Public Relations Personnel Costs in 20 Federal Agencies and Various Other Costs

Much of the data requested on the costs associated with various specific Federal programs is not available in any centralized form. GAO investigated the following areas: the number of Federal employees in public affairs and congressional relations in the 20 largest Government agencies; the amount spent for recruitment by the military; Government audiovisual costs; the development and printing costs of the Agricultural Yearbook bicentennial issue and the farmers' bulletin cost; the cost of the Department of Agriculture's Food Stamp Outreach program for fiscal year 1976; and advertising costs in the Federal Government.

Information submitted by the 20 agencies indicated that total personnel expenses for public affairs and congressional relations totaled about $82 million in FY 1976. According to the Department of Defense, about $516 million was spent for military recruitment during FY 1976. Limited information is available on Government audiovisual costs, and agency accounting systems are not generally designed to report the information. The total cost for the 1976 Yearbook produced by the Department of Agriculture was about $577,000. The Department also spent about $578,000 on production of the farmers' bulletins in fiscal year 1976. Both the Yearbook and the bulletins are published primarily for delivery to, or distribution for, Members of Congress. The Department of Agriculture reimbursed State agencies $968,604 for costs incurred in the Food Stamp Outreach program in FY 1976. No current information is available on Government advertising costs.