FederalDaily - December 18, 2006
Group Questions GSA's Approach to Accountability
A government watchdog group has questioned the accountability of the General Services Administration
(GSA) after incoming GSA head Lurita Doan moved to trim the GSA Office of Inspector General’s
(OIG) budget and contract out oversight to private auditors. OMB Watch, a nonprofit research and advocacy
organization, was critical of Doan’s proposal to cut the requested OIG FY 2008 budget by $10.2
million. The group also questioned the decision by Doan to contract out oversight and audits—tasks
typically handled by the OIG—to private companies. “These decisions to undermine independent
oversight and accountability mechanisms in the federal government are unwarranted and unacceptable,” the
group said Dec. 14. The organization said GSA needs an independent oversight mechanism in light of
its recent record. The group pointed in particular to the case of the ex-chief of staff for GSA, David
Safavian, who was found guilty in June on four felony charges for lying to Congress and GSA officials
as part of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. The group also highlighted positive work done by the
current OIG in uncovering numerous contracts that went beyond the scope of the agency's authority—including
a technology contract used to hire Abu Ghraib interrogators. To see more, go to: www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3661/1/192?TopicID=5
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Move Pending to Assist Fallen Federal Firefighters
Lawmakers sent a letter to President Bush asking him to sign a measure that would assist the families
of the federal firefighters killed in the October 2006 Esperanza fire in Southern California. Sens.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Barbara Boxer D-Calif., and Reps. Mary Bono R-Calif., Ken Calvert,
R-Calif., and Jerry Lewis R-Calif., on Dec. 13 asked him to sign HR 6429. The bill would correct a
legal snag that has prevented the families from receiving the more than $1 million donated on their
behalf, lawmakers said. In October, after five federal firefighters were killed in the Esperanza arson
fire that raged through Southern California, the local United Way chapter raised over $1 million for
the families of the deceased firefighters. However, IRS rules prohibit nonprofit organizations from
raising money for specified individuals—and the United Way chapter might even risk losing its
tax-exempt status if it released these funds. The bill would allow the Esperanza fire victims to be
treated in the same way as 9/11 victims—for whom contributions had been individually raised.
To see more, go to: http://calvert.house.gov/pressreleases.asp?ARTICLE4024=12530
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‘Nothing Going Well,’ DHS Ag Inspectors Say
In a bleak assessment of workforce morale, a significant portion of former U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) employees transferred into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) say “nothing is going
well,” when asked by government auditors. A Government Accountability Office survey, whose results
were published Dec. 14, asked a series of work experience questions to a sample of the 1,800 specialists
transferred from USDA to the newly created DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in March 2003. To
the query on what is going well, 13 percent of respondents said that “nothing is going well,” the
report said. On an open-ended question of what changes the specialists would like to see, they responded
with 185 pages worth of suggestions. The top five things that those surveyed identified as problems
were 1) working relationships between agriculture specialists and CBP non-agriculture inspectors and
management (29%); 2) Priority missing from the agriculture mission (29%); 3) Problems with CBP chain
of command (28%); 4) Training in the classroom and on the job is inadequate (19%); and 5) Equipment
and supplies are inadequate (17%). To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-07-209R
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