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Government Accountability Office Reports
80
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23
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U.S. Postal Service: Moving Forward on Financial and Transformation Challenges
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service continues to face financial and transformation challenges. Since GAO placed the Service's long-term outlook and transformation efforts on its high-risk list, the Service's financial situation has continued to decline, and its operational challenges have increased. The Service took a good first step when it issued its Transformation Plan. The plan provides information about the Service's challenges, identifies many actions the Service plans to take under its existing authority, and outlines steps that would require congressional action. The plan does not, however, adequately address some key issues or include an action plan with key milestones. The catastrophic events of September 11 and subsequent anthrax scares, coupled with the recent economic slowdown, have decreased mail volumes and revenues. However, the Service's financial difficulties are not just a cyclical phenomenon that will fade as the economy recovers. The Service's basic business model, which assumes that rising mail volume will cover rising costs and mitigate rate increases, is questionable as mail volumes stagnate or deteriorate in an increasingly competitive environment. The Service's Transformation Plan recognizes that postal costs are rising faster than revenues and identifies many actions that …
Date:
May 13, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
U.S. Postal Service: Workers' Compensation Benefits for Postal Employees
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2002, U.S. Postal Service employees accounted for one-third of both the federal civilian workforce and the $2.1 billion in overall costs for the Federal Workers' Compensation Program (WCP). Postal workers submitted half of the claims for new work-related injuries that year. Postal Service employees with job-related traumatic injuries or occupational diseases almost always provided the evidence required to make a determination on their entitlement. In two percent of the cases, the Office of Workers' Compensation Program (OWCP) found that evidence was missing for one or more of the required elements. However, the length of time taken to process claims varied widely even though all were subject to the same OWCP processing standards. OWCP claims examiners took 59 days to process traumatic injury claims after receiving the notice of injury claim forms from the Postal Service--a process that should take 45 days for all but the most complex cases, according to OWCP performance standards. The case files lacked the information necessary to determine whether the claims for compensation were prepared and filed by the employees within the time frame set by OWCP regulations. OWCP claims examiners …
Date:
May 9, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Medicare: Using Education and Claims Scrutiny to Minimize Physician Billing Errors
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In its audit for year 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General found that $12.1 billion was improperly paid to Medicare providers. GAO's February report (GAO-02-249) showed that physicians often do not receive complete, accurate, clear, or timely guidance on Medicare billing and payment policies. At the carriers studied, GAO found significant shortcomings in printed material, web sites, and telephone help lines used to provide information and respond to physicians' questions. GAO concluded the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) needed to initiate a more centralized and coordinated approach and provide technical assistance to carriers to improve provider communications. In fiscal year 2001, CMS revised its policy on conducting medical reviews. The policy directs carriers to differentiate among levels of billing problems and tailor corrective actions accordingly. As a result of this and other medical review modifications, the highest overpayment amounts assessed a physician practice by a carrier dropped substantially."
Date:
May 28, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Environmental Protection: MTBE Contamination From Underground Storage Tanks
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To help limit air pollution, about a third of the states use gasoline that contains methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), which burns cleaner. However, MTBE has migrated into wells and groundwater from leaking underground tanks used to store gasoline. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the responsibility through the Underground Storage Tank Program and works through the states to ensure that tanks do not leak and, if they do, that the contamination is cleaned up. To help states cover the program costs, Congress annually provides grants from a trust fund it created in 1986. Most of the 50 states have reported finding MTBE when they discover gasoline contamination in their tank sites and increasingly, in their groundwater, surface water, and drinking water. States have made progress in addressing the releases they have discovered, including MTBE contamination, but face a continuing and substantial cleanup workload. States typically depend on tank owners or operators to pay some of the cleanup costs and cover the remainder with their own funding programs and depend on relatively small federal trust fund grants to pay staff to oversee cleanups and administer their programs."
