisitions

• DHS’s Container Security Programs • DOD’s Acquisition Workforce 

Capacity

• FEMA’s Management of 

Preparedness Grants

• Countering the Use of Improvised 

Explosive Devices

• DHS’s Progress Improving and 

Integrating Management

• Support and Security Capabilities in 

Iraq

 

2 Our complete set of strategic planning and performance and accountability reports 

are available on our website at http://www.gao.gov/sp.html. 
Page 5 GAO-13-394T

Table 1: Selected Testimony Topics – Continued

Goal 3: Help Transform the Federal Government to Address National 

Challenges

• Arlington National Cemetery Contract 

Management

• Information Technology Reform

• Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program • Environmental Satellite Program 

Risks

• Suspension and Debarment Oversight • Federal Workforce Challenges

• Medicare Part D Fraud and 

Prescription Drug Abuse

• Effective Long-term Disaster 

Recovery

• Reducing Improper Payments • Evaluating Expiring Tax Provisions

• Army Financial Audit Readiness • Strategies to Reduce Taxpayer 

Noncompliance

• Improving 2020 Census Cost 

Effectiveness

• IRS’s Opportunities to Improve the 

Taxpayer Experience 

• Internet Availability of Counterfeit 

Military-Grade Electronic Parts

• Oversight of Psychotropic 

Prescription Drugs for Foster 

Children

• Fiscal Year 2011 U. S. Government 

Financial Statements

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 

Fraud Detection Systems

• Fraud Prevention in Service-Disabled 

Veteran-Owned Small Business 

Program

• Social Security Administration 

Technology Modernization

Our work issued in fiscal year 2012 addressed various topics such as 

continued work on duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in the 

federal government; the war in Afghanistan; Postal Service financial 

issues; implementation of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and 

Consumer Protection Act of 2010; and the federal, state, and local 

government fiscal outlook. GAO also reviewed government programs 

and operations that are at high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, and 

mismanagement, as well as reviews of agencies’ budget requests to 

help support congressional decision-making. GAO’s recently released 

latest High Risk list is included in Appendix II. 

GAO remains one of the best investments in the federal government, 

and our dedicated staff continues to deliver high quality results. GAO’s 

findings and recommendations produce measurable financial benefits 

after Congress acts or an agency implements them and the funds are 

made available to reduce government expenditures or are reallocated 

to other areas. 

GAO’s fiscal year 2012 work yielded significant results across the 

government, including $55.8 billion in financial benefits—a return of 
Page 6 GAO-13-394T

$105 for every dollar invested in GAO. Examples of fiscal year 2012 

financial benefits resulting from GAO recommendations implemented 

by Congress or federal agencies include:

• $12.4 billion from legislated reductions in payments to Medicare 

Advantage plans: GAO analysis found that Medicare Advantage 

plans spent less on medical expenses than projected, thus gaining 

much higher profits than originally estimated;

• $8.0 billion from cancellation of NASA’s Constellation program: 

GAO questioned the project’s affordability, acquisition strategy, 

and overall business plan;

• $4.5 billion from elimination of the ethanol excise tax credit for 

corn: GAO found that this tax credit was duplicative of a federal 

renewable fuel standard that requires U.S. transportation fuels to 

contain certain volumes of biofuels, such as ethanol; and

• $3.1 billion from cancellation of DOD plans to lengthen South 

Korea tours of duty: After conducting a GAO-recommended 

analysis of benefits, costs, and alternatives to a planned initiative 

to increase lengths of U.S. service members’ tours in South Korea, 

DOD decided the initiative was unaffordable, avoiding $3.1 billion 

in costs.

In fiscal year 2012, GAO also contributed to 1,440 program and 

operational benefits that helped to change laws, improve public 

services, and promote sound management throughout government. 

Thirty six percent of these benefits are related to public safety and 

security, 35 percent are related to business process and management, 

and 14 percent are related to program efficiency and effectiveness, 

and included:

• Public Insurance and Benefits – Improving Social Security 

Administration performance goals and risk assessments in support 

of the disability claims process.

• Public Safety and Security – Addressing weaknesses in how 

agencies create and use the terrorist watchlist.

