A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A company formed by security guards at the Anchorage, Alaska, Federal Office Building (AFOB) competed unsuccessfully for two contracts and later alleged bias and preselection by the General Services Administration (GSA) in the contract award process. However, GAO's review of relevant documentation and discussions with officials of GSA and the company that alleged the irregularities did not disclose any evidence of bias or preselection in GSA's award of these contracts. GSA appears to have inadvertently used an outdated Department of Labor (DOL) wage determination in its most recent contract because of a misunderstanding of the wage determination process and incorrect advice provided by DOL in 1999. On the basis of the substantial amount of information GAO was able to obtain, including documents and oral information from the guards and GSA officials, GAO concludes that GSA could have done more to respond to the guards' concerns and help ensure and document that the contractor was providing for the safety of federal employees and the security of federal facilities in accordance with the contract. Also, GSA could have done more to respond to the guards' repeated charges of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1994, the United States and other countries intervened militarily in Haiti to restore the democratically elected government that had been overthrown by the Haitian military several years earlier. During the last 6 years, the United States provided assistance to help Haiti establish its first civilian-controlled police and improve its judicial system. About $70 million in U.S. assistance helped Haiti recruit, train, organize, and equip a basic police force, including specialized units. However, despite these achievements, the police and judicial sector have displayed several weaknesses. The Haitian government's lack of a clear commitment to addressing the major problems of its police and judicial institutions has been the key factor affecting the success of the U.S. assistance provided to these institutions. The United States is reassessing several aspects of its relationship with Haiti because of concerns about how votes were counted in Haiti's May 2000 elections. The United States and Haiti have been unable to negotiate an agreement for continuing this assistance. At this time, any further aid to the Haitian Justice System should be linked to performance-related conditions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Members of Congress periodically have expressed interest in converting the federal budget process from an annual to a biennial cycle. Congress believes that the time spent on these activities has come at the expense of congressional oversight and authorization responsibilities. To better understand states' experiences with the biennial budget cycle, GAO studied three states: Arizona, Ohio, and Connecticut. GAO found that the states' reasons for changing their budget cycles varied. For example, Arizona adopted a biennial cycle to increase legislative oversight and reduce time spent on the budget. Connecticut adopted it as part of a fiscal reform effort. To execute a biennial budget successfully, the states' experiences suggest that the legislative and executive branches must agree on how the off-year budget process will work. Different approaches to managing the off-year budget have been developed by states, including establishing formal guidelines for off-year budget changes and relying on leadership control. Efforts to increase legislative oversight in the off-year by converting to a biennial budget process may be difficult. Ohio and Connecticut officials said they that have not increased legislative oversight in the off-year, and Arizona officials said …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The failure by the District of Columbia's Commission on Mental Health Services to provide community-based mental health services, as required by a 1974 court ruling, prompted a judge to appoint a receiver to carry out the court's order. Control of mental health services is scheduled to be returned to the Commission in April 2001. Although the transitional receiver is developing a plan to enhance the Commission's ability to comply with the court ruling, many challenges must be overcome. For example, the District must change its hospital-based system of care to one that considers the needs of the individual within a framework of a community-based provider responsible for all aspects of mental health and supportive services needs. Many interested mental health providers and patient care advocacy groups believe that a solid foundation is being laid for community-based mental health services. However, success will depend on the Commission's ability to improve management processes and coordinate with other agencies that provide care to the mentally ill."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audited the financial statements of the District of Columbia's Highway Trust Fund for fiscal years 1999 and 1998. GAO found that the District did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting related to its Highway Trust Fund as of September 30, 1999. Material weaknesses affected accounting for expenditures and computer system general controls."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report focuses on the default rate for student loans. Two major federal student loan programs, the Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP) and the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), together provided student borrowers with about 9 million loans totaling about $42.9 billion in fiscal year 1999. The most recent student loan default rate statistics for schools showed that, overall, the direct and guaranteed student loan programs had similar default rates: at 6.6 percent for FDLP and 6.7 percent for FFELP. The two programs had similar default rates when the comparisons focused on the type of school. FDLP has two types of loans, consolidated and nonconsolidated. Generally, borrowers with consolidated loans who used the standard payment plan had a lower default rate than did borrowers with nonconsolidated loans. However, when income contingent repayment plans were used, borrowers with consolidated loans had a higher default rate than did those with nonconsolidated loans. The Department of Education uses various procedures to ensure that loans are properly serviced and collected, including independent monitoring and external assessments of monitoring results."