Date:
May 21, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Nuclear Waste: Uncertainties About the Yucca Mountain Repository Project
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) has been investigating Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a possible repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste. In February, the Secretary of Energy endorsed the Yucca Mountain site, and the President recommended that Congress approve the site. If the site is approved, DOE must apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for authorization to build a repository. If the site is not approved for a license application, or if NRC denies a construction license, the administration and Congress will have to consider other options. GAO concludes that DOE is unprepared to submit an acceptable license application to NRC within the statutory deadlines if the site is approved. On the basis of a reassessment done by DOE's managing contractor in September 2001, GAO believes that DOE would not have enough time to obtain a license from NRC and build and open the repository by 2010. DOE lacks a reliable estimate of when, and at what cost, a license application can be submitted or a repository can be opened."
Date:
May 23, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Social Security Administration: Agency Must Position Itself Now to Meet Profound Challenges
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) provided $450 billion in benefits to 50 million recipients in fiscal year 2001. Since 1995, when SSA became an independent agency, GAO has called for effective leadership and sustained management attention to several unresolved management challenges, including the redesign of its disability claims process, management and oversight problems with its SSI program, future service delivery demands, and implementing its information technology and research and policy development capacity. SSA has much more to do and will need to take bolder action or make more fundamental changes to existing programs."
Date:
May 2, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Transportation Infrastructure: Cost and Oversight Issues on Major Highway and Bridge Projects
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO found problems with the costs and oversight of major highway and bridge projects because cost containment was not an explicit statutory or regulatory goal. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) did little to ensure that cost contentment was an integral part of the states' project management. The Department of Transportation's (DOT) Office of Inspector General and reviews by state audit and evaluation agencies have also shown that escalating costs and mismanagement of major projects continue to be a problem. FHWA and DOT have undertaken several efforts since 1997 to improve the management and oversight of major highway and bridge projects. Should Congress decide to address cost growth and oversight of major highway and bridge projects, GAO's past reviews have presented options, including measures to improve the quality of initial baseline estimates and to track progress over the life of projects."
Date:
May 1, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Tax Administration: Continued Progress Modernizing IRS Depends on Managing Risks
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In light of the fourth anniversary of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, which established Congress' expectation that IRS modernize to better meet taxpayer needs, GAO gave an overview of IRS's current performance and resources and then assessed the progress that IRS has made modernizing and the risks to continued progress. Overall, IRS has seen increased workload, decreased staffing, and significant changes in the allocation of resources between taxpayer assistance programs and its compliance and collection programs. Between 1995 and 2001, IRS's workload, measured by returns filed, increased by 10 percent while aggregate staffing declined by 14 percent. Over the same time, there was a significant internal reallocation of resources with a disproportionate decline in compliance and collection program staffing to accommodate more emphasis on taxpayer service, such as telephone assistance, and to information systems operation and investment. Electronic filing of returns increased but not enough to reduce paper returns sufficiently to free significant processing resources for use elsewhere. The reallocation of resources shows signs of beginning to produce more accurate service for taxpayers, but the compliance and collection programs have seen large …
Date:
May 14, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Medicare: Use of Preventive Services is Growing but Varies Widely
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Preventive health care services can extend lives and promote the well being of the nation's seniors. Medicare now covers 10 preventive services--three types of immunizations and seven types of screenings--and legislation has been introduced to cover additional services. However, not all beneficiaries avail themselves of Medicare's preventive services. Some may simply choose not to use them, but others may be unaware that these services are covered by Medicare. Although the use of Medicare preventive service is growing, it varies from service to service and by state, ethnic group, income, and level of education. To ensure that preventive services are delivered to those who need them, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sponsors activities to increase their use. CMS now funds interventions to increase the use of three services--breast cancer screening and immunizations against the flu and pneumonia--in each state. CMS also pays for interventions to increase use of services by minorities and low-income beneficiaries with low usage rates. CMS is evaluating the effectiveness of current efforts and expects to have the evaluation results later in 2002."
Date:
May 23, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Developing Countries: Switching Some Multilateral Loans to Grants Would Lesson Poor Country Debt Burdens
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Last year, President Bush proposed that the World Bank and other development banks replace half of all future loans to the world's poorest countries with grants. The goal of the proposal was to relieve poor countries' long term debt burdens. The World Bank estimates that the proposal would result in a financial loss of $100 billion dollars to it during the next 40 years. GAO found that the proposal would help poor countries reduce their debt burdens and that the World Bank would lose only $15.6 billion, which could be financed through relatively small increases in donor contributions. This testimony is based on an April report. (See GAO-02-593.)"
Date:
May 2, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Government Purchase Cards: Control Weaknesses Expose Agencies to Fraud and Abuse
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The use of government purchase cards has increased in recent years as agencies have sought to eliminate the bureaucracy and paperwork long associated with small purchases. At the same time, agencies need to have adequate internal controls in place to protect the government from waste, fraud, and abuse. GAO found significant internal control weaknesses in agency purchase card programs, including inadequate review and approval processes, a lack of training for both cardholders and approving officials, and poor monitoring. This lax environment allowed cardholders to make fraudulent, improper, abusive, and questionable purchases. Weak controls also resulted in lost, missing, or misused government property."
Date:
May 1, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Welfare Reform: Tribes Are Using TANF Flexibility To Establish Their Own Programs
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under welfare reform, American Indian tribes have the option to run Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs either alone or as part of a consortium of other tribes rather than receiving benefits and services from state TANF programs. Because of the difficult economic circumstances on many reservations, the law also gives tribal TANF programs more flexibility to design their programs than it gives to states. Tribes have used various strategies to stimulate economic development; however, unemployment and poverty rates remain high on reservations, and prospects for economic growth are limited. Nationally, the number of American Indian families receiving TANF assistance has declined significantly in recent years. On some reservations, however, caseloads have remained the same or increased. American Indians represent an increasing proportion of the total TANF caseload in some states. To date, 172 tribes, either alone or as part of a consortium, have used the act's flexibility to design and administer their own TANF programs. Tribes face challenges in implementing tribal TANF programs, including a lack of (1) reliable data on the number of American Indian TANF recipients; (2) infrastructure support, such as information systems; and …
Date:
May 10, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Workforce Investment Act: Coordination of TANF Services Through One-Stops Has Increased Despite Challenges
Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A central focus of welfare reform has been to help needy adults with children find and keep jobs. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) unifies a fragmented employment and training system. Despite its similar fundamental focus, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was not required to participate in the one-stop system, although many states are coordinating their TANF services through one-stop centers. GAO found that coordination between TANF programs and WIA's one-stop centers has risen since WIA was first implemented in the spring of 2000. WIA funds may not be readily used to serve TANF clients in the one-stops because WIA's performance measures may be discourage serving clients who may not be successful. Moreover, when TANF clients need training to achieve self sufficiency, WIA funds may be unavailable because the amount of training provided under WIA has been reduced. Some local areas have found innovative ways to provide TANF services in the one-stops, often focusing on resolving the issues that had plagued the fragmented employee training system."
Date:
May 16, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Force Structure: Air Force Needs a Periodic Total Force Assessment
A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force began to test the force requirements in its manpower requirements-determination process in May 2000. The defense strategy envisions simultaneously fighting two major theater wars and conducting multiple contingency operations in peacetime. The Total Force Assessment was the Air Force's first evaluation of manpower adequacy in these contexts since 1995. Because the Total Force Assessment was not implemented as planned, the Air Force cannot demonstrate that it has the forces needed to carry out the full spectrum of military operations. Although intended to examine whether authorized Air Force personnel were sufficient to meet both the wartime and peacetime scenarios, the assessment only addressed the wartime scenario and did not address the adequacy of manpower for conducting multiple contingency operations in peacetime. Air Force officials concluded that manpower was adequate to support the wartime scenario but this assessment was inconclusive because the effort was discontinued before all discrepancies in the assessment's results were resolved. Although the Air Force spent considerable time and effort conducting at least a portion of its planned assessment, it has not used the results to the extent anticipated."
