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Reflections on the Neches: a Naturalist's Odyssey Along the Big Thicket's Snow River

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When Geraldine Watson’s father was a teenager around the turn of the last century, he spent a summer floating down the Neches River, called Snow River by the Indians. Watson grew up hearing his tales of the steamboats, log rafts, and the flora and fauna of East Texas. So when she was sixty-three years old, she decided to repeat his odyssey in her own backwater boat. Reflections on the Neches is both the story of her journey retracing her father’s steps and a natural and social history of the Neches region of the Big Thicket. The Neches, one of the last “wild” rivers in Texas, is now being subjected to dams. Watson’s story captures the wildness of the river and imparts a detailed history of its people and wildlife. Profusely illustrated with drawings by the author and including maps of her journey, Reflections on the Neches will appeal to all those interested in the Big Thicket region and those indulging a feeling of wanderlust–and float trips–down the river.
Date: May 15, 2003
Creator: Watson, Geraldine Ellis
Object Type: Book
System: The UNT Digital Library
Posthearing Questions Related to Strategic Human Capital Management (open access)

Posthearing Questions Related to Strategic Human Capital Management

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On April 8, GAO testified before the Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Reform, House Committee on Government Reform and the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs at a hearing on "The Human Capital Challenge: Offering Solutions and Delivering Results". This letter responds to requests from Chairman Voinovich, Chairwoman Davis, and Senator Carper that we provide answers to follow-up questions from the hearing."
Date: May 22, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Posthearing Questions Related to Strategic Human Capital Management and Endangered Species (open access)

Posthearing Questions Related to Strategic Human Capital Management and Endangered Species

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This letter contains GAO's response to questions for the record from the House Committee on Armed Services' May 1, 2003, hearing on "The Defense Transformation for the 21st Century Act." Congressmen Neil Abercrombie and Sylvestre Reyes submitted the questions."
Date: May 21, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Defense Inventory: Air Force Item Manager Views of Repair Parts Issues Consistent With Issues Reported in the Past (open access)

Defense Inventory: Air Force Item Manager Views of Repair Parts Issues Consistent With Issues Reported in the Past

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1990 we have consistently identified the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of secondary inventory (spare and repair parts, medical supplies, and other items to support the operating forces) as a high-risk area because inventory levels were too high and management systems and procedures were ineffective. In addition, DOD has attributed readiness problems to parts shortages. Previously, we reported on the wide variety of reasons for inventory of spare parts being above or below the levels needed to satisfy current inventory requirements. This is one in a series of reports addressing defense inventory vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, and abuse. Congress asked that we specifically obtain the views about defense inventory imbalances from item managers, i.e., those who are responsible for maintaining the right amount of inventory."
Date: May 21, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Audit Guide: Auditing and Investigating the Internal Control of Government Purchase Card Programs (Superseded by GAO-04-87G) (open access)

Audit Guide: Auditing and Investigating the Internal Control of Government Purchase Card Programs (Superseded by GAO-04-87G)

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by GAO-04-87G, Audit Guide: Auditing and Investigating the Internal Control of Government Purchase Card Programs, November 2003. The federal government of the United States--the largest and most complex organization in the world--expended approximately $15 billion through federal organizations' purchase card programs in fiscal year 2002. As the steward of taxpayer dollars, federal agencies are accountable for how purchase cards are used and how the funds are spent. To that end, federal agencies are responsible for establishing and maintaining internal control to provide reasonable assurance that (1) the goals and objectives of the purchase card program are met and (2) safeguards against fraudulent, improper, and abusive purchases are adequate. Recent congressional testimony and Inspector General and GAO reports show that some federal agencies do not have adequate internal control over their purchase card programs. Without effective internal control, management has little assurance that fraudulent, improper, and abusive purchases are being prevented or, if occurring, are being promptly detected with appropriate corrective actions taken. A key element of internal control is monitoring that assesses the quality of performance over time and ensures that the findings …
Date: May 1, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Forest Service: Year-end Financial Reporting Significantly Improved, but Certain Underlying Problems Remain (open access)

Forest Service: Year-end Financial Reporting Significantly Improved, but Certain Underlying Problems Remain

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1996, we have periodically reported on Forest Service financial management problems that we, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of the Inspector General, and other independent auditors have identified. We have designated the Forest Service financial management as a high-risk area since 1999. Because of these longstanding financial management deficiencies, the House Committee on Resource's Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health asked GAO to report on the Forest Service's progress in correcting its financial management problems and on remaining challenges and actions underway to address those challenges."
Date: May 1, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Humanitarian Assistance: Protecting Refugee Women and Girls Remains a Significant Challenge (open access)

