Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the status of the Bureau of the Census' key census operations, focusing on: (1) whether the Bureau followed GAO's recommendations and adopted an alternate form of contingency planning instead of relying on Congress for a supplemental appropriation; (2) why the census is such a local endeavor; (3) whether the Bureau will be able to translate the high level of public awareness into participation for the 2000 Census; (4) whether partnership specialists will be stretched too thinly to have a successful impact on the 2000 Census; (5) the challenges facing the Bureau in conducting a timely and accurate followup; (6) how the Bureau could intentionally or unintentionally cut corners to get the nonresponse follow-up workload done in a shorter period of time; and (7) the risks that could jeopardize the release of timely data."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To assess the quality of the population data collected in the 2000 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau conducted the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) program, which focused on a survey of housing units designed to estimate the number of people missed, counted more than once, or otherwise improperly counted in the census. GAO reviewed the life cycle costs of the A.C.E. program and its predecessor, the Integrated Coverage Measurement (ICM) program. GAO found that the original estimated cycle costs of conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs were $400 million. The first evidence for the original $400 million estimate is in the original budget justifications for fiscal year 2000. The bureau based its estimates of ICM/A.C.E. costs on assumptions about the needs for personnel and benefits, contractual services, travel, office space, equipment, and other costs necessary to conduct and support operations of the programs. The budgeted amounts that GAO identified from bureau records for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs are $277 million through fiscal year 2003. The obligated costs that GAO identified from bureau records for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs are $207 million through fiscal year 2001. $58 million of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (ACE), the U.S. Census Bureau interviewed people across the country to develop an estimate of the number of persons missed, counted more than once, or otherwise improperly counted in the 2000 census. In conducting the interviews, which took place in person or over the phone, Census faced several challenges, including (1) completing the operation on schedule, (2) ensuring data quality, (3) overcoming unexpected computer problems, (4) obtaining a quality address list, and (5) keeping the interviews independent of census follow-up operations to ensure unbiased estimates of census errors. The Bureau completed the interviews largely ahead of schedule. On the basis of the results of its quality assurance program, the Bureau assumes that about one-tenth of one percent of all cases nationally would have failed the program because they were believed to have been falsified. Early on, the Bureau dealt with an unexpected problem with its automated work management system, which allows supervisors to selectively reassign work among interviewers. According to the Bureau officials, the Bureau addressed the underlying programming error within two weeks, and the operations proceeded on …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the funding of 2000 Census planning and development efforts and the impact it had on census operations. Total funding for the 2000 Census, referred to as the life cycle cost, covers a 13-year period from fiscal year 1991 through fiscal year 2003 and is expected to total $6.5 billion adjusted to 2000 year dollars. This amount was almost double the reported life cycle cost of the 1990 Census of $3.3 billion adjusted to 2000 year dollars. Considering these escalating costs, the experience of the U.S. Census Bureau in preparing for the 2000 Census offers valuable insights for the planning and development efforts now occurring for the 2010 Census. Thorough and comprehensive planning and development efforts are crucial to the ultimate efficiency and success of any large, long-term project, particularly one with the scope, magnitude, and the deadlines of the U.S. decennial census. For fiscal years 1991 through 1997, $269 million was requested in the President's Budgets for 2000 Census planning and development and the program received funding of $224 million by Congress, or 83 percent of the amount requested. According to U.S. Census Bureau …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the United Mine Workers of America Combined Benefit Fund."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the wake of September 11, 2001, Congress enacted the Homeland Security Act of 2002. Title VIII, subtitle F, section 852 of the act provided for a temporary set of emergency procurement flexibilities intended to address the immediate needs for procurement of property (other than real property) or services to be used to defend against or recover from terrorist threats, including nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attacks. These flexibilities, which expired on November 24, 2003, included (1) increasing the threshold for simplified acquisition procedures in support of humanitarian, peacekeeping, or contingency operations from $100,000 to $200,000 for contracts awarded and performed within the United States and, for contracts awarded and performed, or purchases to be made outside the United States, to $300,000; (2) increasing the micro-purchase threshold from $2,500 to $7,500 to allow agencies the use of purchase cards above the current limit; (3) waiving certain provisions of law and the dollar threshold related to commercial item procurements; and (4) requiring the head of an agency, when appropriate, to use streamlined acquisition authorities and procedures authorized by law for a procurement referred to in section 852. Section 852 …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the regulatory programs that target specific pollutants or sources of pollution under the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, focusing on: (1) examples of emission sources subject to regulation under more than one program authorized by the act; and (2) the status of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to facilitate compliance for such sources."