Date:
May 2, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Report
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Tennessee Valley Authority: Information on Benchmarking and Electricity Rates
A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) declared its intent to become competitive by reducing its cost of power and becoming more financially flexible by reducing debt from $27.4 billion to $13.2 billion by 2007. Since the 1980s, TVA has used benchmarking to assess staffing levels for its nuclear program and it began to use benchmarking studies for its non-nuclear business units in 1998. Recent studies indicate that TVA's nuclear and transmission power supply units are close to the industry's best in terms of staffing efficiency. TVA has taken several actions to improve performance and efficiency, including reorganizing its human resources and business services organizations and automating its hydropower production facilities to reduce future staffing. TVA continues to utilize benchmarking to assist in identifying opportunities for improvement. TVA's current electricity rates are low when compared to 12 likely competitors and to national averages. Although TVA's electricity rates are relatively low, it is legislatively protected from most competition, and it has the statutory authority to raise rates. If TVA were to choose to raise electricity rates selectively and use the additional cash generated to repay debt, it could accelerate …
Date:
May 30, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Report
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Social Security Numbers: Government Benefits from SSN Use but Could Provide Better Safeguards
A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security number (SSN) was created in 1936 to track workers' earnings and eligibility for Social Security benefits. Because SSNs are unique identifiers and do not change, the numbers provide a convenient and efficient way to manage records. Government agencies are taking some steps to safeguard the number, but some protections are not uniformly in place at any level of government. Many of the state and county agencies responding to GAO's survey maintain records that contain SSNs; federal agencies maintain public records less frequently. At the state and county levels, some offices, such as state professional licensing agencies and county recorders' offices, have traditionally been repositories for public records that may contain SSNs. Some government agencies are trying to better safeguard the SSN by trying innovative approaches to protect them from public display. For example, some agencies and courts are modifying their processes or their forms so that they can collect SSNs but prevent the number from becoming part of the publicly available record. The most far-reaching efforts took place in states with a statewide initiative that established a policy and procedures designed to protect …
Date:
May 31, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Report
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Medicare: Orthotics Ruling Has Implications for Beneficiary Access and Federal and State Costs
A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), became concerned that some suppliers were improperly billing Medicare for items that attach to wheelchairs and other equipment. Some suppliers were billing for such items using codes for orthodic devices, including arm, back, and neck braces that provide support for or immobilize weak or injured limbs, while others were billing using codes for durable medical equipment, which includes equipment such as wheelchairs and crutches that can withstand repeated use and is appropriate for home use. Whether an item is billed as an orthotic or DME device can affect whether such claims are paid. To clarify Medicare's payment policy on orthotics, HCFA issued a ruling stating that Medicare considered such items to be durable medical equipment rather than orthotics. HCFA issued Ruling 96-1 to clarify the circumstances under which certain items would be classified as orthotics or as DME for Medicare part B payment purposes. A federal appellate court found that HFCA had followed appropriate procedures to issue the rule as an interpretation of …
Date:
May 22, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Report
System:
The UNT Digital Library
NASA Contract Payments
Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report examines whether the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had significant problems with overpayments to its contractors. GAO did not find that NASA had a significant or systemic problem with overpayments or underpayments during fiscal year 2001. The controls that NASA put in place to prevent and detect payment errors appeared to be properly designed."
Date:
May 23, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Federally Chartered Corporation: Review of the Financial Statement Audit Report for the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum for 2000
Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with general accounting principles."
Date:
May 17, 2002
Creator:
United States. General Accounting Office.
Object Type:
Text
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Advanced Modeling and Materials in Kraft Pulp Mills
This CRADA provided technical support to the Weyerhaeuser Company on a number of issues related to the performance and/or selection of materials at a number of locations in a pulp and paper mill. The studies related primarily to components for black liquor recovery boilers, but some effort was directed toward black liquor gasifiers and rolls for paper machines. The purpose of this CRADA was to assist Weyerhaeuser in the evaluation of materials exposed in various paper mill environments and to provide direction in the selection of alternate materials, when appropriate.
