Government Printing Office: Technological Changes Create Transformation Opportunities
Published: 2004-04-28T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: Advances in technology have led to more organizations making information available over the Internet and the World Wide Web rather than through print, significantly changing the nature of printing and information dissemination. Government Printing Office (GPO) management recognizes that the new environment in which it operates requires that the agency modernize and transform itself and the way it does business. To assist in this transformation, GAO has been performing a comprehensive review of government printing and information dissemination and of GPO's operations. In this testimony, GAO summarizes the result of its work to date, for which GAO convened a panel of experts on printing and dissemination (assembled with the help of the National Academy of Sciences) to develop options for GPO to consider in its transformation, and surveyed executive branch customers regarding their practices and preferences for printing and dissemination, as well as on their interactions with GPO. The testimony reports on how changes in the technological environment are presenting challenges to GPO and on its progress in addressing actions that GAO's work indicates could advance its transformation effort.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: The changing technological environment is creating challenges for GPO. Specifically, the agency has seen declines in its printing volumes, printing revenues, and document sales. At the same time, more and more government documents are being created and downloaded electronically, many from its Web site (GPO Access). The agency's procured printing business, once selfsustaining, has experienced losses in 3 of the past 5 years, showing a net loss of $15.8 million. The sales program lost $77.1 million over the same period. In addition, these changes are creating challenges for GPO's longstanding structure for centralized printing and dissemination and its interactions with customer agencies. The Public Printer recognizes these challenges and in response has embarked upon an ambitious transformation effort. To assist in this effort, the panel of printing and dissemination experts GAO convened suggested that in its planning, GPO should focus on dissemination, rather than printing. The panel also provided specific options for it to consider as it transforms itself. GPO officials welcomed the options presented, commenting that the panel's suggestions dovetail well with their own assessments. In addition, these officials stated that they are using the results of the panel as a key part of the agency's ongoing strategic planning process. In addition, in October 2003, we reported that under the Public Printer's direction, GPO had taken several steps that recognize the important role that strategic human capital management plays in its transformation, including establishing and filling the position of Chief Human Capital Officer. At that time, we made numerous recommendations on the further actions it could take to strengthen its human capital management. In response, GPO is beginning to address these recommendations. For example, it has reorganized its human resources office into teams responsible for each of its divisions, serving as a "one-stop shop" for all of a division's human resource needs. It also plans to conduct a skills assessment of its workforce and is initiating a pay for performance pilot.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: I am pleased to be here today to participate in this oversight hearing  on the Government Printing Office (GPO). As you know,  technological advances during the past decade have significantly  changed the nature of printing and information dissemination. In  response, the Public Printer has begun a multiyear effort to  transform the agency to provide value in this changing environment.  Subsequent decisions made over the next few years will significantly  affect how government information is published and disseminated  to the public.
To assist the Public Printer in this transformation effort, Senate  Report 107-209 mandated that we perform a comprehensive review  of the current state of printing and dissemination of government  information and report on strategic options for GPO to enhance the  efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of its printing and  dissemination operations. In addition, the Chairman and Ranking  Member of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, Senate Committee  on Appropriations, requested us to conduct a general management  review of GPO’s operations. As a result of our efforts to date on the  mandate and request, we prepared a number of interim briefings,  which we have presented to staff of this committee. We also issued  a report in October 2003 on GPO’s strategic human capital  management. We are continuing our review of GPO’s operations,  and later this year, we intend to issue a final report to fully respond  to the mandate and provide the results of the general management  review.
In my testimony today, I will first describe how changes in the  technological environment are presenting challenges to GPO. I will  then summarize GPO’s progress in addressing actions that our work  to date indicates could advance its transformation effort.
In performing the work on which this testimony is based, we  collected and analyzed key documents; interviewed officials from  GPO and other agencies; surveyed GPO’s customers in the executive  branch; and contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to  convene a panel of experts on printing and publishing technologies,  information dissemination technologies, the printing industry, and  trends in printing and dissemination. The panel discussed (1) trends  in printing, publishing, and dissemination and (2) the future role of  GPO. Our work on human capital management is based on our  October 2003 report.
