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JFMIP White Paper: Parallel Operation of Software: Is it a Desirable Software Transition Technique? (open access)

JFMIP White Paper: Parallel Operation of Software: Is it a Desirable Software Transition Technique?

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The JFMIP White Paper, "Parallel Operation of Software: Is It A Desirable Software System Transition Technique?" is intended to assist agencies when developing appropriate risk mitigation strategies when to new financial systems, especially commercial off-the-shelf software where existing business processes must be reengineered to avoid software customization. This White Paper updates selected information contained in the JFMIP Framework for Federal Financial Management Systems, issued in January 1995, regarding to a new system. Because the Framework document is comprehensive, this white paper, as well as others to come, is designed to update and expand upon selected topics that are of critical interest to agencies and oversight communities."
Date: October 24, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Women in Management: Analysis of Selected Data From the Current Population Survey (open access)

Women in Management: Analysis of Selected Data From the Current Population Survey

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO analyzed data from the Department of Labor's Current Population Survey (CPS) to better understand the challenges that women face in advancing their careers. Female managers in most of the industries GAO examined had less education, were younger, were more likely to work part-time, and were less likely to be married than were male managers. There was no statistically significant difference between the percent of management positions filled by women and the percent of all positions filled by women for five of the 10 industries GAO examined. In addition, in 1995 and 2000, full-time female managers earned less than full-time male managers, after controlling for education, age, marital status and race."
Date: October 23, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Logistics: Strategic Planning Weaknesses Leave Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness of Future Support Systems at Risk (open access)

Defense Logistics: Strategic Planning Weaknesses Leave Economy, Efficiency, and Effectiveness of Future Support Systems at Risk

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) Logistics Strategic Plan is not comprehensive enough and does not provide an adequate overall logistics strategy to effectively guide the defense components' logistics plans. The military services, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the U.S. Transportation Command each developed separate logistics transformation and other implementation plans to support the Department-wide Logistics Strategic Plan. However, these plans also have weaknesses and are not likely to improve the overall economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of logistics activities."
Date: October 11, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Subvention Demonstration: DOD Costs and Medicare Spending (open access)

Medicare Subvention Demonstration: DOD Costs and Medicare Spending

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 authorized the Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct the Medicare subvention demonstration for a three-year period. Under this demonstration, DOD formed Medicare managed care organizations--collectively called TRICARE Senior Prime--at six sites that provided the full range of Medicare-covered services as well as additional DOD-covered services, notably prescription drugs. The Medicare program was to pay DOD for Medicare-covered care of the enrolled military retirees if DOD continued to spend on all aged military retirees at least as much as it had historically. Under the subvention demonstration, Senior Prime enrollees' care in 1999 cost DOD far more than the Medicare capitation rate that was established for the demonstration. This mainly resulted from enrollees' heavy use of medical services, but DOD coverage of prescription drugs--not included in the Medicare benefit package--also contributed to its high costs. Without the demonstration, Medicare spending in 1999 for retirees who enrolled in Senior Prime would have been, on average, about 55 percent of the Senior capitation rate. The Balanced Budget Act's payment rules resulted in no Medicare payment to DOD in 1999. This was because they were …
Date: October 31, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elections: A Framework for Evaluating Reform Proposals (open access)

Elections: A Framework for Evaluating Reform Proposals

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As a result of events surrounding the November 2000 presidential election, public officials and various interest groups have proposed reforms to address perceived shortcomings of various election systems. The complexity and intricacy of the American electoral system suggests that the success of an election system depends on the appropriate integration of people, processes, and technology. This report presents an analytical framework that Congress could use as it weighs the merits of various reform proposals."
Date: October 15, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Chemical and Biological Defense: DOD Needs to Clarify Expectations in Medical Readiness (open access)

Chemical and Biological Defense: DOD Needs to Clarify Expectations in Medical Readiness

