A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) receives death reports from multiple sources, including state vital records agencies (states), family members, and other federal agencies to create its set of death records. In accordance with the Social Security Act (Act), SSA shares its full set of death data with certain agencies that pay federally-funded benefits, for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy of those payments. For other users of SSA's death data, SSA extracts a subset of records into a file called the Death Master File (DMF), which, to comply with the Act, excludes state-reported death data. SSA makes the DMF available via the Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service, from which any member of the public can purchase DMF data. Certain procedures that SSA uses for collecting, verifying, and maintaining death reports could result in erroneous or untimely death information. For example, SSA does not independently verify all reports before including them in its death records. In accordance with its policy, the agency only verifies death reports for Social Security beneficiaries in order to stop benefit payments, and then, verifies only those reports from sources it …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In response to the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013, agencies prepared Hurricane Sandy disaster relief internal control plans based on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance but did not consistently apply the guidance in preparing these plans. OMB Memorandum M-13-07 (M-13-07), Accountability for Funds Provided by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, directed federal agencies to provide a description of incremental risks they identified for Sandy disaster relief funding as well as an internal control strategy for mitigating these risks. Each of the 19 agencies responsible for the 61 programs receiving funds under the act submitted an internal control plan with specific program details using a template provided by OMB. Agencies' plans ranged from providing most of the required information to not providing any information on certain programs. For example, each of the 61 programs was required to discuss its protocol for improper payments; however, GAO found that 38 programs included this information, 11 included partial information, and 12 included no information."

Correspondence 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 Department of Defense (DOD) and the General Services Administration (GSA)--which accounted for more than 80 percent of the consolidated contracts reported by all federal agencies in fiscal years 2011 and 2012--do not know the full extent to which they are awarding consolidated contracts. This is the result of contracts being misreported in the federal procurement data system. GAO reviewed 157 contracts--more than half of all DOD and GSA contracts that were reported as consolidated--and found that 34 percent of the DOD contracts and all of the GSA contracts in fact were not consolidated. GAO also identified four DOD contracts with consolidated requirements that were not reported as such."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) grantees reported providing services similar to the medical services, support services, and HIV testing and prevention services provided with core HIV/AIDS funding, which is provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to grantees. In addition, MAI grantees faced administrative challenges managing HIV/AIDS funding that was fragmented across several grants. Various agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded MAI grants to grantees. The agencies included CDC, HRSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and seven other offices within HHS. The MAI grantees in GAO's sample reported providing mostly support services with their MAI grants, similar to the types of support services grantees provided with core HIV/AIDS funding from CDC and HRSA. These support services included community outreach and education, and staff or provider training. Twenty percent of the grantees also reported providing medical services to their clients. According to the limited data HHS agencies and offices maintain on the demographics of the population served with MAI grants, the majority of recipients of MAI services were from …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Census Bureau (Bureau) is not producing reliable schedules for the two programs most relevant to building the Master Address File (MAF)--the 2020 Research and Testing program and the Geographic Support System Initiative."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In five selected states, GAO determined that the separate State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans were generally comparable to the benchmark plans selected by states in 2012 as models for the benefits that will be offered through qualified health plans (QHP) in 2014. The plans were comparable in the services they covered and the services on which they imposed limits, although there was some variation. For example, in coverage of hearing and outpatient therapy services, the benchmark plan in one of the five states--Kansas--did not cover hearing aids nor hearing tests, while the CHIP plans in all states covered at least one of these services. Similarly, two states' CHIP plans and three states' benchmark plans did not cover certain outpatient therapies--known as habilitative services--to help individuals attain or maintain skills they had not learned due to a disability. States' CHIP and benchmark state plans were also similar in terms of the services on which they imposed day, visit, or dollar limits. Plans most commonly imposed limits on outpatient therapies and pediatric dental, vision, and hearing services. Officials in all five states expect that CHIP coverage, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Sponsors of private sector pension plans are required to submit various reports to federal agencies and disclosures to participants depending on the plans' type, size, and circumstances. GAO identified more than 130 reports and disclosures stemming from provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code, as administered largely by three ERISA agencies: the Department of Labor (Labor), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Although each plan sponsor is required to submit only certain of these reports and disclosures, determining which ones can be challenging and the agencies' online resources to aid plan sponsors with this task are neither comprehensive nor up-to-date."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The six countries GAO reviewed can offer U.S. regulators lessons on how to expand access to a mix of spend-down options for 401(k) participants that meet various retirement needs. Five of the six countries generally ensure that participants can choose among three main plan options: a lump sum payment, a programmed withdrawal of participants' savings, or an annuity. In the last several decades, all the countries took steps to increase participant access to multiple spend-down options, with some first conducting reviews of participants' retirement needs that resulted in policy changes, as shown below. In the United States, 401(k) plans typically offer only lump sums, leaving some participants at risk of outliving their savings. The U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL) and the Treasury (Treasury) have begun to explore the possibility of expanding options for participants, but have not yet helped plan sponsors address key challenges to offering a mix of options through their plan."