A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the challenges facing U.S. agricultural biotechnology products in international trade. GAO found that new regulations and guidelines that may restrict U.S. exports of crops with a large biotech component are being enacted or considered by some U.S. trading partners and are also under discussion in various international organizations. These actions address approval, labeling, and traceability of agricultural biotech products. U.S. corn and soybean exports are most threatened by new foreign regulatory measures because of their biotech content. Although U.S. soybean exports have not yet experienced disruptions, U.S. corn exports have been largely shut out of the European Union (EU) market because U.S. farmers are producing some biotech varieties that have not been approved for marketing in the EU. U.S. agricultural biotech exports face several significant challenges in international markets. First, as the single major producer of biotech products, the United States has been relatively isolated in its efforts to maintain access to markets for these products. Second, in many parts of the world, consumer concerns are growing about the safety of biotech foods, which have led key market countries to implement or consider …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) plays a critical role in supporting America's military forces worldwide. DLA employs about 28,000 civilian and military workers at about 500 sites in all 50 states and 28 countries; in round numbers, it manages 4 million supply items and processes 30 million annual supply distribution actions. This report reviews DLA's efficiency and effectiveness in managing it is Business Systems Modernization (BSM) acquisition program. Specifically GAO determines (1) whether DLA is using an enterprise architecture to guide and constrain its investment in (BSM) and (2) whether DLA is investing in BSM in an incremental manner. GAO found that DLA does not have an enterprise architecture to guide its investment in BSM. DLA plans call for creating an architecture as a byproduct of BSM's implementation. In addition, GAO found that DLA has not been managing its investment in this program in an incremental manner; that is, DLA has not treated the first of its four planned incremental releases of BSM as a separate investment decision. Instead, DLA has thus far treated the entire BSM program as a single investment decision, according to BSM …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1992, Congress has authorized more than $3 billion for the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program to help Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, and Georgia secure and eliminate weapons of mass destruction. Concerned about proper oversight of equipment and services provided by the program, Congress required the Department of Defense (DOD) to report annually on whether the assistance was being used as intended. This report reviews (1) whether DOD's oversight procedures produce the necessary information to determine if the threat reduction assistance, including equipment provided and services furnished, is being used as intended and (2) whether DOD can improve its oversight. GAO found that DOD has procedures in place that reasonably ensure that at least 95 percent of the assistance is being used as intended and is adequately accounted for. Because of access restrictions imposed by the Russian government, a limited amount of equipment--less than five percent of the total value of assistance provided--is in locations where access by U.S. personnel is not permitted. DOD can enhance the quality of its program oversight by better targeting and expanding the scope of its formal audit and …

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The High-Speed Rail Investment Act of 2001 would allow the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to issue up to $12 billion in "tax credit bonds" over 10 years, primarily for capital improvement projects designated high-speed rail corridors and on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. This report reviews the (1) cost of the bond-financing mechanism and alternatives to the U.S. Treasury, (2) degree to which bond proceeds would meet the capital needs of federally designated high-speed rail corridors, and (3) extent of the federal oversight role. GAO found that the estimated tax credit for Amtrak bonds would cost the U.S. Treasury between $16.6 billion and $19.1 billion (in nominal dollars) over 30 years. The overall capital needs of fully developed federally designed high-speed rail corridors are unknown because these initiatives are in various stages of planning, but preliminary estimates by Amtrak puts the capital costs for fully developed high-speed rail corridors and its Northeast Corridor at between $50 billion and $70 billion over 20 years.The proposed legislation would require the Secretary of the Treasury to report annually on whether the amount of money in the trust account is sufficient …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The number of federal and state inmates released to communities increased more than threefold from 1980 to 1998. Since 1980, recidivism rates have been about 40 percent. Within the group of recidivists, the number of offenders reincarcerated for violating parole or other release conditions rose more than sevenfold from 1980 to 1998. Furthermore, such reincarcerations represent an increasing proportion of all prison admissions. The Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) 1997 survey found that most federal offenders (62 percent) were imprisoned for drug offense convictions, and almost half (47 percent) of all state offenders were incarcerated for violent offense convictions. Also, the majority of inmates in both correctional systems--federal inmates (73 percent) and state inmates (83 percent)--had some history of illegal drug use. BJS' survey also showed that 27 percent of both federal and state exit cohort inmates participated in vocational training programs, and 11 percent of federal and 2 percent of state exit cohort inmates worked in prison industry jobs. In addition, 33 percent of the federal inmates and 36 percent of the state inmates participated in residential in-patient treatment programs for alcohol and drug abuse. