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GGD-81-58 1 (1981-03-25)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabbri0001 and id is 1 raw text is: li4 721 UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 GIENERAL GOVERNMEN DIVISION MARCH 25,1981 B-202562 The Honorable William F. Bolger Postmaster General Dear Mr. Bolger: 114725 Subject: jeed For Improved Control Over Local Purchases of Parts, Suppl4es, and Services at Post Offices (GGD-81-58) On July 30, 1980, we issued a report to the Congress on the United States Postal Service's controls over gasoline and diesel fuel. During our review of the Service's fuel controls, we also examined the controls over parts, supplies, and services pur- chased by local postal facilities. Our work was prompted by the increased interest in preventing fraud, abuse, and waste in the Federal Government as expressed by the Congress in passing the Inspector General Act of 1978. We concluded that more could and should be done to strengthen control over purchases by local facilities to prevent potential losses from fraud, abuse, and waste. We could not, however, de- termine whether there have been losses resulting from weak con- trols because of the incomplete audit trail left by the record- keeping method the Service uses. Nevertheless, we believe you should be made aware of our findings, which are detailed in the enclosure. The enclosure also describes corrective actions plan- ned by'the Service, including those resulting from discussions of our findings. Properly implemented, these actions should provide the Service with stronger controls. Our principal finding was that contrary to good internal control techniques calling for the separation of procurement- related duties, not all critical duties were separated at the postal facilities we visited. Separation of duties is usually not feasible at small facilities, but it should be possible at the Postal Service's 500 or so large facilities (mail proc- essing centers and vehicle maintenance facilities) where the annual obligation authority for supplies and services ranges from $100,000 to $400,000 per facility. Even at these facili- ties, however, we found single employees performing many procurement-related duties, i.e., determining need, ordering, receiving, and, in some instances, certifying invoices for payment. (990594) ,,// 4 5

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