A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Most agencies have appointed Chief Acquisition Officers (CAO) in accordancewith two of the three key requirements in the Services Acquisition Reform Act of2003 (SARA): that the CAOs be political appointees and have agency SeniorProcurement Executives report directly to them. However, few CAOs haveacquisition management as their primary duty; other areas of responsibilityincluded financial, information, and human capital management."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has numerous efforts in progress to address the knowledge gaps and data deficiencies identified in the GAO report. Of the seven recommendations GAO made to the Secretary of Defense, two have been completely addressed. While two of GAO’s recommendations have actions underway that are expected to be completed, two recommendations need more action for completion and one has had no action taken."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2010, GAO estimates that 2.6 percent (473,000) of households that received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits would not have been eligible for the program without broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) because their incomes were over the federal SNAP eligibility limits. The characteristics of these households were generally similar to other SNAP households, although they were more likely to work or receive unemployment benefits. BBCE removes asset limits in most states, and while reliable data on participants’ assets are not available, other data suggest few likely had assets over these limits. Although BBCE contributed to recent increases in SNAP participation, other factors, notably the recent recession, had a greater effect."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During our audit of the Commission’s fiscal years 2011 and 2010 financial statements, we identified the following internal control deficiencies that, collectively, constituted a significant deficiency in the Commission’s internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2011."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Prior Department of Defense (DOD) civilian workforce downsizing efforts in the 1990s were not oriented toward shaping the makeup of the workforce, resulting in significant imbalances in terms of shape, skills, and retirement eligibility. Specifically, in a series of reviews GAO found that DOD’s efforts in the 1990s to reduce its federal civilian workforce to levels below that of 1987 were hampered by incomplete data and lack of a clear strategy for avoiding skill imbalances and other adverse effects of downsizing. For instance, in 1992, GAO found that DOD used incomplete and inconsistent data related to workers, workload, and projected force reductions. Further, the approaches DOD has relied on to accomplish downsizing have sometimes had unintended consequences. The use of voluntary attrition, hiring freezes, and financial separation incentives allowed DOD to mitigate some adverse effects of civilian workforce reductions, but were less oriented toward shaping the makeup of the workforce than was the approach the department used to manage its military downsizing. For DOD, this was especially true of the civilian acquisition workforce. The department, which in 2011 obligated about $375 billion to acquire goods and services, was …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, 761 hospitals and 56,585 professionals were awarded a total of approximately $2.3 billion in Medicare EHR incentive payments for 2011. These 761 hospitals represented 16 percent of the estimated 4,855 eligible hospitals, and were awarded $1.3 billion in Medicare EHR incentive payments for 2011. While the amount of EHR incentive payments awarded to each hospital ranged from $22,300 to $4.4 million, the median payment amount was $1.7 million. About 61 percent of hospitals accounted for about 80 percent of the total amount of incentive payments awarded to hospitals. Among hospitals awarded an incentive payment for 2011, we found that"

