The Federal Advisory Committee Act

GAO discussed its review of the administration and implementation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, focusing on: (1) the General Services Administration's (GSA) oversight of implementation of the act; (2) a proposed amendment to the act concerning agency heads' responses to advisory committee recommendations; (3) compensation for advisory committee members; (4) accountability for subgroups of advisory committees; (5) conflict-of-interest controls over advisory committee members; and (6) S. 2127, a bill which would amend the act in several ways. GAO stated that: (1) GSA has been only partially effective in meeting its responsibilities under the act; (2) the GSA Committee Management Secretariat, which has oversight responsibility for advisory committee activities, should not be blamed for the inadequacies because its resources are limited; (3) enough attention is given to advisory committee recommendations to make additional legislation unnecessary; (4) while GSA has promulgated interim regulations prohibiting the compensation of advisory committee members, several statutory provisions authorize such compensation; (5) Congress may wish to consider amending the act in response to a court decision that some subgroups of advisory committees are not publicly accountable; (6) it found few instances of unresolved conflicts of interest and controls over such conflicts generally appeared adequate; and (7) objected to certain provisions in S. 2127 concerning subgroups of advisory committees and compensation for members of advisory committees.