Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a Mar. 12 memo to directors, American Samoa Lt. Gov. Lemanu, who is also acting governor, explained the new vehicle acquisition policy, which provides exemptions to executive branch agencies.

“No new vehicle purchase or lease may be executed without the responsible agency first identifying and initiating procedures for the one-for-one surplus of an existing vehicle whose service is being retired,” Lemanu explained.

He said the objective of the policy is “to ensure no net growth in the size of the government vehicle fleet, and to maintain cost controls over fuel and maintenance expenses.”

Therefore, beginning with the FY 2020 budget cycle, all executive branch agencies are to include vehicle fuel, oil and maintenance in their annual budget submissions. (Samoa News notes that FY 2020 begins Oct. 1, 2019).

He said exceptions to this policy may only be approved by the Governor’s Office and “are limited to special-purpose vehicles such as may be acquired” by Public Works, one of the semiautonomous agencies, or new federal programs providing services to the public.

For the latter, supporting documentation is to include the grant award and ASG Budget Office confirmation of availability of funds, he concluded.

The new policy comes at the heels of a Sept. 28, 2018 audit report by the US Department of Interior, Office of Inspector General (DOI-OIG), which determined that ASG did not have effective internal controls over the use of its vehicles. It found that ASG's vehicle records were inaccurate and incomplete; ASG had no comprehensive and government-wide policy to regulate and monitor the use of government-owned and leased vehicles; and departments did not adhere to available guidance.