October 23, 2009

Deficiencies in Contract Management Internal Control Are Pervasive

This brief was written by the United States Government Accountability Office. It states that as a result of internal control deficiencies discussed in a previous GAO report published in 2007 regarding contracts at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), GAO was asked to identify the extent to which CMS implemented effective control procedures over contract actions, and established a control environment for contract management. GAO used a statistical random sample of 2008 CMS contract actions to assess CMS internal control procedures. The results were projected to the population of 2008 CMS contract actions. GAO also determined the extent to which CMS implemented recommendations GAO made in 2007 to improve internal control over contracting and payments to contractors. GAO made ten recommendations for developing policies to improve oversight and strengthen CMS's control environment. It also reaffirms seven prior recommendations that CMS has not fully implemented. CMS concurred with the new recommendations, but generally disagreed with GAO's assessment of progress on the prior recommendations.