Department of State Grant Management: Limited Oversight of Costs and Impact of International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute Democracy Grants

摘要

This report addresses the Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor's (DRL) management of 12 grants issued between 2004 and 2009, valued at approximately $248 million, to the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for democracy building activities in Iraq. SIGIR's reporting objective is to examine the Department of State's oversight of the costs and outcomes of IRI and NDI democracy-building grants in Iraq. SIGIR recommends that the U.S. Secretary of State improve DRL oversight of grants by directing DRL to (1) review and document the reasonableness of grantee budgets for activities not directly associated with executing grant objectives, to include security and other indirect costs, and the costs versus benefits of awarding grants with significant non-direct program costs; (2) request for current grants and require for future grants that grantees report quarterly expenditures on major cost categories; and (3) assess the appropriateness of establishing a program manager position in Iraq versus maintaining democracy advisors as DRL.