NASA Property: Poor Lending Practices and Controls at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NSIAD-94-116
Published: Apr 18, 1994. Publicly Released: May 10, 1994.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the relationship between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and their management of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), focusing on: (1) property management weaknesses at JPL; and (2) NASA equipment loaned to JPL employees and provided to Caltech.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
---|---|---|
National Aeronautics and Space Administration | The Administrator, NASA, should require that JPL, with the advice and assistance of the NASA Management Office, review its equipment lending policy, procedures, and practices and make them consistent with NASA policy. |
Closed – Implemented
JPL and NASA have reviewed and revised equipment lending policy, procedures, and practices. Key changes include reducing the maximum loan period from a year to 6 months, requiring new justification for loan renewals, requiring higher-level approval of loans, ensuring that each loan meets established criteria, recalling equipment that is inadequately authorized, and assigning user responsibility.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration | The Administrator, NASA, should require that JPL, with the advice and assistance of the NASA Management Office, use the upcoming property survey and inventory to improve its property control system by identifying and recording the location of all equipment. |
Closed – Implemented
A comprehensive physical inventory of JPL was completed in December 1994, and a property survey by NASA's Management Office was completed in March 1995. The inventory and the survey results were used to revise JPL's policies and improve its property control system.
|
National Aeronautics and Space Administration | The Administrator, NASA, should require that JPL, with the advice and assistance of the NASA Management Office, evaluate and revise its procedures for receiving, tagging, and tracking inventory items from receipt through final disposition, including equipment at Caltech. |
Closed – Implemented
All accountable JPL equipment at Caltech was tagged with NASA identification tags, and property reconciliations were completed comparing Caltech and JPL records. The Office of Naval Research staff at Caltech is assisting in monitoring NASA's assets on the campus. A process action team is reviewing property controls at JPL and further actions are being taken to improve processes.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration | The Administrator, NASA, should require that JPL, with the advice and assistance of the NASA Management Office, identify and dispose of obsolete or excess equipment. |
Closed – Implemented
JPL identified and disposed of obsolete or excess equipment. The number of excess equipment items was reduced by about 85 percent compared with pervious levels. Procedures were improved by addressing equipment title for reimbursable agreements at the time of award.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration | The Administrator, NASA, should review the policy on equipment loans, revise it to the extent necessary to ensure its adequacy for limiting at-home equipment loans, and direct NASA headquarters and field organizations to conform their lending procedures and practices to the revised policy and to establish adequate controls for identifying and tracking loaned equipment. |
Closed – Implemented
At JPL and agencywide, new procedures have been implemented to improve the review process for equipment loans to employees and controls have been strengthened for identifying and tracking loaned equipment. At JPL, the number of items of equipment on loan was reduced by 90 percent since the report was issued. Agencywide, the number of equipment items loaned to employees dropped by about 18 percent in 1994, and equipment items loaned for 1 year or more dropped by almost 60 percent.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration | The Administrator, NASA, should determine the extent to which the property control weaknesses at JPL, as well as those found elsewhere in NASA as a result of the agencywide review, should be reported under the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act. |
Closed – Not Implemented
NASA determined that this area should not be reported as a material weakness under the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act because of inventories and surveys completed and corrective actions taken.
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Topics
Aerospace researchComputer equipment managementFederal employeesFederal property managementGovernment owned equipmentInternal controlsInventory control systemsLaboratoriesResearch and development contractsComputers