A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, every 5 years the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to determine for at least five contaminants, such as chemicals, whether regulation is warranted, considering those that present the greatest public health concern. Since 1996, EPA had not recommended any new contaminants for regulation until February 2011, when it reversed its controversial 2008 preliminary decision to not regulate perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel and other products. GAO was asked to (1) evaluate the extent to which EPA's implementation of the 1996 amendments has helped assure the public of safe drinking water and (2) review the process and scientific analyses used to develop the 2008 preliminary regulatory determination on perchlorate. GAO analyzed relevant statutory provisions and regulatory determination documents and interviewed EPA officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States' growing dependence on space systems makes them vulnerable to a range of threats. DOD has undertaken a variety of initiatives to provide space situational awareness (SSA)--the knowledge and characterization of space objects and the environment on which space operations depend. GAO was asked to (1) review key systems being planned and acquired to provide SSA, and their progress meeting cost, schedule, and performance goals; and (2) determine how much an integrated approach is being used to manage and oversee efforts to develop SSA capabilities. To achieve this, GAO analyzed documentation and interviewed key officials on major SSA development efforts and oversight and management of SSA. This report is an unclassified version of a classified report issued in February 2011."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies rely on a multisector workforce of federal employees and contractor personnel to perform services needed to carry out their missions. Determining whether to obtain services through insourcing with current or new federal employees, outsourcing with private-sector contractors, or sourcing with a combination of the two is an important economic and strategic decision essential to the federal government's effective and efficient use of taxpayer dollars. Since fiscal year 2006, civilian agencies have obligated over $100 billion annually to obtain a range of services from contractors. Almost 80 percent of contract obligations made by civilian agencies in fiscal year 2010 were for service contracts. Since the mid-1950s, the executive branch has encouraged federal agencies to obtain commercially available services from the private sector when outsourcing is cost effective. In 2009, however, the President issued a memorandum on government contracting that expressed concern about whether agencies have become overly reliant on contractors and have appropriately outsourced services. In particular, the President noted that the line between inherently governmental functions--those that must be performed by federal employees--and commercial activities that may be contracted for has been blurred. In the memorandum, …