A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1998, GAO has issued numerous reports on nursing home quality and safety that identified significant weaknesses in federal and state oversight. Under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), states conduct annual nursing home inspections, known as surveys, to assess compliance with federal quality and safety requirements. States also investigate complaints filed by family members or others in between annual surveys. When state surveys find serious deficiencies, CMS may impose sanctions to encourage compliance with federal requirements. GAO was asked to assess CMS's progress since 1998 in addressing oversight weaknesses. GAO (1) reviewed the trends in nursing home quality from 1999 through January 2005, (2) evaluated the extent to which CMS's initiatives have addressed survey and oversight problems identified by GAO and CMS, and (3) identified key challenges to continued progress in ensuring resident health and safety. GAO reviewed federal data on the results of state nursing home surveys and federal surveys assessing state performance; conducted additional analyses in five states with large numbers of nursing homes; reviewed the status of its prior recommendations; and identified key workforce and workload issues confronting …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) has undergone a number of changes in recent years, including a 2003 transfer from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE), and a 2005 transfer from ICE back to TSA. A key aspect of federal air marshals' operating procedures is the discreet movement through airports as they check in for their flight, transit screening checkpoints, and board the aircraft. This report discusses FAMS's (1) transfer to ICE and key practices that could facilitate its return to TSA, and (2) management of mission-related incidents that affect air marshals' ability to operate discreetly."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Much attention has focused on the "offshoring" of services to lower-wage locations abroad. Offshoring generally refers to an organization's purchase of goods or services from abroad that were previously produced domestically. Extensive public debate has arisen about both the potential benefits of services offshoring, such as lower consumer prices and higher U.S. productivity, as well as the potential costs, such as increased job displacement for selected U.S. workers. In response to widespread congressional interest, GAO conducted work under the Comptroller General's authority to help policy makers better understand the potential impacts and policy implications of services offshoring. This report: (1) provides an overview of experts' views on the potential impacts of services offshoring, (2) describes the types of policies that have been proposed in response to offshoring, and (3) highlights some key areas where additional research might help advance the debate about offshoring. In its comments, the Department of Commerce generally agreed with the findings of this report. Commerce, Treasury, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative also provided technical comments that have been incorporated as appropriate."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Chesapeake Bay Program (Bay Program) was created in 1983 when Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and EPA agreed to establish a partnership to restore the Chesapeake Bay. Their most recent agreement, Chesapeake 2000, sets out an agenda and five broad goals to guide these efforts through 2010 and contains 102 commitments that the partners agreed to accomplish. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which appropriate measures for assessing restoration progress have been established, (2) the extent to which current reporting mechanisms clearly and accurately describe the bay's overall health, (3) how much funding was provided for the effort for fiscal years 1995 through 2004, and (4) how effectively the effort is being coordinated and managed."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress created the District of Columbia Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) program in 1999 to provide D.C. college-bound residents with greater choices among institutions of higher education by affording them the benefits of in-state tuition at state colleges and universities outside the District of Columbia. Congress appropriated $17 million annually for fiscal years 2000 through 2004 and $25.6 million for fiscal year 2005. GAO was asked to assess whether (1) adequate controls exist over the use of federal funds, including processes to determine institution and student eligibility, manage the cash needs of the program, and pay administrative expenses; (2) funds for the DCTAG program are accounted for separately from the District's general fund; and (3) administrative expenses for the program charged against federal funds are within the 7 percent limit of the total amount appropriated for the program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As a condition of receiving federal funding for elementary and secondary education programs, states each year provide vast amounts of data to Education. While the need for information that informs evaluation is important (particularly with the No Child Left Behind Act), Education's data gathering has heretofore presented some problems. It has been burdensome to states because there are multiple and redundant requests administered by a number of offices. In addition, the resulting data supplied by states has not been accurate, timely, or conducive to assessing program performance. To improve the information by which it evaluates such programs and also to ease states' reporting burden, Education in 2002 initiated an ambitious, multiyear plan to consolidate elementary and secondary data collections into a single, department-wide system focused on performance. Given its importance, we prepared a study, under the authority of the Comptroller General, to provide Congress with information on its progress."