A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Protecting federal workers essential to ensuring the continuity of the country's critical operations will involve new challenges in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak. This requested report discusses (1) the extent to which agencies have made pandemic plans to protect workers who cannot work remotely and are not first responders, (2) the pandemic plans selected agencies have for certain occupations performing essential functions other than first response, and (3) the opportunities to improve agencies' workforce pandemic plans. GAO surveyed pandemic coordinators from 24 agencies and selected three case study occupations for review: federal correctional workers, staff disbursing Treasury checks, and air traffic controllers."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, GAO reported that 1,088 oil industry mergers occurred between 2000 and 2007. Given the potential for price effects, GAO recommended that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency with the authority to maintain petroleum industry competition, undertake more regular retrospective reviews of past petroleum industry mergers, and FTC said it would consider this recommendation. GAO was asked to conduct such a review of its own to determine how mergers and market concentration--a measure of the number and market shares of firms in a market--affected wholesale gasoline prices since 2000. GAO examined the effects of mergers and market concentration using an economic model that ruled out the effects of many other factors. GAO consulted with a number of experts and used both public and private data in developing the model. GAO tested the model under a variety of assumptions to address some of its limitations. GAO also interviewed petroleum market participants."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the Department of the Interior (Interior) and the Forest Service in the Department of Agriculture (USDA) manage millions of acres of public land. To enhance land management and fulfill other public objectives, they acquire and dispose of land using exchanges--trading federal lands for lands owned by willing private entities, individuals, or state or local governments. GAO and others have raised concerns about whether the public interest has always been served in these land exchanges. GAO was asked to (1) analyze the number, trends, and characteristics of BLM and Forest Service land exchanges and (2) determine the effectiveness of agency actions to address previously identified key problems. GAO interviewed and surveyed agency officials, analyzed agency data on recent exchanges, and reviewed documents on a nongeneralizable sample of 31 land exchanges representing at least 85 percent of the acres that agencies acquired, or plan to acquire, during the time of GAO's review."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The concurrent implementation of several major Department of Defense (DOD) force structure and infrastructure initiatives has stressed the ability of traditional military construction to provide enough permanent living and working space for servicemembers and other DOD personnel. As a result, the services are using some movable--or relocatable--facilities as barracks, administrative offices, medical facilities, dining halls, and equipment maintenance facilities to meet short-term needs. In Senate Report 110-77, the Senate Committee on Armed Services directed GAO to review the subject. This report assesses the extent to which (1) the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is providing oversight of the services' use of relocatable facilities to meet physical infrastructure needs, and (2) DOD has a strategy for managing such facilities. GAO assessed data reported to OSD on relocatable use and cost as well as visited seven defense installations selected from those identified as having a sizeable number of relocatable facilities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The United States Coast Guard's Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) program is designed to, among other things, promote safety at sea while protecting mariners' rights and is composed of judges whose duties include presiding over cases involving mariners' credentials. If a mariner does not meet certain requirements related to safety and security at sea, Coast Guard investigative officers are to serve the mariner with a complaint that lists the allegation(s) and initiate proceedings that can result in the mariner's credential being suspended or revoked. GAO was asked to review elements of the ALJ program and this report addresses (1) the extent to which the ALJ program contains elements designed to foster the decisional independence of ALJs, (2) the extent to which the ALJ program includes protections for mariners and whether complaints and decisions include elements required by program regulations, and (3) the outcome of mariner suspension and revocation cases in recent years. To conduct this study, GAO analyzed the laws, regulations, and policies governing the ALJ program. GAO also reviewed all suspension and revocation cases opened and closed from November 10, 2005, through September 30, 2008, to …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) is demonstrating a technology called bulk vitrification, in parallel with the Hanford waste treatment plant, to treat a portion of the radioactive waste stored in 177 tanks at its Hanford site in southeastern Washington state. DOE faces technical and management problems that have affected the original objectives to justify demonstrating the bulk vitrification technology. This report discusses the extent to which DOE (1) has managed the bulk vitrification demonstration project consistent with DOE management guidance and (2) continues to need a supplemental technology, such as bulk vitrification, to treat a portion of the low-activity tank waste. To