Architect of the Capitol: Committed, Sustained Leadership Needed to Continue Progress
Published: 2007-02-28T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for the operation, maintenance, renovation, and new construction of the Capitol Hill complex, including the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress, and the Senate and House Office Buildings. In 2003, at the request of Congress, GAO issued a management review of AOC that contained recommendations designed to help AOC become more strategic and accountable. Subsequently, Congress directed GAO to monitor AOC's progress in implementing recommendations. This is the fourth status report on AOC's progress and summarizes GAO's assessment of AOC's overall progress and remaining actions in becoming more strategic and accountable, including AOC's responses to specific recommendations GAO made in January 2003 and subsequently. To assess AOC's progress, GAO analyzed AOC documents; interviewed AOC officials; and relied on the results of related GAO reviews, including reviews of the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC). AOC generally agreed with GAO's assessment of its progress, but noted that 2 additional recommendations--1 on financial management practices and 1 on collecting worker safety data--should be considered implemented. GAO acknowledges AOC's efforts in these areas, but maintains that further steps are necessary to fully implement these recommendations.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: AOC has made progress in becoming more strategic and accountable, but critical actions are needed to sustain and build on this progress. To date, AOC has filled key leadership positions, revised its strategic plan, improved communication, and continued initiatives to improve internal controls and accountability. AOC is thus establishing a foundation for becoming more strategic and accountable. However, completing the transition to new leadership--including the transition to a new Architect of the Capitol (a position that is now vacant)--and other actions remain to bring about lasting improvements in performance. For example, AOC must integrate nine new managers into the agency while ensuring its continued progress. In addition, the Chief Operating Officer faces the challenge of performing the Architect of the Capitol's responsibilities and his own during the CVC project's completion and AOC's management transition. Furthermore, although AOC has revised its strategic plan to better focus on its mission and goals, it has not determined whether it can better deliver the services that support its mission and goals through outsourcing or in-house resources. Finally, a continued focus on communication and other areas that are key to greater internal control and accountability--including financial, information technology, and project management--is needed to sustain and further AOC's progress to date. For example, full implementation of AOC's cost accounting system--a key financial management initiative--is needed to more accurately track facilities management cost measures. Improvements in project management could be achieved, in part, by applying lessons learned in managing the CVC project. Appendix I of this report summarizes AOC's progress on recommendations that GAO has made since January 2003 to help AOC establish a strong strategic management and accountability framework. This year, AOC has implemented 21 recommendations. For example, AOC implemented 6 of the strategic management recommendations, including the development of congressional protocols and the involvement of stakeholders in developing the revised strategic plan. For project management, AOC implemented 7 recommendations, including the development of performance measures. Implementing these 21 recommendations brings the total number of implemented or closed recommendations to 43 out of 64.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for the operations,  maintenance, renovation, and new construction of the Capitol Hill  complex, including such high-profile and historic buildings as the U.S.  Capitol Building, Senate and House Office Buildings, Library of Congress,  and Supreme Court. AOC also is managing the construction of the Capitol  Visitor Center (CVC)—the largest incremental growth in the history of the  Capitol complex. Preserving and modernizing these buildings while  meeting the needs of Congress and the visiting public poses challenges for  AOC. In 2001, Congress raised concerns about management shortcomings  at AOC and asked us to review the management of AOC’s operations. In  response, we issued a report in January 2003 containing recommendations  that were designed to help AOC establish a strong strategic management  and accountability framework. Congress subsequently directed us to  monitor AOC’s progress in implementing these recommendations. This  report is the fourth in a series of status reports on AOC’s progress. In our  previous report on AOC’s progress, we emphasized the need for  improvement in communication with external stakeholders and in  development of internal controls and stressed the importance of  leadership support for these improvements.
To continue our efforts in monitoring AOC’s progress, this report includes  an assessment of AOC’s overall progress and remaining actions in  becoming more strategic and accountable, including responses to specific  recommendations we made in January 2003 and subsequently. The  recommendations involve nine areas—strategic management, human  capital management, financial management, information technology (IT)  management, project management, facilities management, worker safety,  Capitol Power Plant (CPP) management, and recycling.
To assess AOC’s progress in implementing our recommendations and  identify remaining actions, we analyzed documents related to AOC’s  actions and interviewed AOC officials responsible for implementing the  recommendations. Our analysis also relies on the results of other work we  conducted during this past year—including reviews of the extent to which  AOC outsources operations, AOC’s procedures to estimate project costs,  and AOC’s efforts to improve the CPP’s utility tunnels—as well as our  ongoing oversight of the construction of the CVC. We conducted our work  from September 2006 through February 2007 in accordance with generally  accepted government auditing standards.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: AOC is responsible for the operation, maintenance, renovation, and new  construction of the buildings and grounds of the Capitol Hill complex.  Organizationally, AOC consists of nine separate jurisdictions responsible  for the day-to-day operations of the U.S. Capitol Building, Capitol  Grounds, Senate Office Buildings, House Office Buildings, Library of  Congress Buildings and Grounds, Supreme Court Buildings and Grounds,  CPP, Botanic Garden, and Security Programs. AOC also has centralized  staff that perform administrative and project management functions. AOC  has managed major projects throughout the Capitol Hill complex and is  currently managing the construction of the CVC. The historic nature and  high profile of many of these buildings create a complex environment for  AOC to carry out its mission; AOC must balance the diverse and  sometimes divergent needs of congressional leaders, committees,  members, and staffs as well as the visiting public.
