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Puerto Rico: Characteristics of the Island's Maritime Trade and Potential Effects of Modifying the Jones Act
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Jones Act requirements have resulted in a discrete shipping market between Puerto Rico and the United States. Most of the cargo shipped between the United States and Puerto Rico is carried by four Jones Act carriers that provide dedicated, scheduled weekly service using containerships and container barges. Although some vessels are operating beyond their expected useful service life, many have been reconstructed or refurbished. Jones Act dry and liquid bulkcargo vessels also operate in the market, although some shippers report that qualified bulk-cargo vessels may not always be available to meet their needs. Cargo moving between Puerto Rico and foreign destinations is carried by numerous foreign-flag vessels, often with greater capacity, and typically as part of longer global trade routes. Freight rates are determined by a number of factors, including the supply of vessels and consumer demand in the market, as well as costs that carriers face to operate, some of which (e.g., crew costs) are affected by Jones Act requirements. The average freight rates of the four major Jones Act carriers in this market were lower in 2010 than they were in 2006, which was …
Date:
March 14, 2013
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Federal Facility Security: Additional Actions Needed to Help Agencies Comply with Risk Assessment Methodology Standards
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Three of the nine selected agencies' risk assessment methodologies that GAO reviewed—the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of State (State)—fully align with the Interagency Security Committee's (ISC) risk assessment standards, but six do not—the Department of the Interior (DOI), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Federal Protective Service (FPS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). As a result, these six agencies may not have a complete understanding of the risks facing approximately 52,000 federal facilities and may be less able to allocate security resources cost-effectively at the individual facility level or across the agencies' facility portfolios. ISC's The Risk Management Process for Federal Facilities ( RMP ) standard requires that agencies' facility risk assessment methodologies must (1) consider all of the undesirable events identified in the RMP as possible risks to federal facilities, and (2) assess the threat, consequences, and vulnerability to specific undesirable events. Six of the nine agencies' methodologies GAO reviewed do not align with ISC's standards because the methodologies do not (1) consider …
Date:
March 5, 2014
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Federal Food Safety Oversight: Food Safety Working Group Is a Positive First Step but Governmentwide Planning Is Needed to Address Fragmentation
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For more than a decade, GAO has reported on the fragmented nature of federal food safety oversight and how it results in inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources. In 2007, GAO added this issue to its high-risk list. In March 2009, the President established the Food Safety Working Group (FSWG) to coordinate federal efforts and establish food safety goals to make food safer. Section 21 of Public Law 111-139 mandated that GAO identify programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives with duplicative goals and activities. This review examines: (1) steps, if any, that the FSWG has taken to increase collaboration among federal food safety agencies, and (2) options we and others have identified to reduce fragmentation, overlap, and potential duplication in food safety oversight. GAO reviewed information about the FSWG and alternative organizational structures for food safety, and conducted interviews."
Date:
March 18, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Assistance to Yemen: Actions Needed to Improve Oversight of Emergency Food Aid and Assess Security Assistance
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Progress toward U.S. strategic goals for Yemen has been mixed. The Departments of State (State) and Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have conducted numerous civilian and security assistance activities in support of these strategic goals. Although some progress has been made since the civil unrest in 2011, obstacles remain to achieving each goal. For example, while there has been an orderly political transition to a new president, key milestonessuch as convening a national dialogue to promote reconciliationhave been delayed. In addition, while Yemeni security forces have retaken territory seized by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in 2011, the security situation remains unstable."
Date:
March 20, 2013
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Defense Acquisitions: Opportunities Exist to Position Army's Ground Force Modernization Efforts for Success
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2003, the Future Combat System (FCS) program has been the centerpiece of the Army's efforts to transition to a lighter, more agile, and more capable combat force. In 2009, however, concerns over the program's performance led to the Secretary of Defense's decision to significantly restructure and ultimately cancel the program. As a result, the Army has outlined a new approach to ground force modernization. This report (1) outlines the Army's preliminary post-FCS plans and (2) identifies the challenges and opportunities the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Army must address as they proceed with Army ground force modernization efforts. To meet these objectives, GAO reviewed key documents, performed analyses, visited test facilities where the Army evaluated FCS equipment, and interviewed DOD and Army officials."
