Article 20. Time for the GAO to Assume its Role in Reforming the Federal Government

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has the primary role of ferreting out waste in the Federal Government.  Using accounting techniques the GAO has been doing an excellent job of identifying waste in the Federal Government but unfortunately little is being done about correcting the problems that spawns the waste.  Traditionally the GAO watches the nation’s dollars and how they get wasted. Now congress needs to enact new powers for the GAO to Implement Major Reforms in the Federal Government and to assume responsibility for the oversight of the nations efficiency and effectiveness.  This means not only identifying waste in terms of dollars but also in terms of human labor largely ignored until now. 

Congress should enact legislation that strengthens the GAO’s powers for punishing perpetrators of waste from fraud by referring cases to the Attorney General and the Justus Department.  Congress should also enact legislation that specifically Identifies the method of approach for reforming the government for getting the highest efficiency and effectiveness possible.  I have outline my suggestions for doing this in my Article 300.  Approach for the Total Reform of the US Government.
 
The Key Role of the Government Accounting Office
The GAO will Chair each Cabinet Departmental Reform Commission; this is necessary to provide the objectivity required for the implementation of the reforms.  Department personnel will be members of the Reform Commission.  Some Departmental officials may be on the commission in a rotating basis to focus  on key areas of the implementation.

The GAO will supply Budget Analysis personnel for the implementation of the author’s General Reform Model.  The GAO will be responsible for the storage of all data generated by low level Functional Lean Teams and collected by the Budget Analysts.  The data stored will be the basis for bottoms-up budget with the actual cost of every government function including the actual staffing required.

The Executive Office of Management & Budget and other government officials in need of budget data will have access to the budget data for budgeting purposes but the GAO will be responsible for maintaining and updating the data.

Congressional Oversight of implementation of Reforms
Congress shall be updated on the progress of the Reform Implementations as required.

Suggested First Reform: Department of Defense Pilot Implementation
The GAO will Chair the DOD Reform Commission at the Joints Chiefs of Staff level. High level DOD personnel will be members of the Commission. I recommend that the first area of implementation be in the US Army because of their emphasis on Lean Six Sigma. Representatives of the US Army associated with the Lean Six Sigma should be members of the DOD Reform Commission. Rotating membership should be provided for US Army organizations as key implementations are made in their areas.

The objective is to eliminate waste, reduce expenses and keep key DOD functions operational by making high level systems efficient using Lean Six Sigma. Followed by the reform of all DOD agencies to get the highest efficiency and effectiveness possible by implementing Lawrence Rosier’s General Reform Model which identifies where cuts can be made while keeping critical operations alive and active.