Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed two Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement operations, focusing on their management of: (1) a confidential fund BIA used to pay informants; (2) overtime pay; (3) travel advances; and (4) sensitive equipment.

GAO found that BIA: (1) did not comply with federal requirements regarding controls over appropriated funds and did not follow numerous management procedures; (2) improperly transferred funds to private bank accounts and did not return unobligated funds to the Department of the Treasury at the end of each fiscal year, as required; (3) did not adequately account for and control fund disbursements; (4) did not comply with federal regulations requiring periodic reviews of administratively uncontrollable overtime (AUO) it paid to units and employees; (5) issued excessive travel advances to unit investigators and did not adjust or liquidate the advances, as regulations required; and (6) did not properly control sensitive equipment, such as weapons and surveillance equipment.