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses possible money laundering by U.S. corporations formed by Russian entities. It is easy for foreign entities to hide their identities while forming shell corporations that can be used for money laundering. GAO investigated the following two Delaware corporations that are suspected of money laundering: Euro-American Corporate Services, Inc. and International Business Creations. Suspicious banking activity involved correspondent bank accounts and wire transfers of funds from Eastern European banks through U.S. banks to other Eastern European banks. Two U.S. banks, Citibank of New York and Commercial Bank of San Francisco, violated their customer policies by failing to close the accounts of clients who did not comply with the bank's requirement to appear at the bank in person within 30 days of opening an account. These banks facilitated the transfer of about $1 billion from Eastern Europe, through U.S. banks, and back to Eastern Europe by corporations formed for Russian brokers. It is possible that these transfers were used to launder money. GAO referred the matter to appropriate law enforcement authorities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans Health Administration, the Department of Transportation, and the Office of Student Financial Assistance have begun to use results- oriented performance agreements to align agency expectations with organizational goals. Each agency developed and implemented agreements that reflected their specific organizational priorities, structures, and cultures. GAO identified the following five common emerging benefits: (1) better alignment of results-oriented goals with daily operations, (2) collaboration across organizational boundaries, (3) opportunities to use performance information to improve federal programs, (4) results-oriented basis for individual accountability, and (5) continuity of program goals during leadership transitions. The three agencies' experiences show that effective implementation of performance agreements can encourage communication about progress towards agency goals. Their experiences also indicate that performance information should be provided to executives and managers in a timely fashion and in a useful format."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report summarizes GAO's findings on the United States Russia Fund and its investment selection process and criteria. The United States established enterprise funds to support private sector development in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as they move from centrally planned to market-oriented economies. Enterprise funds are private, nonprofit U.S. corporations that are supposed to make loans to, or invest in, small, medium, and large businesses in which other financial institutions are reluctant to invest. The Fund is authorized to receive $440 million through the Agency for International Development. As of March 2000, the Fund had invested $114.4 million in 30 projects through its direct investment program which provides loans and equity capital to businesses in Russia. GAO found that the Fund followed its review process and criteria for selecting direct investments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report summarizes GAO's findings on the Department of Defense's (DOD) Future Years Defense Program (FYDP). Although total funding in the 2001 FYDP is about $16 billion more than in the 2000 FYDP, DOD may not be able to implement its operation and maintenance and procurement programs as planned. GAO identified several areas in which costs may be understated or savings overstated, increasing the risk that in the next FYDP the military will have to shift more funds to these accounts from other accounts. DOD's efforts to reduce its infrastructure costs may not yield the savings that it planned to use to fund modernization and readiness needs. Because the military services and the defense organizations have already adjusted their current budgets and future years funding projects to reflect these expected savings, they will likely experience funding shortfalls unless other adjustments are made or additional ends are provided."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Work places that produce, use, store, or dispose of hazardous materials are considered to be among the most dangerous in the nation. Workers at these facilities face the potential for injury, chronic illness, or death, which can be caused simply by exposure to certain materials. Several agencies play a role in protecting workplace safety and health. This report discusses coordination of efforts by federal agencies to make the work place safer. GAO found that the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board play distinct roles in federal efforts to protect the safety and health of workers at hazardous materials work places. However, these agencies' functions partially overlap in several areas. These overlaps cause them to place duplicate requirements on employers. Although there is a good effort on the part of the agencies, more coordination is needed to eliminate the overlaps."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Department of Justice policy encourages cooperation among law enforcement agencies at all levels. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) participated in two such task forces, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and the Violent Gang Task Force. These task forces have come under public and legal scrutiny for possible misconduct by law enforcement officers. Several convictions were overturned because evidence was tampered with or LAPD officers physically abused suspects. Media reports fueled concerns that LAPD and INS secretly worked together to illegally deport Latino immigrants. GAO concludes that INS was neither involved in nor observed any misconduct while working on these task forces. Interviews with INS officers, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, and immigrants rights groups did not reveal any misconduct involving INS agents. GAO did note, however, that documentation in some arrest files was missing or incomplete and that funding set aside for use in the OCDETF program was improperly used for non-OCDETF activities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As the steward of taxpayer dollars, the federal government is accountable for how its agencies and grantees spend funds. It is also responsible for safeguardingagainst improper payments, which include payments that should not have been madeor were made for incorrect amounts irrespective of whether the agency had effective controls in place. Reported estimates of improper payments total billions ofdollars annually. With billions of dollars at risk, agencies need to vigilantly safeguard those resources entrusted to them and assign a high priority to reducing fraud, waste, and abuse. In their fiscal year 1999 financial statement, 12federal agencies reported improper payments totalling $20.7 billion. A first step for some agencies will be to assess programs at risk and develope ways to identify, estimate, and report the nature and extent of improper payments annually. Without this fundamental knowledge, agencies will not be fully informed about the magnitude, trends, and types of payment errors occurring within their programs. Furthermore, most agencies will not be able to make informed cost-benefit decisions about strengthening their internal controls to minimize future improper payments or effectively develop goals and strategies to reduce them. In …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Some of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulations set standards that limit environmental contaminants to levels that are determined, in large part, on the basis of the health risks they pose. When EPA assesses the health risks of contaminants, however, the agency is faced with uncertainties and gaps in scientific knowledge and data. This report summarizes GAO's findings on whether EPA's benefits estimates for major environmental regulations that establish health-based standards reflect precautionary assumptions about health risks. Three key factors influence EPA's use of precautionary assumptions in assessing health risks. First, EPA is influenced by its mission to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment. Second, EPA is influenced by the nature and extent of relevant data. Finally, EPA is influenced by the nature of the health risk being evaluated."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has provided international family planning assistance through the Agency for International Development (AID) since the mid-1960s. U.S. law prohibits the use of international family planning funds for abortions and requires that all family planning programs supported by AID be voluntary. This report discusses: (1) how much family planning assistance AID provided in fiscal years 1996-1999 and plans to provide in fiscal year 2000, and (2) what procedures have been established to ensure that funds are not being used for prohibited activities. GAO found that AID provided $432 million in assistance in fiscal year 1996 and $385 million in each of fiscal years 1997-1999. AID has established multiple procedures to ensure that family planning funds are not used for prohibited activities, including specifying the restrictions in grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Data sharing among federal agencies that run federal benefit and loan programs is important for determining the eligibility of applicants and beneficiaries. A GAO symposium on data sharing highlighted various issues facing federal agencies in their efforts to prevent abuse of federal programs. Symposium speakers focused on the number of program dollars saved by interagency data exchanges. Agencies using computer matching have detected undisclosed income and welfare recipients who receive benefits from more than one state. Improved technologies offer agencies the opportunity to expand their data sharing efforts. Such technologies include computer systems that can communicate directly with other systems and computer networks that can obtain information directly from financial institutions. Symposium speakers agreed that applicants' privacy should be protected when personal information is shared among agencies, but they disagreed about the extent to which data sharing threatens it. Privacy laws and security-related technology provide individuals with some protection against the possible misuse of personal information, but symposium participants differed on whether these protections are adequate."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Public health experts have raised concerns about the ability of the nation's public health system to detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats, such as pandemic influenza. Although vaccines are considered the first line of defense to prevent or reduce influenza-related illness and death, GAO found that they may be unavailable, in short supply, or ineffective for some portions of the population during the first wave of a pandemic. Federal and state influenza pandemic plans are in various stages of completion and do not completely or consistently address key issues surrounding the purchase, distribution, and administration of vaccines and antiviral drugs. Inconsistencies in state and federal policies could contribute to public confusion and weaken the effectiveness of the public health response."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has been providing assistance to Colombia since the early 1970s to help the Colombian National Police and other law enforcement agencies, the military, and civilian agencies reduce illegal drug production and trafficking. Recognizing that illegal drug activities are a serious problem, the Colombian government announced a counternarcotics plan known as Plan Colombia. This report reviews the U.S. counternarcotics efforts in Colombia. Although U.S.