Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) faces the daunting challenge of cost-effectively counting a population that is growing steadily larger, more diverse, increasingly difficult to find, and more reluctant to participate in the decennial census. Managing its human capital, maintaining community partnerships, and developing advertising strategies to increase response rates for the decennial census are several ways that the Bureau can complete the 2010 Census accurately and within budget. This testimony, based primarily on past GAO work, provides information on (1) diversity in the Bureau's workforce, (2) plans for partnering with others in an effort to build public awareness of the census; and (3) certain requirements for ensuring contracting opportunities for small businesses."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In controlling the transfer of weapons and related technologies overseas, the U.S. government must limit the possibility of sensitive items falling into the wrong hands while allowing legitimate trade to occur. Achieving this balance, however, has become increasingly difficult due to redefined security threats and an increasingly globalized economy. The export control system is a key government program intended to balance U.S. interests. GAO has identified and reported on many weaknesses and challenges in the export control system. The export control system is a complex system involving multiple departments, laws, and regulations. It is governed primarily by the State Department, which regulates arms exports, and the Commerce Department, which regulates dual-use exports that have both military and civilian applications. GAO has made a number of recommendations aimed at improving the export control system, but many have yet to be implemented. This statement focuses on three key areas: (1) weaknesses and challenges that have created vulnerabilities in the U.S. export control system, (2) inefficiencies in the export licensing process, and (3) State's and Commerce's lack of assessments on the effectiveness of their controls."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government guarantees loans in the Federal Family Education Loan program (FFELP) so that private lenders that participate in the program will be reimbursed if a borrower defaults, and about $4.6 billion was spent in fiscal year 2006 to repay lenders for defaulted loans. To retain the guarantee on their loans, all FFELP lenders must comply with minimum due diligence requirements for servicing loans, including establishing a borrower's first repayment due date and making a certain number of attempts to contact delinquent borrowers. Lenders that adhere to these requirements are eligible to receive at least a standard reimbursement rate of 97 percent of the outstanding principal and accrued interest for defaults. However, pursuant to a provision of the Higher Education Amendments of 1992, the Secretary of Education has the authority to designate lenders and loan servicers as "exceptional performers" in servicing FFELP loans, and loans serviced by those with the exceptional performer designation qualify for a 99 percent reimbursement rate. The amendments also provided authority to the Secretary of Education to terminate the exceptional performer program following a GAO study, if such termination is in …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, Congress has provided the Department of Defense (DOD) with hundreds of billions of dollars in supplemental and annual appropriations for military operations in support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). DOD's reported annual costs for GWOT have shown a steady increase from about $0.2 billion in fiscal year 2001 to about $98.4 billion in fiscal year 2006. In fiscal year 2007, Congress provided DOD with about $161.8 billion in annual and supplemental appropriations for GWOT. To continue its GWOT operations, DOD has requested $141.7 billion in appropriations for fiscal year 2008. The United States' commitments to GWOT will likely involve the continued investment of significant resources, requiring decision makers to consider difficult trade-offs as the nation faces an increasing long-range fiscal challenge. The magnitude of future costs will depend on several direct and indirect cost variables and, in some cases, decisions that have not yet been made. DOD's future costs will likely be affected by the pace and duration of operations, the types of facilities needed to support troops overseas, redeployment plans, and the amount of equipment to be repaired or replaced. Future cost variables …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 introduced two highway programs--the Surface Transportation Program (STP) and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ)--that may be used on both highway and transit projects and that are referred to as "flexible funding" for the purposes of this report. GAO was asked to examine (1) the degree to which STP and CMAQ funding has been used on transit and how this use varies across states and urbanized areas, and (2) how states and urbanized areas decide which projects to fund with STP and CMAQ funding and what the outcomes of these decisions have been. To address these issues, GAO analyzed data on flexible funding used on transit projects from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and spoke with officials in selected states and urbanized areas about their project-selection processes for flexible funding and the outcomes of these funding decisions. States and urbanized areas were selected based on their prior use of flexible funding. GAO is not making recommendations in this report. The Department of Transportation generally agreed with the report's findings and …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Human trafficking is a transnational crime whose victims include men, women, and children and may involve violations of labor, immigration, antislavery, and other criminal laws. To ensure punishment of traffickers and protection of victims, Congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), which is subject to reauthorization in 2007. The Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) lead federal investigations and prosecutions of trafficking crimes. As requested, this report discusses (1) key activities federal agencies have undertaken to combat human trafficking crimes, (2) federal efforts to coordinate investigations and prosecutions of these crimes, and (3) how the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) supported federally funded state and local human trafficking task forces. GAO reviewed strategies, reports, and other agency documents; analyzed trafficking data; and interviewed agency officials and task force members."