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, 2008 and 2007. 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, 2008 and 2007, we concluded that BPD maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt related to financial reporting and compliance with applicable laws and regulations as of September 30, 2008, 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. However, we found deficiencies involving information security controls that we do not consider to be significant deficiencies. With regard to financial reporting and compliance with applicable laws and regulations, BPD mitigated the potential effect of such …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) provides resources to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to help replace its National Computer Center. This data center, which is 30 years old, houses the backbone of the agency's automated operations, which are critical to providing benefits to nearly 55 million people, issuing Social Security cards, and maintaining earnings records. The act makes $500 million available to SSA for the replacement of its National Computer Center and associated information technology (IT) costs. In this testimony, GAO was asked to comment on key IT management capabilities that will be important to the success of SSA's data center initiative. To do so, GAO relied on previously published products, including frameworks that it has developed for analyzing IT management areas. GAO has not performed a detailed examination of SSA's plans for this initiative, so it is not commenting on the agency's progress or making recommendations."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, Department of Defense's (DOD) spending on goods and services has more than doubled to $388 billion in 2008, while the number of civilian and military acquisition personnel has remained relatively stable. To supplement its in-house workforce, DOD relies heavily on contractor personnel. If it does not maintain an adequate workforce, DOD places its billion-dollar acquisitions at an increased risk of poor outcomes and vulnerability to fraud, waste, and abuse. This testimony is based on GAO's March 2009 report and addresses DOD's efforts to assess the sufficiency of the total acquisition workforce and to improve its management and oversight of that workforce. It also discusses selected practices of leading organizations that may provide DOD with insights for its efforts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discuss the U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GAO) budget request for fiscal year 2010. In fiscal year 2008 GAO delivered advice and analyses to the Congress in response to requests from all of the standing committees of the House and the Senate and over 80 percent of their subcommittees. The hard work of our staff yielded significant results across the government, including expert testimony at over 300 congressional hearings, hundreds of improvements in government operations, and billions in financial benefits. While we will strive to make progress in responding to new congressional requests sooner with our fiscal year 2009 funding level, our fiscal year 2010 request would enable GAO to make more progress in addressing the issues of greatest interest to the Congress and the American public during these challenging times."

Bill introduced by the Texas Senate relating to the sale of certain alcoholic beverages to private club registration permit holders.

Stop Loss is a frequently misunderstood DOD force management program that retains servicemembers beyond their contractually agreed-to separation date. Because of the involuntary nature of this extension, some critics have referred to the program as a "backdoor draft" or "involuntary servitude". This report outlines the history of Stop Loss, current issues relating to Stop Loss, and the possible future directions of the program.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Previous research has found that, despite improvements over time, women generally earned less than men in both the general and federal workforces, even after controlling for factors that might explain differences in pay. To determine the extent to which the pay gap exists in the federal workforce, GAO addressed the following question: To what extent has the pay gap between men and women in the federal workforce changed over the past 20 years and what factors account for the gap? This testimony is based on a report that GAO is releasing today (GAO-09-279). To answer this question, GAO used data from the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Central Personnel Data File (CPDF)--a database that contains salary and employment data for the majority of employees in the executive branch. GAO used these data to analyze (1) "snapshots" of the workforce as a whole at three points in time (1988, 1998, and 2007) to show changes over a 20-year period, and (2) the group, or cohort, of employees who began their federal careers in 1988 to track their pay over a 20-year period and examine the effects of breaks in …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has shifted from conducting its own activities to managing acquisition and assistance (A&A) instruments--contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements--it awards to implementing organizations. From fiscal years 2002 through 2008, USAID's A&A obligations increased from about $5 billion to about $11 billion. A&A staff--contracting officers (COs) and A&A specialists--are primarily responsible for managing A&A instruments. This testimony is based on a September 2008 GAO report that examined USAID's capacity to develop and implement a strategic A&A workforce plan and the extent to which USAID has implemented a mechanism to evaluate its A&A function."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Billions of taxpayer dollars are spent on federal information technology (IT) projects each year; for fiscal year 2009, federal IT spending has risen to an estimated $71 billion. Given the size of these investments and their significance to the health, economy, and security of the nation, it is important that that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and federal agencies are providing adequate oversight and ensuring transparency of these programs. Appropriate oversight and transparency will help ensure that programs are delivered on time, within budget, and with the promised capabilities. During the past several years, GAO has issued numerous reports and testimonies on OMB's initiatives to highlight troubled projects, justify IT investments, and use project management tools. For example, OMB has used a Management Watch List to identify major projects that were poorly planned and has required agencies to identify high-risk projects that have performance shortfalls. GAO made many recommendations to improve these initiatives and further enhance oversight and transparency of IT projects. GAO was asked to testify on key OMB efforts to improve the oversight and transparency of federal IT projects. In preparing this testimony, GAO …

Daily publication of the U.S. Office of the Federal Register contains rules and regulations, proposed legislation and rule changes, and other notices, including "Presidential proclamations and Executive Orders, Federal agency documents having general applicability and legal effect, documents required to be published by act of Congress, and other Federal agency documents of public interest" (p. ii). Table of Contents starts on page iii.

This report discusses the ethical arguments that surround human embryonic stem cell research (ESR). Human stem cell research is controversial not because of its goals, but rather because of the means of obtaining some of the cells.

This report discusses issues regarding authorization of an advanced appropriation for certain medical care accounts of the Veterans Health Administration.