U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: Trends and Current Issues (open access)

U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: Trends and Current Issues

Report that provides a brief overview of how foreign investments can affect the U.S.
Date: October 26, 2012
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: An Economic Analysis (open access)

Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: An Economic Analysis

Report containing information regarding foreign direct investments, including the foreign acquisition of American firms.
Date: October 26, 2012
Creator: Jackson, James K.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Project BioShield Act: Issues for the 112th Congress (open access)

The Project BioShield Act: Issues for the 112th Congress

Report that provides a brief overview of the authorities established by the Project BioShield Act of 2004, discusses the availability of Project BioShield appropriations, identifies the medical countermeasures obtained through Project BioShield, reviews the relationship between Project BioShield and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), reviews policy issues and options faced by congressional policymakers, and reviews current Project BioShield-related legislation.
Date: October 26, 2012
Creator: Gottron, Frank
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Immigration of Foreign Nationals with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Degrees (open access)

Immigration of Foreign Nationals with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Degrees

Report regarding renewed Congressional interest in facilitating the immigration of foreign professional workers in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields.
Date: November 26, 2012
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Membership of the 112th Congress: A Profile (open access)

Membership of the 112th Congress: A Profile

Report that presents a profile of the membership of the 112th Congress (2011-2012). Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age, occupation, education, length of congressional service, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.
Date: November 26, 2012
Creator: Manning, Jennifer E.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Federal Support for Academic Research (open access)

Federal Support for Academic Research

Report that discusses how to address the issue of budget reductions while supporting research conducted at colleges and universities, due to the role of academic research on the economy.
Date: January 26, 2012
Creator: Matthews, Christine M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology (open access)

Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology

Report that provides a brief overview of the basic terminology and concepts used in the federal budget process.
Date: November 26, 2012
Creator: Heniff, Bill, Jr.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
House Committee Hearings: Preparation (open access)

House Committee Hearings: Preparation

Report containing a checklist that identifies many of the tasks that need to be performed for committee hearings.
Date: November 26, 2012
Creator: Davis, Christopher M.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Baselines and Scorekeeping in the Federal Budget Process (open access)

Baselines and Scorekeeping in the Federal Budget Process

This report provides a brief explanation of baselines and scorekeeping and their uses in the federal budget process.
Date: November 26, 2012
Creator: Heniff, Bill, Jr.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Budget Reconciliation Legislation: Development and Consideration (open access)

Budget Reconciliation Legislation: Development and Consideration

This report briefly discusses the budget reconciliation process, which is an optional two-step process Congress may use to assure compliance with the direct spending, revenue, and debt-limit levels set forth in budget resolutions.
Date: November 26, 2012
Creator: Heniff, Bill, Jr.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Chief Acquisition Officers: Appointments Generally Conform to Legislative Requirements, but Agencies Need to Clearly Define Roles and Responsibilities (open access)

Chief Acquisition Officers: Appointments Generally Conform to Legislative Requirements, but Agencies Need to Clearly Define Roles and Responsibilities

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Most agencies have appointed Chief Acquisition Officers (CAO) in accordancewith two of the three key requirements in the Services Acquisition Reform Act of2003 (SARA): that the CAOs be political appointees and have agency SeniorProcurement Executives report directly to them. However, few CAOs haveacquisition management as their primary duty; other areas of responsibilityincluded financial, information, and human capital management."
Date: July 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicaid: More Transparency of and Accountability for Supplemental Payments Are Needed (open access)

Medicaid: More Transparency of and Accountability for Supplemental Payments Are Needed

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The recently implemented annual audits and reports for states' disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments could improve oversight by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--the federal agency that oversees Medicaid--by illuminating needed changes. States are required to submit audits and reports to CMS as a condition for receiving federal funds for their DSH payments. The first set of DSH audits was submitted by states in 2010 and covers states' 2007 DSH payments. The audits give CMS information on how well states are complying with six DSH requirements, including whether payments are limited to hospitals' uncompensated care costs and are accurately calculated. Under a transition period, CMS will not act on audit findings until the 2014 audits are complete; however, findings from GAO's analysis of the 2010 DSH audits show that 44 states will likely need to make changes to their DSH payments to come into compliance. For example,"
Date: November 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle: DOD Is Addressing Knowledge Gaps in Its New Acquisition Strategy [Reissued on August 13, 2012] (open access)

Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle: DOD Is Addressing Knowledge Gaps in Its New Acquisition Strategy [Reissued on August 13, 2012]

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has numerous efforts in progress to address the knowledge gaps and data deficiencies identified in the GAO report. Of the seven recommendations GAO made to the Secretary of Defense, two have been completely addressed. While two of GAO’s recommendations have actions underway that are expected to be completed, two recommendations need more action for completion and one has had no action taken."
Date: July 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Force Structure: Assessment of Army Report on Fiscal Year 2011 Progress in Modular Restructuring (open access)

