A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed grant monitoring and evaluation efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Justice Program (OJP). This report discusses the monitoring of discretionary grants awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance's (BJA) Byrne Program and the Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) within OJP. In constant 2000 dollars, Byrne and VAWO discretionary grants grew about 85 percent--from $105 million to $194 million between fiscal years 1997 and 2000. These funds were awarded to state and local governments, either on a competitive basis or pursuant to legislation allocating funds through congressional earmarks. BJA and VAWO, together with OJP's Office of the Comptroller, are responsible for monitoring these grants to ensure they are implemented as intended, are responsive to grant goals and objectives, and comply with statutory regulations and policy guidelines. OJP's monitoring requirements include the development of monitoring plans that articulate who will conduct monitoring, the manner in which it will be done, and when and what type of monitoring activities are planned. Grant managers are to maintain documentation in grant files using such techniques as written reports of on-site reviews and telephone interview write-ups. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the Department of Education spent millions of dollars to modernize and integrate its nonintegrated financial aid systems during the past 10 years, these efforts have met with limited success. Recently, Education's Office of Student Financial Assistance (SFA) began using a software approach known as middleware to provide users with a more complete and integrated view of information in its many databases. In selecting middleware, SFA has adopted a viable, industry-accepted means for integrating and utilizing its existing data on student loans and grants. To meet its human capital needs, SFA has solicited the help of a private sector "modernization partner" with experience in implementing and managing middleware solutions--particularly in the financial industry--and has also chosen to use a leading middleware software product."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed purchase card activity at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Systems Center and the Navy Public Works Center in San Diego and found significant breakdowns in internal controls over purchase card transactions, including fraudulent, improper, and abusive purchases and theft and misuse of government property. Neither SPAWAR nor the Navy Public Works Center had effective policies for issuing purchase cards, establishing credit limits, and minimizing the federal government's financial exposure. Any employee having supervisory approval could get a card. GAO found that the units did not do credit checks on prospective cardholders. GAO also found that nearly half of SPAWAR's fiscal year 2000 purchase card transactions and more than half of the Navy Public Works Center's transactions were made by employees who did not have documented evidence of timely training. Policies for rebate management were deficient, including a lack of procedures to maximize rebates and ensure that bank calculations of rebates were correct. Management was not effectively using internal reviews and audits to determine whether purchase card internal controls were effectively implemented. These internal control weaknesses allowed purchases that were potentially fraudulent, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Before Social Security, being old often meant being poor. Today, dependency on public assistance has dropped to a fraction of its Depression-era levels, and poverty rates among the elderly are now lower than for the population as a whole. At the same time, Social Security has become the single largest source of retirement income for more than 90 percent of persons aged 65 and older. Automatic adjustments were introduced in 1972 to reflect increases in the cost of living. Other program changes gradually increased social security coverage to larger portions of the workforce and extended eligibility to family members and disabled workers. Other benefit programs, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicare, and Medicaid, have also been added over the years. With regard to measuring income adequacy, various measures help examine different aspects of this concept, but no single measure can provide a complete picture. For various subgroups of beneficiaries that have lower lifetime earnings, poverty rates have also declined. Although the Social Security benefit formula favors lower lifetime earners, their lower earnings and work histories can leave them with incomes below the poverty level when …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage more than 41 million acres of federal lands in Oregon and Washington, including 122,000 miles of roads that use culverts--pipes or arches that allow water to flow from one side of the road to the other. Many of the streams that pass through these culverts are essential habitat for fish and other aquatic species. More than 10,000 culverts exist on fish-bearing streams in Oregon and Washington, but the number that impede fish passage is unknown. Ongoing agency inventory and assessment efforts have identified nearly 2,600 barrier culverts, but agency officials estimate that more than twice that number may exist. Although the agencies recognize the importance of restoring fish passage, several factors inhibit their efforts. Most significantly, the agencies have not made enough money available to do all the necessary culvert work. In addition, the often lengthy process of obtaining federal and state environmental clearances and permits, as well as the short seasonal "window of opportunity" to do the work, affects the agencies' ability to restore fish passages quickly. Furthermore, the shortage of experienced engineering staff limits …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Birdwatching, hunting, and wildlife photography provide important recreational, aesthetic, and income-generating benefits to the American public. In addition, wildlife help maintain ecosystems, and the mere knowledge that wildlife exist is viewed as beneficial by many people. At the same time, however, some wildlife destroy crops, kill livestock, damage property, and pose risks to public health and safety. Further, as the U.S. population has grown and impinged upon wildlife habitats, conflicts between wildlife and humans and their property have become increasingly common. Wildlife Services, a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, is tasked with controlling damage by wildlife. Mammals and birds damage crops, forestry seedlings, and aquaculture products each year, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. In