A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "After the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) in 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, Division of Corporation Finance, and Division of Enforcement (herein "the offices") established a working group that developed an internal supervisory control framework. Internal supervisory controls include the processes established by management to help ensure that procedures applicable to staff are performed completely, consistent with applicable policies and procedures, and remain current. The overall control framework is generally consistent with federal internal control standards, which includes identifying and assessing risks, identifying and assessing internal controls, and reporting the results of testing to management and Congress."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Specialty hospitals represent a small but growing segment of the health care industry. These hospitals specialize in providing care for certain conditions, such as cardiac care, or performing certain procedures, such as orthopedic surgery. Specialty hospitals are not an entirely new phenomenon, as children's and other types of specialty hospitals have existed for decades. Consequently, it is challenging to distinguish between the old and new types of specialty hospitals. One aspect that sets apart the newer genre of specialty hospitals is that many are owned, in part, by the physicians who work in them. Advocates contend that, because of their focused mission, specialty hospitals can provide high-quality specialty services more efficiently than general hospitals. Because specialty hospitals can tailor their facilities and resources to best fit the needs of certain types of patients, individuals treated in such hospitals may enjoy relatively greater convenience and comfort. Specialty hospitals may also offer physicians financial and work environment advantages. Advocates have stated that the focused mission and dedicated resources of specialty hospitals allow physicians to treat more patients than they could in general hospitals. Physicians may gain financially from this increased …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) requires that we annually audit the financial statements of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which is implemented by the Office of Financial Stability (OFS). On November 15, 2010, we issued our audit report including (1) an unqualified opinion on OFS's financial statements for TARP as of and for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2010, and 2009, and (2) an opinion that OFS maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2010. We also reported that our tests of OFS's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010, disclosed no instances of noncompliance. Our November 2010 audit report concluded that although certain internal controls could be improved, OFS maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2010, that provided reasonable assurance that misstatements, losses, or noncompliance material in relation to the financial statements would be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis. Our audit report also identified a significant deficiency in OFS's internal control over its accounting and financial …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In response to a Congressional request, we issued a report in March 2003 on the Department of Defense's (DOD) strategic planning efforts for civilian personnel at DOD and selected defense components, including the four military services and two defense agencies. In that report we made recommendations to the Secretary of Defense to strengthen civilian human capital planning, including integration with military personnel and sourcing initiatives. DOD's response to our March 2003 report and recommendations were received too late to be included in that report. To provide our perspective on DOD's comments, we briefly summarize our March 2003 report's objectives, results, and recommendations and DOD's comments, along with our evaluation of the comments. DOD's civilian employees play key roles in such areas as defense policy, intelligence, finance, acquisitions, and weapon systems maintenance. Although downsized 38 percent between fiscal years 1989 and 2002, this workforce has taken on greater roles as a result of DOD's restructuring and transformation. Responding to congressional concerns about the quality and quantity of, and the strategic planning for, the civilian workforce, we determined the following for DOD, the military services, and selected defense agencies (the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found that the number of advanced diagnostic imaging (ADI) services provided to Medicare beneficiaries in the office setting—an indicator of access to those services—began declining before and continued declining after the accreditation requirement went into effect on January 1, 2012. In particular, the rate of decline from 2009 to 2010 was similar to the rate from 2011 to 2012 for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); computed tomography (CT); and nuclear medicine (NM), including positron emission tomography (PET) services. These results suggest that the overall decline was driven, at least in part, by factors other than accreditation. The percentage decline in the number of ADI services provided in the office setting was generally similar in both urban and rural areas during the period GAO studied."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In January 2001, the congressionally chartered Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization--known as the Space Commission--reported that the Department of Defense (DOD) lacked the senior-level focus and accountability to provide guidance and oversight for national security space operations. Congress mandated that GAO provide an assessment of DOD's actions to implement the Space Commission's recommendations. Thus, GAO (1) updated its June 2002 assessment of DOD's actions to address the Space Commission's recommendations, (2) ascertained progress in addressing other long- term management concerns, and (3) assessed the extent to which DOD has developed a results-oriented management framework for space activities."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the 2000 national elections, concerns have been raised by various groups regarding the election process, including voting technologies. Beginning in 2001, GAO published a series of reports examining virtually every aspect of the elections process. GAO's complement of reports was used by Congress in framing the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which, among other things, provided for replacement of older voting equipment with more modern electronic voting systems and established the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to lead the nation's election reform efforts. GAO's later reports have raised concerns about the security and reliability of these electronic voting systems, examined the EAC's efforts to address these concerns, and surveyed state and local officials about practices used during the 2004 election, as well as plans for their systems for the 2006 election. Using its published work on electronic voting systems, GAO was asked to testify on (1) the contextual role and characteristics of electronic voting systems, (2) the range of security and reliability concerns that have been reported about these systems, (3) the experiences and management practices of states and local jurisdictions regarding these systems, and (4) the …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the event of future base closure, the Department of Defense's (DOD) potential financial liabilities from alternatively financed projects will vary by project type and the language of its legal agreements. According to GAO's analysis of data reported by DOD, it had more than 550 such projects on more than 240 U.S. installations, as of September 30, 2011. 