A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The increasing numbers of regional jets (RJ) in operation have provided U.S. air carriers with opportunities to serve new and existing markets. With predominantly 50-seat aircraft, the carriers have initiated service to many large and medium-large communities but have provided less service to smaller communities. Service to small communities--to which the airlines now mostly operate turboprop aircraft--continues to be an important concern, because of the uncertainty about whether those markets may generate enough passenger traffic and revenue to be financially viable to sustain RJ operations. Eventually, smaller RJs may let carriers serve those smaller communities economically. Other questions also emerge about the impact of how the carriers will use their RJs. For example, the airlines could restrict capacity in a market by reducing service with larger mainline jets but increasing the number of RJ flights in a way that may inhibit entry by new competitors, allowing the airlines to charge fares higher than might exist in a more competitive market. Additionally, the growth in RJs has clearly contributed to an increasing problem with congestion, particularly in some locations like New York's LaGuardia Airport. But how the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Nationwide, states reported that federal and state expenditures for child care under the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) block grant and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant grew from $4.1 billion in fiscal year 1997 to $6.9 billion in fiscal year 1999 and totaled over $16 billion in constant fiscal year 1997 dollars for this three-year period. More than half of the children whose child care was subsidized with CCDF funds were cared for in centers, and CCDF subsidies for all types of care were primarily provided through vouchers. Eligible parents who were subsidized by CCDF were offered a choice of receiving a voucher to pay a provider of their choosing or using a provider who had a contract with the state. More than half of all the states gave TANF and former TANF families transitioning to work first or second priority for receiving child care subsidies while other eligible low-income families were assigned lower priorities. Officials reported that their states funded the child care needs of their TANF and former TANF families transitioning to work, and were serving all of these …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the amount of excess payments and underpayments made by the Department of Defense (DOD) to its contractors during fiscal year 1999. The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)--Columbus Center, Ohio reports that contractors repaid $670 million in fiscal year 1999 and closer to a billion dollars--$901 million--in fiscal year 2000. The higher amount for fiscal year 2000 reflects the inclusion of repayments made through offsets of other payments ($269 million) in addition to the amount repaid by check ($632 million). Although small in relation to total contract payments, these amounts represent a sizable amount of cash in the hands of contractors beyond what is intended to finance and pay for the goods and services DOD is purchasing. The 39 large contractors covered by GAO's review returned excess payments totaling $351 million in fiscal year 1999. Seventy-seven percent of these excess payments stemmed from contract administration actions and 18 percent stemmed from billing or payment errors. Large contractors reported resolving $41 million in underpayments during fiscal year 1999. Contractors attributed most underpayments to payment errors made by DFAS--Columbus."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has not developed a proposal to improve the accuracy of the reporting of contract service costs. Without accurate and reliable information, Congress cannot effectively use the information reported for DOD in the President's budget as it drafts and passes laws that affect spending. Last year, DOD agreed to develop a proposal to resolve this problem. GAO was told recently that DOD's momentum to develop a written proposal had subsided."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Pentagon considers defenses to counter attacks from ballistic missiles, both long-range strategic and shorter-range theater missiles, to be critical to U.S. national security. The Air Force is developing a new satellite system, called Space-Based Infrared System-low (SBIRS-low) to expand the military's infrared satellite capabilities for supporting ballistic missile defenses. GAO reviewed the Defense Department's (DOD) efforts to acquire SBIRS-low. Specifically, GAO (1) evaluated the cost, schedule, and performance risks of the current acquisition schedule; (2) evaluated the program's technical risks; and (3) determined whether DOD has assessed alternative approaches to SBIRS-low. GAO found that the Air Force's current SBIRS-low acquisition schedule is of high risk of not delivering the system on time or at cost or with expected performance. SBIRS-low has high technical risks because some critical satellite technologies have been judged immature for the current stage of the program. DOD acquisition policy and procedures require that the cost and mission effectiveness of space systems be assessed relative to alternative terrestrial systems. However, the Air Force has not analyzed or identified terrestrial alternatives to the SBIRS-low system because, according to Air Force Space Command officials, …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Limited quantitative data exists