A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Available evidence does not support whether behavioral indicators, which are used in the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program, can be used to identify persons who may pose a risk to aviation security. GAO reviewed four meta-analyses (reviews that analyze other studies and synthesize their findings) that included over 400 studies from the past 60 years and found that the human ability to accurately identify deceptive behavior based on behavioral indicators is the same as or slightly better than chance. Further, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) April 2011 study conducted to validate SPOT's behavioral indicators did not demonstrate their effectiveness because of study limitations, including the use of unreliable data. Twenty-one of the 25 behavior detection officers (BDO) GAO interviewed at four airports said that some behavioral indicators are subjective. TSA officials agree, and said they are working to better define them. GAO analyzed data from fiscal years 2011 and 2012 on the rates at which BDOs referred passengers for additional screening based on behavioral indicators and found that BDOs' referral rates varied significantly across airports, raising questions about …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force did not evaluate its pilot program that moved funding for Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) acquisition civilian personnel from its 1-year Operation and Maintenance (O&M) appropriation to its 2-year Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. In addition, the Air Force is considering using this pilot program to inform funding changes for other sections of its civilian workforce. GAO's prior work has identified the following practices for implementing and evaluating pilot programs: (1) develop objectives that link to the goals of the pilot; (2) develop processes for monitoring the pilot; (3) develop and implement a data collection and analysis plan for evaluating the pilot; and (4) communicate evaluation results to stakeholders. When implementing the pilot program, the Air Force did not follow these practices, and primarily focused on ensuring that administrative changes were made accurately such as ensuring employees received pay on time. For example, while a variety of potential goals were identified for the pilot program by the Air Force in various documents; they were not clear or consistent. As a result, anecdotal opinions on the advantages or disadvantages of the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For more than a decade, GAO has reported on the challenges the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Office of Environmental Management (EM) have faced in meeting their projects' cost performance targets as developed in estimates and for ensuring that these cost estimates are based on sound assumptions. NNSA and EM are included on GAO's High-Risk List in recognition of the potential for vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement in contract administration and management of major projects. In January 2010, GAO reported on DOE's project cost-estimating practices and found that DOE did not have a cost-estimating policy and that cost-estimating guidance it had developed in the 1990s remained in effect but was out-of-date. GAO also found that DOE was taking steps to improve its cost-estimating practices, such as establishing the Office of Cost Analysis (OCA) in 2008 to improve cost-estimating capabilities and better ensure that project cost estimates are reliable by providing a new independent cost-estimating function. Both DOE's NNSA, a separately organized agency within the department, and EM adopted policies and practices to support cost estimating. GAO is conducting an ongoing …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that DOD awarded 51 sole source 8(a) contracts over $20 million between October 2009 and September 2012. As we reported in our December 2012 government-wide review, DOD awarded eight sole-source 8(a) contracts worth over $20 million from March 16, 2011, when the requirement was implemented in the FAR, through March 31, 2012, the most recent data available at the time of our review. Of the eight, six contracts did not meet the new justification requirement because contracting officials were not aware of the requirement or because they were confused about the type of justification to complete."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found no consensus among stakeholders on the advantages and disadvantages of eliminating paper labeling and relying instead on electronic labeling as a complete substitute for the three types of drug labeling discussed in this report and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)--an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This report focuses on three types of prescription drug labeling: the prescribing information intended for health care practitioners, Medication Guides intended to inform patients about drugs FDA has determined pose a serious and significant public health concern, and patient package inserts (PPI) required for oral contraceptives and estrogens. Stakeholders said an advantage of such a change would be that it could provide physicians, pharmacists, and patients with the most current drug information in a more user-friendly format, which would positively impact public health. For example, drug labeling could be made interactive to include hyperlinks to definitions of key terms or to additional information, enhancing patients' knowledge about the drugs they are using. However, stakeholders noted disadvantages that could offset any advantages gained from such a change. Relying on electronic labeling as …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Florida, along with the other 32 federal courthouses completed from 2000 to March 2010 include 3.56 million square feet of extra space consisting of space that was constructed (1) above the congressionally authorized size, (2) because of overestimating the number of judges the courthouses would have, and (3) without planning for courtroom sharing among judges. Overall, this extra space represents about 9 average-sized courthouses. The estimated cost to construct this extra space was $835 million in 2010 dollars, and the annual cost to rent, operate, and maintain it is $51 million. The Ferguson Courthouse specifically included approximately 238,000 extra square feet of space, which GAO estimated increased the construction cost by $48.5 million (in constant 2010 dollars) and an additional $3.5 million annually."

