Agencies have spent about $1 billion annually on advertising and public relations contracts on average over the past decade, ranging from a low of about $800 million in fiscal 2012 to about $1.3 billion in 2009, GAO has said.
In addition, salaries for federal public relations employees averaged $430 million, with the number of such employees ranging over the period from about 4,400 to about 5,200.
In both cases, the spending was concentrated in a few agencies, with Defense accounting for nearly two-thirds of contract costs and one-third of employee costs.
GAO added that although advertising and public relations contracts data “provide an indication of the magnitude of federal spending on public relations activities, they do not capture the full scope of these activities.” GAO said it examined contracts under categories that closely align with public relations, but there are other categories that may impact such activities.
Also, “In addition to more traditional public relations media such as television and radio, agencies are expanding the use of various media technologies to facilitate communication with the public. These media technologies include e-mail, websites, blogs, text messaging, and social media,” and it is similarly difficult to parse out the public relations-related aspects of those activities, said GAO.
