Implementation of the Communications Assistance
For Law Enforcement Act
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Report No. 02-14
March 2002
Office of the Inspector General

SCOPE AND BACKGROUND

The CALEA required the Comptroller General to report to Congress on the implementation of the CALEA biannually beginning April 1, 1996. The CALEA was subsequently amended to give the DOJ OIG this reporting responsibility. On April 1, 1996, the Comptroller General reported that law enforcement requirements had not been completed and, as a result, carriers had neither modified any equipment, facilities, or services nor requested or received reimbursement from the FBI.

We performed the audit in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. Our audit covered the period April 2000 through December 2001. Our procedures were designed to determine the status of the CALEA implementation activities in line with our legislative mandate. In this regard, carriers had made no modifications, and the FBI had made no payments to carriers for modifications. Further, the FBI had made no projections of future costs for individual carrier system modifications. Therefore, we limited our review to the method the FBI used to enter into the RTU agreements.

The DOJ assigned the responsibility for the implementation of the CALEA to the FBI. The FBI established the CALEA Implementation Section (CIS) in its Laboratory Division and the Telecommunications Contract and Audit Unit (TCAU) in its Finance Division to carry out these responsibilities.

The CIS was responsible for development of the CALEA-mandated requirements in concert with other federal, state, and local law enforcement agency and industry representatives. Once the requirements were developed, the CIS worked with these representatives to develop and deploy necessary methods and products to implement these requirements.

The TCAU was primarily responsible for awarding and administering all agreements involving the implementation of the CALEA. The TCAU consisted of a contract group and a contract audit group. The contract group drafted and promulgated regulations, executed individual agreements, and obligated and disbursed funds pursuant to the CALEA implementation. The contract audit group assisted in the development of independent government cost estimates and provided audit support for the implementation of the CALEA.