National Transportation Safety Board: Reauthorization Provides an Opportunity to Focus on Implementing Leading Management Practices and Addressing Human Capital and Training Center Issues
Published: 2009-10-29T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), whose reauthorization is the subject of today's hearing, plays a vital role in advancing transportation safety by investigating accidents, determining their causes, issuing safety recommendations, and conducting safety studies. To support the agency's mission, NTSB's Training Center provides training to NTSB investigators and others. From 2006 through 2008, GAO made 21 recommendations to NTSB that address management, information technology (IT), accident investigation criteria, safety studies, and Training Center use. This testimony addresses NTSB's progress in implementing recommendations that it (1) follow leading management practices, (2) conduct aspects of its accident investigations and safety studies more efficiently, and (3) increase the use of its Training Center. This testimony is based on GAO's assessment from July 2009 to October 2009 of plans and procedures NTSB developed to address these recommendations. NTSB provided technical comments that GAO incorporated as appropriate.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: NTSB hasfully implemented or made significant progress in adopting leading management practices in all areas in which GAO made prior recommendations. For example, as GAO recommended in 2006, NTSB issued agencywide plans for human capital management and IT management, as well as a strategic plan. In 2008, GAO identified opportunities for improvement in those plans, and NTSB has since issued revised human capital and IT plans and drafted a revised agencywide strategic plan and a new strategic training plan. NTBS has taken steps to improve its diversity management. However, the percentages of NTSB's fiscal year 2008 workforce that were women and minorities were lower than those of the federal government. In addition, no members of a minority group are part of NTSB's 15-member career Senior Executive Service. Since GAO's 2008 report, NTSB has continued to improve information security by installing encryption software on agency laptops and appropriately restricting users' access privileges. NTSB has obligated money to implement a full cost accounting system consistent with a prior GAO recommendation, but NTSB officials said that the system will not be implemented until late in fiscal year 2010. In 2008, GAO reported that NTSB had made significant progress in articulating risk-based criteria for selecting which accidents to investigate. Specifically, NTSB had established such criteria for identifying which rail, pipeline, hazardous materials, and aviation accidents to investigate at the scene. Since then, NTSB has adopted the remaining highway and marine criteria, and NTSB is streamlining and increasing it use of technology in closing-out recommendations. NTSB has three safety studies in progress and would like to broaden the term "safety studies" to include not only its current studies of multiple accidents, but also the research it does for other smaller safety-related reports and data inquiries. NTSB has continued to increase the use of its Training Center--from 10 percent in fiscal year 2006 to 80 percent in fiscal year 2009. As a result, revenues have increased and the center's overall deficit has declined from about $3.9 million in fiscal year 2005 to about $1.9 million in fiscal year 2009.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: We appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today as you consider  the reauthorization of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).  NTSB is a relatively small agency that has gained a worldwide reputation  as a preeminent investigator of transportation accidents. With a staff of  about 400 and a budget of $91 million for fiscal year 2009, NTSB is charged  with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and  selected accidents in other transportation modes, determining the  probable cause of these accidents, making recommendations to address  safety issues identified during accident investigations, and performing  transportation safety studies. To support its mission, NTSB built a Training  Center that opened in 2003 and provides training to NTSB investigators  and other transportation safety professionals.
As the share of federal resources used to address the nation’s long-term  fiscal imbalance and other national priorities grows, funding for increases  in the budgets of individual agencies becomes more uncertain. It is  therefore critical for NTSB to use its resources as efficiently as possible to  carry out its mission. In 2006, we conducted a broad review of the agency’s  management practices, examined how it carried out its activities related to  accident investigations and safety studies, and analyzed whether its  Training Center was cost-effective. In total, we made 21  recommendations in these areas. In addition, in recent years, other entitie have conducted reviews and made recommendations to NTSB related  to information security practices and financial management. Our testimony addresses NTSB’s progress in (1) following leading practices in  ment,  management areas such as strategic planning, human capital manage information technology (IT), and financial management; (2) increasing the  efficiency of activities related to investigating accidents, issuing  recommendations, and conducting safety studies; and (3) increasing the  use of its Training Center.