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and other federal agencies were directed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to prepare restructuring plans to make government more responsive to citizens' needs. By June 2001, agencies were to submit a workforce analysis to OMB that would include, for example, demographic information on the agency's employees and would serve as the baseline for agency-specific restructuring plans. Agencies were to submit restructuring plans to OMB with fiscal year 2003 budget submissions and annual performance plans. These submissions were due to OMB September 2001. OMB's directive required agencies with more than 100 full-time employees to develop restructuring plans with the goal of flattening the federal hierarchy. The OMB directive stated that plans should describe the specific activities and actions each agency planned to take, associated resources, expected outcomes, and tools to measure performance. In order to ascertain what progress EEOC has made in reorganizing its operations, we determined (1) whether EEOC implemented OMB's directive to develop a restructuring plan and (2) what actions EEOC is taking to restructure and make its operations more efficient and effective."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To carry out its mission of ensuring health care security for beneficiaries, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) relies heavily on information technology (IT) systems. In fiscal year 2005, CMS's total IT appropriations was about $2.55 billion, of which about $760 million, or 30 percent, was to support internal investments, and $1.79 billion was to fund the Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) that states use to support their Medicaid programs. (GAO is using the term "internal" to refer to all of CMS' IT investments excluding state MMISs.) In light of the size and significance of these investments, GAO's objectives were to (1) evaluate CMS's capabilities for managing its internal investments, (2) determine any plans the agency might have for improving these capabilities, and (3) examine CMS's process for approving and monitoring state MMISs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is one of the largest federal agencies, the nation's largest health insurer, and the largest grant- making agency in the federal government. The department manages over 300 programs that serve to improve the health and well-being of the American public and is comprised of several component agencies covering a wide range of activities including conducting and sponsoring medical and social science research, guarding against the outbreak of infectious diseases, assuring the safety of food and drugs, and providing health care services and insurance. It also manages and funds a variety of information technology (IT) initiatives ranging from those facilitating the payment of claims for Medicare and Medicaid services to those supporting health surveillance and communications. In fiscal year 2006, the department plans to spend over $5 billion on information technology--the third largest IT expenditure in the federal budget. As we agreed with Congress, our objectives were to (1) assess the department's capabilities for managing its IT investments and (2)determine any plans the department might have for improving those capabilities. To address these objectives, we analyzed documents and interviewed …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2005, we issued a report entitled No Child Left Behind Act: Most Students with Disabilities Participated in Statewide Assessments, but Inclusion Options Could Be Improved (GAO-05-618) in response to a Congressional request for information about inclusion of students with disabilities in the statewide assessments. We found that most states were including these students in the assessments. In addition, we reviewed the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) data to determine the extent to which students with disabilities were included in this assessment. Also called "The Nation's Report Card," the NAEP has been used to track trends in student achievement over time or to compare student performance in a particular state with the national average. With the assistance of Department of Education (Education) officials, we interpreted that in 2002 five percent of students with disabilities were excluded from the NAEP reading assessment."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was asked to examine (1) the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) and agency perspectives on the effects that the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) recommendations are having on agency operations and program results; (2) OMB's leadership in ensuring a complementary relationship between the PART and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA); and (3) steps OMB has taken to involve Congress in the PART process. To do this, we also followed up on issues raised in our January 2004 report on the PART."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) designed the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) as a diagnostic tool to draw on program performance and evaluation information for forming conclusions about program benefits and recommending adjustments to improve results. To assess progress in improving the evidence base for PART assessments, GAO was requested to examine (1) agencies' progress in responding to OMB's recommendations to evaluate programs, (2) factors facilitating or impeding agencies' progress, and (3) whether agencies' evaluations appear to be designed to yield the information on program results that OMB expects."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The greatest natural threat posed to the New Orleans area is from hurricane-induced storm surges, waves, and rainfalls. A hurricane surge that can inundate coastal lowlands is the most destructive characteristic of hurricanes and accounts for most of the lives lost from hurricanes. Hurricane surge heights along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts can exceed 20 feet. The effects of Hurricane Katrina flooded a large part of New Orleans and breached the levees that are part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Lake Pontchartrain, and Vicinity, Louisiana Hurricane Protection Project. This project, first authorized in 1965, was designed to protect the lowlands in the Lake Pontchartrain tidal basin from flooding by hurricane-induced sea surges and rainfall. GAO was asked to provide information on (1) the purpose and history of the Lake Pontchartrain, and Vicinity, Louisiana Hurricane Protection Project and (2) funding of the project. GAO is not making any recommendations in this testimony."