A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report examines how best practices offer improvements to the way the Department of Defense (DOD) develops new weapons systems, primarily the design and manufacturing aspects of the acquisition process. Knowledge about a product's design and producibility facilitates informed decisions about whether to significantly increase investments and reduces the risk of costly design changes later in the program. Leading commercial companies employ practices to capture design and manufacturing knowledge in time to make key decisions during product development. First, the companies kept the degree of the design challenge manageable before starting a new product development program by using an evolutionary approach. Second, the companies captured design and manufacturing knowledge before the two critical decision points in product development: when the design was demonstrated to be stable--the second knowledge point--and when the product was demonstrated to be producible at an affordable cost--the third knowledge point. DOD has made changes to its acquisition policy in an attempt to improve its framework for developing weapons systems, but the policy does not require the capture of design or manufacturing knowledge or sufficient criteria to enter the system demonstration and production …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since September 11, 2001, visa operations have played an increasingly important role in ensuring the national security of the United States. The Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Justice, as well as other agencies, are involved in the visa process. Each plays an important role in making security decisions so that potential terrorists do not enter the country. In two GAO reports, we assessed the effectiveness of the visa process as an antiterrorism tool."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has been providing ongoing assistance to the Capitol Preservation Commission and the Senate and House Appropriations Committees in their monitoring and oversight of the Capitol Visitor Center construction project. Given the current decisions facing the Congress, this testimony covers (1) management of the project, (2) the estimated cost for the project, (3) the status of the project's schedule, and (4) actions that Congress and the AOC should consider taking to address funding gaps and other current project issues and risks."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1986, the United States entered into a Compact of Free Association with the Pacific Island nations of the Federated States of Micronesia, or FSM, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, or RMI. The Compact provided about $2.1 billion in U.S. funds, supplied by the Department of the Interior, over 17 years (1987-2003) to the FSM and the RMI. These funds were intended to advance economic development. In a past report, GAO found that this assistance did little to advance economic development in either country, and accountability over funding was limited. The Compact also established U.S. defense rights and obligations in the region and allowed for migration from both countries to the United States. The three parties recently renegotiated expiring economic assistance provisions of the Compact in order to provide an additional 20 years of assistance (2004-2023). In addition, the negotiations addressed defense and immigration issues. The House International Relations and Resources Committees requested that GAO report on Compact negotiations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) involves activities that enhance the security of the nation's cyber and physical public and private infrastructures that are essential to national security, economic activity, and public health and safety. At least 50 federal organizations within 13 major departments and agencies mentioned in Presidential Decision Directive 63 are involved in CIP activities that include setting policy, analyzing vulnerabilities and intelligence information, disseminating alerts and warnings on potential and actual infrastructure attacks, developing remediation plans, responding to incidents, and performing research and development. Although most organizations could identify their relationships with other key CIP entities, relationships among all organizations performing similar activities were not consistently established. Most of the organizations in GAO's review do not receive appropriations specifically designated for cyber CIP and, therefore, do not track these funds. A complicating factor in tracking funds spent on cyber CIP activities is that organizational totals often include funds spent on physical, cyber, and agency-specific CIP spending."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S.-South Korean Land Partnership Plan (LPP), signed in March 2002, was designed to consolidate U.S. installations, improve combat readiness, enhance public safety, and strengthen the U.S.-South Korean alliance by addressing some of the causes of periodic tension associated with the U.S. presence in South Korea. The Senate report on military construction appropriations for fiscal year 2003 directed GAO to review the LPP. GAO adjusted its review to also address the effect of ongoing reassessments of U.S. overseas presence upon the LPP and other infrastructure needs. In this report, GAO assessed (1) the scope of the LPP, (2) the implications on the LPP and other construction projects of proposals to change basing in South Korea, and (3) implementation challenges associated with the LPP that could affect future U.S. military construction projects in South Korea."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is pursuing a new initiative involving a core competency approach for making sourcing decisions--that is, sourcing decisions based on whether the function is core to the agency's warfighting mission. In determining how to best perform non-core functions, DOD's position is that its components should look beyond just the use of public-private competitions under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 in making sourcing decisions, and consider other alternatives such as partnering or employee stock ownership. GAO was asked to assess (1) the department's progress in assessing its core functions as a basis for sourcing decisions, (2) the plans and progress DOD has made in identifying and implementing alternatives to A-76, and (3) the current status of DOD's A-76 program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed information systems general controls in the calendar year 2001 financial statement audits of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) Bank Insurance Fund, Savings Association Insurance Fund, and Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation Resolution Fund. FDIC made progress in correcting information security weaknesses previously identified and has taken steps to improve security. Nevertheless, GAO identified new weaknesses in its information systems controls that affect the corporation's ability to safeguard electronic access to critical financial and other sensitive information. FDIC did not adequately limit access to data and programs by controlling mainframe access authority, providing sufficient network security, or establishing a comprehensive program to monitor access activities. Further, other information systems control weaknesses were identified that could hinder FDIC's ability to provide physical security for its computer facility, appropriate segregation of computer functions, effective control of system software changes, or continuity of operations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 required each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996. The act also required agencies to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. During a review of the act's implementation, GAO found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of the General Counsel indicated that four of the agency's civil penalties are covered by the act but that the agency had not adjusted them for inflation. FERC's Office of the General Counsel stated that the agency has several other statutory penalties that appear not to be covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act. GAO's review did not reveal any FERC regulations that increased the agency's civil penalties for inflation."