B-260165 following actions were being planned or taken on each of our four recommendations. First, in developing an approach for monitoring mechanisms for building support and efforts in staff sharing and training, the IRS officials said they will be monitoring all such mechanisms and efforts, particularly use of the cooperative strategy and other outreach efforts about the new approach. Second, in devising a method to provide reliable compliance data, these officials acknowledged the problems with losing the comprehensive, top-down measures of TCMP but said IRS has sufficient compliance data in the short term for the research work to continue. Third, these officials said action is already being taken to set a schedule for completing CRIS, monitoring its progress, and resolving related problems. Recently, IRS has required all computer systems under development, including CRIS, to have established milestones and a completion schedule that will be monitored internally. Fourth, in establishing milestones and monitoring the completion of the infrastructure as well as of the measures, the IRS officials said the fiscal year 1997 research plan will provide the means for doing these activities. They said IRS' new system for tracking the status and results of research projects is expected to be operational by June 1996, and measures for evaluating the success of the new research approach are being developed. This report contains recommendations to you. The head of a federal agency is required by 31 U.S.C. 720 to submit a written statement on actions taken on the recommendations to the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight not later than 60 days after the date of this letter. A written statement also must be sent to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations with the agency's first request for appropriations made more than 60 days after the date of this letter. Copies of this report are being sent to interested congressional committees, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Secretary of the Treasury, and other interested parties. It will also be made available to others upon request. |