Force Structure: Assessment of Army Report on Fiscal Year 2011 Progress in Modular Restructuring

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Army’s Fiscal Year 2011 Report on the Prioritization of Funds for Equipment Readiness and Strategic Capability, issued in September 2011, the report addressed the requirements of the John Warner NDAA for Fiscal Year 2007 rather than the amended requirements stipulated in the Ike Skelton NDAA for Fiscal Year 2011. The report does include some information that addresses aspects of the updated reporting requirements. For example, the 2011 NDAA requires the Army to include a description of the status of the development of doctrine on how modular combat, functional, and support forces will train, be sustained, and fight. In addressing the old reporting requirements in the 2007 NDAA, the Army’s 2011 report discusses modifications to the modularity plan due to finalization of organizational designs and the need to reprioritize due to the emergence of higher-priority force-protection programs. However, the report does not mention the status of the development of doctrine on how modular combat, functional, and support forces will train, be sustained, and fight, as required by the current law."
Date: March 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
DOD Financial Management: Improvements Needed in Prompt Payment Monitoring and Reporting (open access)

DOD Financial Management: Improvements Needed in Prompt Payment Monitoring and Reporting

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that while DOD has a process in place for monitoring and reporting on late-payment penalties, this process has significant flaws and omissions that result in incomplete and inaccurate data, thereby limiting the effectiveness of the process. Specifically, DOD’s performance measure, or metric, for late-payment penalties did not include about $54 billion of commercial payments subject to the Prompt Payment Act, and DOD did not assess the data for accuracy or completeness. In addition, at the time of our review, DOD was not monitoring or reporting on discounts lost across the department because, DOD officials stated, the metric had consistently met its goal. The deficiencies we found in DOD’s process for monitoring and reporting on late-payment penalties and discounts lost significantly increase the risk to the accuracy and completeness of reported data, thus preventing DOD officials and congressional oversight committees from obtaining the reliable and comprehensive data they need for assessing the extent of any issues concerning late-payment penalties and discounts lost across DOD. According to DOD officials and reports, a major contributor to late-payment penalties incurred and discounts lost was the late receipt of documents necessary …
Date: June 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Technology: DHS Needs to Enhance Management of Cost and Schedule for Major Investments (open access)

Information Technology: DHS Needs to Enhance Management of Cost and Schedule for Major Investments

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Approximately two-thirds of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) major information technology (IT) investments are meeting their cost and schedule commitments (i.e., goals). Specifically, out of 68 major IT investments in development, 47 were meeting cost and schedule commitments. The remaining 21—which total about $1 billion in spending—had one or more subsidiary projects that were not meeting cost and/or schedule commitments (i.e., they exceeded their goals by at least 10 percent, which is the level at which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) considers projects to be at increased risk of not being able to deliver planned capabilities on time and within budget.)"
Date: September 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Financial Literacy: Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Federal Government's Role (open access)

Financial Literacy: Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Federal Government's Role

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government plays a wide-ranging role in promoting financial literacy. Efforts to improve financial literacy in the United States involve an array of public, nonprofit, and private participants, but among those participants, the federal government is distinctive for its size and reach and for the diversity of its components, which address a wide range of issues and populations. At forums of financial literacy experts that GAO held in 2004 and 2011, participants noted that the federal government can use its “bully pulpit,” convening power, and other tools to draw attention to the issue, and serve as an objective and unbiased source of information about the selection of financial products and services. In prior work, GAO cited a 2009 report by the RAND Corporation in which 20 federal agencies self-identified as having 56 federal financial literacy programs, but GAO’s subsequent analysis found substantial inconsistency in how different agencies defined and counted financial literacy programs. Based on a more consistent set of criteria, GAO identified 16 significant financial literacy programs or activities among 14 federal agencies, as well as 4 housing counseling programs among 3 federally supported entities, in …
Date: April 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Geostationary Weather Satellites: Design Progress Made, but Schedule Uncertainty Needs to be Addressed (open access)

Geostationary Weather Satellites: Design Progress Made, but Schedule Uncertainty Needs to be Addressed

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R series (GOES-R) program has made progress by completing its early design milestones and is nearing the end of the design phase for its spacecraft, instrument, and ground system components. While the program continues to make progress, recent technical problems with the instruments and spacecraft, as well as a significant modification to the ground project’s development plan, have delayed the completion of key reviews and led to increased complexity for the development of GOES-R. The technical and programmatic challenges experienced by the flight and ground projects have led to a 19-month delay in completing the program’s preliminary design review. Nevertheless, program officials report that its planned launch date of October 2015 for the first satellite has not changed. While the program reports that approximately $1.2 billion is currently in reserve to manage future delays and cost growth, significant portions of development remain for major components. As a result, the program may not be able to ensure that it has adequate resources to cover ongoing challenges as well as unexpected problems for the remaining development of all four satellites."
Date: June 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Improved Oversight of State Eligibility Expansions Needed (open access)

