A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the financial and management issues related to the depot maintenance activity group of the Air Force Working Capital Fund."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the alternative minimum tax (AMT) system, focusing on: (1) the rationale for establishing AMT; (2) how AMT affects taxpayers' tax liability; (3) the expected increase in AMT coverage and additional tax liability and the major reasons for the increase; and (4) the impact of the projected increase in AMT coverage on taxpayers' compliance burden and economic incentives and on the distribution of the tax burden."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the administration's proposal to ensure solvency of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Combined Benefit Fund, focusing on the impact of the proposal to: (1) extend the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Reclamation fees; (2) reverse the effects of National Coal v. Chater; (3) reverse the effects of Dixie Fuel Company v. Social Security Administration; and (4) appropriate federal funds."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program standards, focusing on: (1) the impact of increasing CAFE standards on oil consumption, the environment, and automobile safety in the United States; and (2) other issues that affect the CAFE discussion."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Air Force F-22 Raptor production cost estimate, focusing on: (1) the status of cost reduction plans, including some plans not yet implemented, and Air Force procedures for reporting on the plans; and (2) a comparison of the 1999 production cost estimates with the congressional cost limitation."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) new rule on Medicare payments and consolidated billing for skilled nursing facilities. GAO noted that: (1) the rule sets forth the updates required in section 1888(e) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999, related to Medicare payments and consolidated billing for skilled nursing facilities; and (2) HCFA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In June 2002, GAO reported that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had not yet adequately revised its regulatory and oversight approach for the natural gas and electricity industries' transition from regulated monopolies to competitive markets. GAO also concluded that FERC faced significant human capital challenges to transform its workforce to meet such changes. In responding to the report, FERC said that the new Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (OMOI) it was creating and human capital improvements under way would address these concerns. GAO was asked to report on FERC's progress in (1) establishing an oversight and enforcement capability for competitive energy markets and (2) improving agency-wide human capital management."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on expenditures and revenues of state securities regulatory agencies for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, focusing on: (1) the expenditures and revenues of state securities regulatory agencies; and (2) quantifying the revenues of state securities agencies by types of activity."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new rule on extending wireless telecommunications services to tribal lands. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would provide incentives for wireless telecommunications carriers to serve individuals living on tribal lands; and (2) FCC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Combined Benefit Fund, focusing on: (1) the status of the Fund's financial position and its financing mechanism; (2) the impact of major court decisions on the assignment of beneficiaries; and (3) significant litigation and its related costs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Defense operations involve about $1 trillion in assets, $310 billion in annual budgetary authority, $24 billion in monthly disbursements, and three million military and civilian employees. Moreover, execution of DOD's operations spans a wide range of defense organizations, including the military services and their respective major commands and numerous defense agencies. Effectively managing DOD's finance and accounting operations across this complex array of organizations is both a formidable challenge and a prerequisite for effective and efficient departmental performance and accountability. Without reliable financial management information, DOD cannot make informed decisions among competing spending priorities and cannot effectively identify opportunities for reducing costs and reallocating resources to pressing needs. Because of congressional concern with DOD's financial management difficulties, Section 1008 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 directed the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a biennial strategic plan for the improvement of financial management. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 established additional reporting requirements that were to be addressed in DOD's Financial Management Improvement Plan. This report reviews whether the plan (1) represents an effective tool for helping resolve …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Air Force's Expeditionary Aerospace Force Concept."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) new rule on hospital inpatient payments and rates and costs of graduate medical education. GAO noted that: (1) the interim rule implements provisions of the Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children's Health Insurance Program Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 relating to Medicare payments to hospitals for inpatient services; (2) these provisions relate to reclassification of hospitals from urban to rural status, reclassification of certain hospitals for purposes of payment during federal fiscal year 2000, critical access hospitals, payments to hospitals excluded from the hospital inpatient prospective payment system, and payments for indirect and direct graduate medical education costs; and (3) HCFA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) new rule on hospital inpatient payment systems and rates. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule revises the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems for operating costs and capital-related costs to implement changes arising from HCFA's continuing experience with the systems; and (2) HCFA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "There are currently 57 inspectors general (IG) subject to the Inspector General Act of 1978 or similar statutory provisions. The President appoints 29 IGs who are confirmed by the Senate. Twenty-eight IGs in designated federal entities (DFE IGs) are appointed by their agency heads. GAO developed a survey that included key elements related to IG independence, quality of work, and resources. Responses to the survey indicate a clear delineation between the responses of the presidential and DFE IGs regarding the potential impact of conversion and consolidation. The presidential IGs indicated that DFE IG independence, quality and use of resources could be strengthened by conversion and consolidation. DFE IGs responses to these same questions indicated that there would be no impact or that these elements would be weakened. The Presidential IGs indicated that several elements affecting the DFE IGs' quality of work could be strengthened through consolidation, including the ability to issue hard-hitting reports when necessary, to audit issues of high risk, to review issues across agencies, to get attention to recommendations made by the IGs, and to plan work. The IGs overwhelmingly responded that establishing the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under Medicare's prospective payment system (PPS), home health agencies receive a single payment, adjusted to reflect the care needs of different types of patients, for providing up to 60 days of home health care. Some home health industry representatives have suggested that certain nonroutine medical supplies (such as wound-care dressings) should be excluded from this payment and reimbursed separately because of their high cost. The Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 required GAO to examine home health agency payments for nonroutine medical supplies and recommend whether payment for any such supplies should be excluded from the PPS."