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Eighty-four percent of the autism research projects funded by federal agencies had the potential to be duplicative. Of the 1,206 autism research projects funded by federal agencies from fiscal years 2008 through 2012, 1,018 projects were potentially duplicative because the projects were categorized to the same objectives in the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee's (IACC) strategic plan. Funding similar research on the same topic is sometimes appropriate--for example, for purposes of replicating or corroborating results--but in some instances, funding similar research may lead to unnecessary duplication. The potentially duplicative research projects included those funded by the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Education (Education), National Science Foundation (NSF), and agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--Administration for Children and Families, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Each agency funded at least 1 autism research project in the same strategic plan objective as another agency. For example, 5 agencies awarded approximately $15.2 million …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sexual abuse and assault allegations data are not complete, a fact that could limit their usefulness for detention management. ICE’s data system described 215 allegations of sexual abuse and assault from October 2009 through March 2013 in facilities that had over 1.2 million admissions; however, ICE data did not include all reported allegations. For example, GAO was unable to locate an additional 28 allegations detainees reported to the 10 facilities GAO visited—or 40 percent of 70 total allegations at these 10 facilities—because ICE field office officials did not report them to ICE headquarters. ICE issued guidance on reporting sexual abuse and assault allegations, but has not developed controls to ensure that field office officials responsible for overseeing all facilities are reporting allegations to ICE headquarters. Detainees may also face barriers to reporting abuse, such as difficulty reaching the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) telephone hotline, one of various means for reporting abuse. For example, GAO’s review of data maintained by ICE’s phone services contractor for fiscal years 2010 through 2012 showed that approximately …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In July 2012, GAO reported that the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), as Security Executive Agent, had not provided executive branch agencies clearly defined policy and procedures to consistently determine if a position requires a personnel security clearance. Absent this guidance, agencies are using an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) position designation tool to determine the sensitivity and risk levels of civilian positions which, in turn, inform the type of investigation needed. OPM audits, however, found inconsistency in these position designations, and some agencies described problems implementing OPM's tool. For example, in an April 2012 audit OPM assessed the sensitivity levels of 39 positions, and its designations differed from the agency in 26 positions. Problems exist, in part, because OPM and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) did not collaborate on the development of this tool, and because their respective roles for suitability and security clearance reform are still evolving. As a result, to help determine the proper designation, GAO recommended that the DNI, in coordination with the Director of OPM, issue clearly defined policy and procedures for federal agencies to follow when determining if …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's prior work has identified several key factors important to secure the maritime borders. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its components have made progress (e.g., coordinating with partners), and in some cases also experienced challenges with their related maritime security programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Navy has experienced significant quality problems with several ship classes over the past several years. It has focused on reducing the number of serious deficiencies at the time of delivery, and GAO's analysis shows that the number of deficiencies--particularly "starred" deficiencies designated as the most serious for operational or safety reasons--has generally dropped. Nonetheless, the Navy continues to accept ships with large numbers of open deficiencies. Accepting ships with large numbers of uncorrected deficiencies is a standard practice and GAO found that there are varying interpretations of Navy policy with regard to when the defects should be resolved. In 2009, the Navy organization that oversees ship construction launched the Back to Basics initiative to improve Navy oversight of ship construction. However, a key output of the initiative promoting consistent and adequate quality requirements in Navy contracts has yet to be implemented."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) was directed by the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations to provide a report on the results of a review to streamline the processes for coordinating and sharing information with its critical infrastructure (CI) protection partners. GAO was unable to assess the extent to which NPPD's streamlining efforts were designed to ensure progress in four areas--mission clarity, useful and actionable work products, efficacy of planning and information sharing, and cost savings--because DHS's response does not discuss NPPD efforts to streamline those processes. Specifically, GAO's analysis of DHS's response showed that DHS provided information on NPPD efforts to coordinate and share information with its public and private partners (e.g., CI owners and operators) and the results of some of those efforts but did not provide information about any NPPD efforts to streamline the processes for coordination and information sharing. For example, DHS's response includes a section on coordinating and executing plans--one of the five topic areas that NPPD was required to include in its report--that describes who NPPD's partners are and ways that NPPD coordinates and executes …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had made considerable progress toward obtaining a clean opinion on its financial statements. For example, DHS reduced the number of audit qualifications from 11 in 2005 to 1 in 2010. DHS is working to resolve the deficiencies in the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG) ability to complete certain reconciliations and provide evidence supporting certain components of general property, plant, and equipment and heritage and stewardship assets that caused DHS's auditors to issue a qualified opinion on its fiscal year 2012 financial statements. DHS has a goal of achieving a clean opinion for fiscal year 2013. However, the DHS auditors' report for fiscal year 2012, the most recently completed audit, indicated that DHS continues to rely on compensating controls and complex manual work-arounds to support its financial reporting, rather than sound internal control and effective financial management systems."