A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) performs limited oversight of states' processes for verifying the accuracy of large industrial facilities' emissions reports. EPA's data show that most emissions determinations from large sources are based on generic emissions factors. Although EPA allows facilities to estimate their emissions in this manner, EPA officials generally consider direct methods to be more reliable. The accuracy of these reports is important because they influence (1) the financing of states' regulatory programs through fees and (2) the development of emissions inventories, which, in turn, help regulators to develop control strategies and establish permit limits. Furthermore, steps taken to assess the accuracy of these reports, such as more thoroughly reviewing the supporting information, could improve compliance with Clean Air Act requirements. For example, a more thorough review of the information underlying a facility's emission reports, or a more systematic comparison of these reports over time, could identify increased emissions. Such indications could, in turn, trigger a review of compliance with new source review requirements, an area in which EPA found widespread noncompliance in four industries. In the four states that GAO reviewed, the states …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) report to Congress recommending that it award a contract to an alternate contractor for the development of its Alaska National Airspace System Interfacility Communications System, focusing on whether the findings were properly supported. FAA's report compared the alternate contractor's costs to the costs of two other commercial telecommunications providers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The safety of millions of airline passengers depends in part on aviation mechanics--known as A&P mechanics--that are certified to inspect, service, and repair the aircraft's body (airframe) and/or engine (powerplant). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) establishes the requirements to become certified as an A&P mechanic. Concerns have been raised in the aviation industry about having a sufficient number of A&P mechanics over the long term. GAO was asked to determine how many aircraft mechanics and service technicians the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects will be employed in 2010, and the reasonableness of that projection; the sources that supply and train A&P mechanics and the likelihood that they will provide a sufficient number through 2010; and what is being done by FAA and the aviation industry to ensure that the skills of A&P mechanics are sufficient to work on technologically advanced aircraft?"

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the security of the nation's air transportation system, focusing on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to implement and improve security in two key areas: (1) air traffic control computer systems; and (2) airport passenger screening checkpoints."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the general and application controls that support key automated financial systems maintained and operated by the Bureau of Public Debt (BPD). GAO also followed up on the corrective actions BPD took in response to GAO's previous recommendations on improving BPD's financial system controls."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia Family Court Act of 2001 was enacted to (1) redesignate the Family Division of the Superior Court as the Family Court of the Superior Court, (2) recruit trained and experienced judges to serve in the Family Court, and (3) promote consistency and efficiency in the assignment of judges and the courts actions and proceedings. The act requires the chief judge of the Superior Court to submit a transition plan outlining the proposed operation of the Family Court. The plan shows that the Superior Court has made progress transitioning its Family Division to a Family Court, but challenges remain. The transition plan addresses most, but not all, of the act's required elements. For example, the plan identifies the number of judges and magistrate judges needed and outlines an approach for closing or transferring cases from other divisions to the Family Court. However, the plan does not include (1) a request that the Judicial Nomination Commission recruit and the president nominate the additional judges the court believes are necessary, (2) the number of nonjudicial staff needed for the Family Court, (3) information on the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The D.C. Family Court Act (P.L. 107-114) mandated that GAO examine the performance of the D.C. Family Court. GAO addressed the following objectives: (1) What procedures were used to make judicial appointments to the Family Court and what effect did qualification requirements have on appointment timeframes? (2) How timely was the Family Court in meeting established timeframes for transferring and resolving abuse and neglect cases, and what impact did magistrate judges have on the workload of judges and other personnel? (3) What progress has the D.C. Courts made in procuring permanent space? And (4) What progress have the Superior Court and District agencies made in sharing data from their computer systems? To address these objectives, GAO analyzed court data on its timeliness in resolving cases, reviewed the Family Court Act, applicable District laws, and reports required by the act; reviewed documents regarding the Family Court's progress in acquiring permanent space and those related to sharing data from the computer systems of the Superior Court and the District; and interviewed relevant District, Superior Court, and Family Court officials. In commenting on this report, the Superior Court agreed …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Interagency Canada Lynx Survey (Protocol) was designed to determine the presence of Canada lynx through deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis of hair samples recovered from scratch pads in forests in the northern United States. Beginning in January 2002, GAO investigated the submission of unauthorized samples to the University of Montana's laboratory as part of the National Survey and investigated whether the biologists involved had communications about their submissions. GAO found four instances in which unauthorized hair samples, not obtained from the Wenatchee and Gifford Pinchot National Forests, were submitted for DNA testing as part of the National Survey for those forests. These included one submission on bobcat hair in 1999, and three submissions of lynx hair in September and October 2000. The biologists maintain that they submitted these samples to test the accuracy of the work done by the laboratory, although they knew that the Protocol for the National Survey did not provide for such action. They also said that they did not have the authority to make these submissions and that they were aware that they had alternatives for testing the laboratory other than submitting samples …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the issues the two have in relation to the Shad-Johnson Jurisdictional Accord, focusing on: (1) the extent to which U.S. securities, foreign futures, and over-the-counter (OTC) markets trade stock-based derivatives that are economically similar to the futures prohibited from trading by the accord; (2) the potential effect of the accord trading prohibitions on derivatives market participants; (3) concerns about calls to repeal the accord trading prohibitions; and (4) jurisdictional and other approaches to addressing these concerns."