Testimony 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 "Four selected states or localities used systematic and automated data sharing to improve eligibility verification or case management processes. Such data sharing improved eligibility verification processes in Michigan and Utah. Specifically, program officials said that data sharing improved program integrity because more accurate payments were made, and staff noted program efficiencies through more automated and consolidated systems. In terms of case management, officials from New York City and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania said that data sharing helped caseworkers obtain client information more quickly and make more informed decisions. For instance, child welfare workers used client data from other agencies to quickly obtain background information on other household members when child maltreatment was reported or to locate potential caregivers when needed. Officials cited various factors contributing to the success of their initiatives, with strong leadership as the most commonly cited."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Rogue Internet pharmacies violate a variety of federal and state laws. Most operate from abroad, and many illegally ship prescription drugs into the United States that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), that is responsible for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs. Many also illegally sell prescription drugs without a prescription that meets federal and state requirements. Rogue sites also often violate other laws, including those related to fraud, money laundering, and intellectual property rights."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Designed to safeguard client assets, the Securities and Exchange Commission's(SEC) rule governing advisers' custody of client assets (custody rule) imposes various requirements and, in turn, costs on investment advisers. To protect investors, the rule requires advisers that have custody to (1) use qualified custodians (e.g., banks or broker-dealers) to hold client assets and (2) have a reasonable basis for believing that the custodian sends account statements directly to clients."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is pursuing key operational improvements to implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) in the "midterm," which is 2013 through 2018. These improvements focus on establishing Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures at key airports, but benefits could be limited in the midterm. PBN uses satellite-based guidance to improve air-traffic control routes (known as "procedures"). These procedures can deliver benefits to airlines, such as fuel savings and increased efficiency, particularly in congested airspace. To deliver benefits more quickly, FAA made trade-offs in selecting sites and in the scope of proposed improvements. For example, FAA is not implementing procedures that will trigger lengthy environmental reviews. These trade-offs, with which airlines and other stakeholders generally agree, will likely limit benefits from these PBN initiatives early in the midterm. FAA has also made some progress in other key operational improvement areas, such as upgrading traffic management systems and revising standards to improve aircraft flow in congested airspace. However, FAA has not fully integrated implementation of all of its operational improvement efforts at airports. Because of the interdependency of improvements, their limited integration could also …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The total number of conditional registrations granted is unclear, as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that its data are inaccurate for several reasons. First, the database used to track conditional registrations does not allow officials to change a pesticide's registration status from conditional to unconditional once the registrant has satisfied all requirements, thereby overstating the number of conditional registrations. Second, EPA staff have misused the term "conditional registration," incorrectly classifying pesticide registrations as conditional when, for example, they require a label change, which is not a basis in statute for a conditional registration. According to EPA documents and officials, weaknesses in guidance and training, management oversight, and data management contributed to these misclassification problems. For example, according to EPA documents, there was limited, organized management oversight to ensure that regulatory actions were not misclassified as conditional registrations. As of July 2013, EPA officials told GAO that the agency has taken or is planning to take several actions to more accurately account for conditional registrations, including beginning to design a new automated data system to more accurately track conditional registrations."

