A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 1,002 exempt financial institutions make up a small percentage of the assets of the overall banking system—about 7 percent—and include industrial loan corporations (ILC), limited-purpose credit card banks, municipal deposit banks, trust banks with insured deposits, and savings and loans (S&L). Although exempt from the BHC Act, S&L holding companies are regulated by the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors (Federal Reserve) under the Home Owners’ Loan Act as amended. Excluding S&Ls, the number of exempt institutions drops to 57 that comprise less than 1 percent of banking system assets and there is a 3-year moratorium on the approval of federal deposit insurance on select exempt institutions that ends in 2013. These institutions vary by size, activities, and risks. Larger institutions such as ILCs provide banking services similar to those of commercial banks and carry many of the same risks. Other exempt institutions are smaller, provide only a few services such as credit card loans and related services, and thus have lower risk profiles."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Workforce board officials and their partners in the 14 initiatives cited a range of factors that facilitated building innovative collaborations. Almost all of the collaborations grew out of efforts to address urgent workforce needs of multiple employers in a specific sector, such as health care, manufacturing, or agriculture, rather than focusing on individual employers. Additionally, the partners in these initiatives made extra effort to understand and work with employers so they could tailor services such as jobseeker assessment, screening, and training to address specific employer needs. For example, in Greensboro, North Carolina, board staff provided expedited services for an aircraft company that just moved to the area by designing a web-based recruitment tool and customized assessment process within 48 hours and screening over 2,400 initial applicants. In all the initiatives, partners remained engaged in these collaborative efforts because they continued to produce a wide range of reported results, such as an increased supply of skilled labor, job placements, reduced employer recruitment and turnover costs, and averted layoffs. For example, in Cincinnati, Ohio, employers who participated in the health care initiative realized almost $5,000 in estimated cost …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Fiscal pressures, rising health care costs, and increases in the number of uninsured may lead states to look toward public-private partnerships to help finance health insurance coverage. Through Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), states have had long-standing authority to operate premium assistance programs that subsidize the purchase of private health insurance. Enacted in February 2009, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA), which reauthorized CHIP and made changes to Medicaid, provided states with additional options for operating premium assistance programs. As of November 2009, states had not implemented premium assistance programs under the new authorities provided by CHIPRA, but, as allowed by CHIPRA, states were continuing to operate their programs under preexisting authorities. Through premium assistance programs, states use Medicaid funds, CHIP funds, or both to subsidize the cost of private health insurance--such as employer-sponsored insurance (ESI)--for eligible individuals. As such, premium assistance programs contrast with direct coverage, where states provide Medicaid or CHIP benefits to enrollees by paying doctors and other providers directly or contracting with managed care organizations. Previous reports on premium assistance programs have described the programs' potential …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Due to recent turmoil in U.S. credit markets, many lenders have been reluctant to offer conventional loans--that is, loans not guaranteed by the federal government--to small businesses so that they can finance their operations and capital needs. While the Small Business Administration's (SBA) principal loan guarantee programs, the 7(a) and 504 programs, are intended to help small businesses raise critical financing that they may have difficulty obtaining from other sources, the availability of such loans has also declined. Under the 7(a) program, SBA traditionally has provided lenders guarantees on up to 85 percent of the value of loans to qualifying small businesses in exchange for fees to help offset the costs of the program. Under the 504 program, which generally applies to small business real estate and other fixed assets, SBA provides certified development companies with a guarantee on up to 40 percent of the financing of the projects' costs in exchange for fees--the small business borrowers and other lenders provide the remaining 60 percent of the financing on an unguaranteed basis. Traditionally, lenders, such as banks, that participate in the 7(a) or 504 programs often sell qualifying …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Much of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) funding is provided in supplemental appropriations when a disaster is declared, but funds to staff, manage, and operate other FEMA programs and underlying support functions--what GAO refers to as its day-to-day operations--compete with other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and federal priorities for limited resources. In this environment, FEMA must strategically plan for and manage its day-to-day operations to ensure they efficiently and effectively support the agency's disaster relief mission. To analyze this issue, GAO examined resource trends and management related to FEMA's day-to-day operations from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2005."