Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses internal controls weaknesses that left two Navy units in San Diego, California, vulnerable to purchase card fraud and abuse. GAO found a proliferation of purchase cards at the two units in San Diego--the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and the Navy Public Works. In the end, more than 1,700 cardholders essentially had the authority to make their own purchase decisions. A serious breakdown in internal controls over the receipt of government property and the certification of monthly statements, coupled with flawed or nonexistent policies and procedures and the failure of Navy employees to adhere to valid policies and procedures, led to (1) the loss, theft, and misuse of government property; (2) the potential abuse of purchase cards; and (3) payments of potentially fraudulent charges. Five fraud cases have already been identified, and the government remains extremely vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse arising from the purchase card program at the two Navy units. This testimony summarized the November report, GAO-02-32."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there have been 181 confirmed cases of illicit trafficking of nuclear materials between 1993 and December 31, 2001. Nuclear materials can be smuggled across a country's border through a variety of means: they can be hidden in a car, train, or ship, carried in personal luggage through an airport; or walked across an unprotected border. U.S. efforts to help other countries combat nuclear smuggling are divided among six federal agencies--the Departments of Energy (DOE); State; and Defense (DOD); the U.S. Customs Service; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and the U.S. Coast Guard. From fiscal year 1992 through fiscal year 2001, the six agencies spent about $86 million to help 30 countries, mostly in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe, combat the threat of smuggling nuclear and other materials that could be used in weapons of mass destruction. Assistance provided by six agencies includes installing radiation detection equipment, helping countries improve their ability to control the export of goods and technologies that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, and providing other equipment and training to improve …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past decade a number of requirements have been established with regard to the processing of security clearances for federal employees. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) of 2004 established statutory clearance requirements for the executive agencies, military departments, and intelligence community. These requirements include, among other things, milestones for the reduction in length of time to complete personnel security investigations and adjudications, reciprocity of security clearance and access determinations, the establishment of an integrated database to track investigative and adjudication information with the authorization of appropriations for its implementation, and continuous evaluation of available technology in investigations and adjudications. The most recent security clearance reform efforts include the Joint Security and Suitability Reform Team's (hereafter referred to as the joint reform team) Security and Suitability Process Reform initial report, which was issued on April 30, 2008 in response to a memorandum from the President, and the President's Executive Order 13467, which was released on June 30, 2008. The joint reform team's initial report contains a reform plan that outlines a new 7-step process for determining clearance eligibility, and the executive order establishes a Performance …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Chesapeake Bay Program (Bay Program) was created in 1983 when Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to establish a partnership to restore the Bay. The partnership's most recent agreement, Chesapeake 2000, sets out five broad goals to guide the restoration effort through 2010. This testimony summarizes the findings of an October 2005 GAO report (GAO-06-96) on (1) the extent to which measures for assessing restoration progress had been established, (2) the extent to which program reports clearly and accurately described the bay's health, (3) how much funding was provided for the effort for fiscal years 1995 to 2004, and (4) how effectively the effort was being coordinated and managed. It also summarizes actions taken by the program in response to GAO's recommendations. GAO reviewed the program's 2008 report to Congress and discussed recent actions with program officials."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "SARS is a highly contagious respiratory disease that infected more than 8,000 individuals in 29 countries principally throughout Asia, Europe, and North America and led to more than 800 deaths as of July 11, 2003. Due to the speed and volume of international travel and trade, emerging infectious diseases such as SARS are difficult to contain within geographic borders, placing numerous countries and regions at risk with a single outbreak. While SARS did not infect large numbers of individuals in the United States, the possibility that it may reemerge raises concerns about the ability of public health officials and health care workers to prevent the spread of the disease in the United States. GAO was asked to assist the Subcommittee in identifying ways in which the United States can prepare for the possibility of another SARS outbreak. Specifically, GAO was asked to determine 1) infectious disease control measures practiced within health care and community settings that helped contain the spread of SARS and 2) the initiatives and challenges in preparing for a possible SARS resurgence."