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Conservation Security Program: Despite Cost Controls, Improved USDA Management Is Needed to Ensure Proper Payments and Reduce Duplication with Other Programs

GAO-06-312 Published: Apr 28, 2006. Publicly Released: Apr 28, 2006.
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Highlights

The Conservation Security Program (CSP)--called for in the 2002 farm bill and administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)--provides financial assistance to producers to reward past conservation actions and to encourage further conservation stewardship. CSP payments may be made for structural or land management practices, such as strip cropping to reduce erosion. CSP has raised concerns among some stakeholders because CSP cost estimates generally have increased since the 2002 farm bill's enactment. For example, the Congressional Budget Office's estimate increased from $2 billion in 2002 to $8.9 billion in 2004. GAO determined (1) why CSP cost estimates generally increased; (2) what authority USDA has to control costs and what cost control measures exist; and (3) what measures exist to prevent duplication between CSP and other USDA conservation programs and what duplication, if any, has occurred.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Agriculture To improve NRCS's implementation of the Conservation Security Program, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of NRCS to review and field check each NRCS state office's wildlife habitat assessment criteria to ensure that states use consistent criteria and achieve the habitat benefits intended by the national guidance.
Closed – Implemented
According to Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) officials, the agency directed its state offices to submit a copy of their wildlife habitat assessment criteria for all proposed Conservation Security Program (CSP) watersheds. These criteria were examined for consistency with NRCS's national CSP guidance [i.e., minimum national eligibility criteria for wildlife habitat] by the Deputy Chief for Science and Technology's National Biology Team in Ft. Worth, Texas. Discrepancies with the national guidance were resolved in cooperation with the relevant NRCS State Conservationists.
Department of Agriculture To improve NRCS's implementation of the Conservation Security Program, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of NRCS to include a reference to the national guidance for wildlife habitat assessment criteria in NRCS's Conservation Programs Manual.
Closed – Implemented
According to Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) officials, the agency updated the "CSP manual" [i.e., the Conservation Security Program (CSP) section of the Conservation Programs Manual] to be in compliance with the direction provided by the NRCS Chief. Specifically, Exhibit 518.155, a Technical Reference Document describing the agency's wildlife habitat assessment criteria, was added to section 440 of the Conservation Programs Manual. Among other things, this document outlines the procedure to be used to determine the minimum eligibility criteria for fish and wildlife resources on CSP-enrolled land, as well the minimum criteria for "models for species of conservation concern"...
Department of Agriculture To improve NRCS's implementation of the Conservation Security Program, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of NRCS to develop a comprehensive process, such as an automated system, to review CSP contract applications to ensure that CSP payments, if awarded, would not duplicate payments made by other USDA conservation programs.
Closed – Implemented
According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), it initiated a certification form (addendum) in the self assessment workbook for Conservation Security Program (CSP) sign-ups. This addendum informs an applicant that the Farm Bill prohibits duplicate payments made through CSP and another program on the same land, at the same time, for a similar conservation activity. In part, the addendum asks applicants to certify whether or not they are receiving payments from another conservation program on any of the land being offered for enrollment in CSP, and if so, to provide information on the sources and purposes of these payments. The addendum was issued to all NRCS state offices...
Department of Agriculture To improve NRCS's implementation of the Conservation Security Program, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Chief of NRCS to develop a process to efficiently review existing CSP contracts to identify cases where CSP payments duplicate payments made under other programs and take action to recover appropriate amounts and to ensure that these duplicate payments are not repeated in fiscal year 2006 and beyond.
Closed – Implemented
According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), it created an automated system within its ProTracts contracting software to compare existing Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, Agricultural Management Assessment, and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts with existing CSP contracts to reveal potential areas of overlapping conservation practices and payments. Using this system, NRCS officials indicated in March 2009 that they had identified more the 370 duplicate payments between CSP and EQIP totaling about $420,000. NRCS indicated that these cases of duplication were dealt with according to the NRCS contracting manual, although the agency did not...

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Topics

Agricultural programsConservationConservation programsCost analysisCost controlFederal aid programsInternal controlsProgram managementSustainable agricultureCost estimatesDuplication of effort