A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Border Patrol, a component of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, a part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), aims to apprehend persons who illegally enter the United States between official ports of entry, including potential terrorists, aliens, and contraband smugglers, thereby deterring or stopping illegal activity. The Patrol operates permanent and tactical (temporary) interior traffic checkpoints on major and secondary U.S. roads, mainly in the southwest border states where most illegal entries occur, as part of a multi-layer strategy to maximize detection and apprehension of illegal entrants. This report addresses (1) the role of interior checkpoints in the Patrol's strategy; (2) what is known about checkpoint costs and benefits; and (3) how checkpoints are evaluated and what performance measures indicate regarding their effectiveness."

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 the Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the fiscal year 2004 CFS, we evaluated the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) financial reporting procedures and related internal control over the process for compiling the CFS, including the management representation letter provided us by Treasury and OMB. Written representation letters from management, required by U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, ordinarily confirm oral representations given to the auditor, indicate and document the continuing appropriateness of those representations, and reduce the possibility of a misunderstanding between management and the auditor. The purpose of this report is to communicate our observations on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's (PBGC) fiscal year 2004 management representation letter. Our objective is to help ensure that future management representation letters submitted by PBGC are sufficient to help support Treasury and …

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 the Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the fiscal year 2004 CFS, we evaluated the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) financial reporting procedures and related internal control over the process for compiling the CFS, including the management representation letter provided us by Treasury and OMB. Written representation letters from management, required by U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, ordinarily confirm oral representations given to the auditor, indicate and document the continuing appropriateness of those representations, and reduce the possibility of a misunderstanding between management and the auditor. The purpose of this report is to communicate our observations on the National Credit Union Administration's (NCUA) National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund's (NCUSIF) fiscal year 2003 management representation letter. Our objective is to help ensure that future management representation letters submitted by VA …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, Congress has expressed concern that urgent joint warfighting requirements are not always met in the most expeditious manner, particularly command and control and blue-force-tracking capabilities that reduce the chances of friendly-fire casualties. In the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (P.L. 108-136), Congress gave the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) Limited Acquisition Authority (LAA) to address these and other joint-warfighting challenges. LAA is an authority aimed at ensuring that measures to meet urgent, unanticipated joint warfighting needs are conceived, developed, and fielded in an expeditious manner. Enacted for a 3-year period, LAA will expire after September 30, 2006. The Act required GAO to determine the extent to which LAA has been used. Specifically, we focused on (1) how JFCOM used the authority during fiscal years 2004 and 2005, (2) the processes and procedures JFCOM developed to implement the authority, and (3) the challenges of implementing it. In covering these areas, we did not evaluate the quality of the projects undertaken or the value added of the equipment provided to the warfighter under LAA."

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 the Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the fiscal year 2004 CFS, we evaluated the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) financial reporting procedures and related internal control over the process for compiling the CFS, including the management representation letter provided us by Treasury and OMB. Written representation letters from management, required by U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, ordinarily confirm oral representations given to the auditor, indicate and document the continuing appropriateness of those representations, and reduce the possibility of a misunderstanding between management and the auditor. The purpose of this report is to communicate our observations on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) fiscal year 2004 management representation letter. Our objective is to help ensure that future management representation letters submitted by HUD are sufficient to help support …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate was established to focus on areas such as addressing countermeasures for biological threats. To do this, it hired experts from the national laboratories under the authority of the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA). The Directorate is organized into portfolios, led by portfolio managers. Questions have been raised about potential conflicts of interest for these individuals, since a portion of the Directorate's research funds have gone to the national laboratories. GAO was asked to examine (1) the management controls established within the Directorate to help guard against conflicts of interest for IPA portfolio managers; and (2) the role of the IPA portfolio managers, particularly those from national laboratories, in determining where research and development projects were directed."