56 percent of these projects have been put in place since the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round. Further, according to this analysis and GAO's case study review, liabilities will likely exist for renewable energy and privatized utility projects in the event of base closure because these projects commit the government to making future payments, although the liabilities may be limited by termination for convenience clauses in agreements. In contrast, privatized housing, privatized army lodging, and enhanced use lease projects are generally not expected to create a financial liability if bases close because DOD does not expect to terminate these types of agreements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) authorized the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to impose an Aviation Security Infrastructure Fee (ASIF) on air carriers to help pay for the costs of aviation security services. To impose the ASIF, TSA issued an Interim Final Rule (IFR) and required air carriers to report their passenger and property screening costs incurred in 2000 on an attachment to the IFR referred to as Appendix A. The 2000 screening costs reported by air carriers were going to be used to establish the ASIF. Based on industry estimates of $1 billion, TSA had estimated that the costs incurred by air carriers in 2000 were $750 million, but the amounts reported by air carriers totaled $319 million, significantly less than expected. To provide the Congress with an independent assessment, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2005 required GAO to review the amount of passenger and property screening costs incurred by air carriers in 2000."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the financial statements of the U.S. government, we audited and reported on the Schedules of Federal Debt Managed by the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003. As part of these audits, we performed a review of the general and application information security controls over key BPD financial systems. As we reported in connection with our audit of the Schedules of Federal Debt for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2004 and 2003, BPD maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control, including general and application information security controls, relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt related to financial reporting and compliance with applicable laws and regulations as of September 30, 2004, that provided reasonable assurance that misstatements, losses, or noncompliance material in relation to the Schedule of Federal Debt would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. We found matters involving information security controls that we do not consider to be reportable conditions, but that nevertheless warrant BPD management's attention and action. This report presents the results of our …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has identified five additional risks since its November 2010 report ( GAO-11-103 ) associated with using new technologies in the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), which is to be built in three interrelated phases. These risks and the steps that NNSA is taking to address them include the following:"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) satellite control networks are fragmented and potentially duplicative. Over the past decade, DOD has increasingly deployed standalone satellite control operations networks, which are designed to operate a single satellite system, as opposed to shared systems that can operate multiple kinds of satellites. Dedicated networks can offer many benefits to programs, including possible lower risks and customization for a particular program's needs. However, they can also be more costly and have led to a fragmented, and potentially duplicative, approach which requires more infrastructure and personnel than shared operations. For example, one Air Force base has 10 satellite programs operated by 8 separate control centers. According to Air Force officials, DOD continues to acquire standalone networks and has not worked to move its current standalone operations towards a shared satellite control network, which could better leverage DOD investments."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO’s recent work highlights the types of challenges facing the Department of Defense (DOD) as it strives to attain audit readiness and reengineer its business processes and systems. The urgency in addressing these challenges has been increased by the goals of an auditable DOD Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR) by the end of fiscal year 2014 and a complete set of auditable financial statements by the end of fiscal year 2017. For example, GAO’s 2011 reporting highlights difficulties the DOD components experienced in attempting to achieve an auditable SBR. These include:"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Employee Performance Standards for the Timely Review of Medical Product Applications:"

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) requires districts with schools that receive Title I funds and that have not met state performance goals for 3 consecutive years to offer low-income students supplemental educational services (SES), such as tutoring. This testimony discusses early implementation of SES, including how (1) SES participation changed in recent years; (2) providers work with districts to deliver services; (3) states monitor and evaluate SES; and (4) the U.S. Department of Education (Education) monitors and supports SES implementation. This testimony is based on an August 2006 report (GAO-06-758) and also provides information on actions Education has taken that respond to our recommendations. For the report, GAO surveyed all states and a nationally representative sample of districts with schools required to offer SES, visited four school districts, and interviewed SES providers."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Large federal excise tax disparities among tobacco products, which resulted from the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009, created opportunities for tax avoidance and led to significant market shifts by manufacturers and price sensitive consumers toward the lower-taxed products. Monthly sales of pipe tobacco increased from approximately 240,000 pounds in January 2009 to over 3 million pounds in September 2011, while roll-your-own tobacco dropped from about 2 million pounds to 315,000 pounds. For the same months, large cigar sales increased from 411 million to over 1 billion cigars, while small cigars dropped from about 430 million to 60 million cigars. According to government, industry, and nongovernmental organization representatives, many roll-your-own tobacco and small cigar manufacturers shifted to the lower-taxed products after CHIPRA to avoid paying higher taxes."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) of 1998 authorized certain Haitian nationals and their dependents to apply to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. Section 902(k) of the act requires the Comptroller General to report every six months on the number of Haitian nationals who have applied and been approved to adjust their status to legal permanent residence. The reports are to contain a breakdown of the numbers who applied and the number who were approved as asylum applicants, parolees, children without parents, orphaned children, or abandoned children, and unmarried sons or daughters. As of March 31, 2002, the Immigration and Naturalization Service had received a total of 36,420 HRIFA applications and had approved 7,351 of these applications. The Executive Office for Immigration Review had 198 applications filed and had approved 98 of them."