A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes that federal agencies must provide access to their information, enabling the public to learn about government operations and decisions. To help ensure proper implementation, the act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General, giving specific information about their FOIA operations, such as numbers of requests received and processed and median processing times. Also, a recent Executive Order directs agencies to develop plans to improve FOIA operations, including decreasing backlog. For this study, GAO was asked to examine the status and trends of FOIA processing at 25 major agencies as reflected in annual reports, as well as the extent to which improvement plans contain the elements emphasized by the Executive Order. To do so, GAO analyzed the 25 agencies' annual reports and improvement plans."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2005, the United Nations (UN) has been attempting to reform its management processes, in part to help ensure that resources are used effectively and efficiently. Some of these reforms focus on improving oversight and accountability at the United Nations. In this report, GAO examines the extent to which selected UN organizations' (1) internal audit offices have implemented professional standards for performing audits and investigations, (2) evaluation offices have implemented UN evaluation standards, and (3) governing bodies are provided with information about the results of UN oversight practices. GAO obtained and analyzed international standards and relevant documents from six of the largest UN organizations, and also met with U.S. and UN officials."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In this document, GAO provides guidance on complying with government auditing standards reporting requirements for the report on internal control for audits of certain entities subject to the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Government Auditing Standards."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) recommendations affected 62 percent of the flying units in the Air National Guard (ANG) with 14 units losing their flying mission, and others converting from one type of aircraft to another, or increasing or decreasing assigned aircraft. To implement the recommendations, ANG must relocate hundreds of aircraft and retrain or recruit about 15,000 personnel by 2011. In this report, GAO addresses the status of efforts to implement the ANG BRAC actions. GAO's objectives were to determine (1) the process to provide replacement missions to units losing flying missions, (2) the progress and challenges in implementing the BRAC actions, and (3) changes to the cost and savings estimates. This report, prepared under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations on his own initiative, is one in a series of reports related to 2005 BRAC recommendations. GAO conducted its work at the Air Force, ANG headquarters, and in 11 states affected by BRAC 2005"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We have performed the procedures contained in the enclosure to this report, which we agreed to perform and with which the Department of Trasnportation (DOT) concurred, solely to assist your office in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2007, is supported by the underlying records. As agreed with your office, we evaluated fiscal year 2007 activity affecting distributions to the HTF. In performing the agreed-upon procedures, we conducted our work in accordance with U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, which incorporate financial audit and attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. These standards also provide guidance for performing and reporting the results of agreed-upon procedures. The adequacy of the procedures to meet your objectives is your responsibility, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform were related to (1) transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the HTF, (2) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly HTF receipt certifications, (3) the Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service adjustments to the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "More than a quarter of automobiles and about a third of light trucks (including sport utility vehicles, vans, and pickup trucks) on the roadways of the United States have one or more tires underinflated 8 pounds per square inch (psi) or more below the level recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, according to a report by the Department of Transportation's (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A decrease in tire pressure can be caused by poor maintenance, driving habits, punctures, road conditions, and the quality of material used in tire construction. According to tire experts, under normal driving conditions, air-filled tires can lose from 1 to 2 psi per month as air permeates through the tires. Vehicles with underinflated tires have had handling problems that caused crashes resulting in fatalities and injuries. In addition, the fuel economy of vehicles driving on underinflated tires is slightly lower. In response to a Congressional request for information on these issues, we addressed the following questions: (1) What is the impact of tire underinflation on safety and fuel economy, and what actions has the federal government taken to promote proper tire inflation? …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) created a voluntary outpatient prescription drug benefit as part of the Medicare program, and appropriated up to $500 million for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to fund the start-up administrative costs in meeting its responsibilities to implement MMA. SSA was given a great deal of discretion in how to use the funds and the act provided little detail on how the funds were to be spent. You asked us to review SSA's costs for implementing MMA to determine (1) how the MMA funds were expended, (2) what procedures SSA has in place over the use of those funds, and (3) how SSA complied with those procedures related to contractor and vendor payments."