assess DOE's management of the project, GAO reviewed reports by DOE and others and discussed the project with DOE and contractor officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) employs over 800 federal employees and uses some 1,500 private sector employees to insure the pensions of millions of private sector workers and retirees in certain employer-sponsored pension plans. In recent years, PBGC's projected financial liabilities and workloads have increased greatly due to a large number of pension plan terminations. Given this, it is important that PBGC remain well positioned to fulfill its promise to those retirees who depend on it. GAO was asked to report on (1) PBGC's recent experience in hiring and retaining key staff and how it compares to other federal agencies and (2) the actions PBGC has taken to strategically hire and retain key staff and what additional steps, if any, can be taken. To do this, we analyzed PBGC's workforce by using the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Central Personnel Data File to identify data and compared those data to data from other federal agencies. We also interviewed officials from selected agencies, including PBGC, OPM, and the Department of Labor."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a part of the Library of Congress, operates a free national talking (audio) book program for qualified blind, visually impaired, or physically disabled residents of the United States and its territories, as well as qualified U.S. citizens residing abroad. NLS produces and distributes analog cassette players and talking books and periodicals recorded on audio cassettes to approximately 434,000 individual subscribers and 33,000 institutions through a network of 132 participating libraries and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). In the 1990s, NLS recognized that analog audio cassette technology was becoming outdated and nearing the end of its useful life and initiated efforts to plan for a new, digitally based talking book system. NLS analyzed three alternatives for the system--CD, hard drive, and flash based media--and chose to award a contract for the development of a digital talking book system based on flash memory media. The development phase is now nearing completion, and NLS is planning to award the manufacturing contract for the digital talking book system in August 2007. Under U.S. copyright law, NLS is authorized to reproduce and …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress has raised concerns over emergency management in school districts, with a particular interest in how federal agencies provide assistance to school districts. GAO was asked to assess (1) the roles of federal and state governments and school districts in establishing requirements and providing resources to school districts for emergency management planning, (2) what school districts have done to plan and prepare for emergencies, and (3) the challenges, if any, school districts have experienced in planning for emergencies, and communicating and coordinating with first responders, parents, and students. To obtain this information, GAO interviewed federal officials, surveyed a stratified random sample of all public school districts, surveyed state education agencies and state administering agencies, conducted site visits to school districts, and reviewed relevant documents."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report investigates whether the Department of Defense (DOD) misused the security classification process to stifle public discussion of problems with the National Missile Defense System. On May 11, 2000, Dr. Theodore Postol reported an alleged incident of fraud to John Podesta, former White House Chief of Staff. Dr. Postol wrote a letter that alleged scientific fraud by contractors involved in developing the National Missile Defense system for DOD's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). The letter contained Dr. Postol's analysis of public data and extracts from documents he used to reach his conclusion. BMDO's decision to classify Dr. Postol's letter prompted him to write another letter to Mr. Podesta complaining that the classification was an attempt to restrict his public exposure of scientific fraud. Dr. Postol wrote a third letter to Mr. Podesta complaining that an unscheduled visit by the Defense Security Service (DSS) was an attempt to intimidate him and violate his First Amendment rights. GAO found that DOD's decision to conduct a security classification review was performed in accordance with Executive Order 12958. Similarly, BMDO's subsequent request that DSS contact Dr. Postol to discuss concerns that …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) is a federal public safety program whose goals are to add officer positions to the streets of communities nationwide and to promote community policing. Since the program's inception in 1994, local law enforcement agencies have received billions of dollars in grants to hire additional officers, acquire technology and civilian personnel, and implement innovative crime-prevention programs. To receive COPS grants, agencies are expected to implement or enhance community policing strategies illustrating community partnerships, problem solving, and organizational commitment. Given the large expenditures of funds, it is important for policy makers, among others, to have sound information on the effectiveness of the COPS program in reducing crime. Congress asked us to review one evaluation of the effectiveness of the COPS program--by Zhao and Thurman--and to render an assessment of its quality. In this report, we provide information on the extent to which this particular study's conclusions are supported by the data the researchers used and the analyses they conducted. GAO statisticians and methodology specialists reviewed the study using standard and widely accepted statistical and social science research principles."

