A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Public assistance programs make millions of dollars in improper payments every year. Some of these improper payments occur because state and local agencies that run the programs lack adequate, timely information to determine recipients' eligibility for assistance. This inability to share information can result in both federal and state tax dollars being needlessly spent on benefits for the same individuals and families in more than one state. In 1997, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began a project to help states share eligibility information with one another. The public assistance reporting information system (PARIS) interstate match helps states share information on public assistance programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Food Stamps, to identify individuals or families who may be receiving benefit payments in more than one state simultaneously. Officials in almost all of the 16 states and the District of Columbia that participated in PARIS said that the project has helped identify improper TANF, Medicaid, or Food Stamp payments. Despite its successes, the project has several limitations. First, the opportunity to detect improper duplicate payments is not as great as …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed inspectors' general information security audit findings for 24 federal agencies, focusing on: (1) information security weaknesses identified in audit reports issued from July 1999 through August 2000 and GAO's findings with similar information that GAO reported in September 1998; (2) weaknesses and the related risks at selected individual agencies; and (3) the most significant types of weaknesses in each of six categories of general controls that GAO used in its analysis."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 authorizes the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). It promotes the ABC model (Abstain, be faithful, or use Condoms); recommends that 20 percent of funds appropriated pursuant to the act be spent on prevention; and requires that, starting in fiscal year 2006, 33 percent of prevention funds appropriated pursuant to the act be spent on abstinence-until-marriage activities. The Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) oversees PEPFAR and administers the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative (GHAI) account, the main repository for PEPFAR funds. For our April 2006 report, GAO reviewed PEPFAR prevention funding trends; described the PEPFAR strategy to prevent sexual transmission of HIV; and examined related challenges. The report recommended that the Coordinator collect and report information on the effects of the abstinence-until-marriage spending requirement and use it to, among other things, assess whether the requirement should apply only to the GHAI account. OGAC agreed to collect information but disagreed with applying the requirement only to certain funds; GAO modified the recommendation. GAO also suggested Congress use the information to assess how well the requirement supports …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1997, Congress established the mark-to-market program to help preserve the availability and affordability of low-income rental housing while also reducing the cost to the federal government of rental assistance provided to low-income households. The mark-to-market program was developed for multifamily properties that are both insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and aided through the project-based Section 8 program. Under the mark-to-market program, at the time of the assisted properties' section 8 contract renewal, HUD resets rents to prevailing market levels and restructures a property's mortgage debt, if necessary, to permit a positive cash flow. This process is designed to ensure that properties whose rents are reduced to market level still have sufficient income to meet the mortgage payments and operating expenses on the property. The Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring (OMHAR) was established within HUD to administer the mark-to-market program. OMHAR places federally assisted, FHA-insured properties on the watch list when their rents have been reduced to market level under the mark-to-market program but their mortgages have not been restructured. Two-hundred and eleven properties …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) recent 4-year anniversary provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress DHS has made. The creation of DHS was one of the largest federal reorganizations in the last several decades, and GAO has reported that it was an enormous management challenge and that the size, complexity, and importance of the effort made the challenge especially daunting and critical to the nation's security. Our prior work on mergers and acquisitions has found that successful transformations of large organizations, even those faced with less strenuous reorganizations than DHS, can take at least 5 to 7 years to achieve. This testimony is based on our August 2007 report evaluating DHS's progress since March 2003. Specifically, it addresses DHS's progress across 14 mission and management areas and key themes that have affected DHS's implementation efforts."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the federal government's role in helping pay for Medicaid, focusing on how: (1) the current financing scheme works; and (2) it compromises the agreement for federal/state sharing of Medicaid financing."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In August 2000, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) space shuttle program was at a critical juncture. Its workforce had declined significantly since 1995, its flight rate was to double to support the assembly of the International Space Station, and costly safety upgrades were planned to enhance the space shuttle's operation until at least 2012. Workforce reductions were jeopardizing NASA's ability to safely support the shuttle's planned flight rate. Recognizing the need to revitalize the shuttle's workforce, NASA ended its downsizing plans for the shuttle program and began to develop and equip the shuttle fleet with various safety and supportability upgrades. NASA is making progress in revitalizing the shuttle program's workforce. NASA's current budget request projects an increase of more than 200 full-time equivalent staff through fiscal year 2002. NASA has also focused more attention on human capital management in its annual performance plan. However, considerable challenges still lie ahead. Because many of the additional staff are new hires, they will need considerable training and will need to be