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111691 1 (1980-02-29)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacxss0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 INTERNATIONAL DIVISION Mr. Harold H. Saunders Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs YLQ.0 o/o 111691 Department of State Dear Mr. Saunders: During the past year, our Far East Branch (eviewed O- internal controls over cash receipts and disbursements at thb U.S. Embs inDaggy angladesh. During this review, our /Lk staff noted a problem with regard'to local national personal 1/o services contracting and reported it to the Ambassador. We would like to know what corrective actions have been taken on a specific nonpersonal services contract summarized below and described in greater detail in the enclosure. The contract was awarded to the U.S. Commissary in Dacca to provide about 100 employees for maintenance, operations, clerical, and nursing services. Our analysis of this contract disclosed that it had many elements of a personal services contract. As you know, State Department Posts do not have the authority to enter into personal services contracts and, therefore, a question arises as to whether this contract is improper or, possibly, illegal. The Post itself questioned the propriety of this contract and asked the Department for guidance in an April 30, 1979, cable. This was done in response to a State Department cable, dated March 11, 1979, which reminded Budget and Fiscal Offi- cers that disbursing officers could not provide payroll ser- vices for illegal personal service contracts.and that certi- fying officers were responsible for any illegal payments that they certified. The Embassy sought assurances from the Department that its Commissary contract was not an improper personal services contract. The Department responded that the contract might not be illegal but was improper. The Department legal opinion recommended, however, that, given the need for the services and the apparent unavailability of alternate sources, the contract not be terminated until a definitive opinion of propriety was obtained. We followed up on this matter in Washington with your Bureau's Post Management Officer for Bangladesh to find out whether definitive action had been taken. We were advised that updated information, beyond what we had already devel- oped during our field study, was not available.

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