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Human trafficking--a worldwide crime involving the exploitation of men, women, and children for others' financial gain--is a violation of human rights. Victims are often lured or abducted and forced to work in involuntary servitude. Since 2001, the U.S. government has provided about $447 million to combat global human trafficking. As GAO previously reported, estimates of the number of trafficking victims are questionable. In this report, GAO examines (1) collaboration among organizations involved in international antitrafficking efforts, (2) U.S. government monitoring of antitrafficking projects and difficulties in evaluating these projects, and (3) suggestions for strengthening monitoring and evaluation. GAO analyzed agency documents; convened an expert panel; interviewed officials; and conducted fieldwork in Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2004, Congress established the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for foreign assistance. Congress has appropriated almost $6 billion to MCC. As of March 2007, MCC had signed almost $3 billion in compacts with 11 countries, including a 5-year, $65.7 million compact with Vanuatu. MCC states that the Vanuatu compact will have a transformational effect on the country's economy, increasing per capita income and GDP and benefiting 65,000 poor, rural people. This testimony summarizes a July 2007 report (GAO-07-909) examining (1) MCC's methods of projecting economic benefits, (2) MCC's portrayal and analysis of the projected benefits, and (3) risks that may affect the compact's impact. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed MCC's analyses and met with officials and business owners in Vanuatu as well as with other donors. In its July 2007 report, GAO recommended that the Chief Executive Officer of MCC revise the public reporting of the Vanuatu compact's projected impact; assess whether similar reporting in other compacts accurately reflects underlying analyses; and improve its economic analyses by more fully accounting for risks to project benefits. MCC did not directly address GAO's recommendations but commented that it …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "MCC projects that the Vanuatu compact’s transportation infrastructure projects will provide direct benefits such as reduced transportation costs and induced benefits from growth in tourism and agriculture. MCC estimated the costs and benefits over 20 years, with benefits beginning in full in 2008 or 2009 and growing each year, and it counted poor, rural beneficiaries by defining the area where benefits were likely to accrue. Using projected benefits and costs, MCC calculated the compact’s economic rate of return (ERR) and its effects on Vanuatu’s gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita income."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the past several decades, the capacity of the nation's road network has not grown fast enough to keep pace with demand. The increasing congestion is apparent to millions of commuters and freight operators. Although road building is perhaps the most familiar antidote, Congress, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and transportation research have emphasized the need to more efficiently use the existing infrastructure as a means to control congestion. GAO was asked to examine various issues associated with increasing the efficient use of existing infrastructure. This report examines the following questions: (1) What factors inhibit the efficient use of the existing infrastructure of roads and highways? (2) What techniques have been developed for making the current infrastructure more efficient and what is known about the results? (3) How have local decision makers implemented these techniques? (4) What strategies exist for increasing the use of such techniques? To address these questions, GAO reviewed existing studies, examined efforts in five states, and sought transportation officials' views, among other things."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reported in 2005 on major changes in the mailing industry that have reinforced the need for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to reduce costs and increase efficiency. To address these changes and become more efficient, USPS is implementing initiatives aimed at realigning its mail processing network. In a follow-up review, GAO recently reported that USPS has made progress in implementing these initiatives, yet challenges such as maintaining delivery standards and addressing stakeholder and community resistance remain. In July 2006, GAO also reported on USPS's progress in improving delivery performance information. This testimony describes (1) the changes that have affected USPS's processing network, (2) GAO's concerns related to USPS's strategy for realigning its mail processing network and implementing its area mail processing consolidations, and (3) GAO's concerns related to USPS's progress in improving delivery performance information. This testimony is based on prior GAO reports."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a legislative mandate to report on the effects of certain program changes on the actuarial soundness of the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) program, which is part of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Military Retirement Fund (Fund). The primary purpose of the SBP is to provide benefits to the surviving dependents of deceased members or retirees of the armed forces. In certain cases, individuals other than dependents can be designated recipients of survivor benefits. The Fund accumulates financing resources in order to fund, on an actuarially sound basis, the liabilities of the military retirement and SBP programs. The SBP was created by legislation enacted on September 21, 1972, and has been modified various times by subsequent legislation. The fiscal year 2006 National Defense Authorization Act requires that we report to Congress on (1) the effect of recent significant SBP program changes on the actuarial soundness of the program, (2) the effect of these significant SBP program changes by the various categories of participants and in total on (a) DOD normal cost payments for the program and (b) Department of the Treasury (Treasury) payments to amortize …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes that federal agencies must provide the public with access to government information, thus enabling them to learn about government operations and decisions. To help ensure appropriate implementation, the act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General, providing specific information about their FOIA operations. In addition, a recent Executive Order directs agencies to develop plans to improve their FOIA operations, including, among other things, goals to reduce backlogs in FOIA requests. GAO has reported previously on the contents of these annual reports for 25 major agencies. For this hearing, GAO was asked to testify both on the annual reports for fiscal year 2005 and on the recently developed improvement plans for these 25 agencies. GAO based its testimony on its ongoing work on these topics. Upon completion of its ongoing review, GAO expects to make recommendations to improve agency implementation of the Executive Order, including efforts to reduce and eliminate backlog."