Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Labor and IGs from employing departments and agencies have consistently reported similar FECA program management challenges, such as oversight and information technology, and have linked these to increased program costs through improper payments. For example, one IG reported in 2007 that its department could not appropriately manage its long-term rolls and contain improper payments because staff assigned to this task spent no more than 10 percent of their time managing cases. Additionally, citing ongoing program weaknesses—mostly related to oversight—IGs have reported avoidable costs at employing departments and agencies, which one department reported were as high as $41 million in 2011. Above and beyond the actions departments and agencies can take to address these challenges, some IGs have also reported that legislative reform is necessary to better manage the program. In an effort to alleviate the impact of management challenges, IGs collectively made over 200 recommendations since 1994, mainly to improve FECA’s oversight, and most of these recommendations have been implemented."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, based on our work to date, we have found that"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In summary, we found the following:"

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Last year, GAO testified that though acquisition problems still existed in many space programs, the Department of Defense (DOD) was beginning to launch satellites that had long been lagging behind schedule and it had taken positive actions to instill better practices and more focused leadership for space. Progress has continued. Over the past year, DOD launched the first Navy Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite; the first, after a nine-year delay, of six Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellites; and the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite—all of which will bring important capability to the warfighter. While these launches represent solid progress, there have also been some drawbacks. For instance, the second Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite experienced technical problems that could shorten its operational lifetime. The cost of the first two GPS III satellites is at least18 percent higher than first estimated, up to $1.6 billion today. A 1-year delay is expected by SBIRS program officials on production of the 3rd and 4th GEO satellites along with a $438 million cost overrun. And, a termination of the Defense Weather Satellite System …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2010, as directed by the Travel Promotion Act, the Secretary of Commerce appointed a board of 11 directors to govern CTP. Board members represent private and public sector areas related to travel and tourism—including lodging, city and state convention and visitors’ bureaus, small business, travel distributors, airlines, and others. Subsequently, under the direction of the board, CTP was incorporated in November 2010 as a nonprofit corporation in Washington, D.C. Once incorporated, CTP was able to initiate operating activities such as hiring staff and entering into contracts. Thus, the board conducted a search and hired a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in May 2011. By December 2011, other senior staff positions had been filled. With the CEO in place, CTP began operations and has worked to develop strategic objectives, establish an organizational structure, and plan programmatic activities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has taken some steps to examine its headquarters resources for efficiencies, but additional opportunities for cost savings may exist by further consolidating organizations and centralizing functions. For purposes of the Secretary of Defense’s efficiency initiative, DOD components were asked to focus in particular on headquarters and administrative functions, support activities, and other overhead in their portfolios. DOD’s fiscal year 2012 budget request included several efficiencies related to headquarters organizations or personnel. GAO found that these efficiencies generally fell into two categories: (1) consolidating or eliminating organizations based on geographic proximity or span of control and (2) centralizing overlapping functions and services. The DOD efficiencies that GAO reviewed to reduce headquarters resources are expected by DOD to save about $2.9 billion through fiscal year 2016, less than 2 percent of the $178 billion in savings DOD projected departmentwide. GAO’s work indicates that DOD may be able to find additional efficiencies by further examining opportunities to consolidate organizations or centralize functions at headquarters. DOD may not have identified all areas where reductions in headquarters personnel and operating costs could be achieved because the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On February 17th, Chairman Lieberman and Senator Warner introduced S. 2129, entitled “Reforming and Consolidating Government Act of 2012”, a bill renewing the Presidential authority to propose government organizational changes and obtain congressional approval through an expedited process. From 1932 to 1984, Congress provided the President with some form of reorganization authority. S. 2129 renews most of the statutory framework as it existed before the authority lapsed in 1984. However, S. 2129 proposes noteworthy changes, both in terms of eliminating restrictions on the scope of a President’s plan and placing additional requirements on such plans."

This report provides background information and issues for Congress on multiyear procurement (MYP) and block buy contracting (BBC), which are special contracting mechanisms that Congress permits the Department of Defense (DOD) to use for a limited number of defense acquisition programs. Compared to the standard or default approach of annual contracting, MYP and BBC have the potential for reducing weapon procurement costs by several percent.

This report summarizes the seismic deployment of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Geotech GS-13 short-period seismometers at the Newberry Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) Demonstration site located in Central Oregon. This Department of Energy (DOE) demonstration project is managed by AltaRock Energy Inc. AltaRock Energy had previously deployed Geospace GS-11D geophones at the Newberry EGS Demonstration site, however the quality of the seismic data was somewhat low. The purpose of the LLNL deployment was to install more sensitive sensors which would record higher quality seismic data for use in future seismic studies, such as ambient noise correlation, matched field processing earthquake detection studies, and general EGS microearthquake studies. For the LLNL deployment, seven three-component seismic stations were installed around the proposed AltaRock Energy stimulation well. The LLNL seismic sensors were connected to AltaRock Energy Gueralp CMG-DM24 digitizers, which are powered by AltaRock Energy solar panels and batteries. The deployment took four days in two phases. In phase I, the sites were identified, a cavity approximately 3 feet deep was dug and a flat concrete pad oriented to true North was made for each site. In phase II, we installed three single component GS-13 seismometers at each site, quality controlled the data …

The goals of the research were to understand the structural, dynamic, and chemical properties of solid electrolyte surfaces and the cathode/electrolyte interface at an atomistic and nanometer level using both computational and experimental techniques.

