Improved Management Needed Over the Agency for International Development's Operating Costs

The Agency for International Development's (AID) operating expenses for administrative and overhead costs have been of increasing concern to Congress in recent years. AID fiscal year 1978 operating expense budget totaled $233.8 million.

AID operating expense budgets are formulated without adequate reviews of overseas missions' budget requests. Washington offices responsible for reviewing overseas operating expenses lack sufficient personnel and information to make effective evaluations. Operating expense funds are sometimes used for questionable or, in some cases, unauthorized purposes, often because of the failure of AID officials to follow applicable policies. Deficiencies found in property management in Washington were: incomplete property records, failure to conduct physical inventories since June 30, 1974, and inadequate guidance to personnel. Deficiencies found overseas were: incomplete records, failure to establish authorized type and quantities of property items, and failure to conduct utilization reviews to ascertain equipment needs. These weaknesses could waste public funds through unnecessary procurement and misuse or loss of Government property.

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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