The National Science Foundation Needs a Formal System for Followup on Audit Reports

Because of concerns over the effects of inflation on the research dollar and the propriety of costs charged to Federal funds by grantees and contractors, the effectiveness of the National Science Foundation's activities for ensuring that responsible officials act on audit reports assessing its operations and the expenditure of funds by contractors and grantees was reviewed. The Audit Office of the Office of Audit and Oversight is responsible for followup on reports which it issues to ensure that findings and recommendations are adequately considered and that corrective actions have been taken.

The Foundation's informal approach to followup on audit reports resulted in a very low priority being assigned to followup. The Audit Office followed up on very few recommendations in its reports and did not follow up to determine whether the Division of Grants and Contracts acted on audit reports submitted by other audit agencies. The Division of Grants and Contracts closed its files on many audit reports concerning the Foundation's grantees and contractors without attempting to resolve the findings. Actions to resolve audit findings generally were not timely.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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