Congress has raised concerns about management shortcomings at AOC.  For example, in 2001, the Senate Appropriations Committee cited several  management issues, including a lack of strategic planning, inadequate  financial and project management controls, and an unacceptably high level  of worker injuries. Congress subsequently directed GAO to conduct a  review of the management of AOC’s operations and, later, to monitor  AOC’s progress in addressing recommendations that arose from the  review.
Our January 2003 report contained 35 recommendations designed to assist  AOC in transforming itself into a more strategic and accountable  organization. The recommendations were in seven areas, including  strategic management, human capital management, financial management,  project management, IT management, worker safety, and recycling. The  report recognized this transformation as a long-term effort that involves a  fundamental change in AOC’s culture. For example, AOC faces the  challenge of how best to marshal its jurisdiction-based resources to  address the strategic planning and other functional issues that cut across  the organization. Changes of this magnitude require the sustained  commitment of the agency’s top leadership.
Subsequent reports on AOC’s progress that we issued in 2004 and 2006  concluded that, while AOC was making progress on all recommendations,  substantial work remained to achieve the goal of becoming more strategic  and accountable, and that sustained commitment and assertive  involvement by AOC’s leadership would be key to instilling long-term  management improvements. Specifically, our last report in this series,  issued in February 2006, concluded that the agency had not addressed two  issues—communication with external stakeholders and development of  internal controls—that affect a wide range of AOC operations, including  cost accounting, procurement, and information security. Furthermore,  leadership support is vital to ensure that needed improvements are  implemented and sustained, but key leadership positions—including those  of the COO, CFO, Chief Administrative Officer, and Director of CPP—were  vacant and the term of the agency head, the Architect, was due to expire in  less than a year. Therefore, it was critical for AOC to quickly fill the vacant  management positions with qualified people so AOC would have a  cohesive management team in place in preparation for a change in the  agency’s top leadership. These reports and two others on the CPP  included assessments of two additional areas—facilities management and  the CPP—and 29 additional recommendations for AOC, bringing the total  number of recommendations to 64.
In addition, we and AOC recently worked together to identify lessons  learned from the ongoing CVC project, including practices that could be  applied to AOC’s future projects and practices that could have been done  better or differently. The lessons covered four areas—acquisition planning  and policy; decision making, coordination, and communication; project  and contract management; and worksite safety and security—and included  such lessons as the importance of communicating and coordinating with  all relevant stakeholders and identifying and mitigating risks early in the  development of a major construction project.
section_title: AOC Is Making Progress in Becoming More Strategic and Accountable, but Completing the Management Transition and Other Critical Actions Remain
paragraphs: During the last year, AOC has filled nine key leadership positions, revised  its strategic plan to better align its activities with its mission and goals, and  continued initiatives to improve internal controls and accountability.  These actions have furthered AOC’s progress in establishing a foundation  for becoming a more strategic and accountable organization. It is now  important for AOC to continue to build on this foundation by transitioning  to new management; determining how best to provide services to AOC’s  customers; and making further improvements in communication, financial  management, IT management, and project management.
subsections: section_title: Leadership Continuity and Planning Are Key to New Management Transition
paragraphs: The nine leadership positions that AOC has filled during the last year are  vital to sustain improvements that have already been achieved, support  further transformation efforts, and maintain operations during the  transition to a new Architect. These new managers comprise 9 of the 20  managers that report directly to the Architect or the COO. (See fig. 1.)  Most of these positions, including those of the CFO and the Chief  Administrative Officer, were vacant because of retirements and  resignations. To help AOC better meet the needs of its customers, AOC  also created and filled two new leadership positions—the Director of  Congressional and External Relations and the Director of Planning and  Project Management. In addition to these nine positions, AOC has filled  seven other management positions over the past year, such as the Deputy  Director for the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, Deputy Director  of the Project Management Division, and Director of the Information  Technology Division.
While these new managers can bring new energy and ideas to the agency,  the introduction of so many new managers within a short period makes it  challenging to integrate them into AOC while sustaining the progress made  thus far. The turnover in AOC’s senior leadership over the past year  resulted in a loss of leadership continuity, institutional knowledge, and  expertise—a loss that could adversely affect AOC’s ability to continue its  progress, at least in the short term. AOC has taken steps to mitigate these  factors and integrate the new managers into the agency by, for example,  holding weekly senior leadership meetings and monthly detailed briefings  on various AOC construction projects. These managers are also part of  AOC’s senior executive performance management system, which links the  managers’ performance plans to AOC’s mission-critical goals and holds the  managers accountable for results. AOC officials also noted that 4 of the 9  new managers have been promoted from within the agency and have the  institutional knowledge and expertise gained from several years of  experience at AOC.
