Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) advertising contract for Phase III of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. GAO found that the contractor, Ogilvy & Mather, improperly charged the government for some of its labor costs incurred under this contract. Ogivley & Mather submitted time sheets claiming hours that some employees said they did not work on the anti-drug media campaign. In addition, the company made little progress toward restructuring its accounting system to meet government requirements until nearly two years after the contract was awarded. The government poorly managed aspects of the award and administration of the contract. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should not have awarded this cost-reimbursement contract without determining whether the contractor had an adequate cost accounting system. In addition, HHS should have reviewed the appropriateness of the large amount of money that the technical representative recommended be disallowed from the contractor's invoices, or arranged for an audit of the contract. The technical representative appropriately brought allegations of improper billing to the attention of ONDCP management, but ONDCP management did not take prompt action to investigate …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) operates one of the safest air transportation systems in the world, but this system is under growing strain as the demand for air travel increases. Recognizing the need to transform this system, Congress created the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), housed within FAA, to plan and develop the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The current authorization for FAA, the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (Trust Fund), and most of the excise taxes that support the Trust Fund will expire September 30, 2007. Several proposals, including two reauthorization bills--H.R. 2881 and S. 1300--identify various funding sources for FAA activities, including NextGen. Among these are current excise taxes, fees, and flight surcharges. Concerned about the need for stable, sustainable financing for the nation's multibillion-dollar transportation infrastructure investments, including NextGen, GAO has designated transportation financing as high risk. GAO's statement addresses (1) the extent to which the current funding structure can support FAA's activities, including NextGen, (2) issues that could affect the overall cost of NextGen, and (3) the implications of selected proposals to fund aviation activities. The statement is based on recent GAO …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Architect of the Capitol (AOC), through the Capitol Power Plant, operates five walkable utility tunnels containing steam and chilled water pipes associated with serving the heating and cooling requirements of the U.S. Capitol and over 20 surrounding facilities. In our work last fall, we addressed conditions in the tunnels and AOC's plans for addressing them. The Office of Compliance (OOC), which is responsible for advancing safety, health, and workplace rights in the legislative branch, and the tunnel workers had raised concerns about health and safety issues in the tunnels. As a result of these concerns, in January 2006, OOC issued citations for and asked AOC to address a potential asbestos hazard and heat stress conditions in the tunnels. In addition, in February 2006, OOC filed a complaint against AOC concerning hazards in the tunnels, including falling concrete, an inadequate communication system for these confined spaces, and inadequate escape exits (egresses). According to OOC officials, these conditions had been brought to AOC's attention by OOC inspectors as early as 1999, but AOC had not made sufficient progress in addressing them, and conditions in the tunnels had deteriorated further. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "DOD's management, funding, and reporting of spending for spare parts programs have been a focus of GAO high risk reports for over a decade. They noted that spare parts shortages adversely affect military operations and readiness. Despite funding of about $1.9 billion over fiscal years 1999-2002 to increase availability of spare parts, managing to mitigate shortages still challenges the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). GAO examined if (1) DLA's strategic planning addresses mitigating critical spare parts shortages that affect readiness, (2) strategic initiatives will likely mitigate these shortages, (3) a DOD-directed initiative has improved availability of critical aviation parts, and (4) DLA can identify the impact of added investment on parts availability."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO published an exposure draft on government programs and functions that GAO has identified as "high risk" because of their greater vulnerabilities to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board's recent actions, meetings, and practices."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new rule on the assessment and collection of regulatory fees for fiscal year (FY) 2000. GAO noted that: (1) the rule revises the regulatory fee schedule to bring it into compliance with the amount of such fees Congress has required FCC to collect for FY 2000; (2) the amount to be recovered is $185,754,000, or almost 7.67 percent more than was required for FY 1999; (3) the purpose of the fees is to recover the costs of regulation in the areas of enforcement, policy and rulemaking, international and user information activities; and (4) FCC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 requires each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996, and requires them to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. The Food and Drug Administration's Office of the Chief Counsel indicated that at least 14 of the agency's civil penalties are covered by the act, but the agency had not adjusted any of them for inflation."