[Evaluation Report on Selected Telecommunications Charges, Department of the Interior]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
Report No. 98-I-648
Title: Evaluation Report on Selected Telecommunications Charges,
Department of the Interior
Date: September 10, 1998
**********DISCLAIMER**********
This file contains an ASCII representation of an OIG report.
No attempt has been made to display graphic images or illustrations.
Some tables may be included, but may not resemble those in the printed version.
A printed copy of this report may be obtained by referring to the PDF
file or by calling the Office of Inspector General, Division of
Acquisition and Management Operations at (202) 208-4599.
******************************
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of Inspector General
EVALUATION REPORT
SELECTED TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CHARGES, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
REPORT NO. 98-I-648
AUGUST 1998
MEMORANDUM
TO: The Secretary
FROM: Richard N. Reback
Acting Inspector General
SUBJECT SUMMARY: Final Evaluation Report
for Your Information -
"Selected Telecommunications Charges,
Department of the Interior" (No. 98-I-648)
Attached for your information is a copy of the subject final
evaluation report. The objective of the evaluation was to
determine the feasibility of eliminating local directory
assistance and other telephone services, such as weather and
time reporting, to reduce Department of the Interior
telecommunications costs.
We found that the Department did not incur any costs for
telephone services related to weather and time reporting but
that it did incur costs for directory assistance. Local
telephone directory assistance was available to employees
because telephone companies automatically provided the
service. However, Departmental bureaus and offices had not
performed a cost-benefit analysis. In addition, local
telephone directory assistance costs were not centrally
accumulated by the Department or by the telephone companies
we contacted, and the Department did not track or account
for these costs separately from other telecommunications
costs. By focusing on the offices that had the largest
number of employees, we identified directory assistance
costs of $46,300 that the Department incurred in calendar
year 1997.
We recommended that the Assistant Secretary for Policy,
Management and Budget determine whether providing local
telephone directory assistance was cost effective and
efficient after considering the total annual cost and
benefits of the service. We considered the action of the
Chief Information Officer, Office of the Secretary, to
"provide guidance and notification to employees" regarding
the expense of directory assistance calls to be sufficient
to address the report's one recommendation.
If you have any questions concerning this mater, please
contact me at (202) 208-5745 or Mr. Robert J. Williams,
Assistant Inspector General for Audits, at (202) 208-5520.
Attachment
I-IN-MOA-003-98
EVALUATION REPORT
Memorandum
To: Assistant Secretary for Policy,
Management and Budget
From: Robert J. Williams
Assistant Inspector General for Audits
Subject: Evaluation Report on Selected
Telecommunications Charges, Department of the
Interior (No. 98-I-648)
INTRODUCTION
This report presents the results of our evaluation
of local telephone directory assistance charges in
the Department of the Interior. The objective of the
evaluation was to determine the feasibility of
eliminating local directory assistance and other
telephone services, such as weather and time reporting,
to reduce Departmental telecommunications costs.
BACKGROUND
As defined, telecommunications services include the
electronic transmission of information of any type,
such as data, sound, video, and facsimile.[1] To
carry out its telecommunications mission, the
Department of the Interior expended more than $62
million in fiscal year 1995 on telecommunications
resources that provide a wide array of voice, data,
radio, and video services to its employees.
Telecommunications services, including local
telephone directory assistance, are acquired under
the General Services Administration's Federal
Telecommunications System contract and from local
and long-distance telephone companies serving
Departmental offices nationwide. Local telephone
directory assistance is provided by telephone
companies to customers to enable them to obtain
telephone numbers electronically. The charges for
this service can range from $.25 to $1.00 per call
depending on the geographical area and the telephone
company from which the call is initiated.
SCOPE OF EVALUATION
This evaluation was conducted from December 1997
through March 1998 by contacts with individuals at
selected Departmental offices and bureaus
(see Appendix 2) and at telephone company offices
nationwide. As part of the evaluation, we reviewed
Departmental and telephone company documents and
records pertaining to local telephone directory
assistance charges for calendar year 1997 and
interviewed Departmental personnel in regard to their
directory assistance use.