Humanitarian Assistance: Protecting Refugee Women and Girls Remains a Significant Challenge

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Women and children refugees, who comprise 80 percent of the estimated 12 million refugees worldwide, are among the world's most vulnerable populations. They are subject to gender-based violence, including physical harm, rape, and unequal access to humanitarian assistance. GAO was asked to (1) assess efforts by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect refugees, especially with regard to women and girls; (2) determine what steps U.N. and international organizations have taken to prevent sexual exploitation of refugee women by humanitarian workers; and (3) describe U.S. government efforts to support adequate protection for vulnerable populations."
Date: May 23, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Transportation Research: Actions Needed to Improve Coordination and Evaluation of Research (open access)

Transportation Research: Actions Needed to Improve Coordination and Evaluation of Research

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) within the Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for coordinating and ensuring the evaluation of DOT research programs to promote the efficient use of departmental research funds, which in fiscal year 2002 totaled over $1 billion. RSPA is also responsible for conducting multimodal research that cuts across different modes of transportation. The House Committee on Appropriations directed GAO to examine RSPA's coordination and evaluation of research within DOT and the status of its own multimodal research."
Date: May 1, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Rebuilding Iraq (open access)

Rebuilding Iraq

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Rebuilding Iraq is a U.S. national security priority. As part of this effort, Congress appropriated $79 billon in emergency supplemental funds for fiscal year 2003 for military operations and Iraq's reconstruction, including humanitarian relief, peacekeeping, and economic and political reform. We have issued reports on similar programs to rebuild countries in the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, and other locations (see attachment III for a listing of previous GAO reports). Based on this work, we have developed short papers to help congressional decision-makers think about and prioritize the range of issues related to rebuilding Iraq."
Date: May 15, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Judgeships: The General Accuracy of the Case-Related Workload Measures Used to Assess the Need for Additional District Court and Courts of Appeals Judgeships (open access)

Federal Judgeships: The General Accuracy of the Case-Related Workload Measures Used to Assess the Need for Additional District Court and Courts of Appeals Judgeships

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Biennially, the Judicial Conference, the federal judiciary's principal policymaking body, assesses the judiciary's needs for additional judgeships. If the Conference determines that additional judgeships are needed, it transmits a request to Congress identifying the number, type (courts of appeals, district, or bankruptcy), and location of the judgeships it is requesting. In 2003, the Judicial Conference sent to Congress requests for 93 new judgeships--11 for the courts of appeals, 46 for the district courts, and 36 for the bankruptcy courts. In assessing the need for additional judgeships, the Judicial Conference considers a variety of information, including responses to its biennial survey of individual courts, temporary increases or decreases in case filings, and other factors specific to an individual court. However, the Judicial Conference's analysis begins with the courts of appeals--weighted case filings and adjusted case filings, respectively. These two measures recognize, to different degrees, that the time demands on judges are largely a function of both the number and complexity of the cases on their dockets. Some types of cases may demand relatively little time and others may require many hours of work. Generally, each case filed in a …
Date: May 30, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tax Administration: Workforce Planning Needs Further Development for IRS's Taxpayer Education and Communication Unit (open access)

Tax Administration: Workforce Planning Needs Further Development for IRS's Taxpayer Education and Communication Unit

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Strategic workforce planning helps ensure that agencies have the right people with the right skills in the right positions to carry out the agency mission both in the present and future. The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Taxpayer Education and Communication (TEC) unit within its Small Business and Self- Employed Division assists some 45 million small business and self-employed taxpayers. Given the number of taxpayers it is to assist and changes in its priorities and strategies, GAO was asked to determine whether TEC has a workforce plan that conforms to critical elements for what should be in a plan and how it should be developed and implemented."
Date: May 30, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
School Meal Programs: Revenue and Expense Information from Selected States (open access)

School Meal Programs: Revenue and Expense Information from Selected States

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs provide millions of children with low-cost or free nutritious meals each school day. In school year 1996-97, the Department of Agriculture instituted more stringent requirements for the nutritional content of school meals. GAO was asked to study the school food service revenues and expenses and how they have changed since the requirements went into effect. This report includes information on the sources of revenues available for providing meals, the expenses of producing meals, the revenues compared to expenses, and the approaches that local school food authorities have adopted to manage their school food service finances. It uses data from six selected states. This report does not provide specific information on the expense of producing a reimbursable school lunch or breakfast."
Date: May 9, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Use of Value Engineering in Defense Acquisitions (open access)