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The November 2011 memorandum that discussed the management of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program was prepared based primarily on the observations of the Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Infrastructure Compliance Security Division (ISCD), a component of the Office of Infrastructure Protection (IP) within the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD). The memorandum was intended to highlight various challenges that have hindered ISCD efforts to implement the CFATS program. According to the Director, the challenges facing ISCD included not having a fully developed direction and plan for implementing the program, hiring staff without establishing need, and inconsistent ISCD leadership—factors that the Director believed place the CFATS program at risk. These challenges centered on human capital issues, including problems hiring, training, and managing ISCD staff; mission issues, including overcoming problems reviewing facility plans to mitigate security vulnerabilities and performing compliance inspections; and administrative issues, including concerns about NPPD and IP not supporting ISCD’s management and administrative functions."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past 10 years, DHS has made significant progress in deploying radiation detection equipment to scan for nuclear or radiological materials in nearly all trucks and containerized cargo coming into the United Stated through seaports and border crossings. However, challenges remain for the agency in developing a similar scanning capability for railcars entering this country from Canada and Mexico, as well as for international air cargo and international commercial aviation. As portal monitors approach the end of their expected service lives, observations from our past work may help DHS as it considers options to refurbish or replace such monitors. Among other things, we have previously reported that DHS should (1) test new equipment rigorously prior to acquisition and deployment, (2) obtain the full concurrence of the end user to ensure that new equipment meets operational needs, and (3) conduct a cost-benefit analysis to inform any acquisition decisions. In our past work on the GNDA, we recommended that DHS develop an overarching strategic plan to guide the development of the GDNA, as well as a strategic plan for the domestic part of the global nuclear detection strategy. DHS …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) primarily awarded program funds through subgrants to 65 national and community organizations that support adaptive sports opportunities. However, their respective program expenditure reporting was not consistent with federal internal control standards, making it difficult to know fully how program funds were spent. VA’s reporting of first-year program funding was problematic because it did not closely track costs until midway through the fiscal year. During the second fiscal year—2011—VA granted $7.5 million to USOC, which, in turn, awarded $4.4 million to subgrantees and spent the remainder primarily on operations and personnel. Subgrantees reported using funds for activities such as training and camps. GAO found, however, that USOC did not have sufficient reporting requirements in place for subgrantees to provide information on how VA funds were used separate from other sources of funding."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Several government entities, including federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and some states such as Texas, have the authority to order product recalls. Generally, FDA is to follow the same process for implementing its food recall authority as other federal agencies use to order recalls of other products, including (1) determining that available evidence of a threat meets a standard of proof to order a recall, (2) offering a company the opportunity to voluntarily recall a product before a recall order is issued, and (3) providing the company with an opportunity to challenge a recall decision. FDA has internal procedures describing the steps it will take to order a food recall, although these procedures are not yet public and the agency has not issued regulations or industry guidance to clarify its ordered food recall process. FDA faces a number of communication challenges when advising the public about food recalls or outbreaks of foodborne illness, ranging from balancing technical accuracy with timeliness of communications to coordinating messages with other agencies to meeting the needs of diverse public …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "States reported requiring applicants to provide documentation for most of the 13 types of assets included in GAO’s survey."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The IMF is proceeding with its plan for creating an endowment for operations and increasing its resources for low-income country lending using the approximately $8 billion in gold sales profits it had projected earning from the 2009–2010 sales. First, the IMF is working to establish the approximately $7 billion endowment to partially fund IMF operations. The Board is expected to finalize the endowment’s investment strategy and governance structure in calendar year 2012 with implementation in financial year 2013,6 according to IMF documents and staff. IMF and U.S. Treasury officials said the Board understood that it would require some time to take the needed actions, including adopting new rules and regulations, to create the endowment for operations. The Board is discussing various aspects of the endowment’s investment strategy, such as acceptable risk levels, and governance structure, such as using external managers to help avoid potential conflicts of interests. Second, the Board approved a strategy for the use of about $1 billion in gold sales profits to subsidize concessional lending to low-income countries through the PRG Trust. Implementation of the Board decision depends on the IMF receiving sufficient assurances from …

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Port Aransas, Texas on Mustang Island that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Sylvan Beach Pavilion, in La Porte, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, original application, narrative, floor plans, and photographs.

This report covers ways in which states are attempting to capture taxes on Internet sales. Two basic approaches include imposing tax collection responsibilities on the retailer, and requiring remote sellers to provide tax information to the state and/or it's customers. This report covers the legality of both options.

This report provides background information and presents potential issues for Congress concerning the Navy’s ship force-structure goals and shipbuilding plans. The planned size of the Navy, the rate of Navy ship procurement, and the prospective affordability of the Navy’s shipbuilding plans have been matters of concern for the congressional defense committees for the past several years. Decisions that Congress makes on Navy shipbuilding programs can substantially affect Navy capabilities and funding requirements, and the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base.

This guide provides information on locating military unit histories and individual service records of discharged, retired, and deceased military personnel. It includes contact information for military history centers, websites for additional sources of research, and a bibliography of other publications.

Weekly newspaper from Naples, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.

Electrodynamic and particle simulation studies have been carried out to optimize design of a two-cavity harmonic frequency multiplier, in which a linear electron beam is energized by rotating fields near cyclotron resonance in a TE111 cavity in a uniform magnetic field, and in which the beam then radiates coherently at the nth harmonic into a TEn11 output cavity. Examples are worked out in detail for 7th and 2nd harmonic converters, showing RF-to-RF conversion efficiencies of 45% and 88%, respectively at 19.992 GHz (K-band) and 5.712 GHz (C-band), for a drive frequency of 2.856 GHz. Details are shown of RF infrastructure (S-band klystron, modulator) and harmonic converter components (drive cavity, output cavities, electron beam source and modulator, beam collector) for the two harmonic converters to be tested. Details are also given for the two-frequency (S- and C-band) coherent multi-MW test stand for RF breakdown and RF gun studies.

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Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.

Free weekly newspaper that includes business and classified advertising.