Date:
March 15, 2010
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Interagency Collaboration: State and Army Personnel Rotation Programs Can Build on Positive Results with Additional Preparation and Evaluation
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""
Date:
March 9, 2012
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Insular Areas: Opportunities Exist to Improve Interior's Grant Oversight and Reduce the Potential for Mismanagement
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. insular areas of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) face serious economic and fiscal challenges and rely on federal funding to deliver critical services. The Department of the Interior (Interior), through its Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), provides roughly $70 million in grant funds annually to increase insular area self-sufficiency. GAO and others have raised concerns regarding insular areas' internal control weaknesses, which increase the risk of grant fund mismanagement. GAO was asked to determine (1) whether previously reported internal control weaknesses have been addressed and, if not, to what extent they are prevalent among OIA grant projects; (2) the challenges, if any, insular areas face in implementing OIA grant projects; and (3) the extent to which OIA has taken action to improve grant project implementation and management. GAO reviewed a random sample of 173 OIA grant files, conducted site visits, and interviewed OIA and insular area officials."
Date:
March 16, 2010
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Debt Management: Buybacks Can Enhance Treasury's Capacity to Manage under Changing Market Conditions [Reissued on March 21, 2012]
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Debt buybacks can help advance Treasury’s goals under a variety of budget and market conditions. For example, Treasury currently faces rollover peaks—large increases in the amounts of maturing debt that must be refinanced at a given time—which expose Treasury to the risk of refinancing large amounts of debt when interest rates are less favorable. All four of our case study countries use debt buybacks to mitigate rollover risk. Buybacks can also be used to enhance liquidity, which can be adversely affected when the growth in borrowing slows rapidly and issue sizes decline significantly. GAO’s illustrative analysis of Treasury’s past buyback program showed that, had Treasury refinanced the debt by simultaneously issuing new debt, it could have captured a liquidity premium—the additional price investors are willing to pay for securities that can be easily traded—which would reduce interest costs."
Date:
March 7, 2012
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Internal Revenue Service: Interim Results of 2012 Tax Filing Season and Summary of the Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, so far this filing season, IRS"
Date:
March 20, 2012
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Poorly Performing Nursing Homes: Special Focus Facilities Are Often Improving, but CMS's Program Could Be Strengthened
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "CMS established the Special Focus Facility (SFF) Program in 1998 to help address poor nursing home performance. States select a subset of homes as SFFs from a list of the 15 poorest performing homes in each state, but the program is limited to 136 homes nationwide because of resource constraints. CMS guidance directs states to survey SFFs twice as frequently as other homes and to propose more robust enforcement, including termination, for SFFs that fail to improve within about 18 months. GAO was asked to (1) determine the factors states consider in selecting SFFs and how SFFs differed from other nursing homes, (2) evaluate CMS regional office and state adherence to program guidance and the program's impact on homes' performance, and (3) identify other strategies that have been used to improve poorly performing homes. In general, GAO's analysis used CMS data from 2005 through 2009 on SFFs and other homes as well as interviews with officials in 14 states selected based on the number of SFFs in each state and other factors."
Date:
March 19, 2010
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Information Security: Agencies Need to Implement Federal Desktop Core Configuration Requirements
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The increase in security incidents and continuing weakness in security controls on information technology systems at federal agencies highlight the continuing need for improved information security. To standardize and strengthen agencies' security, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), launched the Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC) initiative in 2007. GAO was asked to (1) identify the goals, objectives, and requirements of the initiative; (2) determine the status of actions federal agencies have taken, or plan to take, to implement the initiative; and (3) identify the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned in implementing this initiative. To accomplish this, GAO reviewed policies, plans, and other documents at the 24 major executive branch agencies; reviewed OMB and NIST guidance and documentation; and interviewed officials."
Date:
March 12, 2010
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Prescription Drugs: FDA Has Met Most Performance Goals for Reviewing Applications
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "FDA met most performance goals for priority and standard NDAs and BLAs received from FY 2000 through FY 2010. FDA meets its performance goals by completing its review and issuing an action lettersuch as an approval or a response detailing deficiencies that are preventing the application from being approvedfor a specified percentage of applications within a designated period of time. FDA designates NDAs and BLAs as either priorityif the product would provide significant therapeutic benefits when compared to available drugsor standard. FDA met the performance goals for both priority and standard NDAs and BLAs for 10 of the 11 fiscal years GAO examined; FDA did not meet either of the goals for FY 2008. Although FDA had not yet issued an action letter for all of the applications it received in FY 2011 and results are therefore preliminary, FDA was meeting the goals for both priority and standard NDAs and BLAs on which it had taken action. Meanwhile, FDA review time for NDAs and BLAsthe time elapsed between FDAs receipt of an application and issuance of an action letterincreased slightly from FY 2000 through FY 2010. …
Date:
March 30, 2012
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Federal Rulemaking: Regulatory Review Processes Could Be Enhanced
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2007, GAO found that agencies had conducted more retrospective reviews of the costs and benefits of existing regulation than was readily apparent, especially to the public. Requirements in statutes or executive directives were sometimes the impetus for reviews, but agencies more often conducted these retrospective reviews based on their own discretionary authorities. Agencies reported that discretionary reviews more often generated actions, such as amending regulations or changes to guidance. GAO also found that multiple factors, such as data limitations and lack of transparency, impeded agencies' reviews. GAO made 7 recommendations in 2007 to improve the effectiveness and transparency of retrospective regulatory reviews. Among GAO's recommendations were: minimum standards for documenting and reporting completed review results; including public input as a factor in regulatory review decisions; and consideration of how agencies will measure the performance of new regulations. In 2011 and 2012, the administration issued new directives to agencies on how they should plan and conduct analyses of existing regulations that addressed each of GAO's recommendations."
