Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditor's opinion that, without exception, the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly on a modified cash basis of accounting."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) processes for denying aliens entry at airports and other points of entry, including the expedited removal and credible fear processes. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 included a provision--expedited removal--for dealing with aliens who try to enter the United States by engaging in fraud or misrepresentation (e.g. falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen or misrepresenting a material fact) or who arrive with fraudulent, improper, or no documents (e.g. visa or passport). The expedited removal provision reduces an alien's right to seek review of a determination of inadmissibility decision. The Act also allows expedited removal orders to be issued to aliens who have entered the United States without being inspected or paroled at a port of entry. INS and immigration judges implement the act's provisions on the expedited removal of aliens."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report identifies federal funding for fiscal years 1999 and 2000 that supported reproductive health activities of the following four nonprofit organizations: the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Population Council, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and The Alan Guttmacher Institute. GAO found that these organizations used $184 million in federal funds for fiscal year 1999 and $196 million in federal funds for fiscal year 2000 to support domestic and international activities related to reproductive health. The Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development were the major sources of these funds. Four Senate committees and four House committees have jurisdiction over the authorization of the programs under which the funding was provided. In addition, the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations each have subcommittees that have jurisdiction over the appropriations for the programs through which the funds are provided."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO examined the Bureau of the Census' estimates of e-commerce in 1999 to determine whether GAO should revise the results of its 2000 report on sales tax issues from e-commerce (GAO/GGD/OCE-00-165). This report uses private-sector forecasts of Internet and total remote sales as the basis for several scenarios illustrating the impact of such sales on state and local sales and use tax revenues. The scenarios show that considerable uncertainty exists about the size of the impacts and how various assumptions about sales, compliance, and other factors contribute to that uncertainty. Census' new e-commerce estimates do not provide a basis for revising the results GAO found in its 2000 report. Census' definition of e-commerce is broader than Internet sales. Because of the way firms provide information on their e-commerce sales to Census, Internet sales cannot be separated from the broader e-commerce sales at a level of detail that allows GAO to compare Census' results with the Internet sales estimates used in its 2000 report."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Military Order or the World Wars for fiscal year 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 on a modified cash basis of accounting."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Jewish War Veterans, U.S.A., National Memorial, Incorporated, for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2000, the Department of Defense published a proposed revision of its guidelines for developing profit objectives used in contract negotiations. The existing profit policy guidelines address investment in facilities and equipment, performance risk, and contract type risk. For each profit factor, the contracting officer determines an appropriate value and applies it against a specified base to develop the profit objectives. The proposed revision would make the following changes to the profit guidelines: (1) include a fourth element--cost efficiency, that would allow the contracting officer to reward cost reduction efforts; (2) eliminate profit on investment in buildings and reduce the amount of profit derived from equipment investment; (3) increase the amount of profit based on performance risk; and (4) add general and administrative expenses to the cost base used to compute profit for performance risk, contract type risk, and cost efficiency. The decrease in profit for investment in facilities would be offset by the increased profit derived from performance risk and the inclusion of general and administrative expenses."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This is one in a series or reports designed to help federal agencies improve or maintain effective internal control, financial management systems, and financial reporting. GAO discusses the status of the 13 remaining standards in Title 2, "Accounting," of the GAO Policy and Procedures Manual for Guidance of Federal Agencies in light of the most recent compendium of Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) standards and guidance. GAO either (1) reprinted the standards that remain in effect, along with any updated citations to relevant guidance, or (2) provided the citation of current guidance replacing that standard."