Yesterday the General Accounting Office has released a report to the Chairman, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives HUMAN CAPITAL Further Guidance, Assistance, and Coordination Can Improve Federal Telework Efforts that is causing a bit of a stir, as reported in the following articles, both well worth the read unless you'd rather wade through GAO's 82-page report. Links and quotes from each are below:

For the Government Computer News view on the report, see GAO criticizes governmentwide telework management By Jason Miller, GCN Staff (Aug. 19, 2003)

"In report for Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, GAO said the two agencies have done a poor job resolving conflicting views on telework matters."

"In written responses to a draft version of the report, GSA and OPM disagreed with some of GAO’s findings. But in the final report, GAO noted that the written responses contradicted information given to GAO by the two agencies’ officials during the audit. "

Federal Computer Week published Agencies flunk telework test by Nancy Ferris (Aug. 19, 2003)

"In its July 18 report, made public this week, the congressional watchdog agency listed 25 "key telework practices" and determined that the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration -- the two lead agencies -- failed to implement all of them."

"The report to Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) was the latest effort to prod federal agencies to permit and encourage more telecommuting. Over the years, a series of reports by various authorities has concluded that agencies resist having employees work off-site."

Finally, GovExec.com offers Telework effort hampered by agencies' mixed messages By Tanya N. Ballard (August 19, 2003)

"Three years ago, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., pushed legislation through Congress that required agencies to expand their efforts to create teleworking opportunities for federal employees. Under his plan, 75 percent of the federal workforce would telework by the end of 2003. But a report on federal telework efforts published in January 2003 by the Office of Personnel Management found that just 5 percent of federal workers took part in teleworking programs in 2002."

12:56:14 PM    
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