Date:
March 11, 2014
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Private Health Insurance: Data on Application and Coverage Denials
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The large percentage of Americans that rely on private health insurance for health care coverage could expand with enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010. Until PPACA is fully implemented, some consumers seeking coverage can have their applications for enrollment denied, and those enrolled may face denials of coverage for specific medical services. PPACA required GAO to study the rates of such application and coverage denials. GAO reviewed the data available on denials of (1) applications for enrollment and (2) coverage for medical services. GAO reviewed newly available nationwide data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 459 insurers operating in the individual market on application denials from January through March 2010. GAO also reviewed a year or more of the available data from six states on the rates of application and coverage denials and the rates and outcomes of appeals related to coverage denials. The six states included all states identified by experts and in the literature as collecting data on the rates of application or coverage denials and together represented over 20 percent of private …
Date:
March 16, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Federal Contracting: Effort to Consolidate Governmentwide Acquisition Data Systems Should Be Reassessed
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The development of IAE has occurred in two stages using different acquisition strategies. In 2001, GSA began establishing a portfolio of standardized government-wide data systems through an acquisition strategy known as adopt, adapt, acquire. GSA adopted or adapted existing agency-specific systems for government-wide use, or if no viable system met an identified need, GSA acquired a new system. These efforts resulted in a portfolio of nine data systems. In 2008, GSA began consolidating its portfolio of systems into one integrated system called the System for Award Management (SAM). In developing the system, GSA hoped to eliminate redundancy, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. Unlike the existing systems that were each designed, developed, and operated by a single contractor, IAE relies on multiple vendors to perform these same tasks for SAM. The intent of this approach is to enhance competition and innovation and for the government to own the software associated with the system. SAM will be developed in phases. In each phase, capabilities from selected IAE systems will be added to SAM and those legacy systems will be shut down."
Date:
March 15, 2012
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Defense Acquisitions: Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) 2012 portfolio of 86 major defense acquisition programs is estimated to cost a total of $1.6 trillion, reflecting decreases in both size and cost from the 2011 portfolio. Those decreases are largely the result of more programs exiting than entering the portfolio, as well as reductions in procurement quantities due to program cancelations and restructurings. Notably a majority of programs in the portfolio gained buying power in the last year as their acquisition unit costs decreased. DOD's 10 costliest programs, excluding the Missile Defense Agency's Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), drive most of the portfolio's cost performance and funding needs. The majority (65 percent) of the funding that DOD estimates it will need to complete its current programs is associated with those 10 programs, and almost all of that funding is for procurement."
Date:
March 28, 2013
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Information Technology: OMB Has Made Improvements to Its Dashboard, but Further Work Is Needed by Agencies and OMB to Ensure Data Accuracy
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Each year the federal government spends billions of dollars on information technology (IT) investments. Given the importance of oversight, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) established a public Web site, referred to as the IT Dashboard, that provides detailed information on about 800 federal IT investments, including assessments of actual performance against cost and schedule targets (referred to as ratings). In the second of a series of Dashboard reviews, GAO was asked to (1) determine OMB's efforts to improve the Dashboard and how it is using data from the Dashboard, and (2) examine the accuracy of the Dashboard's cost and schedule performance ratings. To do so, GAO analyzed documentation on OMB oversight efforts and Dashboard improvement plans, compared the performance of 10 major investments from five agencies with large IT budgets against the ratings on the Dashboard, and interviewed OMB and agency officials."
Date:
March 15, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Department of Labor: Further Management Improvements Needed to Address Information Technology and Financial Controls
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Labor (Labor) plays a vital role in promoting the welfare of American workers through administering and enforcing more than 180 federal laws that cover some 10 million employers and 125 million workers. Since the recent economic downturn, Labor's role has become even more critical as its programs provide additional employment and training supports. As such, GAO was asked to determine how well Labor is currently adhering to best management practices departmentwide to ensure that its programs are operating effectively. Specifically, this report assesses Labor's (1) strategic workforce management, (2) management controls to manage and modernize its information technology, and (3) accountability over its discretionary grants. To do this, GAO collected and reviewed Labor documents related to workforce and information technology planning, as well as grants management information, and conducted interviews with Labor's national and regional staff."