fiscal year 2000, predators killed half a million livestock--mostly lambs and calves--valued at $70 million. To reduce such threats, Wildlife Services conducts operational and research activities with federal, state, and local agencies; agricultural producers and ranchers; private homeowners; and others. In carrying out these activities, Wildlife Services applies the most appropriate methods, whether lethal or nonlethal, of prevention and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicated that one-third of Amex's new listings did not meet the exchange's equity listing standards. Amex's listing guidelines address factors that are the same or similar to those addressed by other U.S. stock markets. Quantitative requirements addressed share price, stockholders' equity, income, and market value of publicly held shares. However, the minimum thresholds for meeting these requirements varied to reflect the differences in the companies that each market targeted for listing. The most significant difference between Amex's guidelines and the listing standards of other U.S. stock markets was that Amex was one of only two markets that retained discretion to initially list companies that did not meet all of its quantitative requirements. Amex had not implemented the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations' (OCIE) recommendations on the exchange's discretionary listing decisions. OCIE officials told GAO that in the absence of an Amex agreement to address the recommendations, they would include them among the open significant recommendations to be reported to the SEC Commissioners as a result of a 1998 GAO recommendation. The Commission can require Amex to implement OCIE's …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. drinking water and wastewater systems encompass thousands of treatment and collection facilities and more than a million miles of pipes and conduits. The estimated cost to repair, replace, or upgrade aging facilities; accommodate the nation's growing population; and meet new water quality standards ranges from $300 billion to $1 trillion over the next 20 years. Although user rates are the major source of facilities' financing, federal and state government agencies also offer financial support. From fiscal years 1991 through 2000, nine federal agencies provided $44 billion for drinking water and wastewater capital improvements. Four agencies--the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce--accounted for about 98 percent of that account. State governments made $25 billion available for water infrastructure programs during the past 10 years."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Army has begun to transform itself into a more rapidly deployable and responsive force better able to meet the diverse defense challenges of the future. These far-reaching organizational and operational changes, which will affect virtually every aspect of the Army, will take decades to implement. Funding the transformation, from developing future combat systems to modernizing aging equipment, will be difficult. The Army has developed a Transformation Campaign Plan, which is a mechanism for integrating transformation efforts within the Army and for achieving the goal of transforming the Army over 30 years. The Army's Transformation Campaign plan serves as a common frame of reference for officials throughout the Army. It defines transformation goals, sets milestones for achieving them, and assigns lines of responsibilities for each aspect of the plan. The Army has established several forums at various levels to discuss evolving issues and address matters of concern. However, the lack of an overall DOD transformation strategy has led the Army to proceed with its transformation plans solely on the basis of broad departmental guidance rather than a clear understanding of how its efforts fit into an …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State is leading an interagency assessment of staffing needs in U.S. embassies and consulates to improve mission effectiveness and reduce security vulnerabilities and costs. This process, called "rightsizing," was begun in response to the recommendations of the Overseas Presence Advisory Panel. In the aftermath of the August 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, the Panel determined that overseas staffing levels had not been adjusted to reflect changing missions and requirements; thus, some embassies and consulates were overstaffed, and others were understaffed. The Panel recommended a rightsizing strategy to improve security by reducing the number of embassy staff at risk. The Panel also recommended the establishment of a permanent committee to regularly adjust the U.S. presence, and the adoption of explicit criteria to guide decisions on the size and location of posts. A State-led interagency committee conducted pilot studies at six embassies in 2000 to (1) develop a methodology for assessing staffing at embassies and consulates during the next five years and (2) recommend adjustments to staffing levels at the embassies studied. The interagency committee formed teams that visited U.S. embassies in Amman, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To promote U.S. interests in the face of rapid economic, political, technological, and environmental change, 24 federal agencies are engaged in foreign affairs activities at 255 overseas locations in 162 countries. The Department of State is responsible for coordinating and supporting federal agencies' international activities and providing a means for effective interagency information sharing. State is leading a multiagency program to modernize the information technology (IT) environment supporting federal agencies' overseas operations. State is in the early, formative stage of a long-term plan to acquire and deploy a common knowledge management system for overseas-based agencies. This system is to provide basic Internet access and e-mail to mission-critical policy formulation and crisis management support. In the near-term, State is using informal management controls, which are adequate given the department's stated purposes and scope of these activities. However, acquiring and deploying system capabilities for operational use, particularly a system that involves multiple agencies and performs mission-critical functions, requires a much greater level of management discipline than that needed for system prototyping and pilot testing. It is appropriate that State has not yet established these rigorous management controls because …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 requires the Small Business Administration (SBA) to complete mandated planning activities before developing a loan monitoring system (LMS). In February 2000, GAO testified that SBA had made substantial progress in completing the mandated planning actions and made recommendations on additional steps needed for each action, and for project management and control of LMS. In August 2000, GAO found that SBA had completed its work on only one recommendation. SBA's actions to develop and implement LMS software were not consistent with the Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 and SBA's agreement with the House Committee on Small Business not to acquire hardware or software before completing the mandated planning. These actions could result in significant project cost increases and delays."