Summary: GAO identified weaknesses in the Navy's personnel practices.
GAO noted that: (1) in connection with GAO's recent review of the personnel practices of the Small Business Administration (SBA), GAO found that several agencies, including the Navy, had detailed employees to SBA on a reimbursable basis but had not billed SBA for reimbursement; (2) according to an Interagency Agreement signed by officials of SBA and the Navy, an employee from the Navy was detailed to SBA on a reimbursable basis from August 29, 1994, to October 15, 1994; (3) the Interagency Agreement provided for reimbursement of the employee's salary and benefits; (4) however, a SBA official informed GAO that as of May 25, 1999, SBA had not received a bill from the Navy for this employee's services and, therefore, reimbursement had not been made; (5) in accordance with a 1985 Comptroller General decision, details for which reimbursement is not made would, except in limited circumstances: (a) violate the statutory provision that appropriations must be spent only for the purpose for which they are appropriated; and (b) unlawfully augment the appropriations of the receiving agency; (6) GAO has not examined interagency details at the Navy; (7) consequently, GAO does not know if this particular case is an anomaly or symptomatic of a broader misapplication of internal controls governing reimbursements for interagency details; and (8) for this reason, GAO calls attention to this specific case in the possibility that the Navy may wish to examine whether it's internal controls are working appropriately to ensure timely reimbursements for such details.
