Letter from O&I to the CDC regarding it’s reorganization and management of financial resources.

Dr. Julie Gerberding
Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30333

Dear Dr. Gerberding:

As part of its public health oversight responsibilities, the Committee on Energy and Commerce monitors the management of HHS agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Committee’s oversight interest is to ensure that the CDC effectively manages its financial resources and its reorganization. We note that since June 2003 the CDC has been undergoing a major restructuring as part of the agency’s Futures Initiative to modernize the agency’s operating structure for the first time since 1980. One of the changes involves creating a layer of “coordinating centers” to foster collaboration across CDC and consolidate services to save money. Some CDC employees have raised concerns that these changes will make CDC more cumbersome and bureaucratic, taking time and resources away from scientific programs directly benefiting the public. More specifically, we understand that an outside consulting firm in a draft report dated July 2006 found that the CDC’s finance office is plagued with inefficiency and ineffective leadership.

In addition to the concerns about reorganization and financial management, we are also interested in learning how CDC manages its scientific resources such as human tissue samples and laboratory equipment. We would like to learn more about how the CDC maintains effective control and management of the inventory of human tissue samples and other types of CDC property, including microscopes, scales, computers, and other laboratory equipment.

Given the Committee’s interest in CDC management issues and pursuant to Rules X and XI of the U.S. House of Representatives, we request that the CDC provide the following by November 6, 2006:

1. A briefing about the status of the CDC’s reorganization plan with Committee staff.
2. A copy of the draft internal assessment of the Financial Management Office dated July 2006 prepared by Deloitte Consulting, and copies of any subsequent drafts or final versions. Please include attachments.
3. Certain information about the CDC’s control, management, and inventory of human tissue samples: (1) The current total number of human tissue samples maintained at CDC, with a breakdown for each center and the types of samples (e.g., blood, brain tissue, spinal fluid, e.g.); (2) The current total number of laboratories at CDC that maintain human tissue samples and the current total number of laboratories that have a tracking system accounting in place for the human tissue samples; (3) For CDC and each center, if applicable, copies of any direction, instruction, guideline, or policy relating to the handling of human tissue samples; and (4) A detailed description of the recordkeeping systems used to track human tissue samples at CDC.
4. Certain information about the rules and regulations of the CDC concerning property management and accounting of laboratory equipment: (1) How many missing property reports have been filed within the past three years? Were any of these reports resolved? (2) How many investigations have been conducted into the theft or disappearance of CDC property in the past three years? What were the results of the investigations? (3) The name(s) and title(s) of the official(s) responsible for maintaining the property inventories for the CDC; (4) current listing of unaccounted CDC property.

If you have any questions, please contact Alan Slobodin of the Majority Committee staff at (202) 225-2927.

Sincerely,

Joe Barton
Chairman

Ed Whitfield
Chairman
Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations