A publication issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the effects of the recent recession on older adults. While the recession officially ended in June 2009, our economy has experienced a weak recovery, with unemployment still above 9 percent. Older adults--particularly those close to or in retirement--may not have the same opportunities as younger adults to recover from the recession's effects. For example, older adults--generally those 55 and older--may have insufficient time to rebuild their depleted retirement savings due to sharp declines in financial markets and home equity, and increased medical costs. Further, while older workers are less likely to be unemployed than workers in younger age groups, when older workers lose a job they are less likely to find other employment. These changes have intensified older adults' concerns about having sufficient savings now and adequate income throughout retirement. Social Security forms the foundation of income for nearly all retiree households, providing 36 percent of aggregate income for households with a member aged 65 and older; however, it provides a much greater portion of income for low and middle income households. Pensions and assets together provide 31 percent of aggregate income. However, many …

A publication issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the last 10 fiscal years, federal agencies have increased their spending on construction contracts, leading to obligations of almost $54 billion in fiscal year 2010. When awarding contracts, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires agencies to consider firms' performance records to help ensure that taxpayer dollars go to capable contractors. The FAR also provides agencies with broad discretion in deciding how they will consider firms' prior experience, which refers to whether the firms have done similar work before, and past performance, which describes how well they have done that work. As construction firms without prior federal contracting experience seek to gain entry into the federal marketplace, some may regard the consideration of these factors as an impediment. In response to your request for information on the consideration of prior experience and past performance, we reviewed (1) how selected agencies consider prior experience and past performance in awarding construction contracts and (2) the resources available to assist firms in gaining entry to the federal marketplace."