A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) manages 16 irrigation projects on Indian reservations in the western United States. These projects, which were generally constructed in the late 1800s and early 1900s, include water storage facilities and delivery structures for agricultural purposes. Serious concerns have arisen about their maintenance and management. GAO was asked to examine (1) BIA's estimated deferred maintenance cost for its 16 irrigation projects, (2) what shortcomings, if any, exist in BIA's current management of its irrigation projects, and (3) any issues that need to be addressed to determine the long-term direction of BIA's irrigation program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Trilogy project--initiated in 2001--is the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) largest information technology (IT) upgrade to date. While ultimately successful in providing updated IT infrastructure and systems, Trilogy was not a success with regard to upgrading FBI's investigative applications. Further, the project was plagued with missed milestones and escalating costs, which eventually totaled nearly $537 million. In light of these events, Congress asked GAO to determine whether (1) internal controls provided reasonable assurance that improper payment of unallowable contractor costs would not be made or would be detected in the normal course of business, (2) payments to contractors were properly supported as a valid use of government funds, and (3) FBI maintained proper accountability for assets purchased with Trilogy project funds."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was asked to update its 1989 report on the distribution of economic development funding using newer tools now available for measuring the distribution of federal funds to rural areas. GAO agreed to (1) identify federal economic development programs, (2) determine the best way to identify rural areas for this report, (3) determine the amount and share of economic development funding that rural areas receive, and (4) discuss the way federal agencies report data on economic development funding."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The UN employs about 85,000 military and civilian personnel in peacekeeping operations in 16 countries. The United States has provided about $1 billion annually to support UN peacekeeping operations. In addition, the United States has led and participated in many such operations. UN reports and congressional hearings have raised concerns about accountability for UN peacekeeping operations and the need for reforms. We were asked to provide information relating to the cost and relative strengths of UN and U.S. peacekeeping. In particular, we have (1) compared the cost of the ongoing UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti with the cost that the United States would have incurred had an operation been deemed in the U.S. national interest and undertaken without UN involvement; (2) analyzed factors that could materially affect the estimated costs of a U.S. operation; and (3) identified the strengths of the United States and the UN for leading the operation. We developed our cost estimate of a U.S.-led operation using cost models from the Departments of Defense and State. The estimate is based on various military assumptions, such as the use of primarily active duty troops. …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2004, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established America's Shield Initiative (ASI)--a program that included a system of sensors, cameras, and databases formerly known as the Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System (ISIS)--to detect, characterize, and deter illegal breaches to the northern and southern U.S. borders. The goals of the ASI program were to address ISIS capability limitations and support the department's antiterrorism mission. In April 2005, department officials told GAO that ISIS was subsumed within ASI. By congressional mandate, GAO reviewed the program to determine (1) the operational needs that ASI was intended to address and DHS's plans for ASI, (2) the steps that DHS had taken to ensure that ASI was aligned with the department's enterprise architecture, and (3) the actions that DHS had taken to establish the capability to effectively manage ASI. In written comments, DHS agreed with a draft of this report, stating that it was factually correct in virtually all aspects. DHS also commented that it has ceased work on ASI and redirected resources to its Secure Border Initiative. It also described program management corrective actions that it plans to implement."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a program--the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, on selected foreign nationals entering and exiting the United States. US-VISIT uses these identifiers (digital fingerscans and photographs) to screen persons against watch lists and to verify that a visitor is the person who was issued a visa or other travel document. Visitors are also to confirm their departure by having their visas or passports scanned and undergoing fingerscanning at selected air and sea ports of entry (POE). GAO has made many recommendations to improve the program, all of which DHS has agreed to implement. GAO was asked to report on DHS's progress in responding to 18 of these recommendations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many forms of identification (ID) that federal employees and contractors use to access government-controlled buildings and information systems can be easily forged, stolen, or altered to allow unauthorized access. In an effort to increase the quality and security of federal ID and credentialing practices, the President directed the establishment of a governmentwide standard--Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201--for secure and reliable forms of ID based on "smart cards" that use integrated circuit chips to store and process data with a variety of external systems across government. GAO was asked to determine (1) actions that selected federal agencies have taken to implement the new standard and (2) challenges that federal agencies are facing in implementing the standard."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the past 3 years, Education awarded an average of $4.8 billion annually in discretionary grants through its competitive awards process and through consideration of unsolicited proposals. GAO assessed Education's policies and procedures for both competitive awards and unsolicited proposals awarded by its Office of Innovation and Improvement in 2003 and 2004 and determined whether it followed them in awarding grants in those years. GAO also reviewed Education's grant award decisions for several 2001 and 2002 grants to determine whether the department followed its own policies."