AUDIT OF THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EXPLOSIVES’ NATIONAL RESPONSE TEAM
On the other hand, our audit identified weaknesses relating to the utilization, effectiveness, and management of the NRT Program. Our review of ATF data revealed that some ATF field divisions did not request NRT assistance often. We found that ATF field divisions requested NRT assistance on 63 of the 631 cases that met the criteria for the NRT’s assistance. Nine field divisions did not use the NRT at all between FYs 2007 and 2009, and three field divisions only used the team one time during those 3 years.
We also found that ATF does not review the NRT’s utilization statistics and therefore is unaware of how often, or how infrequently, certain field divisions use the NRT as an investigative resource. Further, while ATF sends satisfaction surveys to the state and local agencies that work with the NRT, the response rate on these surveys is limited, and ATF performs no follow-up on the surveys.