• Acquisition and Contract Management – More robust planning for 

contractor demobilization and personnel accountability by the 

Department of Defense (DOD). 

• Tax Law Administration – Strengthening IRS’ use of existing tax 

collection tools.
Page 7 GAO-13-394T

To ensure we prioritize our work to align with Congressional leadership 

priorities and potential for results, we consult continuously with 

Congressional committees to ensure that our work is focused on their 

highest priorities. Communicating frequently with Congressional clients 

helps GAO stay abreast of their needs as shifts in congressional 

priorities can change the mix of work we are asked to perform. Our 

outreach includes my meetings with the Chairs and Ranking Members 

of many of the standing committees and their subcommittees. These 

sessions provide me the opportunity to hear first-hand the feedback 

from committee Chairs and Ranking Members on our performance, as 

well as provide an opportunity to highlight the need to prioritize 

requests for GAO’s services to maximize the return on the investment 

in GAO, particularly in this time of financial and budgetary uncertainty. 

Further, when we receive multiple requests for work in areas of high 

priority for the Congress, we also look for opportunities, in consultation

with Congressional committees and their staff, to merge these 

requests to create one body of work to meet multiple needs. In 

addition, much of our work—up to 45 percent in 2012—resulted from 

bipartisan requests or mandates.

To manage our workload from mandates, we also conduct 

congressional outreach regarding both potential and existing 

mandates. As bills are introduced weekly, we immediately review them 

to identify potential mandates for GAO work. As each potential 

mandate moves through the legislative process, we engage directly 

with the relevant committee or subcommittee to ensure that the 

mandate reflects a high priority requirement, is scoped appropriately 

for meeting the congressional objective, avoids duplication of recently 

completed or ongoing work, and calls for work that is within GAO’s 

authority. In addition, we continue to work with Congressional 

committees to amend or repeal existing statutory mandates for GAO 

studies that have outlived their usefulness or do not represent the best 

use of GAO’s resources given current congressional priorities.

During the second session of the 112th Congress we collaborated with 

the Congress to revise or repeal 16 of GAO’s mandated reporting 

requirements which had, over time, lost relevance or usefulness, 

including: 

• a triennial review of the costs of the Judicial Survivors’ Annuities 

Fund that had yielded no new findings, repealed by the GAO 

Mandates Revision Act of 2012 – Pub. L. No. 112-234; 

Strategic Plan for Serving 

Congress 
Page 8 GAO-13-394T

• an annual review of the Earned Import Allowance Program, an 

inactive program, repealed by the GAO Mandates Revision Act of 

2012 – Pub. L. No. 112-234; and

• an annual audit of the American Battle Monuments Commission that 

should be the responsibility of an executive branch, rather than a 

legislative branch agency, repealed by the GAO Mandates Revision 

Act of 2012, Pub. L. No. 112-234.

GAO is also seeking repeal of a recurring reporting requirement that 

originally appeared in the Legislative Branch Appropriations section of 

the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This requirement 

required bimonthly reviews of state and local use of Recovery Act funds. 

As the vast majority of Recovery Act funds have been spent, GAO’s 

reviews are providing diminishing returns for the Congress. We will 

propose to sunset this bimonthly requirement by October 2013. 

In February 2012, GAO issued an interim update to its strategic plan for 

serving the Congress for fiscal years 2010 – 2015. Our strategic 

planning efforts also help us anticipate and respond to Congressional 

needs. To be prepared to address timely and relevant issues, we use 

eight broad trends identified in our strategic plan to guide our work 

plans. GAO plans to issue the next full five-year update in 2014. Our 

strategic plan framework is attached as Appendix III. 

Since fiscal year 2010, GAO has significantly reduced spending, 

reorganized our administrative support structure, improved business 

practices, and leveraged technology to enhance the overall efficiency 

of our operations. From fiscal year 2010 to 2012, GAO’s staffing level 

dropped by 350 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff—a reduction of 10.5 

percent—due to extremely limited hiring in the face of ongoing attrition. 

As a result, our FTE level dropped below 3,000 for the first time since 

1935. This significant reduction in our staffing level threatens our 

ability to adequately support the Congress in a timely manner. 

