A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its report on how federal requirements affect local school districts, focusing on: (1) the major federal requirements that affect school districts; (2) the issues school districts face in implementing these requirements; and (3) recent initiatives by Congress and the Department of Education to provide flexibility to school districts."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported on the Administrative Office of the United States Courts' (AOUSC) progress in implementing six GAO recommendations to improve its long-range space planning process. AOUSC has fully implemented five of the six recommendations and partially implemented one. Specifically, AOUSC began (1) using a statistical classification technique, known as cluster analysis, to create groups of federal districts with similar characteristics; (2) relying on an automated computer program called AnyCourt to verify that districts' estimates of space baselines are consistent with the U.S. Courts Design Guide; (3) using a standard statistical forecasting technique, known as AutoRegressive Integrated Moving-Average, as a basis for developing more accurate caseload projections; (4) helping districts improve their personnel projections by comparing their projections to AOUSC personnel projections and discussing the results with districts when large deviations occurred; and (5) providing the General Services Administration (GSA) with data related to 10-year projections of districts' estimated space needs to support the judiciary's request for congressional approval of funds to build new court-related facilities and modify existing buildings. AOUSC has been unable to fully implement the remaining recommendation to update the districts' plans every 3 to 5 …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "FEMA's NCRC officials are not assisting regional officials in (1) developing performance measures to better assess the implementation of their strategic plan and (2) identifying federal funding available to prioritize preparedness investments. They are not doing so because they view their role as that of acting as a coordinator for other federal agencies, although they agreed that they could do more to support regional efforts and are positioned to do so. The NCR Strategic Plan helps regional officials identify the capabilities needed to strengthen the region's homeland security efforts and defines the framework for achieving those capabilities. NCR preparedness officials said that they have been working to develop preparedness measures since 2003, but noted that these measures are difficult to link to a measured improvement in regional preparedness. For example, while the region identified more than $25 million in UASI grant projects invested in providing public alerts and warnings, regional officials have not developed a measure to determine the effectiveness of these activities. Without such measures, it is unclear to what extent the efforts will advance the region's goals."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is required to annually prepare and submit audited financial statements of the U.S. government to the President and Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. An issue meriting concern and close scrutiny that emerged during our fiscal year 2004 CFS audit was the growing number of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies that restated certain of their financial statements for fiscal year 2003 to correct errors. Errors in financial statements can result from mathematical mistakes, mistakes in the application of accounting principles, or oversight or misuse of facts that existed at the time the financial statements were prepared. Frequent restatements to correct errors can undermine public trust and confidence in both the entity and all responsible parties. Further, when restatements do occur, it is important that financial statements clearly communicate, and readers of the restated financial statements understand, that the financial statements originally issued by management in the previous year and the opinion thereon should no longer be …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress's long-standing interest in health care services for servicemembers returning from deployment has grown regarding National Guard and Reserve servicemembers because they are being activated in numbers not seen since World War II. For servicemembers who have been deployed overseas--whether National Guard, Reserve, or active duty--the Department of Defense (DOD) has developed a continuum of programs to assess servicemembers' health needs by obtaining information on their health concerns. One health assessment is administered before deployment, another about the time servicemembers return from deployment, and a third 90 to 180 days after deployment, which is called the post-deployment health reassessment (PDHRA). DOD directed the PDHRA to be implemented in June 2005 in response to studies that showed that health concerns were emerging several months after servicemembers' return from deployment. One intent of the PDHRA is to identify servicemembers' health concerns with a specific emphasis on screening for mental health and to assess whether servicemembers need referrals for further evaluation. PDHRAs can result in referrals being made to military treatment facilities, TRICARE providers, chaplains, Military OneSource, or Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities, such as VA medical centers, VA community …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "China's 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) raised expectations with Congress and the private sector about the prospects for China to reform its markets and allow greater access to foreign goods and services. As part of our long-term body of work related to China's membership in the WTO, we reported in October 2004 on how the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Departments of Commerce, State, and Agriculture were positioned to monitor and enforce China's compliance with its WTO commitments in 2003. In that report, we examined the multilateral annual WTO review of China's progress, referred to as the Transitional Review Mechanism (TRM). We found that the TRM has ongoing limitations in its participation and its procedures. We made recommendations to improve related U.S. government activities. In a subsequent request, Congress asked us to provide detailed information about the TRM process in 2003 so that they could better gauge the level of activity and the efficacy of the United States and other WTO members' efforts to utilize it."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a program--the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, on selected foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States. US-VISIT uses these biometric identifiers (digital fingerscans and photographs) to screen persons against watch lists and to verify that a visitor is the person who was issued a visa or other travel document. Visitors are also to confirm their departure by having their visas or passports scanned and undergoing fingerscanning at selected air and sea ports of entry. GAO was asked to testify on (1) the status of US-VISIT and (2) DHS progress in implementing recommendations that GAO made as part of its prior reviews of US-VISIT annual expenditure plans. The testimony is based on GAO's prior reports as well as ongoing work for the House Committee on Homeland Security. GAO's recommendations are directed at helping the department improve its capabilities to deliver US-VISIT capability and benefit expectations on time and within budget. According to DHS, the recommendations have made US-VISIT a stronger program."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), established in 1968, provides property owners with some insurance coverage for flood damage. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for managing the NFIP. The unprecedented magnitude and severity of the flood losses from hurricanes in 2005 challenged the NFIP to process a record number of claims. These storms also illustrated the extent to which the federal government has exposure for claims coverage in catastrophic loss years. FEMA estimates that Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma will generate claims and payments of about $23 billion--far surpassing the total claims paid in the entire history of the NFIP. This testimony provides information from past and ongoing GAO work on issues including: (1) NFIP's financial structure; (2) the impact of properties with repetitive flood losses on NFIP's resources; (3) proposals to increase the number of policies in force; and (4) the status of past GAO recommendations."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Potential terrorist attacks and the possibility of naturally occurring disease outbreaks have raised concerns about the "surge capacity" of the nation's health care systems to respond to mass casualty events. The statement GAO is issuing today summarizes a June 2008 report, Emergency Preparedness: States Are Planning for Medical Surge, but Could Benefit from Shared Guidance for Allocating Scare Medical Resources (GAO-08-668). In that report, GAO was asked to examine the assistance the federal government had provided to help states prepare for medical surge and what states had done to prepare for medical surge. To do this GAO reviewed documents from the 50 states and federal agencies and interviewed officials from a judgmental sample of 20 states and from federal agencies, as well as emergency preparedness experts."