on the extent to which American industry has sought to use pollution prevention methods to reduce pollutants discharged from its facilities. This shortcoming has inhibited the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to monitor and encourage companies' use of pollution prevention measures. Whether to undertake pollution prevention is typically a business decision that is influenced largely by a company's judgment as to whether an investment in pollution prevention will benefit it financially. One notable exception is the design of environmental regulations, some of which have had the unintended consequence of discouraging pollution prevention practices. In some cases, EPA may have no means to address them. The design of some regulations may be constrained by their governing statutes. In other cases, EPA may be better able to take the national goal of promoting pollution prevention into consideration in developing its regulatory proposals. The Pollution Prevention Act requires EPA to review its regulatory proposals to determine their effects on source reduction. However, the agency has not systematically tracked the implementation of this provision, and therefore does not know the extent to which source reduction has …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the Treasury Department's debt management strategies in a period of budget surplus. As the level of debt held by the public has decreased, the Treasury has had to rethink its strategies for best achieving its three goals--having enough cash on hand, minimizing cost over time, and promoting efficient markets. The Treasury has used existing and new debt managing tools in response to the challenges posed by declining debt. In calendar year 2000, the Treasury began two new programs designed to improve market liquidity: regularly reopening existing debt issues rather than creating new issues, and conducting buybacks of about $30 billion in longer-term bonds before they matured, thereby enabling the Treasury to issue more new securities. In addition, higher issuance levels of short-term bills were made possible by eliminating longer-term notes. Capital markets have been adjusting to the reduced supply of Treasury securities. For example, capital market participants have begun using financial instruments other than Treasury securities as pricing tools for transactions. If projected budget surpluses materialize, the current combination of debt auction schedules, issue sizes, and maturities will be unsustainable over the next …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress has enacted many statutes that designate types of customers or geographic areas for preference and priority in purchasing electricity from federal agencies. In general, the preference has been intended to (1) direct the benefits of public resources--relatively inexpensive hydropower--to portions of the public through nonprofit entities, (2) spread the benefits of federally generated hydropower widely and encourage the development of rural areas, (3) prevent private interests from exerting control over the full development of electric power on public lands, and (4) provide a yardstick against which the rates of investor-owned utilities can be measured. The applications of various preference provisions have been challenged several times in the courts, which have directed a power marketing administration (PMA) to provide power to preference customers. In other instances, they have supported the denial of power to such customers. The characteristics of the electricity industry have changed. During the last 20 years, competition has been replacing regulation in major sectors of the U.S. economy. Several proposals have come before Congress to restructure the electrical industry, including some that would encourage the states to allow retail customers a choice in …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Procurement regulations implemented in 1996 mandated that women-owned small businesses (WOSB) receive five percent of governmentwide contracts. Although the number of contracts awarded to WOSBs has risen more than four times as fast as other federal contracting efforts since 1996, the goal of awarding five percent of federal contracts to WOSBs has not been met. More agencies succeeded in meeting the WOSB subcontracting goal than their prime contracting goal. GAO found that three federal agencies--the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of State, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration--met or exceeded both goals in three of the four years it studied. Because the Department of Defense, which accounted for 64 percent of federal procurement in 1999, did not come close to achieving its five-percent goal, the governmentwide goal for prime contracting with WOSBs could not have been met even if all other federal agencies reached their prime contracting goals. Government officials cited many obstacles to increasing federal contracting with WOSBs, including a reduced contracting personnel force and the absense of a targeted WOSB government program. These contracting officers offered suggestions for increasing WOSB participation in …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO examined the performance measures that the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) uses to assess the nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion and support, and health referral services provided to participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. GAO found that FNS has an outcome-based measure for one of the three nutrition services--breastfeeding promotion and support. However, the measure, breastfeeding initiation rate, examines only one of several important aspects of the service's possible impact on WIC participants. In addition, several obstacles have hindered FNS' efforts to develop and implement outcome-based measures for nutrition education and health referral services for the WIC program. These include difficulties in identifying measures that would allow the agency to appropriately link a particular service's activity to a desired outcome and resource constraints affecting FNS' ability to collect data needed to implement a proposed measure."