GAO: NASA needs to improve its internal audits
Audits performed at NASA are not doing enough to detect fraud, waste
and abuse, according to a report by the Government Accountability
Office.
In 2007, NASA’s Office of Inspector General returned 36
cents for every dollar spent on audits and investigations, GAO said.
The 30 IG offices at other federal agencies average a return of $9.49
per dollar spent, or more than 26 times what NASA achieved, according
to the report issued Jan. 12.
The report recommended that NASA’s
IG office work with an objective third party to find audit targets that
have better potential savings than previous efforts.
The
report also noted that the attrition rate of audit personnel might
hinder the IG office’s ability to perform successful audits. From 2003
to 2007, the attrition rate rose from 12 percent to nearly 20 percent.
The report recommended that NASA officials use an objective expert to
find out what causes the high staff turnover.
The NASA IG office
disagreed with the GAO’s findings and questioned the depth and scope of
the evaluation, according to the report.
About the Author
Doug Beizer is a staff writer for Federal Computer Week.