This evaluation was conducted in accordance with the
"Quality Standards for Inspections," issued by the
President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, and
accordingly included such tests and evaluation
procedures that we considered necessary under the
circumstances. We also reviewed the Departmental
Report on Accountability for fiscal year 1996, which
includes information required by the Federal
Managers' Financial Integrity Act, and determined
that no material weaknesses were included in the
report that directly related to the objective and
scope of our evaluation. Because of the limited
scope and objective of our review, internal controls
were reviewed only to the extent that they related
to the use of local telephone directory assistance.
PRIOR AUDIT COVERAGE
Neither the Office of Inspector General nor the
General Accounting Office has issued any reports
during the past 5 years that addressed charges to
the Department of the Interior for the use of local
telephone directory assistance.
RESULTS OF EVALUATION
We found that the Department of the Interior did not
incur any costs for telephone services related to
weather and time reporting but did incur costs for
local telephone directory assistance. Local
telephone directory assistance was available to
employees because telephone companies automatically
provided the service. However, Departmental bureaus
and offices had not performed a cost-benefit
analysis of this service, and the Department did not
know the full cost of providing this service. We
estimated that the Department expended at least
$46,300 during calendar year 1997 to provide local
telephone directory assistance to the offices
reviewed.
We found that local telephone directory assistance
costs were not centrally accumulated by the
Department or by the telephone companies we
contacted and that the Department did not track or
account for these costs separately from other
telecommunications costs. As such, we identified
and estimated the costs related to local telephone
directory assistance by focusing on the offices that
had the largest numbers of employees. Using this
approach, we identified directory assistance costs
of $46,300 that the Department incurred in calendar
year 1997 as follows:
Bureaus Costs
National Park Service 15,037
U.S. Geological Survey 10,777
Office of the Secretary 8,151
Bureau of Land Management 3,778
Bureau of Reclamation 2,298
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2,572
Bureau of Indian Affairs 1,465
Office of Surface Mining 1,152
Minerals Management Service 1,084
Total $46,314
These costs were calculated by obtaining
telephone account information for the offices
listed and the related local directory
assistance costs from Bell Atlantic, Bell
South, Pacific Bell, Sprint, and U.S. West for
calendar year 1997. We also obtained costs
from the Departmental bureaus and offices and
the General Services Administration.
Because the Department has more than 2,000
locations that use hundreds of telephone
accounts nationwide and over 67,000 employees,
we believe that the annual cost of directory
assistance was significantly higher than
$46,300. We contacted bureau and office
management to discuss whether local telephone
directory assistance costs had been analyzed
and whether analyses were performed to
determine whether the service was needed to
perform mission-related work. Bureau
telecommunications managers said that they were
generally unaware of the amount of funds that
were expended for the service. They also said
that they were aware that employees were using
local directory assistance but had not
conducted a cost-benefit analysis because
summary data were not available and telephone
billing data for these costs were decentralized
to field offices.
We found that there were alternatives to using
local telephone directory assistance which were
available to employees at no additional cost,
such as obtaining numbers from the local
telephone directory, Federal Department locator
services, and the Internet. Specifically, each
year the telephone companies provided the
number of telephone directories requested by
Departmental offices. These directories
included blue pages, which listed Government
agencies; yellow pages, which listed
businesses; and white pages, which listed
individuals. Also, according to General
Services Administration officials, most
Governmental entities, including the Department
of the Interior, have telephone employee
locator services to assist callers in obtaining
telephone numbers of offices and individuals
within Federal agencies. Furthermore,
employees can obtain telephone numbers and
addresses at no additional cost through the
Department's access to the Internet.
As part of our review, we also conducted a
telephone survey of 45 randomly selected
employees of the Departmental bureaus and
offices nationwide to obtain information
concerning their use of local telephone
directory assistance. Of the 45 responses we
received, we found that 37 employees received
local telephone directories annually, 39
employees had access to a local telephone
directory, 43 employees had access to the
Internet, 30 employees had knowledge of the
telephone directory on the Internet, and 35
employees said that their official duties would
not be affected if local directory assistance
was eliminated.
Based on our evaluation, we concluded that the
elimination of local telephone directory
assistance would save at least $46,300 per
year. However, before the Department
determines whether to eliminate local
telephone directory assistance, we believe that
it should consider the total costs and benefits
of the service as part of its
telecommunications survey, which is planned for
fiscal year 1998.
