Summary

Because of a lack of adequate controls over telephone use, the Agriculture Department (USDA), which spends about $50 million annually on commercial telecommunications services, is putting itself at risk for fraud and abuse. GAO reviewed bills for all collect calls over a four-month period at USDA offices in the Washington, D.C., area and found that USDA had accepted more than 600 inappropriate collect calls--about half of all collect calls accepted and paid for by the agency during this time--from prisoners. USDA has been aware of collect-calling abuse since 1994 but has not taken adequate steps to stop it. USDA does not generally review telephone bills. As a result, the agency cannot be certain whether international long-distance calls originating from its Washington, D.C., offices--which total tens of thousands of dollars each month--are authorized. GAO found several instances in which persons had placed unauthorized calls to sex and party lines abroad. Moreover, because of weaknesses in a USDA contractor's voice mail equipment, hackers were able to break into USDA's telephone system and make $40,000 to $50,000 worth of international long-distance calls. USDA eventually paid the bill, even though the contractor admitted responsibility. USDA has tried to correct some of its telecommunications management weaknesses, including automating its current paper-based billing system so that telephone bills can be verified cost effectively. However, USDA has yet to respond in writing to GAO's recommendations on resolving these problems.

GAO found that: (1) during the 4-month period reviewed, collect calls from federal, state, and county correctional institutions were accepted at 20 USDA offices in the District of Columbia area and may have been transferred to USDA long-distance lines; (2) these collect calls amounted to 50 percent of the collect calls accepted at these USDA offices and cost about $2,600; (3) despite the discovery of inappropriately accepted collect calls as early as 1993, USDA did not initiate adequate measures to stop the abuses; (4) USDA offices in the District area made unauthorized long-distance calls, including international calls to adult entertainment lines and companies advertising jobs; (5) such fraud and abuse exist because USDA does not review its commercial telephone bills; (6) despite some positive actions to control fraud and abuse, USDA has not responded to GAO recommendations concerning the inappropriate use of its telecommunications resources; and (7) USDA is vulnerable to more fraud, waste, and abuse because it does not review its telephone and telephone credit card bills.