The current vacancy in the Architect’s position further challenges AOC’s  ability to sustain progress. The process for hiring the new Architect is in  the early stages, and according to the COO, hiring the previous Architect  took over a year. Until a new Architect is in place, the COO is authorized  to act as the Architect and is assuming the Architect’s duties along with his  own. In general, the Architect’s responsibilities include overall  management of AOC, support and representation on boards and  commissions—including the Capitol Police Board—and management of  the CVC project, while the COO’s responsibilities involve developing the  agency’s strategic and performance plans, proposing organizational and  staffing changes needed to carry out AOC’s mission, and reviewing and  directing the operational functions of AOC. The COO identified the  management of the CVC project as one of the agency’s major challenges to  becoming more strategic and accountable, because the CVC requires  significant management attention that could otherwise be focused on  AOC’s transformation initiatives. The management responsibilities for the  CVC project could increase if, as scheduled, the CVC reaches a critical  juncture in the next year as the construction phase ends and operations  begin. For example, before the CVC becomes operational, the roles and  responsibilities for managing CVC operations, including those of AOC, will  need to be determined. Furthermore, the CVC project executive is  planning to leave the agency in March 2007, which is likely to place  additional responsibilities on the COO. Given these factors, it will be  challenging for one person to fulfill the critical roles of the Architect and  the COO in completing the CVC and continuing AOC’s progress in  becoming more strategic and accountable.
AOC has begun preparing for the transition to a new Architect by  determining how to support the COO in the absence of an Architect and  establishing a transition team for bringing in a new Architect. To support  the COO, AOC has begun identifying individuals to assist the COO in  managing various areas, such as project management and facilities  management. While this strategy will provide support to the COO, it  remains to be seen whether the strategy will provide the necessary  support during the transition. AOC has also established a transition team  that is chaired by the Director of Congressional and External Relations  and that includes the COO and the Chief Administrative Officer, among  others. This team has begun to prepare background materials for quickly  bringing the new Architect up to speed on the agency and its initiatives,  once a new Architect has been selected. The team also plans to be  involved in preparing potential candidates for the confirmation hearings  by providing the candidates with information on AOC’s responsibilities  and structure, including its strategic plan.
section_title: AOC Revised Its Strategic Plan, but Has Not Clearly Delineated a Strategy for Best Delivering Its Services
paragraphs: Over the past year, AOC has revised its strategic plan to better focus on its  mission and provide a means to demonstrate results. In January 2007, AOC  issued the revised plan, which sets forth AOC’s mission—to provide  Congress and the public with a wide range of professional expertise and  services to preserve and enhance the Capitol complex and related  facilities. The revised plan also has three strategic goals—congressional  and Supreme Court operations support, heritage asset stewardship, and  leadership and administrative support—which cover all of AOC’s  operations. The plan includes performance measures that allow AOC to  regularly monitor progress in achieving its strategic goals and convey the  results of its activities in its annual performance and accountability report.  AOC’s revised strategic plan is an important building block in the agency’s  efforts to become more strategic and accountable and provides a  framework for assessing and prioritizing the agency’s activities.
While AOC has defined its mission and goals in its revised strategic plan,  the agency has not identified how best to deliver the services—through  outsourcing or in-house resources—that support the mission and goals  and has not determined whether its workforce has the skills and capacity  to deliver those services. These two initiatives—identifying how best to  deliver services and developing a workforce plan—are interrelated. For  example, contracting out for a service requires a different set of skills to  manage the contract than to conduct the work. While AOC has included  both initiatives in its strategic plan and COO action plan and recognizes  that coordinating these initiatives is important, the agency’s workforce  planning efforts do not include an analysis of potential outsourcing  opportunities that may arise as the result of AOC’s identification of how  best to deliver services.
subsections: section_title: Service Delivery
paragraphs: Given recent trends and long-range fiscal challenges, we have reported the  need for the federal government to engage in a fundamental review,  reassessment, and reprioritization of what the government does, how the  government does business, and who does the government’s business. In  fiscal year 2005, AOC outsourced about 23 percent of the agency’s  operations and maintenance expenditures; this percentage was within the  range of operations outsourced by similar organizations (12 to 41  percent). However, AOC has not comprehensively reviewed all the  services it provides to determine whether the services could better be  provided through outsourcing or in-house resources. Consequently, few  activities are outsourced consistently throughout AOC, and contracts are  seldom consolidated to obtain similar services across jurisdictions. In  2006, the House Appropriations Committee instructed AOC to develop a  plan that analyzes the costs, cost-effectiveness, benefits, and feasibility of  the Architect’s entering into contracts with private entities for managing  and operating its facilities. AOC submitted a plan to Congress that  outlines a long-term strategy for comprehensively reviewing operations  and identifying opportunities for additional contracting; however, the plan  does not provide time frames for executing this strategy. AOC officials told  us that the time frames for the long-term strategy depend on coordination  with the new congressional leadership to brief them on AOC’s outsourcing  plan.
In 2002, the Commercial Activities Panel issued guiding principles for  federal agencies to follow when making decisions on whether to  outsource services. In briefings to congressional committees, we have  reported that these principles could guide AOC in determining how best to  deliver its services. For example, the panel recommended that the decision  on whether to outsource services should  support agency missions, goals, and objectives (as defined in the agency’s  strategic plan);   be based on a clear, transparent, and consistently applied process;  avoid arbitrary full-time equivalent or other arbitrary numerical goals; ensure that competitions involve a process that considers both quality and  cost factors; and   provide for accountability in connection with all decisions.
