A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the 3-year period from fiscal year 2009 through 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Inspector General's (OIG) total budgetary resources decreased by about 8 percent. In contrast, the total budgetary resources for all other cabinet-level OIGs increased by approximately 6 percent over the 3-year period. The USDA OIG's authorized full-time equivalent staff (FTE) increased by 11 percent, from 550 to 608, while all other cabinet-level OIGs had a combined increase in authorized FTEs of about 14 percent during the same 3-year period."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The current rollover process favors distributions to individual retirement accounts (IRA). Waiting periods to roll into a new employer plan, complex verification procedures to ensure savings are tax-qualified, wide divergences in plans' paperwork, and inefficient practices for processing rollovers make IRA rollovers an easier and faster choice, especially given that IRA providers often offer assistance to plan participants when they roll their savings into an IRA. The Department of Labor (Labor) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) provide oversight and guidance for this process generally and can take steps to make plan-to-plan rollovers more efficient, such as reducing the waiting period to roll over into a 401(k) plan and improving the asset verification process. Such actions could help make staying in the 401(k) plan environment a more viable option, allowing participants to make distribution decisions based on their financial circumstances rather than on convenience."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Justice (DOJ) has largely implemented the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative among fusion centers--entities that serve as the focal point within a state for sharing and analyzing suspicious activity reports and other threat information. The state and local law enforcement officials GAO interviewed generally said the initiative's processes worked well, but that they could benefit from additional feedback from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on how the reports they submit are used. The FBI has a feedback mechanism, but not all stakeholders were aware of it. Implementing formalized feedback mechanisms as part of the initiative could help stakeholders conduct accurate analyses of terrorism-related information, among other things."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found that airport operators, government officials, real estate developers, and other regional stakeholders are taking actions consistent with five factors when pursuing airport-centric development (development on the airport property to enhance the airport's nonaeronautical revenue and development outside the airport that leverages a region's proximity to the airport)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "IRS continued to make progress in addressing information security control weaknesses, improving its internal control over financial reporting. During fiscal year 2012, IRS management devoted attention and resources to addressing information security controls, and resolved a significant number of the information security control deficiencies that GAO previously reported. Notable among these efforts were the (1) formation of cross-functional working groups tasked with the identification and remediation of specific at-risk control areas, (2) improvement in controls over the encryption of data transferred between accounting systems, and (3) upgrades to critical network devices on the agency's internal network system. However, serious weaknesses remain that could affect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of financial and sensitive taxpayer data. For example, the agency had not always (1) implemented effective controls for identifying and authenticating users, such as enforcing password complexity on certain servers; (2) appropriately restricted access to its mainframe environment; (3) effectively monitored the mainframe environment; or (4) ensured that current patches had been installed on systems to protect against known vulnerabilities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and federal agencies have not made progress toward achieving most of the goals articulated in the 2010 National Drug Control Strategy (the Strategy), but are reported to be on track to implement most Strategy action items intended to support these goals. ONDCP established seven Strategy goals related to reducing illicit drug use and its consequences by 2015. As of March 2013, GAO's analysis showed that of the five goals for which primary data on results are available, one shows progress and four show no progress. For example, no progress has been made on reducing drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds by 15 percent. This is primarily due to an increase in the rate of reported marijuana use, offset by decreases in the rates of reported use of other drugs. Nevertheless, ONDCP reported that 107 of the 112 action items in the Strategy are complete or on track. ONDCP officials stated that implementing these action items is necessary but may not be sufficient to achieve Strategy goals."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has used various approaches to inform the public about SaferProducts.gov, including using social media, public service announcements, and printed materials, and promoting the site during speeches and events. CPSC's efforts to inform the public about SaferProducts.gov have been part of a larger effort to raise awareness about the agency as a whole. While CPSC has employed many key practices for consumer education planning, it has not established metrics for measuring the success of its efforts. Without such metrics, the agency cannot determine which efforts have had the most impact on increasing awareness and use of the site."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are collectively responsible for providing radiological emergency preparedness oversight and guidance to commercial nuclear power plant licensees and local and state authorities around the plants. In general, NRC is responsible for overseeing licensees' emergency preparedness at the plant (on-site), and FEMA is responsible for overseeing preparedness by local and state authorities around the plant (off-site). NRC and FEMA have also established a 10-mile emergency planning zone around nuclear power plants. Licensees are responsible for managing on-site radiological emergency preparedness and developing and maintaining plans that define activities that the nuclear power plant must take to prepare for and respond to a potential incident at the plant. Participating local and state authorities within the 10-mile zone must develop protective actions for responding to a radiological incident, including plans for evacuations and sheltering in place. A recent NRC task force considered the adequacy of the zone size and concluded that no change was currently needed but will be re-evaluated as part of its lessons learned efforts for the Fukushima incident."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has kept strategic goals for Lebanon constant since 2007 and adjusted security assistance in response to political and security conditions. Since 2007, U.S. strategic goals for Lebanon have been to support the nation as a stable, secure, and independent democracy. According to U.S. officials, U.S. policy priorities include supporting the Government of Lebanon in establishing stability and security against internal threats from militant extremists and the influence of Iran and Syria. U.S. programs to help achieve these priorities include Foreign Military Financing, International Military Education and Training (IMET), International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE), Antiterrorism Assistance, Counterterrorism Financing, Export Control and Related Border Security, and Section 1206 and 1207 authorities. While strategic goals have not changed, program implementation has changed to meet conditions on the ground, according to U.S. officials. For example, the Department of State (State) delayed committing Foreign Military Financing funds to Lebanon for 3 months in 2010, following an exchange of fire between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Israeli forces."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's analysis of the Agricultural Quarantine Inspection (AQI) fee and cost data revealed a more than $325 million gap between fee revenues and total program costs in fiscal year 2011, or 38 percent of AQI program costs. The program, which is co-administered by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), has a gap for several reasons: 1) APHIS's authority does not permit it to charge all persons seeking entry to the United States (e.g., pedestrians) and does not permit it to charge the costs of those inspections to others; 2) APHIS has chosen not to charge some classes of passengers, citing administrative fee collection difficulties; 3) CBP does not charge a portion of all primary inspections to agriculture functions, as required by CBP guidance; 4) APHIS does not consider all imputed costs (that is, costs incurred by other agencies on behalf of the AQI program) when setting fees; and 5) the allowable rates for overtime services are misaligned with the personnel costs of performing those services. APHIS is considering fees …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State's (State) Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) has reported that per-patient treatment costs declined from about $1,053 to $339 from 2005 to 2011. Purchasing generic antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, together with declining drug prices, has led to substantial savings. OGAC estimates that the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has saved $934 million since fiscal year 2005 by buying generic instead of branded products. PEPFAR's analyses of data from eight country treatment-cost studies indicate that per-patient costs also declined as programs realized economies of scale while taking on new patients. Furthermore, the analyses suggest that costs decreased as countries' treatment programs matured, particularly in the first year after programs expanded, and reduced one-time investments. Per-patient cost savings have facilitated substantial increases in the number of people on ARV treatment. In September 2012, an estimated 8 million were on treatment in lowand middle-income countries, of which PEPFAR directly supported 5.1 million-- an increase of 125 percent since 2008, the year the program was reauthorized."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Estimated tax revenue that the federal government forgoes resulting from corporate tax expenditures increased over the past few decades as did the total number of corporate tax expenditures. In 2011, the Department of the Treasury estimated 80 tax expenditures resulted in the government forgoing corporate tax revenue totaling more than $181 billion. Many of these tax expenditures are broadly available to both corporate and individual taxpayers. More than twothirds or 56 of the 80 tax expenditures used by corporations in 2011 were also used by individual taxpayers, such as other types of businesses not organized as corporations. Modifying any of these 56 tax expenditures as part of broader corporate tax reform would likely affect both corporate and individual taxpayers to some degree."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State (State) is implementing the primary responsibilities outlined in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (the Act) by undertaking numerous actions to promote religious freedom, engaging with foreign officials, and annually publishing its International Religious Freedom Report. The Ambassador-at-Large and the Office of International Religious Freedom assist the Secretary of State with certain responsibilities outlined in the Act, including the designation of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) and the development of training."