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by GAO-01-371G, Guaranteed Loan System Requirements: Checklist for Reviewing Systems Under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act, March 2001. GAO published a checklist that reflects the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program's (JFMIP) revised Guaranteed Loan System Requirements (March 2000) to assist: (1) agencies in implementing and monitoring their guaranteed loan systems; and (2) managers and auditors in reviewing their guaranteed loan systems to determine if they substantially comply with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses (1) the shortage of healthcare workers and (2) the lessons learned by the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) in addressing these shortages. GAO found that problems in recruiting and retaining health care professionals could worsen as demand for these workers increases. High levels of job dissatisfaction among nurses and nurses aides may also play a crucial role in current and future nursing shortages. Efforts to improve the workplace environment may both reduce the likelihood of nurses and nurse aides leaving the field and encourage more young people to enter the nursing profession. Nonetheless, demographic forces will continue to widen the gap between the number of people needing care and the nursing staff available. As a result, the nation will face a caregiver shortage very different from shortages of the past. More detailed data are needed, however, to delineate the extent and nature of nurse and nurse aide shortages to assist in planning and targeting corrective efforts. Better coordination of NHSC placements, with waivers for foreign U.S.-educated physicians, could help more needy areas. In addition, addressing shortfalls in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) development of an enterprise architecture, focusing on the: (1) status of INS' efforts; and (2) effectiveness of INS' structures and processes for managing this development effort."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication superseded GAO-01-131G, Internal Control Management and Evaluation Tool: Exposure Draft, February 2001. This guide is intended to assist agencies maintain or implement effective internal controls and, when needed, to help determine what, where, and how improvements can be implemented."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program's current financial management initiatives, activities, and practices."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report is submitted pursuant to section 301(e) of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2004, which directs the Comptroller General to submit to the Committees on the Budget a comprehensive report identifying instances in which the committees of jurisdiction may make legislative changes to improve the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of federal programs within their jurisdiction."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO analyzed federal government budget practices in order to produce a framework for agency budget practices that can guide an agency toward incorporating performance information into the budget process. GAO also reviewed challenges to implementing results-oriented budget practices that were identified by a panel of agency budget officials."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 directed the President to set a goal of awarding not less than 23 percent of the federal government's prime contracting dollars to small business for each fiscal year. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is charged with working with federal agencies to ensure that agency goals, in the aggregate, meet or exceed the overall goal. To help SBA determine if agency goals are being met, the Federal Procurement Data Center (FPDC)--part of the General Services Administration--collects data on all federal contract actions and calculates the government's annual small business achievements on the basis of procurement information received from the agencies. This report reviews (1) SBA's process for establishing annual small business prime contract goals and the reasons for recent changes to the process; (2) the types of contracts that are excluded when achievements are calculated, as well as SBA's rationale for excluding them; and (3) the dollar value of the excluded contracts. GAO found that in fiscal year 2000, SBA began assigning goals directly to individual agencies because the goals that agencies proposed did not in the aggregate reach the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has reported in recent years on a number of human capital issues that have hampered the Department of State's (State) ability to carry out U.S. foreign policy priorities and objectives, particularly at posts central to the war on terror. In 2002, State implemented the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative (DRI) to address shortfalls in the number and skills of State employees. This testimony addresses State's progress in (1) addressing staffing shortfalls since the implementation of DRI and (2) filling gaps in the language proficiency of Foreign Service officers and other staff. To accomplish these objectives, GAO analyzed staffing and language data and met with State officials."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses ways to improve the representation of American professionals at United Nations (UN) organizations. The U.S. Congress continues to be concerned about the underrepresentation of American professionals employed by some UN organizations and that insufficient progress has been made to improve U.S. representation. The equitable representation of Americans at UN organizations is a priority to Congress in part because the United States is the largest financial contributor to most of these organizations. Moreover, according to the U.S. Department of State (State), Americans bring desirable skills, values, and experience that can have a significant impact on UN organizations' operational effectiveness. This testimony is based on a report that we issued on September 6, 2006. This testimoney will discuss (1) U.S. representation status and employment trends at five UN organizations, (2) factors affecting these organizations' ability to meet U.S. representation targets, and (3) State's efforts to improve U.S. representation and additional efforts that can be taken."