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because most workers rely primarily on their employers to provide both wages and benefits as part of a total compensation package, the trends in the costs and availability of employer-sponsored compensation have a significant bearing on workers' well-being. Through tax preferences and payroll taxes, federal government policy also has a bearing on employees' access to benefits and on the costs carried by employers. The federal government provides significant tax subsidies for both health insurance plans and qualified retirement plans. In addition, workers and employers are required to pay taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, programs intended to help provide for workers' economic security and peace of mind in retirement. In this report, GAO examined federal data on private employers' costs for active workers and sought perspectives from 17 experts to identify (1) recent trends in employers' total compensation costs; (2) composition of the trends; (3) whether employees' costs, participation, or access to benefits changed; and (4) possible implications of the changes for private systems. GAO received technical comments from the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services and from some of the experts GAO …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1992, the United States began a unilateral moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons. To compensate for the lack of testing, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) developed the Stockpile Stewardship Program to assess and certify the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. In 2001, NNSA's weapons laboratories began developing what is intended to be a common framework for a new methodology for assessing and certifying the safety and reliability of the nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing. GAO was asked to evaluate (1) the new methodology NNSA is developing and (2) NNSA's management of the implementation of this new methodology."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Dedicated access privilege (DAP) programs are one tool the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) uses to help end overfishing and promote conservation. Under a DAP program, NMFS sets an allowable catch in a fishery and allocates the privilege to harvest a portion of the total to eligible entities, such as fishermen. Because DAP programs can have significant impacts on fishermen and their communities, many believe that effective participation by fishermen and other stakeholders in the development of these programs is critical. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which the regional fishery management councils are using a framework for effective participation and (2) the methods stakeholders and participation experts suggest for enhancing stakeholder participation in developing DAP programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Under its Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insures nearly $5 billion in mortgage loans for the renovation or construction of hospitals that would otherwise have difficulty accessing capital. In response to a requirement in the 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Conference Report, GAO examined (1) the design and management of the program, as compared with private insurance, (2) the nature and management of the relationship between HUD and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in implementing the program, (3) the financial implications of the program to the General Insurance/Special Risk Insurance (GI/SRI) fund, including risk posed by program and market trends, and (4) how HUD estimates the annual credit subsidy for the program, including the factors and assumptions used."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For the last several decades, the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies and contractors have employed thousands of individuals in secret and dangerous work in the atomic weapons industry. In 2000, Congress enacted the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act to compensate those individuals who have developed cancer or other specified diseases related to on-the-job exposure to radiation and other hazards at these work sites. Under Subtitle B, determining the eligibility of claimants for compensation is a complex process, involving several federal agencies and a reconstruction of the historical evidence available. The Department of Labor must consider a claimant's case based on records of his or her employment and work activities, which are provided by the Department of Energy. Labor considers the compensability of certain claims by relying on estimates of the likely radiation levels to which particular workers were exposed. These "dose reconstructions" are developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIOSH also compiles information in "site profiles" about the radiation protection practices and hazardous materials used at various plants …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) was enacted in part to help ensure that only eligible persons are registered to vote. Under HAVA, as of January 1, 2004, states were to create computerized statewide voter registration lists to serve as official rosters of legally registered voters for elections for federal office. States, however, were given the option to seek a waiver to postpone implementation of HAVA provisions until 2006. All but nine states did so. This report discusses the experiences of the nine states that were subject to the original HAVA deadline--Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Minnesota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. The report describes actions election officials in these states reported taking to meet specific HAVA requirements--as applicable to their states--for (1) establishing computerized statewide voter registration lists and (2) verifying the accuracy of information on voter registration applications and maintaining accurate computerized voter lists. GAO is also reporting what states said about challenges they faced and lessons learned implementing the requirements. Draft sections of this report were reviewed by the nine states; the Election Assistance Commission, which was responsible for …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for the maintenance, renovation, and new construction of the Capitol Hill complex, which comprises more than three dozen facilities and consists of nine jurisdictions, such as the U.S. Capitol and the Senate and House Office Buildings. In 2003, at the request of Congress, GAO issued a management review of AOC that contained recommendations in seven areas to help AOC become more strategic and accountable. GAO reported on AOC's progress in implementing those recommendations in January and August 2004. In 2005 and 2006, GAO briefed Congress on AOC's recent progress in implementing GAO's recommendations and on issues related to AOC's project and facilities management. This report summarizes GAO's (1) assessment of AOC's progress in implementing previous GAO recommendations and in improving project and facilities management and (2) delineation of remaining management challenges."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2005, U.S. agriculture faced potentially devastating losses from Asian Soybean Rust (ASR), a fungal disease that spreads airborne spores. Fungicides approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can protect against ASR. In 2005, growers in 31 states planted about 72.2 million soybean acres worth about $17 billion. While favorable weather conditions limited losses due to ASR, it still threatens the soybean industry. In May 2005, GAO described the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to prepare for ASR's entry, (Agriculture Production: USDA's Preparation for Asian Soybean Rust, GAO-05-668R). This report examines (1) USDA's strategy to minimize ASR's effects in 2005 and the lessons learned to improve future efforts and (2) USDA, EPA, and others' efforts to develop, test, and license fungicides for ASR and to identify and breed soybeans that tolerate it."

