A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) determines current and future funding requirements for the Disaster Relief fund, focusing on the: (1) accuracy and timeliness of FEMA's estimates of costs for past disasters; (2) reasonableness of FEMA's approach to estimating the timing and cost of future disasters; and (3) impact of FEMA's initiatives on the rate of obligating disaster relief funds."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has reported in recent years on a number of human capital issues that have hampered the Department of State's (State) ability to carry out U.S. foreign policy priorities and objectives, particularly at posts central to the war on terror. In 2002, State implemented the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative (DRI) to address shortfalls in the number and skills of State employees. This testimony addresses State's progress in (1) addressing staffing shortfalls since the implementation of DRI and (2) filling gaps in the language proficiency of Foreign Service officers and other staff. To accomplish these objectives, GAO analyzed staffing and language data and met with State officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Conference Report on the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, directed GAO to monitor AOC's progress in implementing recommendations contained in GAO's management review of AOC's operations, issued in January 2003. This is the second status report in which GAO examines the actions taken by AOC to implement selected GAO recommendations. Additionally, the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, mandated GAO to assess AOC's Chief Operating Officer's (COO) action plan. This report provides that assessment."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) estimated in 2008 that the potential costs of fielding ballistic missile defenses in Europe would be more than $4 billion through 2015. Planned ballistic missile defenses in Europe are intended to defend the United States, its deployed forces, and its allies against ballistic missile attacks from the Middle East. They are expected to include a missile interceptor site in Poland, a radar site in the Czech Republic, and a mobile radar system in a still-to-be-determined European location. GAO was asked to evaluate the Department of Defense's (DOD) plans for missile defense sites in Europe and address to what extent DOD has (1) planned for the sites' implementation and (2) estimated military construction and long-term operations and support costs. Accordingly, GAO reviewed key legislation; examined policy and guidance from MDA, the Army, the Air Force, and the Army Corps of Engineers; analyzed budget documents and cost estimates; and visited sites in Poland and the Czech Republic."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a program known as U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, on certain foreign nationals who travel to the United States. By congressional mandate, DHS is to develop and submit an expenditure plan for US-VISIT that satisfies certain conditions, including being reviewed by GAO. GAO reviewed the plan to (1) determine if the plan satisfied these conditions, (2) follow up on certain recommendations related to the program, and (3) provide any other observations. To address the mandate, GAO assessed plans and related documentation against federal guidelines and industry standards and interviewed the appropriate DHS officials."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Development (RD) mission area's progress in improving its credit program cost estimates."

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) significantly reformed contracting for the administration of claims for Part A, Medicare's hospital insurance, and Part B, which covers outpatient services such as physicians' care. The MMA required the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--the agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers Medicare--to conduct full and open competition for all of its claims administration contracts and to transfer the work to Medicare administrative contractors (MAC) by October 2011. The MMA required the Secretary of HHS to submit a report to the Congress and GAO on the plan for implementing Medicare contracting reform and for GAO to evaluate the plan. To address this mandate, GAO reviewed the extent to which (1) the plan provides an appropriate framework for implementing Medicare contracting reform and (2) the plan's cost and savings estimates are sound enough to support decisions on implementation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Climate change has implications for the vast land and water resources managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Forest Service (FS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Park Service (NPS). These resources generally occur within four ecosystem types: coasts and oceans, forests, fresh waters, and grasslands and shrublands. GAO obtained experts' views on (1) the effects of climate change on federal resources and (2) the challenges managers face in addressing climate change effects on these resources. GAO held a workshop with the National Academies in which 54 scientists, economists, and federal resource managers participated, and conducted 4 case studies."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to congressional questions regarding the May 18th hearing on the uses of social security numbers (SSN), focusing on the following questions: (1) what problems are caused when necessary SSNs are not included on tax forms submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); and (2) what actions federal agencies are taking in the area of using biometrics to identify individuals."