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) financial condition has worsened this year, with the recession and changing mail use causing declines in mail volume and revenues despite postal rate increases. GAO testified in May to this subcommittee that USPS expects these declines to lead to a record net loss and an unprecedented cash shortfall even if ambitious cost cutting is achieved. GAO reported that maintaining USPS's financial viability as the provider of affordable, high-quality universal postal service will require actions in a number of areas, such as (1) rightsizing its retail and mail processing networks by consolidating operations and closing unnecessary facilities and (2) reducing the cost and size of its workforce, which generates about 80 percent of its costs. Today GAO is releasing its report on USPS efforts to improve the efficiency of delivery. Delivery accounts for nearly half of USPS salary and benefit costs. This testimony (1) updates USPS's financial condition and outlook and explains GAO's decision to place USPS's financial condition on the High-Risk List and (2) discusses the need for USPS to restructure its mail processing, retail, and delivery networks and its efforts to improve …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The military's ability to carry out its mission depends on its having adequate supplies of spare parts on hand for maintenance and repairs. Shortages are a key indicator that the billions of dollars being spent on these parts are not being used effectively, efficiently, and economically. Despite additional funding from Congress, the Army still has concerns about spare parts shortages. Spare parts shortages for the Apache, Blackhawk, and Chinook helicopters have harmed operations and lowered morale among maintenance personnel. Cannibalization of parts from one aircraft to another is an inefficient practice that results in double work for the maintenance personnel, masks parts shortages, and lowers morale. Parts were unavailable for various reasons, including higher-than-expected demand for parts, delays in obtaining parts from contractors, and problems with overhaul and maintenance. Another factor contributing to the shortage was the Army's inability to obtain parts for these aging aircraft from the original manufacturers, which sometimes had gone out of business. The Army and the Defense Logistics Agency have efforts planned or underway to improve the availability of aviation spare parts. Once these initiatives are further along, GAO will review …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "States receive federal funds under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to help students with disabilities reach their postsecondary goals, and various federal programs offer services that can assist these youth. However, research has documented that youth with disabilities are less likely to transition into postsecondary education and employment. Congress requested that GAO provide information on (1) the proportion of IDEA students completing high school with a diploma or alternative credentials, and their postsecondary status; (2) the transition problems being reported and state and local actions to address them; and (3) the types of transition services provided by the vocational rehabilitation, the Workforce Investment Act youth, and the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency programs, and the factors affecting participation of IDEA youth."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins ""Pay.gov" is an Internet portal sponsored and managed by the Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) and operated at three Federal Reserve facilities. Pay.gov is intended to allow the public to make certain non-income-tax-payments to the federal government securely over the Internet. FMS estimates that Pay.gov eventually could annually process 80 million transactions valued at $125 billion annually. Because of the magnitude of transaction volume and dollar value envisioned for Pay.gov, GAO was asked to determine whether FMS (1) conducted a comprehensive security risk assessment and (2) implemented and documented appropriate security measures and controls for the system's protection."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "World Trade Organization (WTO) members rely on trade remedies in the form of duties or other import restrictions to protect their industries from injury due to unfair foreign trade practices or unexpected import surges. There is congressional concern that the WTO, created in 1995 to administer trade rules, is interfering with this ability. There is also congressional concern that the WTO is not treating the United States fairly in resolving trade remedy disputes. A congressional requester asked GAO to identify trends in WTO trade remedy disputes since 1995, including the outcomes of these disputes and how they affected members' ability to impose trade remedies. The requester also asked GAO to discuss the standards of review that the WTO applies when ruling on trade remedy disputes and to present U.S. agencies' and legal experts' views on the WTO's application of these standards and related trade remedy issues. In their comments on a draft of this report, the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission stated that the report needed to put more emphasis on U.S. agencies' concerns about the potential adverse impact of WTO rulings …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The audit market for large public companies is an oligopoly, with the largest firms auditing the vast majority of public companies and smaller firms facing significant barriers to entry into the market. Mergers among the largest firms in the 1980s and 1990s and the dissolution of Arthur Andersen in 2002 significantly increased concentration among the largest firms, known as the "Big 4." These four firms currently audit over 78 percent of all U.S. public companies and 99 percent of all public company sales. This consolidation and the resulting concentration have raised a number of concerns. To address them, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 mandated that GAO study (1) the factors contributing to the mergers; (2) the implications of consolidation on competition and client choice, audit fees, audit quality, and auditor independence; (3) the impact of consolidation on capital formation and securities markets; and (4) barriers to entry faced by smaller accounting firms in competing with the largest firms for large public company audits."