The Board members are scheduled to meet again on March 6, 1985. The Board has begun soliciting the views of interested parties on what issues need to be addressed. The Board will consult with representatives of all groups, including professional and industry associations, the academic community, government agencies, and representatives of individual companies. The fiscal year 1986 Budget request of $1,000,000 represents the amount authorized by the Staggers Rail Act as amended by H.R. 4439 (98th Congress, as passed by the House of Representatives on February 7, 1984), for the annual operation of RAPB. It is, we believe, the minimum amount necessary for the Board to perform the massive task of developing Accounting Principles for use in calculating costs for rate determinations under Title 49. The fiscal year 1986 budget estimate will be allocated as follows: --$784,000 for salaries and related benefits of the members of the Board, permanent professional staff, part-time consulting assistants, and supportive clerical staff. --$85,000 for travel of the Board staff to gather data and meet with various shippers, rail carriers, and others to facilitate development of the "Principles". It will also pay for Board member's travel to Washington, DC for periodic RAPB meetings. --$56,000 for contractual services, computer services and reimbursement to other Government agencies for administrative and personnel services. --$75,000 for costs of space and services, communications, utilities, printing and reproduction and supplies and This statement covers, in general, a summary of the Board's activities. I will be glad to answer any of your questions. DURATION OF BOARD Mr. FAZIO. Could you tell us what your estimate of the longevity of the Board will be at this point? I know there is a sunset law here, but for planning purposes, do you estimate that you will be able to handle the task? Mr. BOWSHER. We are going to try hard to do it in the two years. We might extend over into that third year, as far as getting the report out. We are going to work very hard to meet the mandated schedule. STAFF Mr. FAZIO. So you will bring staff on and let them go, because this is not a permanent job for anybody, in such a fashion as to meet your peak demands and yet not retain staff who don't need to be around when you are, for example, publishing the report. Mr. BOWSHER. That is correct. We have decided that when we talk to people, we will assess if there is also any potential that some of them might fit in later as part of the GAO staff. I think we can attract a higher quality staff if we can provide them with opportunities beyond the two years. But that is not a commitment. Mr. FAZIO. Would it be possible for them to begin with the Board and maintain some sort of seniority and move them into GAO? Mr. BOWSHER. When the Cost Accounting Standards Board went out of business some years ago, a few staff stayed on with GAO. Most went to the private sector. We are thinking we might be able to do the same. It might enhance the attractiveness of the positions if they thought they had an opportunity. Some will not be interested, and some may be. Mr. FAZIO. The increase this year of $194,000 in permanent staff compensation over what had been projected in the fiscal 1985 budget year seems kind of high. We wondered whether the reduction of other services of $212,000 might be maybe too great? We hope we can work with you to rationalize this process. Mr. BOWSHER. We would be pleased to work with you on that. Because we will start people during 1985, the staff compensation reflects only a partial year. The 1986 amount reflects the same number of people as the 1985 amount, but provides funding for a full year. We also plan to enter into a number of contracts in 1985 with delivery of work products in 1986. The cost of those contracts will be incurred in 1985. We anticipate a reduced number of contracts to be awarded in 1986, hence the budget reflects a lower amount. We will be pleased to work with the committee and staff on our budget as we move forward. As I pointed out earlier, the budget is quite tentative at this point in time. Mr. FAZIO. Obviously, we are very happy to see things get off to a solid start. It is a competent Board with good staff. We expect you to make a great deal of progress. We will cooperate with you as much as we can. We do want this to be a two-year project. It doesn't do you any good or meet our long-term needs if we are parsimonious at the beginning and extend this into another fiscal year. We do want to give you all the support we possibly can that is reasonable under the circumstances. You know we have a 5 or 10 percent reduction proposal. We have asked all the agencies to respond to that. We do hope there can be some accommodation of that reality in whatever you bring us, hopefully by markup, as your final cut on a budget. [CLERK'S NOTE.-The following was provided to the committee in response to the 5 and 10 percent reduction request.] This responds to your letter of February 12, 1985, requesting consideration of a reduction to the FY 1986 budget request for the Railroad Accounting Principles Board. We have reviewed our request to assess the effect of a 5 to 10 percent reduction. The FY 1986 request is $1,000,000, the same level as appropriated for FY 1985. The requested funding represents the minimum amount needed for the Board to accomplish its mandate of developing accounting principles within 2 years. If a 5 to 10 percent reduction was imposed, the Board might have to reduce or eliminate expert and consultant services. Such an action could possibly delay completion of the Board's work. |