Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Aviation Hall of Fame, for fiscal years 2002 and 2001. GAO did not review the auditors' working papers and is not rendering an audit opinion. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Catholic War Veterans of the United States of America, Inc., for fiscal years 2002, 2001 and 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American National Theater and Academy for fiscal years 2002 and 2001. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Ranking Minority Member of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs requested that GAO respond to follow-up questions on its testimony on its report "Hand-off or Fumble: Are DOD and VA Providing Seamless Health Care Coverage to Transitioning Veterans?""

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2001 and 2002, federal prosecutors indicted the Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and a dozen conspirators on charges of racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, and tax evasion. In March 2003, the mayor was found guilty on 16 counts, and most of the others indicted have pleaded guilty. While the indictment did not refer to any misuse of federal funds, some of the corrupt activities were associated with projects that had received some federal funding in the past. This corruption has raised concerns about the adequacy of monitoring and oversight of the more than $82 million in federal funds Bridgeport has received in recent years. Congress asked us to examine federally funded programs operated by the city of Bridgeport and determine whether and to what extent the respective federal agencies, including program officials and Offices of Inspector General, have heightened program monitoring and oversight in light of the corruption."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the National Fund for Medical Education for fiscal years 2002 and 2001. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Vietnam Veterans of America Inc., for fiscal years 2003 and 2002. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "For the past 5 years, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense have been working to exchange health care data and create electronic records for veterans and active duty personnel. Such exchange is seen as a means of reducing the billions of dollars that the departments spend annually on health care services and making such data more readily accessible to those treating our country's approximately 13 million veterans, military personnel, and dependents. This is especially critical when military personnel are engaged in conflicts all over the world, and their health records can reside at multiple locations. GAO has reported on these efforts several times, most recently in September 2002. At the request of the Subcommittee, GAO is updating its observations on the departments' efforts, focusing on (1) the reported status of the ongoing, one-way exchange of data, the Federal Health Information Exchange, and (2) progress toward achieving the longer term two-way exchange under the HealthePeople (Federal) initiative."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2003 (the Appropriation Act) gave HUD's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), in consultation with the HUD Budget Officer, the "sole authority" to investigate potential or actual violations under the Anti- Deficiency Act and all other statutes and regulations related to the obligation and expenditure of funds made available in any act. Further, the Appropriations Act provided that the CFO shall determine whether violations occurred and submit the final reports required by law. Finally, the Appropriation Act required the Secretary of HUD to transfer no fewer than four appropriation law attorneys from its Office of General Counsel (OGC) to its Office of Chief Financial Officer (OCFO). These provisions and HUD's actions to implement the Appropriation Act's requirements raised a number of potential implementation issues and led to a Congressional request that we review and provide information on the impact that these provisions have had at HUD. Specifically, Congress asked for information pertaining to five questions, which we have provided in a question and answer format in this report. As discussed, the responses to these …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) contracts with not-for-profit universities and private companies to operate its facilities. As part of the cost of operating these facilities, DOE can reimburse its contractors for the litigation costs associated with cases brought against them. Each year the department spends millions of dollars in such reimbursements. For the most part, litigation expenses involve the costs of outside counsel and resulting judgments and settlements for a variety of types of cases, such as equal employment opportunity, radiation and/or toxic exposure, personal injury, wrongful termination of employment, and whistleblower protections. Rep. Edward J. Markey asked GAO to study the extent to which DOE reimburses its contractors' litigation costs and the process for doing so. GAO obtained information on (1) how much DOE spends to reimburse litigation costs for its contractors, (2) what major criteria DOE uses to reimburse its contractors for litigation costs and how it implements these criteria, (3) what major criteria the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration use to reimburse their contractors for litigation costs, (4) the extent to which a state university that is a DOE contractor …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We have performed the procedures contained in the enclosure to this report, which we agreed to perform and with which the Inspector General (IG) concurred, solely to assist it in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, is supported by the underlying records. As agreed, we evaluated fiscal year 2003 activity affecting distributions to the AATF."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Senate Special Committee on Aging requested a compilation of GAO's calendar years 2001 and 2002 products pertaining to older Americans and their families."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On October 16, 2003, GAO testified before Congress at a hearing on whether DOD and VA are providing seamless health care coverage to transitioning veterans. This letter responds to a request thst we provide answers to follow-up questions from the hearing."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the 82nd Airborne Division Association for fiscal years 2002 and 2001. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the National Academy of Sciences, for the years ended December 31, 1999 through December 31, 2002. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Presented is GAO's performance and accountability report for fiscal year 2003. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. Importantly, GAO received a clean opinion from independent auditors on our financial statements for the 17th consecutive year. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The August 14, 2003, electricity blackout--the largest in the nation's history--affected millions of people across eight northeastern and midwestern states as well as areas in Canada. The blackout intensified concerns about the overall status and security of the electricity industry at a time when the industry is undergoing major changes and Americans have a heightened awareness of threats to security. Because of these widespread concerns and the broad institutional interest of the Congress, we (1) highlighted information about the known causes and effects of the blackout, (2) summarized themes from prior GAO reports on electricity and security matters that provide a context for understanding the blackout, and (3) identified some of the potential options for resolving problems associated with these electricity and security matters."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We have performed the procedures contained in the enclosure to this report, which we agreed to perform, solely to assist the Department of Labor in ascertaining whether the net federal unemployment tax (FUTA) revenue distributed to the Unemployment Trust Fund (UTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, is supported by the underlying records. As agreed with the Inspector General, we evaluated fiscal year 2003 activity affecting distributions to the UTF."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American Historical Association for fiscal years 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999 and 1998. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinion that, except for Fiscal Year 1999, the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Established in 1949 by the United Nations, UNRWA provides assistance to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. UNRWA assistance is primarily education, health, and relief and social services. More than 4 million Palestinian refugees are eligible to receive these services in UNRWA's five areas of operation--Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, and Gaza. In section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (PL 87-195) as amended, Congress has directed that "No contributions by the United States shall be made to (UNRWA) except on the condition that (UNRWA) take all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army or any other guerrilla type organization or who has engaged in any act of terrorism." To fulfill a legislative mandate, we are reporting on State Department actions and UNRWA's implementation of procedures to address section 301(c)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Transportation requested that GAO perform procedures to assist the IG's office in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, is supported by the underlying records. GAO evaluated fiscal year 2003 activity affecting distributions to the HTF."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes GAO-03-678G, Audit Guide: Auditing and Investigating the Internal Control of Government Purchase Card Programs, May 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 of audits and …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds a Congressional request that we provide answers to questions relating to our September 9, 2003, testimony. In that testimony, we discussed the availability of child pornography on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2003, we responded to a request from Representative Elton Gallegly to provide information on the number of taxpayers who claimed more than 10 withholding allowances and taxpayers who claimed exemption from federal income tax withholding. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) calls such claims questionable Form W-4s. However, in the course of performing our work, we became concerned about the reliability of the information that IRS maintains on these taxpayers and decided that we could not use it to answer Representative Gallegly's questions. The objectives of this letter are to summarize our findings about the reliability of the information IRS maintains on taxpayers who claimed more than 10 withholding allowances or exemption from federal tax withholding and to bring to the attention of the Commissioner, Internal Revenue, some resulting questions about the value of IRS continuing to collect the information."