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Office of the Inspector General: 
United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO/OIG: 

December 2010: 

Semiannual Report: April 1, 2010 - September 30, 2010: 

GAO-OIG-11-2: 

Office of the Inspector General: 
United States Government Accountability Office: 

Memorandum: 

Date: December 7, 2010: 

To: Acting Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro: 

From: [Signed by] Inspector General Frances Garcia: 

Subject: Semiannual Report--April 1, 2010, through September 30, 2010: 

In accordance with Section 5 of the Government Accountability Office 
Act of 2008 (GAO Act),[Footnote 1] I am pleased to present my 
semiannual report for the 6-month period ending September 30, 2010, 
for your comments and its transmission to the Congress. 

During the reporting period, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) 
sustained its efforts to finalize and implement the revised OIG order 
to reflect our statutory role and responsibilities while continuing to 
conduct audits and investigations. We posted the revised draft OIG 
order for notice and comment and are in the process of considering and 
responding to comments we received and to make further changes in the 
order, as appropriate. In addition, we conducted an internal review of 
our quality assurance framework and are in the process of taking steps 
to further strengthen our processes and controls in response to this 
review. We recognize that other changes may be needed as we finalize 
our OIG order and complete our transition to the role of a statutory 
OIG. As a result, we do not anticipate participating in a peer review 
until we have completed this transition and have conducted and fully 
addressed any recommendations resulting from at least two additional 
internal inspections. 

In support of our transition to a statutory OIG, we updated our annual 
work plan based on an audit risk assessment of GAO operations that we 
prepared, and initiated a survey to further identify key trends and 
potential risks in GAO's procurement activities and control 
environment that may warrant an in-depth evaluation. While our 
engagements are generally focused on areas identified in our work 
plan, adjustments to our work plan are made, as needed, in an effort 
to ensure that we are in tune with changing conditions or emerging 
issues and are able to respond appropriately. 

In addition, we continued to participate in the activities of the 
broader inspector general community, including the Council of the 
Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and the Legislative 
Branch Inspectors General quarterly meetings. 

Audits and Inspections: 

During the reporting period, we issued one audit report that evaluated 
GAO's performance measure for reporting financial benefits for fiscal 
year 2009, focusing on the reasonableness of the amounts claimed. 
[Footnote 2] A summary of this report and GAO actions to address our 
recommendation are presented in attachment I. 

In addition, we supported GAO's annual internal inspection program's 
review of the agency's financial disclosure and independence 
functions, and initiated or continued work related to two other 
engagements, which included a review of the adequacy of GAO's controls 
to prevent and detect employee misuse of government travel cards and 
an assessment of the effectiveness of GAO's information security 
controls, including GAO's voluntary compliance with the Federal 
Information Security Management Act and other federal information 
security requirements, as appropriate. 

We also responded to congressional inquiries regarding Freedom of 
Information Act requests, the status of OIG recommendations, and 
impediments, if any, to OIG's independence in carrying out its 
oversight activities within GAO. We provided these responses only to 
the requesters and do not anticipate their public release unless made 
public by a requester. 

Investigations and Hotline Activities: 

Regarding our efforts to identify potential fraud, waste, and abuse, 
the OIG's hotline is our primary source of complaints.[Footnote 3] The 
OIG receives hotline complaints through a variety of sources, such as 
through its toll-free hotline number and e-mail. As shown in table 1, 
we had a total of 120 complaints, 13 of which were open at the start 
of this 6-month reporting period. 

Table 1: Summary of OIG Activity, April 1, 2010, through September 30, 
2010: 

Complaints: 

Open at	start of period: 13; 
Received: 107; 
Referred to FraudNet: 55; 
Closed, insufficient information/no basis: 40; 
Referred to other GAO units: 9; 
Completed: 9; 
Open at end of period: 7. 

Source: GAO OIG. 

Note: "Complaints" include inquires and allegations received by OIG. 

[End of table] 

Of the 13 open cases from the prior semiannual report period, we 
closed 7 after conducting investigations, referred 2 to other GAO 
units, and 4 remained open at the end of the period. These 
investigations covered a wide range of matters such as issues related 
to travel cards, travel voucher claims, time and attendance charges, 
and documentation supporting a contract proposal. Our investigations 
into these matters resulted in an employee suspension, recovery of 
funds, and recommendations to strengthen internal controls in the area 
of contractor parking and to consider the adoption of suspension and 
debarment procedures analogous to executive branch agencies.
During the reporting period, we received 107 new complaints through 
our hotline and other sources. Fifty-five of the 107 complaints 
concerned matters related to other federal agencies and were referred 
to GAO's FraudNet-—a governmentwide hotline operated by GAO staff that 
receives complaints of fraud, waste, and abuse of federal funds. Of 
the remaining 52 complaints received during the reporting period, we: 

* closed 2 complaints after we completed our investigation related to 
one complaint and provided assistance to the U.S. Postal Inspection 
Service on another; 

* closed an additional 40 complaints due to insufficient information 
in the complaint upon which to base an investigation or after the 
initial evaluation of a complaint determined that there was no basis 
for action; 

* referred 7 complaints that involved a variety of issues, including e-
mail scams, employee conduct, and technical issues, to other GAO units 
for action; and; 

* continued efforts on the remaining 3 complaints. 