Report for an Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) Grant Partner Uplift Project. This report details the status of the project and covers encountered problems and activities.

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the nation's largest health insurer and the largest grant-making agency in the federal government. HHS programs impact all Americans, whether through direct services, scientific advances, or information that helps them choose medical care, medicine, or even food. For example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a major operating division within HHS, is responsible for the Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide care to about one in every four Americans. In carrying out their responsibilities, both HHS and CMS rely extensively on networked information systems containing sensitive medical and financial information. GAO was asked to assess the effectiveness of HHS's information security program, with emphasis on CMS, in protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its information and information systems."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program is a multibillion-dollar, high-risk, highly complex effort that involves the development and delivery of a number of modernized information systems intended to replace the agency's aging business and tax processing systems. As required by law, IRS submitted its fiscal year 2006 expenditure plan, in October 2005, to congressional appropriations committees, requesting $199 million from the BSM account. GAO's objectives in reviewing the plan were to (1) determine whether it satisfied the conditions specified in the law and (2) provide any other observations about the plan and IRS's BSM program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2004, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)--the federal regulator of national banks--issued rules concerning the extent to which federal law preempts state and local banking laws. Some state officials and consumer groups expressed concerns about a perceived loss of consumer protection. GAO identified (1) how OCC's complaint process compares with that of other federal bank regulators, (2) how complaint information informs OCC's supervision of national banks, and (3) issues that consumer advocates and state officials have raised about OCC's consumer protection efforts and OCC's responses to the issues."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Millions of U.S. mothers and infants each year forgo the health benefits of breastfeeding and rely on infant formula. Infants who are breastfed are less likely to develop infectious diseases and chronic health problems, such as diabetes and asthma, while breastfeeding mothers are less likely to develop certain types of cancer. Recognizing the health benefits of breastfeeding for infants and mothers, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Healthy People 2010 campaign has recommended that more U.S. infants be breastfed and that babies be breastfed for longer periods of time. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. would save a minimum of $3.6 billion in health care costs and indirect costs, such as parents' lost wages, if breastfeeding increased to meet these Healthy People goals. Breastfeeding rates are particularly low among infants who participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). WIC is administered by the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in cooperation with state and local agencies. The program provides free food and infant formula to improve the health and nutritional well-being of low-income women, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Among federal efforts to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic are the CARE Act of 1990 and the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program (HOPWA) administered by the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), respectively. Both use formulas based upon a grantee's number of AIDS cases, rather than HIV and AIDS cases, to distribute funds to metropolitan areas, states, and territories. HIV cases must be incorporated with AIDS cases in CARE Act formulas not later than fiscal year 2007. GAO was asked to examine (1) how CARE Act and HOPWA funds are allocated among types of services, (2) the extent of funding distribution differences among CARE Act and HOPWA grantees, and how funding formula provisions contribute to these differences, and (3) what distribution differences could result from incorporating HIV case counts in CARE Act and HOPWA funding formulas."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies have increasingly relied on contact centers--centers handling inquiries via multiple channels such as telephone, Web page, e-mail, and postal mail--as a key means of communicating with the public. Many of these centers are contractor-operated. Concerns exist about the accuracy of responses provided through contractor-operated centers. This report examines (1) the extent to which the contract terms and oversight practices for contact centers at selected agencies emphasize the importance of providing accurate information to the public, and (2) whether guidance for the operation of contact centers and basic information needed to provide general oversight exist. GAO reviewed one contractor-operated contact center at each of six agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), General Services Administration (GSA), U.S. Postal Service (USPS), and the Departments of Defense, Labor, and Education (DOD, DOL, and Education)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For fiscal years 1999 through 2005, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), spent about $2.7 billion to fund the more than 40 health professions education programs authorized under title VII and title VIII of the Public Health Service Act. These programs include those providing grants to institutions, direct assistance to students, and funding for health workforce analyses. Title VII includes programs related to the education of providers, such as primary care physicians. Title VIII includes programs related to nursing education. Most of these programs were last reauthorized in 1998. GAO reviewed changes in funding and in the number of these programs since 1998, HRSA's goals and assessment of the programs, and HRSA's national health professions workforce projections. GAO reviewed relevant laws and agency documents and data, and interviewed HRSA officials and representatives of health professions education associations."