Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) Performance Plan for Fiscal Year 2012. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual plan informs the Congress and the American people about what we expect to accomplish on their behalf in the coming fiscal year. It sets forth our plan to make progress toward achieving our strategic goals for serving the Congress and the American people. This framework not only shows the relationship between our strategic goals and strategic objectives, but also show major themes that could potentially affect our work."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Agencies across the government are increasingly reliant on contractors to execute their missions. With hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars at stake, the government needs strong controls to provide reasonable assurance that these contract funds are not being lost to improper payments (fraud and errors), waste, and mismanagement. Effective contract oversight, which includes effective internal controls throughout the contracting process, is essential to protecting government and taxpayer interests. Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government provides the overall framework for internal control, which includes the control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring. Contract auditing is a control mechanism intended to provide those responsible for government procurement with financial information and advice relating to contractual matters and the effectiveness, efficiency, and economy of contractors' operations. Today's testimony describes the (1) contracting cycle and related internal controls, (2) Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and its role in performing contract audits for the Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies, and (3) risks associated with ineffective contract controls and auditing. GAO's testimony is based on prior reports and testimonies, as listed at the end of …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In a series of reviews, GAO found that OPM’s retirement modernization efforts were hindered by weaknesses in key management practices that are essential to successful IT modernization projects. For example, in 2005, GAO made recommendations to address weaknesses in the following areas:"

Memorandum providing updates to rulebook related to public utilities with revised pages containing amendments and instructions for inserting the new pages into existing books.

Broad Funding Opportunity Announcement Project: EaglePicher is developing a sodium-beta alumina (Na-Beta) battery for grid-scale energy storage. High-temperature Na-Beta batteries are a promising grid-scale energy storage technology, but existing approaches are expensive and unreliable. EaglePicher has modified the shape of the traditional, tubular-shaped Na-Beta battery. It is using an inexpensive stacked design to improve performance at lower temperatures, leading to a less expensive overall storage technology. The new design greatly simplifies the manufacturing process for beta alumina membranes (a key enabling technology), providing a subsequent pathway to the production of scalable, modular batteries at half the cost of the existing tubular designs.

Broad Funding Opportunity Announcement Project: Delphi is developing power converters that are smaller and more energy efficient, reliable, and cost-effective than current power converters. Power converters rely on power transistors which act like a very precisely controlled on-off switch, controlling the electrical energy flowing through an electrical circuit. Most power transistors today use silicon (Si) semiconductors. However, Delphi is using semiconductors made with a thin layer of gallium-nitride (GaN) applied on top of the more conventional Si material. The GaN layer increases the energy efficiency of the power transistor and also enables the transistor to operate at much higher temperatures, voltages, and power-density levels compared to its Si counterpart. Delphi is packaging these high-performance GaN semiconductors with advanced electrical connections and a cooling system that extracts waste heat from both sides of the device to further increase the device’s efficiency and allow more electrical current to flow through it. When combined with other electronic components on a circuit board, Delphi’s GaN power transistor package will help improve the overall performance and cost-effectiveness of HEVs and EVs.

Various views of the dosimeter opener are illustrated.

Commercial scale oil shale and oil sands development will require water, the amount of which will depend on the technologies adopted and the scale of development that occurs. Water in oil shale and oil sands country is already in scarce supply, and because of the arid nature of the region and limitations on water consumption imposed by interstate compacts and the Endangered Species Act, the State of Utah normally does not issue new water rights in oil shale or oil sands rich areas. Prospective oil shale and oil sands developers that do not already hold adequate water rights can acquire water rights from willing sellers, but large and secure water supplies may be difficult and expensive to acquire, driving oil shale and oil sands developers to seek alternative sources of supply. Produced water is one such potential source of supply. When oil and gas are developed, operators often encounter ground water that must be removed and disposed of to facilitate hydrocarbon extraction. Water produced through mineral extraction was traditionally poor in quality and treated as a waste product rather than a valuable resource. However, the increase in produced water volume and the often-higher quality water associated with coalbed methane development …

The goal of the Wind Powering America State Outreach Project was to facilitate the adoption of effective state legislation, policy, finance programs, and siting best practices to accelerate public acceptance and development of wind energy. This was accomplished by Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) through provision of informational tools including reports and webinars as well as the provision of technical assistance to state leaders on wind siting, policy, and finance best practices, identification of strategic federal-state partnership activities for both onshore and offshore wind, and participation in regional wind development collaboratives. The Final Scientific Report - Wind Powering America State Outreach Project provides a summary of the objectives, activities, and outcomes of this project as accomplished by CESA over the period 12/1/2009 - 11/30/2011.