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The burden of cleaning up Superfund and other hazardous waste sites is increasingly shifting to taxpayers, particularly since businesses handling hazardous substances are no longer taxed under Superfund and the backlog of sites needing cleanup is growing. While key environmental laws rely on the "polluter pays" principle, the extent to which liable parties cease operations or restructure--such as through bankruptcy--can directly affect the cleanup costs faced by taxpayers. GAO was asked to (1) determine how many businesses with liability under federal law for environmental cleanups have declared bankruptcy, and how many such cases the government has pursued in bankruptcy court; (2) identify challenges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faces in holding bankrupt and other financially distressed businesses responsible for their cleanup obligations; and (3) identify actions EPA could take to better ensure that such businesses pay for their cleanups."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter is in response to a Congressional request that we examine our advice to executive branch agencies regarding commercial managed service public key infrastructure (PKI) solutions to see if the advice is consistent with current federal policy and private sector best practices. Specifically, over the past several years, staff from various agencies has asked for informal advice on these matters. Our informal advice was based on the control environment described to us by the agencies. This control environment, which is discussed later in this letter, resulted in the informal advice that the agencies may incur a greater burden in ensuring that a contract certification authority whose certificates are used in financial management applications has implemented an adequate system of internal controls than would be necessary if the certification authority were implemented internally. However, if agencies are willing to accept this potential increased burden by accepting and mitigating the potential risks (not all of which may be known and understood at this time) associated with commercial certification authorities contracting out, a certification authority may be able to provide the same level of security assurances as an internal certification …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is pursuing a policy that promotes performance-based logistics at the platform level as the preferred product support strategy for its weapon systems, based in part on DOD's perception that this is an industry best practice. GAO was asked to compare industry practices for activities using complex and costly equipment with life-cycle management issues similar to those of military systems to identify lessons learned that can be useful to DOD. This is the first of two reports addressing DOD's implementation of performance-based logistics and is intended to facilitate DOD's development of new guidance on the use of this approach."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Questions have been raised about whether parents with limited English proficiency are having difficulty accessing child care and early education programs for their children. Research suggests that quality early care experiences can greatly improve the school readiness of young children. GAO was asked to provide information on (1) the participation of these children in programs funded through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and Head Start, (2) the challenges these families face in accessing programs, (3) assistance that selected state and local entities provide to them, and (4) actions taken by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure program access. To obtain this information, GAO analyzed program and national survey data, interviewed officials in 5 states and 11 counties, held 12 focus groups with mothers with limited English proficiency, and interviewed experts and HHS officials."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Forest Service's Washington Office funding allocations to Region 4, focusing on: (1) funds allocated to Region 4 during fiscal years 1995-2000 for budget line items under the National Forest System (NFS) appropriation; (2) reasons for trends and year-to-year changes in NFS' funding allocations to Region 4; (3) how budget line item amounts in the budget requests Region 4 submitted for fiscal years 1998-2000 differed from the final allocations it received; and (4) funds allocated to all regions during fiscal years 1995-2000 for the Fire Preparedness budget line item under the Wildland Fire Management appropriation."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, Inc., for fiscal years 2002, 2001, and 2000. 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."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Alaska currently holds 35 trillion cubic feet of proven recoverable natural gas resources, about 19 percent of total U.S. reserves. Efforts to construct a pipeline to transport this natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the lower 48 states have been stalled since 1982. The recent increase in natural gas prices has renewed interest in completing the pipeline, a project that is estimated to cost up to $20 billion. In addition to providing access to significant natural gas reserves, some expect the project to generate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenues for the federal government and the State of Alaska. This report responds to a mandate in the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline Act (the Pipeline Act) that we conduct a study to determine the extent to which small business concerns have participated in the construction of oil and gas pipelines. The Pipeline Act includes a "sense of Congress" provision that the sponsors