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by GAO-07-1173G, Financial Audit Manual: Volume Three, August 2007. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) maintain the GAO/PCIE Financial Audit Manual (FAM). The FAM provides guidance for performing financial statement audits of federal entities. The FAM is a key tool for enhancing accountability over taxpayer-provided resources."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Major changes in the mailing industry have reinforced the need for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to reduce costs and increase efficiency. In its 2002 Transformation Plan, USPS proposed doing so by realigning its mail processing network. The objectives of this requested report are to (1) describe the status of the initiatives USPS has developed for realignment; (2) evaluate how the planning, impacts, and results of these initiatives align with realignment goals; and (3) evaluate USPS's communication practices with stakeholders in making realignment decisions."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Legion of Valor of the United States of America, Inc., for fiscal years 2006 and 2005. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditor's opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American National Theatre and Academy for fiscal years 2004 and 2003. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audited the statements of financial position of the Capitol Preservation Fund (the Fund) as of September 30, 2005, and 2004, and the related statements of activities and cash flows for the fiscal years then ended."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO appeared before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Armed Services on September 18, 2007, to discuss the benefits and medical care for federal civilian and U.S. government contract employees deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. This report responds to Congress' request that GAO provide answers to questions for the record from the hearing. The questions are (1) What are the congressional requirements for medical tracking of deployed military servicemembers and civilians? and (2) What work has GAO conducted on this topic?"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In December 2000, the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Bechtel National, Inc. (Bechtel) a contract to design and construct the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), one of the largest nuclear waste cleanup projects in the nation. Originally expected to cost $4.3 billion and be completed in 2011, DOE now estimates that WTP will cost over $12.2 billion and be completed in late 2019. Weaknesses in DOE's management and oversight of contractors led GAO to designate DOE contract management as a high-risk area since 1990. GAO was asked to determine whether (1) DOE's internal controls are designed to provide reasonable assurance against improper WTP payments and (2) DOE's controls reasonably ensure proper accountability for WTP assets. GAO reviewed fiscal year 2005 and 2006 internal controls by analyzing data and documents, interviewing DOE and contractor staff, and physically observing property items."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The General Services Administration (GSA) and its customer agencies are preparing to transition new governmentwide telecommunications contracts known as the Networx program. GSA estimated the costs for which it is responsible to be $151.5 million. This report addresses (1) the soundness of the analysis GSA used to derive the estimate of funding that would be required for the transition and (2) whether GSA will have accumulated adequate funding to pay for transition costs. In performing this work, GAO reviewed cost estimation best practices, analyzed relevant GSA documents, and performed an uncertainty analysis on GSA's estimate."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the National Fund for Medical Education for fiscal year 2004. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration's (SBA) 7(a) program, initially established in 1953, provides loan guarantees to small businesses that cannot obtain credit in the conventional lending market. In fiscal year 2006, the program assisted more than 80,000 businesses with loan guarantees of nearly $14 billion. This report examines (1) the program's purpose, based on its legislative history, and performance measures; (2) evidence of constraints, if any, affecting small businesses' access to credit; (3) the types of small businesses served by 7(a) and conventional loans; and (4) differences in SBA's estimates and reestimates of the program's credit subsidy costs. GAO analyzed agency documents, studies on the small business lending market, and data on the characteristics of small business borrowers and loans."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, Congress enacted the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA), which modified two Department of Labor (Labor) programs that specifically target veteran job seekers: the Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) and the Local Veterans' Employment Representative (LVER) program. However, questions have been raised about the adequacy of performance information on services to veterans by these and other employment programs. In this report, GAO examined (1) the extent to which DVOP and LVER performance information reflects services and outcomes for veterans; (2) the extent to which performance information on veterans paints a clear picture of their use of one-stop services; and (3) what Labor is doing to improve the quality of performance data and better understand program impact and outcomes for veterans."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "At the request of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, in September 2007 we reported on the governmentwide use of premium class travel. As part of the audit and related investigations, we tested premium class transactions at the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The purpose of this letter is to provide the Acting Secretary of Agriculture with information on specific matters identified during our work that relate to weaknesses in internal controls at USDA. Further, this letter details the results of investigative work we performed related to allegations forwarded to us by USDA's Office of Inspector General of premium class travel abuses by executives at the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). This letter contains six recommendations that warrant your attention."