A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the facts surrounding the ability of the Clinton White House to preserve certain electronic mail (e-mail) deemed official government records. GAO found that two malfunctions occurred in the White House e-mail system that prevented official records from being properly recorded in the Automated Records Management System (ARMS). The first problem involved an anomaly with incoming Internet e-mail users of the "Mail2" e-mail server. The second problem surfaced while the contractor was trying the resolve the first problem. During its efforts to determine the cause of the Mail2 e-mail errors, the letter D was deleted from a key piece of software, causing the ARMS scanner to skip e-mail accounts of users with first names beginning with the letter D. The White House began a costly and time-consuming project to recover e-mail records that had not been effectively managed. Several factors contributed to the cost and scope of the tape restoration project, including the contractor's performance of tape management and systems maintenance and legal scrutiny of e-mail malfunctions by external authorities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The vast majority of U.S. exports are covered by at least one trade agreement. Ensuring that U.S. companies can take advantage of the market opportunities created by trade agreements has therefore become a critical responsibility for U.S. government agencies. GAO examined U.S. government efforts to monitor and enforce trade agreements. Specifically, GAO (1) reviewed how the nature and scope of U.S. trade agreements has changed in the last 10 years and what effect changes had on agencies' monitoring and enforcement workload, (2) evaluated how U.S. government agencies monitor and enforce trade agreements, and (3) analyzed how the U.S. government allocates resources for monitoring and enforcement of trade agreements within the context of other trade activities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Misclassification of national security information impedes effective information sharing, can provide adversaries with information to harm the United States and its allies, and incurs millions of dollars in avoidable administrative costs. As requested, GAO examined (1) whether the implementation of the Department of Defense's (DOD) information security management program, effectively minimizes the risk of misclassification; (2) the extent to which DOD personnel follow established procedures for classifying information, to include correctly marking classified information; (3) the reliability of DOD's annual estimate of its number of classification decisions; and (4) the likelihood of DOD's meeting automatic declassification deadlines."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is the nation's single largest energy consumer, spending approximately $17 billion in fiscal year 2007. A number of statutes and executive orders have established and revised goals directing agencies to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions--such as carbon dioxide, which results from combustion of fossil fuels and natural processes, among other things--and increase renewable energy use. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which (1) federal agencies met energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emission, and renewable energy goals in fiscal year 2007; (2) federal agencies have made progress in each of these areas in the recent past; and (3) six selected agencies are poised to meet energy goals into the future. For this review, GAO, among other things, conducted site visits for six agencies and reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) annual reports to Congress on federal energy management."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the Congress has become increasingly concerned that federal agencies are misclassifying information. Classified information is material containing national defense or foreign policy information determined by the U.S. government to require protection for reasons of national security. GAO was asked to assess the extent to which (1) DOE's training, guidance, and oversight ensure that information is classified and declassified according to established criteria and (2) DOE has found documents to be misclassified."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To obtain government services, members of the public must often provide agencies with personal information, which includes both identifying information (such as name or Social Security number, which can be used to locate to identify someone) and nonidentifying information (such as age or gender). GAO was asked to review agencies' handling of the personal information they collect and whether this handling conforms with federal law, regulation, and agency guidance."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On May 1, 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) will launch its massive follow-up effort with the roughly 48 million households that did not mail back their census forms (130 million forms were delivered). As part of this nonresponse follow-up effort, over 600,000 enumerators will fan out across the country, personally contacting nonresponding housing units as many as six times in an effort to ensure everyone is counted. As requested, GAO's testimony in Los Angeles (L.A.) focuses on the importance of census participation, paying particular attention to (1) the Bureau's preparedness for nonresponse follow-up in terms of workload and staffing levels, (2) why it will be critical for Angelenos and others across the country to cooperate with enumerators during nonresponse follow-up, and (3) key steps the Bureau needs to take moving forward to ensure nonresponse follow-up is timely and accurate. The testimony is based on previously issued and ongoing GAO work."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the National Technical Information Service's (NTIS) financial position, focusing on whether: (1) NTIS can continue to be self-sufficient and, if not, what issues need to be addressed; and (2) NTIS' World News Connection's (WNC) online foreign news service exceeds NTIS' statutory authority to the detriment of private firms offering similar news services."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This is an e-supplement to GAO-09-347. This document presents a bibliography of a literature review conducted as part of our work on emergency department crowding (GAO-09-347). As part of our work to analyze and report on information made available since 2003 about (1) three indicators of emergency department crowding--ambulance diversion, wait times, and patient boarding, and (2) factors that contribute to emergency department crowding, we conducted a literature review of 197 articles, including articles published in peer-reviewed and other periodicals, publications from professional, research, and other organizations, and reports issued by federal and state agencies. In examining the information made available since 2003 about indicators of crowding during our literature review, we also analyzed articles for what was reported on the effect of crowding on patient quality of care and proposed strategies to address crowding. In order to obtain these articles, we conducted structured searches of 16 research databases and obtained articles identified as a result of interviews with federal officials, professional and research organizations, and subject-matter experts, and through searches of related Web sites. We reviewed 197 articles, publications, and reports (which we call articles) …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The free flow of information among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies could prove vital to fighting the war on terrorism. State and local law enforcement officials are key stakeholders in the United States' efforts to combat terrorism, and as such, they may require access to classified national security information to help prevent or respond to terrorist attacks. In order to gain access to such information, state and local law enforcement officials generally need federal security clearances. