Inspectors General

The Inspector General Act of 1978 requires each Inspector General to issue semiannual reports summarizing the results of his or her work and specifies the types of information that the reports are to contain. The Act also requires the Inspector General to give the report to the agency head, who sends the report, with management's response, to the appropriate congressional committees. This report (1) provides information on the composition of the semiannual reports and (2) presents the views of a range of individuals--inspectors general, agency managers, and congressional staff--on the usefulness of the current reports and what modifications, if any, should be made to the current semiannual reporting requirements.

GAO noted that: (1) overall, the semiannual reports generally addressed the reporting requirements specified in the Inspector General Act; (2) approximately 91 percent of the reports (102 of 112) addressed all 12 of the required areas; (3) additionally, GAO found that the semiannual reports discussed governmentwide issues, such as information technology, computer security, and the year 2000 computer problems, to varying degrees; (4) many of the semiannual reports by presidentially appointed IGs--38 of 52--discussed information technology, but far fewer discussed computer security and the year 2000 computer problem; (5) in the designated federal entities (DFE) IG semiannual reports GAO reviewed, 26 of the 60 discussed information technology issues, but relatively few discussed computer security and the year 2000 computer problem; (6) congressional staff, for the most part, viewed the seminannual reports as being useful; (7) they noted that the reports were used in preparing for hearings as well as providing insight into the activities of the IGs and the agencies; (8) the congressional staff were also generally satisfied with the reporting requirements, including the requirement that the report be issued seminannually; (9) they were of the opinion, however, that more emphasis needed to be placed on the systemic issues confronting each agency's management and that agency's implementation of the IG recommendations; (10) there was a general consensus among the IGs and agency managers that the semiannual reports should be streamlined; (11) they generally agreed that the reports should focus on the significant issues that need to be brought to the attention of Congress and agency management; (12) in this regard, agency managers noted that the semiannual reports are not very useful because they encompass all of the work performed over the past 6 months and it is sometimes difficult to identify the most significant issues; (13) there was also strong sentiment in both groups for the issuance of the IG semiannual report to be annually; and (14) however, about half of the DFE IGs wanted to retain the semiannual reporting requirement.