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Amtrak provides an Annual Operations Report to Congress that shows revenue, cost, and profit or loss on all its train routes in the form of route profitability schedules and an annual audited financial statement. In addition, Amtrak periodically receives congressional requests to provide route profitability schedules at different times of the year. In November 2001, Amtrak changed the way it prepared its route profitability schedules and applied this new method to information previously provided for fiscal years 1999 and 2000. Based on the initial information requested and provided, the schedule totals could not be readily reconciled to the audited financial statements for the corresponding periods. According to Amtrak officials, in order to focus on the operating profitability of Amtrak's routes, they excluded certain items included in the financial statement amounts in preparing the route schedule data. As a result, the totals for both sets of schedules did not tie directly to the audited financial statements. Amtrak also allocated certain profits from its other business activities to its routes as a reduction in route net cost. The allocation of these profits from other business activities undermines the ability to …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Strategic human capital management is critical to maximizing government's performance and ensuring its accountability for the benefit of the American people. The early years of the 21st century are proving to be a period of profound transition being driven by several key trends, including global interdependence; diverse, diffuse, and asymmetrical security threats; rapidly evolving science and technology; dramatic shifts in age and composition of the population; important quality of life issues; the changing nature of the economy; and evolving governmental structures and concepts. GAO designated strategic human capital management as a governmentwide high-risk area because of a long-standing lack of a consistent strategic approach to marshaling, managing, and maintaining the human capital needed for government to deliver on its promises. Three broad human capital reform opportunities are instrumental to agency transformation efforts: aligning individual and organizational performance, implementing results-oriented pay reform, and sustaining agency transformation efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides air-ground voice and data communications for pilots and air traffic controllers to safely coordinate all flight operations, ground movement of aircraft at airports, and in-flight separation distances between aircraft. However, the anticipated growth in air traffic, coupled with FAA's efforts to reduce air traffic delays and introduce new air traffic services, will create a demand for additional channels of voice communications that FAA's current system cannot provide. FAA and the aviation industry agree that the existing communications system, even with enhancements, cannot meet aviation's expanding need for communications. To ensure that the technology it wants to use for Next Generation Air/Ground Communications (NEXCOM) will meet its future needs, FAA, in collaboration with the aviation industry, conducted a comparative analysis of numerous technologies, to assess each one's ability to meet technical requirements, minimize program risk, and meet the agency's schedule. However, before making a final decision on the technology for NEXCOM, FAA will need to efficiently address three major issues: whether the preferred technology is technically sound and will operate as intended, if the preferred technology and the equipment it requires …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since July 1998, GAO has reported numerous times on nursing home quality-of-care issues and identified significant weaknesses in federal and state oversight. GAO was asked to assess the extent of the progress made in improving the quality of care provided by nursing homes to vulnerable elderly and disabled individuals, including (1) trends in measured nursing home quality, (2) state responses to previously identified weaknesses in their survey, complaint, and enforcement activities, and (3) the status of oversight and quality improvement efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Polar-orbiting environmental satellites provide data and imagery that are used by weather forecasters, climatologists, and the military to map and monitor changes in weather, climate, the ocean, and the environment. The current polar satellite program is a complex infrastructure that includes two satellite systems, supporting ground stations, and four central data processing centers. In the future, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is to merge the two current satellite systems into a single state-of-the-art environment monitoring satellite system. This new $7 billion satellite system is considered critical to the United States' ability to maintain the continuity of data required for weather forecasting and global climate monitoring through the year 2018. In its testimony GAO was asked, among other topics, to discuss risks to the success of the NPOESS deployment."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Collecting fines ordered for violations of securities and futures laws helps ensure that violators are held accountable for their offenses and may also deter future violations. The requesters asked GAO to evaluate the actions the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have taken to address earlier recommendations for improving their collection programs. The committees also asked GAO to update the fines collection rates from previous reports."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Spent nuclear fuel, the used fuel periodically removed from nuclear power reactors, is one of the most hazardous materials made by man. Nuclear power companies currently store 50,000 tons of spent fuel at 72 sites in 33 states. That amount will increase through 2010, when the Department of Energy (DOE) expects to open a permanent repository for this fuel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Concerns have been raised since September 11, 2001, that terrorists might target spent fuel. GAO was asked to (1) review federally sponsored studies that assessed the potential health effects of a terrorist attack or a severe accident on spent fuel, either in transit or in storage, and (2) identify options for DOE to further enhance the security of spent fuel during shipping to Yucca Mountain."