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each day, nearly two million passengers on 25,000 flights depend on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Air Traffic Control (ATC) system to safely reach their destinations. Because the ATC system requires thousands of controllers, each of whom typically manages just a section of airspace or one aspect of an aircraft's takeoff or landing, FAA depends on supervisors to monitor air traffic operations and controllers' workload and performance to ensure that the system is operating safely. In negotiating its 1998 collective bargaining agreement with its controllers' union, FAA agreed to a national plan that would reduce by attrition the number of supervisors who oversee air traffic controllers. To avoid compromising safety, FAA will increasingly have its controllers performing supervisory duties as Controllers-in-Charge (CIC) when supervisors are not present. Nationwide, FAA has selected 8,268 controllers to serve as CICs, which is about 55 percent of its air traffic controller workforce. GAO found that the materials for FAA's CIC training program were through and comprehensive, but FAA has little assurance that the training was effectively presented and achieved its objectives. Although FAA assessed training at a few facilities, the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spent more than $15 million to move air traffic controllers and their managers to new permanent duty locations. FAA classifies the funds that it spends for these moves as permanent change of station (PCS) benefits. In 1998, as part of a broader effort to reform its personnel policies, FAA changed its policies on PCS benefits. Instead of fully reimbursing the costs of all PCS moves and prohibiting unfunded PCS moves, as it once did, FAA now determines the amount of PCS benefits to be offered on a position-by-position basis and allows employees and managers to move at their own expense. Under its new polices, FAA can fully reimburse the costs of a move if it determines that he move is in the interest of the government, or it can offer partial fixed relocation benefits if it determines that the agency will derive some benefit from the move. FAA's policies on eligibility for PCS benefits are the same for air traffic controllers and their managers, but the amounts of the benefits vary. According to these policies, eligibility depends …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, when major U.S. airlines posted net operating losses of almost $10 billion, they paid over $7 billion to distribute tickets to consumers. Of these total distribution expenses, airlines paid hundreds of millions of dollars in booking fees to global distribution systems--the companies who package airline flight schedule and fare information so that travel agents can query it to "book" (i.e., reserve and purchase) flights for consumers. Each time a consumer purchases an airline ticket through a travel agent, the global distribution system used by the travel agent charges the airline a set booking fee. Concerns have been raised that the global distribution systems may exercise market power over the airlines because most carriers are still largely dependent on each of the global distribution systems for distributing tickets to different travel agents and consumers and therefore must subscribe and pay fees to each. Market power would allow global distribution systems to charge high, noncompetitive fees to airlines, costs that may be passed on to consumers. GAO was asked to examine changes in the airline ticket distribution industry since the late 1990s and the effects on …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, focusing on: (1) whether ONDCP provided timely financial reports to Congress; (2) how funds for paid advertising were managed and disbursed; (3) whether ONDCP complied with certain statutory requirements regarding the obligation of funds; (4) what ONDCP has done to develop and implement guidelines for the Campaign in response to program requirements; (5) whether the evaluation designs for phases I, II, and III were appropriate and how well the phases I and II evaluations were implemented; and (6) how effective phases I and II of the Campaign were in influencing group awareness of different types of paid anti-drug media messages and drug attitudes."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO discussed its report on the U.S. government's financial statements for fiscal year 1998, focusing on the importance of improving how federal departments and agencies manage the finances of the national government."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discussed the results of its report on the U.S. government's financial statements for fiscal year (FY) 1999."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Passengers on the same commercial airline flight may pay very different fares. This situation has led to dissatisfaction among some passengers who believe that airline ticketing practices are unfair. To reduce their cost of flying, some passengers have tried to use "hidden-city" and "back-to-back" ticketing. Hidden-city ticketing occurs when a passenger books a flight to one city but purposely deplanes at an intermediate city. Though never intending to make the last leg of the flight, the passenger buys the ticket because it is cheaper than a ticket to the intermediate city. Back-to-back ticketing occurs when a passenger buys two round-trip tickets that include a Saturday night stay but either uses only half the ticket coupons or uses all the coupons out of sequence. This practice results in a lower price than would be possible by purchasing round-trip tickets that did not include a Saturday night stay. Most airlines expressly forbid the use of hidden-city and back-to-back ticketing. This report reviews (1) the factors that airlines consider when setting fares; (2) the factors that create hidden-city ticketing and the pricing practices that foster back-to-back ticketing practices; (3) …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the role of testing and evaluation in product development, focusing on: (1) how the conduct of testing and evaluation affects commercial and Department of Defense (DOD) program outcomes; (2) how best commercial testing and evaluation practices compare with DOD's; and (3) what factors account for the differences in these practices."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed compliance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) with the requirements of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. The assessment covers OMB and CBO reports issued for legislation enacted during the 1st session of the 106th Congress, which ended on November 22, 1999."