Further details of our scope and methodology are provided in  attachment 1.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: GPO’s mission includes both printing government documents and  disseminating them to the public. Under 44 U.S.C. 501, it is the  principal agent for printing for the federal government. All printing  for the Congress, the executive branch, and the judiciary—except  for the Supreme Court—is to be done or contracted by GPO except  for authorized exemptions. The Superintendent of Documents, who  heads GPO’s Information Dissemination organization, disseminates  these government products to the public through a system of 1,200  depository libraries nationwide (the Federal Depository Library  Program), GPO’s Web site (GPO Access), telephone and fax  ordering, an online ordering site, and its bookstore in Washington,  D.C. The Superintendent of Documents is also responsible for  classification and bibliographic control of tangible and electronic  government publications.
Printing and related services. In providing printing and binding  services to the government, GPO generally dedicates its in-house  printing equipment to congressional printing, contracting out most  printing for the executive branch. Table 1 shows the costs of these  services in fiscal year 2003, as well as the source of these printing  services.
Printing and binding for the Congress are funded by appropriations;  in fiscal year 2004, this appropriation was $90.6 million, and the  amount requested for fiscal year 2005 is $88.8 million. Documents  printed for the Congress include the Congressional Record, hearing  transcripts, bills, resolutions, amendments, and committee reports,  among other things. GPO also provides publishing support staff to  the Congress; these support staff mainly perform print preparation  activities, such as typing, scanning, proofreading, and preparation of  electronic data for transmission to GPO.
In addition, GPO provides electronic copies of the Congressional  Record and other documents to the Congress, the public, and the  depository libraries in accordance with the Government Printing  Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993.
GPO generally provides printing services to federal agencies  through contracting. GPO procures about 83 percent of printing for  federal agencies from private contractors and does the remaining 17  percent at its own plant facilities. Most of the procured printing jobs  (85 percent for the period from June 2002 to May 2003) were for  under $2,500 each.
There is no appropriation to cover federal agency printing services.  Instead, GPO levies a service charge to federal agency customers of  its procurement services. The service charge is GPO’s only  authorized source of funds to pay for the services it provides to  agencies.
The service charge is intended to cover the cost of specialized  printing procurement services that GPO provides to agencies. These  services include developing printing specifications and providing  quality assurance functions, both of which require printing expertise  that agencies often do not have. Procuring printing is more  specialized than general procurement, because all printing jobs are  custom: that is, printing cannot be bought “off the shelf,” like  furniture or office supplies. Developing printing specifications  requires specialized knowledge of paper and ink qualities, printing  presses, and printing processes, for example.
Besides printing, GPO provides a range of related services to  agencies, including, for example, CD-ROM development and  production, archiving/storage, converting products to electronic  format, Web hosting, and Web page design and development.
Dissemination of government information. The Superintendent of  Documents is responsible for the acquisition, classification,  dissemination, and bibliographic control of tangible and electronic  government publications. Regardless of the printing source, Title 44  requires that federal agencies make all their publications available  to the Superintendent of Documents for cataloging and distribution.
The Superintendent of Documents manages a number of programs  related to distribution, including the Federal Depository Library  Program (FDLP), which designates libraries across the country to  receive copies of government publications for public use. Generally,  documents distributed to the libraries are those that contain  information regarding U.S. government activities or are important  reference publications. GPO evaluates documents to determine  whether they should be disseminated to the depository libraries.  When documents are printed through GPO, it evaluates them at the  time of printing; if documents are not printed through GPO, Title 44  requires agencies to notify it of these documents, so that it can  evaluate them and arrange to receive any copies needed for  distribution. A relatively small percentage of the items printed  through GPO for the executive branch are designated as depository  items.
