Limitations in the core contract personnel inventory hinder the ability to determine the extent to which the eight civilian IC elements used these personnel in 2010 and 2011 and to identify how this usage has changed over time. IC CHCO uses the inventory information in its statutorily- mandated annual personnel assessment to compare the current and projected number and costs of core contract personnel to the number and costs during the prior 5 years. IC CHCO reported that the number of core contract personnel full-time equivalents (FTEs) and their associated costs declined by nearly one-third from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2011. However, we found a number of limitations with the inventory, including changes to the definition of core contract personnel, the elements’ use of inconsistent methodologies and a lack of documentation for calculating FTEs, and errors in reporting contract costs. On an individual basis, some of the limitations we identified may not raise significant concerns. When taken together, however, they undermine the utility of the information for determining and reporting on the extent to which the civilian IC elements use core contract personnel. Additionally, IC CHCO did not clearly explain the effect of the limitations when reporting the information to Congress. We identified several issues that limit the comparability, accuracy, and consistency of the information reported by the civilian IC elements as a whole including: Changes to the definition of core contract personnel. To address concerns that IC elements were interpreting the definition of core contract personnel differently and to improve the consistency of the information in the inventory, IC CHCO worked with the elements to develop a standard definition that was formalized with the issuance of Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 612 in October 2009. Further, IC CHCO formed the IC Core Contract Personnel Inventory Control Board, which has representatives from all of the IC elements, to provide a forum to resolve differences in the interpretation of IC CHCO’s guidance for the inventory. As a result of the board’s efforts, IC CHCO provided supplemental guidance in fiscal year 2010 to either include or exclude certain contract personnel, such as those performing administrative support, training support, and information technology services. While these changes were made to—and could improve—the inventory data, it is unclear the extent to which the definitional changes contributed to the reported decrease in the number of core contract personnel and their associated costs from year to year. For example, for fiscal year 2010, officials from one civilian IC element told us they stopped reporting information technology help desk contractors, which had been previously reported, to be consistent with IC CHCO’s revised definition. One of these officials stated consequently that the element’s reported reduction in core contract personnel between fiscal years 2009 and 2010 did not reflect an actual change in their use of core contract personnel, but rather a change in how core contract personnel were defined for the purposes of reporting to IC CHCO. However, IC CHCO included this civilian IC element’s data when calculating the IC’s overall reduction in number of core contract personnel between fiscal years 2009 and 2011 in its briefing to Congress and the personnel level assessment. IC CHCO explained in both documents that this civilian IC element’s rebaselining had an effect on the element’s reported number of contractor personnel for fiscal year 2010 but did not explain how this would limit the comparability of the number and costs of core contract personnel for both this civilian IC element and the IC as a whole. Inconsistent methodologies for determining FTEs. The eight civilian IC elements used significantly different methodologies when determining the number of FTEs. For example, some civilian IC elements estimated contract personnel FTEs using target labor hours while other civilian IC elements calculated the number of FTEs using the labor hours invoiced by the contractor. As a result, the reported numbers were not comparable across these elements. The IC CHCO core contract personnel inventory guidance for both fiscal years 2010 and 2011 did not specify appropriate methodologies for calculating FTEs, require IC elements to describe their methodologies, or require IC elements to disclose any associated limitations with their methodologies. Depending on the methodology used, an element could calculate a different number of FTEs for the same contract. For example, for one contract we reviewed at a civilian IC element that reports FTEs based on actual labor hours invoiced by the contractor, the element reported 16 FTEs for the contract. For the same contract, however, a civilian IC element that uses estimated labor hours at the time of award would have calculated 27 FTEs. IC CHCO officials stated they had discussed standardizing the methodology for calculating the number of FTEs with the IC elements but identified challenges, such as identifying a standard labor-hour conversion factor for one FTE. IC CHCO guidance for fiscal year 2012 instructed elements to provide the total number of direct labor hours worked by the contract personnel to calculate the number of FTEs for each contract, as opposed to allowing for estimates, which could improve the consistency of the FTE information reported across the IC. Lack of documentation for calculating FTEs. Most of the civilian IC elements did not maintain readily available documentation of the information used to calculate the number of FTEs