Use of Value Engineering in Defense Acquisitions

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Value engineering (VE) is a recognized technique for reducing costs while maintaining or improving productivity and quality. The Department of Defense's (DOD) VE program consists of both government- and contractor-developed cost-reduction projects designed to reduce a system's life-cycle costs. In response to Congress' request, we agreed to provide information on (1) the role the VE program has played in supporting cost reduction in DOD weapons system programs and (2) the alternative measures program managers take to reduce costs and/or incentivize contractors."
Date: May 23, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
March 19 Hearing on Sourcing and Acquisition--Questions for the Record (open access)

March 19 Hearing on Sourcing and Acquisition--Questions for the Record

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO appeared before the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, House Committee on Armed Services on March 19, 2003, to discuss various sourcing and acquisition issues. This letter responds to a request for our views on the following questions for the record."
Date: May 23, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
College Completion: Additional Efforts Could Help Education with Its Completion Goals (open access)

College Completion: Additional Efforts Could Help Education with Its Completion Goals

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because of concerns that not enough students who start college are completing a bachelor's degree, we examined (1) the extent to which students who enroll in a 4-year college complete a bachelor's degree and identify the factors that affect completion; (2) what states and 4-year colleges and universities are doing to foster bachelor's degree completion; and (3) what the Department of Education (Education) is doing to foster degree completion."
Date: May 23, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Radioactive Waste: DOE Has Acted to Address Delay in New Facility at Livermore Laboratory, but Challenges Remain (open access)

Radioactive Waste: DOE Has Acted to Address Delay in New Facility at Livermore Laboratory, but Challenges Remain

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy's (DOE) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, generates radioactive and hazardous wastes in the course of its research dealing with nuclear weapons. The laboratory's new Decontamination and Waste Treatment Facility is a $62 million complex that includes buildings designed for both temporarily storing waste and treating it for off-site disposal. Although construction was completed in 2001, the storage building did not begin operating until September 2002, and the treatment buildings remain unused to this day. GAO was asked to identify the cause of the delay in initiating storage and treatment operations at the facility, the effects of the delay in initiating treatment operations, and the steps taken to ensure that the latest estimated date for initiating treatment operations at the facility can be met."
Date: May 15, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Central and Southwest Asian Countries: Trends in U.S. Assistance and Key Economic, Governance, and Demographic Characteristics (open access)

Central and Southwest Asian Countries: Trends in U.S. Assistance and Key Economic, Governance, and Demographic Characteristics

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, prosecuting the global war on terrorism became the United States' primary foreign policy priority. The United States focused its initial efforts on Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom because the country harbored elements of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. As a result, countries in the region--Pakistan and the five Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan--became frontline states in the war on terrorism, raising the profile of U.S. relations with these countries."
Date: May 9, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Use of Legislative Incentive for Performance-Based Contracting Unknown (open access)

Use of Legislative Incentive for Performance-Based Contracting Unknown

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) spent about $93 billion in fiscal year 2002 to acquire various types of services, such as base operations, logistical support, and information technology. To achieve greater cost savings and better outcomes when agencies acquire these and other services, Congress and the executive branch have encouraged greater use of performance-based contracting. Performance-based contracts specify the desired outcomes and allow the contractors to determine how best to achieve those outcomes, rather than prescribe the methods contractors should use. In October 2000, Congress sought to provide an incentive for the use of performance-based contracts through legislation giving DOD temporary authority to treat certain performance-based service contracts as contracts for commercial items. Contracts for commercial items may be awarded using streamlined procedures under Part 12 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). This authority is scheduled to expire in October 2003. As required by the October 2000 legislation, we reviewed DOD's implementation of the temporary authority, including the interim and final implementing regulations, public comments on the interim regulation, and other DOD documents. We also discussed with DOD officials the extent to which the authority had been used. …
Date: May 22, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reducing Congestion: Congestion Pricing Has Promise for Improving Use of Transportation Infrastructure (open access)

Reducing Congestion: Congestion Pricing Has Promise for Improving Use of Transportation Infrastructure