Also, the number of entry-level staff is not sufficient to provide a 

pipeline of experienced staff in the future. A significant proportion of 

GAO employees will be retirement eligible at the end of fiscal year 

2013, including about 40 percent of our senior executive staff and 

about 26 percent of our supervisory analysts. These factors combine 

to make GAO’s overarching human capital challenge one of ensuring 

that we have the future capability to support the mission of the agency 

Actions Taken to 

Reduce Operating 

Costs and Achieve 

Efficiencies 
Page 9 GAO-13-394T

to serve the Congress with the right resources, where and when they 

are needed. 

During this same period, GAO also reduced engagement support 

costs, such as travel by nearly 36 percent, and infrastructure support 

costs, such as information technology, building and security services, 

and administrative support services by nearly 21 percent. GAO plans 

to maintain these reduced funding levels in fiscal year 2013.

In addition, we have implemented and are continuing to aggressively 

explore other opportunities to reduce our infrastructure costs, provide 

staff more flexibility, and increase our effectiveness and efficiency. 

• Space Optimization Generates Additional Rental Income

In fiscal year 2012, we completed activities to better optimize space in 

the GAO headquarters building and released a significant amount of 

space which we have leased to the Department of Justice (DOJ) under 

a 10-year agreement which will provide $2.1 million annually to help 

offset our costs. DOJ began occupying the space in January 2013. 

• Enhanced Telework/Workspace-Sharing Reduces 

Infrastructure Costs

Also, in fiscal year 2013, we expect to reduce our physical presence in 

several field offices resulting in savings of $1.2 million in lease costs, 

with additional savings projected in future years. In fiscal year 2012, 

we implemented an enhanced telework pilot, including workspace 

sharing and hoteling components, to reduce infrastructure costs and 

enhance flexibility for employees by allowing them to spend more time 

working at home or at an alternate worksite. We are expanding this 

capability to additional field offices throughout fiscal year 2013. 

We also plan to implement targeted investments to improve the 

efficiency of our information technology infrastructure and building 

systems. For example, in fiscal year 2013, we will be piloting an effort 

to streamline and virtualize our information technology infrastructure 

that will reduce our maintenance and operating costs, improve system 

performance, increase data security, and increase availability of tools 

for staff—particularly our increasingly mobile workforce. In a 

virtualized environment, all GAO operating systems, applications, 

software, and data would be housed in a secure datacenter, rather 

than on a user’s computer. In addition, we will continue progress 

towards upgrading building infrastructure heating and ventilation 

systems to ensure continued operation and efficiency. The funding for 

Increasing Efficiency of 

GAO’s Processes is a Top 

Priority
Page 10 GAO-13-394T

these essential investments will come from savings within these 

programs. 

We also have made it our priority to increase the efficiency with which 

we conduct our mission work. This effort focuses on improving the way 

we manage and conduct engagements, use our resources, and 

communicate our message. We made significant progress in fiscal 

year 2012 to improve the efficiency of the processes we follow to 

produce GAO products. For example, we completed an end-to-end 

analysis of our engagement process and identified several areas of 

opportunity for improved efficiency, including 31 recommendations for 

engagement-management improvements. For example, a number of 

projects are ongoing, including:

• identifying changes to key steps and decision points in our 

engagement process to ensure resource investments on individual 

engagements are in line with congressional needs and needed 

scope of work;

• taking steps to more efficiently create content, standardize our 

review and fact-checking procedures within our rigorous quality 

assurance framework, as well as to distribute and publish our 

reports and content in multiple formats; and

• pursuing major enhancements to key engagement support and 

management systems to reduce rework and improve systems 

support and management information. 

We also created the new Office of Continuous Process Improvement to 

oversee and implement these and other improvement projects. Under 

the auspices of this new office, 7 projects have been completed; 25 are 

underway; and next steps for fiscal year 2013 have been developed. We 

also created an executive-level governance structure for prioritizing and 

directing process improvement initiatives.

