Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the: (1) number of borrowers insured by the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund who might have been eligible to receive dividends from their mortgage insurance if the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) had been required to pay distributive shares in FY 1999; and (2) amount of annual premiums these individuals paid."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We are reviewing the processes the Department of Defense (DOD) is using to conduct its Mobility Capabilities Study (MCS). The MCS is to address changes in DOD's transportation force structure and mobility requirements due to changes in threats and certain national security and military strategies. The study results may underpin decisions on future strategic airlift, aerial refueling aircraft, and sealift procurements. The study relies on the use of various models and data inputs to develop and evaluate transportation alternatives, including variations in alternative transportation modes (air, land, sea) and sources (military, civilian, foreign), as well as factors that affect transportation mode and source decisions. The Senate Armed Services Committee directed us to monitor the conduct of the MCS and report on the adequacy and completeness of the report no later than 30 days after DOD completes the study. DOD plans to issue the MCS report during 2005. This letter is intended to bring to the Secretary of Defense's attention preliminary observations on certain aspects of the MCS methodology to permit you to ensure the credibility of this and future studies. In our letter, we address the adequacy of …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the feasibility of moving the Forest Service's Washington, D.C., employees from the Sidney Yates Building into the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) South Building, focusing on: (1) the estimated occupancy level of the modernized South Building; (2) the feasibility of moving Forest Service employees and other operations housed in the Sidney Yates Building into the South Building or other space; and (3) the feasibility of the Sydney Yates Building being used for other purposes, such as a museum."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) report to Congress recommending that it award a contract to an alternate contractor for the development of its Alaska National Airspace System Interfacility Communications System, focusing on whether the findings were properly supported. FAA's report compared the alternate contractor's costs to the costs of two other commercial telecommunications providers."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) procedures and guidelines require that program and project managers review and apply lessons learned from the past throughout a program's or project's life cycle. Managers must also document and submit any significant lessons learned in a timely manner. NASA's principal mechanism for collecting and sharing lessons learned from programs, projects, and missions agency wide is the Lessons Learned Information System. The goal of the system is to prevent NASA from having to "relearn" the lessons of the past. NASA also shares lessons learned through revisions to its policies and guidance. Furthermore, lessons learned from a mishap or operational event are captured in procedure and process documents. GAO surveyed all of NASA's program and project managers to obtain their perspectives on NASA's mechanisms to ensure that past lessons learned from mission failures are being applied. GAO found fundamental weaknesses in the collection and sharing of lessons learned in NASA by program and project managers as well as in the system. Although some lessons learning does take place, lessons are not routinely identified, collected, or shared by program and project managers. In addition, …

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes AFMD-2.1.1, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process (Exposure Draft), January 1993. It fulfills part of GAO's responsibility to publish standard terms, definitions, and classifications for the government's fiscal, budget, and program information. It was developed in cooperation with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office. This glossary is a basic reference document for the Congress, federal agencies, and others interested in the federal budget-making process. Like previous editions, this revision emphasizes budget terms, but relevant economic and accounting terms are also defined to help the user appreciate the dynamics of the budget process and its relationship to other key activities (e.g., financial reporting). It also distinguishes between any differences in budgetary and nonbudgetary meanings of terms."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American Council of Learned Societies for fiscal years 2002 and 2001. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents the results of our audit of the expenditures of the Office of Special Counsel-Patrick J. Fitzgerald (OSC-Fitzgerald) for the 6 months ended March 31, 2008. The expenditures we audited were those made by the Department of Justice (DOJ) between October 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008, from the permanent, indefinite appropriation (fund) for OSC-Fitzgerald. DOJ determined that the appropriation established by Public Law 100-202 to fund expenditures by independent counsels appointed pursuant to the independent counsel law or other law is available to fund the expenditures of U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who was appointed as a special counsel within the Department of Justice by the then-Acting Attorney General. Under this law, we are required to perform semiannual financial reviews of expenditures from the fund and report our findings to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. To satisfy this requirement, we audit each expenditure processed by DOJ to determine whether it was: properly authorized and approved, supported by appropriate documentation, recorded accurately, and made in accordance with selected provisions of laws and regulations. On December 30, 2003, the then-Acting Attorney General appointed U.S. Attorney Patrick …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Army's current efforts to transform and modernize its aviation assets began in 1999, seeking to maintain and improve the warfighting capabilities of the existing force as well as to invest in science and technology in a way that improved the future force. To accomplish these goals, the Army focused on upgrading and modernizing existing equipment, rapidly fielding new equipment, incorporating new technologies as they became available, and restructuring aviation warfighting units. Initially, fielding the developmental Comanche helicopter was a key focus of modernization, but when the Comanche program was terminated in 2004, an investment strategy was presented to Congress that would redistribute $14.6 billion of planned Comanche funding through fiscal year 2011 to enhance a broad range of Army aviation