Procedures Have Improved, but Lack Some Key Elements of Good Project Management

The Commission has established a set of project management procedures  for commissioners and staff to follow when they plan, implement, and  report the results of approved Commission projects. Additionally,  Commission procedures do not provide for systematic commissioner input  throughout projects. In practice, commissioners do not always have the  opportunity to review many of the reports and other products drafted by  Commission staff before products are released to the public, which serves  to significantly reduce the opportunity for commissioners to help shape a  report’s findings, recommendations, and policy implications of civil rights  issues. Controls Over Commission’s Contracting Procedures Are Insufficient

The Commission on Civil Rights lacks sufficient management controls  over its contracting procedures. For  example, the Commission’s largest dollar contract—currently $156,000—is  for media services and has been ongoing for over 3 years with the same  vendor. According to Commission officials, key documentation on how the  contract was initially awarded was missing from contract files. Moreover,  Commission officials did not follow the legal requirements to obtain  competition for subsequent media services contracts. In fiscal year 2002, seven of the commission’s contracts were for amounts  over $2,500, and the Commission did not follow proper procedures for any  of them. As a result, the Commission is not promoting the transparency necessary  to keep the Congress and others informed about the Commission’s  contracting activities. As  a result of the Commission’s weak contract management operations, the  Commission does not have all of the information it should have to  determine that the contracts it is entering into are reasonable and offer the  best value to the government. The Commission has not had an independent audit of its financial  statements in recent years. While the Commission has received waivers from preparing and  submitting audited financial statements for fiscal years 2002 and 2003, we  recommend that the Commission take steps immediately in order to meet the financial statement  preparation and audit requirements of the Accountability of Tax Dollars  Act of 2002 for fiscal year 2004. A-11 emphasizes the importance of managing financial  assets. 2. 10. 12.
Why GAO Did This Study

Over the past 10 years, GAO, the Congress, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and others have raised numerous concerns about the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. GAO was asked to assess (1) the adequacy of the Commission's project management procedures, (2) whether the Commission's controls over contracting services and managing contracts are sufficient, and (3) the extent of recent oversight of the Commission's financial activities.

What GAO Found

The Commission has established a set of project management procedures for commissioners and staff to follow when they plan, implement, and report the results of approved Commission projects. However, the procedures lack, among other things, a requirement for systematic commissioner input throughout projects. As a result, commissioners lack the opportunity to review many of the reports and other products drafted by Commission staff before products are released to the public, which serves to significantly reduce the opportunity for commissioners to help shape a report's findings, recommendations, and policy implications of civil rights issues. The Commission lacks sufficient management control over its contracting procedures. The Commission routinely did not follow proper procedures for its fiscal year 2002 contracting activities. For the Commission's largest dollar contract, key documentation on how the contract was initially awarded was missing from contract files. Moreover, Commission officials did not follow the legal requirements to obtain competition for its subsequent media services contracts. As a result, the Commission did not have all of the information it should have had to determine whether its contracts provided the best value to the government. Little, if any, external oversight of the Commission's financial activities has taken place in recent years. An independent accounting firm has not audited the Commission's financial statements for the last 12 years. Although the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002 requires the Commission--along with certain other executive agencies--to have its financial statements independently audited annually, the Commission has been granted a waiver by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from compliance with the financial statement preparation and audit requirements of the act for the fiscal years 2002 and 2003 audit cycles, which OMB was authorized to waive during an initial transition period of up to 2 years.