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GAO-01-207R 1 (2000-11-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaalnj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 November 30, 2000 The Honorable Terry Everett Chairman Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Committee on Veterans' Affairs House of Representatives Subject: Inadequate Oversight of Laundry Facility at the Department of Veterans Affairs Albany, New York, Medical Center Dear Mr. Chairman: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates 67 laundries serving more than 36,000 inpatients a day. In fiscal year 1999, VA spent about $52 million to process more than 166 million pounds of laundry. Most of these expenditures were for the cost of labor of approximately 1,100 employees who sort, wash, dry, fold, iron, and transport laundry. The VA has taken initiatives to reduce inpatient laundry service costs by (1) consolidating laundry workloads and (2) competitive sourcing (comparing the cost of VA-owned and -operated laundries with the cost of having private contractors perform the work).' During our review for you of VA initiatives that the Department used to enhance the efficiency of its laundry services, we developed information that the contractor operating the laundry facility at the Albany, New York, VA Medical Center's Textile Care Processing Facility may have billed VA for services that the contractor did not perform. After we briefed your office on the results of our investigation, you requested that we provide a report of our findings. We conducted our investigation in June and July 2000 by observing the weighing and processing of laundry and determining whether the contractor, Universal Linen Service, was billing the VA for services not provided. We visited the VA Medical Center in Albany, New York, and observed Universal employees processing-sorting, weighing, washing, drying, and folding-laundry. We reviewed documents and interviewed several VA and contractor employees during that visit. We also visited Universal and interviewed its general manager. We conducted our investigation in accordance with investigative standards established by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency. In summary, we found inadequate management and oversight of the contract for operating the laundry facility at the Albany, New York, VA Medical Center. Specifically, we determined that there was no separation of duties between the VA Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) and the VA Quality Assurance Evaluator, who permitted the contractor to deviate from the contract terms concerning the weighing of laundry. The COTR 1 VA Laundry Service: Consolidating and Competitive Sourcing Could Save Millions (GAO-01-61, Nov. 30, 2000). GAO-01-207R VA Laundry Services

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