modernization efforts. Furthermore, the Army is currently re-evaluating the plans that were established in 2004 by conducting several assessments, tracking progress, and assessing future capability requirements, and intends to develop an updated Aviation Modernization Plan in 2010. Given this, Congress asked us to determine: (1) What is the Army's current investment strategy for its aviation forces? (2) How do the current aviation plans differ from the initial …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the last several weeks, we reviewed the President's fiscal year 2010 budget request for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to provide pertinent and timely information that the Congress could use during budget deliberations. Our objectives were to (1) examine any programs with significant increases from the prior year and any significant unexpended balances and (2) review any new programs in the budget request. To do our work, we compared prior and current year budget requests, reviewed key budget-related documents, and interviewed TTB officials. Given the objectives and scope of this work, we conducted this work in accordance with all sections of GAO's Quality Assurance Framework that are relevant to our objectives. The framework requires that we plan and perform the engagement to obtain sufficient and appropriate evidence to meet our stated objectives and to discuss any limitations in our work. We believe that the information and data obtained, and the analysis conducted, provide a reasonable basis for any findings and conclusions. Based on our review, we are not recommending any reductions, realignments, or restrictions to TTB's fiscal year 2010 budget. However, given our …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From 1945 through 1962, the United States conducted a series of aboveground atomic weapons tests as it built up its Cold War nuclear arsenal. Around this same time period, the United States also conducted underground uranium-mining operations and related activities, which were critical to the production of the atomic weapons. Many people were exposed to radiation resulting from the nuclear weapons development and testing program, and such exposure is presumed to have produced an increased incidence of certain serious diseases, including various types of cancer. To make partial restitution to these individuals, or their eligible surviving beneficiaries, for their hardships associated with the radiation exposure, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was enacted on October 15, 1990. RECA provided that the Attorney General be responsible for processing and adjudicating claims under the act. The Department of Justice (DOJ) established the Radiation Exposure Compensation Program (RECP), which is administered by its Civil Division's Torts Branch. RECP began processing claims in April 1992. RECA has been amended various times, including on July 10, 2000, when the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2000 (RECA Amendments of 2000) were enacted. The …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO initiated a governmentwide review of the implementation of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990. The act requires each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996, and requires each agency to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. During the review, GAO determined that the Farm Credit Administration had adjusted its civil penalties in a manner inconsistent with the requirements of the statute."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, for fiscal years 2000 and 1999. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2008, GAO released a report entitled Highway Public-Private Partnerships: More Rigorous Up-Front Analysis Could Better Secure Potential Benefits and Protect the Public Interest (GAO-08-44) that reviewed: (1) the benefits, costs, and trade-offs of highway public-private partnerships; (2) how public officials have identified and acted to protect the public interest in these arrangements; and (3) the federal role in highway public-private partnerships and potential changes in this role. The enclosed statement discusses these issues."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As we and others have reported in the past, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has fundamental problems with its financial management operations that undermine its external financial reporting ability and thwart its efforts to effectively manage and oversee its major programs. In April 2000, NASA began addressing many of its financial and management challenges through its effort to implement a new integrated financial management system, known as the Integrated Financial Management Program (IFMP), which NASA expects to complete in fiscal year 2008. However, in April and November 2003--3 years into the IFMP implementation effort and with significant investment already made in the program--we issued a series of four reports that detailed weaknesses in NASA's acquisition and implementation strategy for IFMP. Specifically, we reported that NASA had not followed key best practices for acquiring and implementing IFMP and, therefore, was at risk of making a substantial investment in a financial management system that would fall far short of its stated goal of providing meaningful, reliable, and timely information to support effective day-to-day program management and external financial reporting. As part of the four reports we issued on …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In response to a Congressional request, we briefed Congressional staff on September 21, 2006, on the results of our review of two appraisal reports prepared for a proposed land exchange contained within the pending bill H.R. 5025, the Mount Hood Stewardship Legacy Act. This bill would authorize the exchange of private land and business interests at Cooper Spur for Forest Service land at Government Camp in Oregon. Specifically, Congress asked that we determine whether the appraisal reports supporting this land exchange were prepared in compliance with recognized appraisal standards, namely, appraisal industry standards as defined in the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP) and federal standards as defined in the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions (UASFLA)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, for fiscal years 1999 through 2002. GAO's review disclosed no reportable instances of noncompliance with the financial reporting requirements of the law. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the course of our work for Congress examining the space acquisition workforce, we learned that the Department of Defense (DOD) may not be periodically publishing a list of designated critical acquisition positions as required by statute. We are bringing this matter to your attention not only because it is a requirement to publish this data, but because having it is critical to effectively managing DOD's current workforce. Operating without this critical information may result in flawed decisions regarding this part of the workforce and may put the organization's ability to sustain its mission or function effectively at risk. The designation "critical acquisition positions," according to the 1990 Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA), refers to certain senior-level military and civilian positions that carry significant responsibility and primarily consist of supervisory, oversight, and management duties in the DOD acquisition system. They are a key factor in ensuring that DOD acquisitions--some of which are very expensive and critical to the success of current combat operations--are effectively managed. In accordance with DAWIA and as was later codified in Title 10 of the United States Code, the Secretary of Defense is …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To help Medicare beneficiaries manage the rising cost of prescription drugs, Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), which established the outpatient prescription drug benefit known as Medicare Part D. The benefit was first available in January 2006, and that year it provided federally subsidized prescription drug coverage for nearly 28 million beneficiaries at a cost of $47.4 billion--almost 12 percent of total Medicare spending. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), manages and oversees the Part D program. Part D sponsors--entities that enter into contracts with Medicare--administer the benefit and compete for beneficiary enrollment. To provide coverage, the sponsors often enter into contractual relationships with pharmacy benefit managers (PBM), drug manufacturers, and retail pharmacies, among others. The Part D program relies on sponsors to generate prescription drug savings, in part through their ability to negotiate price concessions, such as rebates and discounts, with these entities. Sponsors must report the price concession amounts to CMS and pass price concessions on to the program. CMS uses the reported data to calculate final …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1992, GAO has published long-term fiscal simulations of what might happen to federal deficits and debt levels under varying policy assumptions. GAO developed its long-term model in response to a bipartisan request from Members of Congress who were concerned about the long-term effects of fiscal policy. In 1992 GAO said: "The federal budget is structurally unbalanced. This will do increasing damage to the economy and is unsustainable in the long term. Regardless of the approach chosen, prompt and meaningful action is essential. The longer it is delayed, the more painful it will be." These words are as relevant today as when GAO first published them. GAO updates its simulations three times a year as new estimates become available from the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) Budget and Economic Outlook (January), Social Security and Medicare Trustees Reports (early spring), and CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update (late summer)."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On March 9, 2006, we testified before Congress at a hearing entitled, "Reporting Improper Payments: A Report Card on Agencies' Progress." At the hearing, we discussed our findings on federal agencies' challenges in meeting the requirements of the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA) of 2002 based on our review of agencies' fiscal year 2005 performance and accountability reports (PAR) and annual reports. We were asked to provide answers to the following follow-up questions relating to our March 9, 2006, testimony: (1) What concerns does GAO have regarding not only DHS' inability to comply with the Improper Payments Information Act; but on a greater scale with their overall financial management? (2) About which Agencies that reported in their fiscal year 2005 Performance and Accountability Report that they had no programs susceptible to significant improper payments does GAO have concerns about? (3) Should "unavoidable overpayment" statistics at the Social Security Administration (SSA) be reported to the Office of Management and Budget, and if so why would this be important, and how could the Social Security Administration implement such a process? (4) What concerns does GAO have with the Agency for …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Ground-based military operations generally make use of two broad categories of vehicles: combat vehicles designed for a specific fighting function and tactical vehicles designed primarily for use by forces in the field in connection with or in support of tactical operations. Combat vehicles generally move on tracks versus wheels and include the Abrams tank, Bradley Fighting vehicle, and the Paladin self-propelled howitzer. Tactical vehicles generally move on wheels and include the High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, and families of trucks and trailers. For fiscal years 2009 and 2010, the Department of Defense (DOD) has requested an estimated $16 billion for the procurement of those tactical wheeled vehicles described in this report, including an estimated $6 billion for MRAP variants. In June 2007, Congress requested that we assess (1) the extent to which DOD had developed an overall tactical wheeled vehicle (TWV) investment strategy that considers timing, affordability, and sustainability; (2) the extent that the programs in the strategy fill identified gaps or provide duplicative capabilities; (3) the current status of selected tactical wheeled vehicle systems that are a part of …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Election-day problems in Florida and elsewhere in November 2000 raised concerns about voting systems that included, among other things, alleged voting irregularities that may have affected voter access to the polls. The term voting irregularities generally refers to a broad array of complaints relating to voting and/or elections that may involve violations of federal voting rights and/or federal criminal law for which the Department of Justice (DOJ) has enforcement responsibilities. The Ranking Minority Members of several Congressional committees requested that we review activities at DOJ to help ensure voter access to the polls and actions to address allegations of voting irregularities. This report (1) identifies and describes changes DOJ has made since November 2000 to help ensure voter access to the polls; (2) identifies and describes actions that the Voting Section in DOJ's Civil Rights Division has taken to track, address, and assess allegations of election-related voting irregularities received between November 2000 and December 2003; and (3) assesses the Voting Section's internal control activities to help ensure relevant, accurate, and reliable recording and documentation of allegations of voting irregularities to accurately track actions taken in response to allegations …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the National Federation of Music Clubs for Fiscal Year 2003. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly on a modified cash basis of accounting."