A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Commerce's (Commerce) U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) seeks updated information on the addresses and maps of housing units and group quarters from state, local, and tribal governments through the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Program. Prepared under the Comptroller General's authority, this report assesses (1) the status of the LUCA Program, (2) the Bureau's response to prior recommendations by GAO and others and new challenges related to the program, and (3) the Bureau's plans for conducting the program in areas affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. GAO reviewed LUCA program documents, met with and surveyed participants in the LUCA Dress Rehearsal, and interviewed Bureau officials and local officials in the Gulf Coast region."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its work to improve the management and performance of the federal government, GAO monitors progress and continuing challenges in performance budgeting and the Administration's related initiatives, such as the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). In light of the nation's long-term fiscal imbalance and other emerging 21st century challenges, we have also reported that performance budgeting can help facilitate a needed reexamination of what the federal government does, how it does it, who does it, and how it is financed in the future. GAO remains committed to working with Congress and the Administration to help address these important and complex issues."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was established in 1970 to advocate for low-income families. Allegations of voter registration fraud and videotapes of questionable behavior by ACORN employees raised concerns about ACORN, and Congress passed fiscal year 2010 laws prohibiting federal funds from being awarded to ACORN and ACORN related organizations. GAO was asked to report on these organizations, including (1) how much federal funding was awarded to them for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 and the purpose of the funding, (2) the extent to which federal agencies' monitoring of these awards detected issues identified by audits, (3) the nature and results of any federal investigations or prosecutions conducted of these organizations from fiscal years 2005 through 2009, and (4) how federal agencies implemented provisions prohibiting the award of funds. Among other things, GAO identified awards to ACORN or potentially related organizations by 31 federal agencies and audits of such awards; documentation of related investigations and cases; and actions to implement funding restrictions by the 27 agencies in our review subject to them."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO followed up on its previous report on the scope and limits of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program's 1998 sanction data, focusing on: (1) whether the number of full-family sanctions in an average month in 1998 can be annualized and used to determine the impact full-family sanctions had that year on caseload size; and (2) what constitutes the combined number of full-family and partial sanctions in an average month during 1998."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Thousands of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controllers will soon be eligible to retire because of extensive hiring in the 1980's to replace striking air traffic controllers. Although the exact number and timing of the controllers' departures has not been determined, attrition scenarios developed by both FAA and GAO indicate that the total attrition will grow substantially in both the short and long term. As a result, FAA will likely need to hire thousands of air traffic controllers in the next decade to met increasing traffic demands and to address the anticipated attrition of experienced controllers, predominately because of retirement. FAA has yet to developed a comprehensive human capital workforce strategy to address its impending controller needs. Rather, FAA's strategy for replacing controllers is generally to hire new controllers only when current, experienced controllers leave. This does not take into account the potential increases in future hiring and the time necessary to train replacements. In addition, there is uncertainty about the ability of FAA's new aptitude test to identify the best controller candidates. Further, FAA has not addressed the resources that may be needed at its …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the readiness of the Army National Guard's Enhanced Brigades, focusing on: (1) whether the brigades are meeting training and personnel readiness goals; (2) the key reasons for any continuing difficulties in meeting these goals; and (3) whether the Army has an effective system for assessing brigade readiness and the time required for the brigades to be ready for war."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "After the events of September 11, 2001, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) assumed the function of passenger prescreening--or the matching of passenger information against terrorist watch lists to identify persons who should undergo additional security scrutiny--for domestic flights, which is currently performed by the air carriers. To do so, TSA has been developing Secure Flight. This testimony covers TSA's progress and challenges in (1) developing, managing, and overseeing Secure Flight; (2) coordinating with key stakeholders critical to program operations; (3) addressing key factors that will impact system effectiveness; and (4) minimizing impacts on passenger privacy and protecting passenger rights."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 requires that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issue sequestration reports annually to Congress. Overall, GAO found that OMB and CBO substantially complied with the act in fiscal year 2002. However, as in previous years, some of the required OMB and CBO reports were issued late. Further, GAO identified a total of 19 items where differences of over $500 million existed between CBO's and OMB's scoring of discretionary budget authority and/or outlays for enacted laws."