Drug Control Grants: ONDCP Should Document Its Process for Identifying Duplication, Overlap, and Fragmentation
Fast Facts
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) coordinates the nation's drug control policy. ONDCP's responsibilities include tracking and publicizing information about federal grants that fund drug control activities, such as prevention and treatment.
ONDCP posted drug control grant information to its website and collected information on barriers for potential grantees. However, we couldn't verify what ONDCP does to assess whether these grants may be duplicative, overlapping, or fragmented—which could result in inefficiencies or wasteful spending—because it hasn't documented its process.
We recommended doing so.
Highlights
What GAO Found
As the lead for the nation's drug control efforts, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) posted drug control grant information to its website and is taking steps to ensure it is complete. Specifically, ONDCP collects grant information from relevant federal agencies on an annual basis. For 2020, ONDCP posted this information, which included grant funding opportunities, past awards, and performance information on the grant programs. However, GAO identified at least seven drug control grant programs with publicly available grant performance information that were not posted. Subsequently, ONDCP reviewed and posted the additional information and plans to take steps to validate the completeness of the performance information going forward.
Office of National Drug Control Policy Website with Drug Control Grant Resources
ONDCP also requires relevant federal agencies to annually report barriers that potential grantees face when applying for drug control grants. ONDCP collected this information in November 2020, and officials stated that they plan to share this information with agencies to help the agencies reduce any systemic barriers.
ONDCP officials stated they met the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT Act) requirement to facilitate the identification of duplication, overlap, and fragmentation (DOF) among drug control grants by assessing for DOF during their annual budget review process. However, we could not verify ONDCP's actions to assess for DOF because ONDCP has not documented its process. Federal standards for internal controls call for documentation to demonstrate the design, implementation, and operating effectiveness of an entity's internal control system. Documenting the process for identifying DOF will help ONDCP ensure that it retains organizational knowledge and can communicate and demonstrate the effectiveness of its internal control system to identify DOF.
Why GAO Did This Study
According to the most recent provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a predicted record high of about 100,300 drug overdose deaths occurred during the 12-month period ending in April 2021. The federal drug control budget for fiscal year 2021 was nearly $36 billion and the federal government has enlisted more than a dozen agencies to address drug misuse and its effects. ONDCP is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the nation's national drug control policy and leading the national drug control efforts.
The SUPPORT Act included a provision for GAO to examine ONDCP's tracking of federally funded drug control grants. This report addresses the extent to which ONDCP (1) took steps to provide the public with information on federal drug control grants, (2) took steps to identify barriers when applying for drug control grants, and (3) facilitated federal efforts to identify DOF in drug control grants.
To answer these questions, GAO analyzed ONDCP documents on its efforts to identify drug control grants, any barriers to these grants, and its DOF assessments. GAO also analyzed information that ONDCP posted publicly on the 46 drug control grant programs it identified. In addition, GAO interviewed ONDCP officials about these efforts.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that ONDCP document its process or procedures to identify DOF in drug control grants, and ensure that it includes certain elements, such as how grants are selected for review. ONDCP concurred with the recommendation.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected Sort descending | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of National Drug Control Policy | The Director of ONDCP should document its process or procedures to identify DOF among drug control grants, including ensuring that the documentation details standard definitions; how specific grants are to be selected for each review; and what factors are to be assessed, such as services, beneficiaries, and target populations. (Recommendation 1) |
Closed – Implemented
In December 2021, we reported on the provision of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities (SUPPORT Act) that requires the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to facilitate efforts for identifying duplication, overlap, and fragmentation (DOF) for drug control grants. We found that ONDCP had not documented its process for identifying DOF when reviewing National Drug Control Program agency's budget submissions. Documenting the process would help ONDCP ensure it retains organizational knowledge as well as communicate and demonstrate the effectiveness of its internal control system to identify DOF. We recommended that ONDCP document its process or procedures to identify DOF among drug control grants, including ensuring that the documentation details standard definitions, how specific grants are to be selected for each review, and what factors-services, beneficiaries, and target populations-are to be assessed. As a result of our recommendation, in May 2022, ONDCP developed a directive, Standard Operating Procedures Concerning ONDCP's Budget and Performance Responsibilities. The directive provides ONDCP's staff guidance on assessing for DOF during the budget review process and includes definitions of DOF, information used to identify DOF, and procedures to reduce DOF among drug control grants when identified, among other things. Additionally, the directive includes an updated budget analysis template that has a section to document whether DOF was identified and if so, describe the potential DOF. This action should help ONDCP ensure that it retains organizational knowledge of its DOF process to better manage drug control grants and can effectively demonstrate its internal control system. As a result, this recommendation is closed as implemented.
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