Forest Service: Status of Efforts to Achieve Cost Efficiency (Fact Sheet,
04/26/94, GAO/RCED-94-185FS).
Congress requested that the Forest Service prepare a cost study for its
timber program that would analyze how to achieve an annual cost
reduction of at least five percent. The Forest Service's April 1993
report on timber cost efficiency discussed such areas as the overall
timber program, the program's organization, the Timber Sale Program
Information Reporting System, financial management, and attempts to
monitor cost efficiency. In the year since the study was issued, the
Forest Service has made progress toward completing 21 of 23 action items
targeted for completion by October 1993 or October 1994. The results of
the regional offices' cost efficiency efforts have been mixed. In
addition, the Forest Service has undertaken other, nontimber
initiatives, such as reorganizing and downsizing, that could improve the
agency's overall efficiency. Overall, from fiscal year 1992 to fiscal
year 1993, the Forest Service reduced its timber program expenses
nationally by about 7.2 percent. Total annual timber program expenses
declined in six of the nine regions during this period. However, six of
the nine regions' timber sales programs showed a net loss when annual
expenses were deducted from revenues for fiscal year 1993.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: RCED-94-185FS
TITLE: Forest Service: Status of Efforts to Achieve Cost Efficiency
DATE: 04/26/94
SUBJECT: Natural resources
Accountability
Agricultural programs
Timber sales
Forest management
Cost effectiveness analysis
Cost control
Federal agency reorganization
Reductions in force
IDENTIFIER: Forest Service Timber Sale Program Information Reporting
System
Forest Service Timber Sales Program
National Performance Review
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Fact Sheet for Congressional Requesters
April 1994
FOREST SERVICE - STATUS OF EFFORTS
TO ACHIEVE COST EFFICIENCY
GAO/RCED-94-185FS
Forest Service's Cost Efficiency Efforts
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
GAO - General Accounting Office
TSPIRS - Timber Sale Program Information Reporting System
Letter
=============================================================== LETTER
B-256974
April 26, 1994
The Honorable Sidney R. Yates
Chairman
The Honorable Ralph Regula
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Interior
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
Your Subcommittee has long been concerned with the escalating costs
of the Forest Service's timber program. As a result, you asked the
Forest Service to prepare a cost reduction study for its timber
program and provide "a comprehensive analysis of its [the timber
program's] costs, and a multiyear program to achieve an annual
reduction in these costs of not less than 5 percent." In response to
your request, on April 16, 1993, the Forest Service issued its report
entitled Timber Cost Efficiency Study--Final Report.
The Forest Service's timber cost efficiency study addressed such
areas as the overall timber program, the program's organization, the
Timber Sale Program Information Reporting System (TSPIRS), financial
management, and efforts to monitor cost efficiency. The report
included 29 action items to be completed by the Forest Service's
Washington Office; 23 of these items had target completion dates of
either October 1993 or October 1994. In addition, each region was
required to prepare action plans specific to its needs and submit
them to the Washington Office.
This fact sheet responds to your request that we review the progress
made by the Forest Service in achieving the initiatives set forth in
its timber cost efficiency study and specifically (1) provides the
status of the Washington Office's actions as of March 31, 1994; (2)
summarizes the regional results; and (3) provides an overview of
other Forest Service initiatives that could contribute to overall
improvements in the Forest Service's efficiency.
In summary, in the year since the issuance of the timber cost
efficiency study, the Forest Service's Washington Office has made
progress toward completing 21 of the 23 action items targeted for
completion by October 1993 or October 1994. The results of the
regional offices' cost efficiency efforts have been mixed; some
regions are moving more rapidly than others in their attempts to
achieve cost efficiency. In addition, the Forest Service has
undertaken other, nontimber initiatives, such as reorganization and
downsizing, that could improve the agency's overall efficiency.
Overall, from fiscal year 1992 to fiscal year 1993, the Forest
Service reduced its timber program expenses nationally by about 7.2
percent, from $1,038.2 million to $963.6 million. Total annual
timber program expenses declined in six of the nine regions during
this period. However, six of the nine regions' timber sales programs
showed a net loss when annual expenses were deducted from revenues
for fiscal year 1993.