In fiscal year 2013 we will continue to identify other areas of 

opportunity for improved efficiency, and will continually prioritize how to 

use resources to ensure the most significant efficiency gains. In 

addition, we will develop performance metrics for the process 

improvement program to show the effect improvement initiatives are 

having on our operations. When implemented, these improvements 

will allow us to streamline and standardize our processes to achieve 

greater efficiency in our work without sacrificing quality, to increase our 

responsiveness to the Congress, and to deliver products to the 

Congress and the public more effectively and efficiently.
Page 11 GAO-13-394T

During fiscal year 2012, GAO began prudently planning for the 

possibility of a funding sequester in fiscal year 2013. We have 

updated our planning scenario based on recent guidance from this 

subcommittee to reflect a possible reduction of 5.3 percent or $27.3 

million from the annualized continuing resolution funding level.

As a knowledge-based organization, about 81 percent of GAO’s 

resources are allocated to its people, with the balance of our resources 

funding critical operating expenses, such as information technology, 

security services, rent for our field office locations, and other critical 

services required for ongoing operations. Since we have made 

significant reductions in funding for engagement support and 

infrastructure programs over the last few years, our ability to absorb a 

reduction of this magnitude without reducing staff is severely limited. 

Our fiscal year 2013 operating plan, assuming funding of at least the 

annualized continuing resolution level of $514.4 million, included the 

capacity to hire 200 interns, 200 entry-level people into our 

Professional Development Program (PDP), and 100 critical hires in our 

more senior and specialized areas to help address succession 

planning needs and critical skill gaps. A sequester at the proposed 

level would require that we reduce planned hiring by approximately 

sixty percent, further eroding our staffing level to a nearly historic low 

of 2,875 FTE, a reduction of 472 FTE, or more than 14 percent over 

the last 3 years. 

Table 2: FTE Staffing Profile – FY 2010 - 2013 

Fiscal Year 

2010

Actual

Fiscal Year 

2011

Actual

Fiscal Year 

2012

 Actual

Fiscal Year 

2013 

w/o Sequester 

Fiscal Year 

2013 

w/ Sequester 

3,347 3,212 2,997 2,975 2,875

Beyond the cuts to our hiring plan, GAO would also take the following 

actions in the event of sequestration:

• reduce employee benefits, such as student loan repayments and 

performance-based compensation which will negatively impact our 

ability to recruit and retain highly qualified staff; 

• further reduce travel and contract resources for specialized data 

and expertise used to complete congressional engagements; and

• further reduce planned investments in information technology that 

have the potential to increase GAO’s efficiency and effectiveness 

and reduce support costs in the future. 

Impact of Possible 

Fiscal Year 2013 

Sequester 
Page 12 GAO-13-394T

This third consecutive year of dramatic staffing reductions would 

diminish our ability to find cost savings in the federal government at a 

time when Congress needs us most given the federal government’s 

fiscal position. For example, GAO’s reduced staffing levels would 

adversely impact GAO’s ability to:

• identify cost savings and improvements in government operations, 

improve services to the public, conserve federal financial 

resources, and initiate government-wide reforms; 

• effectively assist the Congress in addressing the broad array of 

social, economic, and security challenges facing the nation; 

• provide timely and responsive information to support congressional 

deliberations or reauthorization activities for pending programs; 

and

• staff requested engagements, resulting in delays in starting 

congressional requests.

Fiscal year 2013 brings more challenges with responsibilities to further 

assess and report on government programs and financial regulatory 

reform efforts, among many other pressing issues. However, the 

impending sequestration would further erode GAO’s staffing level and 

severely limit GAO’s ability to conduct its mission in an efficient and 

effective manner now and into the future. We have been and will 

continue to reach out to our congressional clients to ensure they 

recognize our financial situation, to help focus our work on the highestpriority areas, and help prioritize our work to obtain the maximum 

benefit in this resource-constrained environment. We remain 

committed to providing accurate, objective, nonpartisan, and 

constructive information to the Congress to help it conduct effective 

oversight and fulfill its constitutional responsibilities. 