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Improved Oversight of State Eligibility Expansions Needed

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2010, GAO estimates that 2.6 percent (473,000) of households that received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits would not have been eligible for the program without broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) because their incomes were over the federal SNAP eligibility limits. The characteristics of these households were generally similar to other SNAP households, although they were more likely to work or receive unemployment benefits. BBCE removes asset limits in most states, and while reliable data on participants’ assets are not available, other data suggest few likely had assets over these limits. Although BBCE contributed to recent increases in SNAP participation, other factors, notably the recent recession, had a greater effect."
Date: July 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tactical Aircraft: Comparison of F-22A and Legacy Fighter Modernization Programs (open access)

Tactical Aircraft: Comparison of F-22A and Legacy Fighter Modernization Programs

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The F-22A and legacy modernization programs GAO reviewed were rooted in different development strategies. The F-22A began as a single-step program and did not anticipate the need for future modernization, while the legacy programs each began with the expectation that their aircraft would be incrementally upgraded over time. F-22A modernization began in reaction to a major shift in the aircraft’s basic mission, which required the development of new capabilities that had not been planned for as part of the initial development program. In contrast, the legacy modernization programs made planned incremental improvements to existing mission capabilities. All of the modernization programs began at about the same time in development and procurement. The F-22A program is developing and retrofitting new capabilities onto a complex stealth aircraft, which is costly—currently estimated at $9.7 billion total. Legacy modernization programs were less complex, and thus less costly, and incorporated mature technologies onto new production aircraft. Accurately identifying and comparing the total cost of each modernization program is difficult. Each of the programs, including the F-22A, initially managed and funded modernization as a continuation of its baseline program, so modernization costs …
Date: April 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Supplemental Security Income: Better Management Oversight Needed for Children's Benefits (open access)

Supplemental Security Income: Better Management Oversight Needed for Children's Benefits

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The number of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) child applicants and recipients with mental impairments has increased substantially for more than a decade, even though the Social Security Administration (SSA) denied, on average, 54 percent of such claims from fiscal years 2000 to 2011. Factors such as the rising number of children in poverty and increasing diagnosis of certain mental impairments have likely contributed to this growth. In fiscal year 2011, the most prevalent primary mental impairments among children found medically eligible were (1) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (2) speech and language delay, and (3) autism, with autism claims growing most rapidly since fiscal year 2000. State disability determination services (DDS) examiners also consider the impact of additional, or “secondary,” impairments when making a decision, and when present, these impairments were used to support 55 percent of those cases GAO reviewed that were allowed in fiscal year 2010. However, SSA has not consistently collected those impairment data, limiting its understanding of how all impairments may affect decisions."
Date: June 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Medicare Physician Payment: Private-Sector Initiatives Can Help Inform CMS Quality and Efficiency Incentive Efforts (open access)

Medicare Physician Payment: Private-Sector Initiatives Can Help Inform CMS Quality and Efficiency Incentive Efforts

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""
Date: December 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Management Report: Improvements Are Needed to Strengthen the American Battle Monuments Commission's Internal Controls and Accounting Procedures (open access)

Management Report: Improvements Are Needed to Strengthen the American Battle Monuments Commission's Internal Controls and Accounting Procedures

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During our audit of the Commission’s fiscal years 2011 and 2010 financial statements, we identified the following internal control deficiencies that, collectively, constituted a significant deficiency in the Commission’s internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2011."
Date: July 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library
Information Technology Reform: Progress Made; More Needs to Be Done to Complete Actions and Measure Results (open access)

Information Technology Reform: Progress Made; More Needs to Be Done to Complete Actions and Measure Results

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and key federal agencies have made progress on action items in the Information Technology (IT) Reform Plan, but there are several areas where more remains to be done. Of the 10 key action items GAO reviewed, 3 were completed and 7 were partially completed by December 2011, in part because the initiatives are complex. OMB reported greater progress than GAO determined, stating that 7 of the 10 action items were completed and that 3 were partially completed. While OMB officials acknowledge that there is more to do in each of the topic areas, they consider the key action items to be completed because the IT Reform Plan has served its purpose as a catalyst for a set of broader initiatives. They explained that work will continue on all of the initiatives even after OMB declares that the related action items are completed under the IT Reform Plan. We disagree with this approach. In prematurely declaring the action items to be completed, OMB risks losing momentum on the progress it has made to date. Until OMB and the agencies complete …
Date: April 26, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library