Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Customs Service's development of: (1) a Resource Allocation Model (RAM); (2) an Automated Commercial Environment (ACE); and (3) airline passenger personal search procedures."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its past work involving security at Department of Energy's (DOE) facilities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) efforts to address the year 2000 computer problem, focusing on the: (1) year 2000 readiness of automated systems that support the delivery of benefits and health care services; (2) compliance status of biomedical equipment used in patient care; and (3) year 2000 readiness of the pharmaceutical and medical-surgical manufacturers upon which VA relies. In discussing biomedical equipment and pharmaceutical manufacturers, GAO provided information on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) year 2000 efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the experiences of foreign countries that are consolidating their food safety responsibilities, focusing on the: (1) reasons for and approaches taken to consolidation, the costs and savings, if any, associated with consolidation, and efforts to assess the effectiveness of the revised food safety systems; and (2) lessons that the United States might learn from these countries' experiences in consolidating their food safety functions."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, established in 1996, is a bilateral and multilateral effort to provide debt relief to poor countries to help them achieve economic growth and debt sustainability. Multilateral creditors are having difficulty financing their share of the initiative, even with assistance from donors. Under the existing initiative, many countries are unlikely to achieve their debt relief targets, primarily because their export earnings are likely to be significantly less than projected by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). In a recently issued report, GAO assessed (1) the projected multilateral development banks' funding shortfall for the existing initiative and (2) the amount of funding, including development assistance, needed to help countries achieve economic growth and debt relief targets. The Treasury, World Bank, and African Development Bank commented that historical export growth rates are not good predictors of the future because significant structural changes are under way in many countries that could lead to greater growth. We consider these historical rates to be a more realistic gauge of future growth because of these countries' reliance on highly volatile primary commodities and other vulnerabilities such …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's report to Congress on its contractor support, focusing on the extent to which the report: (1) identified programs or systems using or planning to use contractor support arrangements; (2) supported the Air Force's view that the contractor support provides equal or superior warfighting capabilities; (3) identified the impact of such support arrangements on the government's logistics depots and core government logistics management skills; and (4) identified processes and criteria followed in determining whether government employees or the private sector can perform logistics management functions more cost-effectively."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The tax-exempt sector under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code covers over a million-and-a-half entities of varying sizes and purposes. Its diversity allows it to address the needs of many citizens. To help it do so, Congress and some in the tax-exempt sector itself encourage good governance practices by exempt entities. Transparency over exempt entities' activities is aided by public access to their annual tax returns. As the nation's tax administrator, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a key role in overseeing this sector. Oversight can help ensure adherence to exempt purposes, protect against abuses, and sustain public support for the sector. The Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means asked GAO to address (1) the growth of the section 501(c) tax-exempt sector; (2) the role of governance and transparency in ensuring that tax-exempt entities function effectively and with integrity; (3) IRS's capacity for overseeing the exempt sector, including its results and efforts to address critical compliance problems; and (4) states' oversight and their relationship with IRS in overseeing the tax-exempt sector."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the past, governments worldwide owned, operated, and regulated air navigation services, viewing air traffic control as a governmental function. But as nations faced increasing financial strains, many governments decided to shift the responsibility to an independent air navigation service provider (ANSP) that operates along commercial lines. As of March 2005, 38 nations worldwide had commercialized their air navigation services, fundamentally shifting the operational and financial responsibility for providing these services from the national government to an independent commercial authority. GAO selected five ANSPs--in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom--to examine characteristics and experiences of commercialized air navigation services. These ANSPs used different ownership structures and varied in terms of their size, amount of air traffic handled, and complexity of their airspace. This testimony, which is based on ongoing work, addresses the following questions: (1) What are common characteristics of commercialized ANSPs? (2) What do available data show about how the safety, cost, and efficiency of air navigation services have changed since commercialization? (3) What are some initial observations that can be made about the commercialization of air navigation services?"

