Influenza Pandemic: Increased Agency Accountability Could Help Protect Federal Employees Serving the Public in the Event of a Pandemic Page: 2 of 48
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' GAO
Accountability Integrity* Reliability
Highlights
Highlights of GAO-09-404, a report to
congressional committees
Why GAO Did This Study
Protecting federal workers
essential to ensuring the continuity
of the country's critical operations
will involve new challenges in the
event of a pandemic influenza
outbreak. This requested report
discusses (1) the extent to which
agencies have made pandemic
plans to protect workers who
cannot work remotely and are not
first responders, (2) the pandemic
plans selected agencies have for
certain occupations performing
essential functions other than first
response, and (3) the opportunities
to improve agencies' workforce
pandemic plans. GAO surveyed
pandemic coordinators from 24
agencies and selected three case
study occupations for review:
federal correctional workers, staff
disbursing Treasury checks, and air
traffic controllers.
GAO recommends that the
Homeland Security Council (HSC)
request that the Secretary of
Homeland Security monitor and
report to the Executive Office of
the President on the readiness of
agencies to continue their
operations while protecting their
employees in the event of a
pandemic. The Congress may want
to consider requiring similar
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) reporting. The HSC noted
that it will give serious
consideration to the report findings
and recommendations, and DHS
said the report findings and
recommendations will contribute
to its efforts to ensure that
government entities are well
prepared for what may come next.
To view the full product, including the scope
and methodology, click on GAO-09-404.
For more information, contact Bernice
Steinhardt at (202) 512-6543 or
steinhardtb@gao.gov.INFLUENZA PANDEMIC
Increased Agency Accountability Could Help Protect
Federal Employees Serving the Public in the Event of
a PandemicWhat GAO Found
The HSC's 2006 National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Implementation
Plan required federal agencies to develop operational pandemic plans, and
responses from the pandemic coordinators of the 24 agencies GAO surveyed
indicate that a wide range of pandemic planning activities are under way.
However, the responses also showed that several agencies had yet to identify
essential functions during a pandemic that cannot be performed remotely. In
addition, although many of the agencies' pandemic plans rely on telework to
carry out their functions, several agencies reported testing their information
technology capability to little or no extent.
GAO's three case study agencies also showed differences in the degree to
which their individual facilities had operational pandemic plans. The Bureau
of Prisons' correctional workers had only recently been required to develop
pandemic plans for their correctional facilities. Nevertheless, the Bureau of
Prisons has considerable experience limiting the spread of infectious disease
within its correctional facilities and had also made arrangements for antiviral
medications for a portion of its workers and inmates. The Department of the
Treasury's Financial Management Service, which has production staff
involved in disbursing federal payments such as Social Security checks, had
pandemic plans for its four regional centers and had stockpiled personal
protective equipment such as respirators, gloves, and hand sanitizers at the
centers. Air traffic control management facilities, where air traffic controllers
work, had not yet developed facility pandemic plans or incorporated
pandemic plans into their all-hazards contingency plans. The Federal Aviation
Administration had recently completed a study to determine the feasibility of
the use of respirators by air traffic controllers and concluded that their long-
term use during a pandemic appears to be impractical.
There is no mechanism in place to monitor and report on agencies' workforce
pandemic plans. Under the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza
Implementation Plan, DHS was required to monitor and report on the
readiness of agencies to continue operations while protecting their employees
during an influenza pandemic. The HSC, however, informed DHS in late 2006
or early 2007 that no specific reports on this were required to be submitted.
Rather, the HSC requested that agencies certify to the council that they were
addressing in their plans the applicable elements of a pandemic checklist in
2006 and again in 2008. This process did not include any assessment or
reporting on the status of agency plans. Given agencies' uneven progress in
developing their pandemic plans, monitoring and reporting would enhance
agencies' accountability to protect their employees in the event of a pandemic.
GAO has previously reported on the importance of internal control monitoring
to assess the quality of performance over time. Without appropriately
designed monitoring and reporting, the President and the Congress cannot
fully assess the ability of the agencies to continue their operations while
protecting their federal employees in the event of a pandemic.United States Government Accountability Office
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Influenza Pandemic: Increased Agency Accountability Could Help Protect Federal Employees Serving the Public in the Event of a Pandemic, report, June 12, 2009; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc297912/m1/2/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.