The Corps is the world’s largest public engineering, design, and construction management agency. Located within the Department of Defense, the Corps has both military and civilian responsibilities. Through its Civil Works Program, the Corps plans, constructs, operates, and maintains a wide range of water resources projects. The Corps’ Civil Works Program has nine major functional areas, also known as business lines: Navigation, Flood Risk Management, Environment, Recreation, Hydropower, Water Supply, Emergency Management, Regulatory Program, and Support for Others.organized into three tiers: a national headquarters in Washington, D.C., 8 regional divisions, and 38 local district offices (see fig. 1). The major steps in developing a Corps construction project are shown in figure 2. Usually, the Corps becomes involved in water resource construction projects when a local community perceives a need or experiences a problem that is beyond its ability to solve and contacts the Corps for assistance. If the Corps does not have the statutory authority required for studying the problem, the Corps must obtain authorization from Congress before proceeding. Studies have been authorized through legislation, typically a WRDA, or, in some circumstances, through a committee resolution by an authorizing committee. Next, the Corps must receive an appropriation to study the project, which it seeks through its annual budget request to Congress. Under WRDA 2007 amendments, after receiving authorization and an appropriation, studies were conducted in two phases: reconnaissance and feasibility. at full federal expense to determine if the problem warranted federal participation in a feasibility study and how the problem could be addressed. During the reconnaissance phase, the Corps also assessed the level of interest and support from nonfederal entities such as state, tribal, county, or local governments or agencies that may become sponsors. If the Corps determined that further study was warranted, the district office typically sought agreement from the local sponsor to share costs for a feasibility study. WRRDA 2014 eliminated the reconnaissance phase to accelerate the study process and allow the Corps to proceed directly to the feasibility study. The conference report accompanying WRRDA 2014 also states that the Corps may terminate a study when it is clear there is no demonstrable federal interest for a project or that construction of the project is not possible for technical, legal, or financial reasons.guidance on the elimination of the reconnaissance phase. Pub. L. No. 110-114, § 2043(b), 121 Stat. 1041 (2007). the problem and make recommendations on whether the project is worth pursuing and how the problem should be addressed. Corps guidance states that typical feasibility studies should be completed in 18 to 36 months. According to Corps documents, the district office conducts the study and the needed environmental studies and documents the results in a feasibility report that includes a total project cost estimate based on the recommended plan. The Chief of Engineers reviews the report and decides whether to sign a final decision document, known as the Chief’s Report, recommending the project for construction. The Chief of Engineers transmits the Chief’s Report and the supporting documentation to Congress through the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and the Office of Management and Budget. Congress may authorize the project’s construction in a WRDA or other legislation. When Congress approves a project for construction, it typically authorizes a total cost for the project based on estimates prepared by the Corps. Most construction projects are authorized during the preconstruction engineering and design phase. The purpose of this phase is to complete any additional planning studies and all of the detailed, technical studies and designs needed to begin construction of the project. Once the construction project has been authorized and preconstruction engineering and design has been funded through completion of the plans and specifications for the first construction contract, the Corps seeks funds to construct the project through the annual budget formulation process. As part of the budget process, the Army, with input and data from Corps headquarters, division, and district offices, develops a budget request for the agency. Beginning in fiscal year 2006, the Corps introduced what it refers to as performance-based budgeting as a way to focus funding requests on those projects with the highest anticipated return on investment, rather than a wider set of projects that meet budget policies as it sought to do in the past. Under its current budget formulation process, the Corps uses performance metrics to evaluate projects’ estimated future outcomes and gives priority to those it determines have the highest expected returns for the national economy and the environment, as well as those that reduce risk to human life. Budget justification materials are provided to the House and Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration. Through the conference committee reports accompanying appropriations acts, Congress directs funds for individual projects in increments over the course of several years. The Corps considers a project or study to have been appropriated funds if the project or study has received such direction in a committee report. If the project has been appropriated funds, the district enters into a cost-sharing agreement with the nonfederal sponsor. Once funds have been appropriated and a