Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes GAO-01-554G, Property Management Systems Requirements: Checklist for Reviewing Systems Under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (Exposure Draft), June 2001. The Joint Financial Management Improvement Program's Property Management Systems Requirements assist (1) agencies implement and monitor their property management systems and (2) managers and auditors review agency property management systems to determine if they substantially comply with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act. This checklist is provided as a tool for use by experienced staff and is one in a series of documents issued by GAO to help agencies improve or maintain effective operations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) progress in implementing key components of Title 32 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 including NNSA's reorganization efforts; integrated planning, programming, and budgeting improvements; use of its excepted service personnel authority; and efforts to improve its procurement practices. GAO found that although NNSA announced a new headquarters organization in May 2001, the reorganization did not clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the headquarters organizational units and did not address NNSA's field organization at all. More importantly, NNSA still lacks an overall organizational structure that clearly addresses long-standing issues such as the division of roles and responsibilities among headquarters offices and between headquarters and field staff. NNSA lost some momentum during the summer of 2001 as it reevaluated its efforts to develop a new planning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation process. NNSA now has established a conceptual process and begun to develop the necessary implementation plans and procedures. However, because of the broad scope of the work needed to develop these plans and procedures, it will be difficult to fully implement NNSA's process in time for the …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of their plan to form an international alliance, American Airlines (AA) and British Airways (BA) have sought immunity from antitrust laws in the United States and Europe. The extent to which the alliance might come to dominate the routes between major U.S. cities and London will depend on whether other airlines are able to enter this market under an open skies agreement. Some passengers may benefit from the larger network created by an AA/BA alliance, but GAO believes that the overall benefits of such an alliance may be limited for several reasons. First, continuing constraints in slots, gates, and terminal facilities at London's Heathrow Airport and BA's corporate strategy for reducing its overall capacity would limit potential benefits. Second, several carriers are already serving many of the markets that the AA/BA alliance plans to serve. Third, neither AA nor BA claim that the alliance would generate substantial operational savings that could be passed on to stockholders, employees, and customers. A full review of the competitive effects of this and other alliances is needed because GAO's analysis suggests that a grant of antitrust immunity could enable the …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 1997 peer review of the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General (IG) done by the Environmental Protection Agency IG resulted in a qualified opinion. The peer review report questioned the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG and said that the reviewed audits did not fully comply with Government Auditing Standards. The 2000 peer review done by the Department of the Treasury IG for Tax Administration (TIGTA) also resulted in a unqualified opinion. Although TIGTA cited several problems, the peer review report concluded that the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG reasonably ensured compliance with auditing standards. However, after the peer review had been completed, a letter was sent to Congress, the press, and others questioning the integrity of the documentation that the DOD IG provided to the TIGTA peer review staff. A DOD IG internal investigation later confirmed that the work papers for one of the audits chosen for peer review had been altered and destroyed. The report concluded that these actions violated Government Auditing Standards, internal DOD IG audit policies, and the expectations of the external peer review staff. TIGTA then withdrew …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The General Services Administration's (GSA) two online procurement systems--GSA Advantage! and information Technology Solutions Shop--lack basic management controls to ensure the systems produce reliable data, can not be inappropriately modified, and provide continuous service. These controls are increasingly important because government agencies are expected to increase their use of these systems and GSA relies heavily on contractors for systems operations and maintenance. Moreover, Congress and other oversight entities need to be able to rely on these systems to assess the effectiveness of government contracting programs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States Capitol Preservation Commission receives commemorative coin surcharge funds authorized by the United States Capitol Visitor Center Commemorative Coin Act of 1999. Under the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997 and the U.S. Mint's Compliance Procedures for Surcharge Eligibility, the commission must meet certain requirements before receiving available coin surcharge funds. The commission must provide the U.S. Mint with eligibility-related assertions associated with the commission's receipt and use of private matching funds, and an independent auditor must examine the assertions. GAO found that the assertion about the commission's receipt and use of private matching funds pursuant to the law and the U.S. Mint's Compliance Procedures for Surcharge Eligibility are fairly stated in all respects."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 1997 peer review of the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General (IG) done by the Environmental Protection Agency IG resulted in a qualified opinion. The peer review report questioned the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG and said that the reviewed audits did not fully comply with Government Auditing Standards. The 2000 peer review done by the Department of the Treasury IG for Tax Administration (TIGTA) also resulted in a unqualified opinion. Although TIGTA cited several problems, the peer review report concluded that the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG reasonably ensured compliance with auditing standards. However, after the peer review had been completed, a letter was sent to Congress, the press, and others questioning the integrity of the documentation that the DOD IG provided to the TIGTA peer review staff. A DOD IG internal investigation later confirmed that the work papers for one of the audits chosen for peer review had been altered and destroyed. The report concluded that these actions violated Government Auditing Standards, internal DOD IG audit policies, and the expectations of the external peer review staff. TIGTA then withdrew …

