A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government has created a framework to provide for EEO by prohibiting unlawful discrimination based on such factors as race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, and disability, and offers redress when discrimination and retaliation have occurred. To further EEO and help bring about a diverse workforce, federal agencies are required to carry out affirmative employment and minority recruitment programs. EEOC and OPM have primary responsibility for ensuring that the government's policies for a fair, equitable, and inclusive workplace are carried out. In response to a congressional request that GAO provide information on the federal government's performance in promoting EEO and managing its diverse workforce, this report provides information on (1) the statutory and policy framework relating to EEO, affirmative employment, and workforce diversity and (2) the roles and responsibilities of EEOC and OPM within the framework and how these agencies carry out these roles and responsibilities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the federal crop insurance program with private insurance companies, which, in turn, work with insurance agencies that sell crop insurance. In 2008, according to USDA, the program cost $6.5 billion, including about $2.0 billion in allowances to insurance companies to cover their administrative and operating (A&O) expenses, such as salaries and sales commissions to agencies. GAO was asked to examine (1) the reasons for recent substantial increases in A&O allowances, and the purposes for which insurance companies use these allowances, and (2) insurance agencies' expenses for selling federal crop insurance policies, and questionable practices, if any, that agencies use to compete for business among farmers. GAO analyzed USDA and private insurers' data, among other things."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Despite its significant investment in business systems, the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to have long-standing financial and business management problems that preclude the department from producing reliable and timely information for making decisions and for accurately reporting on its billions of dollars of assets. GAO was asked to (1) identify DOD's fiscal year 2005 estimated funding for its business systems and (2) determine whether DOD has effective control and accountability over its business systems modernization investments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides health care services to veterans who have been diagnosed with psychosis--primarily schizophrenia, a disorder that can substantially limit their ability to care for themselves, secure employment, and maintain relationships. These veterans also have a high risk of premature death, including suicide. Effective treatment, especially antipsychotic drug therapy, has reduced the severity of their illnesses and increased their ability to function in society. VA's guideline for prescribing atypical antipsychotic drugs is sound and consistent with published clinical practice guidelines used by public and private health care systems. VA's prescribing guideline, recommends that physicians use their best clinical judgment, based on clinical circumstances and patients' needs, when choosing among the atypical drugs. Most Veterans Integrated Service Networks and facilities use VA's prescribing guideline; however, five VISNs have additional policies and procedures for prescribing atypical antipsychotic drugs. Although these procedures help manage pharmaceutical cost, they also have the potential to result in more weight given to cost than clinical judgment which is not consistent with the prescribing guideline."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) mission is to promote the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the U.S. airspace system. To this end, FAA is modernizing its air traffic control systems, a multibillion dollar effort that GAO has designated as a high-risk program. GAO's research into the practices of successful public- and private-sector organizations has shown that developing and using an enterprise architecture, or blueprint, to guide and constrain systems investments is crucial to the success of such a modernization effort. GAO was asked to determine whether FAA has established effective processes for managing the development and implementation of an enterprise architecture."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Media reports in 2005 and 2006 highlighted serious problems at organ transplant programs, calling attention to possible deficits in federal oversight. Two agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversee organ transplant programs: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) oversees transplant programs that receive Medicare reimbursement, and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) oversees the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), which manages the nation's organ allocation system. GAO was asked to examine (1) federal oversight of transplant programs at the time the high-profile cases came to light in 2005 and 2006 and (2) changes that federal agencies have made or planned since then to strengthen oversight. GAO interviewed CMS, HRSA, and OPTN officials and reviewed agency documents and data and a CMS draft proposal for sharing information with HRSA."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 109th Airlift Wing, New York Air National Guard, conducts supply missions for scientific research in the polar regions. Most unit members do not spend more than 30 consecutive days in the polar regions. Therefore, they are not eligible for hardship duty pay, which requires more than 30 consecutive days of duty in a designated hardship location. Congress considered legislation in 2002 to make an exception to the 30-day hardship duty pay threshold for polar duty. This legislation was not approved. In addition, the 109th Airlift Wing proposed designating polar duty as a hazardous duty. The Conference Report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 directed GAO and DOD to conduct separate reviews of special and incentive pays for polar duty. GAO assessed DOD's rationale for hardship duty pay and the implications of making an exception to hardship duty pay. In addition, GAO assessed the 109th Airlift Wing's justification for hazardous duty pay for polar duty."