section_title: Workforce Planning
paragraphs: In addition, AOC has not assessed its current workforce to determine  whether it has the appropriate balance of skills needed to provide services  and manage contracts for services that are outsourced. An assessment of  AOC’s workforce can help AOC leadership further refine their decisions  on whether to deliver AOC’s services with outsourcing or in-house  resources. As we recommended, AOC has taken steps to identify current  and future workforce needs and address potential skill gaps by hiring a  contractor to assist in the development of a strategic workforce plan.  Although the scope of the contractor’s work will include collecting and  analyzing data on AOC’s workforce, it does not include an analysis of  potential outsourcing opportunities that may arise as the result of AOC’s  identification of how best to deliver services. Furthermore, the COO  requested that the workforce planning efforts include an analysis of  potential outsourcing opportunities, but the COO’s guidance came after  AOC had finalized its workforce planning contract. An AOC official  responsible for the contract stated that this level of analysis either would  require additional resources for the current contract or would need to be  incorporated into a second phase of its workforce planning efforts.  Another initiative in AOC’s workforce planning efforts—the  implementation of a skills assessment survey—has been delayed to revise  the survey instrument and make a more useful tool for collecting data on  AOC’s current workforce. An official stated that AOC does not expect the  skills assessment survey to be completed in the near future. Consequently,  data from the skills assessment survey will not be taken into account in  the work being done by AOC’s contractor responsible for developing the  strategic workforce plan.
section_title: Improved Communication Procedures Need to Be Sustained
paragraphs: AOC took several steps over the past year to improve communication with  its external stakeholders, and stakeholders are responding positively to  these efforts. To improve communication with congressional stakeholders,  AOC hired a Director of Congressional and External Relations. The  director is responsible for developing and maintaining positive relations  with congressional stakeholders, and she regularly provides them with  updates on AOC issues. Other AOC officials, including the COO and the  Director of Planning and Project Management, also periodically brief  congressional stakeholders on a variety of issues, such as revisions to the  strategic plan, the COO’s action plan, and AOC’s budget submission and  the status of projects. As a result of these efforts, the COO believes that  AOC better understands what Congress wants and is able to set  expectations, obtain feedback, and make changes on the basis of that  feedback. Congressional stakeholders we spoke with generally agree that  AOC’s outreach efforts have improved, and they said that the addition of  the Director of Congressional and External Relations has improved AOC’s  responsiveness to congressional questions and requests for information.
Although AOC has taken steps to improve communication with its  congressional stakeholders, it is critical for these improvements to be  formalized and sustained. AOC is finalizing written procedures for  communicating with congressional and other external stakeholders and  plans to brief congressional leadership on these procedures. In instituting  these procedures, AOC is working to establish “one voice” for the agency  and set expectations for AOC’s response time to stakeholder inquiries.  Although congressional stakeholders generally agree that communication  has improved, documentation of AOC’s communication procedures can  help ensure that AOC deals with its congressional customers using clearly  defined, consistently applied, and transparent policies and procedures.
AOC also has taken actions to improve communication with its employees,  but the effectiveness of these efforts remains to be seen. AOC recently  revised its process for collecting and assessing data on employee  satisfaction to address our recommendations on systematically collecting  and communicating employee feedback. AOC continues to distribute  newsletters to its employees; hold biannual town hall meetings and  monthly, small-group sessions with the COO; and address issues that were  identified in employee focus groups, first held in 2004. AOC also  contracted for an ombudsperson to serve as a confidential resource for  responding to employee complaints, concerns, and questions on  employment-related matters. Although these are positive steps, AOC will  not be able to determine the extent to which communication has been  improved until the next round of employee focus groups is completed and  compared with the results of the 2004 focus groups. AOC originally  planned to conduct the next round of focus groups in fiscal year 2007;  however, because of fiscal constraints and ongoing transformation efforts,  AOC is considering the possibility of conducting focus groups in fiscal  year 2008.
The effectiveness of AOC’s communication improvements also depends on  how well AOC can identify and address issues that may arise as well as  communicate the actions that are being taken to address the issues. For  example, in 2006, employees involved in repairing AOC’s utility tunnels  expressed concerns over how AOC management communicated with  them. Although AOC developed a plan to address problems in the utility  tunnels, the tunnel workers expressed concern that they had no clear idea  of when the problems would be solved. To improve communication, AOC  began holding weekly meetings with the tunnel shop workers in April 2006  to discuss tunnel issues and the actions being taken, but workers  continued to express frustration about the lack of progress in addressing  their safety and health concerns. As issues such as worker safety arise, it  is important for employees to see that AOC’s leadership not only listens to  their concerns, but also takes action and makes appropriate adjustments  in a visible and timely way.
section_title: Further Progress in Improving Financial Management, IT Management, and Project Management Requires Ongoing Commitment
paragraphs: AOC has made progress in financial management, IT management, and  project management, but sustained commitment is required to continue  progress on the long-term efforts in these areas, many of which are needed  to improve AOC’s internal controls and accountability. Internal control  and accountability are critical elements in managing an organization.  Internal control involves the plans, methods, and procedures used to meet  missions, goals, and objectives and, in doing so, to support performance- based management. Accountability represents the processes, mechanisms,  and other means by which AOC managers demonstrate their stewardship  and responsibility for resources and performance. Internal control and  accountability initiatives require sustained and committed leadership to  ensure successful implementation. While AOC has made progress in all  nine areas that are important to a strong strategic management and  accountability framework, work remains to develop significant and lasting  internal control and accountability improvements in the areas of financial  management, IT management, and project management. (See app. I for  more information on the status of recommendations in all nine areas,  including strategic management, human capital management, facilities  management, worker safety, CPP management, and recycling.)
