A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) regulates the farm credit system. Administrative expenses, which accounted for about 97 percent of FCA's total operating expenses of $34.5 million in fiscal year 2000, are funded primarily by assessments on the institutions that make up the system, including the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac). This report (1) analyses trends in administrative expenses for fiscal years 1996 through 2000 and (2) compares ways that FCA and other federal financial regulators calculate the assessments they need to fund their operations. GAO found that although FCA's administrative expenditures varied each year between 1996 and 2000, they remained below 1996 levels and stayed within congressionally imposed annual spending limits for each year during 1997 through 2000. Between 1996 and 2000, the agency experienced a decline in administrative spending of around $2 million, or 5.8 percent. Personnel costs were the largest single expense, consistently accounting for more than 80 percent of administrative spending; thus, a 15 percent staff reduction also provided the greatest overall savings. Unlike many government agencies whose operations are funded by taxpayers' money, the federal financial regulators are self-funded agencies that …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses GAO's review of the Department of the Treasury's Office of Enforcement. The office was created to provide oversight, policy guidance, and support to Treasury's enforcement bureaus. GAO found that no comprehensive source provided guidance to either the office staff or to the bureaus on the circumstances under which bureaus are required to interact with the office. In addition, established documentation did not exist for 12 of the 29 circumstances under which the bureaus are required to interact with the office, and when it did exist, the documentation was generally broad in nature and did not provide explicit information on one-half of the expected interaction. About one-half of the bureau officials that GAO interviewed said that they were not aware of written requirements for their bureaus' interactions with the office or that they knew when to interact through such factors as their professional responsibility, experience, judgment, or common sense. An agency's internal control needs to be clearly documented and that documentation should be readily available for examination. Without a clearly defined and documented set of policies and procedures covering operational and communications activities, the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Coast Guard is in the final stages of planning the largest procurement project in its history-the modernization or replacement of more than 90 cutters and 200 aircraft used for missions more than 50 miles from shore. This project, called the Deepwater Capability Replacement Project, is expected to cost more than $10 billion and take 20 years or longer to complete. Congress and the Coast Guard are at a major crossroads with the project. Planning is essentially complete, and Congress will soon be asked to commit to a multibillion-dollar project that will define the way the Coast Guard performs many of its missions for decades to come. The deepwater acquisition strategy is unique and untried for a project of this magnitude. It carries many risks that could potentially cause significant schedule delays and cost increases. The project faces risks in the following four areas: (1) planning the project around annual funding levels far above what the administration has told the Coast Guard it can expect to receive, (2) keeping costs under control in the contract's later years, (3) ensuring that procedures and personnel are in place …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Army deployed its team, called Task Force Hawk, to participate in a Kosovo combat operation known as Operation Allied Force. This report (1) examines how Task Force Hawk's concept of operation compared to Army and joint doctrine, (2) reviews the lessons learned identified from the operation and determines the status of actions to address those lessons, and (3) examines the extent to which the Army and the Air Force were able to operate together as a joint force. GAO concludes that Task Force Hawk's deep attacks against Serbian forces in Kosovo was consistent with doctrine, but was not typical in that the task force was supporting an air campaign rather than its more traditional role of being used in conjunction with Army ground forces to engage massed formations of enemy armor. The Army identified 107 items that require remedial action. As of January 2001, 47 of the 107 items had been recommended for closure. Action is in process for the remaining 60 lessons. Finally, the Army and the Air Force experienced significant problems in their ability to work together jointly and the interoperability of the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report assesses the licensing process of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Specifically, GAO examines (1) why the licensing process now takes longer and costs more than it did when FERC issued most original licenses several decades ago; (2) whether participants in the licensing process agree on the need for, and type of, further reforms to reduce time and costs; and (3) whether available time and cost data are sufficient to allow informed decisions on the effectiveness of recent reforms and the need for further reforms. GAO found that since 1986, FERC has been required to give "equal consideration" to, and make tradeoffs among, hydropower generation and other competing resource needs. Additional environmental and land management laws have also placed additional requirements on other federal and state agencies participating in the licensing process to address specific resource needs. GAO found no agreement between FERC, federal and state land resource agencies, licensees, environmental groups, and other participants in the licensing process on the need for further reforms to reduce process-related time and costs. Finally, available time and cost data are insufficient to allow informed decisions on …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Nationwide, states reported that federal and state expenditures for child care under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) block grant and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant grew from $4.1 billion in fiscal year 1997 to $6.9 billion in fiscal year 1999 and totaled over $16 billion in constant fiscal year 1997 dollars for this three-year period. More than half of the children whose child care was subsidized with CCDF funds were cared for in centers, and CCDF