Recommendation
We recommend that the Assistant Secretary for
Policy, Management and Budget determine
whether providing local telephone directory
assistance is cost effective and efficient
after considering the total annual cost and any
benefits of the service. If it is determined
not to be cost effective and efficient, local
telephone directory assistance should be
discontinued.
Office of the Secretary Response and Office of
Inspector General Reply
In the July 15, 1998, response (Appendix 3) from the
Chief Information Officer, Office of the Secretary,
to our draft report, the Officer stated, "Through
extrapolation, we can conclude that nationwide
directory assistance charges may be as high as
$150,000." The Officer also stated that "there were
no instances of employee directory assistance misuse
cited in the report" and that "the benefit of having
convenient access to needed telephone numbers is
inherent in providing quality telephone service to
our employees." Further, the Officer stated that
"eliminating local directory assistance may not be
worth pursuing in light of other initiatives where
significant cost reductions can be achieved, such as
consolidating and optimizing FTS2000 services,
eliminating redundancies and unused telephone lines,
and implementing shared services." However, the
Officer said that the Office would "provide guidance
and notifications to employees that directory
assistance calls can be costly and should be placed
only when other means are not available or
practical."
We consider the Officer's action to "provide
guidance and notification to employees" regarding
the expense of directory assistance calls to be
sufficient to address our recommendation. However,
the information requested in Appendix 4 should be
provided.
The legislation, as amended, creating the Office of
Inspector General requires semiannual reporting to
the Congress on all audit reports issued, the
monetary impact of audit findings (Appendix 1),
actions taken to implement audit recommendations,
and identification of each significant
recommendation on which corrective action has not
been taken.
We appreciate the assistance of Office of the
Secretary and bureau personnel in the conduct of our
evaluation.
cc: Solicitor
Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management
Assistant Secretary for Water and Science
Chief Information Officer, Office of Information Resources Management
Director, National Park Service
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Deputy Commissioner, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Director, Bureau of Land Management
Director, Minerals Management Service
Director, U.S. Geological Survey
Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation
Focus Leader for Management Control and Audit Followup
Audit Liaison Officer, Office of the Solicitor
Audit Liaison Officer, Policy, Management and Budget
Audit Liaison Officer, Fish and Wildlife and Parks
Audit Liaison Officer, Indian Affairs
Audit Liaison Officer, Land and Minerals Management
Audit Liaison Officer, Water and Science
Audit Liaison Officer, National Park Service
Audit Liaison Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Audit Liaison Officer, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Audit Liaison Officer, Bureau of Land Management
Audit Liaison Officer, Minerals Management Service
Audit Liaison Officer, U.S. Geological Survey
Audit Liaison Officer, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
Audit Liaison Officer, Bureau of Reclamation
**FOOTNOTES**
[1]:The American Heritage Dictionary, Second Edition.
I-IN-MOA-003-98
APPENDIX 1
CLASSIFICATION OF MONETARY AMOUNTS
Funds To Be Put
Finding Area To Better Use
__________________________________________ __________________
Cost of Local Directory Assistance Service $46,300
APPENDIX 2
Page 2 of 2
OFFICES CONTACTED OFFICE LOCATION
Office of the Secretary Washington, D.C.
Communications and Information
Systems and Services
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Arlington, Virginia
Information Resources Management,
Headquarters Office
Information Resources Management, Portland, Oregon
Region One
Contracting & General Services, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Region Two
Contracting & General Services, Twin Cities, Minneapolis
Region Three
Contracting & General Services, Hadley, Massachusetts
Region Five
Contracting & General Services, Lakewood, Colorado
Region Six
Contracting & General Services, Anchorage, Alaska
Region Seven
Automated Data Processing Division, Atlanta, Georgia
Region Four
U.S. Geological Survey Office of Information Reston, Virginia
Service and Telecommunications Services
Western Region Headquarters, Menlo Park, California
Branch of Information Services
Water Resources Division, Albuquerque, New Mexico
District Office
Water Resources Division, District Office, Sacramento, California
Administrative Services
Water Resources Division, District Office, Raleigh, North Carolina
Administrative Services
Water Resources Division,District Office, Baltimore, Maryland
Administrative Division
Water Resources Division,Sub-District Office, Tampa, Florida
Administration
Water Resources Division, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Woods Hole Field Center
Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center, Sioux Falls,South Dakota
Program Budget & Administration
Office of Surface Mining Washington,D.C.
