Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is accountable for how its agencies and grantees spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and is responsible for safeguarding those funds against improper payments as well as for recouping those funds when improper payments occur. The Congress enacted the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) and the Recovery Auditing Act to address these issues. Fiscal year 2006 marked the 3rd year that agencies were required to report improper payment and recovery audit information in their Performance and Accountability Reports. GAO was asked to testify on the progress agencies have made in these areas. Specifically, GAO focused on (1) trends in agencies' reporting under IPIA from fiscal years 2004 through 2006, (2) challenges in reporting improper payment information and improving internal control, and (3) agencies' reporting of recovery auditing efforts. This testimony is based on GAO's previous reports on agencies' efforts to implement IPIA requirements for fiscal years 2005 and 2004 and current review of available fiscal year 2006 improper payment and recovery auditing information. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provided technical comments that were incorporated as appropriate."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The computer systems that support the Department of Energy's (DOE) civilian research and development programs house enormous amounts of data. Although unclassified, some of the information in these systems is nevertheless sensitive and must be protected from inappropriate access or disclosure. For this reason, DOE property management regulations require the agency to clear the hard drives of all computers before they are transferred into the excess category for reuse or disposal. GAO found that DOE lacks standardized instructions, verification procedures, and training for agency and contract employees on how to properly clear excessed computers. DOE also does not ensure that procedures used to remove all software, information, and data from systems are effective. As a result, some of the excessed computers GAO inspected at DOE headquarters had information still stored on the hard drives."