A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "About one-third of all military service members make permanent change of station (PCS) moves each year. These moves, which may involve the members' dependents and household goods, are a considerable cost to both the government and individual service members. Not all relocation and moving costs are covered by the government. Reimbursements are based on what property a member was authorized to move and weight allowances that vary by grade and dependents. GAO found that the average duration time between PCS moves was about two years. Personnel who were unmarried and without dependents had the least time between PCS moves. Among the services, the Marine Corps had the shortest average time between PCS moves. Among enlisted personnel, those in the combat occupations had the shortest time between moves; for officers, those who were in the intelligence and tactical operations areas had the shortest average tours. GAO found that the duration of PCS tours was related to satisfaction. Those with shorter time spent between moves were less likely to be satisfied and were more likely to have a spouse who favored the member leaving the military. The most …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the use of intellectual property generated at the Department of Energy's (DOE) laboratories to satisfy defense contractors' offset requirements. GAO found that DOE's laboratory offset requirements have been limited. GAO's discussions with DOE and laboratory management contractors uncovered only 14 instances in which the laboratories' intellectual property were involved in offset projects. GAO also found that management contractors have the right to intellectual property that they produce at DOE laboratories."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To handle staffing shortages and rising workloads, states and other engineering and construction organizations have been relying more on contractors do work that was previously done in-house. This trend is reflected in two state highway departments that GAO visited. Both Arizona and South Carolina were relying extensively on consulting engineers to handle large parts of their workloads. Two recent studies also identified ways in which organizations acquiring design and construction services have dealt with staffing shortages and increased workloads. These include team building, partnering, and involving all stakeholders in the early stages of a project's development and in design review activities throughout the project. The acting Director of the District of Columbia's Department of Public Works, Division of Transportation (DDOT) has started to reorganize the Department to improve performance. Specifically, he plans to increase the use of contractors to supplement DDOT's staff and has established cooperative relationships with other governmental agencies by adopting strategies and best practices that others have found to be effective. The Director also plans to reorganize staff into four project teams that will have all the disciplines necessary to be responsible and accountable for …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The airline industry's losses from the terrorist attacks will total at least $5 billion through December 2001. Even so, carrier-by-carrier losses are likely to vary significantly from the formula-derived allocations of $5 billion. Therefore, some carriers may experience losses higher than their individual formula amount, while others' losses may be lower."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Recent legislation increased funding for food stamp employment and training programs from fiscal year 1998 through fiscal year 2002, when the Food Stamp Program is scheduled to be reauthorized. To qualify for these additional federal funds, states must maintain their state-funded expenditures for employment and training at a level no lower than in fiscal year 1996; these additional funds are referred to as maintenance-of-efforts funds. The act requires that at least 80 percent of all employment and training funds be spent on able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWD). The law also gives the states the option to exempt from the work requirement up to 15 percent of their ABAWD population not residing in a waived area or otherwise exempted from the work requirement. GAO examined (1) the trends in ABAWD participation in the Food Stamp Program, including recent data on ABAWDs who are living in waived areas, exempted from work requirements, participating in qualifying employment and training activities, or working, and (2) the extent to which the states have used employment and training program funding. GAO found that ABAWD participation in the Food Stamp Program has dropped rapidly since …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 allows Haitian nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. The act requires the Comptroller General to report every six months on the number of Haitian nationals who have applied and been approved for legal permanent residence status. GAO found that, as of September 30, 2001, the Immigration and Naturalization Service had received 35,946 applications and had approved 5,072 of them. The Executive Office for Immigration Review had 107 applications filed and had approved 87 of them."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by GAO-01-911G, Grant Financial System Requirements: Checklist for Reviewing Systems Under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act, September 2001. The Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 requires that agencies implement and maintain financial management systems that substantially comply with federal financial management systems requirements. These system requirements are spelled out by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) and the Office of Management and Budget. This checklist reflects JFMIP's revised requirements for grant financial systems to help (1) agencies in implementing and monitoring their grant financial systems and (2) managers and auditors in reviewing agency grant financial systems to determine if they substantially comply with the act."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes AIMD-00-83, Executive Guide: Maximizing the Success of Chief Information Officers (Exposure Draft), March 2000. This guide is intended to assist federal agencies in maximizing the success of chief information officers (CIO). Principles and practices gleaned from the case studies presented in this guide offer concrete suggestions on what agency executives can do to ensure the effectiveness of their CIO organizations. The specific key conditions and strategies described in this guide can be used as suggestions for federal CIOs to apply or adapt to their environments, where appropriate."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted a legislative proposal that would modify Medicare's contracting authority. This report examines (1) the current law and practice in Medicare claims administration contracting, (2) provisions in the proposal that would increase HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) contracting flexibility, and (3) the provisions that deviate from standard federal contracting requirements for full and open competition and indemnification of contractors. Because of statutes and long-standing practices, Medicare claims administration contracting does not follow standard federal contracting rules in several ways. For example, federal agencies can generally terminate a contract at any time, but CMS cannot terminate contracts with Medicare claims administration contractors at the federal government's convenience. The proposed legislation would give CMS the same authority as other federal agencies to retain or terminate contractors. These provisions would increase the agency's flexibility to promote the contractor's performance and accountability. GAO is concerned, however, that the provisions would also allow CMS to bypass federal contracting rules for full and open competition. In addition, the proposal includes a provision that would require CMS to indemnify claims administration contractors from certain …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Jewish War Veterans, U.S.A., National Memorial, Incorporated, for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC), which is expected to provide more than $20 billion in refundable tax credits in fiscal year 2002, is intended to offset the burden of the Social Security payroll tax on low-income workers and encourage low-income individuals to work. About 75 percent of the 17.2 million eligible households have claimed the credit. GAO found that the participation rate varied by the number of qualifying children in the household. Participation rates for households with one or two qualifying children were 96 percent and 93 percent respectively. In contrast, the participation rate for households with three or more qualifying children was 62.5 percent. The participation rate for households with no qualifying children was 44.7 percent. Although qualifying households were eligible to claim $22.3 billion in EICs in 1999, the Internal Revenue Service estimates that participating households actually claimed $20.9 billion."