Military Personnel: Additional Actions Are Needed to Strengthen DOD's and the Coast Guard's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Programs (open access)

Military Personnel: Additional Actions Are Needed to Strengthen DOD's and the Coast Guard's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Programs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Sexual assault is a crime with negative implications to military readiness and esprit de corps. In response to a congressional request, GAO, in 2008, reviewed Department of Defense (DOD) and U.S. Coast Guard sexual assault prevention and response programs and recommended a number of improvements. GAO was subsequently asked to evaluate the extent to which (1) DOD has addressed GAO's 2008 recommendations and further developed its programs, (2) DOD has established a sexual assault database, and (3) the Coast Guard has addressed GAO's 2008 recommendations and further developed its programs. To do so, GAO analyzed legislative requirements and program guidance, interviewed officials, and compared database implementation efforts to key information technology best practices."
Date: February 3, 2010
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear Weapons: NNSA Needs to Refine and More Effectively Manage Its New Approach for Assessing and Certifying Nuclear Weapons (open access)

Nuclear Weapons: NNSA Needs to Refine and More Effectively Manage Its New Approach for Assessing and Certifying Nuclear Weapons

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1992, the United States began a unilateral moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons. To compensate for the lack of testing, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) developed the Stockpile Stewardship Program to assess and certify the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. In 2001, NNSA's weapons laboratories began developing what is intended to be a common framework for a new methodology for assessing and certifying the safety and reliability of the nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. GAO was asked to evaluate (1) the new methodology NNSA is developing and (2) NNSA's management of the implementation of this new methodology."
Date: February 3, 2006
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Military Child Care: DOD Is Taking Actions to Address Awareness and Availability Barriers (open access)

Military Child Care: DOD Is Taking Actions to Address Awareness and Availability Barriers

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Out-of-pocket costs for military families who use DOD-subsidized child care are largely driven by policies that vary by service. DOD establishes income-based fee ranges for on-installation child care, but each service sets its own fees and discounts within these parameters. As a result, in school year 2010 the per-child costs that families from the same income categories paid for on-installation care varied by service and installation. For example, the monthly per-child cost for a family with an income of $50,000 could have ranged from $335 to $518. Families’ costs for off-installation child care through private providers are also affected by policy differences among the services. All services offer subsidies for off-installation care that are intended to make families’ costs comparable to those for on-installation care. In an effort to offer benefits to more families, some services use a fixed cap to limit the subsidy amount. In school year 2010, the Air Force and Navy capped their subsidies at $200 per child per month, and families in these services had higher average monthly costs for off-installation care than Army and Marine Corps families, and also had higher …
Date: February 3, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Office of Compliance: Status of Management Control Efforts to Improve Effectiveness (open access)

Office of Compliance: Status of Management Control Efforts to Improve Effectiveness

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Consolidated Appropriations Resolution of 2003 Conference Report mandated that GAO review the Office of Compliance (OOC), an independent legislative branch agency created by the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA). OOC, a 15-person office with about $2 million in expenditures during fiscal year 2003, administers and enforces various CAA provisions related to fair employment and occupational safety and health among certain legislative branch agencies. OOC's current Executive Director has been in place since April 2001 and its General Counsel joined the Office in June 2003. The mandate directed GAO to assess the OOC's overall effectiveness and efficiency and to make recommendations, as appropriate."
Date: February 3, 2004
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Motor Carrier Safety: Modifying the Compliance, Safety, Accountability Program Would Improve the Ability to Identify High Risk Carriers (open access)

Federal Motor Carrier Safety: Modifying the Compliance, Safety, Accountability Program Would Improve the Ability to Identify High Risk Carriers

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program has helped the agency contact or investigate more motor carrier companies that own commercial trucks and buses and has provided a range of safety benefits to safety officials, law enforcement, and the industry than the previous approach, SafeStat. Specifically, from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2012, FMCSA more than doubled its number of annual interventions, largely by sending warning letters to riskier carriers."
Date: February 3, 2014
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Management: Additional Cost Information and Stakeholder Input Needed to Assess Military Posture in Europe (open access)

Defense Management: Additional Cost Information and Stakeholder Input Needed to Assess Military Posture in Europe

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced sweeping changes to restructure U.S. military presence overseas and reduce military posture in Europe. In August, 2010, the Secretary of Defense called for a review of DOD operations and activities to identify opportunities to decrease costs in order to free funds to support other DOD priorities. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs asked GAO to determine the extent to which the European Command (EUCOM) (1) estimates and reports the total cost of DOD's installations in Europe and (2) has defined methods for evaluating posture alternatives and including the views of interagency stakeholders in its posture planning process. To address these objectives, GAO assessed DOD plans and guidance, reviewed planning efforts in EUCOM, and collected obligations data from the military services for the military construction, family housing, and operation and maintenance appropriations."
Date: February 3, 2011
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Food Safety: FDA Should Strengthen Its Oversight of Food Ingredients Determined to Be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) (open access)

Food Safety: FDA Should Strengthen Its Oversight of Food Ingredients Determined to Be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is responsible for ensuring the safety of most of the U.S. food supply, is not required to review substances, such as spices and preservatives, added to food that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for their intended use. Currently, companies may determine a substance is GRAS without FDA's approval or knowledge. However, a few substances previously considered GRAS have later been banned; and concerns have been raised about the safety of other GRAS substances, including those containing engineered nanomaterials, materials manufactured at a tiny scale to take advantage of novel properties. GAO was asked to review the extent to which (1) FDA's oversight of new GRAS determinations helps ensure the safety of these substances, (2) FDA ensures the continued safety of current GRAS substances, and (3) FDA's approach to regulating engineered nanomaterials in GRAS substances helps ensure the safety of the food supply. GAO reviewed FDA data on GRAS substances and interviewed a range of stakeholders, among other things."
Date: February 3, 2010
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
USDA Reorganization: Progress Mixed in Modernizing the Delivery of Services (open access)

USDA Reorganization: Progress Mixed in Modernizing the Delivery of Services

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to modernize and reorganize its county-based agencies, focusing on: (1) identifying USDA's major reorganization and modernization initiatives for these agencies; (2) examining the progress USDA has made in completing these initiatives; and (3) identifying major issues impeding progress toward completing the initiatives."
Date: February 3, 2000
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public-Private Partnerships: Key Elements of Federal Building and Facility Partnerships (open access)

Public-Private Partnerships: Key Elements of Federal Building and Facility Partnerships

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the key elements of partnerships between the federal government and the private sector that were formed to help the government acquire and operate federal real estate and facilities more efficiently and effectively, focusing on the experiences of six federal partnerships formed by the: (1) National Park Service; (2) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); and (3) Postal Service (USPS)."
Date: February 3, 1999
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human Capital Management: FAA's Reform Effort Requires a More Strategic Approach (open access)

Human Capital Management: FAA's Reform Effort Requires a More Strategic Approach

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1996, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) undertook a human capital reform effort under one of the most flexible human capital management environments in the federal government, including broad exemptions from title 5 laws governing federal civilian personnel management. GAO was asked (1) to examine the changes FAA initiated in its reform effort, including whether they required an exemption from title 5 and their implementation status; (2) determine the effects of the reform effort according to available data and the views of FAA officials, managers, and employees; and (3) assess the extent to which FAA's reform effort incorporated elements that are important to effective human capital management."
Date: February 3, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library