Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD's rationale for waiving WSARA's competitive prototyping requirement for CRH addresses one of the two bases provided in the statute; namely that the cost of producing competitive prototypes exceeds the expected life-cycle benefits (in constant dollars) of producing the prototypes. The CRH program's acquisition strategy, which anticipates integrating an existing, in-production and flight-proven aircraft with technologically mature subsystems, is consistent with this rationale. The Air Force believes that any technology risk reduction associated with, or potentially benefitting, the CRH program has already occurred during the efforts to develop these in-production aircraft. This includes any risk reduction that could be achieved through competitive prototyping. In granting the waiver, DOD also found reasonable the Air Force's conclusion that the estimated $725 million cost of conducting competitive prototyping exceeded the maximum expected life-cycle benefits of $12 million. However, the Air Force only evaluated one potential approach to implementing competitive prototyping, which involved funding two contractors for much of the program's system development. This resulted in a high cost estimate for competitive prototyping that is more than 10 times greater than the target unit cost of the helicopter. DOD's policy on economic …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The House Committee on Armed Services report that accompanies the National Defense Authorization Act of fiscal year 2006 directs GAO to review results of the military disability evaluation system. In response to this mandate, GAO determined: (1) how current DOD policies and guidance for disability determinations compare for the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and what policies are specific to reserve component members of the military; (2) what oversight and quality control mechanisms are in place at DOD and these three services of the military to ensure consistent and timely disability decisions for active and reserve component members; and (3) how disability decisions, ratings, and processing times compare for active and reserve component members of the Army, the largest branch of the service, and what factors might explain any differences."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has identified the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of its inventory as a high-risk area since 1990 due to ineffective and inefficient inventory systems and practices. Management of inventory acquisition lead times is important in maintaining cost-effective inventories, budgeting, and having material available when needed, as lead times are DOD's best estimate of when an item will be received. Under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations on his own initiative, GAO analyzed the extent to which (1) DOD's estimated lead times varied from actual lead times, and (2) current management actions and initiatives have reduced lead times as compared to past years. To address these objectives, GAO computed the difference between the components' actual and estimated lead times, and compared component initiatives to reduce lead times for 1994-2002 to 2002-2005."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to Congress's request that GAO determine the status and estimated costs of environmental cleanup on the island of Vieques. For decades, the U.S. Navy conducted ship-to-shore bombing exercises and other live-fire training activities on the island, which is located off the coast of Puerto Rico. The Navy ceased its operations on Vieques in 2003. The Navy has transferred the land to the Municipality of Vieques and the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust for conservation purposes and to the Department of the Interior. Although the land has been transferred, the Navy remains responsible for environmental cleanup. The cleanup is being carried out under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) that consists of (1) the Installation Restoration Program, which addresses cleanup of hazardous substances, and (2) the Military Munitions Response Program, which addresses cleanup of munitions."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Available measures and awardee data provide some evidence that Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) awardees have generally made progress in carrying out activities to achieve medical preparedness goals; however, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) lacked a comprehensive performance management system to fully assess awardee progress. According to prior GAO work and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA), successful performance measurement systems should include a select set of performance measures tied to realistically achievable targets with clearly defined milestones. GAO's analysis of ASPR data showed general progress. For example, the percentage of all 62 awardees' participating hospitals with medical evacuation and shelter-in-place plans increased from 79.9 percent to 88.3 percent from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal year 2011. However, while ASPR collected data on a range of activities, it did not have consistent performance measures and targets in place across this entire period. Beginning with fiscal year 2012, ASPR developed new provisional performance measures for the eight new capabilities that awardees are to use for HPP planning for the next 5 years and set …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal Reserve Banks fulfill the coin demand of the nation's depository institutions--which include commercial banks, savings and loan associations, and credit unions--by ordering new coins from the U.S. Mint and managing coins held in inventory at the Reserve Banks and in coin terminals. Reliably estimating the demand for coins and efficiently managing the inventory of circulated coins is important to ensure that depository institutions have enough coins to meet the public's demand and to avoid unnecessary coin production costs. Since late 2006, rising metal prices have driven the costs of producing pennies and nickels above the face values of the coins. This report addresses (1) the Reserve Banks' process for ordering and distributing coins to the nation's depository institutions and (2) the extent to which this process meets depository institutions' demand for coins. GAO interviewed officials responsible for coin distribution at each of the 12 Reserve Banks and met with representatives of 4 large operators of Federal Reserve coin terminals, 2 banking associations, the U.S. Mint, and the nation's largest coin recycling company. GAO also analyzed Reserve Bank data for fiscal