TABLE 1: CRS PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR CONGRESS: FY 1993 CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES SERVED BY CRS (% of total) 4,360 260,000* Members Committees Subcommittees 100% 96% Product distribution does not include CRS Reports and Issue Briefs within the 170,064 Info Packs distributed. Some data are estimated because the new system was implemented in January 1993, three months after the start of the fiscal year. 7 Applying any set of criteria would present additional, significant challenges. Because there is room for disagreement over what constitutes undesirable or unfair allocations of support from congressional instrumentalities, disclosing cost information would not necessarily assure automatic, self-correction of non-conforming behavior. An office which, according to one set of criteria, would be found to be "underutilizing" congressional instrumentalities could boast of frugality in using government resources and, at the same time, could be charged by others with failure to fully use expert resources in pursuit of its responsibilities. An office found to be "overutilizing" support agencies could be accused of being profligate by some but could counter by claiming credit for its extensive use of professional expertise in exploring complex, important public policy matters. HOW CRS PROMOTES FAIRNESS, EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS IN CRS strives for fairness and efficiency in use of its resources through a number of practices and procedures. In addition, potential abuses in the use of CRS resources are likely to be checked because of efficiencies required by the limited size of the agency. Fairness in access to CRS CRS engages in numerous activities to assure fairness in access to CRS resources for all Members and committees. Before the start of each Congress, CRS mails information about CRS to each new Member. At the start of each Congress, CRS presents a multi-day seminar on public policy issues for new Members and also conducts special briefings for new Members to familiarize the Member and staff with CRS resources and ways in which they might most efficiently and effectively make use of those resources. Also, at the start of each Congress, CRS formally notifies the Chairman and ranking minority Member of each committee of the availability of CRS resources in support of committee activities and identifies a senior researcher who contacts the committee to arrange for briefings and other support and serves as an immediate contact for consultations on using CRS resources. Much of the on-going work of CRS culminates in products and services available to every Member and committee of the Congress. Such products and services include reports, issue briefs, InfoPacks, seminars and databases. In fiscal year 1993, about 1,300 new general distribution products were prepared and 196 seminars and workshops were presented. Over 5,000 general distribution products were available upon request. Extensive efforts are made to provide information about the availability of CRS general distribution products and services. Every month, each congressional office receives the CRS Update, which contains information about new and recent CRS products and services. In addition, each office receives special announcements for each CRS seminar. All CRS products are listed in CRS online data files in the Library of Congress SCORPIO system. Each office has access to SCORPIO, and CRS provides regularly scheduled training sessions for learning how to use SCORPIO files which extend beyond providing access to CRS products to include access to extensive public policy literature, digests of bills from the 93d Congress to date, and the principal catalog for the Library of Congress collections. 8 In fiscal year 1993, congressional offices received over 500,000 copies of CRS general distribution products and accessed CRS automated services nearly 90,000 times. In the same year, Member and staff attendance at CRS seminars, institutes and training sessions exceeded 13,000. The role of limited resources CRS resources are not only finite, but they have always been limited in relation to the demands of its mission. Furthermore, CRS resources were reduced significantly with the recent buyout offered to employees at the end of 1993. The context of limited resources is especially important in evaluating the perception that Congress might abuse its claims on CRS resources by viewing CRS as a free good. Congressional requesters know and respect resource limitations and, in the interest of maintaining productive on-going relations, negotiate requests to assure that CRS resources are used efficiently and effectively to provide them with prompt and directly useful results. CRS uses negotiations to assure legislative support received priority in the use of resources. CRS projects entailing commitments of significant resources require supervisory review and approval. Occasionally, during review of project proposals, adjustments are made to assure that broader congressional needs would be served than would have been served through initial agreements between requesters and CRS research staff. Where possible, and very frequently, significant projects result in general distribution products or services, assuring maximum utility for efforts expended. Operating with limited resources has required instituting some restrictions such as limiting intern access to CRS resources and not accepting deadlines for constituent requests. These are among measures which allow CRS to continue to prioritize supporting public policy needs of the Congress. VOUCHERS AS A MEANS OF ALLOCATING ACCESS TO CRS Vouchers could be denominated in dollars, time, or products and services. In theory, it is possible to make conversions among these three alternatives. Because Congress, in practice, requests products and services from