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 "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 "GAO surveyed 26 agencies not subject to the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990. Overall, the surveyed agencies reported that they either achieved significant benefits or would anticipate achieving such benefits from having audited financial statements. The level of effort to prepare financial statements and prepare for an audit varied significantly with the size and other characteristics of the agencies. In determining whether agencies should prepare financial statements and have them audited, respondents identified a combination of factors to consider, including budget authority, key financial statement amounts, and the type of agency operations. Irrespective of the importance of such factors, 21 of the 26 agencies reported that federal agencies should have their financial statements audited."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its audit of the U.S. government's fiscal year 2000 financial statements, GAO reviewed computer controls over key financial systems maintained and operated by the Federal Reserve Banks (FRB) on behalf of the Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) and the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD). GAO identified opportunities to improve general controls related to access at two data centers; access, system software, and service continuity at a third data center; and access and system software at a fourth data center. GAO also identified opportunities to improve authorization controls over four key applications and accuracy controls over one of these key applications. FRB had corrected or mitigated the risks associated with all vulnerabilities discussed in earlier GAO reports. Although the general and application controls identified do not pose significant risks to the FMS and BPD financial systems, they warrant action to decrease the risk of inappropriate disclosure and modification of sensitive data and programs, misuse of or damage to computer resources, and disruption of critical operations."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A statement of budgetary resources (SBR) and related disclosures can provide useful information on the budgetary resources provided to a federal agency as well as the status of those resources at the end of a fiscal year. The audit of an SBR and other disclosures can help assess the reliability of a reported budget execution data and the amounts reported as "actual" in the President's budget. The audit also tests provisions of relevant laws and regulations that significantly affect the financial statements, including budget restrictions. An earlier GAO review found that the SBR was not always properly audited and that explanations of material differences between the SBR and the President's Budget were not always disclosed as required. These deficiencies break the linkage between the documents and make it difficult to assess the reliability of budget execution data."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With the recent anthrax attacks on Congress and the media, the U.S. Postal Service faces a new and more immediate challenge of responding and developing a plan to safeguard the mail system from future attacks. GAO held a conference, on December 10, 2001, with representatives from Congress, the Postal Service, and many of the Service's key stakeholders to discuss possible options to enhance mail security and postal operations. The conference participants agreed that there is no single or simple solution for ensuring the safety of mail. Nevertheless, they agreed that the Service, the mailing industry, and other stakeholders should work closely together to assess current risks, develop a framework for responding to potential threats, and take immediate steps to secure the safety of the mail to restore public confidence.Participants also agreed that detection technology is essential for securing the mail and they emphasized the need for enhanced efficiency of postal operations."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the long-term viability of the Social Security program. Social Security's Trust Funds will not be exhausted until 2038, but the trustees now project that the program's cash demands on the rest of the federal government will begin much sooner. Aiming for sustainable solvency would increase the chance that future policymakers would not have to face these difficult questions on a recurring basis. GAO has developed the following criteria for evaluating Social Security reform proposals: financing sustainable solvency, balancing adequacy and equity, and implementing and administering reforms. These criteria seek to balance financial and economic considerations with benefit adequacy and equity issues and the administrative challenges associated with various proposals. GAO's recent report on Social Security and income adequacy (GAO-02-62) makes three key points. First, no single measure of adequacy provides a complete picture; each measure reflects a different outlook on what adequacy means. Second, given the projected long-term financial shortfall of the program, it is important to compare proposals to both benefits at currently promised levels and benefits funded at current tax levels. Third, various approaches to benefit reductions would have differing effects on adequacy."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The testimony discusses debt collection efforts by two major components at the Department of Agriculture--the Rural Housing Service (RHS) and the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 requires agencies to (1) notify the Department of the Treasury of debts more than 180 days delinquent for the purposes of administrative offset against any amounts that might otherwise be due and (2) refer such debts to Treasury for centralized collection. To facilitate collection, agencies can administratively garnish the wages of delinquent debtors throughout government. GAO found that agencies are excluding most reported debt more than 180 days delinquent from referral requirements. To more fully realize the benefits of debt collection, agencies need to improve their implementation of the act. The Financial Management Service is making steady progress in collecting delinquent federal non-tax debt through the Treasury Offset Program--a mandatory governmentwide debt collection program that compares delinquent debtor debt to federal payment