U. of C. Admits Overbilling Gov't

The University of California system has admitted to charging the federal government for unallowable costs as part of indirect funds for research.

The government is now in the concluding stages of an audit of 14 universities, of which the University of California was one. The university task force's report to its Board of Regents preempted the government's findings with the results of an in-house review.

Costs Unallowable

Although the complete results of the government's audit have not been released, officials from the nine California campuses concluded that costs billed for flowers, allowance payments to executives, entertainment expenses and first-class travel were unallowable under federal regulations.

But the specific dollar amount of the costs is quite minor and the institution will not have to pay back anything, University of California Controller Joseph A. Pastrone said yesterday.

"We should have subtracted those costs when we were calculating how much the government should reimburse us, but it would not have made much difference," Pastrone said.

But the government has not concluded matters at the University of California, according to Pastrone.

"We don't know anything about the [government's] findings because we're still waiting for the results of the U.S. General Accounting Office's report," Pastrone said.

Government Report

The government will give its report sometime during the first week of December, according to Anthony E. Fimf, an official for the inspector general's office in Washington, D.C.

"As of last week, seven out of the original 14 [universities] had made agreements with the government and we hope to wrap things up soon," Fimf said.