GAO Seeks Details from NASA Employees in Agency Audit

The U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) is launching a series of audits and investigations into NASA's spending practices, and hopes to find space agency employees willing to offer information - anonymously if necessary.

The GAO, the investigation arm of the U.S. Congress, said it is reaching out to NASA employees who might have concerns about the agency's spending practices or its billing interactions with contractors, but are afraid to speak up.

The investigation is aimed at testing the design and effectiveness of NASA's own internal control over the distribution of its funds, everything from individual agency credit cards to contract awards, according to a GAO official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"We believe there are employees that have information," the official told SPACE.com.

The investigation comes at the urging of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate's Committee on Governmental Affairs. Collins was concerned with GAO reports stating the agency "failed to reconcile fund balances with the Treasury Department and report reliable financial information involving billions of dollars." She was also concerned that NASA had "substantial problems" implementing a new financial management system that will cost taxpayers at least $1 billion.

"Given these serious problems, I am concerned about whether NASA has an effective system of internal controls in place to prevent fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer resources," Collins said in a June 28 letter to GAO Comptroller General David Walker.

NASA headquarters spokeswoman Sarah Keegan said agency officials formally began meetings with GAO personnel on Aug. 12 regarding the agency's spending practices.

Collins cited a May 19 GAO report to a House of Representatives subcommittee that highlighted a number of challenges facing NASA's financial management culture, including areas of concern regarding the space agency's Integrated Financial Management Program (IFMP). The program, projected to reach full implementation by 2006, is aimed at improving the agency's management of financial, physical and human resources.

"While some areas needing reform relate to automated systems, automation alone is not sufficient to transform NASA's financial management culture," the report stated. "NASA needs to fully integrate its financial management operations with its program management decision-making process."

In her statement to the House subcommittee, NASA Chief Financial Officer Gwendolyn Brown said the space agency has unconditionally endorsed GAO recommendations from a series of 2003 reports, is working to implement them and is "unwavering in our commitment to the long-term financial health of our agency."

"We are on the road to improved financial management but, are by no means, anywhere near the end of that journey," she added.

NASA employees seeking to submit information to GAO officials can do so anonymously by sending a message to this address: specproj@gao.gov.

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Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.