Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO examined the underlying records for the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for fiscal year 2001. GAO (1) did a detailed test of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to AATF, (2) reviewed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF certifications, (3) reviewed the Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service adjustments to AATF for fiscal year 2001, (4) reviewed procedures in the Office of Tax Analysis' process for estimating amounts to be distributed to AATF for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2001, (5) compared net excise tax distributions to AATF during fiscal year 2001 and amounts reported in the financial statements prepared by the Bureau of the Public Debt for AATF and the Federal Aviation Administration's consolidated financial statements, and (6) reviewed key reconciliations of IRS records to Treasury records."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO addressed the Air Force's plan to replace a portion of its KC-135 aerial refueling tanker fleet with leased Boeing 767 aircraft. Although the Air Force has a long term requirement to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 tankers, the urgency of the need in the short term is unclear. The Air Force stated that the leasing arrangement would allow it to acquire new tankers three years earlier than through its most recent procurement plan. This would allow the Air Force to retire old, less capable KC-135s, thus saving maintenance costs on those aircraft. Because the Air Force is still negotiating the lease details, it could not provide information on the cost effectiveness of leasing aircraft instead of purchasing them. Although GAO has not taken a position on the overall policy of leasing versus purchasing defense equipment, it found that, from a cost standpoint, leasing is more expensive in the long run. Because the 767 aircraft is larger than the KC-135, there will be some infrastructure improvement costs, such as for building or modifying hangars, taxiways, and runway aprons. Additional costs would likely include simulators and project management. …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Citing the desire to "ensure that the President's appointees have the opportunity to review any new or pending regulations," the White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card, Jr. sent a memorandum to the heads of all executive agencies on January 20, 2001, directing them to (1) not send proposed or final regulations to the Office of the Federal Register, (2) withdraw regulations that had been sent to the Office but not yet published in the Federal Register, and (3) postpone for 60 days the effective date of regulations that had been published in the Federal Register but had not yet taken effect. GAO found that federal agencies delayed the effective dates for 90 of the 371 final rules that were subject to the memorandum. The effective dates for the remaining 281 rules were either not delayed or GAO could find no indication in the Federal Register of a delay."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service invests hundreds of millions of dollars in information technology (IT) each year to support its mission of providing prompt, reliable, and efficient mail service to all areas of the country. It must support these operations through the revenues it earns for its services. Growing operating expenses and capital needs in the face of reduced revenues highlight the need for the Postal Service to invest its IT dollars wisely. Accordingly, the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and its Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services asked GAO to evaluate how well the Postal Service manages its IT investments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spends $7 billion annually to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing for low-income households in about 14,000 rental properties nationwide. Yet, many public housing properties have been unsafe and unsanitary for several decades. To identify and correct these problems, HUD began a Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) to evaluate the performance of public housing authorities. Although HUD is still testing and revising PHAS, it has begun to designate certain housing authorities as troubled and to assign them to recovery centers, where they receive technical and other assistance. HUD also created the Public and Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) database to collect information on funding, compliance, and other problems that fall outside the scope of PHAS. PHAS includes four performance indicators: (1) the physical condition of the properties, (2) the financial condition of the housing authority, (3) the authority's management operations, and (4) residents' satisfaction with their living conditions. HUD develops a score for each indicator and, starting in this fiscal year, plans to use the scores for all four indicators to determine whether housing authorities are troubled. So …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In light of the increasing significance and potential costs of dealing with transportation in the national park system, we reviewed the Park Service's administration of the Alternative Transportation Program. Specifically, we are reporting on the Park Service's processes for (1) ensuring that alternative transportation projects are needed and cost-effective, and (2) evaluating the performance of the program. It is important to point out that in addressing these issues our work focused on the agency's process for reviewing and approving projects. Accordingly, we did not evaluate whether any specific project was in fact needed and cost-effective. In conducting the work, we examined agency files for a sample of 20 projects--10 planning projects and 10 construction projects--that account for 54 percent of the total program funding for fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2003."