QPL Analysis of GAO report on IRS Performance

Quantified Perception analysis of GAO report on IRS

On April 21, the GAO released a briefing on their study on the IRS:

“Absorbing Budget Cuts Has Resulted in Significant Staffing Declines and Uneven Performance”

GAO analyzed the impacts of reduced budgets and employees on IRS since FY2009, concluding that there has been significant impact. The report is publicly available on the GAO website.

Quantified Perception has performed a Text Analysis Profile on the web announcement, the transmittal letter to Congress, and the briefing paper. Together, they constitute slightly over 5000 words (excluding appendices.)

Inasmuch as all three data sources reflect the same study and the summary conclusions from the study, QPL combined the three sources for analysis. The emphasis of GAO is on performance and services provided by IRS. It is noteworthy that “FTE” and FTEs” rank in the top five most frequently used words in the text, indicating the emphasis that GAO ascribes to the personnel reductions as a factor in lower performance of the IRS mission. Budget matters rank first in two-word phrases, followed by a miscellany of performance terms. Three-word phrases are centered on cause-and-effect concepts, notably including “international and offshore” as the single most used meaningful phrase. Four and five-word phrases similarly center on problem areas and IRS response to the challenges.

Quantified Perception believes that the GAO report carries enough charged language ot produce a shift to a higher priority on IRS funding in FY 2015 and beyond. With significance in the language to staffing and IT infrastructure issues, integrators should re-examine the IRS as a potential market for services and products to reverse the trend of the past five years.

Frequency of meaningful words and phrases in web announcement, transmittal letter, and briefing charts:

Most often used words	Occurrences
service & services	56
operations	34
data	28
performance	26
fte & ftes	26
information	25
taxpayer	24
enforcement	20
support	18
trends	18
resources	17
cuts	16
budgetary	14
plan	14
taxpayers	14
Two-word Phrases	Occurrences
budget request, budgetary resources, & budget cuts	41
operations support	17
performance trends	11
information technology	9
average wait	8
priority programs	8
call volume	7
Three-word Phrases	Occurrences
other budgetary resources	14
full time equivalents	6
international and offshore	6
across the board	5
business systems modernization	5
improvement of services	5
information technology infrastructure	5
more strategically manage	5
offshore compliance issues	5
required by sequestration	5
rescission and reductions	5
services to taxpayers	5
staffing and performance	5
strategically manage operations	5
support for information	5
taxpayers refund fraud	5
theft and international	5
Four-word Phrases	Occurrences
across the board rescission	5
board rescission and reductions	5
by sequestration in fiscal	5
compliance issues the operating	5
congressional justifications for irs	5
enforcement to operations support	5
fraud and identity theft	5
from enforcement to operations	5
funding staffing and performance	5
identity theft and international	5
international and offshore compliance	5
Five-Word Phrases	Occurrences
board rescission and reductions required	5
for the improvement of services	5
from enforcement to operations support	5
funding staffing and performance trends	5
identity theft and international and	5
irs has proposed to transfer	5
operations support for information technology	5
sequestration in fiscal year 2014	5
support for information technology infrastructure	5
taxpayers refund fraud and identity	5