Continued Problems With NIH Inventory

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on inaccuracies in the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) inventory records. GAO noted that: (1) despite NIH plans to complete and reconcile an NIH-wide personal property physical inventory, there are material weaknesses in the NIH inventory control system; (2) about 10 percent of items that NIH identified as missing were subsequently found, but could not be located; (3) items valued at approximately $168 million not previously recorded in the NIH inventory were found during a 1991 physical inventory search; and (4) NIH revised its procurement procedures and established a new training course for property accountability officers.