The move is expected to add momentum to efforts in and out of government to address what many are calling a crisis. Every two years, GAO issues a list of high-profile areas of mismanagement. The list is included as part of a series of reports, Major Management and Program Risks. The government s work-force problem shares the stage with such problems as lax information security and faulty financial management at the Defense Department. What we ve found with the high-risk list is that it brings light to these issues, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker told Federal Times.
Light brings heat, and heat brings action.
Five programs all managed by the Housing and Urban Development Department were dropped from the list this year. The department has had all of its programs on the list since 1994. Now, HUD has only two items on the list, its Single-Family Mortgage Insurance and Rental Housing Assistance program areas. The agency credits the improvement to a 1997 management reform effort to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. GAO is not alone in sounding the alarm over the government s human-resources problems.