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."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. trade preference programs promote economic development in poorer nations by providing duty-free export opportunities in the United States. The Generalized System of Preferences, Caribbean Basin Initiative, Andean Trade Preference Act, and African Growth and Opportunity Act unilaterally reduce U.S. tariffs for many products from over 130 countries. However, two of these programs expire partially or in full this year, and Congress is exploring options as it considers renewal. This testimony describes the growth in preference program imports since 1992, identifies policy trade-offs concerning these programs, and evaluates the overall U.S. approach to preference programs. The testimony is based on two recent studies on trade preference programs, issued in September 2007 and March 2008. For those studies, GAO analyzed trade data, reviewed trade literature and program documents, interviewed U.S. officials, and did fieldwork in six trade preference beneficiary countries."

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 …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In the early 1980s, volatile organic compounds (VOC) were discovered in some of the water systems serving housing areas on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Exposure to certain VOCs may cause adverse health effects, including cancer. Since 1991, the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has been examining whether individuals who were exposed to the contaminated drinking water are likely to have adverse health effects. ATSDR's current study is examining whether individuals who were exposed in utero are more likely to have developed certain childhood cancers or birth defects. GAO was asked to testify on its May 11, 2007 report: Defense Health Care: Activities Related to Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune (GAO-07-276). This testimony summarizes findings from the report about (1) efforts to identify and address the past drinking water contamination, (2) the provision of funding and information from the Department of Defense (DOD) to ATSDR, and (3) an assessment of the design of the current ATSDR study. GAO reviewed documents, interviewed officials and former residents, and contracted with the National Academy of Sciences to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made important progress in raising corporate awareness of the department's information technology (IT) needs and in taking actions to improve key areas of IT performance. Nevertheless, the department has significant work to accomplish in order to use IT investments to improve mission performance. VA has taken important steps in laying the groundwork for an integrated, departmentwide enterprise architecture--a blueprint for evolving its information systems and developing new systems that optimize their mission value--by establishing crucial executive support and a strategy to define produces and processes essential to its development. VA has also strengthened its department-level information security program by requiring greater management accountability from senior executives, through mandated information security performance standards. In addition, Veterans Health Administration managers and clinicians have shown good progress in expanding their use of the decision support system to facilitate clinical and financial decisionmaking. However, many aspects of the department's IT environment remain troublesome. The department continues to report pervasive computer security challenges, including access and other general control weaknesses. Moreover, in pursuing critical information systems investments, the Veterans Benefits Administration has not addressed …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) new navigation system, focusing on whether: (1) the Department of Defense's (DOD) current Global Positioning System (GPS) or its planned improvements for GPS can meet FAA's navigation requirements; (2) the benefits of FAA's chosen approach to an augmented system outweigh the cost of this system; and (3) other technologies are available to meet FAA's requirements and users' needs for a new navigation system."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Telework continues to receive attention within Congress and federal agencies as a human capital strategy that offers various flexibilities to both employers and employees, including the capacity to continue operations during emergency events, as well as benefits to society, such as decreased energy use and pollution. This statement highlights some of GAO's prior work on federal telework programs, including key practices for successful implementation of telework initiatives, identified in a 2003 GAO report and a 2005 GAO analysis of telework program definitions and methods in five federal agencies. In addition, the statement discusses GAO observations on the Telework Enhancement Act of 2007, S. 1000."