And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] forwarded for informational purposes only..contents have not been verified.. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 9 Sep 1999 18:34:17 EDT Subject: Report Faults Indian Affairs Bureau Report Faults Indian Affairs Bureau .c The Associated Press By MATT KELLEY WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal agency responsible for most programs serving American Indians is so badly mismanaged it often breaks the law, according to an outside report released Thursday. The Bureau of Indian Affairs ``has been unable to meet the basic requirements for administrative systems within the federal government,'' said the report from the National Academy of Public Administration. ``The lack of credible management at BIA appears to impair its capacity to represent Indians within the administration and before Congress,'' the report said. ``Its administrative problems are real and must be corrected for BIA to meet governmental requirements and regain management credibility.'' BIA head Kevin Gover had asked for the report to provide a blueprint for reforming the often-criticized agency, which has a $1.7 billion budget and oversees programs for 1.2 million Indians in 558 tribes. ``These are deserved criticisms of the bureau,'' Gover said at a news conference where the report was released. The report is the latest to criticize BIA management. A group of Indians also is suing the agency over mismanagement of about $500 million in accounts benefiting individual Indians. The judge in that case held Gover and his boss, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, in contempt of court for repeated delays in handing over documents. At a trial in part of that lawsuit this summer, Gover and Babbitt admitted the funds had been mismanaged for decades but said they were working to fix those problems. Examples of BIA management failures cited by the NAPA report include: Recordkeeping is so incomplete and haphazard that the Interior Department's internal watchdog cannot fully document BIA spending. Money management is so lax that the BIA routinely violates federal laws governing agency finances, including rules on loan costs, debt collections and prompt payments. Systems for buying goods and services have been flawed for decades and are getting worse. Job manuals either are out of date or missing entirely. Gover and Babbitt blamed much of the problem on the BIA's chronic lack of adequate funding, especially budget cuts in 1996 that hit administrative employees the hardest. For years, the BIA cut administrative staff to focus on providing services, Gover and Babbitt said. ``All of a sudden, they're looking around and saying, 'Hey, there's nobody here,''' Babbitt said. Gover, who was appointed in 1997, said he plans to follow several of the report's suggestions immediately. Chief among them is creating a policy, management and budget office to focus on correcting the management problems. Gover said the BIA would likely need as many as 250 new management employees to fix the problems, though he added that estimate was just a guess. The report said fixing the management problems could cost between $10 million and $15 million for new staff. AP-NY-09-09-99 1833EDT Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