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. goods are subject to substantial counterfeiting and piracy, creating health and safety hazards for consumers, damaging victimized companies, and threatening the U.S. economy. In 2004, the Bush administration launched the Strategy for Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP)--a multi-agency effort to better protect intellectual property (IP) by combating piracy and counterfeiting. This testimony, based on a prior GAO report as well as from observations from on-going work, describes (1) the range and effectiveness of multi-agency efforts on IP protection preceding STOP, (2) initial observations on the organization and efforts of STOP, and (3) initial observations on the efforts of U.S. agencies to prevent counterfeit and pirated goods from entering the United States, which relate to one of STOP's goals."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the Spanish translation of the highlights page for this document, see GAO-06-1111. Ley para que ningun nino se quede atras: La ayuda del Departamento de Educacion puede contribuir a que los Estados midan mejor el progreso de los alumnos que no dominan bien el ingles. GAO-06-1111, Julio de 2006. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) focused attention on the academic achievement of more than 5 million students with limited English proficiency. Obtaining valid test results for these students is challenging, given their language barriers. This report describes (1) the extent to which these students are meeting annual academic progress goals, (2) what states have done to ensure the validity of their academic assessments, (3) what states are doing to ensure the validity of their English language proficiency assessments, and (4) how the U.S. Department of Education (Education) is supporting states' efforts to meet NCLBA's assessment requirements for these students. To collect this information, we convened a group of experts and studied five states (California, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, and Texas). We also conducted a state survey and reviewed state and Education …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. rail transit system is a vital component of the nation's transportation infrastructure. Safety and security oversight of rail transit is the responsibility of state-designated oversight agencies following Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements. In this report, GAO addressed: (1) how the State Safety Oversight program is designed; (2) what is known about the program's impact; and (3) challenges facing the program. We also provide information about oversight of transit systems that cross state boundaries. To do our work we surveyed state oversight agencies and transit agencies covered by FTA's program."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The tax gap--the difference between the tax amounts taxpayers pay voluntarily and on time and what they should pay under the law--has been a long-standing problem in spite of many efforts to reduce it. Most recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated a gross tax gap for tax year 2001 of $345 billion and estimated it would recover $55 billion of this gap, resulting in a net tax gap of $290 billion. When some taxpayers fail to comply, the burden of funding the nation's commitments falls more heavily on compliant taxpayers. Reducing the tax gap would help improve the nation's fiscal stability. For example, each 1 percent reduction in the net tax gap would likely yield $3 billion annually. GAO was asked to discuss the tax gap and various approaches to reduce it. This testimony discusses to what extent the tax gap could be reduced through three approaches--simplifying or reforming the tax system, providing IRS with additional enforcement tools, and devoting additional resources to enforcement--as well as various factors that could guide decision-making when devising a strategy to reduce the tax gap. This statement is based on prior …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2006, the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program is expected to collect over $37 billion in taxes from employers to pay $34 billion in benefits to unemployed workers. Under state UI programs, employers' tax contributions are experience-rated--that is, they reflect the extent to which they laid off workers who then collected benefits. To examine the equity of this system, we met with officials from five states, reviewed prior studies, and examined state data to determine (1) how states ensure that employers pay UI taxes based on their experience with unemployment, and the aspects of state unemployment insurance systems that limit experience rating; (2) the extent to which employers pay unemployment insurance taxes commensurate with unemployment benefits paid to their former employees; and how this varies by industry; and (3) steps states could take to increase the degree of experience rating. We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Labor (Labor) for its review. Overall, Labor agreed with our findings."