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Key practices of effective performance management for the Senior Executive Service (SES) include the linkage or "line of sight" between individual performance and organizational success, the importance of linking pay to individual and organizational performance, and the need to make meaningful distinctions in performance. GAO identified certain principles for executive pay plans that should be considered to attract and retain the quality and quantity of executive leadership necessary to address 21st century challenges, including that they be sensitive to hiring and retention trends; reflect knowledge, skills, and contributions; and be competitive. This testimony focuses on the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) process for awarding bonuses to SES members, the amount and percentage of bonuses awarded for fiscal years 2004 through 2006 based on data reported by VA, and the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) and the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) roles in certifying federal agencies SES performance appraisal systems. GAO analyzed VA's policies and procedures for awarding bonuses and data provided by VA on the amount and percentages of bonuses and interviewed knowledgeable VA officials. Information on OPM's and OMB's certification process was based on our …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare has paid higher than market rates for various medical equipment and supplies and often considerably higher than provider acquisition costs for Medicare-covered outpatient drugs. Congress has enacted a series of legislative changes affecting payment methods and payment adjustment authority for medical equipment and supplies and outpatient drugs since the late 1980s. However, progress in setting appropriate rates has been mixed, owing, in part, to various constraints faced by the agency responsible for administering Medicare--the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Because of the program's size, scope, and role as a public payer, Medicare has limited options to set and adjust payments for medical equipment, supplies and outpatient drugs. Medicare's method of paying for medical equipment and supplies is through fee schedules that remain tied to suppliers' historical charges to Medicare rather than market prices. Medicare's payment approaches lack flexibility to keep pace with market changes, and, as a result, Medicare often pays higher prices than other public payers. Previous efforts to lower Medicare's overly generous payments suggest several lessons. First, payment changes are most effectively implemented when the process used to set or adjust a rate …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since its inception, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has undertaken numerous programs that have greatly advanced scientific and technological knowledge. NASA's activities span a broad range of complex and technical endeavors. But the agency is at a critical juncture, and major management improvements are needed. In January of this year, we identified four challenges facing NASA: (1) strengthening strategic human capital management, (2) improving contract management; (3) controlling International Space Station costs, and (4) reducing space launch costs."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for ensuring the safety of roughly 80 percent of the U.S. food supply, including $417 billion worth of domestic food and $49 billion in imported food annually. Changing demographics and consumption patterns along with an increase in imports have presented challenges to FDA. At the same time, recent outbreaks, such as E. coli from spinach and Salmonella from tomatoes, have undermined consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply. In November 2007, FDA released its Food Protection Plan, which articulates a framework for improving food safety oversight. In January 2008, GAO expressed concerns about FDA's capacity to implement the Food Protection Plan and noted that more specific information about the strategies and resources needed to implement the plan would facilitate congressional oversight. This testimony focuses on (1) FDA's progress in implementing the Food Protection Plan, (2) FDA's proposal to focus inspections based on risk, and (3) FDA's implementation of previously issued GAO recommendations intended to improve food safety oversight. To address these issues, GAO reviewed FDA documents, such as FDA's operations plan, and FDA data related to the plan. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although fossil fuels--coal, natural gas, and oil--account for more than two thirds of the nation's electricity, generating units that burn these fuels are major sources of airborne emissions that pose health and environmental risks. To limit emissions and protect air quality, the Environmental Protection Agency regulates emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from a variety of sources including electricity generating units that burn fossil fuels, other industrial sources, and automobiles. Older electricity generating units--those that began operating before 1972--emit 59 percent of the sulfur dioxide, 47 percent of the nitrogen oxides, and 42 percent of all electricity produced by fossil-fuel units. Units that began operating in or after 1972 are responsible for the remainder of the emissions and electricity production. For equal quantities of electricity generated, older units, in the aggregate, emitted twice as much sulfur dioxide and 25 percent more nitrogen oxides than newer units which must meet the new source standards for these substances. Older and newer units emitted about the same amount of carbon dioxide for equal quantities of electricity generated. Of the older units, those in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southeast …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy's (DOE) Clean Coal Technology program provides cost-sharing assistance or partnerships with industry in demonstrating the commercial applications of emerging technologies, referred to as "clean coal." This testimony discusses the successes DOE has reported, some weaknesses GAO identified, and lessons learned in cost-sharing. GAO found that DOE has many examples of successes in the program, including commercialization of some technologies--the primary way DOE measures success. From a management perspective, many projects had experienced delays, cost overruns, bankruptcies, and performance problems. This program serves as an example to other cost-share programs in demonstrating how the government and the private sector can work effectively together to develop and demonstrate new technologies."