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Social Security benefits are payable to the spouses of retired, disabled, or deceased workers. The benefits often provide income to wives and husbands who have little or no Social Security benefits of their own. Until 1977, workers receiving pensions from government positions not covered by Social Security could receive their full pension benefit and their full spousal benefits as if they were nonworking spouses. Since then, a government pension offset has been in effect to equalize the treatment of workers covered by Social Security and those with noncovered government benefits. This report was prompted by a referral to GAO's Fraudnet that questioned a practice in which individuals in Texas were transferring to Social Security-covered positions for one day to avoid the offset. GAO found no central data on the use of the offset exemption by individuals, and time constraints did not permit in-depth audit work on the 2,300 state and local government retirement plans. However, GAO did establish that, as of June 2002, more than 4,800 persons in Texas and Georgia worked for brief periods in jobs covered by Social Security to qualify for the "last-day …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the workforce and safety issues facing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its shuttle program, focusing on the: (1) impact of workforce reductions on the shuttle program; (2) challenges NASA faces in addressing workforce issues; and (3) status of planned shuttle safety and supportability upgrades."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The density of the nation's forests, along with drought and other weather conditions, has fueled wildland fires that have required billions of dollars to suppress and has forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes. The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service and the Department of the Interior (Interior) are collaborating on a long-term effort to reduce the risk these fires pose. GAO was asked, among other things, to (1) assess the agencies' efforts to determine which federal lands require fuels reduction treatments, (2) determine how lands are prioritized for treatment, and (3) assess how progress is measured and reported."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Data mining--a technique for extracting knowledge from large volumes of data--is being used increasingly by the government and by the private sector. Many federal data mining efforts involve the use of personal information, which can originate from government sources as well as private sector organizations. The federal government's increased use of data mining since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has raised public and congressional concerns. As a result, GAO was asked to describe the characteristics of five federal data mining efforts and to determine whether agencies are providing adequate privacy and security protection for the information systems used in the efforts and for individuals potentially affected by these data mining efforts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has spent an estimated $12 billion on the development and production of tactical radios over the last 5 years--about as much as was spent producing Virginia Class submarines ($10.8 billion) in the same period. Survivability and lethality in warfare are increasingly dependent on superior information and communication capabilities. DOD is counting on the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) to deliver the breakthroughs in this area. At the same time as it is developing JTRS, DOD wants to ensure that current forces are equipped with sufficient legacy radios. To address Subcommittee concerns regarding DOD's approach to meeting current and future radio needs, GAO examined this subject. In response, this report addresses (1) how planned investments in key tactical radio systems changed over the last 5 years, (2) why these changes occurred, and (3) the challenges ahead. To assess these topics, GAO's work included reviewing 2003 through 2007 budget requests, legacy radio procurements, and the status of the JTRS program; and interviewing officials from DOD organizations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) established the Defense Critical Infrastructure Program (DCIP) to assure the availability of mission-critical infrastructure, including surface, sea, and air transportation assets to carry out its missions. GAO was asked to evaluate (1) the extent to which the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) has identified, prioritized, and assessed critical transportation assets; (2) the extent to which DOD installation personnel have taken actions to help assure the availability of critical transportation assets, both within and independent of DCIP; and (3) how DOD is funding critical transportation asset assurance. GAO examined a nonprojectable sample of 22 critical transportation assets, reviewed relevant DOD guidance and documents, and interviewed cognizant officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On the basis of analyzing Social Security Administration (SSA) data on individuals who were Disability Insurance (DI) beneficiaries as of December 2010 and earnings data from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), GAO estimates that SSA made $1.29 billion in potential cash benefit overpayments to about 36,000 individuals as of January 2013. The exact number of individuals who received improper disability payments and the exact amount of improper payments made to those individuals cannot be determined without detailed case investigations by SSA. These DI beneficiaries represent an estimated 0.4 percent of all primary DI beneficiaries as of December 2010. Using a different methodology that includes additional causes of overpayments not considered in GAO's analysis, SSA estimated its DI overpayments in fiscal year 2011 were $1.62 billion, or 1.27 percent of all DI benefits in that fiscal year. GAO estimated DI program overpayments on the basis of work activity performed by two populations of individuals. The first population received potential overpayments due to work activity during the DI program's mandatory 5-month waiting period--a statutory program requirement to help ensure that SSA does not pay benefits to …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress is concerned about the health care spending burden facing the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the largest private health insurance program in the country. Health care spending per person varies geographically, and the underlying causes for the spending variation have not been fully explored. Understanding market forces and other factors that may influence health care spending may contribute to efforts to moderate health care spending. Health care spending varies across the country due to differences in its components, the utilization and price of health care services. A wide body of research describes extensive geographic variation in utilization. However, less is known about private sector geographic variation in prices. This report examined prices and spending in FEHBP Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) to determine (1) the extent to which hospital and physician prices varied geographically, (2) which factors were associated with geographic variation in hospital and physician prices, and (3) the extent to which hospital and physician price variation contributed to geographic variation in spending. We analyzed claims data from several large national PPOs participating in FEHBP. We used 2001 data, the most current data available …