FederalDaily - March 27, 2006

Audit Faults IRS Office Closure Plan

An IRS plan to close 68 of its 400 taxpayer assistance centers (TACs) used inaccurate data to determine the appropriate TACs to close, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) audit report. The IRS and its selected contractor used an adequate database, but the study used outdated data as well as projections and estimates where actual data had been available, TIGTA said. National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen Kelley stated that TIGTA’s findings reinforced what NTEU already believed—the IRS did not carefully consider the impact of the closures. Kelley went one step further, saying, “Unfortunately, TIGTA’s report is disappointingly inconclusive and incomplete. It fails to address the full range of proposed IRS customer service cutbacks as required by the congressional mandate.” Kelley called upon TIGTA to provide Congress a more comprehensive analysis of how taxpayers would be impacted by the closures. TIGTA’s report can be found at www.ustreas.gov/tigta/auditreports/2006reports/200640061fr.pdf.

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HHS Needs Information Security Program

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) needs to address significant weaknesses in its protection of sensitive information and information systems, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded in a February 2006 report. GAO found that HHS computer networks contained several vulnerabilities involving user accounts, file permissions and security monitoring. HHS also did not have adequate physical security, background investigations and separation of duties to prevent unauthorized handling of sensitive information. GAO recommended that HHS implement a departmentwide information security program, coordinated through the department’s chief information officer. HHS agreed with the suggestions, but felt that the report did not credit the department for recent progress. To read the report, go to www.gao.gov/new.items/d06267.pdf.

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Army Not Meeting Truck Armor Needs

Though the Army expects to complete production and installation of truck armor by January 2007, the Army’s current operations do not allow it to meet wartime operation requirements in a timely manner, according to a March 2006 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. “Although the Army first identified a requirement for 3,780 truck armor kits for five types of trucks in November 2003, it did not produce all of the kits until February 2005,” the report said. And by that time, GAO said, requirements increased even further, leaving the Army once again to catch up to demand. To improve response time to requirements, GAO recommended a standard process to communicate urgent funding requirements for supplies and the status of related funding decisions. The report is available at www.gao.gov/new.items/d06160.pdf.

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Panel on Federal-Private Management Relationships

This Thursday, a panel of private industry and government leaders will discuss the road ahead for government management in a federal work force with increasing interaction with contractors. The discussion will be held at the Office of Personnel Management Campbell Auditorium in Washington, D.C. More contractors are being used in areas such as information sharing, homeland security and intelligence gathering. The event, called Partnering Now to Build for the Future, focuses on how to build “effective partnerships” in a “multi-sector environment.” The panel includes:

• Kim Nelson, current Microsoft technology executive and former chief information officer for the Environmental Protection Agency and
• Timothy Vigotsky, a Senior Executive Service federal employee and owner of a consulting firm.

To RSVP for the discussion, send an e-mail to roundtable@youngovernmentleaders.org. For more on the discussion sponsor, go to www.youngovernmentleaders.org.

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