Another distribution program under the Superintendent of  Documents is the Document Sales Service, which purchases,  warehouses, sells, and distributes government documents.  Publications are sold by mail, telephone, and fax; through GPO’s  online bookstore; and at its bookstore in Washington, D.C.
The Superintendent of Documents is also responsible for GPO’s  Web site, GPO Access, which is one mechanism for electronic  dissemination of government documents to the public through links  to over 240,000 individual titles on GPO’s servers and other federal  Web sites. More than 1.6 billion documents have been retrieved by  the public from GPO Access since August 1994; almost 372 million  downloads of government information from GPO Access were made  in fiscal year 2002 alone. About two-thirds of new FDLP titles are  available online.
subsections: section_title: Trends in Printing and Information Dissemination
paragraphs: Current industry trends show that the total volume of printed  material has been declining for the past few years and that this trend  is expected to continue. A major factor in this declining volume is  the use of electronic media options. More organizations are creating  electronic documents for dissemination or publishing their  information directly to the Web. The reason for the switch to  electronic publishing and dissemination is that once a document is  created electronically, the costs associated with reproducing and  distributing paper copies of it are greater than the costs of providing  online access to it. Therefore, many organizations are making  information available electronically and printing fewer documents,  moving away from print-centric processes.
The move to electronic dissemination is the latest phase in the  electronic publishing revolution that has transformed the printing  industry in recent decades. This revolution was driven by the  development of increasingly sophisticated electronic publishing (or  “desktop publishing”) software, run on personal computers, that  allows users to design documents including both images and text,  and the parallel development of electronic laser printer/copier  technology with capabilities that approach those of high-end  presses. These tools allow users to produce documents that  formerly would have required hand work, professional printing  expertise, and large printing systems.
These technologies have brought major economic and industrial  changes to the printing industry. As electronic publishing software  becomes increasingly sophisticated, user-friendly, and reliable, it  approaches the ideal of the print customer being able to produce  files that can be reproduced on the press with little or no  intervention by printing professionals As the printing process is  simplified, the customer can take responsibility for more of the  work. Thus, the technologies diminish the value that printing  organizations like GPO add to the printing process, particularly for  simpler printing jobs. Nonetheless, professional expertise remains  critical for many aspects of printing, and for many print jobs it is  still not possible to bypass the printing professional altogether.
The advent of the Web and the Internet, however, permits the  instantaneous distribution of the electronic documents produced by  the new publishing processes, breaking the link between printing  and dissemination. As the Web has become virtually ubiquitous, the  electronic dissemination of information becomes not only practical,  but more economical than dissemination on paper.
As a result, many organizations are changing from a print to an  electronic focus. In the early stages of the electronic publishing  revolution, organizations tended to prepare a document for printing  and then convert the print layout to electronic form—in other  words, focusing on printing rather than dissemination. Increasingly,  however, organizations are changing their focus to providing  information—not necessarily on paper. Today an organization may  employ computers to generate plates used for printing as well as  electronic files for dissemination. Tomorrow, the organization may  create only an electronic representation of the information, which  can be disseminated through various media, such as Web sites. A  printed version would be produced only upon request.
section_title: GPO Has Begun to Restructure and Modernize in Response to the New Environment
paragraphs: GPO’s Public Printer—confirmed by the Senate in November 2002—  has initiated efforts to modernize and prepare GPO for the 21st  century. The Public Printer has initiated a reorganization with a  chief executive officer (Public Printer), chief operating officer, and  managing directors in addition to the Superintendent of Documents.  The Public Printer and his management team also reorganized the  agency into three customer-focused functional areas (Customer  Services, Information Dissemination, and Plant Operations) and  three support areas (Information Technology and Systems, Finance  and Administration, and Human Resources).
According to GPO, this interim restructuring will be used during a  2-year transitional phase. During this time, further decisions will be  made about its future and organizational alignment.
