Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on whether a federal employee on official duty, who is also a member of the National Guard or the armed forces Reserves, may conduct, and use agency office equipment to support, Guard or Reserve business. GAO held that: (1) agencies may permit their employees to use a limited amount of official time and agency resources to support the Guard or Reserves; (2) employees who are not in active military status and receiving military pay at the time that they perform the limited incidental service for their Guard or Reserve organization are not prohibited from using agency resources and official time to support those activities; (3) all agencies would appear to have some interest in furthering the governmental purpose of, and national interest in, the Guard and Reserves; (4) thus, some use of employee time and agency equipment to carry out limited, incidental Guard or Reserve functions falls within the parameters of activities that an agency may permit; and (5) it may be advisable for the Office of Personnel Management to provide general guidelines as to the amount of time and types of agency …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From January 1, 2008, through June 30, 2011, 5 corporates and 85 credit unions failed. As of January 1, 2008, the 5 failed corporates were some of the largest—accounting for 75 percent of all corporate assets—but the 85 failed credit unions were relatively small—accounting for less than 1 percent of total credit union assets. GAO found poor investment and business strategies contributed to the corporate failures. Specifically, the failed corporates over concentrated their investments in private-label, mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and invested substantially more in private-label MBS than corporates that did not fail. GAO also found that poor management was the primary reason the 85 credit unions failed. In addition, NCUA’s Office of Inspector General has reported that NCUA’s examination and enforcement processes did not result in strong and timely actions to avert the failure of these institutions NCUA took multiple actions to stabilize, resolve, and reform the corporate system. NCUA used existing funding sources, such as the NCUSIF, and new funding sources, including the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund (Stabilization Fund), to stabilize and provide liquidity to the corporates. NCUA placed the failing corporates into …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Elevated lead levels in the District of Columbia's tap water in 2003 prompted questions about how well consumers are protected nationwide. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), states, and local water systems share responsibility for providing safe drinking water. Lead typically enters tap water as a result of the corrosion of lead in the water lines or household plumbing. EPA's lead rule establishes testing and treatment requirements. This report discusses (1) EPA's data on the rule's implementation; (2) what implementation of the rule suggests about the need for changes to the regulatory framework; and (3) the extent to which drinking water at schools and child care facilities is tested for lead."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As of August 2012, just 37 of 566 federally recognized tribes (7 percent) were participating in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and 3 tribes accounted for more than 70 percent of policies. A number of factors have affected tribes' participation. First, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not placed a high priority on mapping rural areas, including many Indian lands, for flood risk, and most tribal lands remain unmapped. Without flood hazard maps, tribal communities may be unaware of their flood risk, even in high-risk areas. Partly for this reason, the risk of flooding is perceived as relatively low on many tribal lands. Further, tribes may lack the resources and administrative capacity needed to administer NFIP requirements, and NFIP premiums are often too high for low-income tribal members. Finally, unique tribal issues can make participation difficult. For example, some Indian tribes do not have reservations over which they can enact and enforce the land use ordinances that are required for NFIP participation. Instead, many have lands that were allotted to individuals rather than to a tribal entity, limiting the tribes' jurisdiction."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report updates GAO's previous assessments of agencies' experiences in linking performance plans and budgets under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA). GAO has also included in this report an initial assessment of the approaches used by agencies to link performance plans with their audited annual financial statements. Over the first four years of agency efforts to implement GPRA, GAO observed that agencies continue to tighten the required linkage between their performance plans and budget requests. Of the agencies GAO reviewed over this period, all but three met the basic requirement of the act to define a linkage between their performance plans and the program activities in their budget requests, and most of the agencies in GAO's review had moved beyond this basic requirement to indicate some level of funding associated with expected performance described in the plan. More importantly, more agencies each year--almost 75 percent in fiscal year 2002 compared to 40 percent in fiscal year 1999--were able to show a direct link between expected performance and requested program activity funding levels--the first step in defining the performance consequences of budgetary decisions. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO surveyed inspectors general (IG) to obtain: (1) information on their organizational structure, staffing, and workload; and (2) their views on current policy issues affecting them."