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of the Interior's fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance report plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act. Specifically, GAO discusses Interior's progress in achieving the following four outcomes: (1) maintaining the health of federally managed land, water, and renewable resources; (2) ensuring visitors' satisfaction with the availability, accessibility, diversity, and quality of national parks; (3) meeting the federal government's responsibility to preserve and protect Indian trust lands and resources; and (4) ensuring the safe and environmentally sound development of mineral resources. GAO could not judge the agency's progress in promoting the health of federally managed land, water, and renewable resources because the goals Interior has reported do not foster a broad or departmentwide approach to measuring progress. Although the Park Service's strategies for continuing to meet and exceed its visitor satisfaction and visitor education goals appear clear and reasonable, the agency's fiscal year 2002 performance plan lacks information on the strategic human capital management strategies to achieve this outcome. GAO cannot judge the Bureau of Indian Affairs' progress in protecting Indian trust lands and resources …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to assess HHS' progress in achieving selected key outcomes that are important to its mission. It is difficult to fully assess the HHS' progress in fiscal year 2000 toward achieving the outcomes GAO reviewed because lags in reporting performance data are common for many of its components such as the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration. In some cases, the delays are associated with the need to obtain performance data from states and local organizations. Some HHS components are working to improve the timeliness of data submitted by others and, in some instances, have reported trend data to show that progress is being made. For example, both ACF and CDC supplied fiscal year 1999 performance data in their current performance reports--data that were not available until this year. It is likely that ACF's …

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. defense industry and some U.S. and allied government officials have suggested in recent years that the U.S. export control process be reformed. Much of the debate on reforming the process has focused on the amount of time required to process an export license application. As a result, GAO analyzed the time it takes to process export license applications. GAO found that the average State Department license application review took 46 days, while the average Commerce Department review took 50 days. Several variables had an impact on the time it took to review applications. The commodity being exported most affected the time of application review in both Departments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to assess its progress in achieving selected key outcomes that are important mission areas for the agency. NRC reports mixed progress in achieving the three outcomes GAO reviewed. To measure performance for the three outcomes, NRC established the same four goals: one relates to safety and three relate to such nonsafety issues as public confidence, regulatory burden, and organizational enhancements. Although NRC's strategies for the safety-related performance goal outcomes seem clear and reasonable, GAO could not assess NRC's performance for the three nonsafety performance goals because NRC only recently developed and reported strategies for them in its fiscal year 2002 performance plan. Because NRC has had little experience in applying the strategies and measures for the three nonsafety goals, it may need to revise them after it completes various planned evaluations during the next three years."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began the Customer Account Data Engine (CADE) project to modernize the agency's outdated and inefficient data management system. This report determines (1) the reported status of CADE and IRS' plans for completing the project, (2) whether IRS is managing the relationship between CADE and the agency's enterprise architecture and current systems environment, (3) whether IRS is managing CADE in accordance with its Enterprise Life Cycle (ELC), and (4) whether IRS is ensuring that CADE will satisfy agency business needs. GAO found that IRS was over budget and behind schedule in meeting CADE's next project milestone, which is the completion of the preliminary design. IRS was not effectively managing the relationship between CADE and the enterprise architecture or its current systems environment. IRS had not fully employed several critical management controls that are intended to ensure that CADE is aligned with ELC. IRS had completed or was in the process of completing steps to ensure that CADE will satisfy agency business needs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The attorneys general of 46 states signed a settlement agreement in 1998 with the nation's largest tobacco companies. The agreement requires the tobacco companies to make annual payments to the states in perpetuity as reimbursement for past tobacco-related costs. Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, and Texas reached earlier individual settlements with the tobacco companies. States are free to use the money for any purpose. This report examines (1) the amount of payments received by the states and the states' decision-making processes on the allocation of payments in fiscal years 2000 and 2001 and (2) the types of programs that states funded with their payments in those two fiscal years. As of April 2001, GAO found that 45 of the 46 states received nearly $13.5 billion of the $206 billion estimated to be paid by the tobacco companies during the first 25 years of the agreement. Many states established dedicated funds to receive at least part of the payments. Other states passed legislation to ensure that payments are used to supplement existing state funds, enacted laws governing the future use of the payments, established voter approved initiatives to decide …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have conducted an increasingly broad range of research and educational activities related to Lyme disease. CDC has instituted a system for the surveillance of Lyme disease, helped to standardize diagnostic testing, conducted and funded basic research on Lyme disease and on its prevention, and developed patient and practitioner educational materials. CDC has initiated most activities recommended by external reviewers and congressional appropriations committees regarding changes to its programs. NIH has conducted and funded basic research on Lyme disease and on its etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. In addition, NIH research is addressing two topics of particular interest to patient advocates--chronic Lyme disease and the occurrence of other tick-borne infections in Lyme disease patients. NIH has also responded to most expert recommendations and congressional recommendations. During the last 10 years, allocations for Lyme disease have increased slightly at CDC, and obligations for Lyme disease have increased significantly at NIH. CDC allocations for Lyme disease research and education have increased seven percent, from $6.9 million to $7.4 million in inflation-adjusted dollars from fiscal …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a rule requiring vehicle manufacturers to install advanced air bag systems in an increasing number of cars beginning in 2003. This report reviews