The S&T Committee, whose charter has not been revised since before CTAC was created, does not reflect the committee’s current composition, responsibilities, and relationship to CTAC. Also, CTAC did not systematically consider and fund the counterdrug technology needs of state and local agencies as part of its process for selecting and funding projects, and, until recently, state and local agencies were not represented on the S&T Committee. In addition, although several agencies told us of cases in which CTAC efforts had helped them to avoid unnecessary duplicative research, CTAC was unaware of these cases because it had no system in place to determine the extent to which unnecessary duplication was identified and avoided due to CTAC’s efforts. CTAC Has Not Used the S&T Committee Regularly and Consistently

CTAC has not regularly and consistently involved the full S&T Committee in key decisions relating to its coordination process. However, our task of determining CTAC’s contributions to federal drug control efforts was complicated because CTAC has no meaningful performance measures to enable it to (1) assess the extent to which it is achieving its mission and contributing to the development and deployment of counterdrug technology and (2) identify and implement any needed improvements to better achieve its mission. In summary, these agency officials considered 10 of the 36 projects to be contributions because they had different criteria than CTAC for considering a project a contribution. Meaningful Performance Measures Were Lacking

Determining CTAC’s progress in achieving its mission and its contributions to the development and deployment of counterdrug technology was complicated by CTAC’s lack of meaningful performance indicators or measures. Conclusions

CTAC has in place a coordination process for identifying counterdrug technology needs and selecting and funding R&D projects to meet those needs. Recommendations

For CTAC to more effectively coordinate with federal, state, and local counterdrug R&D agencies in identifying and prioritizing technology needs and selecting projects for CTAC funding, we recommend that the Director, ONDCP, direct the Chief Scientist to work with the S&T Committee to help ensure that:
The S&T Committee meets regularly to exchange information on federal, state, and local drug supply and demand reduction technology needs; obtain, assess, and prioritize R&D needs; and recommend to the Chief Scientist selection and funding of the otherwise unfunded highest priority projects. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

In response to the request of the Chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control that we review the operations and contributions of the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC), our objectives were to determine (1) how CTAC coordinates its counterdrug research and development (R&D) efforts with other federal agencies to address counterdrug R&D needs that are not being met by other agencies and to avoid unnecessary duplication and (2) what contributions CTAC has made to counterdrug R&D efforts since its creation.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the operations and contributions of the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center (CTAC), focusing on: (1) how CTAC coordinates its counterdrug research and development (R&D) efforts with other federal agencies to address counterdrug R&D needs that are not being met by other agencies and to avoid unnecessary duplication; and (2) what contributions CTAC has made to counterdrug R&D efforts since its creation.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) CTAC has a coordination process in place for identifying counterdrug technology needs and selecting and funding R&D projects to meet those needs; (2) however, GAO identified the following shortcomings in CTAC's design and execution of the process: (a) the Science and Technology (S&T) Committee's charter, which was created before CTAC existed, does not reflect the Committee's current composition, responsibilities, and relationship to CTAC; (b) CTAC did not regularly and consistently involve the S&T Committee in its coordination process; (c) CTAC did not regularly evaluate and prioritize the agencies' counterdrug R&D technology needs to ensure that it funded otherwise unfunded projects with the highest priority; (d) CTAC did not systematically identify and consider the counterdrug technology needs of state and local agencies, in conjunction with federal agencies' needs, as part of its regular process for selecting and funding projects, and state and local agencies were only recently represented on the S&T Committee; (e) agencies generally did not submit transitional or acquisition plans to CTAC; and (f) although a few agencies cited instances where duplication was avoided as a result of CTAC's efforts, CTAC had not developed any means for determining the extent to which unnecessary duplication had been identified and avoided due to its efforts; (3) as a result of these shortcomings, neither GAO nor CTAC could determine the extent to which its coordination process was meeting its mission; (4) GAO's task of determining CTAC's contribution to federal drug control efforts was complicated by CTAC's lack of meaningful performance measures to enable it to: (a) assess its progress in achieving its mission and contributing to the development and deployment of counterdrug technology; and (b) identify and implement any needed improvements to better achieve its mission; (5) CTAC's Chief Scientist told GAO that he considered not just technologies that are completed and in use as contributions, but also uncompleted projects that have reached various stages of development; and (6) the contact officials of the lead R&D agencies identified by CTAC told GAO that they considered 10 of the 36 projects cited as contributions by CTAC to be actual contributions.