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Older electricity generating units—those that began operating in or before 1978—provided 45 percent of electricity from fossil fuel units in 2010 but produced a disproportionate share of emissions, both in aggregate and per unit of electricity generated. Overall, in 2010 older units contributed 75 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, 64 percent of nitrogen oxides emissions, and 54 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel units. For each unit of electricity generated, older units collectively emitted about 3.6 times as much sulfur dioxide, 2.1 times as much nitrogen oxides, and 1.3 times as much carbon dioxide as newer units. The difference in emissions between older units and their newer counterparts may be attributed to a number of factors. First, 93 percent of the electricity produced by older fossil fuel units in 2010 was generated by coal-fired units. Compared with natural gas units, coal-fired units produced over 90 times as much sulfur dioxide, twice as much carbon dioxide and over five times as much nitrogen oxides per unit of electricity, largely because coal contains more sulfur and carbon than natural gas. Second, fewer older units have installed emissions controls, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Authoritative bodies have promulgated laws, accounting standards, information system requirements, and related guidance to emphasize the need for cost information and cost management in the federal government. For example, the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990, contains several provisions related to managerial cost accounting, one of which states that an agency's CFO should develop and maintain an integrated accounting and financial management system that provides for the development and reporting of cost information. Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards No. 4, Managerial Cost Accounting Concepts and Standards for the Federal Government, and the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program's (JFMIP) Framework for Federal Financial Management Systems established accounting standards and system requirements for managerial cost accounting (MCA) information at federal agencies. The Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 built on this foundation and required, among other things, CFO Act agencies to comply substantially with federal accounting standards and federal financial management systems requirements. In light of the requirements for federal agencies to prepare MCA information, Congress asked us to determine the extent to which federal agencies develop cost information and use it for managerial decision making. The …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Although states faced challenges and delays in the past, states have made significant progress implementing wireless Enhanced 911 (E911) since 2003. Wireless E911 deployment usually proceeds through two phases: Phase I provides general caller location information by identifying the cell tower or cell site that is receiving the wireless call; Phase II provides more precise caller-location information, usually within 50 to 300 meters. Currently, according to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), nearly 98 percent of 911 call centers, known as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), are capable of receiving Phase I location information, and 97 percent have implemented Phase II for at least one wireless carrier. This represents a significant improvement since 2003 when implementation of Phase I was 65 percent and Phase II was 18 percent. According to NENA's current data, 142 U.S. counties (representing roughly 3 percent of the U.S. population) do not have some level of wireless E911 service. The areas that lack wireless E911 are primarily rural and tribal areas that face special implementation challenges, according to federal and association officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government distributed about $400 billion in federal grants in fiscal year 2003 through about 1,000 different federal grant programs administered by several federal agencies with different administrative requirements. Congress, concerned that some of these requirements may be duplicative, burdensome, or conflicting--and could impede cost-effective delivery of services--passed the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999, commonly called P.L. 106-107, and mandated that GAO assess the act's effectiveness. This report addresses (1) progress made to streamline and develop common processes for grantees and (2) the coordination among the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the agencies, and potential grant recipients."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent GAO work found that funding increases have expanded or created Department of Energy (DOE) programs with varying results. For example:"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On April 20, 2010, an explosion occurred on BP America Production Company's (BP) leased mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon. The total cost to clean up the massive and unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon explosion (including costs to help pay for the spill's adverse impact on businesses and individuals in the region) are yet unknown, but have been estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. The extent to which the federal government will ultimately be required to pay costs associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill remains unclear. The complex legal framework in place for oil spill liability and response funding will play an integral role in determining who is responsible and will ultimately pay the costs associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In this regard, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, as amended (OPA), which Congress enacted after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, authorized use of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (Fund) to pay for certain oil spill cleanup costs and damages using federal tax revenues for immediate response costs and when the responsible parties cannot …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In exchange for the possibility of dismissed charges or reduced sentences, defendants with substance abuse problems agree to be assigned to drug court programs. In drug courts, judges generally preside over the proceedings; monitor the progress of defendants; and prescribe sanctions and rewards in collaboration with prosecutors, defense attorneys, and treatment providers. Most decisions about drug court operations are left to local jurisdictions. Although programs funded by the Drug Court Program Office (DCPO) must collect and provide performance measurement and outcome data, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not effectively managed this effort because of (1) its inability to readily identify the universe of DCPO-funded drug court programs, including those subject to DCPO's data collection reporting requirements; (2) its inability to accurately determine the number of drug court programs responding to DCPO's semiannual data collection survey; (3) inefficiencies in the administration of DCPO's semiannual data collection effort; (4) the elimination of post-program impact questions from the data collection survey effort; and (5) the lack of use of the Drug Court Clearinghouse. Various administrative and research factors have also hampered DOJ's ability to complete the two-phase National …