subsections: section_title: Financial Management
paragraphs: AOC has made progress in preparing its financial statements and  implementing a new financial management system, but significant work  remains to establish an effective internal control framework and cost  accounting system. AOC achieved its goal of preparing auditable  comprehensive agencywide financial statements with the successful audit  of its fiscal year 2005 and 2006 financial statements. To a significant  extent, these achievements reflect the increased focus and attention by  AOC’s senior management on financial accountability and control. For  example, AOC’s senior management regularly meets with the AOC Audit  Committee and its internal and external auditors to discuss the status of  the financial statement audits, any related findings, and AOC’s corrective  plans. In 2006, AOC also implemented the final phase of its new financial  management system. AOC has begun efforts to establish a risk-based  internal control framework, although progress has been impacted by  staffing shortages and limited resources. To improve accountability across  the agency, AOC has begun the implementation of its cost accounting  system, including working to get employees to charge their time to specific  activities and project codes in the time and attendance system and  working to develop reporting formats that demonstrate the types of  information that can be generated when the system is fully implemented.  Although these are important steps, the system will have to be further  developed to link AOC’s cost information to the strategic plan,  performance measures, and performance-based budgeting—actions that  are important to producing reliable information for decision making and  performance evaluation. AOC officials noted that further progress in  implementing the internal control framework and the cost accounting  system will be limited by current resource constraints. Implementing this  key effort impacts other AOC initiatives. For example, while AOC has  taken steps to improve its cost and timeliness measures for facilities  management, it will not be able to accurately and routinely track or  benchmark these measures until the cost accounting system is further  developed and linked with the facilities management information system.  AOC officials noted that it will take several years for the systems and  processes to evolve to the point that the system can be fully implemented.  Successful implementation of these systems and processes that impact all  of AOC’s operations will require sustained organizational commitment to  ensure these efforts are appropriately funded, staffed, and monitored.  Until these efforts are implemented and operating effectively, AOC  continues to face substantial risk in the area of linking cost and financial  information to organizational performance.
section_title: IT Management
paragraphs: AOC has made progress in improving IT management controls and  accountability, but work remains to fully implement an effective  agencywide approach to IT management. To improve management  controls in AOC’s IT investment management process, AOC developed and  approved an IT investment management policy that describes the agency’s  investment management process and the roles and authorities of the  boards involved in overseeing IT investments. AOC also has begun to plan  for and implement the practices in our IT investment management guide  associated with corporate, portfolio-based investment decision making.  However, AOC has yet to prioritize all IT investments, develop an IT  investment portfolio, and oversee each investment from a portfolio  approach to ensure that it achieves its cost, benefit, schedule, and risk  expectations. According to AOC officials, AOC has begun the process of  establishing an IT portfolio management program that will arrange IT  investment into a single portfolio and provide visibility, control, and  decisions based on project objectives such as costs, resources, and risks.  However, until AOC fully institutes these practices, it cannot ensure that  the investments address the agency’s strategic goals, objectives, and  mission.
section_title: Project Management
paragraphs: AOC also took actions to improve internal controls and accountability in  the area of project management, but sustained commitment is needed to  continue progress in managing project costs and developing a project  information system to help manage and track projects. For example, AOC  made internal control and accountability improvements by developing and  tracking project-management-related performance measures, clarifying the  roles and responsibilities of staff in the Project Management Division, and  revising its project management manuals. However, AOC’s lack of  accurate cost data for the Construction Division—the division that  provides construction services in-house (rather than by contractors)— hampers its efforts to fully account for the costs of projects. In April 2006,  a peer review group within AOC issued recommendations designed to  better track cost data for the division, including standardizing the cost  estimating process. AOC is taking steps to address the peer review  recommendations, such as developing centralized planning and estimating  capabilities to provide better cost estimates for all Construction Division  projects, but, according to AOC officials, the agency will not be able to  fully account for project costs until the cost accounting system is in place.  In addition, AOC plans to modify its project information system to improve  AOC’s ability to manage, track, and communicate the status of projects.  AOC has developed the requirements for this system, which includes the  automation of AOC’s quarterly construction projects progress report. AOC  plans to begin modifications to the current system with available in-house  resources in fiscal year 2007 and requested funding for further  modifications in its fiscal year 2008 budget. Sustained support of these  project management initiatives is critical to improving AOC’s efforts to  manage projects, identify reasons for project cost and schedule changes,  and report to the stakeholders.
On the basis of our ongoing work and issued testimonies on AOC’s  management of the CVC project, we and AOC worked together to identify  lessons learned from the ongoing CVC project, some of which are also  relevant for project management across AOC. For example, one lesson  suggests the importance of establishing and maintaining a detailed,  realistic, and complete project schedule and ensuring that the schedule  sufficiently reflects the impact of problems and changes and the likely  impact of known risks. Another lesson suggests the importance of clearly  identifying qualifications and limitations associated with cost and  schedule estimates; understanding risks and uncertainties; and providing  Congress with accurate, timely updates on the project’s status, completion  date, and costs. Recognizing the need to improve how AOC manages large  projects, the agency is adding capital project administrators to its Project  Management Division to lead the design and construction activities of  larger projects.
