Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is required to annually prepare and submit audited financial statements of the U.S. government to the President and Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. An issue meriting concern and close scrutiny that emerged during our fiscal year 2004 CFS audit was the growing number of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies that restated certain of their financial statements for fiscal year 2003 to correct errors. Errors in financial statements can result from mathematical mistakes, mistakes in the application of accounting principles, or oversight or misuse of facts that existed at the time the financial statements were prepared. Frequent restatements to correct errors can undermine public trust and confidence in both the entity and all responsible parties. Further, when restatements do occur, it is important that financial statements clearly communicate, and readers of the restated financial statements understand, that the financial statements originally issued by management in the previous year and the opinion thereon should no longer be …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many of our nation's military and civilian personnel depend on Department of Defense (DOD) schools to meet their children's educational needs. These schools provide a range of educational services including programs for students with disabilities and those who struggle to read, some of whom may have a condition referred to as dyslexia. To determine how DOD supports students with dyslexia and how it used $3.2 million in funds designated to support them, GAO was asked to examine: (1) what professional development DOD provides its staff to support students with dyslexia and how the fiscal year 2004-to-2006 funds designated for this purpose were used, (2) what identification and instructional services DOD provides to students who may have dyslexia, and (3) how DOD assesses the academic achievement of students with disabilities, including dyslexia. To address these objectives, GAO conducted a survey of all school principals and interviewed agency officials, school personnel, and parents in six school districts."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised about the use of unreconciled activity address codes to requisition new and excess government property. The Department of Defense's (DOD) regulation 4000.25-6-M requires that all military services and DOD activities reconcile the activity codes to the Defense Automatic Addressing System Center's master file. Such reconciliations could prevent unauthorized personnel from requesting and receiving government property. GAO found, however, that many military service points failed to comply with DOD's regulation. Most indicated that they were unaware of the requirement. As a result of this, 27,879 activity codes appeared either in the agency record but not the Addressing System Center's master file or in the Center's file but not the agency record. In addition, agencies that have their own internal activity code files do not routinely reconcile to the master file. This failure resulted in 97,450 activity codes being identified as questionable. In both situations, inventory management is vulnerable to waste, fraud, and abuse. In fact, preliminary indications are that such questionable activity codes were used to requisition millions of dollars worth of excess and new property."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO published a document on establishing core competencies for project managers. This document identifies competencies in three areas (1) financial management, (2) human resources, and (3) technical."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has a unique role in coordinating trade policy, resolving disagreements, and framing issues for presidential decision through an interagency trade policy process. In recent years, USTR's increased workload from numerous new regional and bilateral free trade agreement negotiations and a new round of multilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organization has raised concerns about its human capital strategy. GAO examined whether USTR is pursuing an effective human capital strategy that supports the ability of its workforce to accomplish its mission. Specifically, GAO (1) reviewed USTR's commitment to strategic human capital leadership and planning and (2) analyzed to what extent USTR has used human capital tools to address its workforce challenges."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To help ensure that veterans are properly compensated for disabilities, VA is required to perform disability reevaluations for specific disabilities. VA also performs reevaluations whenever it determines there is a need to verify either the continued existence or current severity of veterans' disabilities. VBA completed about 17,700 reevaluations in fiscal year 2005. GAO was asked to review the Veterans Benefits Administration's (VBA) disability reevaluation program. This report assesses (1) the operational controls VA uses to ensure the effectiveness of the disability reevaluation process and (2) the management information VA collects and uses to manage the disability reevaluation process. To conduct this study, GAO analyzed VBA data, reviewed federal regulations and VBA procedures, conducted site visits, and interviewed VBA officials."