According to GPO officials, the Public Printer has also initiated  efforts to develop a strategic plan to guide its transformation efforts.  These efforts include  ●  conducting fact-finding activities to support plan development,  ●  convening meetings of top management to discuss and document  the “as-is” state of the organization, and   ●  finalizing the plan by December 2004.
section_title: Technological Changes Present Challenges to GPO
paragraphs: In keeping with overall industry trends, the volume of material  provided to GPO to print has diminished in recent years and is  creating financial challenges for the agency. According to GPO, its  federal agency print jobs at one time generated close to $1 billion a  year. In fiscal year 2003, the amount was just over half of that—$570  million. Federal agencies are publishing more items directly to the  Web—without creating paper documents at all—and are doing more  of their printing and dissemination of information without using  GPO services. This reduction in demand has resulted in GPO’s  procured printing business, which was once financially self- sustaining, experiencing losses in 3 of the past 5 years, with a net  loss of $15.8 million over that period.
Similar changes have affected its sales program. The introduction of  GPO Access, which allows downloading and printing of documents  at no cost, has contributed to major losses to the sales program in  recent years. The availability of free government documents for  downloading is a boon to the public, but it clearly affects GPO’s  ability to generate sales revenue.
According to the Superintendent of Documents, GPO sold 35,000  subscriptions to the Federal Register 10 years ago and now sells  2,500; at the same time, over 4 million Federal Register documents  are downloaded each month from GPO Access. The Superintendent  also reported that the overall volume of sales has dropped from 24.3  million copies sold in fiscal year 1993 to 4.4 million copies sold in  fiscal year 2002.
The sales program has operated at a loss for the past 5 years, with a  net loss of $77.1 million over that period, $20 million in fiscal year  2003 alone. According to GPO, these losses are due to a downward  trend in customer demand for printed publications that has  significantly reduced program revenues.
Ongoing technological changes are also creating challenges for  GPO’s longstanding structure for centralized printing and  dissemination. As mentioned earlier, the requirement in Title 44 that  agencies notify GPO of their published documents (if they used  other printing sources) allows it to review agency documents to  determine whether the documents should be disseminated to the  depository libraries. If they should be, GPO can then add a rider to  the agency’s print contract to obtain the number of copies that it  needs for dissemination. However, if agencies do not notify it of  their intent to print, these documents remain unknown, becoming  “fugitive documents” which may not be available to the public  through the depository library program.
In responding to our surveys, executive branch agencies reported  that while printing requirements are declining, they are producing a  significant portion of their total volume internally, generally on  desktop publishing and reproduction equipment instead of large- scale printing equipment. In addition, while most agencies (16 of 21)  reported that they have established procedures to ensure that  documents that should be disseminated through the libraries are  forwarded to GPO, 5 of 21 did not have such procedures, thus  potentially adding to the fugitive document problem.
Responding agencies also reported that although currently more  government documents are still being printed than are being  published electronically, publishing documents directly to the Web  is increasing and expected to grow further in the future. Most  agencies reported that documents currently published directly to  the Web were not of the type that is required to be sent to GPO for  dissemination. However, of the 5 agencies that did publish eligible  documents electronically, only 1 said that it had submitted these  documents to GPO. As electronic publishing continues to grow,  such conditions may contribute further to the fugitive document  problem.
Finally, the ongoing agency shift toward electronic publishing is also  creating challenges for GPO’s existing relationships with its  executive branch customers. In responding to our surveys,  executive branch agencies expressed overall satisfaction with GPO’s  products and services and expressed a desire to continue to use  these services for at least part of their publishing needs. However,  these agencies reported a few areas in which GPO could improve— for example, in the presentation of new products and services.  Further, some agencies indicated that they were less familiar with  and less likely to use GPO’s electronic products and services.  Specifically, these agencies were hardly or not at all familiar with  services such as Web page design and development (8 of 28), Web  hosting services (8 of 29), and electronic publishing services (5 of  28). As a consequence, these agencies were also less likely to use  these services. With the expected growth in electronic publishing  and other services, making customer agencies fully aware of its  capabilities in these areas is important.