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review Report states that the Department of Defense (DOD) must be prepared to respond to and mitigate the effects of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) attacks at home or overseas. Moreover, the Secretary of Defense directed the U.S. military to define the nature and potential requests for military capabilities needed to respond to 15 National Planning Scenarios issued by the Homeland Security Council. The Army's chemical units are key players in this mission. GAO was asked to evaluate the preparedness of the Army's chemical and biological units, including the extent to which (1) units tasked with providing chemical and biological defense support to combat units and commands are adequately staffed, equipped, and trained and (2) units also tasked with a homeland defense mission--especially National Guard and Reserve units--are adequately prepared for this mission. During this review, we analyzed readiness data and other preparedness indicators for 78 Army chemical units."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the military to operate in environments contaminated by chemical and biological warfare agents, the Department of Defense (DOD) has developed collective protection equipment to provide a protected environment for group activities. GAO previously reported persistent problems in providing collective protection for U.S. forces in high threat areas overseas. In this report, GAO examined (1) current intelligence assessments of chemical and biological threats, (2) the extent to which DOD has provided collective protection at critical overseas facilities and major expeditionary warfighting assets, and (3) DOD's framework for managing installation protection policies and prioritizing critical installations for funding. In conducting this review, GAO developed criteria to identify critical sites in the absence of a DOD priority listing of such sites in overseas high threat areas--areas at high risk of terrorist or missile attack."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "California is the nation's fourth largest producer of crude oil and has the third largest oil refining industry (behind Texas and Louisiana). Because crude oil is a globally traded commodity, natural and geopolitical events can affect its price. These fluctuations affect state revenues because a share of the royalty payments from companies that lease state or federal lands to produce crude oil are distributed to the states. Because there are many varieties and grades of crude oil, buyers and sellers often price their oil relative to another abundant, highly traded, and high quality crude oil called a benchmark. West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a light crude oil, is the most commonly used benchmark in the United States. The price difference between a crude oil and its benchmark is commonly expressed as a price differential. In fall 2004, crude oil price differentials between WTI and California's heavier, and generally lower valued, crude oil rose sharply. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which crude oil price differentials in California have fluctuated over the past 20 years and (2) the factors that may explain the recent changes …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To improve acquisition outcomes, in 1997 the District established the Office of Contracting and Procurement under the direction of a newly created chief procurement officer (CPO). Since then, the District's inspector general and auditor have identified improper contracting practices. This report examines whether the District's procurement system is based on procurement law and management and oversight practices that incorporate generally accepted key principles to protect against fraud, waste, and abuse. GAO's work is based on a review of generally accepted key principles identified by federal, state, and local procurement laws, regulations, and guidance. GAO also reviewed District audit reports and discussed issues with current and former District officials as well as select state and local officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Accessing and retaining high-quality officers in the current environment of increasing deployments and armed conflict may be two of the all volunteer force's greatest challenges. The military services use three programs to access officer candidates: (1) military academies, (2) the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), and (3) Officer Candidate Schools (OCS). In addition to accessing new officers, the services must retain enough experienced officers to meet current operational needs and the services' transformation initiatives. GAO was asked to assess the extent to which the services are accessing and retaining the officers required to meet their needs. GAO also identified steps that the Department of Defense (DOD) and the services have taken and the impediments they face in increasing officers' foreign language proficiency. For this report, GAO examined actual accession and retention rates for officers in fiscal years (FYs) 2001, 2003, and 2005 as well as projections for later years. Also, GAO reviewed documents on foreign language training and plans."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In response to security and management weaknesses, in 1999 the Congress created the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy (DOE). NNSA is responsible for the nation's nuclear weapons, nonproliferation, and naval reactors programs. Since its creation, NNSA has continued to experience security problems, such as unauthorized access to a NNSA unclassified computer system, and cost and schedule overruns on its major projects, such as the National Ignition Facility. GAO reviewed the extent to which NNSA has taken steps to (1) improve security at its laboratories and plants and (2) improve its management practices and revise its organizational structure. To carry out its work, GAO reviewed legislation; NNSA policies, plans and budgets; and interviewed current and former NNSA and DOE officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As the agency responsible for the federal government's human capital initiatives, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must have the capacity to successfully guide human capital transformations necessary to meet the governance challenges of the 21st century. Given this key role, GAO was asked to assess OPM's capacity to lead further reforms. In June 2006, GAO testified on several management challenges that OPM faces. This report--the second in a series--supplements that testimony and, using the new senior executive performance-based pay system as a model for understanding OPM's capacity to lead and implement reform, identifies lessons learned that can inform future reforms. GAO analyzed relevant laws and documents, and obtained views from the Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council and human resource directors, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) staff, and OPM officials."