Summary: Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) implementation of legislated commodity distribution reforms at the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), and Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS).
GAO found that: (1) USDA had implemented 25 of 31 legislated reforms by May 1989; (2) USDA attributed delays in 10 of 16 mandated reforms to time-consuming regulatory clearance procedures, unrealistic implementation dates, reform complexities, difficulties in matching the reforms with differing program requirements, and efforts to ensure regulatory consistency; (3) USDA procedures and guidance for four of the six reforms that were not implemented were incomplete; (4) the USDA reform completion plan was outdated and its expectations for finalizing some reforms were unclear; (5) no adverse impact was apparent from implementation delays, but some participating organizations cited concerns with USDA evaluation practices regarding inventory management and program monitoring; and (6) USDA cited staffing shortages, resource limitations, and an increasing program work load as constraints to evaluation guidance development.
