Resource Type
Partner
UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
675
National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation
211
UNT Libraries Special Collections
119
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART)
45
UNT College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism
28
UNT Libraries
27
Texas Historical Commission
12
Kerr County Historical Commission
6
UNT College of Information
3
Southwestern University
2
6 More
Collection
Government Accountability Office Reports
363
National Museum of the Pacific War Oral History Collection
211
National Museum of the Pacific War Digital Archive
211
Texas State Publications
135
Texas Attorney General Opinions
74
Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports
56
DART Historical Archive
45
End of Term Publications
38
LGBT Collections
35
Food Rules
28
30 More
Serial/Series Title
Texas State Parks GeoCache Challenge Cards
87
DART News Releases
45
East Texas Wineries
7
Sub-Series 2: Correspondence : Emails, November 2011
6
Sub-Series 2: Correspondence : Emails, October 2011
6
Independence Heritage Region
5
Series 2: Papers
5
Journal of Near-Death Studies
4
Sub-Series 2: Correspondence : Emails, September 2011
4
Fiscal Year 2011
3
32 More
Country
States
Year
Month
Language
1,134 Matching Results
Results open in a new window/tab.
Next Generation Air Transportation System: Linking Test Facilities Can Help Leverage Resources and Improve Technology Transfer Efforts
Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the use of test facilities as a means of leveraging public, private, and academic resources to deliver technologies for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). NextGen will affect nearly every aspect of air transportation and will transform the way in which the air transportation system operates today. It is a complex undertaking that requires new technologies--including new integrated ground and aircraft systems--as well as new procedures, processes, and supporting infrastructure. The result will be an air transportation system that relies on satellite-based surveillance and navigation, data communications, and improved collaborative decision making. Transforming the nation's air transportation system affects and involves the activities and missions of several federal agencies, though the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the lead implementer. In addition, NextGen was designed and planned to be developed in collaboration with aviation stakeholders--airlines and other airspace users, air traffic controllers, and avionics, aircraft, and automation systems manufacturers--in order to facilitate coordinated research activities, transfer technologies from FAA and partner agencies to the private sector, and take advantage of research and technology developed by the private sector that could meet NextGen needs, as appropriate. …
Date:
November 7, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Rail Transit: Reliability of FTA's Rail Accident Database
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As Congress requested, we conducted a review of challenges associated with enhancing safety on major rail transit systems. During the course of that review, we assessed the quality of data that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) collects and maintains in its State Safety Oversight (SSO) Rail Accident Database. FTA, an agency within the Department of Transportation (DOT), collects these safety data, including data on types of accidents and causes, from SSO agencies and the rail transit agencies they oversee. FTA used the SSO Rail Accident Database to produce the agency's 2009 Rail Safety Statistics Report, which analyzed data from 2003 through 2008. Although we originally intended to report on safety trends using the SSO Rail Accident Database in the rail transit report, we determined that these data were not sufficiently reliable for such a purpose. As a result, in this review we further assess the SSO Rail Accident Database and FTA's processes for collecting and compiling the data. We determined that there are numerous inaccuracies in FTA's SSO Rail Accident Database and, consequently, the 2009 Rail Safety Statistics Report. FTA implemented changes to the data collection process over …
Date:
January 31, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Part D: Instances of Questionable Access to Prescription Drugs
A publication issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the results of our investigation of fraud and prescription drug abuse in Medicare Part D. Prescription drug abuse is a serious and growing public health problem. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses, including those from prescription drugs, are the second leading cause of deaths from unintentional injuries in the United States, exceeded only by motor vehicle fatalities. Unlike addiction to heroin and other drugs that have no accepted medical use, addiction to some controlled substances can be unknowingly financed by insurance companies and public programs, such as Medicare Part D. This statement today summarizes our report, describing indications of doctor shopping in the Medicare Part D program for 14 categories of frequently abused prescription drugs. The objectives of the forensic audit and related investigation were to (1) determine the extent to which Medicare beneficiaries obtained frequently abused drugs from multiple prescribers, (2) identify examples of doctor shopping activity, and (3) determine the actions taken by the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) to limit access to drugs for known abusers."