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1994, Congress enacted the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act, Pub. L. No. 103-412, recognizing the federal government's fiduciary responsibilities toward American Indians. The act called for more effective management of the Department of the Interior's (Interior) fiduciary responsibilities, required an annual audit of Indian trust funds, and created the Office of Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) in Interior. In 1996, the Secretary of the Interior ordered the transfer of responsibility for trust fund management, including preparation of the financial statements of the Tribal and Other Trust Funds and Individual Indian Monies Trust Funds (Indian trust funds), from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to OST. Since then, OST has prepared and independent public accountants have audited the financial statements of the Indian trust funds. The auditors have issued qualified audit opinions each year since 1996 because of inadequacies in Interior's trust-related systems, controls, and processes, disagreements between Interior and the trust funds' beneficiaries on amounts owed, and potential claims against the government. Congress expressed concern about deficiencies identified and reported in the Indian trust funds' annual financial statement audits for fiscal years 1996 through …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "How to fund public television has been a concern since the first noncommercial educational station went on the air in 1953. The use of federal funds to help support public television has been a particular point of discussion and debate. This report reviews (1) the organizational structure of public television, (2) the programming and other services that public television provides, (3) the current funding sources for public television, (4) the extent to which public television stations are increasing their nonfederal funding sources and developing new sources of nonfederal support, and (5) the extent to which public television benefits financially from business ventures associated with programming and how this compares with commercial broadcasters. GAO reviewed revenue, membership, and programming data for all public television licensees. GAO also interviewed officials from 54 of public television's 173 licensees, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Public Broadcasting Service, federal agencies, and producers of commercial and public television programming"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In March 2005, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported the discovery of a series of e-mail messages written in the late 1990s by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employees working under a contract with DOE on the Yucca Mountain Project. These e-mails alerted DOE that USGS workers may have falsified records for scientific work on the project and may have been disdainful of the project's quality assurance program and its requirements. In March 2006, we reported that DOE was engaged in a detailed review of these and other project e-mails and was reworking technical documents to ensure the credibility of the USGS's scientific analyses, particularly its conclusions on water infiltration. At Congress' request, we undertook follow-on work to determine the estimated costs incurred in DOE's response, which also included additional management and quality assurance training for project personnel. We briefed Congressional staff on October 23, 2006, on the results of this work. As Congress requested, we also briefed Congressional staff on the estimated cost of completing the Yucca Mountain Project, based on DOE's new schedule for receiving a license and opening the nuclear waste repository by 2017."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Membership in a terrorist organization does not prohibit a person from owning a gun under current law. Thus, during presale screening of prospective firearms purchasers, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System historically did not utilize terrorist watch list records. However, for homeland security and other purposes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and applicable state agencies began receiving notices (effective February 3, 2004) when such screening involved watch lists records. GAO determined (1) how many checks have resulted in valid matches with terrorist watch list records, (2) procedures for providing federal counterterrorism officials relevant information from valid-match background checks, and (3) the extent to which the FBI monitors or audits the states' handling of such checks."