Capital Hill Watch: Audit CDC Management of Property

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Capitol Hill Watch | Lawmakers Ask HHS OIG To Audit CDC Management of Property

[Jun 13, 2007]

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=45553

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), ranking member of the House

Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), ranking member

of the committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, on Tuesday in a

letter to the HHS Office of Inspector General requested an audit of CDC's

management of its property, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Barton and

Whitfield in October asked the agency to supply them with information regarding

its accountability for CDC property.

" In response to this inquiry, the CDC produced some records and information that

raise troubling issues about its property management, " the letter states.

According to the letter, sent to HHS Inspector General Levinson, as of

Feb. 22, the agency had listed 5,547 items -- including computers and scientific

equipment -- worth $22 million, as " missing property, " compared with 648 items,

worth $1.6 million, listed as missing in February 1994.

Barton and Whitfield also note in the letter that more than 1,300

missing-property reports were filed with CDC during fiscal years 1995-2006,

including more than $2 million in stolen and unrecovered property. The lawmakers

wrote that they are concerned about a suspected " insider " theft in 2002 in which

about $500,000 in agency property, including unopened boxes of computers, was

stolen from a warehouse. CDC during FY 2004-2006 investigated 61 cases of theft

or disappearance of agency property but has no information on any arrests or

convictions resulting from those investigations, according to the letter.

Comments

Barton in a statement said, " The scope of property mismanagement and outright

theft at CDC is both astonishing and baffling, " adding, " Absent laptops are

hardly unique to CDC, but the centers may just have the worst record in the

federal government for vanishing computers. "

CDC spokesperson Tom Skinner said, " There is no question that an agency with

15,000 staff presents unique challenges when it comes to property accountability

and identification. " He added, " We have some real issues to address, and it's a

work in progress. " Skinner said the agency looks " forward to what the inspector

general finds, and we'll take whatever steps are necessary to further assure

excellence in stewardship when it comes to funds entrusted to CDC " (Young,

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/13).

The letter is available online. Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat to view the

letter.

Sen. Coburn Report

Also on Tuesday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) ranking member of the Senate

Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Financial Management

Subcommittee discussed a report criticizing CDC's use of taxpayer dollars. The

report cited, among other expenses, $200,000 spent on an employee fitness center

and $1.7 million campaign aimed at portraying accurate medical information in

television and films. Coburn said the agency " has wasted and continues to waste

hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, but keeps asking taxpayers for more "

(Kelley, USA Today, 6/13).

The report is available online. Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to

view the report.

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