Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As an important part of the economic stimulus efforts, Congress enacted the First- Time Homebuyer Credit (FTHBC) to assist the struggling real estate market and encourage taxpayers to purchase their first homes. Congress enacted different versions of the FTHBC--as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Housing Act); the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act); and the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 (Assistance Act). The dollar amounts that can be claimed and rules associated with the credit, including potential repayment, vary depending on the version. Joint Committee on Taxation estimates suggest that the three FTHBC provisions combined may result in total revenue losses to the federal government of about $22 billion through 2019. In response to the request for updated information on the use of the FTHBC, our objectives were to identify (1) the number of FTHBC claims and dollar amounts claimed for each credit version by state and (2) state rankings, using selected statistics, such as the total dollar amount of FTHBC claimed in each state."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The purpose of this report is to present internal control and compliance issues identified during our audit of IRS's financial statements as of, and for the fiscal year ending, September 30, 2009, for which we do not already have any recommendations outstanding. Although not all of these issues were discussed in our report on the results of our fiscal year 2009 financial statement audit, they all warrant IRS management's attention."

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter describes the process used by GAO for revising GAGAS, summarizes the proposed major changes, discusses proposed effective dates, and provides instructions for submitting comments on the proposed standards."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) requires that we annually audit the financial statements of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) which is implemented by the Office of Financial Stability (OFS). On December 9, 2009, we issued our audit report including (1) an unqualified opinion on OFS's financial statements for TARP as of and for the period ended September 30, 2009, and (2) an opinion that OFS maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2009. We also reported that our tests of OFS's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations for the period ended September 30, 2009, disclosed no instances of noncompliance. Our December 9, 2009, audit report concluded that although certain internal controls could be improved, OFS maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2009, that provided reasonable assurance that misstatements, losses, or noncompliance material in relation to the financial statements would be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. Our audit report also identified two significant deficiencies in OFS's internal control over financial reporting. This report presents (1) more …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In section 3 of the National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Act of 2008 (Pub. L. No 110-438 (2008)), Congress mandated that we provide information on the use and the effects of the provisions of law amended (and as amended) by the act. Specifically, the act amended the existing bankruptcy code to exempt qualifying members of the National Guard and Reserve Components from the means test process when they file a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy relief. We are fulfilling the act's requirement by transmitting the this briefing to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report is in response to section 1899L of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The statute required the Comptroller General to examine issues related to participation in and administrative costs associated with the Health Coverage Tax Credit program administered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the Department of the Treasury, and to provide the results to Congress by March 1, 2010."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) conducts a series of Web-based surveys called Status of Forces surveys, which help enable decision makers within the Department of Defense (DOD) to (1) evaluate existing programs and policies, (2) establish baselines before implementing new programs and policies, and (3) monitor the progress of programs and policies and their effects on the total force. In recent years, we have discussed the results of these surveys in several of our reports. While we have generally found the survey results to be sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our reporting, several of our reports have discussed low response rates and the potential for bias in the survey results. Nonresponse analysis is an established practice in survey research that helps determine whether nonresponse bias (i.e., survey results that do not accurately reflect the population) might occur due to under- or overrepresentation of some respondents' views on survey questions. When nonresponse analysis is performed, survey researchers can use the results to select and adjust the statistical weighting techniques they use that help ensure that survey results accurately reflect the survey population. Because we have noted, in …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States faces challenges to ensuring food safety. First, imported food makes up a substantial and growing portion of the U.S. food supply, with 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 80 percent of seafood coming from across our borders. In recent years, there has been an increase in reported outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with both domestic and imported produce. Second, we are increasingly eating foods that are consumed raw and that have often been associated with foodborne illness outbreaks, including leafy greens such as spinach. Finally, shifting demographics means that more of the U.S. population is, and increasingly will be, susceptible to foodborne illnesses. The risk of severe and life-threatening conditions caused by foodborne illnesses is higher for older adults, young children, pregnant women, and immune-compromised individuals. In January 2007 GAO designated federal oversight of food safety as a high-risk area needing urgent attention and transformation because of the federal government's fragmented oversight of food safety. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for ensuring the safety of roughly 80 percent of the U.S. food supply--virtually all domestic and imported foods except for …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter formally transmits the summary of a briefing we gave in June 2010 in response to a mandate in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010, and subsequent agency comments. This mandate required the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to complete an expenditure plan that satisfied 11 specified conditions, and for the plan to be submitted to and approved by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees before the agency could obligate $75 million of the $800 million appropriated for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) border security fencing, infrastructure and technology. Also, the Act required us to review this expenditure plan. In addition, Conference, Senate, and House committee reports accompanying the act directed that the plan address 7 items (referred to as "committee reports' directions" in this letter). In response to these requirements, the Department of Homeland Security submitted a plan to Congress on May 20, 2010, titled "Border Security Fencing, Infrastructure and Technology (BSFIT) Fiscal Year 2010 Expenditure Plan." As required by the act, we reviewed the plan and on June 17 and 18, 2010, briefed the offices of the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The decline of home prices in many parts of the country has left millions of homeowners with negative home equity, meaning that their outstanding mortgage balances exceed the current value of their homes. As we reported to you previously, a substantial proportion of borrowers with active nonprime mortgages (including subprime and Alt-A loans) had negative equity in their homes as of June 30, 2009. For example, among the 16 metropolitan areas examined, we estimated that the percentage of nonprime borrowers with negative equity ranged from about 9 percent (Denver, Colorado) to more than 90 percent (Las Vegas, Nevada). Research indicates that negative home equity substantially increases the risk of mortgage delinquency, making it an important dimension of ongoing problems in the nonprime market. To provide insight into how negative equity and loan performance among nonprime borrowers have varied by location and over time, this report examines, at the state level, the estimated proportion of nonprime borrowers with active loans that were in a negative equity position and the proportion that were seriously delinquent on their loan payments from 2006 through the end of 2009. This report is part …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the lead implementer and planner for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)--an ambitious, multiyear, multibillion-dollar overhaul of systems, procedures, aircraft performance capabilities, and supporting infrastructure that will create an air transportation system that uses satellite-based surveillance and navigation and network-centric operations. NextGen was designed as an interagency effort to leverage expertise and funding throughout the federal government. The Senior Policy Committee--the overall governing body for NextGen, chaired by the Secretary of Transportation--consists ocabinet-level officials from each of the partner agencies. The initial planning for NextGen, which began with Vision 100 in 2003 and was carried out by the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) within FAA, focused on improvements to the air transportation system that would be implemented through 2025. JPDO produced three key planning documents--a Concept of Operations, a NextGen Enterprise Architecture, and an Integrated Work Plan (IWP). Recently, FAA has shifted its focus from the longer term (i.e., beyond 2018) and emphasized improvements that can be implemented in the near term and midterm (2010 through 2018). The shift responds, in part, to concerns expressed by stakeholders and Members of …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) relies on thousands of suppliers to ensure it has the weapons and supporting equipment needed to meet U.S. national security objectives. Congress has provided DOD with a variety of authorities to allow it to maintain information on its suppliers and to take actions to ensure that its suppliers can deliver needed items. In October 2008, we reported on our assessment of DOD's efforts to monitor the health of its supplier base and identify and address gaps and recommended that DOD develop a departmentwide framework and consistent approach, which DOD has begun to implement. In light of increased globalization in the defense industry and consolidation of the defense supplier base into a few prime contractors, Congress requested that we review DOD's efforts to assess supplier-base availability for future defense needs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report formally transmits the briefing highlighting differences in the oversight of long-term care hospitals (LTCH), other types of hospitals, and nursing homes. This report is a partial response to a congressional request letter and was used to brief congressional staff on November 29, 2010. We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and to The Joint Commission (TJC)--an accrediting organization that oversees the majority of LTCHs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter formally transmits the briefing in response to a mandate in the conference report (No. 111-298) and senate report (No. 111-31) to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010. In accordance with the direction in those reports, and in consultation with congressional staff, we are reporting on (1) actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) to establish the Emergency Communications Preparedness Center (ECPC) and (2) challenges OEC and ECPC officials reported that could affect interagency coordination through ECPC. Based on the results of our review, we are not making any recommendations for congressional consideration or agency action."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter highlights the results of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the U.S. Government (CFS) for fiscal years 2009 and 2008. GAO is required by the Government Management Reform Act of 1994 to perform an annual audit of the CFS."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From 2008 to 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate increased significantly from 5.3 percent to 9.2 percent, leaving many Americans jobless and at risk of losing their employer-sponsored health care. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and subsequent amendments, employees who were involuntarily terminated between September 1, 2008, and May 31, 2010, became eligible to continue their health care coverage for up to 15 months at reduced rates. Previously, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) allowed certain former employees to maintain health coverage by paying the entire cost of coverage. Under ARRA, former employees pay 35 percent of insurance premiums while employers pay the remaining 65 percent. Employers are reimbursed through a tax credit against their payroll tax liability or through a tax refund if the credit exceeds their payroll tax liability. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the cost of this program to the federal government would be $25.1 billion. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as of March 20, 2010, employers had claimed approximately $2.2 billion in COBRA credits. Employers claiming COBRA credits use quarterly or annual payroll tax …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Senior military officials recently testified before Congress that current and future adversaries are likely to use "hybrid warfare" tactics, a blending of conventional and irregular approaches across the full spectrum of conflict. In addition, several academic and professional trade publications have commented that future conflict will likely be characterized by a fusion of different forms of warfare rather than a singular approach. The overarching implication of hybrid warfare is that U.S. forces must become more adaptable and flexible in order to defeat adversaries that employ an array of lethal technologies to protracted, population-centric conflicts such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Department of Defense (DOD) officials have discussed the need to counter the continuum of threats that U.S. forces could face from nonstate- and state-sponsored adversaries, including computer network and satellite attacks; portable surface-to-air missiles; improvised explosive devices; information and media manipulation; and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and highyield explosive devices. In light of references to "hybrid warfare" by senior military officials and possible implications it could have for DOD's strategic planning, Congress requested we examine: (1) whether DOD has defined hybrid warfare and how hybrid warfare differs …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents the results of our review of the expenses paid from the Department of Justice (DOJ) permanent, indefinite appropriation covering the 7- month period ending September 30, 2009. The expenses we reviewed were those paid out of the permanent, indefinite appropriation by DOJ between March 1, 2009, and September 30, 2009, to cover Independent and Special Counsel administrative activities. With the October 2009 repeal of the requirement for a GAO review and report on such expenses, this represents our final report."