Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that while DOD has a process in place for monitoring and reporting on late-payment penalties, this process has significant flaws and omissions that result in incomplete and inaccurate data, thereby limiting the effectiveness of the process. Specifically, DOD’s performance measure, or metric, for late-payment penalties did not include about $54 billion of commercial payments subject to the Prompt Payment Act, and DOD did not assess the data for accuracy or completeness. In addition, at the time of our review, DOD was not monitoring or reporting on discounts lost across the department because, DOD officials stated, the metric had consistently met its goal. The deficiencies we found in DOD’s process for monitoring and reporting on late-payment penalties and discounts lost significantly increase the risk to the accuracy and completeness of reported data, thus preventing DOD officials and congressional oversight committees from obtaining the reliable and comprehensive data they need for assessing the extent of any issues concerning late-payment penalties and discounts lost across DOD. According to DOD officials and reports, a major contributor to late-payment penalties incurred and discounts lost was the late receipt of documents necessary …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R series (GOES-R) program has made progress by completing its early design milestones and is nearing the end of the design phase for its spacecraft, instrument, and ground system components. While the program continues to make progress, recent technical problems with the instruments and spacecraft, as well as a significant modification to the ground project’s development plan, have delayed the completion of key reviews and led to increased complexity for the development of GOES-R. The technical and programmatic challenges experienced by the flight and ground projects have led to a 19-month delay in completing the program’s preliminary design review. Nevertheless, program officials report that its planned launch date of October 2015 for the first satellite has not changed. While the program reports that approximately $1.2 billion is currently in reserve to manage future delays and cost growth, significant portions of development remain for major components. As a result, the program may not be able to ensure that it has adequate resources to cover ongoing challenges as well as unexpected problems for the remaining development of all four satellites."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The number of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) child applicants and recipients with mental impairments has increased substantially for more than a decade, even though the Social Security Administration (SSA) denied, on average, 54 percent of such claims from fiscal years 2000 to 2011. Factors such as the rising number of children in poverty and increasing diagnosis of certain mental impairments have likely contributed to this growth. In fiscal year 2011, the most prevalent primary mental impairments among children found medically eligible were (1) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (2) speech and language delay, and (3) autism, with autism claims growing most rapidly since fiscal year 2000. State disability determination services (DDS) examiners also consider the impact of additional, or “secondary,” impairments when making a decision, and when present, these impairments were used to support 55 percent of those cases GAO reviewed that were allowed in fiscal year 2010. However, SSA has not consistently collected those impairment data, limiting its understanding of how all impairments may affect decisions."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Officials at the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and the other public retirement plans that had considered socially responsible investment (SRI) associated a number of common challenges with SRI adoption. While none of these plans were identical to TSP in scope or demographics, many plan officials shared similar challenges and concerns with TSP. For example, they identified participant demand, SRI screening criteria, and costs as the most common challenges. Officials at public retirement plans that had adopted SRI cited some short-term benefits of SRI, such as providing participants an opportunity to invest in accordance with their values, but said that the long-term benefits were unknown."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rely on VA medical centers (VAMC) and public housing agencies (PHA) that serve veterans directly to determine participant eligibility for the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program. VAMC staff GAO contacted said that they interview veterans interested in the HUD-VASH program to assess whether the veteran met the program’s definition of homelessness, check VA’s electronic patient record system to determine whether the veteran was eligible for VA health care, and obtain the veteran’s agreement to participate in case management. VAMCs refer eligible veterans to partnering PHAs (subject to rental assistance voucher availability) and are required to place them on an interest list when no vouchers are available. PHA staff GAO contacted said that they compare the veteran’s reported income to information provided by third-party sources, such as the Social Security Administration, to verify that the veteran’s household income did not exceed HUD-VASH program limits and check state sex offender registries to help ensure that no member of the veteran’s household was subject to a lifetime registration requirement."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

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This report discusses the changing energy and economic landscape, as well as the roughly 25 bills introduced by the 112th Congress regarding hydropower (the use of flowing water to produce electricity). Congress is examining numerous energy sources to determine their contribution to the nation's energy portfolio and the federal role in supporting these sources, including hydropower.

Current U.S. policy toward the region is designed to promote economic and social opportunity; ensure citizen security; strengthen effective democratic institutions; and secure a clean energy future. As part of broader efforts to advance these priorities, the United States provides Latin American and Caribbean nations with substantial amounts of foreign assistance. This report specifically looks at trends in this assistance, FY2013 Obama Administration report, and Congressional action.

