Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Research has shown that many Americans lack the knowledge of basic personal economics they need to make informed financial judgments and manage their money effectively. Yet financial literacy is increasingly important in a world where consumers must choose from an array of complicated financial products and services and employees must take on more responsibility for their retirement savings. Title V of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, known as the Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act, created the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, comprised of 20 federal agencies, and charged it with coordinating federal efforts and developing a national strategy to promote financial literacy. The act also mandated that GAO report on recommendations for improving financial literacy among consumers. To help in developing our work, on July 28, 2004, GAO hosted a forum on the role of the federal government in improving financial literacy. Forum participants included experts in financial literacy and education from federal and state agencies, the financial industry, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions. Participants discussed the topics federal efforts should cover, populations that should be targeted, methods of delivering information, …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 requires that agencies annually review all their programs and activities and identify those that may be susceptible to significant improper payments. It further requires those agencies with improper payments exceeding $10 million to provide a report on the actions being taken to reduce those payments. This testimony updates agency progress in implementing the act based on our review of agency fiscal year 2003 Performance and Accountability Reports for the 15 agencies and 46 programs previously cited in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-11, Section 57. It required those agencies and programs to report improper payment information to the Office of Management and Budget beginning with their fiscal year 2003 budget proposals. The areas we addressed were (1) agencies that reported improper payments information and the programs and activities on which that information was based, (2) amounts of improper payments reported, (3) initiatives agencies reported taking to reduce those payments and the results of those initiatives, and (4) impediments to the prevention or reduction of improper payments reported."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the summer of 2000, the air traffic control system lacked the capacity to handle demand efficiently, and flight delays produced near-gridlock conditions at several U.S. airports. A combination of factors, including the crises instigated by the events of 9/11, temporarily reduced air traffic, but air traffic is now back to near pre-9/11 levels. The ability of the air traffic control system to handle expected traffic in coming years may depend in part on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) effectiveness in planning for a long-expected wave of air traffic controller retirements. GAO's testimony focuses on (1) the magnitude and timing of the pending wave of air traffic controller retirements, (2) the challenges FAA faces in ensuring that well-qualified air traffic controllers are ready to step into the gap created by the expected large number of retirements, and (3) challenges that will affect the ability of the air traffic controller workforce to meet future changes in the airline industry and use of airspace. GAO's statement is based on past reports on the air traffic controller workforce, including GAO's 2002 report that surveyed controllers and analyzed controller workforce data. GAO …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Interstate pipelines carrying natural gas and hazardous liquids (such as petroleum products) are safer to the public than other modes of freight transportation. The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), the federal agency that administers the national regulatory program to ensure safe pipeline transportation, has been undertaking a broad range of activities to make pipeline transportation safer. However, the number of serious accidents--those involving deaths, injuries, and property damage of $50,000 or more--has not fallen. Among other things, OPS takes enforcement action against pipeline operators when safety problems are found. OPS has several enforcement tools to require the correction of safety violations. It can also assess monetary sanctions (civil penalties). This testimony is based on ongoing work for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and for other committees, as required by the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002. The testimony provides preliminary results on (1) the effectiveness of OPS's enforcement strategy and (2) OPS's assessment of civil penalties."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Trade ministers from 146 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), representing 93 percent of global commerce, convened in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003. Their goal was to provide direction for ongoing trade negotiations involving a broad set of issues that included agriculture, nonagricultural market access, services, and special treatment for developing countries. These negotiations, part of the global round of trade liberalizing talks launched in November 2001 at Doha, Qatar, are an important means of providing impetus to the world's economy. The round was supposed to be completed by January 1, 2005. However, the Cancun Ministerial Conference ultimately collapsed without ministers reaching agreement on any of the key issues. GAO was asked to analyze (1) the divisions on key issues for the Cancun Ministerial Conference and how they were dealt with at Cancun and (2) the factors that influenced the outcome of the Cancun Ministerial Conference."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As requested, GAO reviewed coordination practices in various metropolitan areas to find regional programs with lessons learned that could be applied in the National Capital Region (NCR) and elsewhere. We addressed the following questions: (1) In selected metropolitan areas, what factors enhance regional coordination? (2) What features of federal programs enhance regional emergency preparedness coordination? (3) How does regional coordination for emergency preparedness in the NCR incorporate features from other areas and federal programs? For detailed analysis, we selected Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Tampa-St. Petersburg--considered by DHS to be high-threat urban areas because of their population and critical infrastructure, among other factors. We also analyzed regional coordination in the planning and implementation of transportation and environmental programs because of their history of requiring such collaboration. DHS and the District of Columbia's Deputy Mayor/City Administrator generally agreed with our report regarding the characteristics of regional coordination and that the NCR's Urban Area Security Initiative governance structure was relatively advanced."