IT,  and human capital strategic plans; office operating plans; and ot relevant documents. We also visited the NTSB Training Center;  interviewed NTSB’s Chief Information Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and  other agency officials; and updated information we reported in 200 2008. computers. In our analysis, we classified NTSB’s progress in implementin a recommendation as limited when the agency was in the early planning  stages and documents or milestones for actions did not exist or the agency  did not follow leading practices. Recognizing that many recommendation may take considerable time and effort to fully implement, we classified  NTSB’s progress in implementing a recommendation as significan agency had taken steps beyond the early planning stages toward  addressing the concerns. For example, NTSB might have developed  documents or policies that, for the most part, followed leading practices.  Finally, we classified a recommendation as fully implemented when NTSB  had fully implemented plans or processes that followed leading practices NTSB provided technical comments on a draft of this statement that we  t from  incorporated as appropriate. We conducted this performance audi July 2009 to October 2009 in accordance with generally accepted  government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit  objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonab basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
In addition, we performed limited testing of NTSB’s laptop  .
GAO, National Transportation Safety Board: Preliminary Observations on the Value of  Comprehensive Planning and Greater Use of Leading Practices and the Training  Academy. GAO-06-801T (Washington, D.C.: May 24, 2006); GAO-07-118; and GAO, National  Transportation Safety Board: Progress Made in Management Practices, Investigation  Priorities, Training Center Use, and Information Security, but These Areas Continue to  Need Improvement. GAO-08-652T (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 23, 2008).
subsections: section_title: NTSB Has Made Progress in All Management Areas, but Further Actions Are Needed to Fully Implement Some Recommendations
paragraphs: Overall, NTSB has fully implemented or made significant progress in  following leading management practices in all eight areas that our  recommendations addressed in 2006 and 2008—communication, strategic  planning, IT, knowledge management, organizational structure, human  capital management, training, and financial management. We made 15  management recommendations in these areas based on leading agency  management practices that we identified through our governmentwide  work. Although NTSB is a relatively small agency, such practices remain  relevant. Figure 1 summarizes NTSB’s progress in implementing our  management recommendations.
NTBS had fully implemented three of our management recommendations  as of our last report in April 2008—our recommendations to (1) facilitate  communication from staff to management, (2) align organizational  structure to implement a strategic plan, and (3) correct an Antideficiency  Act violation related to purchasing accidental death and dismemberment  insurance for employees on official travel. In addition, NTSB has made  further progress on seven of our management recommendations since  2008. First, it started reporting to Congress on the status of our  recommendations by including the actions it has taken to address them in  its Annual Report to Congress. In addition, NTSB has taken steps to  implement all three of our IT-related recommendations:    NTSB has fully implemented an IT strategic plan that addresses our  comments. Moreover, in compliance with the Federal Information Security  Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), NTSB has undergone annual  independent audits, hiring outside contractors to perform security testing  and evaluation of its computer systems.
We performed limited testing to verify that NTSB has implemented our  recommendation to install encryption software. Agency officials  confirmed, however, that while encryption software is operational on 410  of the agency’s approximately 420 laptop computers, the remaining  laptops do not have encryption software installed because they do not  include sensitive information and are not removed from the headquarters  building.
NTSB has made significant progress in limiting local administrator  privileges while allowing for employees to add software and print from  offsite locations as necessary.
NTSB has also drafted a strategic training plan that, when finalized, would  address GAO guidance on federal strategic training and development  efforts and establish the core competencies needed for investigators and  other staff. In addition, two modal offices have developed core curricula  that relate specifically to their investigators.
In addition, NTSB obligated $1.3 million in September 2009 to the National  Business Center—an arm of the Department of the Interior that provides  for-fee payroll services to federal agencies—to develop a full cost  accounting system for NTSB based on a statement of work. NTSB officials  said that the first phase of the cost accounting system will be implemented  late in fiscal year 2010. When completed to permit recording time and  costing of investigations and other activities, including training, this action  will fully implement our recommendation.
The remaining five management recommendations have not yet been fully  implemented. However, NTSB has initiated actions that could lead to the  full implementation of the remainder of the recommendations.  For  example, GAO offered suggestions in 2008 for improving NTSB’s  agencywide strategic plan, and NTSB is in the final stages of updating its  strategic plan, which may address our comments by incorporating all five  agency mission areas in its goals and objectives and obtaining comments  from Congress or other external stakeholders potentially affected by or  interested in the plan.  In addition, NTSB has continued to improve its  knowledge management by developing a plan to capture, create, share,  and revise knowledge, and the agency is deploying Microsoft SharePoint®  to facilitate sharing useful information within NTSB.
