Introduction

Welcome to the Survey on Program Manager Effectiveness.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent agency of the U.S. Congress, is responding to a Senate Armed Services Committee request to review what actions lead to program manager success in defense acquisitions. This survey is a critical element of that response. In this review GAO will explore factors that provide support for program managers in their efforts to deliver weapons systems on time, within budget limits, with the desired capabilities, and that hold them accountable for those deliverables.

In the past, GAO has reviewed such Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition challenges as technological maturity and evolutionary development, inter-service competition for funding, and matching needs and resources at the onset of acquisition programs. The results of this effort have had a significant impact on DOD acquisition through, for instance, influencing the content of DOD 5000. Thus, we expect this survey will give program managers the opportunity to provide input that will help shape the acquisition process in the future.

After our study is completed, we will provide those who reply with the opportunity to view feedback from the survey's aggregate results. We suggest you keep a copy of your answers, so at that time you can compare them to the overall responses from DOD ACAT I and ACAT II program managers.

Please complete this survey within two weeks of receipt. We understand that there are great demands on your time. However, your participation in our study is essential for us to provide relevant information to Congress and to make suggestions that will improve chances for program manager success in defense acquisitions. We greatly appreciate your time and effort in completing this survey.

Contact

If your response will be delayed, or if you have any questions, please call or e-mail:

[The name, telephone number, and e-mail address of two GAO staff appeared here.]

If you need to be reminded about this person during later parts of this survey, please click on the "?" button at the bottom of the screen. This will reveal an email hot link. Clicking on the hot link will in most cases automatically open up your email system and have the proper e-mail in the "To:" address. Then you only need to fill in your question and send the message.

Navigation, Exiting and Printing the Survey

To read to the bottom of a section: Use the scroll bar on the right side of the screen.

To move from section to section: Use the menu bar on the left side of the screen. Do not use the "Enter" key on your keyboard to navigate through the survey.

To exit: Click on the "Exit" button at the bottom of the screen. It is the black box at the bottom of your screen. Always use the "Exit" button to close the survey. If you do not, you will lose all the information that you have entered on the screen of the survey where you improperly exited the program.

To restart your survey: Log onto the survey using your username and password. The survey will restart at the point where you exited.

Answer choices: For each question, you will have several answer choices. A "don't know" option means that you have read the question, you understand it, and you are not able to give an opinion because you have not encountered the situation or it may be too early to form an opinion.

To change your answers: To change an answer marked with a "button" (circle), click on another answer.

Note: You can change your answers, even after exiting, by restarting the survey (See "To restart your survey" above).

To answer open-ended questions: Click anywhere inside the box and begin typing. When you reach the limit of the open space, keep typing and the box will automatically expand.

To print your responses: Click on the "Print" button at the end of each screen. You cannot print the entire survey at one time.

Suggestion: Print this section to have it for future reference.

Full Report: GAO-06-110

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