Audit of AID"s compliance with special requirements for consulting services

Government agencies to report annually to Congress on financial estimates of proposed consulting services and justification for these services. Report covers FY 1986 and is based on a review of 136 consulting contracts recorded in A.I.D."s data base and random testing of 27 of these for effective management controls. The audit disclosed that A.I.D. had established an effective system of management controls over the use and reporting of consulting contracts. However, contracting officials misclassified about 28% (39 of 136) of the contracts for FY86. Consequently, A.I.D. overstated its use of consulting services. Recommendations are made for A.I.D. to review, on a quarterly basis, all contract agreement datasheets that are classified as consulting services, correct any errors, and enter the corrected data into its Contract-On-Line-Reporting System database. A.I.D. has already put in place refinements in its computer programming and instituted training sessions which will reduce the number of misclassifications.