2. Applicant Eligibility Criteria and Program Requirements

To meet the statutory requirements of the DFC Support Program for initial  eligibility—years 1 and 6—a coalition must:  submit an application to the ONDCP Administrator;  consist of one or more representatives from each of the 12 sectors— at least one representative per sector—as illustrated in figure 1; demonstrate that the representatives of the coalition have worked  together on substance abuse reduction initiatives for at least 6 months  (prior to applying); demonstrate substantial participation from volunteer leaders in the have as its principal mission the reduction of substance abuse in a  comprehensive and long-term manner, with a primary focus on youth  in the community; describe and document the nature and extent of the substance abuse  problem in the community; provide a description of the substance abuse prevention and  treatment programs and activities underway at the time of the grant  application and identify substance abuse programs and service gaps  in the community; develop a strategic plan to reduce substance abuse among youth;  and work to develop a consensus regarding the priorities of the  community to combat substance abuse among youth; establish a system to measure and report outcomes;  conduct an initial benchmark survey of drug use among youth and  provide assurances that the entity conducting the evaluation has  sufficient experience in gathering data related to substance abuse  among youth or in evaluating the effectiveness of community anti-drug  coalitions; and demonstrate that the coalition is an “ongoing concern” by  demonstrating that it has established itself as an appropriate legal  entity or organization that receives financial support from non-federal  sources and has a strategy to solicit substantial financial support from  non-federal sources after the expiration of the grant term. 2. Perception of Risk—youth who reported that the use of alcohol,  tobacco, marijuana, or illicit use of prescription drugs is harmful. ONDCP and SAMHSA Employ Leading Collaboration Practices and Have Funded a Range of Drug Prevention Activities ONDCP and SAMHSA Use Leading Practices for Interagency Collaboration

ONDCP’s and SAMHSA’s efforts to jointly manage the DFC Support  Program are consistent with relevant, key collaboration practices. DFC Grantee Activities Include Drug Abuse Education Campaigns and Efforts to Reduce Access and Strengthen Enforcement

DFC grantees have engaged in a range of activities, including drug abuse  education campaigns and efforts to enhance enforcement, and they  report on these activities in their semi-annual progress reports to  SAMHSA. Enhancing Skills: To enhance the skills of those in the community to  be on alert for and vigilant against potential drug abuse, one grantee  sponsored a session for local realtors on precautions to take when  preparing for open houses—warning realtors that leftover prescription  drugs in medicine cabinets present the potential for abuse among  those walking through the home for sale. Enhancing Access/Reducing Barriers: To reduce cultural barriers,  one grantee developed signs emphasizing the legal purchase age for  alcohol in multiple languages to respect the diversity of languages  spoken across its community—as seen in figure 4. Providing Information: To provide greater information to parents on  what drug prevention steps they could take, one grantee chose to  address the challenges parents may face when hosting teenage  parties at their home. The grantee used the slogan  to remind parents of their children’s needs: “Be my Parent, not my  Bartender,” which they told us parents found particularly compelling. Agencies Have Established Operating Procedures but Could Enhance Grantee Compliance and Performance Monitoring ONDCP and SAMHSA Developed Procedures to Help Ensure Compliance with Statutory Requirements

ONDCP and SAMHSA have developed standard operating procedures to  collect relevant information from new applicants and current grantees and  to document grantees’ compliance with eligibility requirements in  governing statutes. For  example, one term and condition of the grant is that grantees must agree  in writing to comply with federal grant requirements through the use of a  checklist from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services— SAMHSA’s parent agency. SAMHSA Has Not Consistently Followed Documentation and Reporting Procedures

Based on our file review and analysis of the files encompassing the more  than 20 types of required documents from 30 grantees, we found that  SAMHSA does not consistently follow documentation and reporting  procedures to ensure grantees’ compliance with both the statutory  provisions and established grant program terms and conditions. Specifically, we found that SAMHSA followed all processes for ensuring  that initial applicants had submitted the required documentation before  awarding these applicants their initial grant funding. However, SAMHSA  was less consistent in its adherence to procedures for confirming  documentation for grantees in later years of their grants. Of the 18 grantees that should have had sustainability plans in their  official grantee files, 14 were missing the required plans. These  sustainability plans are to outline how the grantee intends to maintain  the resources necessary to achieve its long-term goals and continued  progress after exiting the DFC Support Program. According to ONDCP and SAMHSA officials, SAMHSA  did routinely relay reports to ONDCP on grantees’ status. Recommendations for Executive Action