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Having grown to over $7.5 trillion in assets, mutual funds have become vital components of the financial security of more than 95 million American investors. However, in 2003, various allegations of misconduct and abusive practices involving mutual funds came to light. Therefore, ensuring that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has primary oversight of the mutual fund industry, has the necessary resources and strategic focus to adequately oversee fund practices has never been more important. To assess how SEC is positioned to oversee mutual funds, GAO reviewed (1) how the abusive mutual fund practices were identified and SEC's subsequent responses, (2) SEC's plans for increasing its staffing in the divisions and offices responsible for overseeing mutual funds and its progress in developing a new strategic plan to guide staff deployment, and (3) the challenges SEC faces in overseeing the mutual fund industry."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1996, Congress authorized a test program that permits government buyers to use procedural discretion and flexibility, so that commercial items may be obtained in a simplified manner. This report discusses how federal agencies demonstrated whether the test program produced the desired results and (2) assesses how the authority provided under the test program was being used on selected contracts. GAO found that (1) the Office of Federal Procurement Policy did not collect data to provide a basis for measuring whether the test program produced the desired results and (2) government buyers did not always demonstrate that prices were fair and reasonable for the contracts included in GAO's review. However, OFPP's 1999 survey of procurement executives showed that these executives believed that the program has had a positive impact on the federal procurement process. These executives believed that the authority provided under the test program should be made permanent. However, OFPP's survey did not collect empirical data that would have supported these views."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requires federal agencies to minimize the paperwork burden they impose on the public. The act also requires agencies to obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before collecting covered information. At Congress's request, GAO examined changes during the past fiscal year in federal agencies' paperwork burden estimates and their causes, focusing on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). GAO also examined changes in the number of violations of the PRA."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "An international peer review team with representatives from the supreme audit institutions of Canada, Australia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, and Sweden reviewed the quality assurance system that the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has established for managing its performance audit practice. The GAO's quality assurance system encompasses its organizational structure and the policies and procedures established to provide it with reasonable assurance of complying with Government Auditing Standards. The GAO is responsible for the design of its quality assurance system and compliance with it, including the quality of its products. The responsibility of the peer review team is to express an opinion on whether the system is suitably designed and operating effectively to meet its objective. The criteria the peer review team used to assess the GAO's quality assurance system were drawn from GAO legislative authorities, Government Auditing Standards, and the GAO performance audit manual. The peer review team conducted the review in accordance with the peer review standards in Government Auditing Standards, and in a manner consistent with the Code of Ethics and auditing standards issued by the International Organization of Supreme …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plays a key role in coordinating the nation's homeland security efforts with stakeholders in the federal, state, local, and private sectors. While GAO has conducted numerous reviews of specific DHS missions, such as border and transportation security and emergency preparedness, this testimony addresses overall DHS management issues. This testimony addresses (1) why GAO designated DHS's transformation as a high-risk area; and (2) the specific management challenges facing DHS."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, the Coast Guard began a multiyear, $19 billion to $24 billion acquisition program to replace or modernize its fleet of deepwater aircraft and cutters, so called because they are capable of operating many miles off the coast. For several years now, the Coast Guard has been warning that the existing fleet--especially cutters--was failing at an unsustainable rate, and it began studying options for replacing or modernizing the fleet more rapidly. Faster replacement is designed to avoid some of the costs that might be involved in keeping aging assets running for longer periods. This testimony, which is based both on current and past GAO work, addresses several issues related to these considerations: (1) changes in the condition of deepwater legacy assets during fiscal years 2000 through 2004; (2) actions the Coast Guard has taken to maintain and upgrade deepwater legacy assets; and (3) management challenges the Coast Guard faces in acquiring new assets, especially if a more aggressive schedule is adopted."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 1997 and 1998 reports to Congress regarding the costs and benefits of federal regulations, focusing on, for each of four statutory requirements: (1) how OMB addressed the requirements in its reports; and (2) the views of noted economists in the field of cost-benefit analysis regarding OMB's responses in these reports."