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "There are currently 57 inspectors general (IG) subject to the Inspector General Act of 1978 or similar statutory provisions. The President appoints 29 IGs who are confirmed by the Senate. Twenty-eight IGs in designated federal entities (DFE IGs) are appointed by their agency heads. GAO developed a survey that included key elements related to IG independence, quality of work, and resources. Responses to the survey indicate a clear delineation between the responses of the presidential and DFE IGs regarding the potential impact of conversion and consolidation. The presidential IGs indicated that DFE IG independence, quality and use of resources could be strengthened by conversion and consolidation. DFE IGs responses to these same questions indicated that there would be no impact or that these elements would be weakened. The Presidential IGs indicated that several elements affecting the DFE IGs' quality of work could be strengthened through consolidation, including the ability to issue hard-hitting reports when necessary, to audit issues of high risk, to review issues across agencies, to get attention to recommendations made by the IGs, and to plan work. The IGs overwhelmingly responded that establishing the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) involves activities that enhance the security of the nation's cyber and physical public and private infrastructures that are essential to national security, economic activity, and public health and safety. At least 50 federal organizations within 13 major departments and agencies mentioned in Presidential Decision Directive 63 are involved in CIP activities that include setting policy, analyzing vulnerabilities and intelligence information, disseminating alerts and warnings on potential and actual infrastructure attacks, developing remediation plans, responding to incidents, and performing research and development. Although most organizations could identify their relationships with other key CIP entities, relationships among all organizations performing similar activities were not consistently established. Most of the organizations in GAO's review do not receive appropriations specifically designated for cyber CIP and, therefore, do not track these funds. A complicating factor in tracking funds spent on cyber CIP activities is that organizational totals often include funds spent on physical, cyber, and agency-specific CIP spending."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed several issues relating to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) workforce and management challenges. These issues are associated with NASA's proposed legislative provisions for additional flexibilities and authorities to help it address its human capital challenge. GAO found that agencies must ensure that their strategic human capital plans are results-oriented and data-driven. This includes developing appropriate information on the number and location of employees and their key competences and skills, as well as data on the profile of the workforce, and performance goals and measures for human capital approaches. NASA's legislative proposal for streamlined demonstration and alternative personnel system authority would provide a mechanism for converting a successful demonstration project, upon approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to a permanent alternative personnel system, without the need for special legislation and without any limitation on the number of employees that would be covered by the project as is under current authority. Human capital systems should have appropriate transparency and adequate safeguards in order to help ensure that it is efficient, effective, credible, and equitable."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 required each federal agency to issue a regulation adjusting its covered maximum civil monetary penalties for inflation by October 23, 1996. The act also required agencies to make necessary adjustments at least once every 4 years thereafter. During a review of the act's implementation, GAO found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of the General Counsel indicated that four of the agency's civil penalties are covered by the act but that the agency had not adjusted them for inflation. FERC's Office of the General Counsel stated that the agency has several other statutory penalties that appear not to be covered by the Inflation Adjustment Act. GAO's review did not reveal any FERC regulations that increased the agency's civil penalties for inflation."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised that the economic models used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. International Trade Commission do not account for all the factors that affect cattle prices and producer incomes. GAO reviewed USDA's livestock model to determine whether it incorporates imports, market concentration, marketing agreements, and forward contracts. In reviewing best modeling practices, GAO's expert panel concluded that domestic cattle demand and supply were the fundamental forces driving cattle prices and producer incomes. The panel identified issues necessary to develop a comprehensive modeling system that predicts cattle prices and producer incomes. The panel recommended the collection of better data to quantify several important factors omitted from the model. The panel also wanted to see a more complete characterization of the supply and demand relationships connecting the cattle producer to the final consumer. The panel's emphasis on a more complete characterization of the cattle and beef industry underscores the idea that the demand for cattle is ultimately driven by consumer demand for beef and other demand and supply forces linking cattle producers to feedlots, meatpackers, and retailers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) planned to spend $7.9 billion on acquiring munitions in fiscal year 2002. Ongoing military operations