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GAO-16-877R 1 (2016-09-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaakhe0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAOU.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 September 30, 2016 The Honorable Mike Enzi Chairman Committee on the Budget United States Senate Public Relations Spending: Reported Data on Related Federal Activities Dear Mr. Chairman: With the increased popularity and accessibility of expanded media platforms, the federal government's ability to publicize information has changed rapidly, but the total scope of federal public relations activities is largely unknown. A number of factors makes it difficult to quantify the resources the federal government devotes to public relations. These factors include the expanded use of web-based platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, and the wide variety of activities that could be considered public relations, from publicizing health and safety bulletins to providing information on federal entitlements and benefits. Given the changing media landscape, you requested that we determine how much the federal government spends on public relations activities, including contracts and internal agency support, and identify the highest-spending agencies. This report examines: (1) the reported federal spending on contracts for advertising and public relations activities from fiscal year 2006 through 2015, including the agencies that have spent the most; and (2) the reported number of federal public relations employees and their combined annual salaries from fiscal years 2006 through 2014, and the agencies reported to have the highest total salaries for public relations employees. 1 To address our first objective, we analyzed data from the Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG) database for fiscal years 2006 through 2015. The FPDS-NG database captures information on the federal government's contract awards and obligations. It includes data for most federal contracts that have an estimated value of $3,000 or more.2 We reviewed obligations data for contracts coded under the support - management: public relations and support - management: advertising product service codes.3 We assessed the reliability of these data by considering known strengths and weaknesses of FPDS-NG data, based on our past work, and looking for obvious errors and inconsistencies in the data. We 1At the time of our review, the most recent data we were able to access on federal employees were from fiscal year 2014. 2FPDS-NG does not include data from intelligence agencies, the U.S. Postal Service, judicial branch, and most of the legislative branch. 3An obligation is a definite commitment that creates a legal liability for the payment of goods and services ordered or received. An agency incurs an obligation, for example, when it places an order, signs a contract, or takes other actions that require the government to make payments. GAO-16-877R Public Relations Spending Page 1

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