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2013, GAO reported that (1) peer-reviewed, published research we reviewed did not support whether nonverbal behavioral indicators can be used to reliably identify deception, (2) methodological issues limited the usefulness of DHS's April 2011 SPOT validation study, and (3) variation in referral rates raised questions about the use of indicators. GAO reported that its review of meta-analyses (studies that analyze other studies and synthesize their findings) that included findings from over 400 studies related to detecting deception conducted over the past 60 years, other academic and government studies, and interviews with experts in the field, called into question the use of behavior observation techniques, that is, human observation unaided by technology, as a means for reliably detecting deception. The meta-analyses GAO reviewed collectively found that the ability of human observers to accurately identify deceptive behavior based on behavioral cues or indicators is the same as or slightly better than chance (54 percent). GAO also reported on other studies that do not support the use of behavioral indicators to identify mal-intent or threats to aviation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) have assessed water resource and infrastructure vulnerabilities and taken steps to develop guidance and strategies to adapt to the effects of climate change. Specifically, since 2009, the Corps has completed a high-level assessment of the vulnerabilities to climate change of various agency missions. The assessment found, for example, that the effects of increasing air temperatures on glaciers could negatively impact mission areas including navigation and flood damage reduction. The Corps has also conducted pilot studies to help identify adaptation guidance and strategies; it has completed 5 of the 15 pilot studies initiated and plans to start another study in 2013. Similarly, Reclamation has completed baseline assessments of the potential impacts of climate change on future water supplies for the major river basins where it owns and operates water management infrastructure. Reclamation, in collaboration with nonfederal entities, is now conducting more focused assessments, known as Basin Studies, through which Reclamation seeks to identify water supply vulnerabilities and project future climate change impacts on the performance of water …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Healthcare & Insurance--Federal Employee Insurance Operations office, which we refer to as OPM's contracting office, monitors Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) carriers' compliance with requirements and other guidance for preventing, detecting, and eliminating fraud and abuse. These requirements include establishing a program to assess vulnerability to fraud and abuse, reporting annually on program outcomes, reporting potential fraud to OPM's Office of Inspector General (OIG), and implementing corrective actions to address deficiencies in fraud prevention programs. OPM's guidance encourages carriers to implement certain program standards, such as formal fraud awareness training for all employees. To monitor carriers' compliance with these requirements and other guidance, OPM's contracting office staff conducts the following activities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During the 2007-09 financial crisis, the federal government's actions to stabilize the financial system provided funding support and other benefits to bank holding companies and their subsidiaries. Agencies introduced new programs with broad-based eligibility that provided funding support to eligible institutions, which included entities that were part of a bank holding company and others. Programs that provided the most significant support directly to bank holding companies or their subsidiaries included Department of the Treasury capital investment programs, Federal Reserve System lending programs, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) guarantee programs. Together these actions helped to stabilize financial conditions, while participating firms also accrued benefits specific to their own institutions, such as liquidity benefits from programs that allowed them to borrow at longer maturities and at interest rates that were below possible market alternatives. At the end of 2008, program use--measured for each institution as the percentage of total assets supported by the programs--was higher on average for banks and bank holding companies with $50 billion or more in total assets than for smaller firms. The six largest bank holding companies were significant participants in several emergency …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Army Materiel Command (AMC) is using the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) Increment 1 to support its industrial operations, but additional development is necessary, according to the Army, because the current system does not support certain critical requirements, including enabling the Army to generate auditable financial statements by fiscal year 2017. Officials at the 14 AMC sites GAO visited stated that LMP provided the core functionality they needed to support their operations and that they are improving in their ability to use the system. Additionally, some sites have locally developed tools to augment LMP capabilities. Army officials stated that although LMP is functional, it currently does not support certain critical requirements that have emerged since its initial development, such as automatically tracking repair and manufacturing operations on the shop floor of depots and arsenals. In addition, according to Army officials, the current system will not enable the Army to generate auditable financial statements by 2017, the statutory deadline for this goal. Increment 2, which is estimated to cost $730 million through fiscal year 2026, is expected to address these shortcomings. The Army is in the process …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Information technology (IT) acquisition best practices have been developed by both industry and the federal government. For example, the Software Engineering Institute has developed highly regarded and widely used guidance on best practices, such as requirements development and management, risk management, validation and verification, and project monitoring and control. GAO's own research in IT management best practices led to the development of the Information Technology Investment Management Framework, which describes essential and complementary IT investment management disciplines, such as oversight of system development and acquisition management, and organizes them into a set of critical processes for successful investments."

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

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Several agencies in the executive branch have key roles and responsibilities in the personnel security clearance process. Executive Order 13467 designates the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) as the Security Executive Agent, who is responsible for developing policies and procedures for background investigations and adjudications. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducts investigations for most of the federal government. Adjudicators from agencies, such as the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Homeland Security, that request background investigations use the investigative report and consider federal adjudicative guidelines when making clearance determinations. Reform efforts to enhance the personnel security process throughout the executive branch are principally driven and overseen by the Performance Accountability Council, which is chaired by the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)."