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 the Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the fiscal year 2004 CFS, we evaluated the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) financial reporting procedures and related internal control over the process for compiling the CFS, including the management representation letter provided us by Treasury and OMB. Written representation letters from management, required by U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, ordinarily confirm oral representations given to the auditor, indicate and document the continuing appropriateness of those representations, and reduce the possibility of a misunderstanding between management and the auditor. The purpose of this report is to communicate our observations on the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) fiscal year 2004 management representation letter. Our objective is to help ensure that future management representation letters submitted by USDA are sufficient to help support Treasury …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To help improve foster care in the District of Columbia, the Congress provided $14 million for fiscal year 2004 to the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), the Department of Mental Health (DMH), and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG). These funds were for programs for early intervention, emergency support, and student loan repayments; computer technology upgrades, mental health services, and respite care (short-term care to provide relief for foster parents). GAO was asked to (1) assess whether the federal funds were being obligated and expended by the District government and COG consistent with provisions in the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2004, and the spending plans that were submitted to the Congress; (2) determine whether internal controls were operating effectively over the obligations and disbursements; and (3) assess the extent to which the District government and COG have implemented the foster care improvement programs and initiatives specified in the act and spending plans. GAO received written comments from CFSA, DMH, and COG. The agencies generally agreed with GAO's findings and conclusions."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As federal workers retire in greater numbers, agencies will need to recruit and retain a new wave of talented individuals. Agencies need to determine if the federal student loan repayment (SLR) program is one of the best ways to make maximum use of available funds to attract and keep this key talent. GAO was asked to identify (1) why agencies use or are not using the program; (2) how agencies are implementing the SLR program; and (3) what results and suggestions agency officials could provide about the program and how they view the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) role in facilitating its use. Ten agencies were selected to provide illustrative examples of why and how agencies decided to use or chose not to use the program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This is GAO's third report addressing the LOCAL TV Act's requirement that GAO perform an annual audit of the (1) administration of the provisions of the act and (2) financial position of each applicant who receives a loan guarantee under the act, including the nature, amount, and purpose of investments made by the applicant. Although the LOCAL Television Loan Guarantee Program (LOCAL TV Program) was implemented in fiscal year 2004, there were no loan guarantee applicants for GAO to audit. Therefore, this report primarily addresses whether program administration during fiscal year 2004 satisfied the provisions of the act."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Navy has been transforming itself to better meet 21st century needs. Since 2000, the Congress has appropriated about $50 billion annually for the Navy to operate and maintain its forces and support around 376,000 military personnel. In recognizing that the Navy faces affordability issues in sustaining readiness within its historical share of the defense budget, the Chief of Naval Operations announced a concept called the Fleet Response Plan to enhance its deployment readiness status. The Fleet Response Plan is designed to more rapidly prepare and sustain readiness in ships and squadrons. GAO evaluated the extent to which the Navy has (1) employed a sound management approach in implementing the Fleet Response Plan and (2) tested and evaluated the effectiveness of the plan and shared results to improve implementation."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since fiscal year 1995, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Kennedy Center) has received nearly $203 million in federal funds to complete capital projects and intends to request an additional $43 million in appropriations through fiscal year 2008. The Kennedy Center's Comprehensive Building Plan identifies these capital projects as necessary to renovate the center and meet or exceed relevant life safety and disabled access regulations. GAO was asked to examine (1) the progress the center has made in completing key capital projects within estimated costs, and how it communicated this progress; (2) the current status of the center regarding fire and life safety and disabled access requirements; and (3) what best practices could help the center improve planning and management of capital projects."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Business Systems Modernization (BSM) program is a multibillion-dollar, high-risk, highly complex effort that involves the development and delivery of a number of modernized information systems intended to replace the agency's aging business and tax processing systems. As required by law, IRS submitted its fiscal year 2005 expenditure plan in April 2005 to congressional appropriations committees, requesting about $203 million from the BSM account. GAO's objectives in reviewing the plan were to (1) determine whether it satisfied the conditions specified in the law, (2) determine what progress IRS had made in implementing our prior recommendations, and (3) provide any other observations about the plan and IRS's BSM program."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We have been reviewing the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) efforts to develop and implement the Secure Flight program. The purpose of Secure Flight is to compare information on domestic airline passengers against information on known or suspected terrorists to identify passengers who should undergo additional security scrutiny. As we reported in February and March 2005, to develop Secure Flight, TSA has been conducting tests to compare data from airline reservation systems, such as name and flight number, with data from the government's consolidated terrorist watch lists, which include names of known and suspected terrorists. We also reported that TSA has been testing the use of selected data available from commercial data sources--private companies that maintain records on individual names, addresses, phone numbers, and other information--as a means of verifying the accuracy of passenger-provided data. In this letter, we report on key aspects of TSA's disclosure of its use of personal information during commercial data testing for Secure Flight as required by the Privacy Act, and TSA's actions to more fully disclose its use of personal information. We will continue our assessment of Secure …

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 the Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the fiscal year 2004 CFS, we evaluated the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) financial reporting procedures and related internal control over the process for compiling the CFS, including the management representation letter provided us by Treasury and OMB. Written representation letters from management, required by U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, ordinarily confirm oral representations given to the auditor, indicate and document the continuing appropriateness of those representations, and reduce the possibility of a misunderstanding between management and the auditor. The purpose of this report is to communicate our observations on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) fiscal year 2004 management representation letter. Our objective is to help ensure that future management representation letters submitted by DOJ are sufficient to help support Treasury and OMB's …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2004, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) estimated that Medicare improperly paid $900 million for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies--in part due to fraud by suppliers. To deter such fraud, CMS contracts with the National Supplier Clearinghouse (NSC) to verify that suppliers meet 21 standards before they can bill Medicare. NSC verifies adherence to the standards through on-site inspections and document reviews. Recent prosecutions of fraudulent suppliers suggest that there may be weaknesses in NSC's efforts to screen suppliers or in the standards. In this report, GAO evaluated: 1) NSC's efforts to verify suppliers' compliance with the 21 standards, 2) the adequacy of the standards to screen suppliers, and 3) CMS's oversight of NSC's efforts."

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Alabama (AFRC Pelham Range, AL)

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Alabama (AFRC Tuscaloosa, AL)

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Arizona (AFRC Marana, AZ)

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Arkansas (AFRC Arkadelphia AR)

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Arkansas (AFRC Arkadelphia AR.Out)

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Arkansas (AFRC Camden, AR.CBR)

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Arkansas (AFRC Camden, AR.Out)

COBRA Program - RC Transformation in Arkansas (AFRC El Dorado, AR.CBR)