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) grants security clearances and shares classified information with state and local law enforcement officials. Immediately following September 11, 2001, some state and local law enforcement officials expressed frustration with the complexity of the process for obtaining security clearances. Others expressed frustration with the length of time it took to obtain a security clearance. These frustrations exacerbated the general concern among law enforcement stakeholders that the lack of security clearances could impede the flow of critical information from the FBI to the state and local level, from the state and local level to the FBI, and laterally from one state or local agency …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the disclosure practices and safeguards employed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to protect taxpayer information, focusing on: (1) which federal, state, and local agencies receive taxpayer information from IRS; (2) what type of information they receive; (3) how the taxpayer information is being used; (4) what policies and procedures the agencies are required to follow to safeguard taxpayer information; (5) how frequently IRS is to monitor agencies' adherence to the safeguarding requirements; and (6) the results of IRS' most recent monitoring efforts."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the course of a recent engagement reviewing noncompetitive contracting, we found that departments and agencies in the Department of Defense (DOD) are not submitting complete information, as required, to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OASD[PA]), which then posts the information on its Web site as a public announcement. President Obama has emphasized transparency and openness in how the government spends taxpayer dollars. We are bringing this issue to the attention of the Defense Department's Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy due to its responsibility for acquisition and procurement policy matters in DOD. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires contracting officers to make information on a contract action over a certain dollar amount publicly available on the same day the contract is awarded. The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) further specifies that for contract actions over $5.5 million, departments and agencies are to submit certain information to the OASD(PA) by the close of business the day before the date of the proposed award, including, "as a minimum" (1) contract data, for example, contract number, face value of the action and total cumulative …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO published a functional requirements document intended to assist agencies when developing new systems and when improving or evaluating existing systems. It provides the baseline functionality that agency systems must have in order to support agency missions and comply with laws and regulations. Specifically, the document focuses on (1) micropurchases made with purchase cards, (2) information requirements relative to contract line item number, (3) information requirements relative to internal controls and security, (4) payment and closeout, (5) proposed requirements relating to the standard general ledger, (6) mandatory and value-added requirements, and (7) definitions of terms."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the expenditures of two offices of independent counsel and one office of special counsel for the 6 months ended March 31, 2004."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report describes GAO's audits of expenditures reported by four offices of independent counsel for the six months ended March 31, 2002. GAO found that the statements of expenditures were presented fairly in all material respects. There were no material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting (including safeguarding of assets) and no reportable noncompliance with the laws and regulations GAO tested."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Changes in the air ambulance industry's size and structure have led to differences of opinion about the implications for air ambulance use, safety, and services. Some industry stakeholders believe that greater state regulation would be good for consumers. While states can regulate the medical aspects of air ambulances, the Airline Deregulation Act (ADA) preempts states from economic regulation--i.e., regulating rates, routes, and services--of air ambulances. Other stakeholders view the industry changes as having been beneficial to consumers and see no need for a regulatory change. Asked to review the U.S. air ambulance industry, GAO examined (1) changes in the industry in the last decade and the implications of these changes on the availability of air ambulances and patient services and (2) the relationship between federal and state oversight and regulation of the industry. GAO analyzed available data about the industry; synthesized empirically based literature on the industry; visited four air ambulance providers with differing views on the industry changes; and interviewed federal and industry officials."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 1966 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) established the public's right of access to government information, on the basis of openness and accountability. The 1996 Electronic Freedom of Information Act (e-FOIA) Amendments extended these principles to include electronic access to information. Under the act, the Department of Justice provides implementing guidance to agencies. In addition, agencies report annually to Justice on their FOIA operations. GAO was asked to determine, among other things, (1) agencies' progress in improving their timeliness in responding to requests for information and (2) the actions Justice has taken on previous GAO recommendations (GAO-01-378, Mar. 16, 2001) to improve data quality in annual reports and on-line availability of government information."