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For over 125 years, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), within the Department of the Treasury, has relied on a single contractor to supply the paper for U.S. currency. Such a long-term contracting relationship could contribute to higher costs and other risks. Another federal agency that relied on a single contractor, the U.S. Mint, decided to obtain a second supplier for coin metal. In solicitations for currency paper contracts in 1999 and 2003, BEP took steps to address barriers to competition that GAO had identified in 1998 through a survey of paper manufacturers. This report updates GAO's 1998 report using data from a second survey. It addresses (1) the changes BEP made to encourage competition and the results of its efforts, (2) the steps BEP took to ensure that it paid fair and reasonable prices, and (3) the analysis BEP has done of the advantages and disadvantages of obtaining a second supplier."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2003, 42,643 people were killed and more than 2.8 million people were injured in motor vehicle crashes. Efforts to reduce fatalities on the nation's roadways include the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program. Under this program, NHTSA conducts vehicle crash and rollover tests to encourage manufacturers to make safety improvements to new vehicles and provide the public with information on the relative safety of vehicles. GAO examined (1) how NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program crash tests vehicles, rates their safety, and reports the results to the public; (2) how NHTSA's program compares to other programs that crash test vehicles and report results to the public; and (3) the impact of the program and opportunities to enhance its effectiveness."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) spent more than $200 billion to purchase goods and services. To help ensure defense contracts are awarded fairly and current and former employees do not use their knowledge of DOD acquisition activities to gain financial or other benefits, DOD personnel are required to conduct themselves in a manner that meets federal ethics rules and standards. Regulations require DOD to implement an ethics program and provide that contractors meet certain ethics standards. For this report, GAO assessed (1) DOD's efforts to train and counsel its workforce to raise awareness of ethics rules and standards as well as DOD measures of the effectiveness of these efforts and (2) DOD's knowledge of defense contractors' programs to promote ethical standards of conduct."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, federal agencies have increasingly turned to interagency contracts--where one agency, for example, places an order under an existing contract for another agency--as a way to streamline the procurement process. Interagency contracting can offer benefits of improved efficiency, but this approach needs to be effectively managed. To learn more about some of the challenges of interagency contracting, we reviewed the process that the Department of Defense (DOD) used to acquire interrogation and certain other services through the Department of the Interior to support military operations in Iraq. On behalf of DOD, Interior issued 11 task orders, valued at over $66 million, on an existing contract. This report identifies breakdowns in the procurement process, contributing factors that led to the breakdowns, and the extent to which recent actions by Interior and DOD address these contributing factors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In its role as the nation's tax collector, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a demanding responsibility for collecting taxes, processing tax returns, and enforcing the nation's tax laws. Since GAO's first audit of IRS's financial statements in fiscal year 1992, a number of weaknesses in IRS's financial management operations have been identified. In related reports, GAO has recommended corrective action to address those weaknesses. Each year, as part of the annual audit of IRS's financial statements, GAO not only makes recommendations to address any new weaknesses identified, but also follows up on the status of weaknesses GAO identified in previous years' audits. The purpose of this report is to assist IRS management in tracking the status of audit recommendations and actions needed to fully address them."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the susceptibility of health care programs to fraud and abuse, Congress enacted the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) program as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Pub. L. No. 104-191. HIPAA requires that the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice (DOJ) issue a joint annual report to Congress on amounts deposited to the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund and amounts appropriated from the trust fund for the HCFAC program. It also requires GAO to submit reports biennially. This, our final report required by law, provides the results of our review of amounts reported as (1) deposits to the trust fund, (2) appropriations from the trust fund and justification for expenditure of such amounts by HHS and DOJ, and (3) savings resulting from expenditures from the trust fund. We also report on the repeated late issuance of the annual HCFAC report as well as the status of our prior recommendations."

