The Results Act is intended to improve the management of federal programs by shifting the focus of accountability for federal programs from a preoccupation with staffing and activity levels to outcomes. It can provide a new and structured framework for addressing multiple and overlapping programs. This should lead to new information on multiple programs, including those that cut across agency lines but share common goals. When GAO looked at the plans of the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, however, it found that the plans are not realizing their potential. Although the plans for fiscal years 1999 and 2000 address coordination to some extent, the departments have yet to describe in detail how they will coordinate or consolidate their efforts. Therefore, the potential for addressing the fragmentation and the duplication has not been realized, and GAO cannot assess whether the agencies are effectively working together on crosscutting issues. For more on the report >>> [PDF, 76KB]