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the financial statements of the U.S. government, we audited and reported on the Schedules of Federal Debt Managed by the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2006 and 2005. As part of these audits, we performed a review of the general and application information security controls over key BPD financial systems. In our audit report on the Schedules of Federal Debt for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2006 and 2005, we concluded that BPD maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control relevant to the Schedule of Federal Debt related to financial reporting and compliance with applicable laws and regulations as of September 30, 2006, that provided reasonable assurance that misstatements, losses, or noncompliance material in relation to the Schedule of Federal Debt would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. We found matters involving information security controls that we do not consider to be reportable conditions but that nevertheless warrant BPD management's attention and action. BPD mitigated the potential effect of such issues with physical security measures, a program of …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Architect of the Capitol's (AOC) progress in achieving selected project milestones and in managing the project's schedule since Congress's May 17 hearing on the project. We will also discuss the project's costs and funding, including the potential impact of schedule-related issues on the project's costs. Our observations today are based on our review of schedules and financial reports for the CVC project and related records maintained by AOC and its construction management contractor, Gilbane Building Company; our observations on the progress of work at the CVC construction site; and our discussions with CVC project staff, including AOC, its construction management contractor, and representatives of an AOC schedule consultant, McDonough Bolyard Peck (MBP). We did not perform an audit; rather we performed our work to assist Congress in conducting its oversight activities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 2002, the Coast Guard began its $17 billion, 20-year Integrated Deepwater System acquisition program to replace or modernize its cutters, aircraft, and communications equipment for missions generally beyond 50 miles from shore. During fiscal years 2002-03, Deepwater received about $125 million less than the Coast Guard had planned. In fiscal year 2004, Congress appropriated $668 million, $168 million more than the President's request. GAO has raised concern recently about the Coast Guard's initial management of Deepwater and the potential for escalating costs. GAO was asked to review the status of the program against the initial acquisition schedule and determine the impact of the additional $168 million in fiscal year 2004 funding on this schedule."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised about the fairness of the "bid down" approach of the Department of Commerce's Information Technology Solutions Next Generation (COMMITS NexGen) contract. In response to these concerns, the fiscal year 2006 Science, the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, and Related Agencies appropriations conference report requested our review of COMMITS NexGen. This letter transmits the briefing document we provided to Congress on May 15, 2006, concerning a variety of issues related to the COMMITS NexGen contract. Specifically, we provided information on (1) how the COMMITS NexGen contract is structured to meet its intended goals, (2) what effect the tier system has on the task order competition process, and (3) what oversight and internal control procedures Commerce has implemented to address the risks of interagency contracting."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) fisheries buyback programs, focusing on: (1) the extent to which the buyback programs have affected fishing capacity; (2) potential ways the buyback programs can be made more effective; and (3) NMFS' efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of buyback programs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter formally transmits briefing slides in response to your request. We were asked to determine to what extent the Department of the Navy complied with the requirement in Section 2476 of Title 10 of the United States Code to invest a total amount equal to not less than 6 percent of the average total combined workload funded at all the depots of the Department of the Navy for the preceding 3 fiscal years in the capital budgets of covered depots listed in the law. We presented this briefing to your staff on May 5, 2010, in which we concluded that the Department of the Navy complied with the minimum required depot capital investment. In addition, we have a related ongoing review of the condition of the public Naval shipyards, which are included under the Navy depots that receive capital investment funding."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The military services store prepositioned stocks of equipment and material on ships and land in locations around the world to enable the rapid fielding of combat-ready forces. GAO's prior work has shown that the readiness and safety of military equipment can be severely degraded by corrosion and that the Department of Defense (DOD) spends billions of dollars annually to address corrosion. GAO was asked to review the impact of corrosion on prepositioned assets. GAO's specific objectives were to assess (1) the measures taken by the Army and the Marine Corps to reduce the impact of corrosion on prepositioned assets and (2) the availability of corrosion-related data to the Army and the Marine Corps to support corrosion prevention and mitigation efforts for prepositioned assets."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we found that DOT’s data do not distinguish between delayed baggage and other types of mishandled baggage, such as those that are lost, damaged, or pilfered. DOT includes all of these types of occurrences in its definition of “mishandled baggage.” Using DOT’s data, we found that the number of mishandled-baggage reports has decreased since 2008, when airlines first began charging for the first checked bag. There are a number of factors that could contribute to this decline in the number of mishandled-baggage reports, such as a decline in the number of bags checked and improved baggage handling processes. However, because of limitations to DOT’s baggage data, an assessment of baggage delays—a subcategory of mishandled baggage—cannot be conducted. DOT has proposed a change to airline-reporting requirements designed to improve its ability to measure airline performance regarding mishandled bags, but the change would not distinguish among the types of mishandled baggage (lost, delayed, damaged, or pilfered)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State (State) faces persistent experience gaps in overseas Foreign Service positions, particularly at the midlevels, and these gaps have not diminished since 2008. In fiscal years 2009 and 2010, State increased the size of the Foreign Service by 17 percent. However, these new hires will not have the experience to reach midlevels until fiscal years 2014 and 2015. GAO found that 28 percent of overseas