Section 832 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act of 2001 (the Act) required that I, as Comptroller General of the United States, "convene a panel of experts to study the policies and procedures governing the transfer of commercial activities for the Federal Government from Government personnel to a Federal contractor ..." In accordance with the Act, I am pleased to transmit to Congress the report of the Commercial Activities Panel (the Panel) convened to satisfy this statutory requirement. Given the importance of this issue, I elected to chair this Panel and ensured that it was comprised of highly qualified and empowered representatives from the groups specified in the Act and other knowledgeable individuals. A diverse group of high-level members were selected as panelists in order to broaden the scope and enhance the quality of our deliberations, while increasing our chances of success.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) spends about $3.5 billion annually providing critical information technology (IT) support to the military services, military commands, and Dept. of Defense (DoD) agencies, as well as operating and maintaining crucial command, control, and communications systems. In response to a mandate in the FY 2001 Defense Authorization Act, the General Accounting Office (GAO) studied the agency's management of its 500 Day Action Plan, as well as its efforts to establish important institutional management controls.