A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The accuracy of the 2000 decennial census depends in part on the proper functioning of 10 interrelated information systems, one of which is the Census Bureau's headquarters (HQ) processing system. The HQ processing system consists of 48 applications, all developed internally by the Bureau, that support various census operations, such as updating address files, creating a file of census responses, and preparing data for tabulation and dissemination. GAO found that the Bureau lacks effective, mature software and system development processes to control development of its HQ processing system applications."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The decennial census is a Constitutionally-mandated activity that produces critical data used to apportion congressional seats, redraw congressional districts, and allocate billions of dollars in federal assistance. The Census Bureau (Bureau) estimates the 2010 Census will cost $11.3 billion, making it the most expensive in the nation's history after adjusting for inflation. This testimony, based primarily on GAO's issued reports and preliminary observations from our ongoing work, discusses the extent to which the Bureau has (1) developed a comprehensive project plan with the most current cost data; (2) incorporated lessons learned from Dress Rehearsal activities; (3) managed automation and technology for the reengineered census; and (4) planned for an accurate census in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Census Bureau’s (Bureau) early planning and preparation efforts for the 2020 Census are consistent with most leading practices in each of the three management areas GAO reviewed. For example, with respect to its effort to transform its decennial organization, top Bureau leadership has been driving the transformation, and the agency has focused on a key set of principles as it begins to roll-out the strategy to staff. Furthermore, the Bureau has created a timeline to build momentum and show progress. At the same time, however, the amount of change-related activity the Bureau is considering as part of its reorganization of its decennial directorate may not be aligned with the resources the Bureau has allocated to plan, coordinate, and carry it out, and, as a result, the planned transformation efforts may not be sustainable or successful."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of delays and cost increases, the General Services Administration (GSA) canceled the authorized 41-courtroom Los Angeles (L.A.), California, courthouse project in 2006. Since then, GSA and the judiciary have been slow to agree upon how to proceed with the project, for which about $366 million in appropriated funds remains available. In 2012, with the judiciary’s support, GSA issued a request for proposal for contractors to design and build a 24-courtoom, 32-chamber courthouse, which would be used in conjunction with 25 existing courtrooms in the Roybal Courthouse. However, this new plan will not address one of the principal justifications for the original project—that the L.A. Court be centralized at one site. Instead, it would increase the distance between the Roybal Courthouse and the planned second court location and the distance to the federal detention center from which prisoners must be transported."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The accounting profession maintains a voluntary, self-regulatory system through the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) that includes establishing professional standards, monitoring compliance with professional standards, disciplining members for improper acts and substandard performance, and conducting oversight. The Panel of Audit Effectiveness, set up to examine the AICPA's methods, made recommendations to enhance the accounting profession's self-regulatory system. Implementing actions taken or in process have addressed many of the Panel's recommendations. However, the Panel's recommendations did not fully address the limitations of the self-regulatory system identified in its report. Also, some of the Panel's recommendations were either not accepted or are still under study. Additional experience is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of actions taken or planned. However, the system is fragmented, uncoordinated, and has a disciplinary function that is widely perceived to be ineffective. The self-regulatory system is unable to protect the confidentiality of investigative information about alleged audit failures or other disciplinary matters concerning members of the profession. The lack of such protective powers hinders the timing of investigations and affects the public's perception of the self-regulatory system's effectiveness. The Panel recognized the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the conduct and findings of the Air Force's Ranch Hand study on the long-term health effects of exposure to herbicides, such as Agent Orange, in Vietnam, and assessed the study's impact on determinations of veterans' compensation, focusing on: (1) whether the study's findings and data have been properly and promptly reported and disseminated; (2) the statistical limitations of the study and whether they have been adequately reported and communicated; (3) the measures established to monitor the study's conduct and to prevent improper influence, particularly those involving the Ranch Hand Study's Advisory Committee; and (4) the impact of the study on determinations of diseases for which Vietnam veterans are eligible to receive compensation benefits."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Security Program (CSP), administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), are designed to promote conservation goals. In recently issued reports on these programs, GAO assessed (1) NRCS's process for allocating EQIP funds to the states to optimize environmental benefits, (2) NRCS's measures to monitor EQIP's performance, and (3) the legislative and regulatory measures available to prevent duplication between CSP and other conservation programs, such as EQIP."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Chemical pesticides play an important role in providing Americans with an abundant and inexpensive food supply. However, these chemicals can have adverse effects on human health and the environment, and pests continue to develop resistance to them. Sustainable and effective agricultural pest management will require continued development and increased use of alternative pest management strategies, such as integrated pest management (IPM). Some IPM practices yield significant environmental and economic benefits in certain crops, and IPM can lead to better long-term pest management than chemical control alone. However, the federal commitment to IPM has waned over the years. The IPM initiative is missing several key management elements identified in the Government Performance and Results Act. Specifically, no one is effectively in charge of federal IPM efforts; coordination of IPM efforts is lacking among federal agencies and with the private sector; the intended results of these efforts have not been clearly articulated or prioritized; and methods for measuring IPM's environmental and economic