the development of technologies that vehicle manufacturers plan to use to comply with the advanced air bag rule. GAO found that some advanced air bag technologies are now being installed in vehicles and others are still being developed. The principal advanced technology being installed in some vehicles is an air bag that can inflate with lower or higher levels of power--rather than a single level--depending on the severity of the crash. Although frontal air bag systems with these advanced technologies are an improvement over previous systems, they do not contain all of the features that manufacturers believe are needed to meet the requirements of the advanced air bag rule, such as sensors that can distinguish among different types of occupants. To meet the requirements, manufacturers plan to introduce new technologies as well as continue to make further improvements in current technologies. The key new technologies that manufacturers plan to introduce are occupant classification sensors …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To ensure that people claiming disability insurance benefits can obtain legal representation at a fair price, the Social Security Act requires that the Social Security Administration (SSA) regulate the fees that attorneys charge people to represent their disability claims before the agency. Inefficiencies in the current process increase both the time it takes to pay the attorney fees and the costs of administration. One segment of attorney fee processing--the fee approval process--was substantially simplified in 1991. Systems support could streamline the second segment of the processing--the fee payment--thus lowering the annual administrative costs and cutting processing time. By automating this final segment of the fee processing, SSA could help improve customer service for both claimants and their attorneys. GAO found that despite internal recommendations for a new system, SSA has repeatedly postponed its plans to improve the attorney fee payment process. Indeed, even though these improvements have been part of SSA's system's plans since 1998, SSA has yet to establish a firm schedule for carrying out its plans. Additionally, although SSA has a draft plan for improving the process, agency officials told GAO that the details …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To protect human health and safeguard the environment,the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pollution generated by sewage treatment plants, power generation plants, chemical manufacturers, and pulp and paper mills. Monitoring is a key component of these efforts. Many of the technologies that are now being used to monitor environmental conditions have been in existence for decades. In recent years, however, several technologies have become available that may offer improved measurement and performance capabilities. This report (1) identifies technologies whose wider use can improve the monitoring of pollutants entering the nation's air and water, (2) determines the extent to which these improved technologies are being used and steps that EPA can take to promote their wider use, and (3) identifies factors that influence the development of new technologies and steps that EPA can take to encourage greater development of new technologies. GAO found that several monitoring technologies exist that can better measure emissions or discharges from stationary air sources, wastewater sources, and nonpoint water sources. These technologies offer advantages over older, more commonly used methods by detecting pollutants at lower levels, reducing monitoring costs, and increasing the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "State Medicaid programs make a wide variety of payments to individuals, institutions, and managed health care plans for services provided to beneficiaries whose eligibility status may fluctuate because of changes in income. Because of the size and the nature of the program, Medicaid is potentially at risk for billions of dollars in improper payments. The exact amount is unknown because few states measure the overall accuracy of their payments. Some improper Medicaid payments by states are the result of fraud by billers or program participants, but such improper payments are hard to measure because of the covert nature of fraud. Efforts by state Medicaid programs to address improper payments are modestly and unevenly funded. Half of the states spend no more than 1/10th of one percent of program expenditures to safeguard program payments. States also differ in how they help prevent improper payments as well as the degree to which they coordinate their investigations and prosecutions of fraud. Federal guidance to the states relies largely on technical assistance. The Health Care Financing Administration has recently taken a more active role to facilitate states' efforts and provide …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audited the fiscal year 2000 financial statement for the Senate Gift Shop Revolving Fund for fiscal year 2000. GAO found (1) the statement is presented fairly in all material respects; (2) although internal control should be improved, the Gift Shop had effective internal controls over financial reporting and compliance with laws and regulations; and (3) no reportable noncompliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations GAO tested."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Friendly fire incidents, or fratricide, accounted for about 24 percent of U.S. fatalities during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Since then, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the military services have been working to find new ways to avoid friendly fire in joint and coalition operations. Preventing friendly fire is a complex and challenging endeavor. It encompasses the development of new technologies as well as new training, tactics, and warfighting techniques. It involves a range of equipment and systems that have historically not been able to effectively interact as well as various military operations. It is a concern among each of the services as well as U.S. allies. Clearly, it is essential to have a blueprint that ties together these elements and provides a comprehensive map for long-term improvements as well as a management framework that is strong enough to implement the blueprint. Although DOD has taken some concrete steps toward both ends, it needs to strengthen these efforts and ensure that they are supported by the services. Otherwise, it may continue to contend with problems leading to friendly fire incidents."