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Consolidated Edison Company shut down the Indian Point 2 commercial nuclear power plant in February 2000 because a tube had ruptured in a steam generator, raising the possibility that radioactively contaminated water could leak into the environment. In this case, the total amount of radioactivity released posed no threat because the amount of radioactivity released was about one thousandth of the dose an individual receives from a chest X-ray. However, in the event of a more serious emergency at Indian Point 2, protecting the public from a radioactive release presents more substantial challenges because the plant is located in a heavily populated area. This report reviews issues associated with emergency preparedness protocols associated with the plant. GAO found that a more proactive approach to correct recurring weaknesses could have improved the emergency preparedness plan during the February 2000 emergency. This emergency demonstrated the importance of effective, clear communication networks, both on-site regarding the need to ensure that pagers work well to notify key personnel of an emergency, as well as off-site, regarding communication about the extent and magnitude of the emergency. Exercises, although playing a valuable …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From fiscal years 2000 through 2008, the number of persons employed by federal agencies who perform various law enforcement functions and receive either special pay or enhanced retirement benefits, in the form of a faster-accruing pension, has increased by 55 percent. In addition, as of September 2008, approximately 51,000 personnel were employed in law enforcement-related occupations that could seek enhanced retirement benefits in the future. GAO was asked to conduct a review of the retirement benefits provided to law enforcement personnel. This report addresses (1) the processes used to grant enhanced retirement benefits to federal law enforcement personnel, (2) the rationales and potential costs for extending benefits to additional occupations, and (3) the extent to which federal agencies used human capital tools to retain law enforcement and other related personnel. GAO reviewed relevant laws, regulations, and other documentation, such as agency reports describing the processes used to grant enhanced benefits, and interviewed officials from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) because these entities employed approximately 84 percent of all law enforcement …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is the most highly infectious animal disease known: nearly 100 percent of exposed animals become infected with it. Although the United States has not had an outbreak of FMD since 1929, a single outbreak of FMD virus as a result of an accidental or intentional release from a laboratory on the U.S. mainland could have significant consequences for U.S. agriculture. The traditional approach to the disease, once infection is confirmed, is to depopulate infected and potentially infected livestock herds to eradicate the disease. The value of U.S. livestock sales was $140 billion in 2007; about 10 percent of this figure, or approximately $13 billion, was accounted for by export markets. The Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), on a federally owned island off the northern tip of Long Island, New York, is the only facility in the United States that studies the live FMD virus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was responsible for the PIADC from its opening in the 1950s until June 2003, when USDA transferred responsibility for it to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as required by the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress has enacted post-government employment restrictions and foreign agent registration requirements with the objectives of protecting the U.S. government against the improper use of government information by former federal employees and ensuring the American people know the identity of persons trying to influence U.S. government policy in the United States on behalf of foreign entities. This report discusses (1) the extent to which selected agencies have information on the post-government employment activities of former senior federal employees who represent foreign principals and (2) the challenges the agencies face in enforcing these requirements. We reviewed federal ethics guidance, laws, and other documents, and interviewed officials at the Departments of State and the Treasury, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Trade Representative."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, the United Nations (UN) began construction associated with its Capital Master Plan (CMP) to renovate its headquarters complex in New York City. As the UN's host country and largest contributor, the United States has a substantial interest in the success of the CMP. In this requested update, GAO reviewed the following key areas: schedule, cost, funding, risk management, procurement, and oversight. To perform this work, GAO reviewed UN documents and met with officials from the CMP office and other UN departments. GAO also reviewed select CMP schedules to assess the extent to which they met best practices for scheduling contained in GAO's Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide. To assess oversight and monitoring, GAO reviewed UN documents and oversight reports and interviewed officials from the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services and officials from the U.S. Department of State (State)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides a status of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to implement recommendations GAO made on its audits of IRS's financial statements. In updating the status of these recommendations, GAO included the results of its audit of IRS's financial statements for fiscal year 2001 and 2000."