section_title: GPO Is Making Progress in Its Transformation
paragraphs: The Public Printer and his leadership team recognize the challenges  that they face in this changing environment and have embarked  upon an ambitious effort to transform the agency. First and  foremost, the Public Printer agrees with the need to reexamine the  mission and focus of the agency within the context of technological  change that is occurring. To assist in that process, our panel of  printing and dissemination experts developed a series of options for  GPO to consider in its planning. In summary, these options were as  follows: ●  Focus its mission on information dissemination as its primary  goal, rather than printing. The panel suggested that GPO first  needs to create a new vision of itself as a disseminator of  information, not only a printer of documents. As one panel member  put it, GPO should end up resembling a bank of information rather  than a mint that stamps paper. Further, the panel suggested that  GPO develop a business plan that emphasizes direct electronic  dissemination methods over distribution of paper documents. The  panel suggested that the plan also address (1) improving its Web  site, GPO Access, (2) investigating methods to “push” information  and documents into the hands of those that need them, (3)  modernizing its production processes to publish electronically and  print only when necessary, (4) promoting the use of metadata— descriptive information about the data provided—as a requirement  for electronic publishing, and (5) providing increased support for  the federal depository libraries’ role in providing access to  electronically disseminated government information.  ●  Demonstrate value to customers and the public. The panel agreed  that while GPO appears to provide value to agencies because of its  expertise in printing and dissemination, it is not clear that agencies  and the general public realize this. Therefore, GPO needs to collect  data to show that, in fact, it can provide value in printing  documents, providing expert assistance in electronic dissemination,  and disseminating information to the public.  ●  Establish partnerships with collaborating and customer agencies.
According to the panel, GPO should establish partnerships with  other information dissemination agencies to coordinate standards  and best practices for digitizing documents and to archive  documents in order to keep them permanently available to the  public. In addition, the panel suggested that GPO improve and  expand its partnerships with customer agencies. While most  agencies recognize GPO as a resource for printing documents, it  now has the capability to assist in the collection and dissemination  of electronic information.  ●  Improve internal operations. The panel suggested that GPO would  need to improve its internal operations to be successful in the very  competitive printing and dissemination marketplace. For example,  panel members suggested that GPO hire a chief technology officer  (in addition to its chief information officer), who would focus on  bringing in new printing and dissemination technologies while  maintaining older technologies.
GPO officials responded positively to these results, commenting that  that the panel’s suggestions dovetail well with their own  assessments. In addition, these officials stated that they are using  the results of the panel as a key part of the agency’s ongoing  strategic planning process.
GPO also has taken a number of steps to address the issues raised  by the expert panel. Specifically:  ●  GPO has established an Office of New Business Development that is  to develop new products and service ideas that will result in  increased revenues. GPO officials stated that they are using the  results of the panel discussion to categorize and prioritize their  initial compilation of ideas and, in this context, plan to assess how  these ideas would improve operations and revenue.  ●  Regarding GPO’s mission to disseminate information, GPO officials  stated that its Office of Innovation and New Technology, established  in early 2003, is leading an effort to transform GPO into an agency  “at the cutting edge of multichannel information dissemination.” A  major goal in this effort is to disseminate information while still  addressing the need “to electronically preserve, authenticate, and  version the documents of our democracy.” In addition, the Public  Printer has been added to the oversight committee of the National  Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, a  national cooperative effort to archive and preserve digital  information, led by the Library of Congress.   ●  Further, to address the adequacy of its internal functions, GPO’s  Deputy Chief of Staff stated that the agency is in the process of  searching for a chief technology officer, with the intention that the  current chief information officer will focus primarily on internal  business processes, and the chief technology officer will focus on  identifying the specific technology solutions needed to support its  printing and dissemination mission.