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses the Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS), which was developed around the principles of system safety, to oversee seven "legacy airlines" and nine other airlines. In this report, we refer to airlines that are not in ATOS as non-legacy airlines. Two other processes are used to oversee 99 non-legacy passenger airlines, which represent a fast-growing segment of the commercial aviation passenger industry and carried about 200 million passengers in 2004. The National Work Program Guidelines (NPG) establishes a set of inspection activities for non-legacy airlines. The Surveillance and Evaluation Program (SEP) uses principles of system safety to identify additional risk-based inspections for those airlines. GAO's objective was to assess the processes used by FAA to ensure the safety of non-legacy passenger airlines. GAO reviewed the strengths of FAA's inspection oversight for non-legacy passenger airlines and the issues that hinder its effectiveness."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the past 7 years, the Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DOD) have been working to exchange patient health information electronically and ultimately to have interoperable electronic medical records. Sharing medical information helps (1) promote the seamless transition of active duty personnel to veteran status and (2) ensure that active duty military personnel and veterans receive high-quality health care and assistance in adjudicating their disability claims. This is especially critical in the face of current military responses to national and foreign crises. In testimony before the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in March and May 2004, GAO discussed the progress being made by the departments in this endeavor. In June 2004, at the Subcommittee's request, GAO reported on its review of the departments' progress toward the goal of an electronic two-way exchange of patient health records. GAO is providing an update on the departments' efforts, focusing on (1) the status of ongoing, near-term initiatives to exchange data between the agencies' existing systems and (2) progress in achieving the longer term goal of exchanging data between the departments' new systems."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 1988 Exon-Florio amendment to the Defense Production Act authorizes the President to suspend or prohibit foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies that may harm national security, an action the President has taken only once. Implementing Exon-Florio can pose a significant challenge because of the need to weigh security concerns against U.S. open investment policy--which requires equal treatment of foreign and domestic investors. Exon-Florio's investigative authority was delegated to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States--an interagency committee established in 1975 to monitor U.S. policy on foreign investments. In September 2002, GAO reported on the implementation of Exon-Florio. This report further examines that implementation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To assist the Congress in its oversight role, GAO is undertaking a series of reviews on the costs of operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). In related work, GAO is raising concerns about the reliability of the Department of Defense's (DOD) reported cost data and therefore is unable to ensure that DOD's reported obligations for GWOT are complete, reliable, and accurate. In this report, GAO (1) identified funding for GWOT in fiscal years 2004 and 2005, (2) compared supplemental appropriations for GWOT in fiscal year 2004 to the military services' reported obligations, and (3) compared supplemental appropriations for GWOT in fiscal year 2005 to the military services' projected obligations."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The trend toward globalization has intensified the debate about the proper role of business and government in global "corporate social responsibility" (CSR), which involves business efforts to address the social and environmental concerns associated with business operations. The growth in global trade and the dramatic increase in foreign direct investment in developing countries raise questions regarding CSR-related issues such as labor, environment, and human rights. U.S. firms with operations in many countries employ millions of foreign workers and conduct a range of CSR activities to address these issues. However, there is controversy as to the proper government role. GAO describes (1) federal agency policies and programs relating to global CSR and (2) different perspectives regarding the appropriate U.S. government role in corporate global CSR efforts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hurricane Katrina will have an enormous impact on people and the economy of the United States. The hurricane affected over a half million people located in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and has resulted in one of the largest natural disaster relief and recovery operations in United States history. In terms of public health, standing water and high temperatures have created a breeding ground for disease, and public health advisories have warned about the spread of disease in the affected areas. Hurricane Katrina also resulted in environmental challenges, such as water and sediment contamination from toxic materials released into the floodwaters. In addition, our nation's energy infrastructure was hard hit; it affected 21 refineries. In terms of telecommunications, Hurricane Katrina knocked out radio and television stations, more than 3 million customer phone lines, and more than a thousand cell phone sites. GAO prepared this testimony to highlight past work on government programs related to Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters, and to provide information on plans and coordination among the accountability community--GAO, the Inspectors General, and other auditors at the state and local level."