cost-sharing agreement is in place, the construction phase can begin and the Corps may obligate funds for a project. Construction is generally managed by the Corps but performed by private contractors. During construction, the Corps may request and Congress may enact scope or cost changes. Under current federal statute, the process for deauthorizing construction studies is initiated if the study has not been appropriated funds for 5 consecutive fiscal years. Specifically, the Secretary of the Army is required to annually transmit to Congress a list of water resources studies that have not been completed and have not been appropriated funds in the last 5 full fiscal years.that list to appropriate funds, or the study is deauthorized. Congress has 90 days after the submission of Current federal statute also requires a similar deauthorization process for construction projects. The Secretary of the Army is required to transmit to Congress a list of projects—or separable elementshad funds obligated for 5 full consecutive fiscal years. Beginning with WRDA 2007, this list was required to be sent to Congress annually; prior —that have not to WRDA 2007, the list was required biennially.obligated for planning, design, or construction of a project on that list during the next fiscal year, the project is deauthorized, and the Secretary of the Army is to publish the list of deauthorized projects in the Federal Register. The Corps’ report of a $62 billion backlog list of more than 1,000 projects is incomplete because the agency does not track all of its authorized construction projects and studies. Specifically, the Corps does not enter all authorized projects and studies into its databases because of the absence of a policy to do so. As a result, we found the Corps’ reported backlog list likely underestimates the complete construction backlog. Without having complete information on its backlog, the Corps does not know the full extent of unmet water resources needs of the nation, and Congress does not have complete information to make informed decisions on project and study authorizations and appropriations. We found that the Corps’ reported backlog likely under-represents the complete backlog of construction projects in terms of both cost and number of projects. According to Corps headquarters officials, the backlog list is manually maintained by one staff person as a secondary duty. Our past work has found that using manual processes to maintain data can hinder an organization’s ability to ensure that data are complete and accurate. Corps officials said, and our review found, that some projects that were authorized are included on the backlog list, but not their associated cost, therefore raising questions about the validity of the $62 billion estimate. For example, the Amite River and Tributaries, Louisiana, East Baton Rouge Parish Watershed project was authorized in WRDA and modified most recently in WRDA 2007 for a total cost of $187 1999million, but according to Corps officials, construction funds have not been appropriated for this project. Although the project’s name appears on the Corps’ backlog list, there is no dollar amount associated with that project, so the cost is not included in the Corps’ reported backlog list. We found a total of 12 projects authorized in WRDA 1999 that are included in the Corps’ reported backlog list but do not have an associated cost. However, internal control standards in the federal government call for agencies to clearly and promptly document transactions and other significant events from authorization to completion. Corps headquarters officials acknowledged that information was missing from their databases and said they do not currently have an estimate for the cost or number of projects that are not included in their databases. Corps headquarters officials told us that the agency does not have a policy instructing district offices to enter projects that are authorized but have not been appropriated funds into their databases, and it is left to the discretion of the district offices to do so. Officials from 1 of the 16 district offices we spoke with said the district has developed guidance to enter all authorized projects into the Corps’ centralized databases, regardless of whether the projects had funds appropriated. Officials at the 15 other district offices told us they enter projects into the Corps’ databases only after funds are appropriated. Corps headquarters officials said that the agency’s databases were created primarily as project management databases, and therefore, projects are generally not entered into the databases until they are active and funds are appropriated. However, federal standards for internal control call for agencies to document internal control in management directives, administrative policies, or operating manuals and be readily available for examination. We also have previously found that it is important to have agencywide policies and procedures to help ensure consistent treatment, especially if employees are geographically dispersed. Without written policies or guidance, Corps district offices will likely continue to inconsistently enter projects that are authorized but not funded into their databases, and that will continue to result in incomplete data. In the absence of authorized projects not consistently being entered into the Corps’ centralized databases, officials from 10 of the 16 district offices we spoke with said they maintained their own lists of authorized projects, including those that were authorized but did not have funds appropriated.