Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We evaluated fiscal year 2002 activity affecting distributions to the Unemployment Trust Fund (UTF)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report is to bring the Office of Federal Procurement Policy's attention to two GAO recommendations concerning the acquisition of information technology services under the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS). In GAO's view, implementation of these recommendations has been delayed because of unnecessary coupling with other FSS issues."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report is the release of the database of information collected during research for the report entitled Financial Statement Restatements: Trends, Market Impacts, Regulatory Responses, and Remaining Challenges."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Environmental reviews of complex federally funded highway construction projects may take years. The Congress has an interest in identifying and, if necessary, addressing the reasons to expedite highway projects. To better understand these reasons, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) surveyed its 55 division offices to determine why the environmental review of certain highway projects took more than 5 years. The Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure requested that we determine (1) the reasonableness of FHWA's survey methodology and offer suggestions for improvement, if appropriate, and (2) the feasibility of resurveying the same projects to gain an additional understanding about why environmental reviews took more than 5 years. To carry out this work, we interviewed FHWA officials about how they selected projects, surveyed their division offices, and analyzed the responses they obtained. In addition, we applied the lessons learned from FHWA's original approach to assess the feasibility of resurveying the same projects."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In our December 2001 report, "United States Postal Service: Information on Retirement Plans" (GAO-02-170), we raised the question of whether the United States Postal Service (USPS) was paying more or less than appropriate to cover benefit payments for the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for which it is responsible. In May 2002, we asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to calculate a hypothetical "Postal Fund" balance and projected funding status by estimating the present value (PV) of the future benefits USPS is required to fund for CSRS retirees and survivors under current law and extent to which prior and projected future contributions required by current law would fund these benefits. OPM released its analysis in November 2002, indicating that, based on current contributions, USPS's CSRS obligations would be significantly overfunded in the future. The Administration has proposed legislation that addresses this overfunding. In this correspondence we will (1) review OPM's analysis for reasonableness and (2) analyze the legislative proposal to identify any issues needing further consideration."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We evaluated fiscal year 2002 activity affecting distributors to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report contains information on (1) the results of evaluations on the long-term effectiveness of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (DARE) elementary school curriculum in preventing illicit drug use among children and (2) federal efforts to identify programs that are effective in preventing illicit drug use among children."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report contains GAO's assessment of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) efforts to revise OMB Circular A-76, which prescribes policies and procedures agencies must use when considering the transfer of commercial activities between the public and private sectors. The proposed revision was issued for public comment on November 19, 2002. GAO found the proposed revision consistent in many ways with the sourcing principles and recommendations adopted by the Commercial Activities Panel. There are several areas, however, where the proposed revisions to the Circular are not consistent with the principles or recommendations of the Commercial Activities Panel. Specifically, these include the absence of a link between sourcing policy and agency missions, unnecessarily complicated source selection procedures, certain unrealistic time frames, and insufficient guidance on calculating savings."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, thousands of taxpayers who owe delinquent federal taxes receive billions of dollars in federal payments. To help the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collect these delinquent taxes more effectively, the Congress passed the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, the provisions of which authorized the establishment of the Federal Payment Levy Program (FPLP), which allows IRS to continuously levy up to 15 percent of the payments made to delinquent taxpayers. The Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), which receives payment records from and makes payments on behalf of most federal agencies, collects the continuous levy from the federal payment after IRS has authorized the levy. Subsequent payments are continuously levied until such time that the tax debt is paid or IRS releases the levy. In a prior report, we noted that inappropriate levies--which subsequently must be refunded--could undermine support for the continuous levy authority, by generating negative public reaction to the program and frustrating taxpayers whose payments are inappropriately levied. Since October of 2001, the inclusion of Social Security recipients and others in the levy program has extended levy use substantially. This expansion heightens the importance …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We are reviewing the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of its unaccompanied enlisted permanent party housing, commonly referred to as barracks for unmarried servicemembers. We understand that over the next few years the services plan to eliminate barracks with gang latrines and provide private sleeping rooms (meet DOD's 1+1 barracks design standard) for all permanent party servicemembers. The Navy has an additional goal to provide barracks for sailors who currently live aboard ships when in homeport. To implement these goals, the services plan to spend about $6 billion over the next 7 years to construct new barracks. In addition to reviewing the services' plans and exploring opportunities for reducing costs, one of our objectives is to assess the consistency of and the rationale behind the services' barracks occupancy requirements. While we expect to complete our review of DOD's management of military barracks early in 2003, the purpose of this interim