The Navy has begun a multi-billion dollar program to modernize its 84 existing Aegis cruisers and destroyers over a period of more than 20 years. This report explores this program in detail, including the reasons for the program and the oversight issues it poses for Congress. This report will be updated as events warrant.

The 100-F-26:12 waste site was an approximately 308-m-long, 1.8-m-diameter east-west-trending reinforced concrete pipe that joined the North Process Sewer Pipelines (100-F-26:1) and the South Process Pipelines (100-F-26:4) with the 1.8-m reactor cooling water effluent pipeline (100-F-19). In accordance with this evaluation, the verification sampling results support a reclassification of this site to Interim Closed Out. The results of verification sampling show that residual contaminant concentrations do not preclude any future uses and allow for unrestricted use of shallow zone soils. The results also demonstrate that residual contaminant concentrations are protective of groundwater and the Columbia River.

Development of thermal analysis capabilities for a sodium metal halide battery system was initiated.

Various recycle strategies have been proposed to manage the inventory of transuranics in commercial spent nuclear fuel (CSNF), with a particular goal of increasing the loading capacity of spent fuel and reprocessing wastes in the Yucca Mountain repository. Transuranic recycling in commercial LWRs can be seen as a viable means of slowing the accumulation of transuranics in the nationwide CSNF stockpile. Furthermore, this type of approach is an important first step in demonstrating the benefits of a nuclear fuel cycle which incorporates recycling, such as envisioned for Generation-IV reactor systems under development. Recycling strategies of this sort are not proposed as an attempt to eliminate the need of a geologic nuclear waste repository, but as a means to enhance the usefulness of the repository currently under construction in the U.S., perhaps circumventing the need for a second facility. A US-DOE Secretarial recommendation on the need for the construction of a second geologic repository is required by 2010. The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) has supported a breadth of work to evaluate the ideal transuranic separation and recycle strategy. Previous AFCI studies of LWR-based transmutation have considered the benefits of homogeneously recycling plutonium, plutonium and neptunium, and all transuranic (TRU) species. …

This report documents results from a study carried out by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for the Office of Public Transportation, Tennessee Department of Transportation. The study team was tasked with developing a process and a supporting methodology for estimating the benefits accruing to the State from the operation of state supported public transit services. The team was also tasked with developing forecasts of the future demands for these State supported transit services at five year intervals through the year 2020, broken down where possible to the local transit system level. Separate ridership benefits and forecasts were also requested for the State's urban and rural transit operations. Tennessee's public transit systems are subsidized to a degree by taxpayers. It is therefore in the public interest that assessments of the benefits of such systems be carried out at intervals, to determine how they are contributing to the well-being of the state's population. For some population groups within the State of Tennessee these transit services have become essential as a means of gaining access to workplaces and job training centers, to educational and health care facilities, as well as to shops, social functions and recreational sites.

This report describes wave, tidal, and in-stream energy generation technologies — also referred to as hydrokinetic or marine energy. It discusses the recent changes in law aimed to clarify the federal role in ocean wave and renewable energy.

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The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), Bureau of Environmental Science and Engineering, Office of Radiological Health (ORH) [as the primary local technical consultant in the event of a radiological or nuclear incident within the boundaries of New York City] requested the assistance of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) with the development of a Feasibility Study for Potassium Iodide (KI) distribution in the unlikely event of a significant release of radioactive iodine in or near New York City. Brookhaven National Laboratory had previously provided support for New York City with the development of the radiological/nuclear portions of its All Hazards Emergency Response Plans. The work is funded by Medical and Health Research Association (MHRA) of New York City, Inc., under a work grant by the Federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for Public Health Preparedness and Response for Bioterrorism. This report is part of the result of that effort. The conclusions of this report are that: (1) There is no credible radiological scenario that would prompt the need for large segments of the general population of New York City to take KI as a result of a projected plume exposure to radioiodine reaching even the lowest threshold …

The CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC) has recommended to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) a two phase approach for removal and storage (Phase 1) and treatment and packaging for offsite shipment (Phase 2) of the sludge currently stored within the 105-K West Basin. This two phased strategy enables early removal of sludge from the 105-K West Basin by 2015, allowing remediation of historical unplanned releases of waste and closure of the 100-K Area. In Phase 1, the sludge currently stored in the Engineered Containers and Settler Tanks within the 105-K West Basin will be transferred into sludge transport and storage containers (STSCs). The STSCs will be transported to an interim storage facility. In Phase 2, sludge will be processed (treated) to meet shipping and disposal requirements and the sludge will be packaged for final disposal at a geologic repository. The purpose of this study is to evaluate two alternatives for interim Phase 1 storage of K Basin sludge. The cost, schedule, and risks for sludge storage at a newly-constructed Alternate Storage Facility (ASF) are compared to those at T Plant, which has been used previously for sludge storage. Based on the results of the assessment, T Plant is …