subsidies for all types of care were primarily provided through vouchers. Eligible parents who were subsidized by CCDF were offered a choice of receiving a voucher to pay a provider of their choosing or using a provider who had a contract with the state. More than half of all the states gave TANF and former TANF families transitioning to work first or second priority for receiving child care subsidies while other eligible low-income families were assigned lower priorities. Officials reported that their states funded the child care needs of their TANF and former TANF families transitioning to work, and were serving all of these …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To deter illegal entry between the nation's ports of entry, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) developed its Southwest Border Strategy. INS has spent seven years implementing the border strategy, but it may take INS up to a decade longer to fully implement the strategy. This assumes that INS obtains the level of staff, technology, equipment, and fencing it believes it needs to control the Southwest border. Although illegal alien apprehensions have shifted, there is no clear indication that overall illegal entry into the United States along the Southwestern border has declined. INS' current efforts to measure the effectiveness of its border control efforts could be enhanced by analyzing the data in its automated biometric identification system (IDENT). These data offer INS an opportunity to develop additional performance indicators that could be incorporated into its Annual Performance Plan review process and could help INS assess whether its border control efforts are associated with an overall reduction in the flow of illegal aliens across the border. Borderwide analysis of the IDENT data could be used to address several important questions related to illegal entry. The strategy's impact …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which manages the cleanup of the nation's most hazardous abandoned sites through the Superfund program, relies heavily on contractors to conduct its cleanup activities. Currently, EPA spends about 50 percent of its approximately $1.5 billion annual Superfund budget on contractors. With so much at stake, it is critical that the government get the best contract price for this cleanup work. EPA's and GAO's reviews have shown that the agency has made significant progress during the past decade in addressing the weakness of its cost-estimating processes. EPA regional work assignment managers are currently developing independent estimates, which contracting officers are using to negotiate the prices for cleanup work. The agency's current initiatives should help the agency successfully address the Army Corps of Engineers' and GAO's remaining concerns by providing the managers with the training and tools they need to develop better estimates. By incorporating some relatively simple additional steps to more fully implement and better scrutinize the effectiveness of the initiatives, the agency can better ensure that its efforts improve cost estimates agencywide."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With the end of the Cold War, national security strategies changed to meet new global challenges. The Navy developed a new strategic direction in the early 1990s, shifting its primary focus from open ocean "blue water" operations to littoral, or shallow water, operations closer to shore. GAO found that although the Navy has recently placed more emphasis on transformation, it does not have a well-defined and overarching strategy for transformation. It has not clearly identified the scope and direction of its transformation; the overall goals, objectives, and milestones; or the specific strategies and resources to be used in achieving these goals. It also has not clearly identified organizational roles and responsibilities, priorities, resources, or ways to measure progress. Without a well-defined strategic plan to guide the Navy's efforts, senior leaders and Congress will not have the tools they need to ensure that the transformation is successful."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Indian gambling industry has flourished since the enactment of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988. Nearly 200 tribes generated about $10 billion in annual revenues in 1999 from their gambling operations. Because of weaknesses in the federal recognition process, the basis for tribal recognition decisions by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is not always clear and the length of time involved can be substantial. Despite an increasing workload, the number of BIA staff assigned to evaluate the petitions has fallen by about 35 percent since 1993. Just as important, the process lacks effective procedures for promptly addressing the increased workload. In particular, the process does not impose effective deadlines that create a sense of urgency, and procedures for providing information to interested third parties are ineffective. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Indian Issues: More Consistent and Timely Tribal Recognition Process Needed, by Barry T. Hill, Director for Natural Resources and Environment, before the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs, House Committee on Government Reform. GAO-01-415T, Feb. 7 (nine pages)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "About 80 means-tested federal programs assisted low-income people in 1998. GAO reviewed 11 programs that assisted families and individuals with income, food, medical assistance, and housing. Despite substantial overlap in the populations they serve, the 11 programs varied significantly in their financial eligibility rules. At the most basic level, the dollar levels of the income limits--the maximum amounts of income an applicant can have and still be eligible for a program--vary across programs. Beyond this, differences exist in the income rules, such as whose income and what types of income are counted. The variations and complexity of the federal financial eligibility rules, along with other factors, have led to processes that are often duplicative and cumbersome for both caseworkers and applicants. Overall, federal, state, and local entities have made little progress in simplifying or coordinating eligibility determination processes. States realigned some of the financial rules, but only to a limited extent. Another approach uses computer systems to establish joint eligibility determination processes that a single caseworker can administer. Efforts to simplify or better coordinate eligibility determination processes confront many obstacles, including restrictive federal program statutes and …