STATUS OF COST EFFICIENCY
INITIATIVES
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :1
WASHINGTON OFFICE'S EFFORTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :1.1
Of the 23 action items targeted for completion by either October 1993
or October 1994, the Washington Office has made progress in
completing all but two items. Action on the remaining two items is
contingent on the completion of ongoing studies. Among the most
significant items completed or substantially completed are the
following:
Included a budget line item for Ecosystem Management in the fiscal
year 1995 budget to provide for inventories, forest planning,
and ecosystem monitoring.
Established cost efficiency as a performance standard and included
it in all fiscal year 1993 TSPIRS and timber program activity
reviews conducted. The Forest Service will continue to
emphasize cost efficiency in future TSPIRS and timber program
activity reviews.
Conducted a national reorganization study to explore the entire
agency's structure. The final product is expected in September
1994.
Separated the information on the costs of the timber commodity
program, the personal-use program, and the forest stewardship
program in the fiscal year 1993 TSPIRS report instead of
combining all of the figures into one total, as had been done
previously.
Completed a below-cost timber sale policy and a minimum-rate policy
and forwarded them for the Department of Agriculture's approval.
The Department, however, is now reexamining both policies with
the help of an interdisciplinary task force and expects to have
options developed by the end of fiscal year 1994.
Revised one of the two major types of timber contracts and
forwarded it for departmental approval. Once this contract is
approved, the Washington Office will revise the second contract.
The specific status of all 29 Washington Office action items is
presented in section 1.
REGIONAL EFFORTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :1.2
The results of the cost efficiency efforts by the Forest Service's
regional offices are mixed, according to the Chairman of the Cost
Efficiency Task Force. Each region was responsible for preparing and
implementing its own cost efficiency plan, which was then reviewed by
the Washington Office. The Washington Office's reviews found that
some regions are rapidly pursuing the idea of becoming cost
efficient, while other regions are moving more slowly. Examples of
regional cost efficiency actions include the following:
Some regions have consolidated, or "zoned," certain activities--for
example, timber sale preparation--at the forest or district
level to meet downsizing goals and reduce costs. Other regions
are continuing to study the concept for other applications.
One region has raised the minimum rates it will accept for timber
sold to generate more revenue.
One region plans to phase out commercial timber sales on several of
its below-cost forests.
One region has a project under way to ensure that all
resources--for example, timber, recreation, and fish and
wildlife--pay their "fair share" of the joint costs--for
example, general administrative costs.
One region is monitoring overhead costs assessed on each
resource--that is timber, recreation, fish and wildlife--to make
sure that each resource pays only what is reasonable for that
resource to pay.
The Chairman of the task force periodically reviews what progress the
regional offices are making in achieving their cost efficiency goals.
OTHER FOREST SERVICE
INITIATIVES COULD IMPROVE
EFFICIENCY
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :2
While the action items contained in the timber cost efficiency study
relate to the timber program, the Forest Service expanded some of
these initiatives to include the entire agency and has undertaken
other initiatives that could improve its overall efficiency. These
other initiatives are detailed in section 2 and summarized below:
A team was formed to describe the "Forest Service of the Future"
and how the Forest Service could be transformed to achieve that
vision. All areas of the Forest Service are subject to review,
including its organizational structure, mission, and
geographical needs. The team is gathering data and the final
report is expected in September 1994.
"Land stewardship contracts" are being tested in four forests.
These contracts allow forests to offset a project's costs with a
portion of the value of the timber receipts. The contracts are
viewed as an incentive to reduce costs so that more revenue is
available for use on local projects.
The Forest Service downsized by 1,133 permanent positions from
October 1992 through March 1994. In addition, close to 700
additional positions were still listed as excess to the agency's
needs as of March 29, 1994. However, as of April 11, 1994,
2,317 employees had agreed to take advantage of the $25,000
incentive buyout signed by the President on March 30, 1994.
A major budget restructuring package was included in the
President's fiscal year 1995 budget. The Forest Service
designed the proposals to reduce the complexity of the existing
system and improve efficiency.
SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :3
To determine the status of the current cost efficiency initiatives,
we met with timber management, fiscal, and budget officials in the
Washington Office and interviewed several regional officials by
telephone. We reviewed proposals and other supporting documentation
provided by these officials.
To identify the other Forest Service initiatives, we met with the
Washington Office's fiscal, personnel, and timber management
officials and reviewed documentation provided by them.
