Federal Civilian Agencies Can Better Manage Their Aircraft and Related Services

In response to a congressional request, GAO conducted a follow-up review of activities to improve aircraft management at federal civilian agencies and traced actions related to recommendations made in a 1977 report.

GAO noted that, during fiscal year 1981, civilian agencies operated at least 675 government-owned aircraft at a cost of about $326 million and used several thousand more private-sector aircraft, costing about $99 million. GAO found that no action has been taken on recommendations made in its prior report, and recent reports indicate that little has changed in aircraft management at civilian agencies. Specifically, agencies are not using adequate systems to accumulate and report aircraft costs and, therefore, costs are understated. Further, GAO found that some agencies have spent millions to acquire aircraft without adequate justification or compliance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 to determine whether needed services could be provided at lower cost by the private sector. Additionally, GAO found that some agency aircraft were underused and that agencies are not coordinating aircraft operations. GAO believes that the Department of the Interior's Office of Aircraft Services (OAS) has effectively managed aircraft services and developed a program that other agencies could use.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Henry W. Connor Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 275-4141