reported for a significant number of the records we reviewed. As a result, these elements could not easily replicate the process for calculating or validate the reliability of the information reported for these records. Federal internal control standards call for appropriate documentation to help ensure the reliability of the information reported. For 37 percent of the 287 records we reviewed, however, we could not determine the reliability of the information reported. Inaccurately determined contract costs. We could not reliably determine the costs associated with core contract personnel, in part because our analysis identified numerous discrepancies between the amount of obligations reported by the civilian IC elements in the inventory and these elements’ supporting documentation for the records we reviewed. For example, we found that the civilian IC elements either under- or over-reported the amount of contract obligations by more than 10 percent for approximately one-fifth of the 287 records we reviewed. Further, the IC elements could not provide complete documentation to validate the amount of reported obligations for another 17 percent of the records we reviewed. Civilian IC elements cited a number of factors that may account for the discrepancies, including the need to manually enter obligations for certain contracts or manually delete duplicate contracts. Officials from one civilian IC element noted that a new contract management system was used for reporting obligations in the fiscal year 2011 inventory, which offered greater detail and improved functionality for identifying obligations on their contracts; however, we still identified discrepancies in 18 percent of this element’s reported obligations in fiscal year 2011 for the records in our sample. In our January 2014 report, we recommended that IC CHCO clearly specify limitations, significant methodological changes, and their associated effects when reporting on the IC’s use of core contract personnel. We also recommended that IC CHCO develop a plan to enhance internal controls for compiling the core contract personnel inventory. IC CHCO agreed with these recommendations and described steps it was taking to address them. Specifically, IC CHCO stated it will highlight all adjustments to the data over time and the implications of those adjustments in future briefings to Congress and OMB. In addition, IC CHCO stated it has added requirements for the IC elements to include the methodologies used to identify and determine the number of core contract personnel and their steps for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the data. The civilian IC elements have used core contract personnel to perform a range of functions, including human capital, information technology, program management, administration, collection and operations, and security services, among others. However, the aforementioned limitations we identified in the obligation and FTE data precluded us from using the information on contractor functions to determine the number of personnel and their costs associated with each function category. Further, the civilian IC elements could not provide documentation for 40 percent of the contracts we reviewed to support the reasons they cited for using core contract personnel. As part of the core contract personnel inventory, IC CHCO collects information from the elements on contractor-performed functions using the primary contractor occupation and competency expertise data field. An IC CHCO official explained that this data field should reflect the tasks performed by the contract personnel. IC CHCO’s guidance for this data field instructs the IC elements to select one option from a list of over 20 broad categories of functions for each contract entry in the inventory. Based on our review of relevant contract documents, such as statements of work, we were able to verify the categories of functions performed for almost all of the contracts we reviewed, but we could not determine the extent to which civilian IC elements contracted for these functions. For example, we were able to verify for one civilian IC element’s contract that contract personnel performed functions within the systems engineering category, but we could not determine the number of personnel dedicated to that function because of unreliable obligation and FTE data. Further, the IC elements often lacked documentation to support why they used core contract personnel. In preparing their inventory submissions, IC elements can select one of eight options for why they needed to use contract personnel, including the need to provide surge support for a particular IC mission area, insufficient staffing resources, or to provide unique technical, professional, managerial, or intellectual expertise to the IC element that is not otherwise available from U.S. governmental civilian or military personnel. However, for 81 of the 102 records in our sample coded as unique expertise, we did not find evidence in the statements of work or other contract documents that the functions performed by the contractors required expertise not otherwise available from U.S. government civilian or military personnel. For example, contracts from one civilian IC element coded as unique expertise included services for conducting workshops and analysis, producing financial statements, and providing program management. Overall, the civilian IC elements could not provide documentation for 40 percent of the 287 records we reviewed. As previously noted, in our January 2014 report, we recommended that IC CHCO develop a plan to enhance internal controls for compiling the core contract personnel inventory.