Summary: GAO's recent performance and accountability series and high-risk series highlight the long-standing performance and management challenges that hinder the federal government's efforts to get results. The two series discuss many improvements that agencies need to make in their performance, management, and accountability. At the same time, the two series also noted the pivotal role that the federal government's central management agencies -- OMB, in particular -- must play in guiding and overseeing agencies' efforts to address the shortcomings GAO cited and to implement the changes necessary to improve performance. The testimony covers three major points. First, GAO outlines OMB's wide-ranging management responsibilities, noting that the question of whether to integrate or separate management and budget functions has long been debated. Second, GAO discusses the effectiveness of OMB's management leadership, which, in GAO's view, has been uneven. Third, GAO discusses the factors that appear to contribute to sustained improvements in federal management.