section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: In responding to a draft of this report, AOC generally agreed with our  assessment of the agency’s overall progress, but noted that 2 additional  recommendations—1 on institutionalizing financial management practices  to support budgeting, financial, and program management and 1 on  developing a rigorous approach for collecting worker safety data—should  be considered implemented. According to AOC officials, the agency has  made significant progress over the past year and installed a solid  foundation for further improvements. The officials also recognized that  continued focused attention to the agency’s improvement initiatives is  essential to maintaining progress. For our recommendation on financial  management practices, AOC suggested that the two remaining actions for  this recommendation—fully developing and implementing an appropriate  risk-based internal control framework and cost accounting and  management reporting initiatives—are addressed in the other financial  management recommendations. In our August 2004 report, we noted the  AOC’s limited progress on the financial management initiatives, which lead  us to make additional recommendations calling for senior management to  provide strong and visible support and commitment to helping ensure that  these important initiatives are successfully implemented. While some  progress has been made on these initiatives, AOC officials noted that  further progress will be limited by staffing shortages and resource  constraints. The potential limited, near-term progress leads us to observe  in this report that successful implementation of these systems and  processes, which impact all of AOC’s operations, will require sustained  organizational commitment to ensure these efforts are appropriately  funded, staffed, and monitored. We maintain that full implementation of  these initiatives is necessary for institutionalizing internal control and  accountability and strengthening and supporting effective budgeting,  financial, and performance management at AOC. For the recommendation  on collecting worker safety data, AOC officials noted that they believe  their current practices—including conducting biennial focus groups,  conducting daily shop safety meetings, and establishing a safety hazards  hotline—sufficiently meet the requirements of this recommendation. While  we recognize that these initiatives provide the agency with some  information on worker safety, these initiatives do not provide a rigorous  and confidential approach for collecting employee perceptions of AOC’s  safety climate, such as perceptions of management commitment,  discipline policies, and hazard corrections. This lack of confidentiality can  impede the quality of information collected. Furthermore, although AOC  established a schedule to collect employee feedback every other year,  AOC has not conducted focus groups since fiscal year 2004 and does not  have plans to do so until possibly fiscal year 2008. AOC’s recently revised  employee feedback manual specifies that AOC can use other means or  tools to collect and provide employee feedback information. This would  allow AOC to pursue another, more rigorous and confidential method for  collecting worker safety data. AOC also made clarifying and technical  comments that we addressed in the text of this report.
We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional  committees. We are also sending this report to the Acting Architect of the  Capitol. We will make copies available to others upon request. In addition,  this report will be available at no cost on the GAO Web site at  http://www.gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional  Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report.
If you or your staffs have any questions about this report, you may contact  me at (202) 512-6923 or at dornt@gao.gov. Major contributors to this  report are listed in appendix II.
section_title: Appendix I: Status of AOC’s Progress on Recommendations
paragraphs: Since January 2003, we have made 64 recommendations in nine areas to  improve the Architect of the Capitol’s (AOC) strategic management and  accountability framework, which is needed to drive the agency’s  transformation effort and address long-standing program issues. These  nine areas are strategic management, human capital management,  financial management, information technology (IT) management, project  management, facilities management, worker safety, Capitol Power Plant  (CPP) management, and recycling. Over the past year, AOC has  implemented 21 recommendations, bringing the total number of  implemented or closed recommendations to 43 out of 64, or 67 percent.
This appendix provides (1) the overall progress and remaining actions in  each of the nine issue areas and (2) details on the status of the  recommendations made in each area (see tables 1 through 9). For the  recommendations that have been implemented, the “status” column in the  tables includes the month and year of the GAO report that acknowledges  the completion of that recommendation. Recommendations implemented  since our February 2006 report were given an implementation date of  February 2007.
subsections: section_title: Strategic Management
paragraphs: AOC has made progress in improving its strategic planning and  organizational alignment, establishing meaningful performance measures,  improving the process to obtain feedback from employees and customers,  and strengthening the relationship between AOC and congressional  stakeholders. As a result, AOC has implemented 6 of our strategic  management recommendations over the year. Specifically, AOC has issued  its revised strategic plan and the Chief Operating Officer (COO) action  plan and provided periodic briefings to update congressional stakeholders  on these plans and related organizational changes. To improve  communication with its employees, AOC revised its employee feedback  process manual to establish a process for regularly collecting and  reporting employee feedback information. Finally, to improve  communication with its external stakeholders, AOC is establishing  procedures for communicating with congressional and other external  stakeholders and has taken a more proactive approach to communicating  with these stakeholders.
Although AOC has made progress in the area of strategic management,  sustained commitment from the agency’s new leaders is necessary to build  upon this progress. To ensure that the strategic plan is current and useful  to the agency, AOC leadership should review and update the strategic plan  regularly and incorporate any changes that may result from AOC’s review  of options and strategies for delivering its services and operations.  Furthermore, AOC should continue to work with congressional  stakeholders to develop and report key measures that are meaningful to  AOC’s customers and reflect the agency’s day-to-day operations. See table  1 for more information on the implementation status of our  recommendations on strategic management.