Agency Actions on Recommendations Made in Prior OIG Reports: 

During this reporting period, GAO continued actions to respond to 
recommendations intended to strengthen the agency's information 
security program.[Footnote 4] Specifically, GAO has internally 
reported that it has completed its testing of required information 
security processes and procedures for all agency information systems 
except for a recently implemented e-mail system; began finalizing a 
comprehensive security incident response directive; and continued 
efforts to finalize its privacy rule and order and to implement 
privacy awareness training for all GAO staff. 

Finally, I want to thank GAO's Executive Committee, managers, and 
staff for their cooperation during our reviews. 

Attachment: 

cc: Cheryl Whitaker, Acting Chief Administrative Officer/Chief 
Financial Officer, GAO: 
Lynn Gibson, Acting General Counsel, GAO: 
GAO's Audit Advisory Committee: 

[End of section] 

Attachment I: 

Summary of GAO/OIG Reports and GAO Actions: 

Reports Issued April 1, 2010, through September 30, 2010:[Footnote 5] 

Performance Measure: GAO Had a Reasonable Basis for Reporting Its 
Largest Financial Benefits for Fiscal Year 2009 (GAO/OIG-10-4, May 21, 
2010). 

Findings: Overall, the Office of the Inspector General's (OIG) 
evaluation of 10 GAO accomplishment reports[Footnote 6] that claimed 
financial benefits valued at $1 billion or more found that GAO had a 
reasonable basis to claim financial benefits of $24.95 billion as 
cited in its fiscal year 2009 Performance and Accountability Report. 
[Footnote 7] These large dollar value accomplishment reports accounted 
for 58 percent of GAO's $43 billion in total financial benefits 
claimed for fiscal year 2009. Based on our work, GAO decided to delay 
claiming financial benefits for the 10th accomplishment report until 
fiscal year 2010 and mission teams made adjustments to 6 of the 
remaining 9 accomplishment reports reviewed; these actions resulted in 
GAO decreasing the total financial benefits claimed for these reports 
from a total of $26.21 billion to $24.95 billion. Our audit also 
identified an opportunity to strengthen GAO's process for reporting 
financial benefits by incorporating more technical expertise in 
calculating benefit amounts. In response to our work, in January 2010, 
GAO announced new procedures for expanding the role of GAO's Center 
for Economics to assist the mission teams in calculating financial 
benefits for accomplishment reports if they are reported to be $500 
million or more. 

Recommendation and GAO Actions: To provide added assurance that GAO's 
financial benefits performance measure reflects a reasonable estimate 
of benefits and to provide a more efficient and effective system of 
internal controls over large dollar value accomplishment reports, we 
recommended that GAO management further analyze the issues we 
identified and take appropriate steps to assist mission teams in 
complying with agency policies to achieve greater reliability in the 
amount of financial benefits GAO reports. GAO concurred and addressed 
our recommendation by implementing new procedures to incorporate 
independent reviews for fiscal year 2010 financial accomplishments of 
$100 million or more, and require mission teams to consult with the 
Center for Economics on the calculation for financial benefits of $500 
million or more. 

[End of section] 

Reporting Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in GAO's Internal Operations: 

To report fraud, waste, and abuse in GAO's internal operations, do one 
of the following. (You may do so anonymously.) 

* Call toll-free (866) 680-7963 to speak with a hotline specialist, 
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

* Send an e-mail to OIGHotline@gao.gov. 

* Send a fax to the OIG Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline at (202) 512-
8361. 

Write to: 

GAO Office of Inspector General: 
441 G Street NW, Room 1808: 
Washington, DC 20548: 

Obtaining Copies of GAO/OIG Reports and	Testimony: 

To obtain copies of OIG reports and testimony, go to GAO's Web site: 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/about/workforce/ig.html]. 

	
Congressional Relations: 

Ralph Dawn, Managing Director, dawnr@gao.gov, (202) 512-4400: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7125 
Washington, DC 20548. 

Public Affairs: 
Chuck Young, Managing Director, youngcl@gao.gov, (202) 512-4800: 
U.S. Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149 
Washington, DC 20548. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] Pub. L. No. 110-323, 122 Stat. 3539 (Sept. 22, 2008). 

[2] GAO, Office of the Inspector General, Performance Measure: GAO Had 
a Reasonable Basis for Reporting Its Largest Financial Benefits for 
Fiscal Year 2009, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/OIG-10-4] (Washington, D.C.: May 21, 
2010). 

[3] Complaints include inquires and allegations received by OIG. 

[4] GAO, Office of the Inspector General, Information Security: 
Evaluation of GAO's Information Security Program and Practices for 
Fiscal Year 2009, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/OIG-10-3] (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 4, 
2010). 

[5] In addition to the report cited, we issued our semiannual report 
for the 6-month period ending March 2010: GAO, Office of the Inspector 
General, Semiannual Report: October 1, 2010 through March 31, 2010, 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO/OIG-10-5] (Washington, 
D.C.: June. 15, 2010). 

[6] Accomplishment reports are used to document the amounts claimed as 
financial benefits and are linked to specific recommendations or 
actions taken in response to GAO's work. 

[7] [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-234SP]. 

[End of report]