-provided assistance has enhanced Colombian counternarcotics capabilities, its usefulness has sometimes been limited because of long-standing problems in planning and implementation. For example, little progress has been made in launching a plan to have Colombia's National Police assume a larger role in managing the aerial eradication program, which requires costly U.S. contractor assistance. The governments of the United States and Colombia face continuing and new financial and management challenges in implementing Plan Colombia. The costs and activities needed to implement the plan are unknown at this time, and it will take years before any significant reduction in the drug trade is seen. Colombia must resolve problems with its political and economic stability and improve its management of counternarcotics funding in order …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under U.S. patent law, a patent must describe the subject invention in enough detail for someone skilled in that field to use or make it. In cases involving biological materials, the inventor may have to submit a sample. Some members of the biotechnology industry believe that biological deposits make patent infringement easier, reasoning that a person or organization can obtain a sample of the deposit and then reproduce the invention with minimal effort and expense. GAO found that access to biological deposits once a patent is granted has not increased the risk of patent infringement for the biotechnology industry. These concerns persist especially since the passage of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999, which publishes the patent application 18 months from the date of filing and is made available to the public at that time rather than at the time the patent is granted."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A strong competitive workforce is necessary for success in today's era of technological advances and increased global competition. Congress wants to ensure that employment and training programs foster a coherent and efficient approach to helping individuals find jobs in an environment characterized by changing labor demands. GAO identified 40 federally funded employment and training programs for which a key program goal is providing assistance to persons trying to find employment or improve their job skills. The most frequently cited target populations were Native Americans, youths, and veterans. Several programs target the same populations and provide similar services. This overlap could result in inefficiencies and redundancies. To assess whether such overlap is creating duplication among programs, agencies need to collect and analyze information on the eligibility requirements for the target populations. Federal regulations, such as the Government Performance and Results Act, provide agencies with the opportunity to coordinate their activities with other agencies. It also provides agencies with a framework to measure and evaluate the progress of their efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) efforts to resolve serious internal control weaknesses. During the past several years, serious internal control weaknesses and other deficiencies have plagued HUD's activities. In 1997, HUD announced its 2020 Management Reform Plan to overcome the agency's problems. HUD has made reasonable progress toward resolving material internal control weaknesses, but more remains to be done. Major steps that remain include bringing core financial systems into compliance with federal financial systems requirements, ensuring that rental subsidies are based on correct tenant income, improving the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) multifamily project monitoring, improving budgetary and financial accounting controls, and enhancing support in the FHA business processes."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2000, the Navy chose the Home Port Alliance, a nonprofit group, to receive the U.S.S. New Jersey under the Navy's ship donation program. This report summarizes GAO's findings on the credibility of the selection process and opportunities for improvement. GAO found that the Navy applied its donation evaluation criteria in an impartial, multiple-stage process that led to a credible and objective decision. Although not significant to the outcome of the U.S.S. New Jersey decision, opportunities exist to strengthen the timeliness, clarity of guidance, and communications of the selection process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The accuracy of the 2000 decennial census depends in part on the proper functioning of 10 interrelated information systems, one of which is the Census Bureau's headquarters (HQ) processing system. The HQ processing system consists of 48 applications, all developed internally by the Bureau, that support various census operations, such as updating address files, creating a file of census responses, and preparing data for tabulation and dissemination. GAO found that the Bureau lacks effective, mature software and system development processes to control development of its HQ processing system applications."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO tested the effectiveness of general and application controls that support the Army Corps of Engineers' key financial system. This system processes military engineering, construction, and real estate projects and civil works projects involving the investigation, development, and maintenance of the nation's waters and related environmental resources. GAO found pervasive weaknesses in computer controls at the Corps' data processing centers. Other Corps sites revealed serious vulnerabilities that would allow both hackers and legitimate users with valid access privileges to improperly modify, inappropriately disclose, or destroy sensitive and financial data, including social security numbers and other personal information. These weaknesses undermine the Corps' ability to ensure the confidentiality and availability of data in the financial system."