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress authorized the Recreational Fee Demonstration Program to help federal land management agencies provide high-quality recreational opportunities to visitors and protect resources. The program focuses on recreational activities at the following four land management agencies: the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Service. Under the fee demonstration program, participating agencies can collect fees at several sites and use them to (1) enhance visitor services, (2) address a backlog of needs for repair and maintenance, and (3) manage and protect resources. The agencies applied "entrance fees" for basic admission to an area and "user fees" for specific activities such as camping or launching a boat. Under the law, 80 percent of program revenue must be used at the site where it was collected. The rest may be distributed to other sites that may or may not be participating in the demonstration program. Some of the sites GAO surveyed experimented with innovative fee designs and collection methods, such as reducing fees during off-peak seasons and allowing visitors to use credit cards, but room for additional innovation exists, particularly …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since the end of the Cold War, the United States and its European allies are using smaller militaries, disbursing more development assistance, and increasing their reliance on multilateral organizations to provide for European security. Despite reductions in force levels and budgets, U.S. and European military forces have been actively engaged in peacekeeping and other security-enhancing activities in the region. The United States and its European allies have contributed to stability in the Balkans through various military and financial means. The Balkans operations have highlighted numerous shortfalls in the military capabilities of European allies, but competing budgetary priorities may limit their ability to remedy them before the end of the decade. Defense expenditures are expected to remain relatively flat in constant 2000 dollars over the next four to five years for most European allies, placing major defense initiatives sponsored by NATO and the European Union in jeopardy."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Financial relationships between individual investigators or their research institutions and private industry have yielded significant results, including treatments for such diseases as AIDS and strokes. However, some collaborations have raised concerns that the focus on financial reward might compromise the integrity of the research and the safety of human research subjects. GAO reviewed five universities with broad policies and procedures on financial conflicts of interest. All five had difficulty providing basic data on individual investigators' financial conflicts of interest in clinical research involving human subjects. The universities acknowledged a need for better coordination of information on investigators' financial relationships, and several universities were developing ways to do so. Policies and procedures at the five universities addressed financial conflicts of interest affecting institutions, including technology transfer activities and financial relationships with small start-up companies that market products developed by the universities. The Department of Health and Human Services has had limited success in promoting the integrity of biomedical research and protecting human subjects. HHS has taken steps to improve its oversight and monitoring and has drafted guidance on financial conflicts of interest, but this guidance does not …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Every day, about 3,000 young people become regular smokers. It is estimated that one-third of them will die from smoking-related diseases. If children and adolescents can be prevented from using tobacco products they are likely to remain tobacco-free for the rest of their lives. In 1992, Congress enacted legislation, known as the Synar amendment, to reduce the sale and distribution of tobacco products to individuals under the age of 18. States are required to enforce laws that prohibit tobacco sales to minors, conduct random inspections of tobacco retail or distribution outlets to estimate the level of compliance with Synar requirements, and report the results of these efforts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Synar amendment and regulation are the only federal requirements that seek to prohibit the sale and distribution of tobacco products to minors. GAO found that weaknesses in the states' implementation of Synar and in HHS oversight may be adversely affecting the quality and comparability of state-reported estimates of the percentage of retailers that violate laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors. First, some states used inaccurate and incomplete lists of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal law states that not more than 50 percent of annual depot maintenance funding can be used for work by private sector contractors. In an earlier report, GAO could not determine whether the Department of Defense (DOD) had complied with the 50-percent limitation. More recent GAO testimony highlighted continuing and pervasive weaknesses in DOD's financial management systems, operations, and controls that impair its ability to accurately accumulate and report reliable budget execution and cost data. This report found that the military had mixed results complying with the 50-50 requirement for private sector workloads in fiscal years 1999 and 2000. The projections of the Army, Air Force, and Navy in DOD's report for fiscal years 2001 through 2005 are neither accurate nor reasonable estimates of the future allocations of public and private sector workloads. The services placed much less emphasis on the future-years data and reports. The reported projections use incorrect data and questionable assumptions and are inconsistent with existing budgets and management plans. DOD's report should be viewed with caution because it does not provide the best data available to DOD decisionmakers and congressional overseers, and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns arose in the late 1990s about day trading, particularly