data. Agriculture and other agencies still have not used administrative wage garnishment to collect delinquent non-tax debt even though experts have testified that it can be an extremely powerful tool for debt collection. If …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reflects the results of a collaborative effort between GAO and representatives of the Secretary of Education. As required by the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, GAO formed a study group to identify and evaluate a means of establishing a market mechanism for the delivery of student loans. This study group consisted of representatives of the Department of the Treasury, Office of Management and Budget, Congressional Budget Office, entities making Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans and other entities in the financial services community, and other participants in the student loan market. The group met as a whole four times before the public release of a draft of this report, and various group members corresponded with GAO and Education between group meetings as well. The mandate called for the evaluation of at least three different market mechanisms relative to 13 criteria. In consultation with the study group, GAO selected five general models for further evaluation--adjustments to the current system and four additional market mechanism models. Adjustments to the current system, in which information would be collected from current market transactions for use in determining …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands provides direct U.S. economic assistance and extends U.S. domestic programs and federal services to these two Pacific Island nations. The Compact also allows for migration from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands to the United States and establishes U.S. defense rights and obligations in the region. The Compact's economic assistance provisions were scheduled to expire in late 2001. However, the provisions will remain in effect for two more months while the United States and the two Pacific Island nations renegotiate them. Congress must renegotiate and reauthorize the expiring provisions by late 2003 for economic assistance to continue uninterrupted. The $1.6 billion provided under the Compact through 1998 has had little impact on economic development in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and was subject to limited accountability. U.S. oversight was limited by interagency disagreements between the Departments of Interior and State, a lack of resources devoted to Compact oversight, and Interior's belief that Compact provisions restricted its ability to require accountability and withhold funds. Because of the lack …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report compares prices for prescription drugs purchased using drug discount cards with prices available at local pharmacies or over the Internet. Using a list of 17 widely prescribed drugs, GAO documents prices from (1) five companies that administer large drug discount card programs, (2) five Internet pharmacies, and (3) several retail pharmacies in four different areas."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the late 1980's, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Defense Programs altered its mission. Instead of designing, testing, and building new nuclear weapons, the Office began to focus on maintaining the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile indefinitely without nuclear testing. This mission is performed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semiautonomous agency within DOD. GAO found that NNSA's Office of Defense Programs is not developing a comprehensive stockpile life extension program plan as called for in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000. The Office believes their fiscal year 2002 budget submittal fulfills the spirit of the legislative requirement, and they have no plans to complete a comprehensive plan for the stockpile life extension program, other than to again include certain high-level refurbishment-related information in the fiscal year 2003 budget request. The Office is trying to improve the planning processes for some individual weapon life extension programs as well as their overall planning processes; however, they have no plans to integrate the individual life extension plans into an overall program."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO assessed agencies' validation of data submitted by prime contractors on their subcontracting achievements. Of $77 billion in subcontracting reported in fiscal year 2000, $31 billion went to small businesses, such as women-owned, and small disadvantaged businesses, as well as those located in historically underutilized business zones. Both civilian and defense agencies follow a similar process to validate subcontracting data--one that involves visiting contractors, assessing compliance with subcontracting plans, and evaluating accounting systems as well as management support of the subcontracting program. Most contractors GAO reviewed are making good faith efforts to comply with their subcontracting plans. However, these reviews could be improved to enhance the validation and use of subcontracting data."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the U.S. Customs Service's Compliance Measurement Examination (COMPEX) and Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) Inspections Traveler Examination (INTEX). These programs, which help Customs and INS assess the nature and extent of enforcement risks at ports of entry, compare violations found during targeted inspections with violations found during random inspections. GAO found that both Customs and INS inspectors did not always adhere to guidance on sample selection and did not always conduct inspections with the minimum level of thoroughness required. As a result, statistical data generated by the programs may not reliably reflect the extent to which travelers who seek entry into the U.S. are in violation of customs or immigration laws. GAO also found that the COMPEX and INTEX programs both draw from the same population of international travelers; have similar purposes and goals; and often use Customs and INS inspectors who work side by side, particularly at land border ports of entry. Customs and INS might realize efficiencies if the two programs were combined."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing may pay members of the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters to evaluate interpreters, and related questions (RQ-0393-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Longevity pay for certain assisstant prosecutors (RQ-0397-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether statutes cited in various contracts under which certain Kerr County has transferred funds to certain nonprofit entites authorize the County to make the transfers (RQ-398-JC)