State Department: Transparent Cost Estimates Needed to Support Passport Execution Fee Decisions
Highlights
As early as January 31, 2008, U.S. citizens will be required to present a passport or other approved document to enter the United States at all ports of entry. The Department of State (State) is developing a "passport card" as a means of establishing U.S. citizenship for individuals crossing U.S. land borders or arriving by sea from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, or Bermuda. State proposes to charge $45 for the card, which would include a $25 execution fee. Acceptance facilities, including State's passport offices, as well as post offices and state courts, execute passport applications on State's behalf, and retain this fee. GAO was asked to examine (1) the factors State considered when setting the proposed fee and (2) how execution cost data were developed. GAO reviewed current laws that authorize the setting of fees and met with State officials to determine how they set the execution fee. GAO also met with officials from State and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to discuss acceptance facility execution costs and how these costs were estimated.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of State | To improve the transparency of the passport execution fee-setting process, the Secretary of State should instruct the department's contractor to provide additional documentation in its forthcoming fee study to support key methodologies, assumptions, and limitations. Such documentation should clarify survey and other work performed, disclose all sources of cost information being used, and identify potential limitations and uncertainties associated with the cost figures and other data. The study should also document the extent to which State's contractor incorporated estimated passport execution costs from USPS and other acceptance facilities. |
In June 2009, State's Bureau of Consular Affairs published its cost of service study, which specifically addressed aspects of our recommendation. The 2009 study included an overview of the methodology, which documented various phases of the study such as the data collection method, data analysis, State?s time and activity survey, and data validation. The 2009 study also identified assumptions used in calculating passport unit costs, such holding constant--for fiscal years 2006 through 2008--the percentage of time allocated per passport execution activity provided by consular affairs employees through State's survey instrument, as well as limitations with State's survey instrument and data collected with that instrument. The study also documented the extent to which it incorporated estimated passport execution costs for acceptance agencies, such as USPS. For example, execution fee costs incurred by the acceptance facilities were assumed to be equal to the execution fee that acceptance facilities charged State, according to the 2009 study.
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