Date:
May 15, 2002
Creator:
Keiser, J. R. & Gorog, J. P.
Object Type:
Report
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Habilitation Thesis on Neutrino Oscillations at the Bugey Reactor, Top Discovery in CDF, and the D0 SMT
None
Date:
May 1, 2002
Creator:
Kajfasz, Eric
Object Type:
Thesis or Dissertation
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Analysis of potential for jet-impingement erosion from leaking steam generator tubes during severe accidents.
This report summarizes analytical evaluation of crack-opening areas and leak rates of superheated steam through flaws in steam generator tubes and erosion of neighboring tubes due to jet impingement of superheated steam with entrained particles from core debris created during severe accidents. An analytical model for calculating crack-opening area as a function of time and temperature was validated with tests on tubes with machined flaws. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics code was used to calculate the jet velocity impinging on neighboring tubes as a function of tube spacing and crack-opening area. Erosion tests were conducted in a high-temperature, high-velocity erosion rig at the University of Cincinnati, using micrometer-sized nickel particles mixed in with high-temperature gas from a burner. The erosion results, together with analytical models, were used to estimate the erosive effects of superheated steam with entrained aerosols from the core during severe accidents.
Date:
May 1, 2002
Creator:
Majumdar, S.; Diercks, D. R.; Shack, W. J. & Technology, Energy
Object Type:
Report
System:
The UNT Digital Library
Energy Efficiency Standards and Labels in North America: Opportunities for Harmonization
To support the North American Energy Working Group's Expert Group on Energy Efficiency (NAEWG-EE), USDOE commissioned the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) to prepare a resource document comparing current standards, labels, and test procedure regulations in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. The resulting document reached the following conclusions: Out of 24 energy-using products for which at least one of the three countries has energy efficiency regulations, three products -- refrigerators/freezers, split system central air conditioners, and room air conditioners -- have similar or identical minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) in the three countries. These same three products, as well as three-phase motors, have similar or identical test procedures throughout the region. There are 10 products with different MEPS and test procedures, but which have the short-term potential to develop common test procedures, MEPS, and/or labels. Three other noteworthy areas where possible energy efficiency initiatives have potential for harmonization are standby losses, uniform endorsement labels, and a new standard or label on windows. This paper explains these conclusions and presents the underlying comparative data.
Date:
May 16, 2002
Creator:
Vanwiemcgrory, Laura; Wiel, Stephen; Van Wie McGrory, Laura & Harrington, Lloyd
Object Type:
Article
System:
The UNT Digital Library
A Long-Term Comparison of Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Abundance and Size Structure in Their Historical Range in Idaho.
We compared estimates of population abundance and size structure for Yellowstone cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri obtained by electrofishing 77 stream segments across southeastern Idaho in the 1980s and again in 1999-2000 to test whether populations of Yellowstone cutthroat trout had changed. Sites sampled in the 1980s were relocated in 1999-2000 by using maps and photographs or by finding original site-boundary stakes, so that the same reach of stream was sampled during both periods. Abundance of Yellowstone cutthroat trout longer than 10 cm did not change, averaging 41 fish/100 m of stream during both the 1980s and 1999-2000. The proportion of the total catch of trout composed of Yellowstone cutthroat trout also did not change, averaging 82% in the 1980s and 78% in 1999-2000. At the 48 sites where size structure could be estimated for both periods, the proportion of Yellowstone cutthroat trout that were 10-20 cm long declined slightly (74% versus 66%), but the change was due entirely to the shift in size structure at the Teton River sites. The number of sites that contained rainbow trout O. mykiss or cutthroat trout 3 rainbow trout hybrids rose from 23 to 37, but the average proportion of the catch composed …
Date:
May 23, 2002
Creator:
Meyer, Kevin A.; Schill, Daniel J. & Elle, F. Steven
Object Type:
Article
System:
The UNT Digital Library