results have not been developed. Until these shortcomings are addressed, the full range of potential benefits that IPM can yield for producers, the public, and the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2004, Asian Soybean Rust (ASR) was discovered in the United States in Louisiana. In the following weeks, it was found in eight additional southern states. ASR is a harmful fungal disease that has spread throughout many other parts of the world, including Asia, Australia, Africa, and South America. ASR can infect over 90 host plant species, including legumes, such as dry beans, peas, and kudzu, a plant that grows wild primarily in the southern United States. Although the disease has caused significant soybean crop loss and increased production costs in many other countries, ASR arrived in the United States too late in the crop year to have any effect on soybean production in 2004, and scientists were uncertain about how it would survive the winter climates in the United States. However, in February 2005, researchers found that ASR had successfully over-wintered on kudzu in Florida, and it was subsequently detected in Georgia on soybean plants in April 2005. Since environmental factors, such as rainfall, humidity, and temperature, affect both the severity and incidence of ASR, scientists do not know how widespread or damaging the disease will …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force depot maintenance activity group in-house operations generate about $5 billion in annual revenue principally by repairing aircraft, missiles, engines, and other assets. In doing so, the group operates under the working capital fund concept, where customers are to be charged the anticipated costs of providing goods and services to them. The group's average price for in-house work almost doubled between fiscal years 2000 and 2004 from $119.99 per hour to $237.84 per hour. GAO was asked to determine (1) what factors were primarily responsible for the price increase, (2) if the prices charged recovered the reported actual costs of performing the work, and (3) if the Air Force has taken effective steps to improve efficiency and control the activity group's costs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discussed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementation of the Clean Air Act Amendments and on sources regulated by multiple provisions of the act, focusing on: (1) the status of EPA's implementation of requirements established by the 1990 amendments; (2) the views from the stakeholders--state governments, local programs, industries that are regulated under the act, and environmental advocacy groups--on the issues that either helped or hindered the implementation of the 1990 amendments; (3) examples of emission sources subject to regulation under more than one Clean Air Act program; and (4) the status of EPA's efforts to facilitate compliance for such sources."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments, focusing on: (1) the status of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementation of the requirements established by the 1990 amendments; and (2) views from state governments, local programs, industries that are regulated under the act, and environmental advocacy groups (collectively referred to as stakeholders) on the issues that have either helped or hindered the implementation of the 1990 amendments."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) process for ensuring that air traffic control (ATC) systems will operate safely in the national airspace system is an integral part of the agency's multibillion-dollar ATC modernization and safety effort. GAO was asked to review (1) FAA's process for approving ATC systems for safe use in the national airspace system; (2) challenges FAA has faced approving ATC systems and how these challenges affected the cost, schedule, and performance estimates of the systems; and (3) actions FAA has taken to improve its process for approving ATC systems."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On February 27, 2009, we issued our report expressing our opinion on the American Battle Monuments Commission's (the Commission) fiscal years 2008 and 2007 financial statements and our opinion on the Commission's internal control as of September 30, 2008. We also reported on the results of our tests of the Commission's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations during fiscal year 2008. We reported that the Commission maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting (including safeguarding of assets) and compliance as of September 30, 2008. During our fiscal year 2008 audit, we identified accountability and internal control deficiencies that, while not individually or in the aggregate material to the Commission's financial statements, warrant management's attention. The purpose of this report is to present these deficiencies, to provide recommendations to address these matters, and to provide an overview of the status of our prior year findings and recommendations. Because of the sensitive nature of some of the issues we identified, we are communicating detailed information regarding our findings and recommendations on information systems and physical security in a separately issued Limited Official Use Only …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "American Samoa, a U.S. territory, relies on federal funding to support government operations and deliver critical services. The Secretary of the Interior has administrative responsibility for coordinating federal policy in the territory. Under the Single Audit Act of 1996, American Samoa is required to perform a yearly single audit of federal grants and other awards to ensure accountability. To better understand the role of federal funds in American Samoa, GAO (1) examined the uses of 12 key grants in fiscal years 1999-2003, (2) identified local conditions that affected the grants, and (3) assessed accountability for the grants."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detects and deters evasion of antidumping and countervailing (AD/CV) duties through a three-part process that involves (1) identifying potential cases of evasion, (2) attempting to verify if evasion is occurring, and (3) taking enforcement action. To identify potential cases of evasion, CBP targets suspicious import activity, analyzes trends in import data, and follows up on allegations from external sources. If CBP identifies a potential case of evasion, it can use various techniques to attempt to verify whether evasion is occurring, such as asking importers for further information, auditing the records of importers suspected of evasion, and inspecting shipments arriving at ports of entry. If CBP is able to verify evasion, its options for taking enforcement action include (1) pursuing the collection of evaded duties, (2) imposing civil penalties, (3) conducting seizures, and (4) referring cases for criminal investigation. For example, between fiscal years 2007 to 2011, CBP assessed civil penalties totaling about $208 million against importers evading AD/CV duties."