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hospital emergency departments are a major part of the nation's health care safety net. Of the estimated 119 million visits to U.S. emergency departments in 2006, over 40 percent were paid for by federally-supported programs. These programs--Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program--are administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). There have been reports of crowded conditions in emergency departments, often associated with adverse effects on patient quality of care. In 2003, GAO reported that most emergency departments in metropolitan areas experienced some degree of crowding (Hospital Emergency Departments: Crowded Conditions Vary among Hospitals and Communities, GAO-03-460). For example, two out of every three metropolitan hospitals reported going on ambulance diversion--asking ambulances to bypass their emergency departments and instead transport patients to other facilities. GAO was asked to examine information made available since 2003 on emergency department crowding. GAO examined three indicators of emergency department crowding--ambulance diversion, wait times, and patient boarding--and factors that contribute to crowding. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed national data; conducted a literature review of 197 articles; and interviewed officials from HHS and professional and research …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (CFO Act), as expanded by the Government Management Reform Act of 1994, requires 24 major executive branch departments and agencies to prepare annual financial statements and have them audited. The Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002 (ATD Act) extended this requirement to most executive agencies not explicitly subject to the CFO Act, unless they received a waiver or exemption from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (the Director). Further, chapter 91 of title 31 of the United States Code, commonly referred to as the Government Corporation Control Act, and certain federal agencies' enabling legislation also require annual financial statement audits. Given the importance of timely, reliable, and useful financial information in assessing the overall financial management of the government, Congress asked us to identify executive branch entities that are not subject to the requirements of preparing annual financial statements and having them audited. In addition, Congress was interested in knowing certain budget information related to executive branch entities covered by the ATD Act that had received an exemption or waiver from the Director for fiscal years 2003 …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Electronic dissemination of government documents can reduce distribution costs and make government information more usable and accessible. However, the transition to a paperless environment will require that several challenges be overcome. Transferring the depository library program to the Library of Congress entails both advantages and disadvantages. In studies done in 1993 and 1994, the Library concluded that the depository library program was not inconsistent with the mission and functions of the Library and that it might be appropriate for the Library to oversee this program. However, the Government Printing Office (GPO) believes that the Library is not an appropriate home for the depository library program because the Library's mission and operations are inconsistent with a large-scale information dissemination program. In addition, the studies and librarian organizations raised concerns about the potential negative effects of the transfer on public access to information and the availability of funds to maintain the current program. If a decision is made to transfer the depository library program, the concerns raised by library organizations and employee unions should be addressed. One option for addressing these issues is to form a GPO/Library transition …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes that federal agencies must provide access to their information, enabling the public to learn about government operations and decisions. To help ensure proper implementation, the act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General, giving specific information about their FOIA operations, such as numbers of requests received and processed and median processing times. Also, a recent Executive Order directs agencies to develop plans to improve FOIA operations, including decreasing backlog. For this study, GAO was asked to examine the status and trends of FOIA processing at 25 major agencies as reflected in annual reports, as well as the extent to which improvement plans contain the elements emphasized by the Executive Order. To do so, GAO analyzed the 25 agencies' annual reports and improvement plans."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, the United Nations (UN) began construction associated with its Capital Master Plan (CMP) to renovate its headquarters complex in New York City. As the UN's host country and largest contributor, the United States has a substantial interest in the success of the CMP. In this requested update, GAO reviewed the following key areas: schedule, cost, funding, risk management, procurement, and oversight. To perform this work, GAO reviewed UN documents and met with officials from the CMP office and other UN departments. GAO also reviewed select CMP schedules to assess the extent to which they met best practices for scheduling contained in GAO's Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. To assess oversight and monitoring, GAO reviewed UN documents and oversight reports and interviewed officials from the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services and officials from the U.S. Department of State (State)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2008, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board) approved emergency lending to American International Group, Inc. (AIG)--the first in a series of actions that, together with the Department of the Treasury, authorized $182.3 billion in federal aid to assist the company. Federal Reserve System officials said that their goal was to avert a disorderly failure of AIG, which they believed would have posed systemic risk to the financial system. But these actions were controversial, raising questions about government intervention in the private marketplace. This report discusses (1) key decisions to provide aid to AIG; (2) decisions involving the Maiden Lane III (ML III) special purpose vehicle (SPV), which was a central part of providing assistance to the company; (3) the extent to which actions were consistent with relevant law or policy; and (4) lessons learned from the AIG assistance. To address these issues, GAO focused on the initial assistance to AIG and subsequent creation of ML III. GAO examined a large volume of AIG-related documents, primarily from the Federal Reserve System--the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Government agencies have a long-standing obligation under the Privacy Act of 1974 to protect the privacy of individuals about whom they collect personal information. A number of additional laws have been enacted in recent years directing agency heads to designate senior officials as focal points with overall responsibility for privacy. GAO was asked to (1) describe laws and guidance that set requirements for senior privacy officials within federal agencies, and (2) describe the organizational structures used by agencies to address privacy requirements and assess whether senior officials have oversight over key functions. To achieve these objectives, GAO analyzed the laws and related guidance and analyzed policies and procedures relating to key privacy functions at 12 agencies."