years 1993 through 2007. Federal …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As of December 2012, the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) four offshore programs have resulted in more than 39,000 disclosures by taxpayers and over $5.5 billion in revenues. The offshore programs attract taxpayers by offering a reduced risk of criminal prosecution and lower penalties than if the unreported income was discovered by one of IRS's other enforcement programs. For the 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), nearly all program participants received the standard offshore penalty--20 percent of the highest aggregate value of the accounts--meaning the account value was greater than $75,000 and taxpayers used the accounts (e.g., made deposits or withdrawals) during the period under review. The median account balance of the more than 10,000 cases closed so far from the 2009 OVDP was $570,000. Participant cases with offshore penalties greater than $1 million represented about 6 percent of all 2009 OVDP cases, but accounted for almost half of all offshore penalties. Taxpayers from these cases disclosed a variety of reasons for having offshore accounts, and more than half of them had accounts at Swiss bank UBS."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In accordance with 36 U.S.C. 2103, we are responsible for conducting audits of the agencywide financial statements of the American Battle Monuments Commission. We audited the financial statements of the Commission for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2003, and 2002. The audits were done to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the Commission's financial statements were reliable, (2) Commission management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations, and (3) Commission management complied with applicable laws and regulations. The American Battle Monuments Commission was created in 1923 to commemorate the sacrifices and achievements of U.S. Armed Forces where they have served overseas since April 6, 1917, and locations within the United States as directed by Congress. The Commission designs, administers, operates, and maintains 24 American military cemeteries on foreign soil and 25 federal memorials, monuments, and markers, 22 of which are on foreign soil. The Commission is also responsible for designing and constructing the national World War II Memorial on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., and for maintaining 4 nonfederal memorials with funds provided by those memorials' sponsors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Increases in the number and intensity of wildland fires have led the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service to place greater emphasis on thinning forests and rangelands to reduce the buildup of potentially hazardous vegetation that can fuel wildland fires. The public generally has an opportunity to challenge agency hazardous fuel reduction decisions with which it disagrees. Depending on the type of project being undertaken, the public can file a formal objection to a proposed decision, or can appeal a decision the agency has already made. Appeals and objections must be reviewed by the Forest Service within prescribed time frames. Final decisions may also generally be challenged in federal court. GAO was asked, among other things, to determine, for fiscal years 2006-2008, (1) the number of Forest Service fuel reduction decisions and the associated acreage; (2) the number of decisions subject to appeal and objection, the number appealed, objected to, and litigated, and the associated acreage; and (3) the outcomes of appeals, objections, and litigation, and the extent to which appeals and objections were processed within prescribed time frames. In doing so, GAO conducted a nationwide survey …

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government will spend approximately $11 billion to combat terrorism In fiscal year 2001. In the event of a domestic terrorist incident, state and local governments have the primary responsibility for managing the consequences of a terrorist attack. However, the federal government can assist state and local authorities if they lack the capability to respond adequately. On the basis of past and ongoing GAO work, two key issues emerge that the new President and Congress will face concerning programs to combat terrorism. First, the overall leadership and management of such programs are fragmented within the federal government. No single entity acts as the federal government's top official accountable to both the President and Congress. Fragmentation exists in both coordination of domestic preparedness programs and in efforts to develop a national strategy. The Department of Justice worked with other agencies to develop the Attorney General's Five-Year Interagency Counterterrorism and Technology Crime Plan. Although this plan is the current document that most resembles a national strategy, GAO believes that it still lacks some critical elements including measurable desired outcomes, linkage to resources, and a discussion of …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides data on the number and characteristics of large partnerships as well as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits of large partnership returns. For purposes of this report, GAO did not identify a statutory, IRS, or industry-accepted definition of a large partnership. Instead, GAO used a combination of criteria for partner size and asset size used by IRS to define large partnerships as those that reported having 100 or more direct partners and $100 million or more in assets. The number of large partnerships increased from 720 in tax year 2002 to 2,226 in tax year 2011. Large partnerships also increased in terms of the average number of direct partners and average asset size. IRS had data on two categories of large partnership return audits. First, the number of completed field audits of large partnership returns increased from 11 in fiscal year 2007 to 31 in fiscal year 2013. Second, IRS counted audits closed through its campus function, which increased from 42 to 143 over the same period. Unlike field audits, campus function audits generally do not entail a review of the books and records of the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In a recently completed report for Congress, we evaluated how the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) makes eligibility determinations for its rural housing programs. As part of that review, we used 2000 census data to determine the populations of the rural areas that received RHS housing program loans and grants. We obtained information on the RHS loans and grants provided to communities, from October 