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As used in public health and environmental regulations, risk assessment is the systematic, scientific description of potential harmful effects of exposures to hazardous substances or situations. It is a complex but valuable set of tools for federal regulatory agencies to identify issues of potential concern, select regulatory options, and estimate the range of a forthcoming regulation's benefits. However, given the significant yet controversial nature of risk assessments, it is important that policymakers understand how they are conducted, the extent to which risk estimates produced by different agencies and programs are comparable, and the reasons for differences in agencies' risk assessment approaches and results. GAO studied the human health and safety risk assessment procedures of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration. This report describes (1) the agencies' chemical risk assessment activities, (2) the agencies primary procedures for conducting risk assessments, (3) major assumptions or methodological choices in their risk assessment procedures, and (4) the agencies' procedures or policies for characterizing the results of risk assessments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The demand for child care has increased dramatically in the past several decades as the number of mothers who work outside the home has grown. Welfare reform has further increased this demand. To support low-income parents moving into the workforce, welfare reform established the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). In fiscal year 2000, states spent $5.3 billion in CCDF funds to subsidize child care for low-income families. Out of concern for the quality of care that the CCDF funds, welfare reform legislation also required states to set aside at least 4 percent of the total grant to improve the quality and availability of child care. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations provide examples of allowable activities, such as providing child care providers with financial incentives for meeting state and local standards, improving the compensation of child care staff, and offering resource and referral services. However, the regulations do not limit states' use of funds to these activities; rather, the fund's block grant structure allows states considerable flexibility in choosing appropriate quality and availability improvements to pursue. Using primarily the four percent quality set-aside, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Efforts to combat terrorism have become an increasingly important part of government activities. These efforts have also become important in the United States' relations with other countries and with international organizations, such as the United Nations (U.N.). The Department of State is charged with coordinating these international efforts and protecting Americans abroad. State has helped direct the U.S. efforts to combat terrorism abroad by building the global coalition against terrorism, including providing diplomatic support for military operations in Afghanistan and other countries. State has also supported international law enforcement efforts to identify, arrest, and bring terrorists to justice, as well as performing other activities intended to reduce the number of terrorist attacks. The State Department conducts multifaceted activities in its effort to prevent terrorist attacks on Americans abroad. For Americans traveling and living abroad, State issues public travel warnings and operates warning systems to convey terrorism-related information. For American businesses and universities operating overseas, State uses the Overseas Security Advisory Councils--voluntary partnerships between the State Department and the private sector--to exchange threat information. To disrupt and destroy terrorist organizations abroad, State has numerous programs and activities …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed federal efforts to combat terrorism, focusing on the: (1) need to link threats to strategies and resources in federal efforts to combat terrorism; (2) need to improve federal and state intergovernmental coordination and program issues; and (3) findings of a report from the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction--better known as the Gilmore Panel."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on state and local governments' efforts to manage community development, focusing on: (1) growth-related challenges facing local communities; (2) tools and techniques that state and local governments are using to help plan for and manage growth in their communities; and (3) federal programs and policies that state and local governments believe serve as barriers or aids in their efforts to plan more effectively for and manage growth."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands provides direct U.S. economic assistance and extends U.S. domestic programs and federal services to these two Pacific Island nations. The Compact also allows for migration from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands to the United States and establishes U.S. defense rights and obligations in the region. The Compact's economic assistance provisions were scheduled to expire in late 2001. However, the provisions will remain in effect for two more months while the United States and the two Pacific Island nations renegotiate them. Congress must renegotiate and reauthorize the expiring provisions by late 2003 for economic assistance to continue uninterrupted. The $1.6 billion provided under the Compact through 1998 has had little impact on economic development in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and was subject to limited accountability. U.S. oversight was limited by interagency disagreements between the Departments of Interior and State, a lack of resources devoted to Compact oversight, and Interior's belief that Compact provisions restricted its ability to require accountability and withhold funds. Because of the lack …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has been at the forefront of federal agencies in using the OMB Circular A-76 process. In 1995, DOD made