section_title: Human Capital Management
paragraphs: AOC has taken steps to strengthen performance management and strategic  human capital management by implementing our recommendation to  develop the capacity for collecting and analyzing workforce data.  Additionally, AOC has hired a contractor to begin developing a strategic  workforce plan intended to provide AOC with information on its current  and future workforce as well as recommendations on how AOC could  meet its strategic goals. Although hiring the contractor is an important  step, AOC’s current effort to develop a strategic workforce plan will not  include an assessment of how best to deliver (either through outsourcing  or in-house resources) the services it provides. Without this type of  assessment, AOC’s strategic workforce plan will not provide AOC  leadership with the appropriate set of strategies to acquire, develop, and  retain its current and future workforce. See table 2 for more information  on the implementation status of our recommendations on human capital  management.
section_title: Financial Management
paragraphs: Since our initial follow-up effort in January 2004, AOC has made  progress—to varying degrees—on key control and accountability  initiatives. AOC has developed agencywide audited financial statements,  implemented a new financial management system, and continued to  develop and implement a risk-based internal control framework and a cost  accounting system that, when fully implemented, should generate  meaningful cost and performance reporting information for managers.  However, AOC’s senior management needs to continue supporting the full  implementation of key financial management and accountability efforts  that are critical to AOC’s operations. Although AOC senior management  has helped to strengthen AOC’s financial accountability by regularly  monitoring and overseeing AOC’s efforts to prepare agencywide  comprehensive financial statements and have them audited, it needs to  increase focus and attention on completing the development and  implementation of the other three key financial management improvement  initiatives—an internal control framework, a cost accounting system, and  a management reporting system. According to AOC officials, current  staffing shortages and funding constraints will likely limit meaningful near- term progress on these efforts. To continue AOC’s progress, it will be  essential for AOC’s senior management to provide the commitment,  attention, and resources needed to ensure the successful implementation  of these important control and accountability initiatives. See table 3 for  more information on the implementation status of our recommendations  on financial management.
section_title: Information Technology Management
paragraphs: AOC continues to make progress toward adopting an agencywide  approach to information management and has implemented 2 IT  recommendations over the year. Specifically, AOC has developed,  approved, and implemented a process, including those practices in our IT  investment management guide, for controlling existing projects. AOC also  has established the management structure for developing, implementing,  and maintaining an enterprise architecture (EA) and has made significant  progress toward planning for and implementing the practices in our  architecture management guide. These practices include ensuring that  adequate resources (i.e., funding, people, tools, and technology) are  devoted to the program and developing a written policy for architecture  development and maintenance.
In addition, AOC has made progress toward addressing our remaining  recommendations. For example, it has developed a policy that describes  the procedures, practices, and guidelines that govern the management of  its IT systems and the required processes that are to be followed when  acquiring and developing these systems. Furthermore, AOC has taken  steps toward establishing and implementing an effective information  security program by designating a chief information security officer with  the authority to implement an agencywide security program and by  certifying and accrediting its general support systems and major  applications. However, more work remains to fully implement our  recommendations. For example, AOC has yet to prioritize all IT  investments, develop an IT investment portfolio, and oversee each  investment using a portfolio approach to ensure that AOC achieves its  cost, benefit, schedule, and risk expectations. Until AOC completes these  activities, it cannot ensure that the investments address not only the  agency’s mission and strategic goals and objectives, but also the impact of  the investments on each other. Moreover, AOC has yet to fully implement  key architecture practices, such as defining “as is” and “to be” architecture  descriptions in terms of performance. Without instituting these practices,  AOC risks limiting the quality and utility of its architecture and may not  realize the benefits of a well-managed architecture program. In addition,  the agency has not consistently demonstrated quality assurance,  configuration management, and contract tracking and oversight processes.  Until AOC consistently demonstrates these key acquisition processes, the  agency runs the risk of projects not performing as intended, being  delivered late, and not meeting estimated cost and schedule goals. AOC  also has yet to develop system contingency plans for all of its systems and  implement a security process to monitor and evaluate policy and control  effectiveness. Without instituting these practices, AOC’s data and systems  are at risk of inadvertent or deliberate misuse, fraud, improper disclosure,  or destruction, possibly without detection. See table 4 for more  information on the implementation status of our recommendations on IT  management.
section_title: Project Management
paragraphs: AOC has made progress on several initiatives that should improve project  management and accountability and has implemented 7 project  management recommendations over the year. For example, AOC has  established performance measures, including measures to track the quality  and costs of projects. AOC also has clarified the roles and responsibilities  for staff in the Project Management Division and updated guidance for  managing projects. In addition, AOC is continuing efforts on longer-term  initiatives to improve project management and accountability. For  example, AOC plans to modify its project information system to assist  managers in more proactively managing projects, provide needed cost and  schedule data on projects, and track reasons for changes across all  projects. AOC has developed the requirements for this system, which  includes the automation of AOC’s quarterly construction projects progress  report, and plans to begin modifications with available in-house resources  in fiscal year 2007. Additionally, AOC has conducted a review of  Construction Division operations and management in 2006 and is currently  implementing the recommendations from that review, including  recommendations to improve project cost estimating and tracking.  However, the new cost accounting system—a system that will be phased  in over several years—must be completed before AOC can implement all  of the recommendations intended to improve accountability for the  Construction Division. Furthermore, AOC is reviewing its methods for  estimating Construction Division project costs, including contingency  costs and allocations for construction management and administration, to  improve the accuracy of project cost estimates. AOC also is finalizing the  Capitol complex master plan and anticipates that a draft of the plan will be  ready for congressional review in the spring of 2007. See table 5 for more  information on the implementation status of our recommendations on  project management.