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Prompted by a desire to reverse declining audience trends and to support the war on terrorism, the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the agency responsible for U.S. international broadcasting, began developing its new strategic approach to international broadcasting in July 2001. This approach emphasizes the need to reach mass audiences by applying modern broadcast techniques and strategically allocating resources to focus on high-priority markets. GAO was asked to examine (1) whether recent program initiatives have adhered to the Board's new strategic approach to broadcasting, (2) how the approach's effectiveness will be assessed, and (3) what critical challenges the Board faces in executing its strategy and how these challenges will be addressed."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), the Congress made sweeping changes to federal policy for needy families. PRWORA ended the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program and created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant to states. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the TANF block grant program, which provides grants to states totaling up to $16.5 billion each year and requires states to maintain a historical level of state spending on welfare reform programs. Under TANF, states have greater flexibility and face greater uncertainty than they did under AFDC. States have greater flexibility to design, finance, and implement programs for low-income families, including determining who is to be served and what services to provide. TANF also emphasizes the transitional nature of assistance and the importance of employment for welfare recipients. Because the amount of the TANF block grant is fixed, as caseloads decline--as they did in all states through the late 1990s--states have had additional resources that they have used to expand their programs, achieve some budgetary savings, and …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 requires the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to implement a system to physically screen 100 percent of cargo on passenger aircraft by August 2010. To fulfill these requirements, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) TSA is developing the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP), which would allow the screening of cargo to occur prior to placement on an aircraft. This testimony addresses four challenges TSA may face in developing a system to screen 100 percent of cargo: (1) deploying effective technologies; (2) changing TSA air cargo screening exemptions; (3) allocating compliance inspection resources to oversee CCSP participants; and (4) securing cargo transported from a foreign nation to the United States. GAO's comments are based on GAO products issued from October 2005 through February 2008, including selected updates conducted in July 2008."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many of the wastewater systems that Americans rely on to protect public health and the environment are reaching the end of their useful lives. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that a potential gap between future needs and current spending for wastewater infrastructure of $150 billion to $400 billion could occur over the next decade. Various approaches have been proposed to bridge this potential gap. One is to establish a clean water trust fund. This testimony summarizes findings of a May 2009 report (GAO-09-657), where GAO was asked to examine (1) stakeholders' views on the issues that would need to be addressed in designing and establishing a clean water trust fund and (2) potential options that could generate about $10 billion annually in revenue to support a clean water trust fund. GAO administered a questionnaire to 28 national organizations representing stakeholders from the wastewater and drinking water industries, state and local governments, engineers, and environmental groups and received 22 responses; reviewed proposals and industry papers; and used the most current data to estimate revenue on a range of products and activities. While the May report identified a …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter formally transmits information about the process used to determine the amount charged to the Coast Guard for Medicare-eligible retiree health care and amounts paid from the MERHCF for health care benefits provided to Coast Guard retirees for fiscal years 2006 through 2008."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over 100 million workers are protected through the Department of Labor's (Labor) enforcement of labor laws. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) enforces provisions that ensure workers are paid at least the federal minimum wage and for overtime. The Act applies to businesses engaged in interstate commerce or ones with annual sales over $500,000. Conducting investigations based on worker complaints is WHD's priority. According to Labor, investigations range from comprehensive investigations to conciliations, which consist primarily of phone calls to a complainant's employer. This testimony highlights findings from GAO's ongoing investigation of WHD's process for investigating and resolving wage and hour complaints. Specifically this testimony will report on cases GAO has identified from ongoing work that show inadequate WHD investigations of complaints. To develop the case studies, GAO obtained and analyzed data from WHD for over 70,000 closed case files from fiscal years 2005 to 2007. GAO then reviewed WHD documents and obtained information from publicly available sources in order to determine facts about the employers that had complaints filed against them. The results of these cases cannot be projected to all …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, criminal organizations transport hundreds of tons of illegal drugs from South America to the United States through a 6 million square mile "transit zone" including Central America, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Since fiscal year 2003, the United States has provided over $950 million to support counternarcotics efforts in transit zone countries, which historically lacked the capacity to interdict drugs. GAO was asked to examine (1) how the United States has assisted transit zone countries in disrupting drug trafficking and (2) what factors have impeded these efforts. GAO analyzed relevant data, met with U.S. and foreign officials, and visited selected countries."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Members of the Committee requested that GAO provide additional comments to a number of post-hearing questions after GAO testified before the Subcommittee on Management, Investigations, and Oversight on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Preparedness for Catastrophic Disasters. The responses are generally based on work associated with previously issued GAO products, which were conducted in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Because the responses are based on prior work, we did not obtain comments from DHS."