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Public assessments by Department of Defense (DOD) officials have emphasized the seriousness of the military threat from chemical and biological (CB) weapons. However, neither DOD nor the services have systematically examined the adequacy of the current specialty mix of medical personnel for CB defense. Although some of the services have begun to review the adequacy of staffing of deployable medical units that would manage the consequences of chemical warfare scenarios, they have not done so for biological warfare scenarios. Joint protocols for treating CB casualties have recently been completed, but the services have not yet agreed on which health care providers should provide treatment. Relatively few military health care providers are trained to a standard of proficiency in providing care to CB casualties. The service surgeons general have begun integrating chemical and a few biological scenarios into their medical exercises, but no realistic field exercise of medical support for CB warfare had been concluded. DOD and the services have not fully addressed weaknesses and gaps in modeling, planning, training, tracking, or proficiency testing for the treatment of CB casualties. The resulting medical structure has not been …
Date: October 19, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
HUD Management: Progress Made on Management Reforms, but Challenges Remain (open access)

HUD Management: Progress Made on Management Reforms, but Challenges Remain

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1997, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began a management reform effort, called the 2020 Management Reform Plan, to resolve its management and operational problems. GAO found that HUD has had some successes in implementing the management reforms, but challenges remain. Some initiatives, such as consolidating and streamlining operations, were achieved relatively quickly and are producing results. Other efforts, such as improving the efficiency of those operations and improving accountability, have been hampered by inefficient distribution of workload and other problems. HUD has made some progress toward improving accountability and control of its programs. Specifically, HUD developed a strategic planning process; enhanced monitoring tools; improved some aspects of its information and financial management systems; improved contracting procedures; and established centralized entities, such as an enforcement authority, to follow up on problem properties. HUD's efforts to refocus and retrain its staff have been somewhat successful. HUD faces several challenges in its efforts to consolidate and streamline its operations, improve accountability and control of its programs, and refocus and retrain its staff. Successfully addressing these challenges in the areas of human capital, information and financial …
Date: October 31, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Welfare Reform: More Coordinated Federal Effort Could Help States and Localities Move TANF Recipients With Impairments Toward Employment (open access)

Welfare Reform: More Coordinated Federal Effort Could Help States and Localities Move TANF Recipients With Impairments Toward Employment

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 significantly changed federal welfare policy for low-income families with children. The act eliminated eligible families' legal entitlement to cash assistance and created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants to states. TANF emphasizes the importance of work and personal responsibility rather than dependence on government benefits. To avoid financial penalties, states must demonstrate yearly that an ever-increasing proportion of adults receiving TANF are working or engaged in work-related activities. The U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) for 1999 show that 44 percent of TANF recipients nationwide had physical or mental impairments, a proportion almost three times as high as among adults in the non-TANF population. The percentages of TANF adults with impairments from 1994 can not be compared to later years because Census broadened its measurements of mental impairments starting with its 1997 SIPP data. Most of the counties that screen for impairments rely on recipients' self-disclosure, which may not ensure the identification of some impairments that could interfere with employment. Still, for the one-third of counties that reported service data, …
Date: October 31, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
International Journal of Government Auditing, October 2001, Vol. 28, No. 4 (open access)

International Journal of Government Auditing, October 2001, Vol. 28, No. 4

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This journal of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) includes articles regarding (1) the XI Assembly of the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS) from August 20-24, 2001, in Panama City, Panama; (2) data envelopment analysis in performance evaluation; (3) an audit profile of the State Audit Office (SAO) of Finland; and (4) activities within INTOSAI."
Date: October 1, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Terrorism Insurance: Alternative Programs for Protecting Insurance Consumers (open access)

Terrorism Insurance: Alternative Programs for Protecting Insurance Consumers

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Before September 11, insurance coverage for losses from terrorism was a normal feature of insurance contracts. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have changed insurers' perceptions of their risk exposure. Both insurers and reinsurers say that they do not know how much to charge for this coverage, and because they cannot predict future losses, they may exclude terrorism insurance from future contracts unless the federal government provides some guidance to the industry. Several insurance programs in the United States and other countries ensure that insurance will be available to cover risks that the private sector has been unable or unwilling to cover, including losses from catastrophic events and terrorism. For government insurance programs, the question of long-term cost and program funding needs to be addressed before any program is established. Some federal insurance programs have a statutory intent to provide subsidized coverage, while others are intended to be self-funding. Regardless of statutory intent, if federal insurance is underpriced relative to its long-run costs and the federal government pays the difference, a government subsidy results."
Date: October 24, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: Key Elements of a Risk Management Approach (open access)