As the Congress and the administration debate ways to improve the 

federal government’s long-term fiscal outlook, GAO’s mission becomes 

ever more critical to help identify billions of dollars in cost-saving 

opportunities to tighten federal budgets in a thoughtful, targeted way 

and identify revenue-enhancement opportunities in a prudent manner. 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz, and Members of 

the Subcommittee, this concludes my prepared statement. I 

appreciate, as always, your careful consideration of our circumstances 

and budgetary needs and look forward to discussing the matter with 

you.

Concluding Remarks
Appendix I: GAO’s Mission and Services in 

Support of Congressional 

Decision-Making

Page 13 GAO-13-394T

The Government Accountability Office is an independent, nonpartisan 

professional services agency in the legislative branch of the federal 

government. Commonly known as the audit and investigative arm of the 

Congress or the “congressional watchdog,” GAO examines how taxpayer 

dollars are spent and advises lawmakers and agency heads on ways to 

make government work better. Our mission is to support the Congress in 

meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the 

performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for 

the benefit of the American people. We accomplish our mission by 

providing objective, fact-based, and reliable information and informed 

analysis to the Congress, federal agencies, and the public, and we 

recommend improvements, where appropriate, on a wide variety of 

issues. 

GAO is unique in our audit and evaluation capacity to support the 

Congress by performing original research, providing technical assistance, 

and conducting analyses to help the Congress make informed decisions 

across all segments of the federal budget resulting in tangible benefits 

and enhanced oversight. GAO provides services that span the vast 

interests of the Congress and the Nation. 

In February 2012, GAO issued an interim update to its strategic plan for fiscal 

years 2010 through 2015. Our strategic plan framework is attached as 

Appendix III.

1

• addressing current and emerging challenges to the well-being and 

financial security of the American people;

 GAO’s strategic goals and objectives reflect the wide array of 

national and international issues that GAO covers in its mission to support the 

Congress, such as:

• responding to changing security threats and the challenges of global 

interdependence;

• helping transform the federal government to address national challenges; 

and

• maximizing the value of GAO by enabling quality, timely service to the 

Congress and being a leading practices federal agency.

 1

 A complete set of GAO’s strategic planning and performance and accountability reports 

are available on our website at http://www.gao.gov/sp.html. The annual performance 

and accountability report informs the Congress and the American people about what we 

have achieved on their behalf with the funds entrusted to us.

GAO Supports 

Congressional 

Decision-making, 

Saves Resources, and 

Helps Improve 

Government 
Page 14 GAO-13-394T

To implement the performance goals and key efforts related to our three 

external goals, we develop and present information in a number of ways, 

including:

• evaluations of federal policies, programs, and the performance of 

agencies;

• oversight of government operations through financial and other 

management audits to determine whether public funds are spent 

efficiently, effectively, and in accordance with applicable laws;

• investigations to assess whether illegal or improper activities are 

occurring;

• analyses of the financing for government activities;

• constructive engagements in which we work proactively with 

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• legal opinions that determine whether agencies are in compliance with 

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• policy analyses to assess needed actions and the implications of 

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• assistance to the Congress in support of its oversight and decisionmaking responsibilities.

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products that provide agencies with guidance and best practices, or 

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As part of fulfilling our commitments under the Presidential Transition Act, 

as amended, GAO serves as a key resource for the Congress and the 

Administration on major challenges needing the attention of the 28 largest 

departments and agencies across government, as well as issues facing 

our nation that require urgent attention and continuing oversight.

GAO seeks both to help position the government to better manage risks 

that could compromise the nation’s security, health, and solvency, and to 

identify opportunities for managing government resources wisely for a 

more sustainable future. GAO is a valuable tool for helping the Congress 

review, reprioritize, and revise existing mandatory and discretionary 

spending programs and tax policies. Our dedicated and multidisciplinary 

staff have substantive agency and program expertise, as well as 

expertise in conducting financial and performance audits, program 
Page 15 GAO-13-394T

evaluations, policy analyses, and technology assessments. Additionally, 

through its involvement domestically with the federal, state, and local 

audit community and internationally with its national audit office 

counterparts, GAO has played an important role in helping ensure the 

financial integrity of U.S. funds expended at home and abroad. 