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An equivalent parallel resistor-inductor-capacitor (RLC) circuit with beam loading for a polarized TM110 dipole-mode cavity is developed and minimum radio-frequency (rf) generator requirements are calculated for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) short-pulse x-ray (SPX) superconducting rf (SRF) crab cavities. A beam-loaded circuit model for polarized TM110 mode crab cavities was derived. The single-cavity minimum steady-state required generator power has been determined for the APS SPX crab cavities for a storage ring current of 200mA DC current as a function of external Q for various vertical offsets including beam tilt and uncontrollable detuning. Calculations to aid machine protection considerations were given.

The following is a proposal to continue our multi-institutional research on heterogeneous chiral catalysis. Our team combines the use of surface-sensitive analytical techniques for the characterization of model systems with quantum and statistical mechanical calculations to interpret experimental data and guide the design of future research. Our investigation focuses on the interrelation among the three main mechanisms by which enantioselectivity can be bestowed to heterogeneous catalysts, namely: (1) by templating chirality via the adsorption of chiral supramolecular assemblies, (2) by using chiral modifiers capable of forming chiral complexes with the reactant and force enantioselective surface reactions, and (3) by forming naturally chiral surfaces using imprinting chiral agents. Individually, the members of our team are leaders in these various aspects of chiral catalysis, but the present program provides the vehicle to generate and exploit the synergies necessary to address the problem in a comprehensive manner. Our initial work has advanced the methodology needed for these studies, including an enantioselective titration procedure to identify surface chiral sites, infrared spectroscopy in situ at the interface between gases or liquids and solids to mimic realistic catalytic conditions, and DFT and Monte Carlo algorithms to simulate and understand chirality on surfaces. The next step, to …

Results for the first measurement of the inclusive branching and CP asymmetry of the charmless 3-body decay B{sup +} {yields} K{sup +}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0} are presented. The analysis uses a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 429.0 fb{sup -1}, recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory. This sample corresponds to 470.9 {+-} 2.8 million B{bar B} pairs. Measurements of the branching fractions (B) and CP asymmetries (A{sub CP}) of some of the intermediate resonances in the K{sup +}{pi}{sup 0}{pi}{sup 0} Dalitz plot are also presented.

These presentation visuals introduce the National Center for Nuclear Security. Its chartered mission is to enhance the Nation’s verification and detection capabilities in support of nuclear arms control and nonproliferation through R&D activities at the NNSS. It has three focus areas: Treaty Verification Technologies, Nonproliferation Technologies, and Technical Nuclear Forensics. The objectives of nuclear forensics are to reduce uncertainty in the nuclear forensics process & improve the scientific defensibility of nuclear forensics conclusions when applied to nearsurface nuclear detonations. Research is in four key areas: Nuclear Physics, Debris collection and analysis, Prompt diagnostics, and Radiochemistry.

This report discusses the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. 1030, outlaws conduct that victimizes computer system. It also points out about Computer Trespassing in a government computer.

This report discusses the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), 18 U.S.C. 1030, outlaws conduct that victiizes computer system.

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After providing an overview on the basics of federal statutes, this report gives guidance on where federal statutes, in their various forms, may be located in print and on the Internet.

This list of about 150 congressional liaison offices is intended to help congressional offices in placing telephone calls and addressing correspondence to government agencies. Entries are arranged alphabetically in four sections: legislative branch; judicial branch; executive branch; and agencies, boards, and commissions.

This list of about 150 congressional liaison offices is intended to help congressional offices in placing telephone calls and addressing correspondence to government agencies. Entries are arranged alphabetically in four sections: legislative branch; judicial branch; executive branch; and agencies, boards, and commissions.

This report collects statistics from a variety of sources on casualties sustained during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), which began on October 7, 2001, and is ongoing. OEF actions take place primarily in Afghanistan; however, OEF casualties also include American casualties in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines, Seychelles, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Yemen.

A look at the U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA), including its background and, most specifically, steps taken when disputes occur.

This report provides an overview of the federal health center program including its statutory authority, program requirements, and appropriation levels. The report then describes health centers in general, where they are located, their patient population, and some outcomes associated with health center use. It also describes some federal programs available to assist health center operations including the federally qualified health center (FQHC) designation for Medicare and Medicaid payments. The report then concludes with a brief discussion of issues for Congress such as the potential effects of the ACA on health centers, the health center workforce, and financial considerations for health centers in the context of changing federal and state budgets. Finally, the report has two appendixes that describe (1) FQHC payments for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries served at health centers; and (2) programs that are similar to health centers but not authorized in Section 330 of the PHSA.