
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102210098
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

GAO: GOVERNMENT OFTEN DOESN'T KNOW WHAT IT HAS FOR SALE

The government has a hard time selling assets inherited from failed savings institutions because it often can't figure out what it has to sell, the head of the congressional investigation agency said Wednesday.

Charles A. Bowsher, comptroller general of the General Accounting Office, identified deficiencies in the Resolution Trust Corp.'s information system as the agency's No. 1 problem.

Those deficiencies likely are behind the rash of complaints from people who say they cannot get a response when they offer to buy property the government has inherited from bankrupt thrifts, he told the House Banking Committee.

Bowsher's testimony, billed as the GAO's report card on the first 18 months of the corporation's work, came as the House panel prepared to vote next Tuesday on the Bush administration's request for more bailout money.

Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady has asked Congress to provide open-ended spending authority for bailouts on top of the $50 billion provided in the 1989 thrift rescue law.

Bowsher, however, said he agreed with members of Congress who opposed such an "open checkbook." He said Congress should provide an additional $30 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and $50 billion more for the year after that.

Some legislators want to keep the agency on a tighter leash, arguing that it will not improve its performance without regular prodding by Congress.

"I'm fully convinced the RTC has lost control of the situation," said Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, chairman of the House committee.

Bowsher said the agency has a "fair and open" process for selling the failed S&Ls it seizes and his auditors have been unable to uncover any evidence of fraud or political favoritism.

But he said the agency needs to do a better job in selling the assets it has inherited from failed thrifts and needs a better system for overseeing the private contractors charged with selling the assets.

"The lack of contract oversight has already left the RTC in the position of paying its contractors in full when there is only partial or poor performance," he said.

by CNB