Allegation of Cost Mischarging by Defense Telecommunications Service-Washington

We performed this audit in response to a complaint to the Defense Hotline. The complainant alleged that Bell Atlantic was charging the DoD, through the Defense Telecommunications Service-Washington (DTS-W), for 5,000 telephone lines that the DTS-W was not showing as part of its inventory. The DTS-W provides telecommunications equipment, facilities, and services to DoD components m the National Capital Region. It manages approximately 177,000 telephone lines and maintains a consolidated inventory of telephone lines, cell phones, pagers, calling cards, and other telecommunications products. DTS-W relies on customer reimbursements to pay vendors and operating costs. As a reimbursable operation, the DTS-W cannot incur a profit or loss. Audit Objectives. Our primary audit objective was to determine whether DTS-W charged customers based on accurate telecommunications billing data. We also evaluated the management control program as it applied to the primary objective.