Reclamation and Enforcement
Office of Administrative Operations
Western Regional Coordinating Center Denver, Colorado
Division of Office Technology
Transfer & Administrative Support
Appalachian Regional Coordinating Center Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Division of Administrative Services
Knoxville Field Office, Knoxville, Tennessee
Program Support Group
Bureau of Land Management Washington, D.C.
Information Resources Management
Arizona State Office Phoenix, Arizona
California State Office Sacramento, California
Colorado State Office Lakewood, Colorado
Eastern States Office Springfield, Virginia
Montana State Office Billings, Montana
New Mexico State Office Sante Fe, New Mexico
Oregon State Office Portland, Oregon
Wyoming State Office Cheyenne, Wyoming
Idaho State Office Boise,Idaho
Nevada State Office Reno, Nevada
Alaska State Office Anchorage, Alaska
National Business Center Denver, Colorado
Bureau of Indian Affairs Arlington, Virginia
Eastern Area Office
Albuquerque Area Office, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Administrative Services
Phoenix Area Office, Phoenix,Arizona
Property Management
Billings Area Office, Acquisition Billings, Montana
& Property Management
Portland Area Office, Property Management Portland, Oregon
Division of Accounting Albuquerque, New Mexico
Management, Government Unit
Division of Property Management Washington, D.C.
Bureau of Reclamation Administrative Washington, D.C.
Support Group
Lower Colorado Region Boulder City, Nevada
Pacific Northwest Region, Information Boise, Idaho
Resources Management Group
Mid-Pacific Region, Sacramento,California
Information Technology Services
Upper Colorado Region, Salt Lake City, Utah
Property & Services Management
Great Plains Region, Billings, Montana
Information Technology Group
Reclamation Service Center, Denver,Colorado
Finance & Accounting
Minerals Management Service Herndon,Virginia
Procurement & Support
Services Division
Houston Compliance Division Houston, Texas
Dallas Compliance Division Dallas, Texas
Southern Administrative New Orleans, Louisiana
Service Center
Western Administrative Denver,Colorado
Service Center
California Administrative Satellite Office Camarillo, California
Alaska Administrative Satellite Office Anchorage, Alaska
National Park Service Washington, D.C.
Information & Telecommunications Center
Intermountain Region, Denver,Colorado
Administrative Program Center
Midwest Region, Omaha, Nebraska
Information Systems & Technology
Southeast Region, Atlanta, Georgia
Contracting & Property Management
Harpers Ferry Center, Harpers Ferry,West Virginia
Office of Support Services
Pacific Great Basin Support Office San Francisco, California
Boston Support Office Boston, Massachusetts
Columbia Cascades Support Office Seattle, Washington
Philadelphia Support Office Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
STATUS OF AUDIT REPORT RECOMMENDATION
--------------------------------------
Finding/
Recommendation
Reference Status Action Required
_________________ _________ ____________________
1 Management Provide a target date and the title of the
concurs;additional official responsible for providing the
information needed. guidance and notification to employees.
ILLEGAL OR WASTEFUL ACTIVITIES SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE OFFICE
OF INSPECTOR GENERAL BY:
Sending written documents to:
Within the Continental United States
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of Inspector General
1849 C Street,N.W.
Mail Stop 5341
Washington, D.C. 20240
Calling:
Our 24 hour
Telephone HOTLINE
1-800-424-5081 or
(202) 208-5300
TDD for hearing impaired
(202) 208-2420 or
1-800-354-0996
Outside the Continental United States
Caribbean Region
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of Inspector General
Eastern Division- Investigations
1550 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 410
Arlington, Virginia 22209
Calling:
(703) 235-9221
North Pacific Region
U.S. Department of the Interior
Office of Inspector General
North Pacific Region
238 Archbishop F.C. F'lores Street
Suite 807, PDN Building
Agana, Guam 96910
Calling:
(700) 550-7428 or
COMM 9-011-671-472-7279