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From 1945 through 1962, the United States conducted a series of above-ground atomic weapons tests as it built up its Cold War nuclear arsenal. Many people who were exposed to radiation resulting from the nuclear weapons development and testing program subsequently developed serious diseases, including various types of cancer. On October 15, 1990, in order to establish a procedure to make partial restitution to these victims for their suffering associated with the radiation exposure, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was enacted. RECA provided that the Attorney General be responsible for processing and adjudicating claims under the act. The Department of Justice (DOJ) established the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program (RECP), which is administered by its Civil Division. RECP began processing claims in April 1992. RECA has been amended several times, including on July 10, 2000, when the RECA Amendments of 2000 were enacted. The amendments of 2000 broadened the scope of eligibility for benefits coverage to include new victim categories and modified the criteria for determining eligibility for compensation. The 2000 amendments also included a mandate that we report to the Congress on DOJ's administration of RECA not …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) servicemembers and those who are discharged from military service may receive health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Since the onset of OIF and OEF, the Department of Defense (DOD) has reported that more than 15,000 servicemembers have been wounded in combat. Those who are seriously injured require comprehensive health care services and may be treated at either DOD or VA medical facilities. Because VA is expected to provide health care to many of the injured OIF and OEF servicemembers, concerns have been raised about the ease with which these individuals and their health care information transition from DOD's to VA's health care system. This statement is based on GAO's preliminary work on "seamless transition" and focuses on (1) the policies and outreach efforts that VA has instituted to provide timely access to health care to OIF and OEF servicemembers and (2) the extent to which individually identifiable health information is shared systematically between DOD and VA. Since GAO's work is still in the early stages of review, the statement is limited to information gathered to date."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In October 2001, coalition forces forcibly removed the Taliban regime from Afghanistan, responding to their protection of al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the United States. Congress subsequently passed the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act of 2002 authorizing funds to help Afghanistan rebuild a stable, democratic society. The act directed GAO to monitor the implementation of U.S. humanitarian, development, and counternarcotics assistance. This report analyzes, for fiscal year 2004, (1) U.S. obligations and expenditures, (2) progress and results of assistance efforts, (3) assistance management and coordination, and (4) major obstacles that affected the achievement of U.S. goals."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, Congress directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop a laser master plan to include identification of potential weapon applications, critical technologies, a development path for those critical technologies, and the funding required to carry out the master plan. In response to this legislation, the High Energy Laser (HEL) Executive Review Panel was formed and issued the HEL Master Plan on March 24, 2000. The Master Plan recommended establishing a management structure for HEL technologies, including a HEL Joint Technology Office (JTO) to execute development and day-to-day management of a joint program to revitalize HEL technologies. The plan also recommended establishment of a HEL Technology Council--composed of senior science and technology executives from the military services and agencies--to provide oversight and approval authority for JTO's programs. As a result of the Master Plan, JTO was formed in June 2000. JTO collaborates with the military services and defense agencies in order to develop and execute an investment strategy for HEL science and technology (S&T) development. In the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001, Congress …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) has faced serious financial and budgetary problems as well as continuing challenges related to the safety and reliability of its transit services. At the same time, ridership is at an all-time high, and WMATA continues to provide critical services and considerable benefits to the Washington region and to the federal government. This statement discusses (1) WMATA's responsibilities for serving the interests of the federal government, including the agency's role in transporting federal employees and visitors to the nation's capital and in supporting homeland security for the Washington metropolitan region; (2) the current funding challenges facing WMATA and the options proposed to address these challenges; (3) preliminary information on some of the entities that currently provide oversight of WMATA and the focus of their recent reviews; and (4) some considerations and options in instituting spending safeguards and oversight of any additional federal assistance provided to WMATA, should Congress decide to provide such assistance. GAO discussed this testimony with WMATA and FTA officials, who provided comments and additional information that GAO incorporated as appropriate."