Homeland Security: Key Elements of a Risk Management Approach

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Risk management is a systematic and analytical process that weighs the likelihood that a threat will endanger an asset, individual, or function and identifies actions to reduce the risk and mitigate the consequences of an attack. A good risk management approach includes the following three assessments: a threat, a vulnerability, and a criticality. After these assessments have been completed and evaluated, key steps can be taken to better prepare the United States against potential terrorist attacks. Threat assessments alone are insufficient to support the key judgments and decisions that must be made. However, along with vulnerability and criticality assessments, leaders and managers will make better decisions using this risk management approach. If the federal government were to apply this approach universally and if similar approaches were adopted by other segments of society, the United States could more effectively and efficiently prepare in-depth defenses against terrorist acts."
Date: October 12, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Public-Private Partnerships: Factors to Consider When Deliberating Governmental Use as a Real Property Management Tool (open access)

Public-Private Partnerships: Factors to Consider When Deliberating Governmental Use as a Real Property Management Tool

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony describes the benefits to the federal government of public-private partnerships on real property. Under these partnerships, the private sector finances the renovation or redevelopment of real property contributed by the federal government. Each partner then shares in the net cash flow. Key factors typically considered in public-private partnerships are whether the properties are in areas with a strong real estate market or strong demand for office space. As a result of these partnerships, the federal government can potentially gain efficient, repaired space, and properties that were once a net cost to the government can become revenue producers. This testimony summarized a July report (GAO-01-906)."
Date: October 1, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bioterrorism: Public Health and Medical Preparedness (open access)

Bioterrorism: Public Health and Medical Preparedness

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal research and preparedness activities related to bioterrorism center on detecting of such agents; developing new or improved vaccines, antibiotics, and antivirals; and developing performance standards for emergency response equipment. Preparedness activities include: (1) increasing federal, state, and local response capabilities; (2) developing response teams; (3) increasing the availability of medical treatments; (4) participating in and sponsoring exercises; (5) aiding victims; and (6) providing support at special events, such as presidential inaugurations and Olympic games. To coordinate their activities, federal agencies are developing interagency response plans, participating in various interagency work groups, and entering into formal agreements with each other to share resources and capabilities. However, GAO found that coordination of federal terrorism research, preparedness, and response programs is fragmented, raising concerns about the ability of states and localities to respond to a bioterrorist attack. These concerns include poor state and local planning and the lack of hospital participation in training on terrorism and emergency response planning. This report summarized a September 2001 report (GAO-01-915)."
Date: October 9, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Workforce Investment Act: New Requirements Create Need for More Guidance (open access)

Workforce Investment Act: New Requirements Create Need for More Guidance

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Workforce Investment Act was passed in 1998 to unify a fragmented employment and training system. The act sought to change the workforce development system by streamlining the delivery of employment and training services, enabling job seekers to make informed choices among training providers and course offerings and enhancing the private-sector role. During the early stages of the act's implementation, state and local implementers were challenged by the significant changes to the workforce system. Mandatory partners have concerns about how to participate in one-stops without adversely affecting their respective target populations, violating their own programs' rules, or straining their financial resources. Training providers have struggled to find ways to effectively meet the act's data collection and reporting requirements that they believe are burdensome and, as a result, have reduced the courses offered to job seekers."
Date: October 4, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bioterrorism: Coordination and Preparedness (open access)

