Federal Capital Budgeting: A Collection of Haphazard Practices

摘要

Funds for developing and maintaining physical capital--roads, bridges, airports, computers--are often cut to reduce expenditures. The Federal Government needs to pay special attention to planning, budgeting, and managing such assets because decisions made in the 1980's about capital assets will determine, in part, the future of the nation's infrastructure and the nature of the economy it can support in the decades ahead. Federal decisionmaking today focuses on single projects rather than on the nation's overall infrastructure needs. GAO recommends that the Congress and the executive branch perform a complete policy assessment of those needs.