associated with the global war on terrorism have heightened concerns about the unified combatant commands having sufficient quantities of munitions. Since 1994, the DOD Inspector General and GAO have issued numerous reports identifying weaknesses and expressing concerns about the accuracy of the process used by the department to determine munitions requirements. DOD has improved its munitions requirements process by eliminating most of the systematic problems--correcting questionable and inconsistently applied data, completing target templates, and resolving issues involving the level of detail that should be included in planning guidance. However, a fundamental problem remains unaddressed--inadequate linkage between the near-term munitions needs of the combatant commands and the purchases made by the military services based on computations derived from the department's munitions requirement determination process. The department's munitions requirements process provides varied answers for current munitions acquisitions questions because of the aforementioned disjunction. As a result, the services, in the short term, are purchasing some critically needed munitions based on available funding and contractors' production capacity. Although this …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television service has grown to become the principal competitor to cable television systems. In October 2001, the two primary DBS companies, EchoStar and DirecTV, proposed a merger plan that is pending before the Department of Justice and that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently announced that it had declined to approve. GAO was asked to examine several issues related to competition in providing subscription video services, including the competitive impact of the availability of cable modem Internet access, and the effects on cable prices and DBS penetration rates of DBS' offering local broadcast channels. GAO also examined the technical capability of the individual DBS companies to expand local channel services into more television markets. This report offers no opinion on the merits of the proposed merger."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Disability Insurance (DI) program paid $50 billion in cash benefits to more than five million disabled workers in 2000. Eligibility for DI benefits is based on whether a person with a severe physical or mental impairment has earnings that exceed the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level. SSA terminates monthly cash benefit payments for beneficiaries who return to work and have earnings that exceed the SGA level--$1,300 per month for blind beneficiaries and $780 per month for all other beneficiaries. GAO found that the SGA level affects the work patterns of only a small proportion of DI beneficiaries. However, GAO also found that the SGA may affect the earnings of some beneficiaries. About 13 percent of those beneficiaries with earnings near the SGA level in 1985 still had earnings near the SGA level in 1995, even though the level was increased during that period. The absence of key information identifying the monthly earnings of beneficiaries, their trial work period status, and whether they are blind limited GAO's ability to definitively identify a relationship between SGA levels and beneficiaries' work patterns. Data limitations …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) relies extensively on information technology (IT) to carry out its logistics support mission. This report focuses on DLA's processes for making informed IT investment decisions. Because IT investment management has only recently become an area of management focus and commitment at DLA, the agency's ability to effectively manage IT investments is limited. The first step toward establishing effective investment management is putting in place foundational, project-level control and selection processes. The second step toward effective investment management is to continually assess proposed and ongoing projects as an integrated and competing set of investment options. Accomplishing these two steps requires effective development and implementation of a plan, supported by senior management, which defines and prioritizes investment process improvements. Without a well-defined process improvement plan and controls for implementing it, it is unlikely that the agency will establish a mature investment management capability. As a result, GAO continues to question DLA's ability to make informed and prudent investment decisions in IT."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Title I program spends $8 billion each year on elementary and secondary education. Although state and local funds account for more than 90 percent of national education expenditures, Title I has been an important source of funding for many poor school districts and schools since 1965. In the 1999-2000 school year, Title I funds were targeted on the basis of numbers and percentages of poor children, but the complex allocation process resulted in differences in actual funding per poor child. When the numbers of children from low-income families shift among states, Title I allocations adjust, but not completely, and a state whose share of the nation's poor children changed from year to year would not necessarily see a corresponding change in its Title I allocation amount. The following two factors account for this: lack of current poverty data and various hold-harmless provisions. GAO found no monetary, statutory, or regulatory incentives for states to target their own funds to children from low-income families. Several policy options could increase Title I funds allocated to states and school districts with high numbers and percentages of poor children. These …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requested that we review the HOPE VI program. Because of the scope of the request, we agreed with the office of the Chairman, Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation, Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, to provide the information in a series of reports. This first report focuses on the financing of HOPE VI developments. We describe the extent to which grantees have (1) leveraged funds from other sources, particularly other federal sources; (2) leveraged funds specifically for community and supportive services; and (3) complied with HUD's funding limits for developing public housing units and budgeted additional funds not subject to these limits. Because the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 requires HUD to report HOPE VI cost information to Congress, we also discuss the extent to which HUD has complied with this requirement."