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report analyzes the Department of Defense's (DOD) 1999 survey of active duty personnel. GAO found that among first-term and mid-career personnel, satisfaction with military life and retention intent, which tend to increase with an individual's seniority, were important reasons for joining the armed forces. Among first-term enlisted personnel, education benefits and training for civilian employment were among the top reasons for joining. Mid-career personnel cited a desire to serve their country as one of the main reasons for joining, and these individuals said that they were likely to serve 20 years. Mid-career enlisted personnel and officers who joined for education benefits or for training for a specific occupation--skills that can be transferred to civilian jobs--said that they were more likely to leave the military. Base pay, the amount of personal/family leave time, and leadership quality were the main reasons cited by servicemembers for leaving the military. Servicemembers did, however, view some aspects of military life more favorable compared with civilian life, including vacation time, sense of accomplishment and pride, and education and training opportunities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Destruction of the nation's remaining stockpile of chemical weapons in a safe, efficient, and timely manner is essential to meet Chemical Weapons Convention treaty obligations and to reduce the risk of a potential catastrophic event. The Department of Defense (DOD) established the Chemical Demilitarization Program to manage the destruction of the remaining stockpile. GAO was asked to evaluate the (1) progress DOD and the Army have made in addressing GAO's prior recommendations to strengthen program management, (2) reasonableness of schedule milestones, (3) reliability of cost estimates, and (4) effectiveness of efforts to provide monetary incentives to the systems contractors. GAO reviewed relevant planning documents, schedules, cost estimates, and contracts; interviewed program and contractor officials; and visited chemical agent destruction sites."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report focuses on the military's inventory management activities. Army activities and contractors are assigned activity codes to requisition property in the military supply system. Some of these codes are identified as "unauthorized" to requisition and are primarily used as a ship-to address. GAO found that 15 percent of Army activity codes identified as unauthorized to requisition were inappropriately used to requisition more than $2.6 billion in new government property during the past five years. These problems exist because activity coordinators are poorly trained or inexperienced. The Army also lacks internal controls to prevent such unauthorized requisitions."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For more than 30 years, the Department of Defense (DOD) has worked to achieve full visibility over and accessibility to its spare parts inventory. This initiative, called total asset visibility (TAV), aims to provide timely, accurate information on the location, movement, status, and identity of units, personnel, equipment, and supplies. In 1999, GAO examined DOD's TAV implementation approach and recommended that DOD develop a strategic plan to guide its efforts. DOD did not concur and stated it would rely on the components to individually achieve TAV. DOD's current target to achieve TAV is 2010. As requested, GAO examined DOD's progress towards, and impediments to, achieving TAV over its spare parts inventory. GAO also assessed DOD's progress in ensuring that its inventory management systems comply with federal financial management standards."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) established the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program to collect, maintain, and share data on selected foreign nationals entering and exiting the United States at air, sea and land ports of entry (POEs). These data, including biometric identifiers like digital fingerprints, are to be used to screen persons against watch lists, verify visitors' identities, and record arrival and departure. GAO was asked to review implementation at land POE facilities and in doing so GAO analyzed: (1) efforts to implement US-VISIT entry capability; (2) efforts to implement US-VISIT exit capability; and (3) DHS's efforts to define how US-VISIT fits with other emerging border security initiatives. GAO reviewed DHS and US-VISIT program documents, interviewed program officials, and visited 21 land POEs with varied traffic levels on both borders."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report describes the status of our work toward developing a methodology for evaluating the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program. Our objectives are to provide information about (1) the NMTC Program, including its goals, its design, and progress in implementing the program, and (2)our mandated review of the program, including the potential scope of the review and how the program may be evaluated for effectiveness and compliance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "An essential element to acquiring, developing, and retaining high-quality federal employees is agencies' effective use of human capital flexibilities. These flexibilities represent the policies and practices that an agency has the authority to implement in managing its workforce. Congressional requesters asked GAO to provide information on agency and union officials' views about the most effective human capital flexibilities, additional flexibilities needed, and whether additional flexibilities could be implemented while also protecting employees' rights. GAO was also asked to identify key practices for effective use of flexibilities. GAO interviewed the human resources directors of the federal government's 24 largest departments and agencies, and representatives of 4 national organizations representing federal employees and managers. GAO further focused its efforts on 7 federal agencies--Department of Air Force, General Services Administration, Internal Revenue Service, International Trade Administration, U.S. Mint, State Department, and Veterans Benefits Administration--interviewing more than 200 managers, supervisors, human resources officials, and union representatives in headquarters and field locations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Debates surrounding the reauthorization of welfare reform legislation have involved some discussion regarding outcomes for TANF recipients with physical or mental impairments. To inform this discussion, GAO was asked to report on (1) whether recipients with impairments were as likely to exit TANF as their counterparts without impairments and (2) the sources of income reported by leavers with and without impairments. To obtain this information, GAO analyzed self- reported data for the most recent years available from the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)--a national survey of households that includes questions about TANF status and functional impairments."