We discussed the information presented in this fact sheet with
officials in the Washington Office's Timber Management Office, who
agreed that the information accurately presents the status of the
Forest Service's actions as of March 31, 1994.
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :3.1
We are providing copies of this fact sheet to the Secretary of
Agriculture and the Chief of the Forest Service. We will make copies
available to other interested parties on request.
Please contact me on (202) 512-7756 if you or your staff have any
questions about the content of this fact sheet. Major contributors
to this product include Linda L. Harmon, Assistant Director, and
Jill J. Lund, Evaluator-in-Charge.
James Duffus III
Director, Natural Resources
Management Issues
GAO'S UPDATE OF THE FOREST
SERVICE'S COST-EFFICIENCY ACTION
PLAN
============================================================ Chapter 1
[Original]
Planned
completion
Action item\a date\a Status as of 3/31/94
------------------------------ ---------------- ------------------------------
Timber program
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Implement the below-cost October 1993 During the previous
policy to insure: 1) the long- administration, the Forest
term benefits of the timber Service had drafted a below-
purpose component of the cost timber sale policy and
timber sale program exceed the sent it to the Secretary of
component costs; and 2) where Agriculture for approval. In
timber harvest is used to February 1994, the Department
achieve "other purpose" decided to reexamine this
objectives, it is the most policy with the help of an
financially efficient means of interdisciplinary task force.
achieving those objectives. Plans call for the team to
have options developed by the
end of fiscal year 1994.
Currently, no national policy
on below-cost sales exists.
Modification of timber sale October 1994 Action on this item will occur
program management practices after the development of a
or, if needed, changes in national below-cost policy.
timber sale program levels
would be implemented to
achieve these requirements.
Complete a national October 1994 In February 1994, the Forest
information needs assessment Service issued a report
to provide a basis for containing a comprehensive
substantially reducing view of its financial
duplication and the management processes. Similar
proliferation of requests to studies are under way for the
field units. Complete a cost other management systems. The
analysis of collecting and goal is to fully integrate all
maintaining information. financial and resource
Review regional assessments management systems into a
already completed. network fully responsive to
its users. This entire project
is ongoing and expected to
take several years. Work
started in October 1993 on the
preparation of an extensive
data dictionary to precisely
define all data elements. Work
on the data dictionary is
scheduled for completion in
April 1994.
Consult with the Congressional October 1994 The Forest Service made a list
committees to find ways to of all internal and external
eliminate duplicate requests reports that it regularly
and outdated reports. prepares. It plans to meet
with congressional recipients
to determine whether the
reports are still needed. No
date has yet been set for the
meeting, but plans call for a
meeting to be set after the
appropriations hearings in
April 1994.
Develop a simplified timber October 1994 The Forest Service has revised
sale contract for use on sales one of its two major timber
requiring only minor or no new contracts. The revised
road construction. contract, known as the 2400-
6, was sent to the Secretary
of Agriculture in January 1994
and is awaiting approval. Once
this contract is approved, the
Forest Service will proceed
with plans to revise the other
major timber contract, the
2400-4.
Coordinate with appropriate October 1997 Letters have gone out to
staffs to emphasize cost Regional Foresters and
efficiency in forest timber Washington Office staff
program activity reviews, directors stating that cost
project planning and efficiency is now a
N[ational] E[nvironmental] performance standard. Timber
P[olicy] A[ct] and N[ational] program and Timber Sales
F[orest] M[anagement] A[ct] Program Information Reporting
training. System (TSPIRS) activity
reviews conducted in fiscal
year 1993 emphasized cost
efficiency. It will continue
to be an item of emphasis in
future reviews and remains an
ongoing action item.
Implement the revised minimum October 1994 During the previous
rate policy. administration, the Forest
Service drafted a minimum-
rate policy and sent it to the
Secretary of Agriculture for
approval. In February 1994,
the Department decided to
reexamine the policy with the
help of an interdisciplinary
task force. Plans call for the
task force to have options
developed by the end of fiscal
year 1994. The Forest Service
is uncertain as to the
departmental timetable but
will implement the policy as
soon as it is approved.