This report discusses the Navy's plan to develop and design a class of 12 next-generation ballistic missile submarines, or SSBN(X)s, as replacements for the 14 Ohio class SSBNs currently in operation. The report explores certain related issues for Congress, including the affordability of the project and its potential impact on other Navy shipbuilding programs, alternatives to the program, and which shipyard or shipyards will build the proposed ships.

The recent online publication of classified defense documents by the organization WikiLeaks and subsequent reporting by the New York Times and other news media have focused attention on whether such publication violates U.S. criminal law. The Justice Department and Department of Defense are investigating the circumstances to determine whether any prosecutions will be undertaken in connection with the disclosure. This report discusses the statutory prohibitions that may be implicated, including the Espionage Act; the extraterritorial application of such statutes; and the First Amendment implications related to such prosecutions against domestic or foreign media organizations and associated individuals. The report provides a summary of recent legislation relevant to the issue as well as some previous efforts to criminalize the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

This report looks at how economic reforms and trade liberalization that began in 1979 has lead to China blossoming into one of the world's fastest growing economies. The report surveys the rise of China's economy; describes major economic challenges facing China; and discusses the challenges, opportunities, and implications of China's economic rise for the United States.

This report gives an overview of fuel use by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and its pursuit of numerous initiatives for reducing its fuel needs and changing the mix of energy sources that it uses. The report includes an extensive background on DOD fuel use including how the DOD uses and buys fuel, challenges and risks associated with the DOD's fuel use, DOD energy initiatives, and past legislation that addressed DOD energy use; it also presents issues for Congress and legislative action to be addressed during FY2013.

This report provides an overview of Guatemala's current political and economic conditions, relations with the United States, and several issues likely to figure in future decisions by Congress and the Administration regarding Guatemala. With respect to continued cooperation and foreign assistance, these issues include security and governance; protection of human rights and human rights conditions on some U.S. military aid to Guatemala; support for the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala; combating narcotics trafficking and organized crime; trade relations; and intercountry adoption.

This report looks at the pros and cons of recent legislation brought up in the 112th Congress, including the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and how it will affect trade between the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

This report discusses the United States' relationship with India as it regards nuclear nonproliferation and cooperation. It particularly looks at agreements made between the Bush administration and India, and the Obama administration's continuation of these policies.

This report covers Special Operations Forces (SOF) budgets for FY2013 and expected uses of the bugeted money. SOF actions play a significant role in U.S. military operations, and the Administration has given U.S. SOF greater responsibility for planning and conducting worldwide counterterrorism operations.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Calculation of a county's rollback tax rate (RQ-1025-GA)

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Corrective Action Site (CAS) 02-37-02, Gas Sampling Assembly, is associated with nuclear test MULLET. MULLET was an underground safety test conducted on October 17, 1963. The experiment also involved prompt sampling of particulate material from the detonation, similar to CAS 09-99-06, Gas Sampling Assembly, which is associated with PLAYER/YORK. The sampling system at MULLET was similar to that of PLAYER/YORK and was used to convey gas from the MULLET emplacement hole (U2ag) to a sampling assembly. Beyond the sampling assembly, the system had a 'Y' junction with one branch running to a filter unit and the other running to a scrubber unit. The total system length was approximately 250 feet and is depicted on the attached drawing. According to the available background information, retrieval of the sample material from the MULLET event caused significant alpha (plutonium) contamination, limited to an area near ground zero (GZ). Test support Radiological Control Technicians did not detect contamination outside the immediate GZ area. In addition, vehicles, equipment, and workers that were contaminated were decontaminated on site. Soil contamination was addressed through the application of oil, and the site was decommissioned after the test. Any equipment that could be successfully decontaminated and had a future …

The mission of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility is to provide observations of the earth climate system to the climate research community for the purpose of improving the understanding and representation, in climate and earth system models, of clouds and aerosols as well as their coupling with the Earth's surface. In order for ARM measurements to be useful toward this goal, it is important that the measurements are of a known and reasonable quality. The ARM data quality program includes several components designed to identify quality issues in near-real-time, track problems to solutions, assess more subtle long-term issues, and communicate problems to the user community.