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

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we identified three DOD joint publications and two guidance documents that call for the consideration of unintended consequences, moral hazards, or risk mitigation procedures in planning for security force assistance. For example, Joint Publication 5-0, Joint Operations Planning, explicitly advises commanders to consider undesired consequences when planning operations and to refine plans to mitigate any undesired effects. This joint publication also includes procedures, such as the mission analysis and course of action analysis, to mitigate risks, which could include unintended consequences. Further, the Security Force Assistance Handbook, a guidance document, explains that site surveys serve to determine the suitability of the foreign security force for training, which may include considerations for potential unintended consequences and moral hazards, according to DOD officials. In addition to DOD joint publications and guidance, we reviewed a DOD directive and an instruction that DOD identified as relevant for our review and found that neither document specifically calls for consideration of unintended consequences or similar risks. However, DOD officials noted that they may incorporate considerations for unintended consequences and similar risks in a subsequent update to DOD Directive 5132.03, DOD Policy and …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration's (SSA) procedures for handling and verifying death reports may allow for erroneous death information in the Death Master File (DMF) because SSA does not verify certain death reports or record others. SSA officials said, in keeping with its mission, the agency is primarily focused on ensuring that it does not make benefit payments to deceased Social Security program beneficiaries. As a result, it only verifies death reports received for individuals who are current program beneficiaries, and even then, only for those reports received from sources it considers to be less accurate. For example, SSA officials consider death reports from states that have pre-verified decedents' name and SSN to be highly accurate, so SSA does not verify that the subjects of these reports are actually deceased. It would, however, verify a report received from a source such as a post office. SSA verifies no death reports for individuals who are not beneficiaries, regardless of source. Because there are a number of death reports that SSA does not verify, the agency risks including incorrect death information in the DMF, such as including living individuals in the …

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

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As of February 2013 our performance audits of the TARP programs have resulted in 66 recommendations to Treasury. Of the 66 recommendations, Treasury has implemented 51, or approximately 77 percent. Treasury has partially implemented 7 of the performance audit recommendations--that is, it has taken some steps toward implementation but needs to take more actions. Four performance audit recommendations remain open--that is, Treasury has not taken steps to implement them. Among these open recommendations are 2 recommendations directed at CPP and 2 recommendations directed at the MHA housing programs. Finally, with regard to 2 of the remaining 4 recommendations, Treasury officials told us that they were not planning to take actions to implement them. For the other 2 recommendations, the TARP program evolved and the recommendations are no longer applicable."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) has increasingly used auctions to sell its Capital Purchase Program (CPP) investments. Initially, Treasury relied primarily on financial institutions redeeming their shares to wind down the program. However, in March 2012 Treasury began using auctions to exit CPP, and more institutions have exited the program through auctions than through any other method since then. As of May 2013, Treasury has held 16 auctions, selling 128 investments for total proceeds of about $2.4 billion. Each auction has involved the sale of an institution's outstanding investment, also known as the par amount. In most cases, the final sales price was below the par amount, and in total Treasury received 84 percent of par in the first 16 auctions. Through these auctions, repurchases, and other mechanisms, 556 institutions had exited CPP as of May 31, 2013, accounting for almost $223 billion in repayments and income and exceeding the original investment amount by about $18 billion."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expanded the use of the Enrollee Health Care Projection Model (EHCPM) in developing the agency’s health care budget estimate that supported the President’s fiscal year 2014 budget request. VA expanded the use of the EHCPM by using, for the first time, the model’s estimate for the amount of care provided—workload—to develop estimates of the resources needed for 14 long-term care services. However, VA continued to use the most current expenditure data rather than EHCPM estimates for projecting needed resources for these services due to concerns about the reliability of the EHCPM expenditure data. Using this new blended approach, VA used the EHCPM in whole or in part, to develop estimates for 74 health care services that accounted for more than 85 percent of VA’s health care budget estimate. Additionally, VA used a new budget category label for its estimate of certain administrative personnel costs, “Administrative Personnel,” and identified the types of positions this estimate included. However, VA did not consistently use the new label across its three health care appropriations accounts. Instead, VA used “Administration” and provided no information clarifying …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff, and the services have taken steps to integrate operational contract support into planning for contingency operations. For example, in April 2011, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, working with the Joint Staff, revised the Guidance for the Employment of the Force to require planning for operational contract support in all phases of military operations. Further, in December 2011, the Department of Defense (DOD) revised an instruction and issued corresponding regulations establishing policies and procedures for operational contract support. The Army issued service-specific guidance that describes roles, responsibilities, and requirements to help integrate operational contract support into its planning efforts for contingency operations. However, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force have not issued similar comprehensive guidance for integrating operational contract support throughout each service. Instead, these services have taken actions such as developing training and other individual efforts to familiarize servicemembers with operational contract support. According to service officials, one reason that they have not issued comprehensive guidance similar to the Army's guidance is because the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force have not …