Date:
October 4, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Training Necessary to Address Data Reliability Issues in NASA Agreement Database and to Minimize Potential Competition with Commercial Sector
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Today, GAO issued a correspondence identifying the internal controls that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has in place for reimbursable Space Act agreements and assessing to what extent the agency is adhering to those controls. Specifically, our review focused on NASA's internal controls related to (1) fair reimbursement from agreement partners; (2) interference between agreement partners' work and NASA's use of its facilities; and (3) alignment of agreement partners' work with NASA's mission. In that correspondence, we reported that NASA was generally adhering to its controls for entering into reimbursable Space Act agreements. In our review, however, we also found several instances in which agreements were not completely and accurately recorded in the Space Act Agreement Maker (SAAM) database. In addition, we identified one instance where NASA awarded a reimbursable agreement when similar services may have been available in the private sector. This action appears contrary to the National Space Policy and may have also been contrary to the Commercial Space Competitiveness Act. Federal government standards for internal controls state that control activities should help ensure that all transactions are completely and accurately recorded. NASA's SAAM …
Date:
May 26, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Status of Fiscal Year 2010 Federal Improper Payments Reporting
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Our work over the past several years has highlighted long-standing, widespread, and significant problems with improper payments in the federal government. Fiscal year 2010 marked the seventh year of implementation of the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA), which requires executive branch agencies to annually review all programs and activities to identify those that are susceptible to significant improper payments, estimate the annual amount of improper payment for such programs and activities, report these estimates, and report on actions taken to reduce any improper payment estimates that exceed $10 million. On July 22, 2010, the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA) was enacted. IPERA amended IPIA by expanding on the previous requirements for identifying, estimating, and reporting on programs and activities susceptible to significant improper payments and to expand requirements for recovering overpayments across a broad range of federal programs. IPERA provisions related to identifying, estimating, and reporting on improper payments generally become effective in fiscal year 2011. For fiscal year 2010, federal agencies reported an estimated $125.4 billion in improper payments, an increase of about $16 billion over the fiscal year 2009 estimate …
Date:
March 25, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Managing for Results: Opportunities for Congress to Address Government Performance Issues
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many federal program efforts, such as those related to ensuring food safety, providing homeland security, monitoring incidence of infectious diseases, or improving response to natural disasters, generally require the effective collaboration of more than one agency. As we have recently testified before each of Congressional subcommittees and the task force, the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) calls for a more coordinated and crosscutting approach to achieve meaningful results. Indeed, we have noted for many years the central role that GPRA could play in identifying and fostering improved coordination across related federal program efforts. Effective GPRAMA implementation provides opportunities to identify the various agencies and federal activities--including spending programs, regulations, and tax expenditures--that contribute to crosscutting programs and to ensure that coordination mechanisms are in place. Our recent report on potential duplication, overlap, and fragmentation highlights a number of areas where a more crosscutting approach is needed--both across agencies and within a specific agency. GPRAMA provides a powerful opportunity for agencies to collect and report more timely and useful performance information on crosscutting programs. This performance information can play an important role in …
Date:
December 9, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Delphi Corporation: Key Events Leading to Termination of the Delphi Defined Benefit Plans
Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Delphi Corporation (Delphi) was a global supplier of mobile electronics and transportation systems that began as part of the General Motors Corporation (GM) and was spun off as an independent company in 1999. Delphi filed for bankruptcy in 2005, and in July 2009, Delphi's six defined benefit pension plans were terminated and trusteed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). In March 2011, GAO issued a report providing a timeline of key events leading to the plans' termination (GAO-11-373R). This report focused, in particular, on events related to the reasons for GM providing retirement benefit supplements to certain Delphi employees, but not to others, and the role of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) in those events. GAO was asked to testify on the information gathered on the termination of Delphi's pension plans for this previous report. In preparing that report, GAO relied on publicly available documents--such as bankruptcy filings by GM and Delphi, company reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and press releases--and on documents received from groups with whom we have talked, including Delphi, GM, the Delphi Salaried Retiree Association, PBGC, and Treasury."