These efforts are valuable first steps that, if properly followed  through and implemented, should contribute to the success of  GPO’s transformation.
subsections: section_title: GPO Has Taken Steps to Improve Its Strategic Human Capital Management
paragraphs: The Public Printer recognizes that to successfully transform, GPO  will have to ensure that it strategically manages its people. At the  center of any serious change management initiative are the people.  Thus the key to a successful transformation is to recognize the  people element and implement strategies to help individuals  maximize their full potential in the organization.
In our October 2003 report, we stated that under the Public Printer’s  direction, GPO also had taken several steps that recognize the  important role strategic human capital management plays in its  transformation. For example, GPO established and filled the  position of Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO), shifted the focus  of existing training, expanded opportunities for more staff to attend  needed training, and enhanced recruitment strategies. We also made  numerous recommendations to GPO on the steps it should take to  strengthen its human capital management in support of its  transformation. These recommendations focused on the following  four interrelated areas:   ●  communicating the role of managers in GPO’s transformation,  ●  strengthening the role of the human resources office,  ●  developing a strategic workforce plan to ensure GPO has the skills  and knowledge it needs for the future, and   ●  using a strategic performance management system to drive change.
GPO has taken or plans to take steps that address these  recommendations. According to the CHCO, a performance element  and standard is being added to all managers’ performance plans to  address their role as communicators within GPO. Managers are now  required to meet with their employees at a minimum of once a  month with key information from these meetings communicated to  the CHCO.
In addition, according to the CHCO, the human resources office has  been reorganized into teams responsible for a particular GPO  division, serving as a “one-stop shop” for all of the divisions’ human  resource needs. The intention is to fully integrate human capital  management throughout the agency’s operational divisions. All  human resources office employees will be trained as human  resource generalists in the full range of human resources activities  including change management, strategic human resource planning,  position classification, recruitment and placement, benefits,  performance management, career development, and labor/employee  relations. Training will be provided by a combination of in-house  talent and outside vendors to upgrade the skills of current human  resources staff. Additionally, GPO has hired a Director of Workforce  Development, Education, and Training to manage the expanding  training program at GPO. The human resources office plans to  survey GPO’s operational divisions regarding their level of  satisfaction with the new human resources office.
As a first step in GPO’s strategic workforce plan, GPO’s CHCO plans  to conduct a skills assessment of its workforce within the next  6 months. GPO’s newly hired Director of Workforce Development,  Education, and Training has met with GPO’s senior managers, union  leaders, employees, and skills assessment consultants to determine  the methodology that will be used for the skills assessment. The  skills assessment will include a number of measurement tools and  methods. Employees will be asked to participate in taking  assessment inventories, skills tests, and electronic and paper-based  surveys. While the skills assessments are being completed, GPO’s  leadership plans to identify the critical skills and competencies that  GPO will need for its transformation. As an interim effort, GPO is in  the process of surveying its managers to identify skills that are  lacking for large groups of employees. For example, GPO’s Chief  Information Officer identified the need for staff to have enhanced  project management skills, and the human resources office has  worked to provide training to GPO staff to address this gap.
Finally, GPO’s CHCO is initiating a pay for performance pilot  program. The plan is to pilot the new system with Senior Level  Service employees, and will offer three levels of bonus for  employees who meet at least 80 percent of their goals. GPO officials  have contacted other federal agencies to benchmark pay for  performance systems, including us, and has examples of  performance plans and goals from at least five federal agencies and  from six business and educational institutions.
While GPO has made progress on human capital initiatives,  significant challenges remain. For example, the restructuring and  creation of many new positions within GPO produces a great deal of  work for the human resource office. Developing position  descriptions, posting new job opportunities, and vetting  applications—all the while being reorganized and trained to do new  tasks—will stretch the human resource office. Although the human  resource office’s culture is becoming more collaborative, program  officials and human resource officials acknowledged that the  cultural change is difficult and will take time. Given these  challenges, continued top leadership commitment will be needed to  reinforce and sustain the progress the human resource office is  making to change its culture.