Administer Cultural Resources October 1993 Accounting procedures have
Management as a separate been revised. The timber
program ensuring that the cost resource pays for cultural
of [the] program is not resource surveys contained
charged to timber. within the timber project
area. Cultural resources must
now fund state-required
surveys that extend beyond
project boundaries.
Coordinate with Ecosystem October 1993 A budget line item for
Management to insure that Ecosystem Management was
timber project costs are included in the President's
shared by benefiting fiscal year 1995 budget to
functions. provide funding for
inventories, forest planning,
and ecosystem monitoring. All
benefiting resources were
required to provide funds for
this new line item.
Include cost efficiency October 1996 Cost efficiency was included
implementation as an issue in in all timber program and
all W[ashington] O[ffice] TSPIRS activity reviews
Timber and Fiscal Activity conducted by the Washington
Reviews. Office in fiscal year 1993.
This action item is ongoing,
as cost efficiency will
continue to be part of future
reviews.
TSPIRS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Explore using economies of October 1993 In fiscal year 1993, TSPIRS
scale analysis to remove small separated the information on
timber programs from the below the costs of the timber
cost timber sale requirements. commodity program, the
personal-use program, and the
forest stewardship program.
Some forests with small timber
commodity programs will
eliminate them because of
concerns about cost
efficiency.
Provide incentives for October 1994 For allocation of the fiscal
regional and forest managers year 1994 budget to the
to use the annual TSPIRS regions, TSPIRS data, central
reports to adjust their timber accounting system information,
programs. personnel numbers, and volume
figures were used for the
first time to make some
adjustments. This was done to
reward forests whose costs and
personnel were more in line
with the size of their timber
programs. The Forest Service
continues to explore other
incentives.
Financial management
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Establish a service wide work October 1994 A budget restructuring
activity-based unit costing proposal was developed,
process to provide accurate approved by the Department of
data on the cost of doing Agriculture and the Office of
business. Management and Budget, and
included in the fiscal year
1995 President's budget. It
awaits congressional approval.
More detail is provided on
this project in section 2.
Place strong organizational October 1995 Adherence to "charge as
emphasis on "charge as worked" worked" principles continues
to improve the integrity of to be reviewed as a part of
data collected. activity and performance
reviews. Current barriers--
for example, reprogramming
authority--are being addressed
by the budget proposals
contained in the fiscal year
1995 budget and are awaiting
congressional approval.
Determine the actual costs of October 1994 This action item has been
the timber sale program at the placed on hold until after the
Regional, Forest, and District national reorganization study
levels. is completed and the regions
have downsized through fiscal
year 1995.
Work with appropriate teams October 1994 Changes have been proposed in
and staffs to change the the fiscal year 1995 budget
program budget process to proposal and are awaiting
develop out-year budgets on congressional approval. These
the basis of costs that budget proposals are discussed
accurately reflect today's in section 2.
business environment.
Review and change how ET 113 October 1994 In the proposed budget for
funds (Other Resource Support) fiscal year 1995, the Forest
are requested from Congress, Service requested that support
allocated by the W[ashington] dollars that were previously
O[ffice], and administered by given to other resources to
the field. support the timber program be
given to the timber program to
pay for support costs. For
example, the money for
recreation support to the
timber program is now
allocated to, and paid by,
timber. This proposal is
discussed in section 2.
In coordination with the October 1993 Indirect costs were precisely
Consistent Costing team, adopt defined and the "General
a standard definition for Administration" line item was
indirect timber program costs abolished as part of the
to be applied Agency-wide, budget restructuring proposal
with the objective of included in the President's
providing consistent data for budget for fiscal year 1995.
comparison of costs between It awaits congressional
field units. approval.
Change the way inventory is October 1993 The Ecosystem Management
charged. Replace separate budget line item was included
functional inventory codes, in the President's budget for
with one inventory code for fiscal year 1995; it was
all functions. Remove designed to handle all charges
inventory costs from TSPIRS. for inventory. This budget
line item has been approved by
the Department and the Office
of Management and Budget and
awaits congressional approval.
Explore ways to facilitate October 1994 A proposal to increase the
reprogramming to be more reprogramming limits was
responsive to the forests and approved by the Department and
districts. the Office of Management and
Budget and included in the
President's budget for fiscal
year 1995. It awaits
congressional approval.
