Organizational Relationship of the Office of Human Development Services and the Administration on Aging

GAO was requested to review the organizational relationship of the Office of Human Development Services (OHDS) and the Administration on Aging. Concern was expressed about how the OHDS organization affected the operations of the Administration on Aging. The main focus of the review was the legality of certain delegations of the Commissioner of Aging's authorities. The review was limited because OHDS was still undergoing phases of its 1980 reorganization. The Older Americans Act of 1965 created the Administration on Aging. In 1973, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) established OHDS and placed it under an Assistant Secretary to oversee a wide range of human services and development functions, including those performed by the Administration on Aging. The Act was amended to prohibit the Commissioner of Aging's functions from being delegated to individuals not directly responsible to the Commissioner. GAO believes the Secretary of HEW was authorized to create OHDS, place it under an Assistant Secretary, and make it responsible for program agencies such as the Administration on Aging. However, the present organizational structure of OHDS violates the nondelegation provisions of the Act. Since 1977, the discretionary grants and contracts administration functions of OHDS, including those for the Administration on Aging, have been centralized in one of its staff units. Although this staff unit performs many grant and contract administration functions for Administration on Aging programs, it is directly responsible to the Assistant Secretary of OHDS, not the Commissioner on Aging. Financial management responsibilities for the Administration on Aging's discretionary and formula grants are centralized with those of other OHDS units in the regional office of fiscal operations. These offices report to the regional administrator who is directly responsible to the Assistant Secretary of OHDS. These offices plan and direct the fiscal monitoring of the Administration on Aging and other program units' grantees. Therefore, the Act is again being violated because financial management responsibility for the Administration on Aging is vested in regional office personnel not directly responsible to the Commissioner. GAO recommended that the Secretary of Health and Human Services revise the OHDS organization to discontinue delegation of the Commissioner on Aging's grant and contract administration and financial management functions.