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the state agriculture and health departments spent about $1.3 billion in fiscal year 1999. FSIS and FDA spent about $1 billion, and the states reported spending about $300 million. The amounts and proportions of food safety expenditures for fiscal year 1998 were similar. Regarding the $1 billion in federal funds spent in fiscal year 1999, FSIS spent about 70 percent, overseeing about 20 percent of federally regulated foods; FDA spent about 30 percent, overseeing about 80 percent of federally regulated foods. These outlays reflect the regulatory approaches or inspection frequencies contained in the laws under which each agency operates."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Military Strategy calls for U.S. forces to fight and win two nearly simultaneous major theater wars. Accordingly, the Army calculates its force structure requirements on the basis of this scenario. The strategy also calls for the Army to support operations in a series of concurrent contingencies and assumes that forces thus engaged will be withdrawn and redeployed if war occurs. The Army's difficulty in supporting contingency operations without repeatedly calling on some types of units has raised questions about whether forces structured to meet the two-war scenario can also support multiple peacetime contingency operations. GAO reviewed the Army's force planning process, known as Total Army Analysis 2007, to determine whether the Army's planned force structure will meet its contingency requirements. GAO found that the Army's force structure generally provides the number and types of units required to simultaneously carry out seven illustrative contingency operations requiring Army participation. However, it does not contain the number and types of units needed to meet the needs of five simultaneous contingencies lasting for more than six months and requiring force rotations. If Army forces continue to be called …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed the state-level version of the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS-ST) model as an investment-analysis tool for highway planning at the state level. FHWA officials believe that some state departments of transportation will find the analysis that the HERS-ST model produces useful because it demonstrates the potential results of highway investment decisions from an economic point of view. FHWA is conducting a pilot project for its prototype HERS-ST model with states that volunteered to test the model. FHWA distributed to these states HERS-ST software, technical manuals, and sets of state highway data with which to run the model. FHWA then provided an overall orientation and technical training and addressed states' questions during a workshop. Officials from a sample of the states planning to participate reported that they are primarily interested in taking advantage of the model's use of benefit-cost analysis to assess alternative highway improvements. If the pilot project shows that states view the HERS-ST model as a useful tool, FHWA expects to upgrade the model for future users. In doing so, it would consider both enhancements that have already been …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government must overcome several major challenges before public key infrastructure (PKI) technology can be widely and effectively used. These challenges include providing interoperability among agency PKIs, ensuring that PKI implementations can support a potential large scale of users, reducing the cost of building PKI systems, setting policies to maintain trust levels among agencies, and establishing training programs for users at all levels. Although such challenges are difficult to overcome in the near term, the federal government can take steps to better assist agencies develop and implement PKIs that may eventually be interconnected into a federal governmentwide system. The recent effort to develop a Federal Bridge Certification Authority (FBCA) is an excellent first step in this direction, but this effort lacks the context of a well-defined program plan for the government as well as key policy and technical standards. Establishing a federal PKI management framework could facilitate and accelerate participation in the FBCA as well as overall federal adoption of key technology for enabling electronic government."