In April 2008, we reported that NTSB had made significant progress in  implementing our human capital planning recommendation by issuing a  human capital plan that incorporated several strategies on enhancing the  recruitment process but was limited in some areas of diversity  management. As we have previously reported, diversity management is a  key aspect of strategic human capital management. Developing a  workforce that includes and takes advantage of the nation’s diversity is a  significant part of an agency’s transformation of its organization to meet  the challenges of the 21st century. The most recent version of NTSB’s  human capital plan establishes goals for recruiting, developing, and  retaining a diverse workforce, and NTSB provided diversity training to 32  of its senior managers and office directors in May 2009. Table 1 compares  the diversity of NTSB’s fiscal year 2008 workforce with that of the federal  government and the civilian labor force.
As the table shows, the percentages of NTSB’s fiscal year 2008 workforce  that were women and minorities were lower than those of the federal  government. Under the Office of Personnel Management’s regulations  implementing the Federal Equal Opportunity Recruitment Program,  agencies are required to determine where representation levels for  covered groups are lower than for the civilian labor force and take steps to  address those differences.
Additionally, as of fiscal year 2008, 9 percent of NSTB’s managers and  supervisors are minorities and 24 percent are women (see fig. 2).  Furthermore, according to NTSB, none of NTSB’s current 15-member  career Senior Executive Service (SES) staff were members of minority  groups, and only 2 of them were women. As we have previously reported,  diversity in SES, which generally represents the most experienced  segment of the federal workforce, can strengthen an organization by  bringing a wider variety of perspectives and approaches to policy  development and decision making.
NTSB has undertaken several initiatives to create a stronger, more diverse  pool of candidates for external positions. These initiatives include the  establishment of a Management Candidate Program that has attracted a  diverse pool of minority and female candidates at the GS 13/14 level.  NTSB’s Executive Development Program focuses on identifying  candidates for current and future SES positions at the agency. Despite  these efforts, NTSB has not been able to appreciably change its diversity  profile for minority group members and women.
NTSB’s current workforce demographics may present the agency with an  opportunity to increase the diversity of its workforce and management.  According to NTSB, in 3 years, more than 50 percent of its current  supervisors and managers will be eligible to retire, as will over 25 percent  of its general workforce. Furthermore, 53 percent of its investigators and  71 percent of those filling critical leadership positions are at least 50 years  of age. Although actual retirement rates may be lower than retirement  eligibility rates, especially in the present economic environment,  consideration of retirement eligibility is important to workforce planning.
section_title: NTSB Has Made Its Selection of Accident Investigations More Efficient, but Reporting Can Be Improved
paragraphs: We previously made four recommendations to NTSB to improve the  efficiency of its activities related to investigating accidents, such as  selecting accidents to investigate and tracking the status of its  recommendations, and increasing its use of safety studies (see fig. 3).
NTSB is required by statute to investigate all civil aviation accidents and  selected accidents in other modes—highway, marine, railroad, pipeline,  and hazardous materials. Since our April 2008 report, NTSB has fully  implemented our recommendation to develop transparent policies  containing risk-based criteria for selecting which accidents to investigate.  The recently completed highway policy assigns priority to accidents based  on the number of fatalities, whether the accident conditions are on NTSB’s  “Watch List” or whether the accidents might have significant safety  issues, among other factors (see fig. 4). For marine accidents, NTSB has a  memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Coast Guard that  includes criteria for selecting which accidents to investigate. In addition,  NTSB has now developed an internal policy on selecting marine accidents  for investigation. This policy enhances the MOU by providing criteria to  assess whether to launch an investigation when the Coast Guard, not  NTSB, would have the lead. In April 2008, we reported that NTSB had also  developed a transparent, risk-based policy explaining which aviation, rail,  pipeline, and hazardous materials accidents to investigate.
The remaining three recommendations have not yet been fully  implemented. However, NTSB has initiated actions that could lead to  closure of the recommendations. NTSB is deploying an agencywide  electronic information system based on Microsoft SharePoint that will  streamline and increase NTSB’s use of technology in closing out its  recommendations and in developing reports. When fully implemented, this  system should serve to close these two recommendations.
