Selected Aspects of the Federal Advisory Committee Act

GAO reviewed the administration and implementation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) and responded to additional questions that arose from the initial review which included: (1) the General Services Administration's (GSA) guidance and management of federal agencies' compliance with FACA; (2) response to agency advisory committee recommendations; (3) the policies on compensation of advisory committee members; (4) conflict-of-interest controls; and (5) coverage of the subcommittees.

GAO found that: (1) GSA has chosen more reasonable priorities and has progressively improved its overall level of performance so that it could effectively manage the advisory committee system; (2) the executive branch has urged agency heads to ensure that all of the advisory committees are effectively managed and that improvements are made in evaluating recommendations; (3) compensation for committee members should be left to agency discretion following GSA regulation revisions; (4) two of the agencies reviewed for conflict of interest had sufficient guidelines in place, but other agencies needed improvement to meet FACA guidelines; and (5) FACA covers only those subcommittees or subgroups that provide advice and recommendations directly to a federal official and, since most do not, Congress may want to amend FACA to clarify that all subcommittees are subject to the act.