Summary: GAO discussed proposed legislation and recent activities regarding federal paperwork reduction and comprehensive information management. GAO noted that: (1) the proposed legislation would encourage effective information management by directing each agency's chief information official to establish formal training programs; (2) federal agencies needed to adopt a strategic approach in developing information management plans and integrating them with agency missions and goals; (3) a commission on federal information would address the need for improvements in the timeliness and accuracy of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) review procedures for agency data collection requests; (4) the commission's role would not include evaluating agencies' use of information to achieve their missions, and its tasks would be too broad to be accomplished by the assigned reporting date; (5) OMB had not acted on a recommendation to reduce the redundancy of its reviews by delegating approval authority to agencies that demonstrated effective information management; and (6) a requirement for it to report on agencies' effectiveness in meeting legislative requirements for information management would be unnecessary and overburdensome.