of the Alaska natural gas pipeline should maximize the participation of small business concerns in contracts and subcontracts awarded for the project. This provision, while setting out a statement of congressional opinion, does …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Problems in the supply distribution system dating back to the Persian Gulf War have impeded the ability of the Department of Defense (DOD) to provide effective and timely logistics support to the warfighter. DOD has taken actions to improve the distribution system by assigning new organizational responsibilities, including designating U.S. Transportation Command as the "Distribution Process Owner" (DPO); issuing a new logistics transformation strategy; and undertaking specific improvement initiatives. GAO's objectives were to (1) assess DOD's organizational structure and transformation strategy to improve the distribution system and (2) determine the status of, and timelines for completing, specific DOD distribution initiatives. agreed with the latter two."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Veterans Business Development Corporation (The Veterans Corporation) was created under Pub. L. No. 106-50 to provide veterans with small business and entrepreneurship assistance. The Act authorized, and Congress has appropriated to the corporation, $12 million in funding over 4 years, ending September 30, 2004. The Act also required that The Veterans Corporation implement a plan to raise private funds and become a self-sustaining corporation. GAO evaluated the corporation's: (1) efforts in providing small business assistance to veterans; (2) internal controls, including strategic planning; and (3) progress in becoming financially self-sufficient."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the validity of the results of a 1998 study of the Canadian lynx. The Forest Service contracted with Dr. John Weaver of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City to help survey the Canadian lynx in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon. In a March 1999 interim report, Dr. Weaver concluded that the Canadian lynx lives in some forests in Washington and Oregon. In March 2000, the Fish and Wildlife Service placed the lynx on its list of threatened species in the forested portions of 13 states, including Washington and Oregon. Issues have since been raised about whether the study's results were falsified. GAO found no evidence that the study was deliberately falsified."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Institutions that serve large proportions of low-income and minority students may receive funding under Titles III and V of the Higher Education Act. In fiscal year 2008, $667 million in grants were awarded to over 500 institutions. GAO was asked to determine (1) the characteristics of institutions eligible to receive grants under Titles III and V and characteristics of students served; (2) any challenges grantees face, and how they spent Title III and V funds to address these challenges; and (3) the extent to which the Department of Education (Education) monitors the financial and programmatic performance of grantees, and uses this information to target its technical assistance. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed data from a representative sample of grant applications and annual performance reports for the entire population of fiscal year 2006 grantees. GAO also interviewed officials from Education and 27 grantee institutions, and conducted financial site visits at other 7 grantee institutions."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The importance and widespread use of federal information makes its accuracy imperative. The Information Quality Act (IQA) required that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issue guidelines to ensure the quality of information disseminated by federal agencies by fiscal year 2003. GAO was asked to (1) assess OMB's role in helping agencies implement IQA; (2) identify the number, type, and source of IQA correction requests agencies received; and (3) examine if IQA has adversely affected agencies' overall operations and, in particular, rulemaking processes. In response, GAO interviewed OMB and agency officials and reviewed agency IQA guidelines, related documents, and Web sites."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Disabled American Veterans, for fiscal years 2002, and 2001. GAO's review disclosed no reportable instances of noncompliance with the financial reporting requirements of the law. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "An influenza pandemic is a real and significant potential threat facing the United States and the world. Pandemics occur when a novel virus emerges that can easily be transmitted among humans who have little immunity. In 2005, the Homeland Security Council (HSC) issued a National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza and, in 2006, an Implementation Plan. Congress and others are concerned about the federal government's preparedness to lead a response to an influenza pandemic. This report assesses how clearly federal leadership roles and responsibilities are defined and the extent to which the Strategy and Plan address six characteristics of an effective national strategy. To do this, GAO analyzed key emergency and pandemic-specific plans, interviewed agency officials, and compared the Strategy and Plan with the six characteristics GAO identified."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On June 28, 2005, GAO testified before Congress at a hearing on "Access Delayed: Fixing the Security Clearance Process." This letter responds to a Congressional request that GAO provide answers to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg's questions for the record."