Deficiencies in HUD's Computer Tape Library

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses about 26,000 computer tapes which are stored and maintained in the HUD tape library. The internal controls over these tapes were reviewed to determine whether the tapes were adequately secured and used.

HUD needs to strengthen its control over the library and tapes. A significant number of tapes were held in the library beyond the scheduled retention dates. This could have resulted in additional costs because those tapes were unavailable for reuse. Because of tape identification problems, librarians have difficulty finding thousands of tapes, limiting or negating the intended use of the tapes. About 4 percent of the tapes may have been lost or misplaced. During the times librarians are not on duty, other personnel can gain access to computer tapes if they possess a computerized security card. It is difficult for librarians to prevent other personnel from entering the library.

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.

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