Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the weaknesses of the Customs Service's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) project."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and Financial Management, House Committee on Government Reform asked GAO to testify on the Improper Payments Information Act (PL-107-300) and related draft guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and on GAO recommendations to agencies on actions they can take to prevent or reduce improper payments."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1998, the 34 democratic nations of the Western Hemisphere have been negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement to eliminate tariffs and create common trade and investment rules for these nations. The United States will co-chair, with Brazil, the final phase of the negotiations, due to conclude in January 2005. GAO was asked to (1) review challenges that the United States faces as co-chair of the final negotiating phase and (2) discuss risks that the United States may encounter, as host, in Miami, of the November 2003 ministerial meeting."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Caribou Recovery Program, focusing on the: (1) amount and source of funds expended on the woodland caribou recovery program; (2) results of the program, including the outcome of efforts to augment the population and the impact of the recovery efforts on land use; and (3) future direction of the recovery program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Cost growth is a prevalent problem in Navy shipbuilding programs, particularly for the first ships in new classes. In response to a mandate in the conference report accompanying the Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2008, GAO undertook this review to (1) identify key practices employed by leading commercial ship buyers and shipbuilders that ensure satisfactory cost, schedule, and ship performance; (2) determine the extent to which Navy shipbuilding programs employ these practices; and (3) evaluate how commercial and Navy business environments incentivize the use of best practices. To address these objectives, GAO visited leading commercial ship buyers and shipbuilders, reviewed its prior Navy work, and convened a panel of shipbuilding experts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on military servicemembers' perceptions regarding the impact women have had on selected combat-oriented units, focusing on: (1) the perceptions of men and women on their personal readiness; (2) the readiness of men and women in their unit; and (3) unit readiness."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, highlighted the critical role first responders play at the state and local level when a disaster or emergency strikes. In fiscal years 2002 and 2003, Congress appropriated approximately $13.9 billion for domestic preparedness. A large portion of these funds were for the nation's first responders to enhance their ability to address future emergencies, including potential terrorist attacks. These funds are primarily to assist with planning, equipment purchases, training and exercises, and administrative costs. They are available to first responders mainly through the State Homeland Security Grant Programs and Urban Area Security Initiative grants. Both programs are administered through the Department of Homeland Security's Office for Domestic Preparedness. In this testimony, GAO addressed the need to balance expeditious distribution of first responder funds to states and localities with accountability for effective use of those funds and summarized major findings related to funding distribution delays and delays involving funds received by local governments, as presented in reports issued by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General and the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. The testimony incorporated supporting evidence on first-responder …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on interagency counterterrorist operations, focusing on: (1) how agencies worked together in counterterrorist operations and special events; (2) strengths and weaknesses of international and domestic counterterrorist exercises; and (3) agency and interagency processes to capture and share lessons learned."

A chapter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies are facing a set of emerging cybersecurity threats that are the result of increasingly sophisticated methods of attack and the blending of once distinct types of attack into more complex and damaging forms. Examples of these threats include spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail), phishing (fraudulent messages to obtain personal or sensitive data), and spyware (software that monitors user activity without user knowledge or consent). To address these issues, GAO was asked to determine (1) the potential risks to federal systems from these emerging cybersecurity threats, (2) the federal agencies' perceptions of risk and their actions to mitigate them, (3) federal and private-sector actions to address the threats on a national level, and (4) governmentwide challenges to protecting federal systems from these threats."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Customs Service has requested $206.9 million for its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)--a new import processing system. Customs' second expenditure plan provides for (1) meeting the Office of Management and Budget's capital planning and investment control review requirements; (2) complying with Customs' enterprise architecture; and (3) complying with federal acquisition rules, requirements, guidelines, and systems acquisition management practices. ACE will fundamentally change Customs' and many other organizations' business processes by introducing new system capabilities. ACE will be available around the clock to support important commercial and enforcement systems. Customs did not meet key commitments made in its first ACE expenditure plan because of underestimating funding requirements. Actual requirements were 90 percent higher than estimated. This history casts uncertainty on Customs' ability to reliably estimate costs and meet future commitments. GAO found that Customs lacks management controls in four areas: enterprise architecture, human capital, software acquisition management, and cost estimation. Because Customs has compressed its ACE acquisition plans from five to four years, the degree of overlap of program increments has increased. This may increase the risk that ACE capabilities will not be delivered on time …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the World Bank's efforts to reform its employee grievance process, focusing on: (1) the Grievance Process Review Committee's principal findings and recommendations to make the system more fair and credible and steps the Bank plans to take to implement these recommendations; and (2) key issues that Bank management will face as it moves to implement these recommendations."