NTSB has also made significant progress in implementing our  recommendation to increase its use of safety studies, which are multiyear  efforts that result in recommendations. They are intended to improve  transportation safety by effecting changes to policies, programs, and  activities of agencies that regulate transportation safety. While we, the  Department of Transportation, and nongovernmental groups, like  universities, also conduct research designed to improve transportation  safety, NTSB is mandated to carry out special studies and investigations  about transportation safety, including studies about how to avoid personal  injury. Although NTSB has not completed any safety studies since we  made our recommendation in 2006, it has three studies in progress, one of  which is in final draft, and it has established a goal of developing two  safety study proposals and submitting them to its board for approval each  year. NTSB officials told us that because the agency has a small number of  staff, it has difficulty producing large studies in addition to processing  many other reports and data inquiries. NTSB officials told us they would  like to broaden the term “safety studies” to include not only the current  studies of multiple accidents, but the research done for the other smaller  safety-related reports and data inquiries. Such a term, they said, would  better characterize the scope of their efforts to report safety information  to the public. NTSB also developed new guidelines to address its  completion of safety studies. Congressional reauthorization is an ideal  time to obtain stakeholder input on whether a change in terminology like  this would meet NTSB’s legislative requirement.
section_title: NTSB Has Increased Use of the Training Center
paragraphs: We made two recommendations for NTSB to increase its own and other  agencies’ use of the Training Center and to decrease the center’s overall  operating deficit (see fig. 5). The agency increased use of the center’s  classroom space from 10 percent in fiscal year 2006 to 80 percent in fiscal  year 2009. According to NTSB, it has sublease agreements with agencies of  the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to rent approximately three- quarters of the classroom space located on the first and second floors. The  warehouse portion of the Training Center houses reconstructed wreckage  from TWA Flight 800, damaged aircraft, and other wreckage. The Training  Center provides core training for NTSB investigators and trains others  from the transportation community to improve their practice of accident  investigation. Furthermore, NTSB has hired a Management Support  Specialist whose job duties include maximizing the Training Center’s use  and marketing its use to other agencies or organizations. The agency’s  actions to increase the center’s use also helped increase total Training  Center revenues from about $635,000 in fiscal year 2005 to about  $1,771,000 in fiscal year 2009. By reducing the center’s leasing expenses— for example, by subleasing classrooms and office space at the center to  other agencies—NTSB reduced the Training Center’s annual deficit from  about $3.9 million to about $1.9 million over the same time period.
NTSB has made significant progress in achieving the intent of our  recommendation to maximize the delivery of its core investigator  curriculum at the Training Center by increasing the number of NTSB- related courses taught at the Training Center (fig. 6). For example in 2008,  49 of the 68 courses offered at the Training Center were solely for NTSB  employees.
NTSB has fully implemented our recommendation to increase use of the  Training Center. NTSB subleased all available office space at its Training  Center to the Federal Air Marshal Service (a DHS agency) at an annual fee  of $479,000. NTSB also increased use of the Training Center’s classroom  space and thereby increased the revenues it receives from course fees and  rents for classroom and conference space. From fiscal year 2006 through  fiscal year 2009, NTSB increased other agencies’ and its own use of  classroom space from 10 to 80 percent, and increased revenues by over  $1.1 million. For example, according to NTSB it has a sublease agreement  with DHS to rent approximately one-third of the classroom space. NTSB  considered moving certain staff from headquarters to the Training Center,  but halted these considerations after subleasing all of the Training Center’s  available office space. NTSB decreased personnel expenses related to the  Training Center from about $980,000 in fiscal year 2005 to $507,000 in  fiscal year 2009 by reducing the center’s full-time equivalent positions from  8.5 to 3.0 over the same period. As a result of these efforts, from fiscal year  2005 through fiscal year 2009, Training Center revenues increased 179  percent while the center’s overall deficit decreased by 51 percent. (Table 2  shows direct expenses and revenues for the Training Center in fiscal years  2004 through 2009.) However, the salaries and other personnel-related  expenses associated with NTSB investigators and managers teaching at  the Training Center, which would be appropriate to include in the Training  Center’s costs, are not included. NTSB officials told us that they believe  the investigators and managers teaching at the Training Center would be  teaching at another location even if the Training Center did not exist. Once  NTSB has fully implemented its cost accounting system, it should be able  to track and report these expenses.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to  respond to any questions you or other Members of the Subcommittee may  have at this time.
section_title: Contacts and Acknowledgments
paragraphs: For further information on this testimony, please contact Gerald L.  Dillingham, Ph.D. at (202) 512-2834 or by e-mail at dillinghamg@gao.gov or  Gregory C. Wilshusen at (202) 512-6244 or wilshuseng@gao.gov.  Individuals making key contributions to this testimony include Keith  Cunningham, Assistant Director; Lauren Calhoun; Peter Del Toro; George  Depaoli; Elizabeth Eisenstadt; Fred Evans; Steven Lozano; Mary Marshall;  Kiki Theodoropoulos; Charles Vrable; Jack Warner; and Sarah Wood.
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