Bioterrorism: Coordination and Preparedness

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses on the efforts of federal agencies to prepare for the consequences of a bioterrorist attack. GAO found that federal agencies are participating in research and preparedness activities, from improving the detection of biological agents to developing a national stockpile of pharmaceuticals to treat victims of disasters. Federal agencies also have several efforts underway to coordinate these activities on a formal and informal basis, such as interagency work groups. Despite these efforts however, coordination between agencies remains fragmented. GAO also found emerging concerns about the preparedness of state and local jurisdictions, including insufficient state and local planning for response to terrorist events, inadequate public health infrastructure, a lack of hospital participation in training on terrorism and emergency response planning, insufficient capabilities for treating mass casualties, and the timely availability of medical teams and resources in an emergency. This testimony summarizes a September 2001 report (GAO-01-915)."
Date: October 5, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Homeland Security: A Risk Management Approach Can Guide Preparedness Efforts (open access)

Homeland Security: A Risk Management Approach Can Guide Preparedness Efforts

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11 and the subsequent appearance of letters containing anthrax, terrorism rose to the top of the national agenda. The Attorney General has indicated that the country needs to be prepared for still more terrorist incidents. The Department of Justice is working with state and local governments to complete risk management tools for the domestic preparedness program. However, the FBI told GAO that these will be limited to threat assessments only and will not include other aspects of risk management that GAO advocates. Despite these inconclusive results, the federal government can benefit from risk management. Risk management is a systematic and analytic process to consider the likelihood that a threat will endanger an asset and to identify actions that reduce the risk and mitigate the consequences of an attack. An effective risk management approach includes a threat assessment, a vulnerability assessment, and a criticality assessment. Such an approach could help the nation prepare against threats it faces and help better target finite resources to areas of highest priority."
Date: October 31, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Terrorism Insurance: Alternative Programs for Protecting Insurance Consumers (open access)

Terrorism Insurance: Alternative Programs for Protecting Insurance Consumers

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Before September 11, insurance coverage for losses from terrorism was a normal feature of insurance contracts. The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have changed insurers' perceptions of their risk exposure. Both insurers and reinsurers say that they do not know how much to charge for this coverage and because they cannot predict future losses, they may exclude terrorism insurance from future contracts unless the federal government provides some guidance to the industry. Several insurance programs in the United States and other countries ensure that insurance will be available to cover risks that the private sector has been unable or unwilling to cover, including losses from catastrophic events and terrorism. For government insurance programs, the question of long-term cost and program funding needs to be addressed before any program is established. Some federal insurance programs have a statutory intent to provide subsidized coverage, while others are intended to be self-funding. Regardless of statutory intent, if federal insurance is underpriced relative to its long-run costs and the federal government pays the difference, a government subsidy results."
Date: October 24, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Food Safety and Security: Fundamental Changes Needed to Ensure Safe Food (open access)

Food Safety and Security: Fundamental Changes Needed to Ensure Safe Food

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Tens of millions of Americans become ill and thousands die each year from eating unsafe foods. The current food safety system is a patchwork structure that cannot address existing and emerging food safety risks. The current system was cobbled together over many years to address specific health threats from particular foods. The resulting fragmented organizational and legal structure causes inefficient use of resources, inconsistent oversight and enforcement, and ineffective coordination. Food safety issues must be addressed comprehensively--that is, by preventing contamination through the entire food production cycle, from farm to table. A single, food safety agency responsible for administering a uniform set of laws is needed to resolve long-standing problems with the current system; deal with emerging food safety issues, such as the safety of genetically modified foods or deliberate acts of contamination; and ensure a safe food supply."
Date: October 10, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Securing America's Borders: INS Faces Information Technology Planning and Implementation Challenges (open access)

Securing America's Borders: INS Faces Information Technology Planning and Implementation Challenges

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Information technology (IT) management process controls are predictors of organizational success in developing, acquiring, implementing, operating, and maintaining IT systems and related infrastructure. GAO found that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has not implemented practices associated with effective IT investment and enterprise architecture management. Furthermore, these investments are not aligned with an agencywide blueprint that defines the agency's future operational and technological plans. INS does not know whether its ongoing investments are meeting their cost, schedule, and performance commitments."
Date: October 11, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Human Capital: Attracting and Retaining a High-Quality Information Technology Workforce (open access)