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Washington Convention Center Authority will build, maintain, and operate the new convention center as well as maintain and operate the existing convention center. This report reviews (1) the status of the new convention center project as of July 2001 and (2) the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) agreement. The revised GMP has not yet been set because WCCA and the construction manager haven't agreed on the project schedule and the estimated cost of pending charges. The GMP--which covers most of the hard costs of actual construction, such as masonry, carpentry, and metals, but excludes soft-cost items--is based on a set of agreed-upon assumptions about work quantities and unit costs of performing such work. The GMP amount of $500.6 million will be adjusted as the project progresses. As of July 2001, WCAA's monthly report estimates total construction costs at $778.2 million, including a $14.6 million contingency amount as a cushion against unforeseen future increases. This represents a nine-percent increase over the original estimate of $714 million. WCCA included a project contingency of $30.5 million in the September 1998 cost estimate. The estimated project cost of $778.2 million as of …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because the military's weapon systems, particularly communication systems, have not been sufficiently interoperable, the services have experienced difficulty in operations ranging from the Gulf War to Kosovo. In Joint Vision 2020, a strategic statement on the transformation efforts of U.S. military forces, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff recognizes that a joint force is essential to operational success and envisions an interoperable joint force with technologically advanced warfighting capabilities able to dominate any adversary by 2020. This vision also emphasizes the importance of experimenting with new joint warfighting concepts. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council plays a key role in advancing the joint warfighting capabilities of U.S. forces in support of Joint Vision 2020. The Council oversees the joint requirements process by assessing and approving the services' joint requirements and deficiencies. The Council also reviews and approves plans for correcting those deficiencies. Finally, the Council ensures interoperability and that the services have linked their capabilities to Joint Vision 2020. The Chairman of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and others have identified and begun to address several weaknesses. Because these efforts are in the early stages, it is …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed grant monitoring and evaluation efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Justice Program (OJP). This report discusses the monitoring of discretionary grants awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Byrne Program and the Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) within OJP. In constant 2000 dollars, Byrne and VAWO discretionary grants grew about 85 percent--from $105 million to $194 million between fiscal years 1997 and 2000. These funds were awarded to state and local governments, either on a competitive basis or pursuant to legislation allocating funds through congressional earmarks. BJA and VAWO, together with OJP's Office of the Comptroller, are responsible for monitoring these grants to ensure they are implemented as intended, are responsive to grant goals and objectives, and comply with statutory regulations and policy guidelines. OJP's monitoring requirements include the development of monitoring plans that articulate who will conduct monitoring, the manner in which it will be done, and when and what type of monitoring activities are planned. Grant managers are to maintain documentation in grant files using such techniques as written reports of on-site reviews and telephone interview write-ups. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the Department of Education spent millions of dollars to modernize and integrate its nonintegrated financial aid systems during the past 10 years, these efforts have met with limited success. Recently, Education's Office of Student Financial Assistance (SFA) began using a software approach known as middleware to provide users with a more complete and integrated view of information in its many databases. In selecting middleware, SFA has adopted a viable, industry-accepted means for integrating and utilizing its existing data on student loans and grants. To meet its human capital needs, SFA has solicited the help of a private sector "modernization partner" with experience in implementing and managing middleware solutions--particularly in the financial industry--and has also chosen to use a leading middleware software product."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides information on improper payments that federal agencies reported in their fiscal year 2000 financial statements. GAO found that the amount of improper payments reported in agency financial statements has remained consistent at about $20 billion for the past three years. Even though these amounts are substantial, agency-specific audits and studies indicate the improper payment problem is much more widespread than disclosed in agency financial statement reports. The President's Management Agenda for Fiscal Year 2002 has made the reduction of improper payments a priority. The Administration has taken steps to require federal agencies to identify erroneous payments and to discuss planned actions to better manage these payments."