Explore opportunities to move October 1994 Some regions are exploring
from leased space to this option but are first
government owned space as the waiting for staffing levels to
organization is downsized. stabilize.
Explore ways to share October 1994 Work on this item is in
ecosystem costs between process. The establishment of
benefiting functions. an Ecosystem Management budget
line item was the first step.
Timber management organization
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Look at the timber October 1994 A national reorganization
organization from top to study is currently under way
bottom as it relates to to look at the Forest
ecosystem management and new Service's entire
skills that will be needed in organizational structure. The
5 years. final date for this study is
planned for September 1994.
This study is further
explained in section 2.
Study W[ashington] O[ffice] October 1994 Work on this item is
timber national commitments completed. National
for the use of timber funds to commitments have been
determine ways to decrease separated into two groups--
overhead costs. those that benefit all
resources equally and those
that do not. Some national
commitments have been
redefined and assigned to the
specific resources they
benefit.
Explore ways to reduce costs October 1994 A study dealing with this
by consolidating forest and issue was completed and sent
district offices. to the Department during the
previous administration. The
current administration has
taken no action. The
organizational structure of
the Forest Service is being
reviewed as part of the
national reorganization study,
which is discussed in section
2.
Monitoring
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Develop ways to reward October 1993 Efficiency has been recognized
efficiency efforts that are by allocating more funds to
implemented and that reflect successful regions and
measurable gains. awarding "land stewardship"
contracts on a limited basis.
Land stewardship contracts are
discussed in section 2.
Efforts to find additional
ways to reward cost efficiency
will continue.
Monitor accomplishments of Annually thru The Cost Efficiency Task Force
Regional action plans. Fiscal Year 1997 Chairman reviewed updated
plans from the regions for
fiscal year 1994.
Include cost efficiency as an Annually thru Both timber management and
action item in all F[iscal] Fiscal Year 1997 fiscal staffs included cost
Y[ear] 1993 activity reviews efficiency as a part of their
by Timber Management and fiscal year 1993 activity
Fiscal staffs. reviews and plan to do so in
the future.
At the end of each fiscal Annually thru These cost data have been
year, compare regional unit Fiscal Year 1997 generated and were provided in
costs to the previous fiscal March 1994.
year. Provide the data to the
Chief, Deputy Chiefs, and
Regional Foresters for use in
performance ratings.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a The information in columns 1 and 2 is quoted from the Forest
Service's Timber Cost Efficiency Study--Final Report dated April 16,
1993.
FOREST SERVICE'S INITIATIVES TO
IMPROVE EFFICIENCY
============================================================ Chapter 2
On the basis of the action items undertaken for the Timber Cost
Efficiency Study--Final Report, the Forest Service expanded some
initiatives to include the entire agency and undertook other
initiatives to achieve greater efficiency throughout the agency.
These initiatives relate to reorganizing and downsizing the agency,
introducing a series of budget proposals to improve the management
and use of taxpayers' dollars, using land stewardship contracts as
cost incentives, and improving accountability.
FOREST SERVICE'S REORGANIZATION
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2:1
To examine the issue of whether today's Forest Service is consistent
with what will be needed in the future, the Chief of the Forest
Service and the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Natural
Resources and Environment chartered and selected a team in the fall
of 1993 to develop a "reinvention" strategy for the agency. The team
consists of Forest Service employees from throughout the agency and
is led by an Associate Deputy Chief.
Specifically, the team was asked to describe (1) the "Forest Service
of the Future" and (2) how the Forest Service could be transformed to
achieve that vision. The team will review all areas of the Forest
Service, including its organizational purpose, outcomes, culture,
work, and structure. Specifically, the team will review the Forest
Service's
mission, vision, and guiding principles;
relationship with the public, customer satisfaction, service and
value provided, and the condition of ecosystems;
beliefs, norms, attitudes, and behaviors;
relationships among units, organizational levels, methods used to
accomplish work, systems, and how well work is integrated; and
geographic and operational needs, allocation of budgets and people,
and ways to integrate ecosystem management into the work.
The team is conducting a series of "town hall" meetings in major
cities throughout the country to solicit comments from the public.
After completing these meetings in mid-1994, the team will decide on
its anticipated product and necessary testing requirements. The
target delivery date for the final report is September 1994.
