NCJ Number
109822
Date Published
1987
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This study reviews a reimbursable interagency agreement between the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Customs Service, which called for the Coast Guard to obtain and operate helicopters for the United States-Bahamas Drug Interdiction Task Force and also to provide enhanced communications operations to the task force.
Abstract
This study by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) was done in response to requests by various congressional leaders. The study was conducted from May 1987 through August 1987 at the headquarters of Customs and the Coast Guard and at Treasury's Financial Management Service in Washington, D.C., in accordance with generally accepted Federal auditing standards. The GAO found that agreement entered into by the Commandant of the Coast Guard and the Commissioner of the Customs Service was proper and did not contravene any legal requirements concerning the use of the funds involved. The Coast Guard met the requirements of the Economy Act (31 U.S. Code 1535 and 1536) and followed established procedures of the Treasury Department in billing the Customs Service under the agreement. Although not impacting the agreement's legality, the Customs Service did not follow its internal procedures for processing interagency agreements and did not promptly establish an obligation on its accounting records for the amount of the agreement, as required by GAO policy and procedures. The appendix contains a chronology of events pertaining to the agreement.