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Computerized control systems perform vital functions across many of our nation's critical infrastructures. For example, in natural gas distribution, they can monitor and control the pressure and flow of gas through pipelines. In October 1997, the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection emphasized the increasing vulnerability of control systems to cyber attacks. The House Committee on Government Reform and its Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census asked GAO to report on potential cyber vulnerabilities, focusing on (1) significant cybersecurity risks associated with control systems (2) potential and reported cyber attacks against these systems (3) key challenges to securing control systems and (4) efforts to strengthen the cybersecurity of control systems."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since September 11, 2001, National Guard and Reserve personnel have served, and will continue to serve, a critical role in the Global War on Terrorism. As a consequence, Congress has focused attention on the fair treatment of reservists and directed GAO to review, among other things, the Department of Defense's (DOD) reserve retirement system. Currently, five legislative proposals exist that would lower the age when eligible reservists can receive their annuities. GAO assessed (1) DOD's reserve retirement system as compared to certain aspects of the active duty retirement system, (2) the extent to which DOD data suggest that changes to the reserve retirement system may be warranted, and (3) the potential costs and effects of the five legislative proposals."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This letter summarizes the issue of overpayments to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and several other federal agencies that resulted from payroll processing errors at the National Finance Center (NFC), and the resulting actions NFC took to address the issue. In the course of testing payroll transactions as part of our audit of the IRS's fiscal years 2003 and 2002 financial statements we found that for some employees of IRS, NFC incorrectly computed agency mandatory contributions to TSP of 2 percent on the employees' base pay instead of the statutorily required 1 percent. We also found that certain employees of other agencies had also been affected, and that these excess contributions had occurred from September 1999 through September 2003. As a result, IRS and these other agencies made contributions to TSP that exceeded statutory requirements for those employees during this period."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Gasoline is subject to dramatic price swings. A multitude of factors affect U.S. gasoline markets, including world crude oil costs and limited refining capacity. Since the 1990s, another factor affecting U.S. gasoline markets has been a wave of mergers in the petroleum industry, several between large oil companies that had previously competed with each other. For example, in 1999, Exxon, the largest U.S. oil company, merged with Mobil, the second largest. This testimony is based primarily on Energy Markets: Effects of Mergers and Market Concentration in the U.S. Petroleum Industry (GAO-04-96, May 17, 2004). This report examined mergers in the industry from the 1990s through 2000, the changes in market concentration (the distribution of market shares among competing firms) and other factors affecting competition in the industry, how U.S. gasoline marketing has changed since the 1990s, and how mergers and market concentration in the industry have affected U.S. gasoline prices at the wholesale level. To address these issues, GAO purchased and analyzed a large body of data and developed state-of-the art econometric models for isolating the effects of eight specific mergers and increased market concentration on wholesale gasoline …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The General Accounting Office (GAO) discussed some of the work the it is undertaking to address various operations and rebuilding efforts in Iraq. Specifically, GAO has a body of ongoing work looking at a range of issues involving Iraq, including Iraq's transitional administrative law, efforts to restore essential services to the Iraqi people, and the effectiveness of logistics activities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, among others. Importantly, given the challenging security environment in Iraq and the various other accountability organizations involved in the oversight process, it is attempting to coordinate its engagement planning and execution with other organizations as appropriate. In this testimony it discussed (1) its report (GAO-04-605) that was released yesterday on the contract award procedures for contracts awarded in fiscal year 2003 to help rebuild Iraq and (2) its preliminary findings on the military's use of global logistics support contracts. These support contracts have emerged as important tools in providing deployed military services with a wide range of logistics services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Columbia tragedy has accentuated the need to modernize the 20-year-old space shuttle, the only U.S. launch system that carries people to and from space. The shuttle will now be needed for another two decades. As it ages, the spacecraft's components will also age, and it may become increasingly unreliable. GAO examined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) plans to upgrade the shuttle through 2020, how it will identify and select what upgrades are needed, how much the upgrades may cost, and what factors will influence that cost over the system's lifetime."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1936, the Social Security Administration (SSA) established the Social Security number (SSN) to track workers' earnings for social security benefit purposes. Today, private and public sector entities frequently ask individuals for SSNs in order to conduct their businesses and sometimes to comply with federal laws. Although uses of SSNs can be beneficial to the public, SSNs are also a key piece of information in creating false identities either for financial misuse or for assuming an individual's identity. The retention of SSNs in the public and private sectors can create opportunities for identity theft. In addition, the aggregation of personal information, such as SSNs, in large corporate databases, as well as the public display of SSNs in various records accessed by the public, may provide criminals the opportunity to easily obtain this personal information. Given the heightened awareness of identity crimes, this testimony focuses on describing (1) how private sector entities obtain, use, and protect SSNs, and (2) public sector uses and protections of SSNs."