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In passing the 1990 Chief Financial Officers Act and a range of other financial management reform legislation, Congress has sought to overcome the historical lack of reliable, useful, and timely information with which to make informed decisions, measure and control costs, manage for results, and ensure financial accountability on an ongoing basis. Reported capitalization threshold levels at the 14 agencies GAO surveyed ranged from zero to $250,000. Despite the sharp increase in the capitalization threshold, all but one of the 14 agencies responded that they maintained property records for the government's general property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) not capitalized on the balance sheet, citing safeguarding of PP&E and supporting agency operations as the key reasons for maintaining such information. Federal capitalization thresholds are significantly higher than those reported by the private sector entities GAO surveyed. In some cases, the federal capitalization thresholds for real property were up to 50 times higher than those noted in the private sector. In contrast to the wide variance between federal agency and private sector capitalization threshold policies, federal agency useful life policies were generally similar to those found in the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the significance of IRS revenue collections to federal receipts and, in turn, to the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, which GAO is required to audit, and Congress's interest in financial management at IRS, GAO audits IRS's financial statements annually to determine whether (1) the financial statements IRS prepares are reliable, (2) IRS management maintained effective internal controls, and (3) IRS complies with selected provisions of significant laws and regulations and its financial systems comply with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Employers are required to withhold amounts from their employees' salary to cover individual federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare taxes; match the amounts for Social Security and Medicare taxes; and deposit these amounts with the U.S. Treasury. In fiscal year 2000, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collected $1.3 trillion in this manner. Most employers withhold and deposit these taxes as required; however, the amount of unpaid employment taxes, penalty, and interest has grown significantly. IRS data show that in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000, delinquent employers owed about $3.2, $3.5, $4.4, and $5 billion, respectively, in unpaid employment taxes, penalties, and interest. The time IRS takes to notify employers of delinquent payment of employment taxes varies. On average, IRS takes about five weeks to initially notify employers regarding employment tax delinquencies after the Form 941 return is received. When employers fail to file Form 941 returns, IRS normally takes from 14 to 28 weeks to notify them of this delinquency. Aside from its usual efforts to educate and inform taxpayers of their responsibilities, IRS has four programs to prevent or reduce employers' tax delinquencies. Two …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because of its interest in this area, Congress asked that we address the following questions: (1) To what extent have federal contractors violated federal environmental, labor and employment, antitrust, consumer protection, and tax laws (the areas of law specified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rule)? and (2) What FAR rule implementation issues were identified in our work in response to the first question?"

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO contracted with Clifton Gunderson LLP to audit the financial statements of the Senate Restaurants Revolving Fund for fiscal years 2001 and 2000. Clifton Gunderson LLP found that (1) the financial statements were fairly presented in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, (2) the fund maintained effective internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations, and (3) there was no reportable noncompliance with selected provisions of the laws and regulations it tested."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audited the Bureau of Public Debt's Schedule of Federal Debt for fiscal years 2001 and 2000. GAO found that (1) the Schedules of Federal Debt were presented fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles; (2) the Bureau had effective internal control over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations related to the Schedule of Federal Debt for fiscal year 2001; and (3) there was no reportable noncompliance in fiscal year 2001 with a selected provision of a law GAO tested."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the 1990s the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) dramatically downsized its staff, however, its mission did not decrease. As a consequence, HUD relies more heavily on private contractors, and needs to hold its contractors accountable for results. GAO was asked to determine if HUD has processes and practices in place to effectively oversee contractors, strategically manages its acquisition workforce, and has management information systems that support its acquisition workforce."