NASA’s inspectors general need to improve audit coverage, GAO has concluded after reviewing IG reports and documentation and interviewing auditors.
Of the 71 reports issued by the OIG’s Office of Audits in fiscal 2006 and 2007, just one report had recommendations to address the economy and efficiency of NASA’s programs and operations with measurable monetary accomplishments, according to GAO-09-88.
It said that from fiscal 2003 through 2007, audit reports contributed to only 1 percent of the OIG’s total monetary accomplishments, and that the remaining 99 percent came from the OIG’s investigative cases.
Audits led to about $9 million in value during that period, most of it resulting from one audit. The OIG yielded $0.36 on the dollar for its fiscal 2007 budget of $34 million, compared to a government-wide average of $9.49.
GAO cited problems within the OIG, including staff attrition that rose from 12 to 20 percent from 2003 to 2007. It also noted that a recent investigation by the Integrity Committee of the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency concluded that the IG had an appearance of a lack of independence.
