GAO-01-274R An SBA Employee’s Travel

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, DC 20548

December 21, 2000

The Honorable Christopher S. Bond

Chairman

Committee on Small Business

United States Senate

Subject: SBA: Investigation of an SBA Employee’s Travel

Dear Mr. Chairman:

As requested, enclosed with this letter is a copy of a briefing that we gave to your

staff on November 21, 2000. At that time, we briefed your office on our investigative

findings concerning travel by the Deputy Associate Administrator for

Communications at the Small Business Administration (SBA). This included

determinations of the official’s travel costs for fiscal years 1999 and 2000 and of the

tasks undertaken by this official while in travel status.

To make these determinations, we interviewed the SBA Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief

of Staff/White House Liaison, Associate Administrator for Communications and

Public Liaison, and Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications. We also

reviewed travel vouchers, authorizations, and itineraries for the Deputy Associate

Administrator for Communications and the SBA Administrator for fiscal year 1999

and the first 11 months of fiscal year 2000.1We conducted our investigation, in

response to your October 13, 2000, request, from October to November 2000 in

accordance with investigative standards established by the President’s Council on

Integrity and Efficiency.

In brief, from October 1, 1998, through August 31, 2000, SBA’s Deputy Associate

Administrator for Communications made 50 trips at a total cost to the government of

approximately $58,840. He made at least 39 of these trips in conjunction with trips by

the SBA Administrator. Of the remaining 11 trips, the travel vouchers and

authorizations for 8 contained no reference to the Administrator; and the other 3

were to attend training sessions. According to SBA’s Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief

of Staff, when the Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications travels with

the Administrator his role includes speech review/rewrite and coordinating press

activities, such as interviews and media contacts. Prior to and during a trip, he and

other SBA employees do whatever needs to be done in or outside their assigned roles,

including “advance” work, to accomplish the trip’s mission.

1

Travel vouchers for September 2000 were unavailable at the time of our request.
Page 2 GAO-01-274R An SBA Employee’s Travel

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We are sending copies of this letter to interested congressional committees. The

letter will also be available on the GAO home page at www.gao.gov. If you have any

questions, please contact Assistant Director William Hamel at (202) 512-6722. Senior

Special Agents Mary Balberchak and Andrew O’Connell made significant

contributions to this case.

Sincerely yours,

Robert H. Hast

Managing Director

Office of Special Investigations

Enclosure
Enclosure I

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BRIEFING PAPER

Investigation of an SBA Employee’s Travel

For the Senate Committee on Small Business

♦ QUESTIONS

What was the cost of travel for the Deputy Associate

Administrator/Communications for FY 1999 and FY 2000?

What tasks did the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications undertake

while in travel status?

♦ FINDINGS

Cost and Number of Trips

• The travel vouchers for the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications

for FY 1999 and the first 11 months of FY 2000 show the following:

FY 1999 and FY 2000 (first

11 months)

Total amount/number

Amount claimed $60,436.97a

Amount paid $58,840.51

Trips 50b

Trips with the Administrator 39 minimumc

a

The combined totals of $29,120.43 for FY 1999 and $31,316.54 for FY 2000.

b Includes one trip for which no travel voucher was filed.

c

The other 11 vouchers for the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications

reflect that he was attending training (3 trips), or they do not make reference to the

Administrator (8 trips). In addition, no corresponding travel vouchers for the

Administrator for these 11 trips were available to us.

• In most cases—25 trips, the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications

arrived at the travel destination on the same day or up to 2 days prior to the

Administrator’s arrival. In two instances, he arrived 3 and 4 days, respectively

before the Administrator. (See table below.) For the remainder of the 39 trips,

we do not have the vouchers for both the Administrator and the Deputy

Associate Administrator/Communications and cannot determine whether the

Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications arrived prior to the

Administrator.
Enclosure I

Page 4 GAO-01-274R An SBA Employee’s Travel

Arrival at destination in

relationship to arrival of

SBA Administrator

Of the 27

determinable trips

Same day 6 trips

1 day before 10 trips

2 days before 9 trips

3 days before 1 trip

(Cairo, Egypt)

4 days before 1 trip

(Guadalajara, Mexico)

• Of the 36 travel vouchers and attached itineraries that we reviewed for the

SBA Administrator, encompassing October 1, 1998, through August 31, 2000, it

appears that the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications traveled

with the Administrator on all but 7 trips.

Tasks When Preparing for and During Trips

• According to SBA officials we interviewed, the Deputy Associate

Administrator/Communications accompanies the Administrator on most trips

that involve a communications component. The decision on whether or not he

will travel is generally made collectively by the Administrator, the Chief of

Staff, the Deputy Chief of Staff, the Associate Administrator/Communications,

and the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications. The decision is

based on the level of priority for media, the theme of the trip, the workload,

and the availability of appropriate public affairs personnel and resources at the

travel destination. The Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications is

usually notified of his assignment by either the Associate

Administrator/Communications or the Deputy Chief of Staff.

• There are 70 SBA district offices and 10 full-time public information officers at

the district level. Other public information officers at the district level have

collateral duties and a wide range of experience among them.

• According to the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications, for each

trip, the communications department in Washington, DC, starts making

telephone calls to local field offices/district offices directing staff there to

reach out to the local media for the event. The Deputy Associate

Administrator/Communications tries to be on site at least 1 day prior to the

event to evaluate what the field personnel have done, to coordinate with news

media, and to make sure the necessary media is in place. According to the

Associate Administrator/Communications, the Deputy Associate
Enclosure I

Page 5 GAO-01-274R An SBA Employee’s Travel

Administrator/Communications is “self-directed” and makes decisions about

what needs to be done once he is on-site. The Deputy Chief of Staff stated that

when the Deputy Associate Administrator/Communications travels with the

Administrator, his role includes press coverage, speech review and rework,

and arranging interviews and media contacts.

• According to the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff, the SBA does not

have an “Advance Team” such as that used for the President and the Vice

President of the United States. On occasion, someone, such as the Deputy

Associate Administrator/Communications, will “advance” a trip because it is

his job to coordinate press activities. Because SBA is a small agency,

employees “wear many hats” on trips and may double up on duties when

necessary to accomplish the trip’s mission. The Deputy Chief of Staff stated,

“We all do advance [work].” She explained that whoever is on-site does

whatever they have to do to get the job done, including some activities that

may not be part of their assigned role but need to be addressed. The Deputy

Associate Administrator/Communications stated that he may, on occasion, do

other things, such as getting the hotel keys in advance for the Administrator

and accompanying SBA personnel and meeting the Administrator at the door

when she arrives. However, he said that these tasks are done as a courtesy

only and are neither required nor expected of him.

• The Administrator’s staff/scheduling personnel, not the Deputy Associate

Administrator/Communications, make the Administrator’s hotel and

transportation reservations.

• Setting up hair and makeup appointments for the Administrator, for example,

for the taping of communications videos if the taping crew does not provide

such services, is standard operating procedure for the Office of

Communications.

(600793)