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO determined whether certain anti-lobbying restrictions applied to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) publication of "Losing Ground: The Impact of Proposed HUD Budget Cuts on America's Communities." GAO held that after careful consideration and analysis, neither the Losing Ground report itself, nor the Secretary in issuing it, violated applicable anti-lobbying laws."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) plays an important role in supporting the effective functioning of the Congress and its neighboring institutions. With a budget of $426 million, AOC is responsible for the maintenance, renovation, and new construction of all buildings and grounds within the Capitol Hill complex. GAO was mandated by the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2002, to conduct a comprehensive management review of AOC's operations to help identify improvements in strategic planning, organizational alignment, and strategic human capital management to help AOC better achieve its mission and to address long-standing program issues. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed AOC's legislative authority and internal documents, interviewed key AOC officials and senior managers, and conducted employee focus groups."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses management shortcomings at the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) in such areas as strategic planning, organizational alignment, strategic human capital, financial management, and information technology. AOC has demonstrated a commitment to change through ongoing management improvements. It is also revisiting its strategic planning efforts, working with a consultant to implement best practices, and implementing a new financial management system. AOC recognizes that change will not come quickly or easily. AOC must ensure that it has the policies, procedures, and people in place to effectively implement the needed changes. GAO believes that AOC must ensure top leadership commitment to change; identify long-term, mission-critical goals through a re-invigorated strategic planning process tied to serving the Congress; develop annual goals and a system for measuring progress; and establish individual accountability and commensurate authority for achieving results."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As a result of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the airline industry incurred significant losses resulting from the temporary shutdown of the nation's airspace and passengers' apprehensions about flying following the attacks. The Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act (the Act) provided, among other things, $5 billion in emergency assistance to compensate air carriers for their direct and incremental losses stemming from the attacks. The Act also authorized the Department of Transportation (DOT) to reimburse air carriers for increases in their insurance premiums. On September 28, 2001, we completed the first phase of the work Congress requested, concluding that there was a reasonable basis to assume that the airlines' financial losses related to September 11 would exceed the $5 billion made available in the Act. Since then and pursuant to the second part of the request, we monitored DOT's progress in administering the disaster relief and insurance reimbursement programs and provided periodic status updates to Congress."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) seeks to make the U.S. aviation system one of the safest in the world. However, a 2005 Department of Transportation Inspector General investigation found that FAA had issued medical certificates to a small percentage of pilots with disqualifying medical conditions, such as heart conditions, schizophrenia, and drug or alcohol addiction. In response to your request, our report addresses the following questions: (1) what procedures does FAA use to certify that pilot applicants meet medical standards and (2) how does FAA determine that medical certificates have been properly issued? In addressing these objectives, GAO researched FAA guidance and federal regulations; interviewed federal officials; analyzed FAA's application review procedures, quality assurance program, and its use of the National Driver Register; and conducted a data match between FAA's pilot registry and Social Security Administration's disability programs. The data match does not determine if pilots receiving disability benefits have medical conditions that would disqualify them from holding an FAA medical certificate. GAO is not making recommendations in this report. The Department of Transportation generally agreed with our findings. FAA and the Social Security Administration provided …

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. commercial aviation industry has an extraordinary safety record. However, when passenger airlines have accidents or serious incidents, regardless of their rarity, the consequences can be tragic. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) works to maintain a high level of safety through an effective safety oversight system. Keys to this system are to: (1) establish programs that focus resources on areas of highest safety risk and on mitigating risks; (2) provide training and communication to ensure that inspectors can consistently carry out the agency's oversight programs; and (3) have processes and data to continuously monitor, evaluate, and improve the numerous oversight programs that make up the safety oversight system. This statement focuses on these three key areas and is based on recent GAO reports on FAA's inspection oversight programs, industry partnership programs, enforcement program, and training program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The security of U.S. commercial aviation is a long-standing concern, and substantial efforts have been undertaken to strengthen it. One such effort is the development of a new Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) to identify passengers requiring additional security attention. The development of CAPPS II has raised a number of issues, including whether individuals may be inappropriately targeted for additional screening and whether data accessed by the system may compromise passengers' privacy. GAO was asked to summarize the results of its previous report that looked at (1) the development status and plans for CAPPS II; (2) the status of CAPPS II in addressing key developmental, operational, and public acceptance issues; and (3) additional challenges that could impede the successful implementation of the system."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2004, an estimated 23 billion pounds of air cargo was transported within the United States, about a quarter of which was transported on passenger aircraft. Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is responsible for ensuring the security of commercial aviation, including the transportation of cargo by air. To evaluate the status of TSA's efforts to secure domestic air cargo, GAO examined (1) the extent to which TSA used a risk management approach to guide decisions on securing air cargo, (2) the actions TSA has taken to ensure the security of air cargo and the factors that may limit their effectiveness, and (3) TSA's plans for enhancing air cargo security and the challenges TSA and industry stakeholders face in implementing these plans."