integrated into the shuttle program. Also, NASA still needs to fully staff areas critical to shuttle safety; deal …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the services) are responsible for administration and implementation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The act generally requires the services to develop recovery plans for endangered and threatened species--species facing extinction or likely to face extinction, respectively. Recovery plans identify threats to the species' survival and the actions needed to mitigate those threats. Proposed amendments to the act are under consideration and GAO was asked to provide information to facilitate this effort. In April 2006, GAO issued a report providing high-level information on the extent to which recovery plans contain estimates of when species are expected to be recovered, among other things. This follow-on report provides more detailed information on the factors that affect species recovery and the importance of recovery plans in recovery efforts. For 31 species--selected because they were nearing recovery, or had significant attention devoted to them and thus would be expected to be making progress towards recovery--GAO (1) identifies factors affecting the length of time to recover the species and (2) describes the role recovery plans have played in …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1990, GAO has considered Medicare at high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The Medicare Integrity Program (MIP) provides funds to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS--the agency that administers Medicare--to safeguard over $300 billion in program payments made on behalf of its beneficiaries. CMS conducts five program integrity activities: audits; medical reviews of claims; determinations of whether Medicare or other insurance sources have primary responsibility for payment, called secondary payer; benefit integrity to address potential fraud cases; and provider education. In this report, GAO determined (1) the amount of MIP funds that CMS has allocated to the five program integrity activities over time, (2) the approach that CMS uses to allocate MIP funds, and (3) how major changes in the Medicare program may affect MIP funding allocations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The importance of prepositioned stocks to the U.S. military was highlighted during recent operations in Iraq, as much of the equipment and supplies stored at land sites in the region and aboard prepositioning ships were used to support operations. Long-standing problems in the Department of Defense's (DOD) prepositioning program are systematic of the inventory management issues, and more recently supply chain management issues, that GAO has considered as high-risk areas since 1990. GAO was asked to review the risks facing DOD's prepositioning programs, including an assessment of (1) the near-term operational risk given the continuing use of these stocks, (2) the sufficiency of DOD and service-level oversight of these prepositioning programs, and (3) whether DOD has developed a coordinated plan for the future of the department's prepositioning programs that would meet the goals of the recently published defense strategy."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2009, GAO reported on doctor shopping in Medicaid, where individuals see several doctors and pharmacies, receiving more of a drug than was intended by any single physician. Questions have been raised about whether similar activity exists in Medicare Part D. GAO was asked to (1) determine the extent to which Medicare beneficiaries obtained frequently abused drugs from multiple prescribers, (2) identify examples of doctor shopping activity, and (3) determine the actions taken by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to limit access to drugs for known abusers. To meet the objectives, GAO analyzed Medicare Part D claims for calendar year 2008 to identify potential doctor shoppers. To identify examples, GAO chose a nonrepresentative selection of 10 beneficiaries based on a number of factors, including the number of prescribers. GAO also interviewed policy officials from CMS and from prescription drug plans that administer the drug benefit program."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has supported the creation of independent inspector general (IG) offices in appropriate federal departments, agencies, and entities through the Inspector General Act of 1978. Under the act, the Export-Import Bank is not required to have IG offices but must report its annual audit and investigative activity to both the Office of Management and Budget and Congress. IG oversight of the Export-Import Bank could be established in several ways. First, the IG Act could be amended to establish an IG appointed either by the President or by the Export-Import Bank Chairman. Also, an already existing IG office could provide independent audits and investigations of the bank. Finally, a memorandum of understanding, which acts as a contract for outside IG services and would not require an amendment to the IG Act, could be created. In the final analysis, the placement of IGs in specific agencies is a policy decision to be decided by Congress."

This report documents two sets of conclusions: the impact of the information revolution driven by rapid advances in communication and computer technology, and how information technology can improve and enrich education.

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Response: DoD Clearinghouse Response to a letter from the BRAC Commission regarding General Mitchell ARS Industrial Consolidation.

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Response: DoD Clearinghouse Response to a letter from the BRAC Commission regarding operational and environmental issues at Ft. Hood, Ft. Bliss, Ft. Sill and Ft. Carson.

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Response: DoD Clearinghouse Response to a letter from the BRAC Commission regarding Pitt USARC.

IEG Briefing Schedule -

Coordination from VADM CHARLES W. MOORE, JR., Acting Navy Infrastructure Steering Group Representative

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Response: DoD Clearinghouse Response to a letter from the BRAC Commission regarding medical proximity request.

Scenario/Activities with Certified Data

Comments and coordination on 21 Nov and 12 Dec ISG Minutes

Email from Ann Davis to Pete Potochney offering suggestions to correct the minutes

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Response: DoD Clearinghouse Response to a letter from the BRAC Commission regarding FRCs and NSA Crane.

Email regarding a system outage and errors in a data table.