A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and foreign tax administrators face similar issues regardless of the particular provisions of their laws. These issues include, for example, helping taxpayers prepare and file returns, and assuring tax compliance. Understanding how other tax administrators have used certain practices to address common issues can provide insights to help inform deliberations about tax reform and about possible administrative changes in the U.S. existing system to improve compliance, better serve taxpayers, reduce burdens, and increase efficiencies. GAO was asked to describe (1) how foreign tax administrators have approached issues that are similar to those in the U.S. tax system and (2) whether and how the IRS identifies and adopts tax administration practices used elsewhere. To do this, GAO reviewed documents and interviewed six foreign tax administrators. In some cases, GAO also interviewed tax experts, tax practitioners, taxpayers, and trade-group representatives who were selected based on their expertise or involvement in developing or using the foreign systems. GAO also examined documents and met with IRS officials."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As discussed in our report, OMB and key federal agencies have made progress on selected action items identified in the IT Reform Plan, but there are several areas where more remains to be done. Of the 10 key action items we reviewed, 3 were completed and the other 7 were partially completed by December 2011. The action items that are behind schedule share a common reason for the delays: the complexity of the initiatives. In all seven of the cases, OMB and the federal agencies are still working on the initiatives. However, OMB and federal agencies have established time frames for completing only two of these initiatives."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During our fiscal year 2011 audit, we identified eight new general information systems control deficiencies related to access controls, configuration management, and segregation of duties. We made nine recommendations to address these control deficiencies. In a separately issued Limited Official Use Only report, we communicated to BPD management detailed information regarding our findings and related recommendations."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD officials are seeking to approach strategic communication as a process that leaders, planners, and operators should follow to integrate foreign audience perceptions into policy making, planning, and operations at every level. However, descriptions of strategic communication in several key documents—including the Quadrennial Defense Review and the National Framework for Strategic Communication—characterize it differently. For example, the Quadrennial Defense Review describes strategic communication as the coordination of activities such as information operations and public affairs, among other things. According to DOD officials, these varying descriptions of strategic communication have created confusion within the department. To address this confusion, DOD is drafting an instruction to clarify the steps of the strategic communication process, which DOD officials expect to be completed in late spring or early summer 2012."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1995, GAO has designated the Department of Defense's (DOD) multibillion dollar business systems modernization program as high risk, and it continues to do so today. To assist in addressing DOD's modernization challenges, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (the act) requires the department to, among other things, report specific information about business system investments, including (1) milestones and actual performance against specified measures and any revisions and (2) actions taken to certify that a modernization investment involving more than $1 million meets defined conditions before obligating funds. The act also directs GAO to review each report. As agreed, GAO focused on the fiscal year 2010 report's compliance with, among other things, these provisions of the act. To do so, GAO compared DOD's report to the act's reporting requirements, interviewed DOD officials, analyzed relevant documentation, and leveraged prior GAO reports."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) National Research Program (NRP) has helped test or develop practices that have been used in operational examinations of individual tax returns, according to IRS officials. These practices include, for example, helping test IRS's remote learning system and helping IRS adopt new examination support software."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Alien smuggling along the southwest border is a threat to the security of the United States and Mexico. Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Office of Investigations (OI)--part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)--is the primary federal agency responsible for investigating alien smuggling along the southwest border. As requested, this report addresses, for the southwest border, (1) OI's efforts to counter alien smuggling since 2005, and opportunities, if any, for ICE to use its resources more effectively; (2) the progress DHS has made in seizing alien smugglers' assets since fiscal year 2005 and any promising techniques that could be applied to seize smugglers' assets; and (3) the extent to which ICE has objectives related to alien smuggling and measures to assess progress. GAO interviewed officials in all four OI offices along the southwest border and analyzed data on OI's cases and seizures, from fiscal years 2005 through 2009."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the results of our most recent report, which we are releasing today, on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) contract and grant recipients that owe federal taxes. Collectively, individuals, businesses, and other entities owed the U.S. government about $330 billion in known unpaid taxes, including interest and penalties, as of September 30, 2010, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). IRS enforcement of the nation's tax laws continues to be on our High-Risk List. The Recovery Act appropriated $275 billion to be distributed for federal contracts, grants, and loans. According to www.Recovery.gov (Recovery.gov) data on federal spending, as of March 25, 2011, about $191 billion of that amount had been paid out. As far back as 1992, we have said that Congress should consider whether tax compliance should be a prerequisite for receiving a federal contract. Federal law does not prohibit the awarding of contracts or grants to entities because they owe federal taxes and does not permit IRS to disclose taxpayer information, including unpaid federal taxes, to federal agencies unless the taxpayer consents. Because of the potential that some Recovery Act …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "HUD’s fiscal year 2011 expenditure plan, which seeks to obligate about $114 million for seven modernization projects, along with enterprisewide services and program management, satisfies both sets of statutory conditions contained in the 2011 appropriations act. Specifically, for the first set of statutory conditions, the plan identified the functional and performance capabilities, mission benefits, lifecycle costs, and key milestones for each of the projects. For example, the plan described specific and measurable mission benefits associated with HUD’s Place-Based Performance Management System project, such as reducing the time to compile performance information from 50 hours to 20 hours. In addition, the plan described costs associated with the lifecycle of each project, providing details on funds needed for major work activities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program is intended to provide federal contracting opportunities to qualified firms. In fiscal year 2008, the Small Business Administration (SBA) reported $6.5 billion in sole-source, set-aside, and other SDVOSB contract awards. Testimonies GAO delivered on November 19 and December 16, 2009 identified millions of dollars in SDVOSB contracts that were awarded to ineligible firms, and weaknesses in fraud prevention controls at the SBA and VA which allowed ineligible firms to receive contracts. GAO was asked to testify about the key elements of a fraud prevention framework within the SDVOSB program and to provide an update on the status of fraud referrals made based on the prior investigation of selected SDVOSB firms. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed prior findings from audits and investigations of the SDVSOB program and contacted investigative agency officials concerning the referrals GAO made on prior work. GAO also reviewed applicable guidance on internal control standards from the Comptroller General's Standards for Internal Controls in the Federal Government."