the use of questionable advertising to attract customers without fully disclosing or by downplaying the risks involved. Concerns were also raised that traders were losing large amounts of money. Day traders as a group and day trading firms have continued to evolve and are generally more experienced and sophisticated about securities markets and investing than was the case several years ago. Likewise, day trading firms' operations have evolved, and many have shifted their primary focus away from retail customers and toward attracting institutional customers, such as hedge funds and money market managers. Furthermore, more firms are likely to engage in proprietary trading activities through professional traders that trade the firms' own capital. Finally, although the number of day trading firms appears to have remained constant, several day trading firms have been acquired by other brokerages and market participants whose customers want the direct access to securities markets and market information that technology used by day trading firms provides. Since GAO's 2000 review, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the self-regulatory organizations have addressed many of the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The number of contracts under Medicare's managed care program--Medicare+Choice (M+C)--fell from 340 to 180 between 1998 and 2001. The reduction reflected decisions by some managed care organizations (MCOs) to terminate selected contracts or to discontinue service in some covered areas. Although nearly all MCOs renewed at least some of their Medicare contracts over this period, many reduced the geographic areas served. As a result, 1.6 million beneficiaries had to switch MCOs or return to Medicare's traditional fee-for-service program. Other MCOs plan either to terminate or reduce their participation in M+C at the end of 2001. Concerned about MCO withdrawals, Congress sought to make participation in the program more attractive. As a result of the Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, aggregate Medicare+Choice payments in 2001 are estimated to have increased by $1 billion. The act permitted three basic uses for the higher payment. MCOs could (1) improve their health plans' benefit packages, (2) set aside money for future years in a benefit stabilization fund, or (3) stabilize or enhance beneficiary access to providers. Most MCOs reported that additional money would be used to stabilize or …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The impending retirement of the "baby boom" generation is receiving considerable attention. The number of older workers will grow substantially during the next two decades, and they will become an increasingly significant share of the U.S. workforce. Although older workers are less likely than younger workers to lose a job, when they do lose a job, they are less likely than younger workers to find other employment. To retain older workers and extend their careers, some public and a few private employers are providing options, including flexible hours and financial benefits, reduced workloads through the use of part-time or part-year schedules, and job-sharing. Most employers are not yet facing labor shortages or other economic pressures that would require them to consider flexible employment arrangements because the retirement of the baby boom generation will occur gradually during the next several decades."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have arisen about the 37-year-old statutory provision commonly known as Section 13(c). Before the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) may make grants to transit applicants, the Department of Labor (DOL) must certify that fair and equitable arrangements are in place to protect mass transit employees affected. Section 13(c) requires that the arrangements provide for continued of collective bargaining rights and protect of employees against a worsening of their positions. Once certified, the arrangements are incorporated into the grant agreement between FTA and the grantee. Critics claim that Section 13(e) greatly increases the cost of transit operations, hinders transit agencies' efforts to adopt new technology, and constrains the efficient operation of transit systems. Supporters counter that Section 13(c) has enhanced labor-management stability and has improved communication and working relationships between management and labor. The transit agencies GAO surveyed reported that Section 13(c) had a minimal impact on their (1) labor costs, (2) ability to adopt new technologies, and (3) ability to modify transit operations. Transit agencies reported that Section 13(c) has delayed the award of federal grants and has presented a burden regarding time, efforts, and resources. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "All military services routinely use cannibalization to maintain aircraft. The adverse effects of cannibalizations include (1) higher maintenance costs due to increased mechanics' workloads, (2) morale and personnel retention problems, and (3) taking expensive aircraft out of service for long periods of time. The services have many reasons for cannibalizing aircraft and strong incentives for continuing to do so. In the broadest sense, cannibalizations are done because of pressures to meet readiness and operational needs and because of shortcomings in the supply system. Although the services have undertaken steps to address logistics shortfalls, few specific strategies have been developed to reduce cannibalizations and the associated maintenance hours."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "It is essential that the U.S. military--the government's largest user of information technology (IT)--adopt effective IT acquisition practices. This report presents a generic framework of IT acquisition practices from leading commercial firms. Grouped into seven phases, the practices and underlying critical success factors provide the underpinnings for an effective IT outsourcing process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1980, the Winter and Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games hosted in the United States have increased in size and magnitude, as have the total direct costs to plan and stage them. The reported direct costs to plan and stage the games discussed in this report ranged from $363 million to more than $2.4 billion. Although the total dollar amount of federal funding and support has increased, the total federal share of the reported total direct costs to plan and stage the games has decreased. Since 1980, the amount of funding and support provided by state and local governments has increased. Generally, federal funding and support for the total direct costs of each of these games was either specifically designated by Congress or approved by the federal agencies."