Date:
November 14, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Key Events Leading to the Termination of the Delphi Defined Benefit Plans
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Delphi Corporation was a global supplier of mobile electronics and transportation systems that began as part of the General Motors Corporation (GM) and was spun off as an independent company in 1999. Following bankruptcy in 2005, Delphi's six qualified defined benefit (DB) plans were terminated and trusteed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) in July 2009. These terminations culminated from a complex series of events involving Delphi, GM, various unions, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), as well as PBGC. Congress asked us to examine a range of issues related to PBGC's termination of Delphi's DB plans, such as the decision to terminate, the efforts to secure plan assets, the treatment of collective bargaining agreements, and Treasury's role throughout the process. As discussed with Congressional staff members in December 2010, this report includes a timeline of key events leading to the termination of Delphi's plans. The timeline focuses, in particular, on events related to the reasons for GM providing retirement benefit supplements to certain Delphi employees, but not to others, and Treasury's role in those events. We will compare PBGC's process for terminating Delphi's pension …
Date:
March 30, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Advantage: Comparison of Plan Bids to Fee-for-Service Spending by Plan and Market Characteristics
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While most of Medicare's 46 million beneficiaries are covered by the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) program, about one in four beneficiaries receives benefits through private health plans under the Medicare Advantage (MA) program. Under the FFS program, Medicare pays health care providers for each covered service they furnish. While Medicare sets the price it pays, the volume of services--and, as a consequence, total spending--remains largely uncontrolled. In contrast, MA plans have more control over both the price they pay to providers and the quantity of services they deliver. As of September 2010, more than 11 million beneficiaries were enrolled in approximately 3,900 MA plans sponsored by 181 parent MA organizations (MAO). MAOs generally offer beneficiaries one or more plans to choose from--with different coverage, premiums, and cost sharing features--in the areas they serve. Also, MA plans may provide additional benefits not offered under FFS Medicare, such as reduced cost sharing or vision and dental coverage. Medicare pays plans a fixed amount per enrolled beneficiary monthly. In 2010, Medicare payments to MA plans totaled an estimated $115 billion. In June of each year, MA plans submit bids to the Centers …
Date:
February 4, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Performance Measurement and Evaluation: Definitions and Relationships (Supersedes GAO-05-739SP)
Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes GAO-05-739SP, Performance Measurement and Evaluation: Definitions and Relationships, June 2005. Both the executive branch and congressional committees need evaluative information to help them make decisions about the programs they oversee--information that tells them whether, and why, a program is working well or not. In enacting the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), Congress expressed frustration that executive and congressional decisionmaking was often hampered by the lack of good information on the results of federal program efforts. To promote improved federal management and greater efficiency and effectiveness, GPRA instituted a governmentwide requirement that agencies set goals and report annually on performance. Many analytic approaches have been employed over the years by the agencies and others to assess the operations and results of federal programs, policies, activities, and organizations. Most federal agencies now use performance measures to track progress towards goals, but few seem to regularly conduct indepth program evaluations to assess their programs' impact or learn how to improve results. Individual evaluation studies are designed to answer specific questions about how well a program is working, and GPRA explicitly encourages a complementary role for …
Date:
May 2, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Veterans' Education Benefits: Enhanced Guidance and Collaboration Could Improve Administration of the Post-9/11 GI Bill Program
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "With the passage of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (Post- 9/11 GI Bill), Congress created a comprehensive education benefit program for veterans, service members, and their dependents pursuing postsecondary education. Since implementation, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has provided just over $5.7 billion for the Post-9/11 GI Bill to fund education expenses for about 381,000 veterans, service members, and their dependents through fiscal year 2010, and estimates it will provide almost $8 billion in fiscal year 2011--an amount that would represent about 71 percent of all expected costs for education benefits. From the passage of the law to August 1, 2009, the start of the first semester in which funds were available, VA had about 13 months to implement the program. The Post-9/11 GI Bill program is substantially different from previously authorized VA education benefits or GI Bill programs that characteristically provide monthly payments to eligible claimants. The Post-9/11 GI Bill, by contrast, includes a more complex payment system that channels funds to both students and schools. GAO and VA have reported on various challenges VA faced when implementing the new program, including claims …
