Congress urged to hold Thrift Savings Plan officials more accountable

Thrift Savings Plan officials should be held more accountable to Congress, the General Accounting Office said in a report issued Thursday.

In the rare cases when TSP officials ignore recommendations from their Labor Department overseers, the Labor Department has no recourse to hold TSP officials accountable, GAO said in the report (GAO-03-400). Congress should create a process for the Labor Department to report its concerns to lawmakers when Labor is unhappy with TSP officials' actions, the report said.

The TSP holds $100 billion in retirement savings for 3 million federal employees and military personnel.

The TSP board sends annual audit reports to Congress. But members of Congress have become concerned about TSP management since a contract to modernize the TSP's computer systems failed and the TSP board became embroiled in a bureaucratic battle with the Labor Department over the board's efforts to sue the modernization contractor.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., and Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., requested the GAO report.

Under federal law, the Labor Department audits the TSP board's activities to make sure the board is looking out for TSP participants' interests. Of the 810 recommendations that Labor has made to the TSP board since the TSP's inception in the mid-1980s, the TSP board has implemented 95 percent, according to Labor Department statistics. Many of the other recommendations are set to be implemented this year.

But in cases when the TSP board and Labor do not agree, such as in the computer contractor case, Labor can't do anything about it.

Andrew Saul, chairman of the TSP board, said in a letter to GAO that putting more oversight on the audit process is a fine idea.

"To the extent that the additional reporting you recommend is not duplicative, we believe it could enhance confidence in the program," Saul said.