NASA OIG: Antideficiency Act Violations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Full report (PDF)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Inspector General initiated this audit at the request of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). In October 2005, OMB informed the Office of Inspector General that NASA may have violated Section 1517(a), Title 31, United States Code, commonly known as the Antideficiency Act (ADA). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the violations occurred.

NASA, as a result of action by officials in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), violated the ADA by authorizing and obligating funds without apportionment from OMB. Specifically, during fiscal year (FY) 2005, NASA authorized and obligated about $1.6 billion in unobligated balances carried over from FY 2004 before requesting apportionment from OMB. During FY 2004, NASA authorized and obligated about $30.4 million more than the amount of funds that OMB had apportioned for one account.

After NASA violated the ADA by authorizing and obligating the unapportioned funds, NASA requested, and OMB approved, FY 2005 apportionments of about $2 billion in unobligated balances carried over from FY 2004. In addition, in September 2005, NASA requested that OMB reapportion about $30.4 million in FY 2004 funds from one account to cover an overobligation in another account, but OMB denied the request. NASA corrected the overobligation by modifying two contracts to change the funding source from 2004 to 2005.

The ADA violations occurred because of the lack of internal controls within the OCFO and OCFO personnel’s misunderstanding of OMB apportionment requirements.