Date:
May 5, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Military Training: DOD's Report on the Sustainability of Training Ranges Meets Annual Reporting Requirements but Could Be Improved
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Realistic training ranges are one of the most valued assets the military has in preparing its personnel for their missions. Realistic training requires access to areas and environments that closely match the locations where the military may face combat or complex situations. International events, changes in strategy, force structure, base closures, and population growth are increasing the challenges the military faces in training its personnel to be prepared to defend the nation. Moreover, the military services report that they have increasingly lost training range capabilities because of factors such as encroachment. To respond to these challenges and increase the sustainability of military ranges, the Department of Defense (DOD) has launched a number of efforts aimed at preserving training ranges while also minimizing adverse environmental effects of training activities. As required by section 366(a) of the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (as amended), DOD was to submit a comprehensive plan for using existing authorities available to the department to address training constraints caused by limitations on the use of worldwide military lands, marine areas, and airspace to Congress at the same time as the …
Date:
October 19, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Reimbursable Space Act Agreements: NASA Generally Adhering to Fair Reimbursement Controls, but Guidance on Waived Cost Justifications Needs Refinement
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the last few years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has increasingly relied on its authority under the Space Act of 1958 to enter into agreements, commonly referred to as Space Act agreements (SAA), to stimulate private sector development of systems capable of transporting cargo and crew to the International Space Station and to assist partner firms in developing their technologies. Reimbursable Space Act agreements involve the use of NASA's facilities, personnel, or equipment primarily for the benefit of the agreement partner. NASA undertakes reimbursable work when it has unique goods, services, or facilities which can be made available to another party in a manner that does not interfere with NASA mission requirements and is consistent with the agency's mission. According to NASA guidance, the agency generally collects full reimbursement for costs associated with a reimbursable agreement. These types of agreements are known as fully reimbursable SAAs. However, NASA can accept less than full reimbursement in certain instances, such as when the reimbursement is fair and reasonable when compared to the benefits NASA receives from the work. When NASA waives costs under a reimbursable SAA, NASA …
Date:
May 26, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
HHS Research Awards: Use of Recovery Act and Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Funds for Comparative Effectiveness Research
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is research comparing different interventions and strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor health conditions. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) appropriated $1.1 billion to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) specifically for CER, including $400 million to the Secretary of HHS, $300 million to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and $400 million to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Recovery Act required that these funds be obligated by September 30, 2010. For grants and cooperative agreements, funds are drawn down by recipients on an as-needed basis in accordance with the objectives of the project. For contracts, as milestones are met, invoices are submitted to HHS for payments for goods and services provided under the contract. Additionally, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) directed AHRQ to disseminate the findings of CER published by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and other related government-funded research in consultation with NIH. PPACA established a trust fund to support PCORI's mission and specified that percentages of this trust fund be provided to the Secretary of HHS …
Date:
June 14, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Capitol Preservation Fund: Audit of Fiscal Years 2008 through 2010 Transactions
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 1988, the Capitol Preservation Commission (Commission) was established for the purpose of providing for improvements in, preservation of, and acquisitions for the United States Capitol. At the same time, the Capitol Preservation Fund (Fund) was established within the U.S. Treasury (Treasury) and was made available to the Commission to provide financing for the Commission to carry out its purpose. The Library of Congress (Library) provides financial management services and support to the Commission. GAO is required to audit the transactions of the Commission and report the results to the Congress. This report presents the results of our audit of the Commission's transactions as recorded in the Fund during fiscal years 2008 through 2010. Our audit objectives were to determine whether (1) the Fund's recorded transactions for fiscal years 2008 through 2010 were authorized in advance, supported by documentation, accurately accounted for, and in compliance with applicable laws: and (2) operating, reporting, and oversight practices were documented and in place at the Commission and the Library to help ensure that Fund transactions were properly executed and Fund assets were adequately safeguarded."
