One member stated that he believes there is also a need to identify non-value added processes and past or sunk costs in addition to the excess capacity costs. The staff will continue to seek the comments and advise of the task force advisory members in preparing the explanations and discussion of the standards and in developing examples and illustrations. The staff will present the explanation and discussion section of the exposure draft concerning unused capacity costs to the Board at the May meeting. An initial draft of the entire proposed statement will be presented for discussion by the Board at the June meeting. The human capital subgroup is working on proposed definitions and criteria for human capital expenditures.
Emphasis is on linking expenditures with productivity increases.
The subgroup has tentatively identified human capital programs as those federal programs for education and training of people who do not work for the federal government, including Head Start, and education and training of federal employees. The Research and Development subgroup also is working on definitions. Subgroup members are reviewing several variations on definitions of what constitutes expenditures for federal research and development to determine which definition most closely reflects agency and other user needs. Results of progress on the issues of the two subgroups will be presented for discussion at the Capital Expenditures Task Force meeting on April 6. To assist in coordinating all of the stewardship issues, Mr. Harry Havens, former Assistant Comptroller General, has been contracted to work with the Board.