Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) allocation of funds to contractors providing support to its rulemaking activities.

GAO found that: (1) OSHA obligated $11.3 million during fiscal years 1986 through 1988 for a variety of contractor services related to health standards rulemaking, including $9.5 million for required regulatory analysis; (2) the largest obligation during the same period involved rulemaking for a single health standard; (3) OSHA also obligated funds for contractor studies and expert witnesses in connection with at least 20 other health standards and 15 safety standards; and (4) the $11.3 million obligated to support rulemaking constituted less than 2 percent of the total OSHA appropriation for those 3 fiscal years.