Date:
October 14, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Supplemental Security Income: Preliminary Observations on Children with Mental Impairments
Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash benefits to eligible low-income disabled individuals, including children, as well as certain others. Children may generally qualify for SSI benefits if they meet certain financial requirements and are deemed to have a qualifying medically determinable physical or mental impairment of a specified duration or severity that results in a functional limitation. In 2010, SSA paid more than $9 billion to about 1.2 million disabled children. Over the past decade, the overall number of children receiving SSI benefits has continued to rise. In this statement, GAO discusses initial observations from its ongoing review and examines (1) the trends in the rate of children receiving SSI benefits due to mental impairments over the past decade; (2) the role that medical and nonmedical information, such as medication and school records, play in the initial determination of a child's medical eligibility; and (3) the steps SSA has taken to monitor the continued medical eligibility of these children. To examine these issues, GAO analyzed program data, interviewed SSA officials, conducted site visits to SSA field offices and state disability determination services …
Date:
October 27, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Federal Student Loans: Patterns in Tuition, Enrollment, and Federal Stafford Loan Borrowing Up to the 2007-08 Loan Limit Increase
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Although a postsecondary education is vitally important to many individuals and the nation's ability to compete globally, high college tuition rates are prompting concerns that it may remain an elusive goal for some. To help students finance their education, Congress recently raised the ceiling on the amount individual students can borrow under the federal Stafford Loan program (referred to in legislation as "loan limits"). Congress initially did so for first- and second-year undergraduate students as well as for graduate and professional students in academic year (AY) 2007-08, and subsequently for all qualified undergraduate students receiving unsubsidized Stafford loans in AY 2008-09. The Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 directed GAO to assess the impact of these increases in the loan limits on tuition and other expenses and borrowing. Since information was available only on the first loan limit increase, we focused on the AY 2007-08 loan limit increase, framing our study with three key questions: (1) What are the patterns in prices and undergraduate enrollment at institutions of higher education since the AY 2007-08 loan limit increases took effect? (2) To what extent did undergraduate …
Date:
May 25, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Part D: Changes in Utilization Similar for Randomly Reassigned and Other Low-Income Subsidy Beneficiaries
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To help defray out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for limited or low-income Medicare beneficiaries, the Medicare Part D outpatient prescription drug program offers a low-income subsidy (LIS) for eligible beneficiaries. In 2010, about 9.4 million beneficiaries received the LIS--about 40 percent of the approximately 23 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries in that year. Most of the LIS beneficiaries received the full LIS, thus paying no premiums or deductibles as long as they enrolled in so-called "benchmark" stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDP). Benchmark PDPs are those plans with premiums at or below a specified benchmark for a given geographic region, calculated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that administers the Medicare program. Full LIS beneficiaries may also enroll in other Part D plans--either nonbenchmark PDPs or Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans (MAPD)-- but must pay any difference between the premium of the plan in which they choose to enroll and the benchmark for their region. Because plan premiums can change from year to year and because CMS recalculates the premium benchmarks annually, some PDPs may be …
Date:
June 22, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Fiscal Year 2011 Performance and Accountability Report
Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Presented is GAO's Performance and Accountability Report for fiscal year 2011. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable."