The results of this study could significantly affect many areas
relating to cost efficiency; for example, the team could recommend
that certain offices be closed or management levels be abolished.
ORGANIZATIONAL DOWNSIZING
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2:2
Over the past several years, the amount of timber available for sale
has steadily declined, and as a result, the Forest Service has been
formally downsizing its organization. In October 1991 through March
1994, the Forest Service eliminated 1,133 permanent, full-time
positions. However, as of March 29, 1994, almost 700 positions were
still listed as excess to the agency's needs for fiscal year 1994.
About one-half of the positions listed as excess are located in
Region 6 (Pacific Northwest). In this region, timber offered for
sale dropped from 1,093.9 million board feet in fiscal year 1991 to
629.6 million board feet in fiscal year 1993. During the period
October 1991 through March 1994, permanent, full-time positions
decreased from 6,913 to 6,280. The Forest Service, however,
estimates that it needs to eliminate another 348 positions in this
region in fiscal year 1994. As of April 11, 1994, 489 employees in
Region 6 had expressed interest in leaving the agency under the
incentive buyout.
Several factors affect the Forest Service's ability to downsize as
rapidly as might be expected, including:
Employees who had planned to retire were staying on in hopes of
obtaining an additional "incentive buyout" of $25,000. On March
30, 1994, the President signed this incentive buyout, and as a
result, 2,317 Forest Service employees agreed to voluntarily
leave the agency as of April 11, 1994.
The Department of Agriculture must approve all employee transfers
for positions at grade GS-13 and above. Waiting for approval of
the requested transfers has kept employees in positions that
would have been eliminated had the transfers been permitted.
Employees occupying positions listed as excess to the agency's
needs in one location have turned down job offers from other
units with vacancies. The excess position could not be
eliminated until the employee left. As a result, the Chief, on
February 18, 1994, issued a letter to Forest Service employees
and declared that anyone whose position is listed as excess to
his/her home unit's needs and who has received a job offer from
another unit must take the position offered. After 60 days, any
offer must result in a placement or reassessment of the
employee's funding status so that his/her name is removed from
the surplus list.
Although many of the factors previously affecting the Forest
Service's ability to downsize have been addressed or resolved, the
final outcome of downsizing will not be known for several months.
According to Forest Service officials, while downsizing will reduce
costs in the long run, it may adversely affect costs in fiscal year
1994, as the agency must pay employee separation costs--such as
incentive payment and lump sum annual leave payments--to every
eligible employee who decides to leave the agency. They estimate
this will cost about $67 million in fiscal year 1994.
BUDGET PROPOSALS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2:3
The September 1993 National Performance Review used the Forest
Service as an example of an agency with an overly complex budget
structure. To address this criticism, the Forest Service proposed
reforming its budget structure to "facilitate implementation of
ecosystem management, reduce the complexity, and improve the
efficiency of the current system." The Forest Service included this
proposal in its fiscal year 1995 Budget Explanatory Notes, and some
of its key measures are outlined below.
BUDGET STRUCTURE
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2:3.1
The Forest Service's current budget system contains 72 separate
trackable accounts, or expanded line items, whose amounts must be
estimated 2 years before the money will actually be received. The
Forest Service's explanatory notes state that such time lags combined
with such detail hamper the agency's ability to implement the
integrated resource approach necessary for ecosystem management or to
respond to rapidly changing conditions.
The budget restructuring proposal would reduce the number of
trackable accounts from 72 to 42. Much of the accounting data and
other information currently part of all accounts would still be
available. However, the Forest Service believes that fewer accounts
will allow it more flexibility to respond to changed conditions and
will increase efficiency by simplifying the budget process.
The restructuring proposal also introduces a budget line item for
Ecosystem Management. For the fiscal year 1995 budget, the Forest
Service included this line item to fund inventories, forest planning,
and the monitoring of ecosystem management projects.
REPROGRAMMING AUTHORITY
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2:3.2
Currently, the Forest Service may reprogram the lesser of 10 percent
or $250,000 of a trackable account. The restructuring proposal would
increase the reprogramming authority to 15 percent of an account
total. This additional reprogramming authority would permit some
delegation of authority to the field and enable field staff to
respond to changed demands for funding that have occurred in the 2
years between budget preparation and receipt.
