Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO investigated the Agency for International Development's (AID) procedures for avoiding conflicts of interest for official travel funded by private sources. GAO also reported on its consideration of an Executive Order that defines standards of ethics for government employees in assessing such travel.
GAO found that: (1) AID employees made 70 official trips between August 6, 1985, and June 30, 1986, that nonfederal sources funded fully or partially; (2) the AID Office of the General Counsel approved 51 trips in advance and 1 trip retroactively; (3) employees took 10 of the remaining 18 trips within the first few months after AID instituted its new travel guidelines, so they may have been unaware of the guidelines; and (4) the General Counsel approved 2 trips that appeared contrary to AID guidelines and raised questions as to the appearance of conflicts of interest. GAO noted that AID policies prohibit employees from accepting payment for personal travel from private organizations that have or seek contracts or grants from AID, so employees are responsible for refusing payments from these organizations.