Date:
November 15, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Information Sharing: Progress Made and Challenges Remaining in Sharing Terrorism-Related Information
A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A breakdown in information sharing was a major factor contributing to the failure to prevent the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Since then, federal, state, and local governments have taken steps to improve sharing. This statement focuses on government efforts to (1) establish the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), a government-wide approach that facilitates the sharing of terrorism-related information; (2) support fusion centers, where states collaborate with federal agencies to improve sharing; (3) provide other support to state and local agencies to enhance sharing; and (4) strengthen use of the terrorist watchlist. GAO's comments are based on products issued from September 2010 through July 2011 and selected updates in September 2011. For the updates, GAO reviewed reports on the status of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) efforts to support fusion centers, and interviewed DHS officials regarding these efforts. This statement also includes preliminary observations based on GAO's ongoing watchlist work. For this work, GAO is analyzing the guidance used by agencies to nominate individuals to the watchlist and agency procedures for screening individuals against the list, and is interviewing relevant officials from law enforcement and intelligence …
Date:
October 12, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Private Health Insurance: Implementation of the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the last decade the number of large employers offering health benefits to retirees--including early retirees not eligible for Medicare--has declined. Among all large firms that offered health benefits to active employees from 2001 to 2010, the percentage that offered health benefits to retirees decreased from 39 percent in 2001 to 28 percent in 2010. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, individuals age 55 to 64 who lack health insurance are vulnerable to high health care costs associated with serious and chronic illnesses. The Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) was established pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to provide reimbursement to participating employment-based health plans The reimbursements provided by the program are intended to cover a portion of the cost of providing health benefits to early retirees-- individuals age 55 and older who are not eligible for Medicare. Sponsors of participating health plans can include commercial organizations, government entities, nonprofit organizations, religious organizations, and unions. Under the program, these plan sponsors can use ERRP reimbursements to reduce their own health benefit costs, plan participants' health benefit costs, or any combination of …
Date:
September 30, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Performance Management: DOD Is Terminating the National Security Personnel System, but Needs a Strategic Plan to Guide Its Design of a New System
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is one of the largest and most complex organizations in the world and faces challenges in managing its human capital--particularly its diverse civilian workforce. Our prior work has noted that over time federal positions, including those within DOD, have become increasingly specialized and more highly skilled, resulting in a need for managers to have greater flexibility in hiring and compensating employees. As a result, the department took steps--pursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004--to provide managers with greater flexibility in hiring and implemented a performance management system that sought to reward civilian employees' performance and contributions to the agencies' missions rather than to reward longevity in a position. Specifically, in 2004, DOD established the National Security Personnel System (NSPS)--a human capital system that significantly redesigned the rules, regulations, and processes that governed the way civilian employees were hired, compensated, and promoted at DOD. In 2006, the department began converting its civilian employees to NSPS. From its inception, NSPS was criticized and faced challenges from unions and employees regarding several issues, including inconsistent application of the system, pay …
Date:
April 28, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Fiscal Year 2011 Agreed-Upon Procedures for Excise Tax Distributions to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As requested, this correspondence discusses our findings on whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2011, is supported by the underlying records. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General is responsible for the adequacy of these agreed-upon procedures to meet the inspector's objectives, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform were related to (1) transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed from the general fund to the AATF during fiscal year 2011, (2) the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF excise tax receipt certifications prepared during fiscal year 2011, (3) the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service adjustments to AATF excise tax distributions during fiscal year 2011, (4) the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis's (OTA) estimates of excise tax amounts to be distributed to the AATF for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2011, (5) adjustments to the AATF for tax on kerosene used in aviation during fiscal year 2011, and (6) the amount of net excise taxes distributed …
Date:
November 3, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Management Report: Improvements Needed in SEC's Internal Controls and Accounting Procedures
Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On November 15, 2010, we issued our opinion on the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) fiscal years 2010 and 2009 financial statements. We also issued our opinion on the effectiveness of SEC's internal controls over financial reporting as of September 30, 2010, and our evaluation of SEC's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations during fiscal year 2010. In that report we identified material weaknesses in SEC's controls. The purpose of this report is to present (1) more detailed information and our recommendations related to the material weaknesses we reported and discussed in our opinion report; (2) less significant internal control issues we identified during our fiscal year 2010 audit of SEC's internal controls and accounting procedures, along with our related recommended corrective actions; (3) summary information on the status of the recommendations reported as open in our March 31, 2010, management report, and (4) the status of the security weaknesses in information systems controls at SEC that we identified in public and "Limited Official Use Only" reports issued in 2005 through 2009, that were unresolved at the time of our March 31, 2010, management …
Date:
March 29, 2011
Creator:
United States. Government Accountability Office.
System:
The UNT Digital Library