USPTO Performance and Accountability Report - U.S. Patent and ...

Inspector General’s Top Management
Management Challenges Facing Challenges the USPTO
Each year, the Inspector General provides the
management challenges for the Department of
Commerce in accordance with the provisions of
the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 (Pub. L. No. 106-
531). The IG’s statement of management challenges
can be found below.
The USPTO is responsible for resolving several elements
within the first Department-wide management challenge
– Stimulate Economic Growth in Key Industries,
Increase Exports, and Enhance Stewardship of Marine
Fisheries. Reducing the patent application backlog,
improving processing times, and effectively implementing
patent reform will help to support the
Departments’ overarching goals of advancing economic
growth. Long waits for application decisions
could negatively impact innovation, economic development,
and job growth, inhibiting U.S. companies
from exporting until they procure the appropriate
patents for their products.
Recent concerns over conference spending and
unauthorized reprogramming of funds have highlighted
the importance of strong internal controls
and the continued need for effective oversight.
The USPTO has begun taking action towards implementing
new initiatives to improve internal controls
and management oversight of day-to-day operations,
actions taken in line with the second
Department-wide challenge to increase oversight
of resources entrusted by the public and invest for
long-term benefits.
The USPTO is also responsible for strengthening and
enhancing information technology security on its
infrastructure in support of resolving the third
Department-wide management challenge. In addition,
improvements have been identified for long-term
technical and acquisition planning of the PE2E
project. PE2E is the largest, most complex multi-year
IT investment USPTO has undertaken in several years.
These improvements will help support the delivery of
cost savings and efficiencies on major IT investments,
an additional component of the third Departmentwide
management challenge to strengthen security
and investments in IT.
In addition, the USPTO continues to review its internal
controls with the goal of strengthening its acquisition
and contract management practices, a component
of the overall fourth Department-wide management
challenge of implementing a framework for acquisition
project management and improve contract
oversight.
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