WASHINGTON--Federal investigators charged at a Congressional hearing here yesterday that Harvard University inappropriately billed the government almost one million dollars last year.

According to a recently completed audit conducted by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and presented to Congress yesterday, the Harvard Medical School included shuttle bus costs, legal fees, travel expenses and athletic facility costs as overhead costs on research charged to the government.

GAO officials also rejected an accounting system that the Medical School used to charge an extra $663,000 to the government during fiscal year 1991.

In addition to the new allegations about the University's indirect cost accounting, Rep. John D. Dingell (D--Mich.) and his House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations focused on more serious charges Directed at Stanford University and MIT, as well as the troubled condition of the government's over sight system.

Panelists and subcommittee members yesterday repeatedly lamented the "systemic" problems of the research overhead issue, problems that have resulted in overbillings at dozens of universities.

All told, some federal investigators say, American universities may have taken the government for as much as $1 billion in the name of research. Certainly, they say, $500 million is an accurate figure.

Harvard Medical School avoided the intense scrutiny of the subcommittee for most of the day, but ran into problems during government testimony on a few issues.

In particular, the Medical School's high indirect cost rate drew some hostile questions from some representatives.

With an 88 percent provisional rate, the Medical School bills the government more for every dollar spent on research than any other research university. And Harvard is currently asking the government to a approve a hike to 96 percent.

This would mean that for every dollar the Medical School receives in federal grant monies, the government would provide an extra 96 cents to help pay overhead costs, including building depreciation and administrative expenses.

"MIT and particularly Harvard Medical could be described, I believe, as being very aggressive in their reimbursement request policies," testified one GAO official, J. Dexter Peach, during the hearings.

Subcommittee member Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R--Va.) said he was concerned with how the Department of Health and human services would set the Medical School's rate.

"Is there any kind of audit going on at Harvard?" asked Bliley, wondering how a fair rate could be determined in the absence of an audit.

Bliley suggested an alternative in the case theHarvard and the government could not agree on arate.

"HHS can take their research somewhere else,too," Bliley said. "They would have that option."

The GAO aired several new charges during thehearing yesterday about the University's latestreimbursement request to the government.