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1988, radioactive contamination was found in the drinking water wells of residences located near the federal government's uranium enrichment plant in Paducah, Kentucky, which is still in operation. In response, the Department of Energy (DOE) began a cleanup program to identify and remove contamination in the groundwater, surface water, and soil located within and outside the plant. In 2000, GAO reported that DOE faced significant challenges in cleaning up the site and that it was doubtful that the cleanup would be completed as scheduled by 2010, and within the $1.3 billion cost projection. GAO was asked to testify on (1) how much DOE has spent on the Paducah cleanup and for what purposes, and the estimated total future costs for the site; (2) the status of DOE's cleanup effort; and (3) the challenges DOE faces in completing the cleanup. This testimony is based on ongoing work, and GAO expects to issue a final report on this work in April 2004."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed homes and displaced millions of individuals. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to respond to this disaster, GAO's previous work identified significant control weaknesses--specifically in FEMA's Individuals and Households Program (IHP) and in the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) purchase card program--resulting in significant fraud, waste, and abuse. Today's testimony will address whether FEMA provided improper and potentially fraudulent (1) rental assistance payments to registrants at the same time it was providing free housing via trailers and apartments; (2) duplicate assistance payments to individuals who claimed damages to the same property for both hurricanes Katrina and Rita; and (3) IHP payments to non-U.S. residents who did not qualify for IHP. This testimony will also discuss (1) the importance of fraud identification and prevention, and (2) the results of our investigation into property FEMA bought using DHS purchase cards. To address these objectives, GAO data mined and analyzed FEMA records and interviewed city officials, university officials, and foreign students. GAO also traveled to Louisiana and Texas to inspect selected property items and to investigate improper housing payments to individuals living in FEMA-provided …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), GAO periodically reports on the implementation of the Job Access and Reverse Commute (Job Access) program. The program is designed to assist low-income people in accessing employment opportunities. This report examines the Department of Transportation's (DOT) efforts to evaluate the program and report the results to the Congress. GAO also examined (1) transportation and related services provided by the program; (2) whether the program fosters collaboration between Job Access grantees and others in the design, financing, and delivery of those services; and (3) whether Job Access services would be financially sustainable after the end of Job Access funding."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands provides direct U.S. economic assistance and extends U.S. domestic programs and federal services to these two Pacific Island nations. The Compact also allows for migration from Micronesia and the Marshall Islands to the United States and establishes U.S. defense rights and obligations in the region. The Compact's economic assistance provisions were scheduled to expire in late 2001. However, the provisions will remain in effect for two more months while the United States and the two Pacific Island nations renegotiate them. Congress must renegotiate and reauthorize the expiring provisions by late 2003 for economic assistance to continue uninterrupted. The $1.6 billion provided under the Compact through 1998 has had little impact on economic development in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and was subject to limited accountability. U.S. oversight was limited by interagency disagreements between the Departments of Interior and State, a lack of resources devoted to Compact oversight, and Interior's belief that Compact provisions restricted its ability to require accountability and withhold funds. Because of the lack …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses highlights from GAO's report entitled "End-Stage Renal Disease: Bundling Medicare's Payment for Drugs with Payment for All ESRD Services Would Promote Efficiency and Clinical Flexibility." The report examines Medicare payments for certain drugs provided to patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a condition of permanent kidney failure."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The latest data show continued increases in rates of childhood obesity. For example, obesity rates for children 6 to 11 years old are estimated to have increased from 15.1 to 18.8 percent between 1999 and 2004. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 20 percent of children and youth in the United States will be obese by 2010. There are numerous negative health outcomes and financial consequences related to childhood obesity. Researchers have found that childhood obesity is associated with a number of disorders including hypertension, insulin resistance, sleep apnea, menstrual abnormalities, and orthopedic problems. According to one estimate, insured children treated for obesity are approximately three times more expensive for the health system than the average insured child. Some researchers have suggested that childhood obesity is largely the result of a decline in regular physical activity. In our October 2005 report, we surveyed experts on the key strategies to include in the design or implementation of a program to prevent or reduce childhood obesity. The program strategy identified by experts as most important was "increasing physical activity." Congress asked us to provide information on the …

Contains notes and research (117 ARW, Alabama) by Bradley McRee of the Joint Issues Team.

Contains notes and research (Fort Smith, AR) by Bradley McRee of the Joint Issues Team.

Contains notes and research (103 FW, Bradley ANBG, CT) by Bradley McRee of the Joint Issues Team.

Contains notes and research (183 FW, Capital ANGB, IL) by Bradley McRee of the JOINT Issues Team.