A variety of performance tests are described relating to: Material Transfers; Emergency Evacuation; Alarm Response Assessment; and an Enhanced Limited Scope Performance Test (ELSPT). Procedures are given for: nuclear material physical inventory and discrepancy; material transfers; and emergency evacuation.

Two attachments are provided for performance testing of sensors and other Physical Protection System (PPS) components.#2; The first attachment is a table of Trials and Failures, giving Probability of Detection (PD) for a designated confidence level and sorted by trials.#2; The second attachment contains the same data, sorted by failures.

Report over the experimental activities in Hall A at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility during 2013.

The Deep Vadoze Zone Applied Field Research Initiative (DVZ AFRI) was established to protect water resources and to address the challenge of preventing contamination in the deep vadose zone from reaching groundwater. This factsheet provides an overview of the initiative and the approach to integrate basic science and needs-driven applied research activities with cleanup operations.

A final report made to the US Forest Service that addresses savannah restoration research findings from research conducted at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

News release about DART and the city of Dallas expanding service hours for the Dallas Streetcar. Streetcar service will also expand to the Bishop Arts district later in 2016, accompanied by more frequent departures.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with William Todd. Todd joined the Marine Corps on 10 December 1941. He was sent to Bougainville as a member of a heavy weapons squad. Todd mentions a patrol narrowly escaping getting cut off by the Japanese. He then took part in the invasion of Guam and describes following the tanks through the jungle and forming a defensive line at night. Todd discusses the equipment including the .50 caliber heavy machine gun, 37mm anti-tank gun, and 1-ton trucks. His unit was held in reserve at Iwo Jima and landed after 4 days. Todd describes driving his truck off of a landing craft and immediately becoming stuck. He was wounded after four days in battle and evacuated to Guam for surgery. Todd was sent back to the US for duty and remained there until the war ended. He was discharged September 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert L. Cook, speaking for his deceased brother Frank E. Cook. Cook served with the National Guard. He was assigned to Panama working as a patrol boat guard. In early 1943, Cook served as Executive Officer aboard PT-170 in Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 10. While traveling from Panama to Noumea, on 3 August 1943, Frank and his crew were caught in a crossfire with the Japanese and Frank died 5 August.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robin Meece. Meece was born in Middletown, Ohio on 7 October 1926. When called into the Navy in 1944, he went to the San Diego Naval Training Station for boot training. Upon completion of boot training, he was assigned to the USS Mobile (CL-63) for on-the-job training (striker) as a radar operator. He briefly describes his job and several actions in which the ship was involved. After the surrender of Japan, he was a member of the occupation forces and discovered a cave with eight Japanese submarines hidden in it. He also went to a prisoner of war camp to aid in the release of the Allied POWs. In January 1946 the Mobile went to Seattle, where it was decommissioned. Meece was assigned to shore patrol duties upon his return to the US and served in this capacity until his discharge in 1946. He concludes the interview telling of his employment as an electrical engineer with Rockwell/Boeing, working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) after receiving a college degree through the G.I. Bill.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Bruce Greig. Greig enlisted in the reserves and was called to active duty with the Army Air Forces in February 1943. He was sent to radio school and then radar school. Greig served stateside before being sent to Saipan as a part of a service group for the 73rd Bomb Wing. He describes the conditions on Saipan and how the airbase grew. Greig describes how he worked in a shop and specialized in a black box that was a part of early airplane radar units. He was then sent to Guam and eventually back to the US where he was discharged in February 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joe Gage. Gage joined the Navy during the war and was trained as a pharmacist’s mate. He was stationed in North Carolina and was then assigned to LCI-1074. Gage describes the journey from Michigan, down the Mississippi River, and on to New Guinea. He took part in landings at Leyte with Filipino guerillas. Gage also discusses landing Australian troops in Borneo. He describes how an LCI would beach and then extract itself. Gage left the service in December 1945.