The NCAA national office is pursuing assistance from a consultant to examine its various internal and external work processes. The overarching purpose of the review is to address operational areas and to ensure quality control.

The need for such a review was prompted in part by a risk-assessment analysis conducted last year by Deloitte & Touche, LLP. Among the key risks identified during that process was a potential limitation on the NCAA's ability to effectively govern due to legislative intervention or an adverse legal interpretation of NCAA regulations or standards. One of the strategies recommended to mitigate that particular risk was to engage an outside attorney to conduct a systematic review of NCAA procedures involving enforcement investigations, waiver requests, petitions for reinstatement and administrative reviews.

Once the consultant is identified, the national office's enforcement services will be among the first groups reviewed. NCAA President Myles Brand said over the next year or two, other national office groups will be included in similar quality-improvement reviews, "thereby assuring all national office services and functions are operating efficiently and effectively."

An internal team has been established to help identify the consultant who will assist with the review. That group is chaired by Bernard Franklin, NCAA senior vice-president for governance and membership, and includes NCAA General Counsel Elsa Cole. Two membership representatives, professor Josephine Potuto from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and Jack Friedenthal of George Washington University, also serve on the team. Both have experience serving on the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions.

Franklin said the review process, which has been in the planning for some time, connects both with the risk-assessment piece and with the NCAA strategic plan. One of the goals in the strategic plan in fact is to operate the national office in an accountable, effective and efficient manner. "This review is an extension of that directive," Franklin said.

Cole said an outside audit is an appropriate and effective risk-assessment technique that many organizations conduct on a regular basis. As to the fact that enforcement will be the first group reviewed, Cole said the review will focus on current policies and procedures, and the methods in which those practices are communicated.

"The purpose of this review will not be to make any substantive changes as to what kind of NCAA bylaw violations will result in penalties from the infractions committee," she said, "but rather to look at internal procedures and how they are communicated and implemented."

Cole said the review also will identify if there are ways to improve the flow of information and better communicate among staff regarding policies and procedures.

The internal committee expects to identify the consultant and report to the NCAA Executive Committee by the committee's April 28 meeting. The review of enforcement should be completed by October 1. At that time, any recommendations will be submitted to NCAA President Brand for consideration.