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves drugs for sale in the United States when it determines that the clinical benefits of a drug outweigh its potential health risks. To make this decision, FDA reviews supporting data collected from several thousand patients during the drug's development. Once a drug is approved for marketing and used by potentially thousands of patients, however, the type, rate, and severity of adverse events caused by the drug can be much different than those seen during the drug's development. In some cases, FDA or drug manufacturers have removed from the market drugs that have been shown to have unacceptable health risks once they were in widespread use. GAO found that 10 prescription drugs have been withdrawn from the U.S. market since January 1, 1997. Eight of the 10 prescription drugs posed greater health risks for women than for men: four of these may have led to more adverse events in women because they were prescribed more often to women than to men, while the other four had more adverse events in women even though they were widely prescribed to both men and women. …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Education and GAO conducted a study of the feasibility of using alternative financial instruments for determining lender yields on student loans. Chapter one of the report provides an overview of federal student loan programs and their participants. Chapters two and three contain the analyses of the historical liquidity of the market for four types of financial instruments. Chapter four analyzes recent changes in the liquidity of the market for each financial instrument in a balanced federal budget and low interest rate environments, and projections of future liquidity assuming the federal budget remains in balance. Finally, Chapter five presents GAO's and Education's analyses of the remaining three issues enumerated in the Higher Education Act Amendments of 1998 and addresses the question of any possible risks or benefits to the student loan programs and to student borrowers."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In response to concerns about the professionalism and conduct of some Department of Justice attorneys, as well as the process of holding them accountable to ethical standards, this report provides information on Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). GAO obtained information on the types of allegations OPR was able to substantiate against attorneys, the source of the allegations, the specific allegations, and OPR's recommendations for disciplinary actions. OPR generally placed its findings in the attorneys' official personnel folder, either temporarily or permanently, depending on the severity of misconduct. OPR said that although some attorneys under investigation retired or resigned from the Department, it was unable to determine whether they left because of the investigation. Those attorneys would deny that their departure was triggered by the investigation, and OPR officials said it would be difficult to establish a cause-an-effect relationship. OPR would, however, continue the investigation if other Justice employees were involved or if the allegations were serious. When OPR administratively closed a case because the issues were before the courts, it flagged these cases in its tracking system so that it could continue its investigations at a later …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2000, the Department of Agriculture's Food Stamp Program, administered jointly by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and the states, provided $15 billion in benefits to an average of 17.2 million low-income persons each month. FNS, which pays the full cost of food stamp benefits and half of the states' administrative costs, promulgates program regulations and oversees program implementation. The states run the program, determining whether households meet eligibility requirements, calculating monthly benefits the households should receive, and issuing benefits to participants. FNS assesses the accuracy of states' efforts to determine eligibility and benefits levels. Because of concerns about the integrity of Food Stamp Program payments, GAO examined the states' efforts to minimize food stamp payment errors and what FNS has done and could do to encourage and assist the states reduce such errors. GAO found that all 28 states it examined had taken steps to reduce payment errors. These steps included verifying the accuracy of benefit payments calculated through supervisory and other types of casefile reviews, providing specialized training for food stamp workers, analyzing quality control data to determine causes of errors …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government has an annual, governmentwide procurement goal of at least five percent for small disadvantaged businesses (SDB). SDBs are eligible for various price and evaluation benefits when being considered for federal contract awards. SDB firms must have their SDB status certified by the Small Business Administration (SBA). Because of concerns over reports that fewer businesses were receiving SDB certification than expected, GAO examined the SBA certification processes to (1) determine the number of businesses that SBA had certified as socially and economically disadvantaged since the implementation of the Small Disadvantaged Business Certification program and (2) obtain views on reasons for the current difference in the number of SDB certifications from the number that had previously self-certified as SDBs. SBA records show that 9,034 small business firms were certified as SDBs as of August 24, 2000. According to SDB officials, 6,405 of these were automatically certified because of their 8(a) certification. The number of SDBs that have been certified by SBA is significantly lower than the 30,000 projected by SBA based on the number of firms that had self-certified as SDBs. Possible reasons for this …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) shift to a risk-informed regulation, focusing on the: (1) views of NRC's staff on the quality of the work that NRC performs, the management of and staff's involvement in changes occurring in the agency, and the move to a risk-informed regulatory approach; and (2) status of NRC's efforts to develop a strategy to implement a risk-informed regulatory approach."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Archer-Shaw Social Security reform proposal, focusing on: (1) the extent to which the proposal achieves sustainable solvency and how it would affect the U.S. economy and the federal budget; (2) the balance struck between the twin goals of income adequacy (level and certainty of benefits) and individual equity (rates of return on individual contributions); and (3) how readily such changes could be implemented, administered, and explained to the public."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the effects of in-transit disbursements on the Navy's funds control and financial reporting."