To better ensure grantees’ compliance with the Drug-Free Communities  Support Program’s statutory requirements and to strengthen monitoring of  grantee activities, we recommend that SAMHSA take the following two  actions: develop an action plan with time frames for addressing any  deficiencies it finds through its reviews and making systemic changes  to mitigate deficiencies on a prospective basis to strengthen the grant  monitoring process, and develop and implement a method for ensuring that the grantee status  reports it provides to ONDCP are complete and accurate. In their comments, both  agencies concurred with our recommendations.
Why GAO Did This Study

In 2015, approximately 2.2 million adolescents aged 12 to17 were current users of illicit drugs. The Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997 established the DFC Support Program—a federal grant program supporting drug abuse prevention efforts that engage schools, law enforcement, and other sectors of a community. The program targets reductions in the use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and the illicit use of prescription drugs. The Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 includes a provision that GAO routinely assess ONDCP's programs and operations.
This report addresses: (1) the extent to which ONDCP and SAMHSA use leading practices to coordinate program administration and the types of activities funded; and (2) the extent to which ONDCP's and SAMHSA's' operating procedures both ensure DFC grantees comply with governing statutes and provide a basis for performance monitoring. To conduct this work, GAO analyzed agency policies from 2013-2015 (most recent available); interviewed agency officials; and analyzed coordination efforts against relevant key practices GAO identified previously. GAO reviewed files obtained from a non-generalizable random sample of 30 grantees and interviewed a random subset of 10.

What GAO Found

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) employ leading collaboration practices to administer the Drug Free Communities (DFC) Support Program and have funded a range of drug prevention activities. Both agencies have improved their collaboration since GAO last reported on the DFC program in 2008. Their current efforts to jointly manage the DFC Support program are consistent with GAO's relevant key collaboration practices. For example, ONDCP and SAMHSA defined and agreed upon common outcomes, such as prioritizing efforts to increase participation from under-represented communities. The two agencies have also funded a range of DFC grantees' activities and report on these activities in their annual evaluation reports. For example, ONDCP reported that from February through July 2014, grantees educated more than 156,000 youth on topics related to the consequences of substance abuse. To illustrate, the 10 grantees GAO interviewed described their specific efforts, including programs for
Enhancing Skills: To enhance the skills of those in the community, one grantee sponsored a session for local realtors on precautions to take when preparing for open houses—warning them that leftover prescriptions in medicine cabinets present the potential for abuse among those walking through the home for sale.
Enhancing Access/Reducing Barriers: To reduce cultural barriers, another grantee developed signs with text in the multiple languages spoken throughout the community that shopkeepers could display to emphasize the legal purchase age for alcohol.
Providing Information: To provide greater information to parents on the consequences of providing alcohol in their homes, a grantee created a slogan to remind parents of their children's needs, “Be my Parent, not my Bartender.”
The agencies have operating procedures in place, but could enhance grantee compliance and performance monitoring. In particular, SAMHSA does not consistently follow documentation and reporting procedures to ensure grantees' compliance with governing statutes. SAMHSA also has not been accurately reporting to ONDCP on grantee compliance. Specifically for the files GAO reviewed, SAMHSA followed all processes for ensuring that initial applicants had submitted required documentation before awarding them initial grant funding. However, SAMHSA was less consistent in adhering to procedures for confirming documentation in later years of the program. For example, 14 of the 18 grantees that should have had sustainability plans in their files did not. These plans outline how the grantee intends to maintain necessary resources to achieve long-term goals after exiting the program. Prior to GAO's review, ONDCP and SAMHSA officials were not aware of the missing data in the grant files. Without close adherence to existing procedures, and a mechanism to ensure that the documentation it reports to ONDCP is accurate and complete, SAMHSA's performance monitoring capacity is limited and it cannot be certain that grantees are engaging in intended activities and meeting long-term goals.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that SAMHSA develop an action plan with time frames to strengthen DFC grant monitoring and ensure it sends complete and accurate information to ONDCP. SAMHSA concurred with these recommendations and identified actions to address them.