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A number of serious control weaknesses in the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) electronic filing systems placed personal taxpayer data in IRS' electronic filing system at significant risk of unauthorized disclosure, use, and modification during the 2000 tax filing season. IRS recognized the importance of promptly addressing these weaknesses and stated that it has taken steps to correct them prior to the current tax filing season. Ensuring that ongoing controls over electronic filing are effective requires top-management support and leadership, disciplined processes, and consistent oversight. IRS' efforts to achieve the goal that 80 percent of all tax and information returns be filed electronically by 2007 must be balanced with the need to adequately ensure the security, privacy, and reliability of taxpayer and other sensitive information. Failure to maintain adequate security over IRS' electronic filing systems could erode public confidence in electronically filing tax returns, jeopardize IRS' ability to meet the 80 percent goal, and deprive IRS of the many benefits that electronic filing offers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made progress in revamping its performance management system. The goals, objectives, and measures that IRS has developed, along with its new strategic planning and budgeting process, are intended to integrate results-oriented management into IRS' daily decision-making. However, as IRS officials acknowledge, extensively revamping a performance management system is a complex task that takes years to complete. GAO identified several opportunities to enhance IRS' performance management system, including clarifying goals and objectives, improving the linkages between measures, objectives, and goals, and developing fewer but more specific action items. Such enhancements could increase managerial accountability and create stronger incentives for frontline employees to achieve IRS' goals and objectives."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed steps taken by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to strengthen its information technology (IT) investment management and acquisition capabilities. The Bureau took these actions to address recommendations made in an earlier report on the failure of the Automated Land and Mineral Record System (ALMRS) to meet BLM's business needs. GAO found that since 1999, BLM has been working to implement GAO recommendations to determine the usefulness of ALMRS and to assess and strengthen its IT investment management and acquisition capabilities. Although the bureau has not yet finished these efforts, it has begun to apply improved management strategies for selecting IT investments, develop processes and practices for controlling and evaluating investments, and build a more mature systems acquisition capability. However, before completing and institutionalizing new investment control processes, the Bureau has begun moving forward with an IT acquisition. As a result, BLM's efforts may be subject to the same project management and management oversight risks that adversely affected the ALMRS/Modernization."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund has maintained an economic value of at least two percent of the Fund's insurance-in-force, as required by law. GAO's and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) analysis show that the Fund had an economic value of $15.8 billion (3.20 percent) and $16.6 billion (3.66 percent), respectively. Given the economic value of the Fund and the state of the economy at the end of fiscal year 1999, a two-percent capital ratio appears sufficient to withstand moderately severe economic downturns that could lead to worse-than-expected loan performance. However, under more severe economic conditions, the economic value of two percent of insurance-in-force would not be adequate. Because of the uncertainty and professional judgment associated with this type of economic analysis, GAO cautions against relying on one estimate or even a group of estimates to determine the adequacy of the Fund's reserves over the longer term. HUD could exercise several options under current legislative authority to reduce the capital ratio for the Fund. It is difficult, however, to reliably measure the impact of policy changes on the Fund's capital ratio and Federal Housing …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed several aspects of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Rocky Flats Environmental Technology site cleanup and closure plan. Specifically, GAO reviewed (1) the status and cost of the Rocky Flats closure project, (2) the likelihood that the site will be closed by 2006, and (3) the management actions needed, if any, to improve the likelihood of the project's success. GAO found that in the more than five years that it has been the major contractor at the Rocky Flats site, Kaiser-Hill has made significant progress toward cleaning up the site, but the majority of the work--and the most complicated--remains to be done. Because of the project's difficulty, DOE entered into a cost-plus-incentive-fee contract with Kaiser-Hill. If completed on time, the project will cost about $7.5 billion from the signing of the first cleanup contract with Kaiser-Hill in July 1995 through the 2006 closure date, and about $1.4 billion more thereafter, for such activities as site monitoring and maintenance and for contractor employees' retirement benefits. These overall costs will increase if additional work is required or the 2006 target date is not achieved. Kaiser-Hill and DOE …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) is improving security of 192 metric tons of weapons-usable nuclear material in Russia by installing modern security systems that detect, delay, and respond to attempts to steal nuclear material. These systems, while not as stringent as those installed in the United States, are designed to reduce the risk of nuclear material theft at Russian sites. While Russia and the United States have worked cooperatively to reduce the risk of theft in Russia, Russian officials' concerns about divulging national security information continue to impede DOE's efforts to install systems for several hundred metric