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Some Lyme disease patients and Lyme disease organizations are concerned that federal agencies and advisors have financial interests that may affect their decisions on the funding of Lyme disease research and the approval of Lyme disease products. These agencies include the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This report reviews (1) the financial interests that CDC, NIH, and FDA employees and members of advisory committees working on Lyme disease have reported and (2) how these agencies addressed any potential conflicts of interest identified in those reports. GAO found that CDC, NIH, and FDA have generally met the requirements for disclosure and review of financial interests related to Lyme disease. Employees and special government employees (SGE's) working on Lyme disease-related activities have reported financial holdings in, and arrangements with, health sector firms, travel paid for by health sector firms, and patents related to Lyme disease. Program officials and agency officials reviewed the interests of the employees and determined that they did not present conflicts."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to allegations of improper conduct by senior Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) personnel in connection with an October 1997 retirement dinner for former FBI Assistant Director Larry Potts. The allegations asserted that a conference was scheduled at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia, to provide a reason for senior FBI personnel to travel to Mr. Potts' retirement dinner in Arlington, Virginia, at government expense. GAO determined that the October 1997 FBI investigation of the alleged improper scheduling of a training conference was thorough. FBI and Justice Department investigators reviewed the actions of eight FBI Senior Executive Service (SES) employees. The FBI's Deputy Director issued letters of censure to three of the eight. Two individuals retired before receiving proposed letters of censure. The three remaining individuals were not disciplined because they either had attended both the training conference and the retirement dinner or had some other explanation for traveling to Washington, D.C. The FBI's Law Enforcement Ethics Unit did a study in September 1999 that concluded that a perception existed of a double standard in disciplining SES and non-SES employees. The travel cost to the …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to congressional interest in the communications between Curt Hebert, Jr., Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and Kenneth Lay, Chairman of Enron Corporation which were discussed in an article in the New York Times on May 25, 2001. Concerns were raised these communications might have violated federal criminal statutes or ethics regulations. GAO found that there was no evidence that the Chairman attempted to use public office for private gain or that Mr. Lay offered anything of value to Mr. Herbert."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides information on oil and gas activities in the National Wildlife Refuge System. GAO focuses on (1) how many units produced or had oil or gas activities on their lands in 2000, (2) why these activities took place in these units, (3) the number of these units for which the federal government owned the oil and gas mineral rights, (4) resources available to these units to manage oil and gas activities, and (5) the effects of the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 on leases for oil and gas activities."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the non-profit and non-partisan Federal City Council's (FCC) proposal to use the current site of the Washington Convention Center for the National Museum of American Music (NMAM). The FCC proposal which is now in the conceptual stage anticipates that NMAM will be located at the existing Convention Center site and that it will be part of a major mixed-use complex that includes retail, entertainment, and performance venues. The total estimated cost for FCC's mixed-use proposal is $1.1 billion, with $172.5 million attributed to the music museum. The proposal estimates that the District would receive annual land rent of $13 million, equivalent to a seven-percent return on the estimated land value of $183 million. FCC spent $300,000 in federal appropriations on the project management services provided by the Smithsonian Institution. The District of Columbia has not yet considered any proposals for the use of the Convention Center site. The Mayor has established a task force to study the possible uses for the site, and it is developing a process to both solicit and evaluate independently generated proposals for the site."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2000, the Department of Defense published a proposed revision of its guidelines for developing profit objectives used in contract negotiations. The existing profit policy guidelines address investment in facilities and equipment, performance risk, and contract type risk. For each profit factor, the contracting officer determines an appropriate value and applies it against a specified base to develop the profit objectives. The proposed revision would make the following changes to the profit guidelines: (1) include a fourth element--cost efficiency, that would allow the contracting officer to reward cost reduction efforts; (2) eliminate profit on investment in buildings and reduce the amount of profit derived from equipment investment; (3) increase the amount of profit based on performance risk; and (4) add general and administrative expenses to the cost base used to compute profit for performance risk, contract type risk, and cost efficiency. The decrease in profit for investment in facilities would be offset by the increased profit derived from performance risk and the inclusion of general and administrative expenses."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and securities self-regulatory organizations have taken actions that should help reduce the occurrence of unpaid arbitration awards. However, more time is needed to assess the effectiveness of the actions taken to date. Although recent data suggest that the percentage of unpaid awards has decreased, this data was limited to a very short time span. That data also showed that the problem of unpaid awards was still primarily due to broker-dealers and individual brokers leaving the securities industry without paying awards. The National Association of Securities Dealers-Dispute Resolution, Inc., has developed rules and procedure changes to help address this problem. SEC also plans to continue to monitor the payment of awards and, if nonpayment continues to be a problem, consider other approaches. Insurance coverage of unpaid awards, as proposed by Texas securities attorney William S. Shepherd, could impose additional costs on investors and other market participants and would need to be carefully examined."

