Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the General Services Administration's (GSA) accounting procedures for and disposition of funds it collected as transportation overcharges.
GAO found that GSA: (1) from October 1986 through August 1988, collected $100.8 million in transportation overcharges and disbursed $34 million for carrier refunds and contract audit services and administration; (2) determined that it could transfer $19 million of the $47.2 million it collected during fiscal year (FY) 1987 to the Department of the Treasury's miscellaneous receipts account, but did not comply with legislative requirements to transfer the funds by the end of FY 1987; (3) at the end of FY 1988, transferred the FY 1987 funds and $20 million in FY 1988 collections to the Treasury account; (4) retained $23.2 million in reserves for settlement of carrier protests and $15.6 million for contract audit and administrative activities; (5) could have transferred the remaining, undesignated $23.4 million it retained to the Treasury; (6) believed its estimates of the reserves it needed were very conservative; (7) did not consider such factors as the funds restoration process, subsequent transportation overcharge collections, and historical claims resolution data in estimating its needed reserves; and (8) lacked formal written procedures for documenting its process for estimating needed reserves.