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Reverse mortgages--a type of loan against home equity available to seniors--are growing in popularity. A large majority of reverse mortgages are insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) made several modifications to the HECM program, including changes in how origination fees are calculated and an increase in the loan limit. The Act directed GAO to examine (1) how these changes have affected lenders' plans to offer reverse mortgages, (2) how the changes will affect borrowers, and (3) actions HUD has taken to evaluate the financial performance of the HECM program. To address these objectives, GAO surveyed a representative sample of HECM lenders, analyzed loan-level HECM data, and reviewed HUD estimates and analysis of HECM program costs."

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) maintain the GAO/PCIE Financial Audit Manual (FAM). The FAM provides guidance for performing financial statement audits of federal entities. It is a key tool for enhancing accountability over taxpayer-provided resources."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, GAO reported that, with the exception of the period following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, refinery outages in the United States did not show discernible trends in reduced production capacity, frequency, and location from 2002 through 2007. Some outages are planned to perform routine maintenance or upgrades, while unplanned outages occur as a result of equipment failure or other unforeseen problems. GAO was asked to (1) evaluate the effect of refinery outages on wholesale gasoline prices and (2) identify gaps in federal data needed for this and similar analyses. GAO selected refinery outages from 2002 through September 2008 that were at least among the largest 60 percent in terms of lost production capacity in their market region and lasted at least 3 days. GAO developed an econometric model and tested a variety of assumptions using public and private data."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) spends billions of dollars each year acquiring services through task orders issued under multiple-award contracts or the General Services Administration's federal supply schedule program. However, previous GAO and DOD Inspector General reports found that DOD was not obtaining the level of competition on these task orders that Congress had envisioned. Congress responded by enacting section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, which requires procedures to promote competition and provides when waivers of competition are allowed. In response to a congressional mandate, GAO identified the extent to which selected DOD buying organizations waived the competition requirements of section 803 and determined the level of competition on orders available for competition. For this review, GAO randomly selected 74 orders at five DOD buying organizations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The way in which the Department of Defense (DOD) has historically acquired its business systems has been cited as a root cause for its limited success in delivering promised system capabilities and benefits on time and within budget. In response, DOD recently revised its systems acquisition policies and guidance to incorporate best practices, including those pertaining to business systems. GAO was asked to determine whether DOD's revised systems acquisition policies and guidance (1) are consistent with industry best practices, including those pertaining to commercial component-based systems, and (2) provide the necessary controls to ensure that DOD component organizations adhere to the practices."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From 2008 through 2013, the Department of Defense (DOD) plans to invest over $16 billion to develop and procure additional unmanned aircraft systems. To more effectively leverage its acquisition resources, DOD recognizes that it must achieve greater commonality among the military services' unmanned aircraft programs. Doing so, however, requires certain trade-offs and complex budget, cost, and schedule interactions. GAO was asked to assess the progress of selected unmanned aircraft acquisition programs, examine the extent to which the services are collaborating and identifying commonality among those programs, and identify key factors impacting the effectiveness their collaboration. GAO analyzed cost, schedule, and performance data for eight unmanned aircraft systems--accounting for over 80 percent of DOD's total planned investment in unmanned aircraft systems from 2008 through 2013--and two payload programs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In March 2001, GAO issued a report (GAO-01-394) on the results of its audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) financial statements and on the effectiveness of its internal controls for fiscal year 2000. This report reviews additional matters identified during GAO's fiscal year 2000 audit regarding accounting procedures and internal controls that could be improved. GAO found that IRS had immaterial internal control issues that affected reporting. IRS (1) was unable to determine if its costs for reimbursable activities were accurate and whether it was recouping the costs of the goods or services it provided, (2) lacked procedures to properly record its working capital fund prepaid expenses, (3) accepted information from its contractors for inclusion in its year-end financial reporting without sufficient oversight or review, and (4) did not always follow standard procedures with respect to the transfer of funds between appropriations."