Date:
March 16, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Federal Student Loans: Better Oversight Could Improve Defaulted Loan Rehabilitation
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Education (Education) relies on collection agencies to assist borrowers in rehabilitating defaulted student loans, which allows borrowers who make nine on-time monthly payments within 10 months to have the default removed from their credit reports. Education works with 22 collection agencies to locate borrowers and explain repayment options, including rehabilitation. From fiscal years 2011 to 2013, Education collected about $9 billion on over 1.5 million loans through rehabilitation, most of which was recovered by collection agencies."
Date:
March 6, 2014
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Border Security: Opportunities Exist to Ensure More Effective Use of DHS's Air and Marine Assets
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAOs analysis of the Office of Air and Marine (OAM) data found that OAM met 73 percent of the 38,662 air support requests and 88 percent of the 9,913 marine support requests received in fiscal year 2010. The level of support differed by location, customers, and type of mission. For example, in its northern region OAM met air support requests 77 percent of the time and in its southeast region, it met these requests 60 percent of the time. The main reasons for unmet air and marine support requests were maintenance and adverse weather, respectively. OAM has taken actions, such as developing an aircraft modernization plan and purchasing all-weather vessels, to address these issues."
Date:
March 30, 2012
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan: Additional Actions Needed to Strengthen Management and Assess Effectiveness
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) schedules and Life-cycle Cost Estimates for the Arizona Border Surveillance Technology Plan (the Plan) reflect some, but not all, best practices. Scheduling best practices are summarized into four characteristics of reliable schedules—comprehensive, well constructed, credible, and controlled (i.e., schedules are periodically updated and progress is monitored). GAO assessed CBP's schedules as of March 2013 for the three highest-cost programs that represent 97 percent of the Plan's estimated cost. GAO found that schedules for two of the programs at least partially met each characteristic (i.e., satisfied about half of the criterion), and the schedule for the other program at least minimally met each characteristic (i.e., satisfied a small portion of the criterion), as shown in the table below. For example, the schedule for one of the Plan's programs partially met the characteristic of being credible in that CBP had performed a schedule risk analysis for the program, but the risk analysis was not based on any connection between risks and specific activities. For another program, the schedule minimally met the characteristic of being controlled in …
Date:
March 3, 2014
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Crop Insurance: Savings Would Result from Program Changes and Greater Use of Data Mining
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""
Date:
March 13, 2012
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Contracting Reform: Agency Has Made Progress with Implementation, but Contractors Have Not Met All Performance Standards
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 significantly reformed contracting for payment of Medicare's $310 billion per year in fee-for-service claims. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is transitioning claims administration to 19 new entities known as Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) and plans to complete the process ahead of October 1, 2011, the date required by law. In 2005, GAO reported that CMS's plan to accelerate the transition could create challenges and was based on estimated costs and savings that were uncertain. In this report GAO examined (1) how CMS has implemented Medicare contracting reform; (2) how CMS assessed the performance of the MACs and what the results of its assessments have been; and (3) what CMS's costs and savings have been for Medicare contracting reform. GAO selected a sample of 6 transitions to review from among the 10 MAC contracts awarded as of June 2008, based on factors such as geographic diversity, volume of claims workload, and transition complexity. GAO analyzed CMS documents related to the MAC transitions, including performance assessments for 3 of the 6 MACs in the sample …
Date:
March 25, 2010
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Manufacturing Extension Partnership: Most Federal Spending Directly Supports Work with Manufacturers, but Distribution Could Be Improved
A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Of the approximately $608 million spent by the Department of Commerce's (Commerce) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in fiscal years 2009 through 2013 on the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, NIST used most of the funds to directly support MEP centers. Specifically, NIST spent about $495 million on awards to centers and spent the rest on contracts, staff, agency-wide overhead charges, and other items, some of which NIST considered direct support and some of which NIST considered administrative spending. Although NIST is not required to track, and has not historically tracked, administrative spending, NIST officials told GAO the agency developed definitions of direct support and administrative spending in fiscal year 2013 in response to congressional interest, then conducted an analysis of fiscal year 2013 federal MEP program spending using those definitions. NIST defines direct support spending as spending that directly supports the MEP center system's work with manufacturing firms, such as awards to centers or contracts to train MEP center staff on how to quickly assess innovative ideas for new products. NIST considers all other spending to be administrative, including spending on performance evaluations …
Date:
March 27, 2014
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library