Bottled Water: FDA Safety and Consumer Protections Are Often Less Stringent Than Comparable EPA Protections for Tap Water (open access)

Bottled Water: FDA Safety and Consumer Protections Are Often Less Stringent Than Comparable EPA Protections for Tap Water

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past decade, per capita consumption of bottled water in the United States has more than doubled. With this increase have come several concerns in recent years about the safety, quality, and environmental impacts of bottled water. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as a food and is responsible for ensuring that domestic and imported bottled water is safe and truthfully labeled. Among other things, GAO (1) evaluated the extent to which FDA regulates and ensures the quality and safety of bottled water; (2) evaluated the extent to which federal and state authorities regulate the accuracy of labels and claims regarding the purity and source of bottled water; and (3) identified the environmental and other impacts of bottled water. GAO reviewed FDA data, reports, and requirements for bottled water; conducted a state survey of all 50 states and the District of Columbia; reviewed bottled water labels; and interviewed FDA officials and key experts."
Date: June 22, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Army Corps of Engineers: Recent Changes Have Reduced the Use of Continuing Contracts, but Management Processes Need to Be Improved (open access)

Army Corps of Engineers: Recent Changes Have Reduced the Use of Continuing Contracts, but Management Processes Need to Be Improved

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has had the authority to award multiyear contracts--continuing contracts--without having received appropriations to cover the full contract amount. In 2006, Congress limited the Corps' use of such contracts by prohibiting obligations made in advance of appropriations. In response, the Corps developed a new clause that stopped work once funding for a fiscal year was expended. GAO was mandated to examine (1) the accuracy of the Corps' fiscal years 2007 and 2008 quarterly reports to Congress about continuing contracts that included the new clause, (2) the extent to which the Corps' use of continuing contacts with the new clause may have affected its execution of the Civil Works program during this time, and (3) the extent to which the Corps followed legal procedures in implementing the new clause. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed Corps documents, such as its quarterly reports and bid protests, federal procurement laws, and interviewed officials."
Date: June 22, 2009
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library