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs' Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) program has taken on heightened importance due, in large measure, to the number of servicemembers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with serious injuries and their need for vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance. This statement draws on over 20 years of GAO's reporting on VA's provision of vocational rehabilitation and employment assistance to American veterans and focuses primarily on the results of two recent GAO reports. The first, issued in June 2004, commented on the report of the VA-sponsored VR&E Task Force, which performed a comprehensive review of VR&E activities and made extensive recommendations that, if implemented, would affect virtually every aspect of VR&E's operations. The second, issued in January 2005, focused on the steps VA has taken and the challenges it faces in providing services to seriously injured veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2007, a series of Washington Post articles disclosed problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, particularly with the management of servicemembers receiving outpatient care. In response, the Army established Warrior Transition Units (WTU) for servicemembers requiring complex case management. Each servicemember in a WTU is assigned to a Triad of Care--a primary care manager, a nurse case manager, and a squad leader--who provide case management services to ensure continuity of care. The Army established staff-to-servicemember ratios for each Triad of Care position. This report examines (1) the Army's ongoing efforts to staff WTU Triad of Care positions and (2) how the Army monitors the recovery process of WTU servicemembers. GAO reviewed WTU policies, analyzed Army staffing and monitoring data, interviewed Army officials, and visited five selected WTUs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how five states budget for uncertainty, focusing on: (1) state criteria designed to control the use of reserve emergency funds; (2) how state criteria compared with criteria being proposed at the federal level; (3) how states determined whether the criteria have been met; (4) whether state criteria contain any escape clauses; and (5) whether states' criteria are useful in controlling costs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government manages about 650 million acres, or 29 percent, of the 2.27 billion acres of U.S. land. Four land management agencies--the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the National Park Service (NPS) in the Department of the Interior (Interior) and the Forest Service, in the Department of Agriculture--manage about 95 percent of these federal acres. Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (BoR) manages another 1 percent of these acres and focuses on water projects. The five agencies collect certain data to help manage these federal lands. GAO was asked to review whether the five agencies collect certain federal land and resource data (referred to as data elements), how these data elements are stored, and their potential reliability. GAO included over 100 data elements at each agency in its analysis that can be categorized as information on (1) federal land and the resources the five agencies manage, (2) revenues generated from selected activities on these lands, and (3) federal land subject to selected land use designations. GAO assessed the potential reliability of data elements collected by the agencies generally for fiscal years …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined the source of information states used to derive both the fiscal year (FY) 1998 and the base numbers of finalized foster care adoptions, and identified factors that contributed to the increases in foster care adoptions in 5 states--Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, and Texas."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Recent violations uncovered in the mutual fund industry raised questions about the ethical practices of the industry and the quality of its oversight. A widespread abuse involved mutual fund companies' investment advisers (firms that provide management and other services to funds) entering into undisclosed arrangements with favored customers to permit market timing (frequent trading to profit from short-term pricing discrepancies) in contravention of stated trading limits. These arrangements harmed long-term mutual fund shareholders by increasing transaction costs and lowering fund returns. Questions have also been raised as to why the New York State Attorney General's Office disclosed the trading abuses in September 2003 before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is the mutual fund industry's primary regulator. Accordingly, this report (1) identifies the reasons that SEC did not detect the abuses at an earlier stage and the lessons learned in not doing so, and (2) assesses the steps that SEC has taken to strengthen its mutual fund oversight program and improve mutual fund company operations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For entities that rely on others for funding, effective governance, accountability, and internal control are keys to maintaining trust and credibility. In recent years, corporate governance and accountability have received increased scrutiny and emphasis in the nonprofit, federal government, and public company sectors. Governance and accountability problems have also been identified at designated federal entities (DFE) such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Legal Services Corporation, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. This report responds to a congressional request that GAO describe (1) the statutory structure of the governing bodies for each DFE organization and (2) the role of the inspectors general (IGs) in the governance structure. To accomplish this, GAO surveyed the DFE heads and IGs on governance issues and reviewed information from a variety of sources, including the IG Act and subsequent amendments; enabling legislation for the DFEs; and legislative and regulatory standards and requirements for financial reporting and internal control. GAO is not making specific recommendations in this report, but is providing this information for consideration in future efforts to update the governance of DFEs, oversee the entities and their IGs, and continue work …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On March 4, 2004, GAO testified before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Financial Services, at a hearing on oversight of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and discussed the results of our 2003 and 2002 audits of FDIC's financial statements. This letter responds to subsequent questions that the Chairwoman asked GAO to answer for the record."