Financial Management: DOD Needs to Clarify Its General Gift Fund Policies to Provide for Effective Oversight

摘要

From fiscal year 2005 through fiscal year 2008, the military services received about $295 million in monetary and nonmonetary gifts from individuals and organizations wishing to donate gifts to the Department of Defense (DoD). Section 2601(a) of Title 10, U.S. Code, is a long-standing authority under which the secretaries overseeing DoD, the military services, and the Coast Guard may accept a gift on the condition that the gift be used for the benefit of, or in connection with, the establishment, operation, or maintenance of schools, hospitals, libraries, museums, cemeteries, or other institutions or organizations under the jurisdiction of the secretary concerned. In 2008, gifts to benefit such institutions or organizations included a monetary gift to construct an education center and nonmonetary gifts of a bronze statue and granite benches. In 2006, Congress enacted additional authority, under 10 U.S.C. Section 2601(b), to allow the acceptance of gifts and services to benefit certain members of the armed forces and civilian employees of DoD who incurred a wound, injury, or illness in the line of duty and to benefit the dependents and survivors of those who are killed or wounded. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (USD) (Comptroller) revised its gift fund policy on February 27, 2009 to address GAO's recommended actions. Specifically, the revised policy (1) assigns responsibility to DFAS (Standards and Compliance) to consolidate the services' DFAS gift fund submissions into one quarterly report to the USD (Comptroller) and to develop a standardized reporting format for the military services to start using when assembling the reporting requirements, and (2) directs the military services to maintain documentation in gift fund records that nonmonetary gifts have been transferred to the property records.