Effective integration and alignment of GPO’s human capital  approaches with its strategies for achieving mission and  programmatic goals and results will be a key factor in successfully  transforming GPO and sustaining high performance. As GPO moves  forward to draft its strategic plan, it will have the opportunity to  revisit its progress in human capital management and focus the  human resource office’s priorities on areas that contribute most to  accomplishing the goals and objectives in the strategic plan.  Developing a strategic workforce plan that is linked to the strategic  plan will undoubtedly be a key activity for GPO as it moves forward  in the second year of its transformation.
section_title: GPO Is Responding to Changing Customer Practices and Needs
paragraphs: GPO is also taking steps to put greater emphasis on customer needs.  Based on executive agencies’ responses to our surveys, we provided  observations and suggestions for action to GPO. Specifically, we  suggested that the agency consider  ●  working with executive branch agencies to examine the nature of  their in-house printing and determine whether it could provide these  services more economically;  ●  addressing the few areas in which executive branch agencies rated  its products, services, and performance as below average,  ●  re-examining its marketing of electronic services to ensure that  agencies are aware of them; and  ●  using the results of the surveys to work with agencies to establish  processes that will ensure that eligible documents (whether printed  or electronic) are forwarded to GPO for dissemination to the public,  as required by law.
GPO officials agreed with the issues identified by executive branch  agencies and said they are already taking action to address them.  According to these officials, GPO is  ●  taking a new direction with its Office of Sales and Marketing,  including hiring an outside expert and establishing nine National  Account Managers, who spend most of their time in the field  building relationships with key customers, analyzing their business  processes, identifying current and future needs, and offering  solutions;  ●  working with its largest agency customer, the Department of  Defense, to determine how to work more closely with large in-house  printing operations;  ●  evaluating recommendations received from the Depository Library  ●  continuing to implement a Demonstration Print Procurement  Project, jointly announced with the Office of Management and  Budget on June 6, 2003. This project is to provide a Web-based  system that will be a one-stop, integrated print ordering and  invoicing system. The system is to allow agencies to order their own  printing at reduced rates, with the option of buying additional  printing procurement services from GPO. According to GPO, this  project is also designed to address many of the issues identified  through our executive branch surveys, particularly the depository  library fugitive document problem.
Such actions, although still in their early stages, should assist GPO  in determining how to better serve its customers and address issues  such as those involving fugitive documents.
In summary, the new printing and dissemination environment at the  beginning of the 21st century has created significant challenges for  GPO. Agency leadership recognizes these challenges and has made a  commitment to transform the agency to function effectively within  this changed environment. As part of this effort, the Public Printer  has taken an important step by establishing a strategic planning  process, which, in part, will consider changes to the agency’s future  mission and focus. Further, in realizing the importance of effective  human capital management, he is establishing the foundation  needed to successfully transform GPO. In addition, by placing new  emphasis on its customers, the agency is focusing on a key  characteristic of high-performing organizations. Fulfilling this  commitment, however, will require sustained attention from GPO  leadership as well as clear-sighted analysis of the challenges and the  actions required in response. In the coming months, we plan to  continue to work with these leaders cooperatively as they make  further progress in their transformation.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. I would be pleased to  answer any questions that you or other members of the committee  may have at this time.
section_title: Contact and Acknowledgements
paragraphs: For further information, please contact Linda D. Koontz at (202)  512-6240 or by e-mail at koontzl@gao.gov. Other key contributors to  this testimony were Barbara Collier, Ben Crawford, Tonia Johnson,  Steven Lozano, William Reinsberg, and Warren Smith.
section_title: Attachment 1. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology
paragraphs: Senate Report 107-209 mandated that we perform a comprehensive  review of the current state of printing and dissemination of  government information and report on strategic options for GPO to  enhance the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of its printing  and dissemination operations. In addition, the Chairman of the  Legislative Branch Subcommittee, Senate Committee on  Appropriations, requested us to carry out a general management  review of GPO’s operations. As a result of our efforts on the  mandate and request to date, we prepared interim briefings for the  Legislative Branch Subcommittee, Senate Committee on  Appropriations, which we presented to staff of this subcommittee  on August 27, 2003, and April 1, 2004.