CRS, this discussion relates to vouchers denominated in, or directly exchangeable for, products or services. Establishing a voucher system for allocating access to CRS would entail two basic, but difficult steps: determining the total number of products and services for which vouchers should be issued; and devising a basis for allocating vouchers among potential users of those products and services. This section identifies some of the more important decisions that would be necessary in determining the scale and allocation arrangement of a voucher system used to allocate access to CRS resources. Setting the amount of services accessible through vouchers 9 The aggregate quantity of products and services for which vouchers could be allocated among congressional clients should vary with the intended coverage of the voucher system. Comprehensive coverage of all CRS activities for all congressional clients would require an effort to approximate the total volume of requests and services CRS completes, about 600,000 annually. Options for more limited coverage include incorporating only a part of the Congress or only specific types or categories of CRS products and services. If vouchers were issued for all, then it might be necessary to issue vouchers specific types of products or services to avoid problems the might arise from voucher holders requesting an inordinate quantities of more resource-intensive services such as personal briefings by subject experts or new reports. Even with vouchers issued for specific to types of products and services, it could prove difficult to match the mix and quantity of services for which vouchers are issued with the distribution pattern preferred by voucher holders. Limiting vouchers to specific types of products and services requires a determination of the bases for inclusion and exclusion. A possible advantage of limiting the types of products and services for which vouchers would be issued is that it would allow flexibility in the use of resources not committed to voucher-based work to respond to uneven demands and expectations likely to occur with voucher-based activity. Limiting vouchers to a specific subset of clients, such as Senate committees, could have the effect of limiting access to CRS by either voucher holders or by non-voucher holders. Determining factors would be priorities, if any, CRS would be expected to give to voucher-based work, amounts of CRS resources that could be claimed by voucher holders and by other congressional clients, and whether or not voucher holders would have access to CRS resources, perhaps on a non-priority bases, beyond access based on use of vouchers. Allocating vouchers Establishing a voucher system for allocating access to CRS resources with the objective of improving fairness, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of those resources implies some notion that an acceptable allocation scheme exists that would accomplish such improvements. Among optional bases for allocating vouchers are recognition of special characteristics of Senators as elected officials (e.g. seniority, party affiliation) and recognition of the needs of their constituencies as well as special characteristics and needs of committees, including majority and minority needs. Needs of Senators and Senate committees would be likely to deviate significantly from access permitted by vouchers from time to time. Close monitoring of voucher usage and allowance for periodic adjustments in allocations would seem to be warranted. Voucher validity periods of less than one year, perhaps three months, could facilitate close monitoring and periodic adjustments. Some special issues associated with use of vouchers The prospect of several unwanted outcomes arises with the use of vouchers. These are important primarily because they could result in net losses in efficiency and 10 effectiveness in the use of CRS resources. In particular, to the extent that a voucher system might reduce need-based use of CRS, currently accommodated through emphasizing fairness in access to CRS resources, it would likely reduce efficiency and effectiveness. Unevenness in the redemption of vouchers could be disruptive and cause inefficient use of resources. Thus, for example, the practice of holding vouchers immediately after issuance as insurance against future needs and the practice of expending vouchers rapidly before expiration dates can result in greater attention to fewer requests at some times and in significant lags in responses to requests at other times. Use of CRS resources based on strategies in the use of vouchers rather than needs of the Congress would disrupt on-going, efficient, and mutually beneficial exchanges between CRS staff and congressional clients in support of the legislative and representational needs of the Congress. Because use of vouchers would promote a more propri stary attitude in the Congress toward support received, it could result in CRS expending more effort to maintain congressionally mandated objectivity and nonpartisanship in CRS work. Generally, inefficiencies might arise in the form of increased costs of negotiating transactions. Voucher holders would be concerned about assuring receipt of full value for each voucher expended. Increased proprietary interests could also result in losses of the efficiencies currently gained through extensive general distribution work; when expending their limited allotment of vouchers, congressional clients would likely insist more often on work tailored to highly specific needs and would be less willing to accept work meeting the needs of a larger set of congressional clients. At the same time, to keep requests within reasonable and manageable limits, CRS products and services could become somewhat more standardized with respect to effort expended and results delivered, thus reducing the benefits of work tailored to meet specific needs. |