REPORT TO THE CONGRESS llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll LM094988 Planning For America’s Bicentennial Celebration- A Progress Report BYTHECOMPTROLLERGENERAL OFTHE UNITED STATES RED-75373 JUPdE 681975 COMPTROUER GENERAL OF THE UNITED !STATES WASHINGTON. D.C. a%0548 TO the President of the Senate and the 51 Speaker of the House of Representatives This report describes the planning for America ‘s Bicentennial celebration. It also describes actions taken to eliminate several problems identified in an earlier report by our Office. Our review was made pursuant to the Sudget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 53), and the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 67). G-je are sending copies of this report to the Director, Office of ivianagement and Budget; the Domestic Council of the Executive Office of the ?resident; the Secretary of the Inter ior; the Administrator of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, andg&intzted ot ’ G Comptroller General of the United States contents Page DIGEST i CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 THE CELEBRATIONOF THE BICENTENNIAL Federal t States 7 Local Private Sector ;: Participation by foreign governments 16 3 ACTIVITIES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BICENTENNIAL ADMINISTRATION 17 Changes in approach toward the celebration Bicentennial Administration programs ;; Recognition of projects/events 23 4 OPERATIONOF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BICENTENNIAL ADMINISTRATION 31 Personnel management 31 Funds available for financing operations 34 5 CONCLUSIONS 38 6 SCOPE OF REVIEW 39 APPENDIX I Letter dated April 18, 1975, from the Administrator, American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, to the General Accounting Office 41 II Letter dated April 17, 1975, from the Director of Audit and Investigation, United States Department of the Interior, to the General Accounting Office 44 APPENDIX Page III Summary of 1,766 Federal Bicentennial programs or activities granted official recognition by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration 45 IV Partial listing of private sector projects 53 V Composition of the American Revolution Bicentennial Board 54 VI Members of the American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Council - appointed January 20, 1975 55 VII Twenty-five items and product areas established as suitable for licensing 57 VIII Listing of 133 programs granted national recognition by the Administration 58 IX Principal officials of the American Revolution Bicentennial Conmission and the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration responsible for the administration of the activities dis- cussed in this report 61 COl@TROLLERGENER4L ‘S PLANNINGFOR AMERICA'S RBFORTTO THE CONGRESS BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION- A PROGRESSREPORT DIGEST --mm-- lj ..j c2.k- L” *’ WHYTHE REVIEW WASMADE project which manifests the pride, prloritles, and hopes GAO's review originated from a of his community, request by the Honorable Michael J, Harrlngton, ljou~-of-Rej%%$ta:- From September 1970 through May Aives, concerning activities of 1973, much of the Commission's the American Revolutlon Bicenten- 4c: effort was directed toward devela i nial Administration, With his -I oping concepts for (1) a major /concurrence, the review was ex- exposition in Philadelphia, Penn= panded to include activities sylvania, which would serve as a planned by groups other than the focal point for lnternationa Administration. participations and (2) Bicenk en= n-la1 parks in each et the 50 FINDINGSAND CONCLUSIONS States to serve also as focal points for the Bicentennial cele- The American Revolution Bicenten- bration in 1976. nial Commission was established July 4, 1966, to plan and develop The Philadelphia exposition con- the commemoration of the 200th cept was abandoned in May 1972 anniversary of the United States and the Bicentennial park concept through local, State, national, was abandoned in May 1973. In and international activities. both cases, cost was a major fac- (See p. 1.) The overall plan tor in the decision. (See P* 1.1 provided for a Bicentennial cele- bration embracing three themes. Because of concern over the ef- (See Pm 1.1 fectiveness of the Bicentennial \.J??