Foreign Service positions were either vacant or filled by upstretch candidates—officers serving in positions above their grade—as of October 2011, a percentage that has not changed since 2008. Midlevel positions represent the largest share of these gaps. According to State officials, the gaps have not diminished because State increased the total number of overseas positions in response to increased needs and emerging priorities. State officials noted the department takes special measures to fill high-priority positions, including those in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Disability Insurance (DI) program paid almost $123 billion in benefits in fiscal year 2010 to more than 10 million workers and dependents. The program has grown rapidly in recent years and is poised to grow further as the baby boom generation ages. GAO examined (1) what is known about the extent SSA makes work-related overpayments to, and recovers overpayments from, DI beneficiaries, and (2) SSA's policies and procedures for work continuing disability reviews (work CDRs) and potential DI program vulnerabilities that may contribute to overpayments to beneficiaries who have returned to work. To answer these questions, GAO reviewed work CDR policies and procedures, interviewed SSA headquarters and processing center officials, and visited 4 of 8 processing centers. We reviewed a random nongeneralizable sample of 60 CDR case files across those 4 centers to ensure we had a wide range of cases for our review (15 cases from each). These 4 centers received almost 80 percent of all work CDRs from SSA's Internal Revenue Service enforcement data match in fiscal year 2009."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On November 9, 2005, GAO testified before Congress at a hearing on "Access Delayed: Fixing the Security Clearance Process, Part II." This letter responds to three questions for the record posed by Congress."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) protects the rights of military personnel, their dependents, and overseas citizens to vote by absentee ballot. The Department of Defense (DOD) and others have reported that absentee voting, which relies primarily on mail, can be slow and may, in certain circumstances, serve to disenfranchise these voters. In 2004, Congress required DOD to develop an Internet-based absentee voting demonstration project and required the Election Assistance Commission--which reviews election procedures--to develop guidelines for DOD's project. In 2006, Congress required DOD to report, by May 15, 2007, on plans for expanding its use of electronic voting technologies and required GAO to assess efforts by (1) DOD to facilitate electronic absentee voting and (2) the Commission to develop Internet voting guidelines and DOD to develop an Internet-based demonstration project. GAO also assessed DOD's efforts to develop plans to expand its use of electronic voting technologies. GAO interviewed officials and reviewed and analyzed documents related to these efforts."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has not yet adequately revised its regulatory and oversight approach to respond to the transition to competitive energy markets. FERC recognizes that the transition from highly regulated monopolies to competitive markets requires a fundamental change in how it does business. However, it has struggled through various strategic planning and other efforts to define the specific strategies, processes, and activities to regulate and oversee these markets. GAO found that FERC (1) has had difficulty recruiting staff because it has trouble competing with private sector salaries; (2) faces the retirement of more than one-quarter of its employees by 2005; (3) has used recruitment bonuses, retention allowances, tuition reimbursement, and flexible work schedules to attract new staff and to retain current employees but has not taken advantage of the full range of personnel flexibilities and tools available to federal agencies, such as special salary rates; and (4) has not developed a strategic human capital management plan to assess its workforce needs and to develop strategies to address them."

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Key federal environmental statutes, such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which established the Superfund program, require that parties statutorily responsible for pollution bear the cost of cleaning up contaminated sites. In many cases, liable parties meet their cleanup responsibilities. However, many parties responsible for hardrock mining sites include businesses that no longer exist, having been liquidated through bankruptcy or otherwise dissolved. Under these circumstances, some hardrock mining companies that have caused environmental contamination have left the problem for others, typically the government, to address. We were asked to provide a statement for the record on the cleanup of contamination resulting from hardrock mining as it relates to our August 2005 report, Environmental Liabilities: EPA Should Do More to Ensure that Liable Parties Meet Their Cleanup Obligations (GAO-05-658). We made nine recommendations in this report aimed at reducing the government's financial burden for costly environmental cleanups. The agency generally agreed with many of the recommendations, stating its intent to further evaluate some of them."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In their efforts to reduce hazardous fuels and the risk of wildfire on the nation's public lands, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) expect that stewardship contracting will play a major role. Stewardship contracting involves the use of contracting authorities--such as the exchange of goods for services--first authorized in 1998 and intended to help the agencies achieve land management goals that meet community needs. GAO was asked, among other things, to determine (1) the contracting and financial controls the agencies use to ensure accountability in managing stewardship contracting projects and (2) the steps the agencies have taken to involve communities in the projects."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to congressional questions on its April 6, 2000, testimony on the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) efforts to contain the costs of providing health care to inmates, focusing on whether: (1) requiring a copayment would reduce the number of prisoners seeking medical care in order to get out of work or other duties; (2) recent BOP initiatives have helped reduce staff costs; (3) it would be more cost-effective for BOP to have an intermediate care medical facility for inmates needing long-term care; and (4) the Federal Prisoner Health Care Copayment Act of 1999 would significantly contribute to reducing health care costs."