Annually we issue hundreds of reports based on our work. In fiscal year 

2012, GAO’s work covered a broad range of issues relevant to all 

Americans, including:

– retirement security – transportation safety

– foreclosure mitigation – counterterrorism

– national security – cybersecurity

– health care – the debt limit

During fiscal year 2012 we also issued our second report identifying 

duplication, overlap, cost-saving opportunities, and revenue 

enhancements. This report identified 51 additional areas where programs 

may be able to achieve greater efficiencies or become more effective, 

including:

– agriculture – health

– defense – homeland security

– economic development – international affairs

– education – science and the environment

– energy – social services

– general government

We also issued a companion publication describing the extent to which 

progress was made in addressing the 81 areas identified in our 2011 

report and launched a new content area on our website titled “Improving 

Efficiency and Effectiveness” to make this work more easily accessible to 

the public. We issued 11 products in response to the Dodd-Frank Wall 

Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on financial institutions and 

securities markets and several reports on insurance markets and publicly 

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results of our work on the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. 

Every two years, GAO provides Congress with an update on its High Risk 

Series which highlights major programs that are at high risk due to their 

greater vulnerabilities to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement or the 

need for transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness 

Assisting the 

Congress and the 

Nation During 

Challenging Times
Page 16 GAO-13-394T

challenges. In fiscal year 2012, we issued 188 reports, delivered 55 

testimonies to the Congress, and prepared several other products, such 

as briefings and presentations related to our High Risk work. These 

products spanned the following broad categories:

• Strengthening the Foundation for Efficiency and Effectiveness

• Transforming DOD Program Management

• Ensuring Public Safety and Security

• Managing Federal Contracting More Effectively 

• Assessing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Tax Law Administration 

• Modernizing and Safeguarding Insurance and Benefit Programs.

Financial benefits resulting from this work totaled $28.4 billion in fiscal 

year 2012. Solutions to high risk problems offer the potential to save 

billions of dollars, improve services to the public, and strengthen the 

performance and accountability of the U. S. government. Earlier this 

month we issued the biennial update and report on progress made and 

what remains to be done to address each of the high risk areas. Our 

High Risk List identifies 30 troubled areas across government and is 

included as Appendix II. 
Page 17 GAO-13-394T

Strengthening the Foundation for Efficiency and Effectiveness

• Limiting the Federal Government’s Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks (new)

• Management of Federal Oil and Gas Resources

• Modernizing the U.S. Financial Regulatory System and Federal Role in Housing Finance

• Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to Achieve Sustainable Financial Viability

• Funding the Nation’s Surface Transportation System

• Strategic Human Capital Management

• Managing Federal Real Property 

Transforming DOD Program Management

• DOD Approach to Business Transformation

• DOD Business Systems Modernization

• DOD Support Infrastructure Management

• DOD Financial Management

• DOD Supply Chain Management

• DOD Weapon Systems Acquisition 

Ensuring Public Safety and Security

• Mitigating Gaps in Weather Satellite Data (new)

• Strengthening Department of Homeland Security Management Functions

• Establishing Effective Mechanisms for Sharing and Managing Terrorism-Related Information to Protect the Homeland

• Protecting the Federal Government’s Information Systems and the Nation’s Cyber Critical Infrastructures

• Ensuring the Effective Protection of Technologies Critical to U.S. National Security Interests

• Revamping Federal Oversight of Food Safety

• Protecting Public Health through Enhanced Oversight of Medical Products

• Transforming EPA’s Processes for Assessing and Controlling Toxic Chemicals 

Managing Federal Contracting More Effectively

• DOD Contract Management 

• DOE’s Contract Management for the National Nuclear Security Administration & Office of Environmental Management

• NASA Acquisition Management 

Assessing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Tax Law Administration

• Enforcement of Tax Laws

Modernizing and Safeguarding Insurance and Benefit Programs

• Improving and Modernizing Federal Disability Programs

• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation Insurance Programs

• Medicare Program

• Medicaid Program

• National Flood Insurance Program

Appendix II: GAO’s 2013 High-Risk List 
Page 18 GAO-13-394T

Appendix III: GAO’s Strategic Plan 

Framework
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