To help explore GPO’s options for the future, we contracted with  the National Academy of Sciences to convene a panel of experts to  discuss (1) trends in printing, publishing, and dissemination and  (2) the future role of GPO.
In working with the National Academy to develop an agenda for the  panel sessions, we consulted with key officials at GPO,  representatives of library associations including the Association of  Research Libraries and the American Library Association, and other  subject matter experts.
The National Academy assembled a panel of experts on printing and  publishing technologies, information dissemination technologies,  the printing industry, and trends in printing and dissemination. This  panel met on December 8 and 9, 2003.
To obtain information on GPO’s printing and dissemination  activities—including revenues and costs—we collected and  analyzed key documents and data, including laws and regulations,  studies of GPO operations, prior audits, historical trends for printing  volumes and prices, financial reports and data, and budget and  appropriations data. We also interviewed appropriate officials from  GPO, the Library of Congress, and the Office of Management and  Budget.
To determine how GPO collects and disseminates government  information, we collected and analyzed documents and data on the  depository libraries, the cataloging and indexing program, and the  International Exchange Service program. We also interviewed  appropriate officials from GPO.
To determine executive branch agencies’ current reported printing  expenditures, equipment inventories, and preferences; familiarity  and level of satisfaction with services provided by GPO, and current  methods for disseminating information to the public, we developed  two surveys of GPO’s customers in the executive branch:  We sent our first survey to executive agencies that are major users  of GPO’s printing programs and services. It contained questions  relating to the department’s or agency’s (1) familiarity with these  programs and services and (2) level of satisfaction with the  customer service function. These major users, according to GPO,  account for the majority of printing done through GPO. This survey  was sent to 11 departments that manage printing centrally, 15  component agencies within 3 departments that manage printing in a  decentralized manner, and 7 independent agencies. A total of 33  departments and agencies were surveyed. The response rate for the  user survey was 91 percent (30 of 33 departments and agencies).
We sent our second survey to print officers who manage printing  services for departments and agencies. These print officers act as  liaisons to GPO and manage in-house printing operations. This  survey contained questions concerning the department’s or agency’s  (1) level of satisfaction with GPO’s procured printing and  information dissemination functions; (2) printing preferences,  equipment inventories, and expenditures; and (3) information  dissemination processes. These agencies include those that were  sent the user survey plus two others that do not use GPO services.  We sent this survey to 11 departments that manage printing  centrally, 15 component agencies within 3 departments that manage  printing in a decentralized manner, and 9 independent agencies. A  total of 35 departments and agencies were surveyed. The response  rate for the print officer survey was 83 percent (29 of 35  departments and agencies).
To develop these survey instruments, we researched executive  agencies’ printing and dissemination issues with the assistance of  GPO Customer Services and Organizational Assistance Offices. We  used this research to develop a series of questions designed to  obtain and aggregate the information that we needed to answer our  objectives.
After we developed the questions and created the two survey  instruments, we shared them with GPO officials. We received  feedback on the survey questions from a number of internal GPO  organizations including Printing Procurement, Customer Services,  Information Dissemination, and Organizational Assistance.
We pretested the executive branch surveys with the Department of  Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. We chose  these agencies because each had a long-term relationship with GPO,  experience with agency printing, and familiarity with  governmentwide printing and dissemination issues. Finally, we  reviewed customer lists to determine the appropriate sample size  for the executive branch surveys. We did not independently verify  agencies’ responses to the surveys.
Our work on strategic human capital management is based on our  October 2003 report on that topic.
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