report is to bring to the attention Secretary of Defense the widely varying standards among the services regarding who should live in barracks, the effect this can have on program costs and quality of life, and the apparently …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Interior and Related Agencies, Committee on Appropriations, and the Ranking Minority Member, House Subcommittee on Legislative, Committee on Appropriations, requested that we review the Library's Special Events Gift Fund. As agreed, we focused on the Library's analysis supporting its June 2000 decision to increase suggested room contributions associated with the Great Hall effective January 2001, and key policies, procedures, and controls associated with holding the approximately 120 fiscal year 2001 special events that were accounted for in the Gift Fund. Specifically, we agreed to (1) review and comment on the analysis behind the Library's January 2001 increase in the suggested room contributions from outside sponsors of events held in the Great Hall of the Jefferson Building; (2) identify key policies and procedures applicable to requesting, approving, and planning those special events accounted for through the Gift Fund and determine whether the Library is following those policies and procedures; and (3) identify key accounting and control policies and procedures over receipts, expenditures, and the fund balance of the Gift Fund and determine whether the Library is following those policies and procedures."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We evaluated fiscal year 2002 activity affecting distributions to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In a letter to us, Congress noted the differing coca estimates for Colombia. In subsequent discussions, we agreed to determine the (1) purposes of the Crime and Narcotics Center's (CNC) coca cultivation estimate and the Department of State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the Office of Aviation's coca eradication estimate in Colombia and (2) status of actions to implement the Executive Office of the President, Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) study's recommendations."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Technological advances and changes in workplace habits have increasingly affected the operating environment for time and attendance (T&A) reporting in recent years. Perhaps the most significant influence on changes to T&A reporting, however, is advancing technology and the accelerated adoption of automation driven largely by the need for increased efficiency, as promoted by the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA). Although focused on electronic systems that process information obtained from and provided to sources outside the government, GPEA encourages agencies to seek internal applications of paperless systems and use of electronic signatures. This document (1) provides agencies with the flexibility needed to streamline T&A reporting systems and reduce their costs while maintaining adequate internal control, (2) updates the requirements for electronic signature control, and (3) addresses the need for controls over alternative workplace arrangements."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Social Security not only represents the foundation of our retirement income system; it also provides millions of Americans with disability insurance and survivors' benefits. As a result, Social Security provides benefits that are critical to the current and future well-being of tens of millions of Americans. However, the system faces both solvency and sustainability challenges in the longer term. In their 2002 report, the Trustees emphasized that while the program's near-term financial condition has improved slightly, Social Security faces a substantial financial challenge in the not-too-distant future that needs to be addressed soon. In essence, the program's long-term outlook remains unchanged. Without reform, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are unsustainable, and the long-term impact of these entitlement programs on the federal budget and the economy will be dramatic. Over the past few years, a wide array of proposals has been put forth to restore Social Security's long-term solvency, and a commission established by the President has presented three models for modifying the current program. The Commission's final report called for a period of discussion lasting at least a year before legislative action is taken to strengthen and restore …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Presented is GAO's performance and accountability report for fiscal 2002. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. Importantly, GAO received a clean opinion from independent auditors on our financial statements for the 16th consecutive year. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Presented are highlights of GAO's performance and accountability report for fiscal 2002. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. Importantly, GAO received a clean opinion from independent auditors on our financial statements for the 16th consecutive year. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the weakness in screening entrants into the United States. This work was completed in response to a request that agents of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) attempt to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, and Jamaica at land, air, and sea ports of entry using fictitious identities and counterfeit identification documents. The purpose was to test whether U.S. government officials conducting inspections at the port of entry would detect the counterfeit identification documents."

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Benjamin Franklin and Mary Hay Langford, Jr. Home, in Bandera, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, narrative, and photographs.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a corporation that holds a bingo commercial lessor license may convert to a limited partnership and related questions (RQ-0572-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Authority of the Texas Commission on Private Security to regulate funeral escort services (RQ-0573-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the wealth-reduction provisions of chapter 41 of the Texas Education Code apply to that portion of local property tax revenues attributable to a school district’s tax rate in excess of $1.50 per $100 valuation (RQ-0562-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the divestiture in section 12.152(b) of the Utilities Code applies to an interest under section 12.053(b)(1)(B) (RQ-0575-JC)

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether a county bail bond board is authorized to adopt a rule providing for the release of some of a license holder’s security when the license holder will continue to engage in the bonding business (RQ-0578-JC)