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over 600 million people travel by air each year in the United States, and the screening of airline passengers and their carry-on and checked baggage is vital to securing our transportation security system. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act, enacted in November 2001, established the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and significantly changed how passenger and checked baggage screening is conducted in the United States. This act removed screening responsibility from air carriers and the contractors who conducted screening for them, and placed this responsibility with TSA. As a result, TSA hired and deployed about 55,000 federal passenger and baggage Transportation Security Officers (TSO)--formerly known as screeners--to more than 400 airports nationwide based largely on the number of screeners that the air carrier contractors had employed. Since August 2002, however, TSA has been statutorily prohibited from exceeding 45,000 full-time equivalent positions available for screening. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, enacted in December 2004, required TSA to develop and submit to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, standards for determining the aviation …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Combatant commanders carrying out ongoing operations rank the need for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities as high on their priority lists. The Department of Defense (DOD) is investing in many ISR systems, including unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), to meet the growing demand for ISR assets to support the warfighter. GAO was asked to evaluate DOD's efforts to integrate UAS into ongoing operations while optimizing the use of all DOD ISR assets. Specifically, this report addresses the extent that (1) DOD has taken steps to facilitate the integration of UAS into combat operations, and (2) DOD's approach to allocating and tasking its ISR assets considers all available ISR capabilities, including those provided by UAS. GAO also reviewed the extent that DOD evaluates the performance of its ISR assets, including UAS, in meeting warfighters' needs. To perform this work, GAO analyzed data and guidance on the use of ISR assets, and interviewed DOD officials, including those supporting ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is implementing three tax system changes during the 2007 filing season that potentially could impact compliance by taxpayers as well as IRS's service to taxpayers. These changes are (1) the telephone excise tax refund (TETR), which can be requested by all individuals and entities that paid the excise tax regardless of whether they have an obligation to file a tax return, (2) the option to deposit refunds into up to three accounts, hereafter referred to as the split refund option, and (3) the extension of some tax provisions that had expired, hereafter referred to as the extender provisions. Because the 2007 filing season may be complicated by these changes, the Senate Committee on Finance asked GAO to determine the effects of these changes on compliance and taxpayer service including (1) the number of individuals or entities affected by these changes, (2) how the changes were expected to affect compliance and the results of compliance activities to date, and (3) the impact of the changes on returns processing and taxpayer service. GAO analyzed IRS documents and data from IRS databases and interviewed …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2003, the Congress has obligated nearly $400 billion for U.S. efforts in Iraq, of which about $40 billion has supported reconstruction and stabilization efforts. Congressional oversight of this substantial investment is crucial as the Administration requests additional military and economic funds for Iraq. This testimony summarizes the results of recent GAO audit work and proposes three areas for which continued oversight is needed: (1) progress in improving security and national reconciliation, (2) efforts to develop clear U.S. strategies, and (3) Iraqi and international contributions to economic development. We reviewed U.S. agency documents and interviewed agency officials, including the departments of State, Defense, and Treasury; and the U.S. Agency for International Development; the UN; and the Iraqi government. We also made multiple trips to Iraq as part of this work."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A safe, efficient, and convenient transportation system is integral to the health of our economy and quality of life. Our nation's vast transportation system of airways, railways, roads, pipelines, transit, and waterways has served this need, yet it is under considerable strain from (1) increasing congestion, (2) the large costs to maintain and improve it, and (3) the human cost of over 44,000 people killed and over 2.5 million injured each year in transportation-related accidents. The Department of Transportation implements national transportation policy and administers most federal transportation programs. For fiscal year 2008, the department has requested $67 billion to carry out these and other activities. While the department carries out some activities directly, such as employing about 15,000 air traffic controllers to make certain that planes stay a safe distance apart, it does not have direct control over the vast majority of activities that it funds, such as local decisions on the priority and placement of airports, public transit, and roads. In other cases, such as railways and pipelines, the infrastructure is owned and operated by industry. This statement presents GAO's views on major transportation challenges facing …