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, federal agencies spend billions of dollars to buy commercial products and services through the General Service Administration's (GSA) Multiple Award Schedules program. The program has grown significantly over the past several years. Currently, federal agencies can directly purchase, through more than 16,000 schedule contracts, over 8 million products from more than 10,000 commercial vendors. In fiscal year 2004, purchases from these contracts totaled more than $32 billion. The multiple award schedules program is designed to take advantage of the government's significant buying power. To maximize savings, GSA negotiates discounts that are equal to or greater than those given to the vendor's most favored customers. This testimony focuses on GSA's historic use of two proven negotiation tools to improve the pricing of schedules contracts--pre-award audits and postaward audits of pre-award information. Pre-award audits allow GSA to avoid potential overpricing by verifying vendor pricing information before contracts are awarded. Postaward audits allow GSA to identify overpricing of awarded contracts and recover overcharges."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Advances in technology have led to rapidly increasing sales of new electronic devices, particularly televisions, computers, and computer monitors. With this increase comes the dilemma of how to manage these products when they come to the end of their useful lives. Concerns have been increasingly expressed that while millions of existing computers become obsolete each year, only a fraction of them are being recycled. Some have alleged that the disposal of used electronics causes a number of environmental problems. They note, for example, that toxic substances such as lead can leach from used electronics. They have also noted that computers and other electronic equipment contain precious metals that require substantial amounts of energy and land to extract. These metals, they say, can often be extracted with less environmental impact from used electronics than from the environment. In this testimony, GAO summarizes existing information on the amounts of, and problems associated with, used electronics. GAO also examines the factors affecting the nation's ability to recycle and reuse electronics when such products have reached the end of their useful lives. This testimony discusses preliminary results of GAO's work. GAO will …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies spend billions of dollars every year on information technology and are increasingly using performance-based contracting methods where agencies specify desired outcomes and allow contractors to design the best solutions to achieve those outcomes. Share-in-savings contracting is one such method under which a contractor provides funding for a project, and the agency compensates the contractor from any savings derived as a result of contract performance. The E-Government Act of 2002 authorized the use of share-in-savings contracting for information technology and required implementing regulations by mid-September 2003. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reported in December 2004 that no share-in-savings contracts had been awarded. The act's authority expires in September 2005. The act required GAO to assess the effectiveness of share-in-savings contracts. Because no such contracts have been awarded, GAO cannot provide an assessment. Instead, GAO reviewed the status of regulations and tools available to agencies in developing these contracts and identified the reasons agencies have not used the authority provided by the act. OMB and the General Services Administration (GSA) generally agreed with GAO's report."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA) allows the federal government to collect state debts from federal payments to contractors. However, before a state can participate in this program, DCIA requires that the state enter into a reciprocal agreement with the Department of the Treasury that would require the state to collect unpaid federal debt from state payments if Treasury collects unpaid state debt from federal payments. In February 2004, we reported that Department of Defense (DOD) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records showed that over 27,000 DOD contractors had nearly $3 billion in unpaid federal taxes as of September 30, 2002. In a hearing before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on February 12, 2004, we noted that many of those contractors also had unpaid state taxes. Based on the issues raised in that hearing, Congress requested that we determine (1) the extent to which Financial Management Service (FMS) and the states have entered into reciprocal agreements to collect unpaid state and federal debt from their payments to contractors and (2) whether additional opportunities may exist for the Department of the Treasury's FMS to collect unpaid …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "With the number of airplane passengers using U.S. airports expected to grow to almost 1 billion by the year 2015, ground access to U.S. airports has become an important factor in the development of our nation's transportation networks. Increases in the number of passengers traveling to and from airports will place greater strains on our nation's airport access roads and airport capacity, which can have a number of negative economic and social effects. U.S. transportation policy has generally addressed these negative economic and social effects from the standpoint of individual transportation modes and local government involvement. However, European transportation policy is increasingly focusing on intermodal transportation as a possible means to address congestion without sacrificing economic growth. This report addresses the development of intermodal capabilities at U.S. airports, including (1) the roles of different levels of government and the private sector; (2) the extent such facilities have been developed; (3) benefits, costs, and barriers to such development; and (4) strategies to improve these capabilities. GAO provided a draft of this report to the Department of Transportation (DOT) and Amtrak. DOT generally concurred with the report, and …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A successful terrorist attack on a Department of Energy (DOE) site containing nuclear weapons material could have devastating effects for the site and nearby communities. DOE's Office of the Under Secretary for Energy, Science and Environment (ESE), which is responsible for DOE operations in areas such as energy research, manages five sites that contain weapons-grade nuclear material. A heavily armed security force equipped with such items as automatic weapons protects ESE sites. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which ESE protective forces are meeting DOE's existing readiness requirements and (2) the actions DOE and ESE will need to take to successfully defend against the larger, revised terrorist threat identified in the October 2004 design basis threat (DBT) by DOE's implementation deadline of October 2008."