Independent Attestation Review: National Institutes of Health Fiscal Year 2012 Performance Summary Report for National Drug Control Activities and Accompanying Required Assertions

We performed an attestation review of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Performance Summary Report for National Drug Control Activities and accompanying required assertions for the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2012.

As authorized by Federal statute (21 U.S.C. § 1703(d)(7)), and in compliance with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Circular, Drug Control Accounting, dated May 1, 2007, ONDCP requested that we perform this review. Each National Drug Control Program agency must submit to the Director of ONDCP an annual evaluation of the progress by the agency with respect to drug control program goals using the performance measures established for that agency (21 U.S.C. § 1703(b)(13)). The Circular provides the requirements for the report, including requirements for the agencies' assertions to its accuracy.

Based on our review, except for the fact that NIH's performance measures may not meet ONDCP's expectations for reporting the scope or complexity of NIH's national drug control activities, nothing came to our attention that caused us to believe that NIH's Performance Summary Report for FY 2012 and management's assertions accompanying its report were not fairly stated, in all material respects, based on the ONDCP Circular.