Food Stamp Program

Focus Group Research and Procurement Problems Gao ID: T-RCED-96-157 May 8, 1996

Under the terms of its contract, Global Exchange, Inc., is to help the Agriculture Department (USDA) conduct a national nutrition education and information distribution campaign. Since the award of this contract in 1994, Global Exchange has used subcontracts to perform several tasks for USDA. This testimony focuses on the subcontract with Lake Research, Inc., which was hired to conduct focus groups and obtain the views of the public and food stamp recipients on USDA's food stamp reform efforts. GAO found that USDA did not comply with the Federal Acquisition Regulation and the Paperwork Reduction Act and used a flawed methodology. On the basis of these problems, GAO concludes that USDA exercised questionable judgment in carrying out virtually every aspect of this work. GAO raises concerns about USDA making changes to the food stamp program on the basis of the results of this research.



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