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The High-Speed Rail Investment Act of 2001 would allow the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to issue up to $12 billion in "tax credit bonds" over 10 years, primarily for capital improvement projects designated high-speed rail corridors and on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. This report reviews the (1) cost of the bond-financing mechanism and alternatives to the U.S. Treasury, (2) degree to which bond proceeds would meet the capital needs of federally designated high-speed rail corridors, and (3) extent of the federal oversight role. GAO found that the estimated tax credit for Amtrak bonds would cost the U.S. Treasury between $16.6 billion and $19.1 billion (in nominal dollars) over 30 years. The overall capital needs of fully developed federally designed high-speed rail corridors are unknown because these initiatives are in various stages of planning, but preliminary estimates by Amtrak puts the capital costs for fully developed high-speed rail corridors and its Northeast Corridor at between $50 billion and $70 billion over 20 years.The proposed legislation would require the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually on whether the amount of money in the trust account is sufficient …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO performed procedures to determine whether the net federal unemployment tax revenue distributed to the Unemployment Trust Fund for fiscal year 2000 is supported by the underlying records. The procedures GAO agreed to perform include (1) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the UTF and (2) a review of key reconciliations of the Internal Revenue Service records to those of the Department of the Treasury."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO examined the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Heroin Signature Program and Domestic Monitor Program to determine why there were apparent discrepancies in the 1999 statistical data generated by these two programs, particularly in the data on Southwest Asia heroin. GAO focused on why the program data showed heroin seizure information for only one U.S. Pacific Coast international airport. In addition, GAO examined whether enough samples from heroin seizures were being furnished for analysis under the Heroin Signature Program and the extent to which DEA was committed to the Domestic Monitor Program. GAO concluded that the discrepancies in the 1999 statistical data generated by the programs were the result of the two programs' data not being comparable. The reason Heroin Signature Program data showed heroin seizure information for only one U.S. Pacific Coast international airport was because seizures at other Pacific Coast airports during 1999 did not meet federal prosecution guidelines. GAO further found that DEA officials responsible for administering the Heroin Signature Program received enough samples of the heroin seized by federal law enforcement agencies, but did not receive enough samples from state and local law enforcement agencies. …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Big Brothers-Big Sisters of America for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This is one in a series or reports designed to help federal agencies improve or maintain effective internal control, financial management systems, and financial reporting. GAO discusses the status of the 13 remaining standards in Title 2, "Accounting," of the GAO Policy and Procedures Manual for Guidance of Federal Agencies in light of the most recent compendium of Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) standards and guidance. GAO either (1) reprinted the standards that remain in effect, along with any updated citations to relevant guidance, or (2) provided the citation of current guidance replacing that standard."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and veterans service organizations have all raised concerns about the accuracy of claims processing in the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). In 1998, VBA launched its systematic technical accuracy review (STAR) system to better measure the accuracy of claims processing. The system determines accuracy rates for (1) the nation as a whole, (2) each VBA service delivery network, and (3) each VBA regional office. GAO reported in 1999 that the accuracy rates for claims processing at regional offices was being determined by regional staff who themselves were involved in processing claims and who reported to managers responsible for claims processing. This arrangement did not meet either the government's internal control standard calling for the segregation of key duties or the performance audit standard calling for organizational independence for those who review and evaluate program performance. Congress subsequently required VBA to institute a quality assurance program that met government standards. VBA plans to modify the STAR system by October 1, 2001, to bring it into compliance with the standards on the segregation of duties and organizational independence. All STAR reviews will be done by …