section_title: Facilities Management
paragraphs: AOC has taken steps to improve how it measures performance and tracks  demand work orders. For example, in May 2006, AOC began implementing  a new facilities management information system that will enhance its  tracking and reporting capabilities. Currently, all jurisdictions are using  the new system to track demand work orders. As implementation  continues, AOC plans to continue analyzing its workload data to develop  metrics for the new system. Additionally, AOC officials plan to benchmark  AOC’s performance measures with peer organizations. These officials said  that they used the International Facilities Management Association’s key  performance indicators to develop performance measures for AOC’s  revised strategic plan. While these are important steps, AOC must  complete the development of its metrics and input its preventive  maintenance work orders before it can more accurately track  performance. Furthermore, the new facilities management information  system must be used in conjunction with the new cost accounting  system—a system that will be phased in over several years—before AOC  will be able to fully use data provided by the new facilities management  information system. See table 6 for more information on the  implementation status of our recommendations on facilities management.
section_title: Worker Safety
paragraphs: AOC has taken steps to improve worker safety and has implemented 1  worker safety recommendation over the past year. Specifically, AOC has  implemented 7 of 34 specialized safety policies, completed a job hazard  analysis process to identify hazards, and implemented a system to track  investigations of incidents and follow-up. AOC also has selected a data  management system that will track and record employee training,  licensing, and certification and clarified the role of the Office of the  Attending Physician (OAP), including having OAP provide reports to AOC  jurisdictions when employees are due or past due for their medical  surveillance examinations. Overall, AOC’s injury and illness rate declined  from 17.9 in fiscal year 2000 to 4.9 in fiscal year 2006. However, several  critical actions remain to further improve worker safety. For example,  AOC will not be able to fully achieve its goal of long-term cultural change  until it fully implements the specialized safety policies, which current draft  plans indicate will not occur until the end of fiscal year 2009. AOC also  needs to align its training system with its system to track and identify  corrective actions for hazards and incidents in order to target training  needs to address high-risk areas. Finally, although AOC added worker  safety as a standard topic in its biennial employee focus group script, AOC  needs a more rigorous (and anonymous) approach to measuring  employee’s perceptions of AOC’s safety climate, which may identify  successful strategies to expand and areas that need focused attention to  improve. See table 7 for more information on the implementation status of  our recommendations on worker safety.
While AOC is making progress in improving worker safety, in March 2006,  the utility tunnel workers sent a letter to Congress complaining of unsafe  working conditions in the tunnels, including falling concrete, asbestos, and  extreme heat. In February 2006, the Office of Compliance (OOC) filed a  complaint against AOC concerning hazards in the tunnels, including falling  concrete, an inadequate communication system for these confined spaces,  and inadequate escape exits. AOC has taken steps to address these  issues—including establishing safety and access procedures for the  tunnels and upgrading 15 tunnel entry and exit points—and continues to  work with the tunnel workers and the OOC to address these issues.
section_title: Capitol Power Plant Management
paragraphs: AOC has made progress in improving CPP management and efficiently  staffing the modernized power plant, but more work remains. For  example, AOC took interim steps to modify existing positions—as they  have been vacated—to reflect the additional skill sets required to  successfully operate and maintain the modernized plant. Since October  2005, AOC has been working with a consultant to develop a new workload  analysis and staffing implementation plan and received the results of the  analysis and recommendations in November 2006. On the basis of these  results, AOC is developing a reorganization plan to reflect the  recommendations, which it expects to submit to Congress for approval in  March 2007. In anticipation of the staffing changes, AOC has been using  attrition to reduce and realign the CPP workforce and is currently keeping  seven vacated positions vacant, four of which will be filled by internal  candidates and will not impact the staffing numbers. See table 8 for more  information on the implementation status of our recommendations on CPP  management.
section_title: Recycling
paragraphs: AOC has implemented the recommendations related to developing a  strategic approach to recycling. In January 2006, AOC finalized its  recycling program mission, goals, and performance measures. The  performance measures are also in AOC’s revised strategic plan and the  Senate and House business plans. To monitor performance, AOC reports  on the status of its recycling performance measures in the quarterly Safety,  Health, and Environmental Council meetings. Additionally, AOC formed a  Legislative Branch recycling group that met for the first time in September  2006. This group plans to meet quarterly to discuss common issues and  best management practices. To clarify responsibilities and hold staff  accountable for achieving recycling goals, AOC has included recycling  tasks in its position descriptions and included recycling responsibilities for  recycling managers and supervisors in its evaluation system. For example,  the performance evaluation system includes recycling objectives in the  ratings of Senate and House recycling managers to hold them accountable  for program results. See table 9 for more information on the  implementation status of our recommendations on recycling.
section_title: Appendix II: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the individual named above, key contributors to this report  were Shirley L. Abel, Mark Bird, John C. Craig, Elizabeth Curda, Amr  Desouky, Elizabeth R. Eisenstadt, Elena P. Epps, Brett S. Fallavollita,  Jeanette M. Franzel, Mary Hatcher, Randolph C. Hite, Heather Krause,  Neelaxi Lakhmani, Steven G. Lozano, Valerie Melvin, David Merrill, Susan  Michal-Smith, Sara Ann Moessbauer, Stephanie Sand, Natalie Schneider,  Bernice Steinhardt, John J. Reilly, Jr., Sarah E. Veale, Sara Vermillion, and  Merry Woo.