Financial Management

In November 1992, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) created a Special Projects Team to oversee trust fund management initiatives, including management of the ongoing trust fund account reconciliation project. The team was intended to be temporary, lasting only until the reconciliation project and other trust fund improvements were completed--possibly as long as eight years. This report examines whether BIA, in creating the team, (1) followed Interior Department guidelines, (2) notified Congress and received its approval before transferring money and staff to the team, and (3) submitted reorganization proposals to the relevant Advisory Task Force on BIA Reorganization for consideration. GAO also identifies the officials responsible for creating the team and their present jobs, as well as Interior Department and BIA efforts to investigate the circumstances surrounding the team's creation.

GAO found that: (1) BIA managers did not follow established Interior or BIA policies and procedures when they created the Team; (2) BIA managers did not follow appropriations act guidelines to notify the appropriations committees and the Reorganization Task Force about the reorganization; (3) the BIA fiscal year 1994 budget proposal did not refer to the creation of the Team or the reallocation of funds from the Office of Trust Funds Management (OTFM); (4) BIA was not required to notify ITMA in advance about its decision to create a new organization; (5) ITMA officials believe they should have been notified that the Team would be separate from OTFM, since they have responsibility for monitoring BIA reconciliation and trust fund improvement efforts; (6) Interior and BIA management reviewed the procedures followed in creating the Team and concluded that its policies and appropriations act guidelines had not been followed; and (7) Interior and BIA officials initially involved in the Team's creation are no longer in the same positions of authority due to staffing changes resulting from the new administration.