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On November 16, 2009, we issued our opinion on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) fiscal years 2009 and 2008 financial statements. We also issued our opinion on the effectiveness of SEC's internal controls over financial reporting as of September 30, 2009, and our evaluation of SEC's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations during fiscal year 2009. The purpose of this report is to present (1) our recommendations related to the significant deficiencies we reported and discussed in our opinion report; (2) less significant internal control issues we identified during our fiscal year 2009 audit of SEC's internal controls and accounting procedures, along with our related recommended corrective actions; (3) the status of the recommendations reported as open in our April 2, 2009, management report (see enclosure I), and (4) the status of the security weaknesses in information systems controls at SEC that we identified in public and "Limited Official Use Only" reports issued in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009, that were unresolved at the time of our March 16, 2009, information security reports."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States continues to face a myriad of broad and evolving threats, such as the October 2010 attempted attack on the nation's air cargo system, that underscore the high priority the federal government places on homeland security and efforts to coordinate security roles, responsibilities, and activities across a wide variety of stakeholders, including state, local, tribal, private sector, nongovernmental, and international partners. The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 (9/11 Commission Act) required that beginning in 2009 and every 4 years thereafter the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conduct a quadrennial review that provides a comprehensive examination of the homeland security strategy of the United States. According to the act, the review is to delineate the national homeland security strategy, outline and prioritize critical homeland security missions, and assess the organizational alignment of DHS to the homeland security strategy and mission areas, among other things. The act required that DHS conduct the quadrennial review in consultation with stakeholders, such as heads of federal agencies; state, local, and tribal governments; private sector representatives; and academics and other policy experts. The act also specified that DHS …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the course of a recent engagement reviewing noncompetitive contracting, we found that departments and agencies in the Department of Defense (DOD) are not submitting complete information, as required, to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (OASD[PA]), which then posts the information on its Web site as a public announcement. President Obama has emphasized transparency and openness in how the government spends taxpayer dollars. We are bringing this issue to the attention of the Defense Department's Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy due to its responsibility for acquisition and procurement policy matters in DOD. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires contracting officers to make information on a contract action over a certain dollar amount publicly available on the same day the contract is awarded. The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) further specifies that for contract actions over $5.5 million, departments and agencies are to submit certain information to the OASD(PA) by the close of business the day before the date of the proposed award, including, "as a minimum" (1) contract data, for example, contract number, face value of the action and total cumulative …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria cause an estimated 14 million cases of foodborne illnesses each year, resulting in about 60,000 hospitalizations and 1,800 deaths. Foodborne illness symptoms can range from mild gastroenteritis to life-threatening renal syndromes. The populations most susceptible to the more serious symptoms include very young children, individuals 60 years and older, pregnant women, and people who have a weakened immune system. In 2007, about 20 to 25 percent of the U.S. population was in this high-risk category. Moreover, consumers' vulnerability to foodborne illness is increasing as a result of changes in demographics, among other things. For example, older Americans will make up an estimated 20 percent of the U.S. population by 2015. The pathogens that account for much of the most severe foodborne illness can be greatly reduced by subjecting food to ionizing radiation, also known as food irradiation. Many experts believe that irradiation can be effectively incorporated into an establishment's food safety program to further ensure the safety of the food against pathogens. Irradiation can also be used as a phytosanitary …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Counties containing federal lands have historically received a percentage of the receipts generated by the sale or use of natural resources on the federal lands. A steep decline in federal timber sales during the 1990s, however, resulted in a significant decrease in federal payments to counties that previously depended on timber receipts. The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, reauthorized in 2008, was enacted, in part, to address this decline by stabilizing payments to counties that depended on revenues from timber sales on Forest Service and certain Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands. Under the aceach county may continue to receive a portion of the revenues generated from the sale or use of resources from these lands or may choose instead to receive annual payments based in part on historical revenue payments to the county. Among other things, the act provides for the Forest Service and BLM to implement certain land management projects, known as Title II projects, using a portion of these funds. The act mandates that a certain percentage of Title II projects involving the sale of merchantable timber be carried out under …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter formally transmits the briefing in response to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-84), which required GAO to submit a report on rare earth materials in the defense supply chain to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives by April 1, 2010."