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the analysis of thirteen major information system development projects at eight state agencies.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to the total amount of school district bonds guaranteed by the Permanent School Fund's (Fund) Bond Guarantee Program (Program), whether these were within the limits established by Texas Education Code and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and recent changes made to the Program's rules and statutes.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to providing the Legislature and the public with information and historical trend data related to full-time equivalent employees who perform services for state government.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining whether selected state agencies or higher education institutions complied with statutory requirements and rules established by the Comptroller to implement historically underutilized business (HUB) program requirements and report complete and accurate data to the Comptroller.

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to determining the implementation status of prior State Auditor's Office recommendations for the Department of Insurance and evaluating whether management has taken corrective actions to address selected recommendations in "An Audit Report on the Department of Insurance's Enforcement of Solvency Standards for Insurance Companies."

Report of the Texas State Auditor's Office related to identifying and determining the estimated value, including salary and benefits, of the compensation package provided to employees of the State of Texas.

"This report estimates the value of each exemption, exclusion, discount, deduction, special accounting method, credit, refund, and special appraisal available under Texas' sales, franchise, gasoline, and motor vehicle sale taxes, as well as under the property tax levied by Texas school districts." (A Message From The Comptroller)

Monthly report issued by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice providing statistical information about numbers and categories of inmates held in various locations across Texas.

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