/((/" _I: ommission, the House Committee ' 1. Heritage '76 - A summons to /con the Judiciary concluded that every American to recall his the Commission organization was heriiage and place it in its not suited to managing Bicenten- historical perspective. nial programs. The Committee introduced legislation abolish- 2. Festival U.S.A. - An opportu- ing the Bicentennial Commission nity to encourage every Amer- and establishing the Bicentennial ican citizen to expand his Administration. This legislation knowledge of his country and was enacted by the Congress as to extend a welcome to Public Law 93-179, approved De- visitors. cember 11, 1973. (See Pa 3.1 3. Horizons '76 - A challenge Bicentennial celebration to every American to under- take at least one principal In the Federal Government, RED-75-373 Tear Sheet. Upon removal, the report cover date should be noted hereon. i Bicentennial projects are devel- has established a Bicentennial oped by the agencies and depart- planning group and has one or ments. If new funding is more projects that will have a required, the proposed projects residual benefit beyond 1976. As are submitted (1) to a special of April 1, 1975, a total of 3,502 task force within the President's communities had been recognized as Domestic Council for evaluating Bp~c~~t~nnial communities. (See and determining whether the funds for the projects should be re- quested in the President's budg- Additionally, most of the State et, and (2) to the Bicentennial commissions are sponsoring proj- Administration for consideration ects of their own. Responses by for national recognition. 35 State commissions to a GAO questionnaire identified revenues Through April 4, 1975, about and expenditures by State commis- $150 million had been received by sions through September 30, 1974, Federal agencies for Bicentennial to be $12.3 million and $8.9 projects. The President's fiscal million, respectively. year 1976 budget includes a re- quest for $80.1 million for such The revenues were comprised of projects. (See P- 5.1 $6.3 million from State appro- priations, $4.4 million from the As of April 4, 1975, the Bicen- Federal Bicentennial Administra- tennial Administration had either tion, and $1.6 million from other granted or was in the process of sources. The reported expendi- granting official Bicentennial tures were comprised of $4.1 mil- recognition to 1,766 F &r-al lion for State commission opera- projects. (See P- 4. 'j tions, $2.6 million for grants to 713 individual projects, and $2.2 The involvement of individual million for promotional activities Federal agencies varies from a and other types of expenditures. small number of programs to more (See p. 9.) than 1,500 programs or activities At the local level, 114 communi- In the 50 States, the District of ties that responded to a ques- Columbia, the Commonwealth of tionnaire GAO sent to 276 Bicen- Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, tennial communities indicated Guam, and American Samoa, Bicen- that they were involved in devel- tennial or State commissions have oping a total of 2,993 projects been established. (See PO 2) at an estimated cost of $215 mil- lion. These communities are pur- These commissions work with the suing a variety of projects which Bicentennial Administration in have relevance to the sponsoring processing grant applications, community. (See p, 13.) recognizing projects, and recog- nizing communities as Bicenten- The Bicentennial Administration nial communities. is also directing efforts towards encouraging private sectors to A community may be recognized as participate in the celebration. a Bicentennial community if it Two projects, the "World of ii Franklin and Jefferson" and the --Licensing Program--a program "American Freedom Train" are ex- for licensing official Bicen- amples of private sector tennial souvenirs. (See P* 28.1 involvement. (See p. 14.) --Commemorative Medal and Stamp As of April 15, 1975, approxi- Program. (See p. 19.) mately 40 countries were planning to participate in the Bicenten- The original Commission was not nial, 26 of which had established funded and had no expenditures ~ic~r$nnial Commissions. (See during fiscal years 1966 through . 1968. During fiscal years 1969 through 1974, the Bicentennial Progress under the Commission/Administration had re- Adninistration ceived approximately $42 million in appropriations, revenues, and The Bicentennial Administration donations and had expended or ob- has directed its efforts primar- ligated for expenditure approxi- ily toward encouraging, assist- mately $37 million. ing, and coordinating Bicentennial projects, activities, and events, For fiscal year 1975, the Congress at the State and local community appropriated $9.7 million to the levels. Over the first 16 months Bicentennial Administration. of its operations, the number of GAO's review of the Bicentennial thematic area projects increased Commission/Administration's ex- from 742 at January 10, 1974, to penditures did not reveal any 6,899 at April 15, 1975. These major irregularities. (See P* 35.1 projects consist of 3,078 under the Heritage theme, 2,240 under In a December 21, 1972, report the Festival theme, and 1,581 (B-1668501, GAO noted weaknesses ;nd;; ;he Horizons theme. (See in the operations of the Bicenten- . nial Commission involving under- staffing of the thematic areas The encouragement, development, and the use of consultants in full- and coordination of