National Communications System and the long range telecommunications requirements and policies of the United States. NCS plans have been reviewed and guidance has been provided. Guidance has also been provided for the executive departments and agencies with respect to use of satellite systems, and to providing technical information and assistance to other countries. Other work has been accomplished on the problems of frequency management and specific new programs in telecommunications. IMPROVE NASA/DOD COOPERATION (Recommendation No. 8): Instead of the inadequate cooperation that has characterized the NASA/DOD efforts to date in communications satellite research and development programs, we recommend that military and civil agency programs be defined and planned in complementary fashion. There are sufficient coordinating instruments to effect better integration of these activities. RESULTS. Both NASA and DOD have reported efforts to improve cooperation in communications satellite research and development programs. At present, however, the Applications Technology Satellite program of NASA and the Defense communication satellite programs are being pursued with different objectives. GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES SUBCOMMITTEE [H. Rept. 456, 88th Cong., 1st sess.] SURVEY OF SELECTED 1-EFFI CIENCY AND ECONOMY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE) Eighth Report by the Committee on Government Operations (Submitted to the Speaker June 25, 1963) During the 88th Congress, the Government Activities Subcommittee submitted a series of reports to the full committee concerning selected activities of certain of the departments and agencies under its jurisdiction. In the report on the activities of the Commerce Department were certain general recommendations applicable to all Federal agencies. The remainder of this report, as well as the five other reports in the series, dealt with specific activities in the agencies subject to the investigations. RECOMMENDATIONS OF GENERAL APPLICATION TO DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES NEED FOR EFFECTIVE INTERNAL AUDIT SYSTEMS (Recommendation No. 1): Especially in the larger Federal agencies, the most promising means of obtaining efficient management control has been the establishment of effective internal audit systems. The head of a large executive department or agency must have his own "eves and ears" within the organization, responsible solely to him, independent of operations, and with unlimited jurisdiction to review any and all functions in which waste or inefficiency might exist. RESULTS. The issuance of the report had a salutary effect upon internal audit activities throughout the Government. However, last fall the subcommittee instructed the General Accounting Office to undertake a detailed review of the internal audit function on a Government-wide basis. This review is in progress and when it is completed the committee will take whatever action is necessary to see that any deficiencies revealed by the GAO are corrected. NEED FOR DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY PRODUCTIVITY STANDARDS AS A MEANS OF DETERMINING EFFICIENCY OF OPERATIONS (Recommendation No. 2): The Congress and the Comptroller General, as well as executive leaders, do not have the most reliable means of locating and identifying the nature and extent of waste and inefficiency in Government operations. A systematic measurement of efficiency levels of department and agency activities can aid in this purpose. Such a system would offer department and agency heads an effective management tool, making it easier for them to improve efficiency levels. It would also afford Congress and the Comptroller General a more reliable means of reviewing the economy and efficiency of the executive branch. RESULTS. Subcommittee development of this subject has moved steadily ahead since the issuance of this report towards the development of a program auditing system. This system would be compatible with and part of the program budgeting concept which the President has ordered implemented beginning with fiscal year 1967. Development of such a system would make it possible for a far more comprehensive evaluation of an agency's operation than is now possible. NEED FOR IMPROVING THE CONTENTS OF THE ANNUAL REPORTS (Recommendation No. 3): Annual reports to Congress which are designed to provide information concerning the economy and efficiency of operations would be of vital importance to the Members of Congress, the substantive committees, the Appropriations Committees, and to the Government Operations Committees. RESULTS. As a result of this study there were many significant improvements made in the annual reports submitted to Congress. Work on a program budgeting and auditing system however has progressed to the point where much of the information contained in annual reports might be made continuously available to Congress through the use of data processing capacity. This would change significantly the makeup of printed annual reports. As a result, further improvements in these reports as well as changes in them must be considered in the light of overall development and improvement of legislative data and information acquisition systems. RECOMMENDATIONS OF SPECIFIC APPLICATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE DUPLICATION IN WEATHER FORECASTING (Recommendation No. 1): A serious duplication of weather forecasting activities was found at the Navy's fleet numerical weather facility, Monterey, Calif. The segment of Navy weather forecasting carried on at this center either duplicates activities at, or can be supplied by, the National Meteorological Weather Center at Suitland, Md. In this report, it was recommended that this unnecessary duplication be ended. RESULTS.-The Department of Commerce has advised the subcommittee that: The Weather Bureau of the Environmental Science Services Administration is continuing efforts, reported to the committee earlier, to coordinate its work programs in numerical weather prediction with the Navy. In addition, a more comprehensive approach to the coordination of meteorological activities is being taken as the result of Bureau of the Budget Circular No. A-62 of November 13, 1963, which established guidelines to improve organizational arrangements and procedures for the planning and conduct of Federal meteorological services and supporting research. Besides reaffirming Commerce's central role with respect to basic meteorological services, the circular assigned to Commerce the responsibility of coordinating, with the advice and assistance of other agencies concerned, Federal meteorological activities. To carry out this responsibility, we established the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, and subsequently assigned it to the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA). The Administrator of ESSA serves as the Federal Coordinator. As a part of its coordination work, the Office of the Federal Coordinator has initiated a review of activities of the Fleet Numerical Weather Facility in Monterey, Calif., and other major meteorological centers. We believe the coordinating mechanism established under Bureau of the Budget Circular No. A-62 holds promise of eliminating any unnecessary duplications of meteorological activities and of assuring maximum utilization of basic weather prediction facilities and resources. "INPUT AND OUTPUT" STANDARDIZATION OF AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT (Recommenda tion No. 2): The Department of Commerce, working through the professional groups and interested private organizations, should determine appropriate "input and output" standards for automatic data processing equipment. Further, if these efforts prove unsuccessful, then the Bureau of Standards should establish standards applicable to equipment to be leased or purchased by the Federal Government. RESULTS.-The Department of Commerce has advised the subcommittee that: Public Law 89-306 of October 30, 1965, which you (Subcommittee Chairman Jack Brooks) sponsored, places important responsibilities in the Secretary of Commerce with respect to automatic data processing equipment in the Fed eral Government, including the making of recommendations The new legislation and the strengthened research and DUPLICATION IN MAINTENANCE AND PRODUCTION OF AERIAL MAPS AND CHARTS (Recommendation No. 3): The Secretary of Commerce, in conjunction with the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency, the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, and the Secretary of Defense, should determine some speedy and effective means to end needless duplications in the maintenance and production of aerial maps and charts already produced by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. RESULTS. The Department of Commerce has advised the subcommittee that: Major steps to eliminate duplication involved in the production and maintenance of charts have been taken. A Memorandum of Agreement is now in effect concerning coordination of air cartographic materials between the Department of Commerce, the Federal Aviation Agency, and the Department of Defense. Under the agreement, an Interagency Air Cartographic Committee (IACC), chaired by the Federal Aviation Agency, has assumed the continuing tasks of (1) developing and updating specifications for flight information materials produced or used by Government agencies, and (2) ensuring that these materials are produced at minimum cost and with no unnecessary duplication. COORDINATION IN GOVERNMENT SURVEY ACTIVITIES (Recommendation No. 4): To expedite completion of the national net of geodetic controls, the Secretary of Commerce should submit recommendations to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget outlining an effective. program for coordinating Government survey activities. RESULTS. The Department of Commerce has advised the subcommittee that: The joint plan on geodetic controls worked out by the |