tons of nuclear material at sensitive Russian sites. Continued progress in reducing the risk of nuclear material theft in Russia hinges on DOE's ability to gain access to Russia's sensitive sites and reach agreement with the Ministry of Atomic Energy to reduce the number of sites and buildings where nuclear material is located. DOE currently does not have a means to periodically monitor the systems to ensure that they are operating properly on a continued basis. Such as mechanism would provide DOE officials with increased confidence that the security …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Experts disagree about the best methods to teach student who speak little English. Even though different approaches to English language instruction may be effective, many variables may influence a given school's program choices. Moreover, there is no clear time line for acquiring English proficiency. Local decisions about the amount of time needed to attain proficiency and the amount of language support that should be provided may differ. Of the two main instructional approaches, English-based instruction is more common than instruction in a student's native language. Most students spent four or less years in these programs. School districts are required to ensure that English-language instruction is adequate and to provide these children with equal educational opportunities. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has adopted procedural requirements for criteria for judging the adequacy of local English-language instruction programs in meeting those needs. In three policy documents, OCR set forth requirements that school districts must meet to pass a three-pronged test established by the courts. When the adequacy of local English-language instruction programs is questioned, OCR investigates and, if problems are found, enters into agreement with the district specifying …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal and state agencies are making extensive use of information technology (IT) to address traditional regulatory management. For example, the Department of Labor has a system of electronic "advisors" imitating the interaction that an individual might have with an employment law expert, and the Environmental Protection Agency is working with partners in state government to develop a national environmental information exchange network. Several of the state innovations include interactive systems that allow regulated entities to identify their regulatory responsibilities and complete related transactions. For example, the Texas Railroad Commission has an electronic process that allows users to obtain oil or gas well permits on-line, complete the required forms, and pay any associated fees. Representatives from nongovernmental organizations suggest that federal agencies improve both the content and access to on-line information, more broadly and consistently use some existing applications, and adopt some new applications. Several key factors that facilitate or hinder the adoption and diffusion of innovative IT applications are (1) top-level leadership commitment/support, (2) adequate financial resources and human capital, (3) legislative and executive branch IT initiatives, (4) internal and external partnerships with critical stakeholders, (5) …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "One of the ways that federal regulatory agencies enforce applicable statutes and regulations is through the imposition of civil monetary penalties for violations of those statutes and regulations. The amounts of the penalties imposed can vary substantially, depending on the limits specified in the applicable statutes or regulations and the degree to which the agencies impose the maximum fines permitted. Congress provided agencies with substantial discretion in developing their Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) policies. Not surprisingly, the agencies used that discretion and developed policies that vary substantially. The agencies also varied in how key terms were defined and in their policies' conditions and exclusions. This variability notwithstanding, all of the agencies' policies and programs that GAO reviewed were within the discretion afforded to them by the SBREFA Agencies were allowed to limit the scope of their programs to only a portion of their enforcement actions against small entities, and they could decide not to give small entities any additional penalty relief. Agencies were also allowed to establish whatever conditions or exclusions they wanted for participation in their programs, subject to the requirements and …

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As the Department of Defense (DOD) enters the 21st century, the average ages of its weapon systems and equipment are increasing, primarily because DOD has not routinely replaced items bought during the Cold War. According to DOD officials, the aging of weapon systems and equipment reduce readiness. To keep pace with the maintenance required for aging systems and equipment, the military services have diverted funds from modernization accounts to operating and support accounts. DOD faces major challenges as it continues to implement its current tactical aircraft modernization plans. The Navy and the Air Force will be inable to procure enough new tactical aircraft to reduce the average age of tactical aircraft. During the next 11 years, the average age will continue to increase, especially in the Air Force. The upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review provides an opportunity to assess whether the issue of aging requires concerted attention."