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the budgetary implications of selected program reforms discussed in its past work but not yet implemented or enacted."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On May 15, 2003, and again on July 25, 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, Subcommittees on Homeland Security, of its intention to reprogram a large amount of funds appropriated to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for fiscal year 2003. In an August 2003 letter, Congress requested that we review the key events leading up to the reprogramming and subsequent revisions as they related to the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS). In particular, we were asked to determine (1) whether senior TSA, DHS, and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials were informed of the implications of the FAMS funding reductions prior to submission of the reprogramming notices; (2) the programmatic implications of the funding reductions on the FAMS program; (3) whether it was legally necessary to send an impoundment message to the Congress; and whether the Secretary of Homeland Security had delegated to the Under Secretary for Management the authority to transmit reprogramming notifications to the cognizant Appropriations Subcommittees. Finally, Congress asked us to identify, as appropriate, improvements in budget execution for future consideration. As agreed, we briefed …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a concern that budget-scoring restrictions were forcing the General Services Administration (GSA) to rely on shorter term leases that increase the costs to the Federal Buildings Fund because their per-square-foot costs are greater than longer term leases. Budget-scorekeeping rules are to be used by the scorekeepers to ensure compliance with budget laws and that legislation are consistent with scorekeeping conventions and that specific legal requirements. The rules are reviewed annually and revised as necessary to achieve those purposes. The way in which budget-scoring rules were implemented affected the lease or lease project term of at least 13 of the 39 federal agency leases GAO reviewed. Since GSA officials do not generally seek comparisons of long-term versus short-term leases in the solicitation process, GAO could not determine the overall monetary impact of budget scoring in the lease term. However, GAO identified three isolated cases that had comparisons of long term versus short-term leases in the solicitation process, and, in each case, the price per net useable square foot was lower with the longer term lease. GSA officials said that while budget scoring affects …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a Congressional request for information regarding critical infrastructure protection within the federal government. In May 1998, Presidential Decision Directive 63 was issued with the intent to eliminate any significant vulnerability to both physical and cyber attacks on the nation's critical infrastructure. It makes every department and agency of the federal government responsible for protecting its own critical physical infrastructure. The Interagency Security Committee (ISC) and all 22 of the agencies GAO reviewed have some role in providing security for office space, although the degree of involvement varied from agency to agency. Other types of security responsibilities include performing security assessments, providing security funding, providing security forces and security technology, and coordination of security efforts among and within agencies. Eleven of the 22 agencies stated that they had completed security assessments on all their facilities since 1995. Nine agencies reported that they were still doing security assessments on their buildings. Two agencies are located in General Service Administration (GSA) space only and GSA is responsible for the security assessments. The agencies provide security using a combination of security forces and security technologies. Security …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Bureau of Reclamation's operation and maintenance (O&M) of federal water projects, focusing on: (1) how the Bureau defines O&M activities; (2) what latitude the Bureau has in deciding which O&M costs to charge customers; (3) how the Bureau accounts for O&M costs; (4) how the Bureau defines overhead; (5) how the Bureau calculates the O&M costs that it charges to customers; (6) what concerns have been raised by customers about excessive O&M costs and to what extent customers have to review cost and recommend reductions; and (7) how the Bureau's cost practices compare to those of other entities."

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the management and oversight of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Campaign Finance Task Force (CFTF), focusing on: (1) the strained working relationships and trust concerns within CFTF; (2) interagency disagreement over investigative approach; (3) interagency disagreements over the management and analysis of evidence; (4) management changes, staffing fluctuations, and oversight; (5) CFTF prosecutive results and costs; and (6) limitations in the Federal Election Campaign Act that may inhibit prosecutions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress changed the law governing the use of appropriation accounts in 1990 because it found that the Department of Defense (DOD) may have spent hundreds of millions of dollars for purposes that Congress had not approved. The 1990 law provided that, 5 years after the expiration of the period of availability of a fixed-term appropriation, the appropriation account be closed and all remaining balances canceled. After closing, the appropriation account could no longer be used for obligations or expenditures for any purpose. DOD has started the process of correcting the illegal or improper closed account adjustments made during fiscal year 2000. However, this will require substantial effort and, according to DOD, estimates will not be complete before the end of fiscal year 2002. DOD had upgraded its system control features by the end of fiscal year 2001 to preclude many of the wholesale adjustments that GAO had previously identified. Because its system enhancements were done in stages, including some near the end of fiscal year 2001, DOD continued to make large amounts of illegal and otherwise improper closed account adjustments during the year. However, given the …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the capital structure of the Federal Home Loan Bank System."