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assists nearly 30,000 privately owned and operated multifamily properties to provide affordable housing for low and moderate income persons. HUD is responsible for ensuring that the owners of HUD-assisted properties provide housing that is decent, safe, sanitary, and in good repair. HUD began its Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) in 1998 to inspect multifamily properties, and rate their condition. This report addresses whether: (1) HUD field offices are complying with the procedures HUD established to ensure that the physical deficiencies at these properties are corrected, (2) all physical deficiencies have been corrected at properties that HUD classified as repaired, and (3) HUD staff and property owners are meeting the Department's timeliness goals and requirements for addressing physical deficiencies. GAO found that HUD's field offices often did not follow the Department's procedures for ensuring that property owners are correcting all physical deficiencies. GAO visited properties that HUD said had been repaired and found that about half of them had not been corrected. Furthermore, HUD's staff and property owners are not meeting timeliness goals and requirements for addressing physical deficiencies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 to assess VA's process in achieving selected key outcomes that are important to its mission. VA reported making mixed progress towards achieving its key outcomes. For example, VA reported that it made good progress in providing high-quality care to patients, but it did not achieve its goal of processing veterans' benefits claims in a timely manner. GAO found out that VA made several improvements to its fiscal year 2000 performance report and 2002 performance plan. These improvements resulted in clearer discussions of VA's management challenges and additional performance measures for assessing program achievement. Furthermore, VA addressed all six of the major management challenges previously identified by GAO, and generally described goals or actions that VA is taking or plans to take in response to them. VA has established strategies for achieving strategic goals and objectives for two of these challenges: human capital management and information security. VA has established a performance goal and identified milestones for …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Credit cards offer clear advantages to college students because they provide an interest free loan until the payment is due and a convenient noncash payment option for both routine transactions and emergencies. If used responsibly, credit cards allow students to build up credit histories that will increase their access to credit in the future. However, if college students have not learned sound financial management skills in high school or from their parents, the disadvantages of credit cards can outweigh the advantages. GAO found that more than one-third of students had credit cards before they entered college, and another 46 percent acquired them during the first year. Except for charges for tuition and fees, their spending patterns resembled those of nonstudents. GAO did not find a uniform response to the controversial issue of on-campus credit card marketing among the universities GAO visited. In response to complaints about aggressive marketing techniques, a few universities have restricted credit card solicitation on campus. The credit card issuers that responded to GAO's inquiries participated actively in the student market, but they did not have a uniform set of policies or practices."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Wholesale electricity prices in California rose sharply in May 2000 and have remained high. In addition, there were disruptions in service--blackouts--this winter and spring. The California Independent System Operator, the state agency in charge of balancing electricity supply with demand, expects high prices and service disruptions to continue and perhaps worsen this summer. In response to concerns about high prices and generator outages in California, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) undertook a study, released in February 2001, to determine whether outages were being used to withhold power and drive up prices of electricity in California. Other studies of the electricity market in California have been conducted by economists and industry experts. One study, conducted by three economists from Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of California Energy Institute examined whether market prices of electricity in California in 1998 and 1999 were higher than competitive levels. A second, similar study by two economists--one from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one from a private consulting firm--examined the California market during 2000. This report reviews the FERC study, as well as the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers the contaminants in storm water runoff as a significant threat to water quality across the nation. Prompted by Congress, EPA has responded with various initiatives, including the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Storm Water Program, which requires more than 1,000 local governments to undertake storm water management programs. Those municipalities in Phase I of the program have been trying to reduce pollutants in storm water runoff for several years, and it is time to begin evaluating their efforts. EPA however, has not established measurable goals for this program, nor has it attempted to evaluate the program's effectiveness in reducing storm water pollution or to determine its cost. EPA attributes its inaction to inconsistent data reporting from municipalities, insufficient staff resources, and other competing priorities within the Office of Wastewater Management. Although municipalities report monitoring and cost data to EPA or state regulatory agencies annually, these agencies have not reviewed this information to determine whether it can be useful in determining the program's overall effectiveness or cost. GAO found that the reported cost information will be difficult to analyze unless EPA …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Military Strategy calls for the Department of Defense (DOD) to maintain the transportation capability to quickly move the large amounts of personnel and equipment needed to win two nearly simultaneous major theater wars anywhere in the world. To provide this mobility, DOD relies on a transportation system--the En Route System (ERS)--that includes an airlift fleet of cargo aircraft and a critical network of overseas airfields that provide logistical support to aircraft on their way to the war zones. Although the two-war requirement and other aspects of the National Military Strategy are now under review by the new administration, the ERS remains critically important as the primary means of quickly moving U.S. soldiers and equipment to areas of conflict around the world. This report addresses (1) whether en-route airfields have the capacity to meet the requirements of the National Military Strategy, (2) the causes of any shortfalls and DOD's plans to correct them, and (3) whether DOD has the information and management structure needed to ensure that the operations of the ERS can be carried out efficiently and effectively."