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed an audit report covering the financial statement of the Polish Legion of American Veterans, U.S.A., for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the military's efforts to attack time-critical targets, such as mobile theater missiles, surface-to-air missile launchers, and cruise missile batteries. GAO found that the Defense Department (DOD) has developed guidance to help the armed services achieve system interoperability as well as develop oversight controls, directives, and policies and to achieve interoperability. DOD has also worked to develop joint capabilities through exercises and advanced concept technology demonstrations. The individual services have undertaken various efforts to improve their own capability to attack time-critical targets. Although these efforts are helping DOD to improve the sensor-to-shooter process, much more needs to be done to significantly reduce the time it takes to strike time-critical targets. First, DOD needs to overcome cultural impediments to joint warfighting. Second, some of DOD's current oversight and control mechanisms are simply not working. Third, DOD still lacks a joint service concept of operations to defeat time-critical targets. As a result, each military service plans and acquires systems to meet requirements under its own concept of operations. DOD has recently developed plans and initiatives to address these problems. It is too early to determine whether these steps …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1997, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) adopted a pilot program, known as the Corporate Maintenance Philosophy, that reduced the frequency of periodic maintenance and certification in FAA's Alaskan Region. In 2001, the Federal Labor Relations Authority ruled that FAA must revert back to the national maintenance and certification standards in the Alaskan Region because it had not negotiated an extension of the pilot program with its unions. GAO found that FAA's Alaskan Region has not fully returned to the national standards, but FAA officials believe that the transition will be completed by January 1, 2002. Seven of 12 locations had finished updating maintenance and certification information into FAA's computerized maintenance management system (MMS) by the October 1, 2001, deadline. In several locations where MMS had been updated, however, the standards that incorporated were not subjected to quality control checks. GAO was unable to determine whether periodic maintenance in some areas has been done with the frequency required by the national guidelines. FAA is hiring additional staff to perform maintenance and certifications and will appoint managers to check the accuracy of MMS data. The process of certifying equipment …

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal research and preparedness activities related to bioterrorism center on detection; the development of vaccines, antibiotics, and antivirals; and the development of performance standards for emergency response equipment. Preparedness activities include (1) increasing federal, state, and local response capabilities; (2) developing response teams; (3) increasing the availability of medical treatments; (4) participating in and sponsoring exercises; (5) aiding victims; and (6) providing support at special events, such as presidential inaugurations and Olympic games. To coordinate their efforts to combat terrorism, federal agencies are developing interagency response plans, participating in various interagency work groups, and entering into formal agreements with other agencies to share resources and capabilities. However, coordination of federal terrorism research, preparedness, and response programs is fragmented, raising concerns about the ability of states and localities to respond to a bioterrorist attack. These concerns include insufficient state and local planning and a lack of hospital participation in training on terrorism and emergency response planning. This testimony summarizes a September 2001 report (GAO-01-915)."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Recreational Fee Demonstration Program authorizes four land management agencies-- the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the Forest Service--to establish, charge, collect, and use fees at a number of sites. The program's goals are to (1) enhance visitor services, (2) address a backlog of needs for repair and maintenance, and (3) manage and protect resources. GAO found that the agencies applied "entrance fees" for basic admission to an area and "user fees" for specific activities such as camping or launching a boat. Under the law, 80 percent of program revenue must be used at the site where it was collected, and the remaining 20 percent may be distributed to other sites that may or may not be participating in the demonstration program. Some of the sites that GAO surveyed experimented with innovative fee designs and collection methods, such as reducing fees during off-peak seasons and allowing visitors to use credit cards, but room for additional innovation exists, particularly in the areas of fee collection and coordination. Three areas of program management could be improved. First, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed purchase card activity at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Systems Center and the Navy Public Works Center in San Diego and found significant breakdowns in internal controls over purchase card transactions, including fraudulent, improper, and abusive purchases and theft and misuse of government property. Neither SPAWAR nor the Navy Public Works Center had effective policies for issuing purchase cards, establishing credit limits, and minimizing the federal government's financial exposure. Any employee having supervisory approval could get a card. GAO found that the units did not do credit checks on prospective cardholders. GAO also found that nearly half of SPAWAR's fiscal year 2000 purchase card transactions and more than half of the Navy Public Works Center's transactions were made by employees who did not have documented evidence of timely training. Policies for rebate management were deficient, including a lack of procedures to maximize rebates and ensure that bank calculations of rebates were correct. Management was not effectively using internal reviews and audits to determine whether purchase card internal controls were effectively implemented. These internal control weaknesses allowed purchases that were potentially fraudulent, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Before