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The nation's transportation systems have become increasingly congested, and pressure on them is expected to grow substantially in the future. Most transportation experts think a multifaceted approach is needed to address congestion and improve mobility. One potential tool is congestion pricing, that is, charging users a toll, fee, or surcharge for using transportation infrastructure during certain peak periods of travel. Pilot projects to test this approach are currently under way in the United States and the technique has been used more extensively abroad. Interest in the usefulness of congestion pricing has been growing, as evidenced by several recent proposals. However, there have also been concerns raised about the fairness of such practices to some users of transportation systems. GAO was asked to identify (1) the potential benefits that can be expected from pricing congested transportation systems, approaches to using congestion pricing in transportation systems, and the implementation challenges that such pricing policies pose, and (2) examples of projects in which pricing of congested transportation systems has been applied to date, and what these examples reveal about potential benefits or challenges to implementation. This statement is …
Date: May 6, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reporting of Small Business Contract Awards Does Not Reflect Current Business Size (open access)

Reporting of Small Business Contract Awards Does Not Reflect Current Business Size

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We have prepared this report in response to concerns about whether large companies are receiving federal contracts intended for small businesses. We reviewed awards to five large companies to determine (1) how contracts awarded to the companies were reported in Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), (2) why federal contract officials reported the contracts as small business awards, and (3) what actions are being taken to address any identified problems."
Date: May 7, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Management Report: Improvements Needed in IRS's Internal Controls (open access)

Management Report: Improvements Needed in IRS's Internal Controls

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2002, we issued our report on the results of our audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ending September 30, 2002 and 2001, and on the effectiveness of its internal controls as of September 30, 2002. We also reported our conclusions on IRS's compliance with significant provisions of selected laws and regulations and on whether IRS's financial management systems substantially comply with requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA). A separate report on the implementation status of recommendations from our prior IRS financial audits and related financial management reports will be issued shortly. The purpose of this report is to discuss issues identified during our fiscal year 2002 audit regarding accounting procedures and internal controls that could be improved for which we do not presently have any recommendations outstanding."
Date: May 20, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bureau of the Public Debt: Areas for Improvement in Computer Controls (open access)

Bureau of the Public Debt: Areas for Improvement in Computer Controls

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In connection with fulfilling the requirement to audit the financial statements of the U.S. government, GAO audited and reported on the Schedules of Federal Debt Managed by the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2002 and 2001. As part of these audits, GAO performed a review of the general and application computer controls over key BPD financial systems."
Date: May 1, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Department of Energy: External Regulation Savings in Safety and Health Activities at DOE Science Laboratories (open access)

Department of Energy: External Regulation Savings in Safety and Health Activities at DOE Science Laboratories

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) is unusual among federal agencies in that it regulates and inspects its own facilities to protect the safety and health of its workers and of the communities surrounding its vast complex of research laboratories. With few exceptions, all other federal facilities must comply with national standards set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for nuclear safety and by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for worker safety and health. DOE asserts that, for the most part, its safety and health standards meet or exceed those promulgated for facilities regulated by NRC and OSHA. At DOE's 10 science laboratories, which are run by management and operating (M&O) contractors, the department and its contractors use a contract administration process to select standards appropriate to current worker hazards and public safety issues. Both DOE and the M&O contractors are involved in safety and health activities. DOE's field offices, most of which are located at the laboratories, provide continuous safety and health oversight of the M&O contractors. DOE headquarters offices provide policy guidance to the field offices and also conduct some oversight of the laboratories. Safety …
Date: May 14, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Funds: Fiscal Year 2001 Expenditures by Selected Organizations Involved in Health-Related Activities (open access)

Federal Funds: Fiscal Year 2001 Expenditures by Selected Organizations Involved in Health-Related Activities

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a Congressional request that we provide information on expenditures of federal funds by several organizations and their affiliates--the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Population Council, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, Advocates for Youth, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS)--all of which are involved in health-related activities. Specifically, we identified (1) fiscal year 2001 expenditures of federal funds that supported the domestic health-related activities of the organizations, the federal agencies that provided the funds, and the congressional committees with jurisdiction over legislation authorizing or appropriating the federal funds, and (2) fiscal year 2001 expenditures of federal funds that supported the international health-related activities of the organizations, the federal agencies that provided the funds, and the congressional committees with jurisdiction over legislation authorizing or appropriating the federal funds. This information updates our November 13, 2001, report that provided expenditure information for fiscal years 1999 and 2000."
Date: May 16, 2003
Creator: United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library