Human Capital: Attracting and Retaining a High-Quality Information Technology Workforce

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies face few tasks more critical than attracting, retaining, and motivating people. As our society has moved from the industrial age to the knowledge age, the success or failure of federal agencies can depend on having the right number of people with the right mix of knowledge and skills. This is especially true in the information technology (IT) area, where widespread shortfalls in human capital have undermined agency and program performance. This report discusses strategic human capital management as a high-risk area, summarizes agencies progress in addressing IT human capital needs, compares suggestions GAO made in earlier testimonies and those made in a recent report by the National Academy of Public Administration, and highlights important challenges to implementing IT human capital reform proposals."
Date: October 4, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Workforce Investment Act: Better Guidance Needed to Address Concerns Over New Requirements (open access)

Workforce Investment Act: Better Guidance Needed to Address Concerns Over New Requirements

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A competitive national economy depends on providing individuals with marketable skills and employers with access to qualified workers. In the past, the nation's job training system was fragmented and did not serve job seekers or employers well. The Workforce Investment Act in 1998 created a system that links employment, education, and training services to better match workers and labor market trends. The act represented a significant change from earlier workforce development efforts. Many of the act's provisions took effect in July 2000, and state and local organizations are at different stages of implementing them. Although the act's mandatory partners are making efforts to participate in the one-stops, programmatic or financial concerns are affecting the partners' level of participation as well as their ability to fully integrate their services at the one-stop. As implementation of the act progresses, training options for job seekers may be diminishing rather than improving, as trained providers reduce the number of courses offered to job seekers. Private-sector representatives may be discouraged from participating on workforce investment boards as a result of how states and localities are operating their boards and associated entities."
Date: October 4, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
User Fees: DOD Fees for Providing Information Not Current and Consistent (open access)

User Fees: DOD Fees for Providing Information Not Current and Consistent

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Defense Authorization Act for 2001 authorized the military archives to (1) charge fees to persons requesting information and (2) retain collected fees to help defray costs of providing the information. Although none of the archives has yet implemented a fee, one archive plans to do so by October 2001. The Department of Defense's (DOD) archives and other offices are also authorized under both the User Charge Statute and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to charge for information provided to the public. However, neither of these statutes authorizes an agency to retain those fees. The four designated archives are charging fees to public requesters but are not using the fee schedule mandated by the DOD regulation implementing the User Charge Statute. Similarly, DOD's fee schedules for charges under FOIA are outdated. DOD's inconsistent use of the authority to charge fees and the use of outdated DOD fees schedules result in uncollected fees of a million dollars or more annually and inconsistent handling of public requests for historical information."
Date: October 12, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Juvenile Justice: Better Documentation of Discretionary Grant Monitoring Is Needed (open access)

Juvenile Justice: Better Documentation of Discretionary Grant Monitoring Is Needed

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides block grants and discretionary funding to help states and communities prevent juvenile delinquency and improve their juvenile justice systems. OJJDP has specific program monitoring and documentation requirements for its discretionary grants. These monitoring requirements include having the grant manager make quarterly telephone calls, undertake on- and off-site grant monitoring visits, and review interim and final products. In a review of OJJDP's most recent award of grants active in fiscal years 1999 and 2000, GAO found that OJJDP's grant monitoring activities were not consistently documented. These findings are similar to those GAO reported in May 1996."
Date: October 10, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Management: Audit of the Centennial of Flight Commission (open access)

Financial Management: Audit of the Centennial of Flight Commission

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Centennial of Flight Commission was created in 1998 to provide recommendations and advice to the President, Congress, and federal agencies on ways to encourage and promote national and international participation and sponsorships in commemoration of the centennial of powered flight. All 45 of the Commission's recorded financial transactions for fiscal years 2000 and 1999 were supported by documentation that was approved by management. The Commission recorded no donations, user fees, or in-kind donations for fiscal years 1999 and 2000. Also, the Commission's obligations exceeded its fiscal year 2000 appropriation of $600,000 by $29,729."
Date: October 22, 2001
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library