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.

In its 2001 Governmentwide Perspective, the General Accounting Office (GAO) identified operational challenges, such as the continuing need to implement management reforms, and discussed the need to address human capital and other strategic challenges, particularly the longer-term budget outlook. The information that GAO presents in this report is intended to help sustain congressional attention in addressing the challenges government faces in doing business in the 21st century. This report is part of a special series of reports on governmentwide and agency-specific issues.

The Capitol Power Plant (CPP), managed by the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), provides heating & cooling for the U.S. Capitol & other facilities. For more than a decade, potential overstaffing at CPP has been a principal concern. A recent report noted that although AOC has long recognized that CPP is overstaffed, staffing reductions had not been implemented, & that AOC had only recently made plans to establish a new staffing structure. There is now an exam¿n. of the feasibility of AOC¿s entering into a contract with a private entity for the mgmt. & oper. of the CPP. This report discusses: the actions taken to reduce oper. costs & increase efficiencies; & the challenges that AOC must address before it can make future sourcing decisions about CPP oper.