Summary: GAO has issued three reports on legal services to the poor. The first was issued in April 1978 and discussed the Legal Services Corporation's (LSC) budgetary strategies, project management systems and priorities, and the congressionally-mandated alternative service delivery study. GAO concluded that LSC was rapidly approaching its objective of providing minimum access and was experiencing an increasing budget. Therefore, continued reliance on a methodology which did not generally consider individual project costs and service experience could result in funding levels which did not reflect local needs and could create an imbalance among geographic areas in the level of legal services available to the poor. The second report, issued in November 1978, discussed observations concerning the resources available nationally from all sources for free civil legal services for the poor and the coordination among the various providers. GAO recommended that LSC disseminate information to grantees regarding innovative approaches to assessing local legal needs, provide guidance to grantees for performing periodic needs assessments that include the participation of the community, and encourage grantees to seek assistance from social agencies in assessing local needs. The third report discussed opportunities for LSC to improve productivity and cost effectiveness by systemizing and automating its operations. It also compared the cost of federally-supported civil legal services with the cost of the same services under private prepaid plans and discussed the status of the alternative service delivery study.