1998 through April 2004, from databases maintained by USDA's Information Resource Management (IRM) in St. Louis, Missouri. As with any system, the accuracy of the data and the process used for entry affects reliability and usefulness for management and reporting purposes. During our review, we identified several issues that raised concerns about the accuracy of the information in the IRM databases. For example, while we originally intended to geocode (that is, match) 5 years of the national RHS housing loan and grant portfolio to specific communities, the time needed to ensure the reliability of the data required us to limit much of our analysis to five states (Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Ohio). This report is a follow-up on our …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program, focusing on the: (1) status of 13 Clean Coal Technology projects that preliminary information indicated could have over $1 million in unspent funds; and (2) extent to which DOE's participants in completed projects have sold demonstrated Clean Coal technologies to coal users."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is embarking on a number of efforts to enhance warfighting and the way the department conducts business. Major investments are being made to develop improved weapon systems to combat various threats to U.S. security. While the weapons that DOD ultimately develops have no rival in superiority, weapon systems acquisition remains a long-standing high-risk area. GAO's reviews over the past 30 years have found consistent problems with weapon acquisitions such as cost increases, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls. In addition, DOD faces several budgetary challenges that underscore the need to deliver its new major weapon programs within estimated costs and to obtain the most from those investments. DOD can help resolve these problems by using a more knowledge-based approach for developing new weapons. This report provides congressional and DOD decision makers with an independent, knowledge-based assessment of selected defense programs that identifies potential risks and needed actions when a program's projected attainment of knowledge diverges from the best practice. It can also highlight those programs that employ practices worthy of emulation by other programs. GAO plans to update and issue this report …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. ports, waterways, and coastal approaches are part of a system handling more than $700 billion in merchandise annually. With the many possible threats--including transportation and detonation of weapons of mass destruction, suicide attacks against vessels, and others--in the maritime domain, awareness of such threats could give the Coast Guard advance notice to help detect, deter, interdict, and defeat them and protect the U.S. homeland and economy. GAO was asked to review the Coast Guard's efforts to achieve awareness about activity in the maritime domain. This report addresses: the extent to which the Coast Guard (1) has vessel tracking systems in place, (2) can use these systems to track vessels that may be threats, and (3) has coordinated the development and implementation of these systems. To answer these questions, GAO analyzed relevant statutes, regulations, and plans for vessel tracking systems, compared the roles of the planned systems, and interviewed appropriate officials."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We are reviewing the Army's plans for deploying and sustaining Stryker brigades. We plan to complete our review and report the results in June 2003. In the meantime, the Army will be conducting an operational evaluation of the first Stryker brigade from late April through May 2003 as required by law. The purpose of this letter is to bring attention to issues concerning the adequacy of the Army's proposed operational evaluation plan. The operational evaluation is intended to facilitate an understanding of the initial brigade's overall capabilities. The evaluation was first directed by the conference report accompanying the 2001 defense authorization act. Subsequently, Congress included the requirement in Section 113 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2002, which provides that (1) the Secretary of the Army is to evaluate the brigade's execution of combat missions across the full spectrum of potential threats and operational scenarios, (2) the Department of Defense's Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) must approve the Army's operational evaluation plan before the evaluation may be conducted, and (3) the Secretary of Defense is to certify to Congress that the results of …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In accordance with 36 U.S.C. 2103, GAO is responsible for conducting audits of the agencywide financial statements of the American Battle Monuments Commission (the Commission). GAO audited the financial statements of the Commission for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2006, and 2005. The audits were done to determine whether, in all material respects, (1) the Commission's financial statements were presented fairly, and (2) Commission management maintained effective internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations. Also, GAO tested Commission management's compliance with selected laws and regulations. The Commission was created in 1923 to commemorate the sacrifices and achievements of U.S. Armed Forces where they have served overseas since April 6, 1917, and locations within the United States as directed by Congress. The Commission designs, administers, operates, and maintains 24 American military cemeteries on foreign soil and 25 federal memorials, monuments, and markers, 22 of which are on foreign soil. The Commission was also responsible for designing and constructing the national World War II Memorial on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., and for maintaining six nonfederal memorials with funds provided by those …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, based on our work to date, we have found that"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While FDA has taken several important steps toward modernizing its IT environment, much remains to be done. FDA reported spending about $400 million for IT investments in fiscal year 2011; however, the agency currently lacks a comprehensive IT inventory that identifies and provides key information about the systems it uses and is developing. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and GAO guidance call for federal agencies to maintain such an inventory in order to monitor and manage their IT investments. This inventory should include information on each system, such as costs, functionality or purpose, and status. However, FDA does not have such a comprehensive list of its systems. Instead, the agency points to budget documents required by OMB, which included information on 44 IT investments for fiscal year 2011. The agency also provided a partial list of 21 mission-critical systems and modernization initiatives. Nonetheless, agency officials acknowledged that these documents do not identify all FDA’s systems or the complete costs, purpose, or status of each system. Until the agency has a complete and comprehensive inventory, it will lack critical information needed to effectively assess its IT …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Despite sizeable tax incentives, private pension participation has remained at about 50 percent of the workforce. For those in a pension plan, there is concern that these incentives accrue primarily to higher income employees and do relatively little to help lower income workers save for retirement. The financial crisis and labor-market downturn may have exacerbated these difficulties. Therefore, we examined (1) recent trends in new private pension plan formation, (2) the characteristics of defined contribution plan participants contributing at or above statutory limits, (3) how suggested options to modify an existing credit for low-income workers might affect their retirement income, and (4) the long-term effects of the recent financial crisis on retirement savings. To answer these questions, GAO reviewed reports, federal regulations, and laws, and interviewed academics, agency officials, and other relevant experts. We also analyzed Department of Labor and 2007 Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF) data, and used a microsimulation model to assess effects of modifying tax incentives for low-income workers. We incorporated technical comments from the departments of Labor and Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation as appropriate."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reduces the average delivery time frame for emergency food aid by prepositioning food domestically—that is, in warehouses in the United States—and overseas. GAO estimates that compared with USAID's standard shipping process, which can take several months, prepositioning food aid shortened delivery time frames by an average of almost a month for shipments to the World Food Program (WFP). GAO also estimates that prepositioning shortened delivery time frames by an average of more than 2 months for other organizations—“cooperating sponsors”—that receive USAID grants. In addition, USAID reduces delivery time frames when it diverts shipments en route to overseas prepositioning warehouses to areas with immediate needs. For all cooperating sponsors, GAO estimates that diversions saved, on average, about 2 months."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GPOs are subject to certain federal laws that HHS, DOJ, and FTC are responsible for enforcing. According to HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) officials, since 2004, the office has not routinely exercised its authority to request and review disclosures related to GPOs’ contract administrative fees, but it has collected information on GPOs’ contract administrative fees while conducting audits of hospitals’ cost reports. While HHS-OIG is responsible for enforcing the Anti-Kickback statute, the law and regulation do not require routine monitoring of GPO written agreements and disclosures. HHS-OIG officials told us that even if they requested this information from GPOs, it would not necessarily be sufficient to determine whether a GPO violated the Anti-Kickback statute. Officials from HHS-OIG also told us that, since 2004, it participated in two case investigations with DOJ that involved allegations that certain GPOs did not comply with safe harbor requirements and violated the Anti-Kickback statute. Officials told us that HHS-OIG has not imposed administrative penalties on any GPOs since 2004. DOJ and FTC have investigated complaints related to federal antitrust laws, and we identified one lawsuit filed by DOJ against a GPO in …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government assumes insurance risk for a wide range of activities that are funded through numerous federal budget accounts and administered by a variety of federal organizations. For some activities, such as those funded through the National Flood Insurance account, the federal government assumes the entire insurance risk. The federal government also assumes part of the risk for insurance activities that are administered by state and local governments--for example, those funded through the Unemployment Trust Fund or that are partly underwritten by private insurers, such as those funded through the Special Workers' Compensation Expenses account. These insurance risks, whether fully or partially assumed by the federal government, are in lines of insurance that private insurers also recognize: health, life, disability, and property/casualty insurance. The federal government has generally assumed insurance risks for at least two reasons. First, the government may step in when insurance is not widely available because private insurers cannot collectively absorb or affordably price the insurance risk. For example, when private insurers were unable to offer affordable terrorism insurance in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the federal government created a terrorism insurance program. …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Unemployment Insurance (UI), established in 1935, is a complex system of 53 state programs that in fiscal year 2004 provided $41.3 billion in temporary cash benefits to 8.8 million eligible workers who had become unemployed through no fault of their own. Given the size of the UI program, its importance in helping workers meet their needs when they are unemployed, and the little information available on what factors lead eligible workers to receive benefits over time, GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which an individual worker's characteristics, including past UI benefit receipt, are associated with the likelihood of UI benefit receipt or unemployment duration, and (2) whether an unemployed worker's industry is associated with the likelihood of UI benefit receipt and unemployment duration. Using data from a nationally representative sample of workers born between 1957 and 1964 and spanning the years 1979 through 2002, and information on state UI eligibility rules, GAO used multivariate statistical techniques to identify the key factors associated with UI benefit receipt and unemployment duration. In its comments, the Department of Labor stated that while there are certain qualifications …