According to the Forest Service, it spends significant time on
preparing reprogramming requests, which come first from the districts
and then must be combined at the forest, region, and national levels
before being sent to the Department of Agriculture, the Office of
Management and Budget, and the Appropriations Committee.
FUNDING RESOURCE SUPPORT
ACTIVITIES
-------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2:3.3
Currently, when the timber resource group prepares a timber sale, it
must obtain input from the fish and wildlife resource group on such
subjects as how species located in the area will be affected by a
proposed timber harvest. The money for this "other resource support"
of a timber sale is provided to the resource group providing the
support--that is, fish and wildlife. This current method of
providing direct dollars to one resource while providing the
necessary support dollars to another resource can result in project
delays when the proper mix of support and direct dollars is not
available. In the above example, if the timber resource had the
funds it needed to prepare its portion of a timber sale, but fish and
wildlife did not have the funds necessary to do the species surveys,
then the project would be delayed.
By placing both direct and support funds within the benefiting
resource, the Forest Service believes that fewer project delays will
occur that are caused by funding conflicts and that resource costs
will be more consistently estimated.
LAND STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2:4
In the fiscal year 1992 appropriations act, the Congress authorized
the Forest Service to test land stewardship contracts on a limited
basis. Under these contracts, selected forests could apply a
reasonable portion of the revenue generated by the sale of timber to
offset project costs. The act gave the purpose of the contracts as
"achieving ecologically defensible management practices." The revenue
generated was to be used for, but not limited to, "site preparation,
replanting, silviculture programs, recreation, wildlife habitat
enhancement, and other multiple-use enhancement on selected
projects."
As of March 31, 1994, the Forest Service was preparing a report to
the Congress describing its experiences with the land stewardship
contracts. A Forest Service official told us that basically the
report concludes that sufficient testing had been completed and that
the contracts work very well in some instances, but not in others.
For example, land stewardship contracts work well when the primary
objective is to bring the land to a certain condition. However, they
are not considered the best vehicle to use when the primary objective
is harvesting timber because land stewardship contracts are
multipurpose, which makes them more complicated than single-purpose
timber sale contacts.
The Forest Service would like to continue using land stewardship
contracts, and its report addresses several issues that the Forest
Service believes need to be resolved before the test can be expanded
beyond the four test forests.
ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
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For several years, the Congress, as well as others, has argued that
the Forest Service is no longer delivering what is expected or
promised. Examples of such situations include the failure to sell as
much timber as expected and spending wilderness funds on
nonwilderness recreation projects.\1
As a result of these concerns, the Chief of the Forest Service, in
the fall of 1991, formed a task force of employees from throughout
the agency to review the issue of "accountability." The task force
was asked to explore whether the agency could continue to deliver on
agreements, considering all of the changed conditions under which it
must operate--that is, shrinking budgets and the increased scrutiny
by state and local agencies, interested citizen groups, individuals,
and the media.
To accomplish its objective, the task force solicited the views of
its own members, hundreds of Forest Service employees, the Chief and
his staff, key customers, and management and communications
consultants on the perspectives of accountability that should be
addressed. The task force also considered the results of prior GAO
and Office of Inspector General reports that identified areas in
which the Forest Service has failed to be accountable for what it had
been asked to do.
Using the information gathered, the task force first defined
accountability as "being answerable for what we do" and determined
that in order to be accountable, the agency "must do what we agreed
or were directed to do; as we agreed or are required to do it."
The task force then developed a seven-step process designed to
provide the procedures necessary to achieve better accountability.
For example, the first step in the process is to establish work
agreements that include measures and standards. This is defined as
involving the customer and clarifying the what, when, where, how, and
why of the agreement. Other steps involve assessing performance and
communicating the results to customers.
The team issued its report in February 1994, and its concepts have
been adopted by the Forest Service's leadership team consisting of
the Chief, Deputies, Resource Directors, and Regional Foresters. The
report cites as the Forest Service's ultimate goal for the future to:
"Achieve a leadership and organizational culture in which
responsibility and accountability for excellence are shared by
all employees and in the execution of the Forest Service's
Mission, Vision, and Guiding Principles."
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\1 See Wilderness Management: Accountability for Forest Service
Funds Needs Improvement (GAO/RCED-92-33, Nov. 4, 1991).