While the FDA is aware overall of the management challenges it faces in fulfilling its mission and has taken steps to address them, the agency does not fully use practices for effective strategic planning and management, GAO has said.
While FDA’s 2007 strategic action plan contains strategies to address five major management challenges GAO identified, progress has been uneven, according to GAO-10-279.
After reviewing reports from the Institute of Medicine, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the FDA Science Board, GAO concluded that FDA’s management challenges include recruiting, retaining, and developing its workforce; modernizing its information systems; coordinating internally and externally; communicating with the public; and keeping up with scientific advances.
A survey of FDA managers in 2009 found that most do not feel that the agency is making great progress addressing those challenges, with the exception of public communication.
Less than one-half of FDA managers reported great progress in addressing workforce issues.
