ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 40
May 13, 2003

In This Issue: Update on Task Force on the Prevention of Waste, Fraud and Abuse in the E-Rate

The Schools and Libraries Division's Task Force on the Prevention of Waste, Fraud and Abuse held the first of three planned meetings on May 1-2. 

Task force members heard presentations from SLD management, the assistant inspector general for audits of the Federal Communications Commission's Office of Inspector General, the head of special investigations for the SLD's Program Integrity Assurance staff, and a senior auditor from the internal audit staff of the Universal Service Administrative Company. They described, in general terms, the kinds of situations that have raised concerns in the areas of waste, fraud and abuse. They also provided general information about auditing and other enforcement activities.

The 14 task force members then shared their own different perspectives on the potential for waste, fraud and abuse in the program. By the end of their first meeting, they identified these topics as broad, shared areas of concern that should be the focus of future discussions:

* Program rules and requirements are not adequately understood;
* Certain rules and processes that may inadvertently encourage waste;
* Concerns related to the lack of competitive bidding;
* Problems  in dealing with and defining "eligible" services;
* The lack of accountability and consequences for program violations;
* Funding models and their impact on waste, fraud and abuse;
* Whether SLD resources are deployed appropriately;
* Required standards for documentation of program compliance.

The two ALA Task Force representatives are Wayne Hay, Westchester County (NY) Library System (914-674-3614 or email hay@wls.lib.ny.us) and Tony Wening, Missouri Research and Education Network (573-884-7222 or email tony@more.net).  Wayne and Tony specifically want to know:

1. Do you have concerns/issues in the above areas you want to share?
2. Do you have specific recommendations about how to strengthen the program in the above areas?
3. Are there other areas regarding waste, fraud, and abuse you don't see covered that you would like the Task Force to consider?
 
To provide input, please contact either Wayne or Tony directly.  They are eagerly waiting to hear from you.

The task force currently plans two more meetings in late May and late June before preparing a series of recommendations to USAC and the FCC. 




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