Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2001, GAO issued its opinions on the calendar year 2000 financial statements of the Bank Insurance Fund, Savings Association Insurance Fund, and FSLIC Resolution Fund. GAO also issued its opinion on the effectiveness of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) internal control as of December 31, 2000, and its evaluation of FDIC's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations for the three funds for the year ended December 31, 2000. This report reviews the internal control weaknesses identified during GAO's audits of the 2000 financial statements, and recommends improvements to address those weaknesses. GAO found that FDIC has several internal control weaknesses related to financial reporting, including the execution of transactions. The weaknesses concern its asset valuation process and its allocation and recovery expenses. Specifically, GAO found that (1) errors in valuing receivership assets caused both overstatements and understatements in determining the allowance for loss related to receivables; (2) a calculation error in valuing equity partnership assets caused an overstatement in the allowance for loss related to other assets; and (3) incorrect operating expense amounts were allocated and recovered, which resulted in the incorrect distribution …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses information that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provided to Congress on its investigation of Wen Ho Lee, a scientist formerly employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. GAO focuses on whether the congressional testimony of Neil J. Gallagher, Assistant Director of the FBI's National Security Committee, was false or purposely misleading. GAO found that part of Mr. Gallagher's testimony before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, in which he expressed full confidence in an administrative inquiry by the Department of Energy, was inaccurate and misleading. Mr. Gallagher had ample opportunity to know and should have known that the FBI's Albuquerque Field Office had concerns about the administrative inquiry. Although GAO concluded that Mr. Gallagher's testimony was inaccurate, GAO was unable to determine whether he intentionally misled the Committee."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Discussions about how to reform and modernize the Medicare Program have, in part, focused on whether the structure that was adopted in 1965 is optimal today. Questions have been raised about whether the program could benefit from changes to the way that Medicare's claims processing contractors are chosen and the jobs they do. Medicare could benefit from full and open competition and its relative flexibility to promote better performance and accountability. If the current limits on Medicare contracting authority are removed, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could (1) select contractors on a competitive basis from a broader array of entities capable of performing needed program activities, (2) issue contracts for discrete program functions to improve contractor performance through specialization, (3) pay contractors based on how well they perform rather than simply reimbursing them for their costs, and (4) terminate poor performers more efficiently."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Defense's 1999 broad-based survey of active duty personnel to help shed light on why servicemembers in critical occupational areas might be leaving the military. From comparing the responses of retention-critical personnel against other enlisted personnel, GAO concludes that personnel in retention-critical occupations are not being "pushed out" of the military by their experiences at a greater rate than other enlisted personnel. Rather, to the extent they possess marketable skills, it is more likely they are being "pulled out" of the military by more attractive civilian opportunities. Comparing retention-critical personnel against other enlisted personnel, GAO found that the expectations and experiences of personnel serving in retention-critical occupations were often similar to those of other enlisted personnel. Personnel in retention-critical occupations were generally as satisfied with military life as were other enlisted personnel and each group's career intentions were similar. Nearly half of both retention-critical and other enlisted personnel were satisfied with the military way of life. Perceptions of civilian life for those serving in retention-critical occupations were mixed. Overall, most enlisted personnel had a positive perception about work-related opportunities and the …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Department of Defense's (DOD) use of the Office of Management and Budget's Circular A-76, which establishes federal policy for the performance of recurring commercial activities. DOD has been a leader among federal agencies in the use of the A-76 process and at one point planned to use the process to study more than 200,000 positions over several years. However, the number of positions planned for study has changed over time and the Department recently augmented its A-76 program with what it terms strategic sourcing. DOD has saved money through the A-76 process primarily by reducing the number of in-house positions. Yet, GAO has repeatedly found that it is extremely difficult to measure the precise amount of savings because available data has been limited and inconsistent. The lessons learned from DOD's A-76 program include the following: (1) studies have generally taken longer than initially expected, (2) studies have generally required higher costs and resources than initially projected, (3) finding and selecting functions to compete can be difficult, and (4) making premature budget cuts on the assumption of projected savings can be risky. Both government groups …