Tribes may move these funds from one TPA activity to another. The tribes in BIA’s Juneau area each received $4,000, and the remainder was distributed on the basis of population and TPA base funding levels. Distribution of Fiscal Year 1998 TPA Funds and Per Capita Analysis

As of March 1998, 95 percent of the $757 million in TPA funds had been distributed among the tribes and BIA offices. Our per capita analysis shows that the distributions ranged from a low of $121 per tribal member within BIA’s Muskogee area to a high of $1,020 within the Portland area. However, according to Interior officials, there are reasons for the differences in TPA distributions and the differences should not all be perceived as inequities. Appendix I presents the distributions and per capita analyses for BIA’s area offices. Revenues and Income Reported Under the Single Audit Act

Nonfederal entities—including tribes—meeting the federal assistance thresholds for reporting under the Single Audit Act (those receiving at least $100,000 in federal funds before 1997 and those expending at least $300,000 in 1997 or later) must submit an audited general-purpose financial statement and a statement of federal financial assistance. We examined all 326 financial statements on file with Interior that were most recently submitted by tribes; these statements generally covered fiscal years 1995 or 1996. While some statements included only federal revenues, others also included revenues from state, local, and private sources; some included financial information only for tribal departments that expended federal funds, while others provided more complete reporting on their financial positions. In total, the statements reported that these tribes received more than $3.6 billion in revenues during the years covered by them. These revenues included such things as taxes and fees, lease and investment income, and funds received through governmental grants and contracts. The independent auditors’ opinions for the remaining financial statements indicated that the statements were deficient to varying degrees. Additional Tribal Revenue Information That Could Be Useful and Barriers to Collecting This Information

In deciding whether to consider tribal revenues or business income in order to determine the amount of TPA funds tribes should receive, information that might be useful to the Congress could include (1) financial information for all tribes, including those tribes not submitting reports under the Single Audit Act; (2) more complete information on the financial resources available to tribes from tribal businesses, including gaming; and (3) more reliable data on tribes’ financial positions. However, there are several impediments to obtaining this information. Distribution of Fiscal Year 1998 TPA Funds as of March 25, 1998

Scope and Methodology

We obtained information about (1) BIA’s bases for distributing 1998 TPA funds; (2) distributions of TPA funds in fiscal year 1998; (3) revenue and business income reported by tribes under the Single Audit Act; and (4) additional revenue and income information that might be useful to the Congress in deciding whether to distribute TPA funds considering total financial resources available to tribes.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed the preliminary results of its review of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) distribution of Tribal Priority Allocation (TPA)--or TPA--funds, focusing on: (1) BIA's basis for distributing 1998 TPA funds; (2) total distributions of TPA funds in fiscal year (FY) 1998 and a per-capita analysis of those distributions; (3) revenue and business income information reported by tribes under the Single Audit Act; and (4) what additional revenue and income information may be useful to Congress in deciding whether to distribute TPA funds to tribes.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) two-thirds of the 1998 TPA funds were distributed primarily on the basis of historical levels, and tribes may shift these base funds among TPA activities according to their needs; (2) the remaining one-third, known as non-base funds, are used for such activities as road maintenance and housing improvement and were generally distributed on the basis of specific formulas; (3) in total, 95 percent of the TPA funds appropriated in FY 1998 have been distributed; (4) average TPA distributions varied widely among BIA's 12 area offices when analyzed and compared on a per-capita basis; (5) the per-capita averages ranged from $121 per tribal member with BIA's Muskogee area to $1,020 per tribal member within BIA's Portland area; (6) according to Interior officials, there are reasons for differences in TPA distributions, and they do not consider the population estimates to be reliable; (7) nonfederal entities--including tribes--meeting certain federal assistance thresholds must submit audited financial statements annually under the Single Audit Act; (8) GAO reviewed all 326 financial statements on file with the Department of the Interior that were most recently submitted by tribes; the statements generally covered fiscal years 1995 or 1996; (9) while some tribes reported only their federal revenues, others included revenues from state, local and private sources; (10) in total, the statements reported that these tribes received more than $3.6 billion in revenues during the years covered by them; (11) these revenues included such things as taxes and fees, lease and investment income, funds received through governmental grants and contracts; (12) some tribes also reported income from their businesses for the periods covered by the statements; (13) however, the quality of the information reported in the statements varied; only about half of the statements received unqualified opinions from auditors, while the others were deficient to varying degrees; (14) in deciding whether to consider tribal revenues or business income in distributing TPA funds, information that might be useful to Congress could include more complete and reliable financial information for all tribes; (15) however, there are several impediments to obtaining this information; and (16) for example, under the Single Audit Act, financial statements must be submitted by those nonfederal entities expending at least $300,000 of federal funds in a year and may not include income from tribes' businesses.