Social Security, being old often meant being poor. Today, dependency on public assistance has dropped to a fraction of its Depression-era levels, and poverty rates among the elderly are now lower than for the population as a whole. At the same time, Social Security has become the single largest source of retirement income for more than 90 percent of persons aged 65 and older. Automatic adjustments were introduced in 1972 to reflect increases in the cost of living. Other program changes gradually increased social security coverage to larger portions of the workforce and extended eligibility to family members and disabled workers. Other benefit programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicare, and Medicaid, have also been added over the years. With regard to measuring income adequacy, various measures help examine different aspects of this concept, but no single measure can provide a complete picture. For various subgroups of beneficiaries that have lower lifetime earnings, poverty rates have also declined. Although the Social Security benefit formula favors lower lifetime earners, their lower earnings and work histories can leave them with incomes below the poverty level when …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage more than 41 million acres of federal lands in Oregon and Washington, including 122,000 miles of roads that use culverts--pipes or arches that allow water to flow from one side of the road to the other. Many of the streams that pass through these culverts are essential habitat for fish and other aquatic species. More than 10,000 culverts exist on fish-bearing streams in Oregon and Washington, but the number that impede fish passage is unknown. Ongoing agency inventory and assessment efforts have identified nearly 2,600 barrier culverts, but agency officials estimate that more than twice that number may exist. Although the agencies recognize the importance of restoring fish passage, several factors inhibit their efforts. Most significantly, the agencies have not made enough money available to do all the necessary culvert work. In addition, the often lengthy process of obtaining federal and state environmental clearances and permits, as well as the short seasonal "window of opportunity" to do the work, affects the agencies' ability to restore fish passages quickly. Furthermore, the shortage of experienced engineering staff limits …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Birdwatching, hunting, and wildlife photography provide important recreational, aesthetic, and income-generating benefits to the American public. In addition, wildlife help maintain ecosystems, and the mere knowledge that wildlife exist is viewed as beneficial by many people. At the same time, however, some wildlife destroy crops, kill livestock, damage property, and pose risks to public health and safety. Further, as the U.S. population has grown and impinged upon wildlife habitats, conflicts between wildlife and humans and their property have become increasingly common. Wildlife Services, a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is tasked with controlling damage by wildlife. Mammals and birds damage crops, forestry seedlings, and aquaculture products each year, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. In fiscal year 2000, predators killed half a million livestock--mostly lambs and calves--valued at $70 million. To reduce such threats, Wildlife Services conducts operational and research activities with federal, state, and local agencies; agricultural producers and ranchers; private homeowners; and others. In carrying out these activities, Wildlife Services applies the most appropriate methods, whether lethal or nonlethal, of prevention and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated that one-third of Amex's new listings did not meet the exchange's equity listing standards. Amex's listing guidelines address factors that are the same or similar to those addressed by other U.S. stock markets. Quantitative requirements addressed share price, stockholders' equity, income, and market value of publicly held shares. However, the minimum thresholds for meeting these requirements varied to reflect the differences in the companies that each market targeted for listing. The most significant difference between Amex's guidelines and the listing standards of other U.S. stock markets was that Amex was one of only two markets that retained discretion to initially list companies that did not meet all of its quantitative requirements. Amex had not implemented the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations' (OCIE) recommendations on the exchange's discretionary listing decisions. OCIE officials told GAO that in the absence of an Amex agreement to address the recommendations, they would include them among the open significant recommendations to be reported to the SEC Commissioners as a result of a 1998 GAO recommendation. The Commission can require Amex to implement OCIE's …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. drinking water and wastewater systems encompass thousands of treatment and collection facilities and more than a million miles of pipes and conduits. The estimated cost to repair, replace, or upgrade aging facilities; accommodate the nation's growing population; and meet new water quality standards ranges from $300 billion to $1 trillion over the next 20 years. Although user rates are the major source of facilities' financing, federal and state government agencies also offer financial support. From fiscal years 1991 through 2000, nine federal agencies provided $44 billion for drinking water and wastewater capital improvements. Four agencies--the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce--accounted for about 98 percent of that account. State governments made $25 billion available for water infrastructure programs during the past 10 years."