it a priority to reduce operating costs and free funds for other needs. DOD has also augmented the A-76 program with what it terms strategic sourcing--a broader array of reinvention and reengineering options that may not necessarily involve A-76 competitions. The number of positions--at one point 229,000--that DOD planned to study and the time frames for the studies have varied. Current plans are to study about 183,000 positions between fiscal years 1997 and 2007. Changes in the inventory of commercial activities and the current administration's sourcing initiatives could change the number of positions studied in the future. However, GAO has not evaluated the extent to which these changes might occur. DOD's A-76 program has faced several challenges that may provide valuable lessons learned for other federal agencies. These lessons include the following: (1) studies took longer than initially projected, (2) costs and resources required for the studies were underestimated, (3) selecting and grouping functions to compete can be difficult, and (4) determining and maintaining …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised about the use of unreconciled activity address codes to requisition new and excess government property. The Department of Defense's (DOD) regulation 4000.25-6-M requires that all military services and DOD activities reconcile the activity codes to the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center's master file. Such reconciliations could prevent unauthorized personnel from requesting and receiving government property. GAO found, however, that many military service points failed to comply with DOD's regulation. Most indicated that they were unaware of the requirement. As a result of this, 27,879 activity codes appeared either in the agency record but not the Addressing System Center's master file or in the Center's file but not the agency record. In addition, agencies that have their own internal activity code files do not routinely reconcile to the master file. This failure resulted in 97,450 activity codes being identified as questionable. In both situations, inventory management is vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse. In fact, preliminary indications are that such questionable activity codes were used to requisition millions of dollars worth of excess and new property."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the services' ability to continuously meet the challenges posed by contingency operations, focusing on six military assets that have been heavily used in contingency operations in a series of case studies."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the computer security aspects of critical infrastructure protection, focusing on federal agency performance in addressing computer security issues."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how the Customs Service's Office of Regulatory Audit is conducting compliance assessment audits in the context of the Customs Service Modernization Act, focusing on: (1) procedures established by the act; and (2) Customs' policies and procedures for conducting the audits to identify any problems that might warrant GAO's further review."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia appropriations acts for fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001 limited the amount of appropriated funds that could be paid to an attorney representing a prevailing party in an action brought against the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The appropriations act for fiscal year 2002 lifted the caps on attorneys' fees and directed DCPS and GAO to report on judgments awarding attorneys' fees in excess of the limitations imposed in fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001. In May 2002, GAO reported that, for fiscal years 1999, 2000, and 2001, the appropriations acts' limitations had little if any impact on the total amount of attorneys' fees awarded to prevailing parties in judgments entered by the courts in judicial proceedings brought against DCPS and the act. The District's March 29, 2002 report showed that of the $12.7 million paid for attorneys' fees from its appropriations for 1999 through 2001, $10 million was related to administrative proceedings and $2.7 million was related to judicial proceedings. DCPS reported that the estimated total amount of fees that might have been paid as …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "For some time, there has been concern over the increases in the prices of weapon systems spare parts and the adverse impact higher prices have had on military readiness. Prices for aviation spare parts managed by the Navy increased at an annual rate of 12 percent from 1994 to 1999. Several factors have contributed to price increases. First, the cost of repairing an item has generally gone up over time. Second, the surcharge that is charged to customers has also increased over time. The Navy has tried to alleviate customer concerns about high surcharge rates by moving certain overhead costs from the surcharge to repair costs. But this approach simply moved the overhead costs instead of reducing them. Still, the Navy understands the need to control spare parts prices and plans to further investigate the underlying causes of the increases."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Department of Defense's (DOD) contingency operations costs and funding for fiscal year (FY) 2000, focusing on: (1) how DOD components identify incremental costs in support of contingency operations; and (2) the need for, and average cost of, mission rehearsal exercises conducted by the Army in preparation for contingency deployments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since the end of the Persian Gulf War in February 1991, the Department of Defense (DOD) has reported over $25 billion in incremental costs for its overseas contingency operations. These operations include the enforcement of no-fly zones, humanitarian assistance, and peace enforcement operations. The majority of these costs ($22 billion) have been incurred in the Balkans (Bosnia and Kosovo) and Southwest Asia. In fiscal year 2001, U.S. military forces are continuing to participate in a number of contingency operations, primarily in the Balkans and Southwest Asia. In this report, GAO reviews (1) the adequacy of DOD's incremental contingency operations funding for all ongoing contingency operations in fiscal year 2001, (2) DOD's estimated contingency operations costs for fiscal year 2002, and (3) the ramifications of DOD's plan to change the method for funding its operations in Southwest Asia. GAO found that (1) existing funds are sufficient to cover DOD's estimated costs for ongoing contingency operations for fiscal year 2001, (2) in June 2001, the administration submitted a revised fiscal year 2002 budget for DOD, which included $4 billion for ongoing operations in the Balkans and Southwest Asia, …