A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of its Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (ACE), the U.S. Census Bureau interviewed people across the country to develop an estimate of the number of persons missed, counted more than once, or otherwise improperly counted in the 2000 census. In conducting the interviews, which took place in person or over the phone, Census faced several challenges, including (1) completing the operation on schedule, (2) ensuring data quality, (3) overcoming unexpected computer problems, (4) obtaining a quality address list, and (5) keeping the interviews independent of census follow-up operations to ensure unbiased estimates of census errors. The Bureau completed the interviews largely ahead of schedule. On the basis of the results of its quality assurance program, the Bureau assumes that about one-tenth of one percent of all cases nationally would have failed the program because they were believed to have been falsified. Early on, the Bureau dealt with an unexpected problem with its automated work management system, which allows supervisors to selectively reassign work among interviewers. According to the Bureau officials, the Bureau addressed the underlying programming error within two weeks, and the operations proceeded on …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report focuses on the debt collection processes and procedures used by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The primary reason for the growth of CMS' civil monetary penalties (CMP) receivables was the expansion of fraud and abuse detection activities from fiscal year 1995 through fiscal year 1997 that significantly increased reported fraud and abuse debts in fiscal year 1997. GAO's analysis of CMS' CMP receivable data revealed similar financial accountability and reporting issues as those identified for non-CMP receivables by CMS' external financial statement auditors. GAO identified (1) unreconciled differences of tens of millions of dollars in the CMP receivables balances reported by HHS and CMS for fiscal years 1997 through 1999 and (2) an unreconciled net difference of about $22 million between the CMP receivables balance in CMS' general ledger and the detailed subsidiary systems as of September 30, 2000. The data reliability issue prevented GAO from determining the overall adequacy of the CMP debt collection policies and procedures. However, GAO's limited tests showed that debt collection policies and procedures were followed for 11 of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report focuses on debt collection processes and procedures used by the Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining (OSM). GAO discusses (1) the primary reasons for the growth in civil monetary penalties owed to OSM; (2) whether OSM's receivables for civil monetary penalties have financial accountability and reporting issues similar to those of its other receivables; (3) whether adequate processes exist to collect this debt; and (4) what roles, if any, the Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury Department play in overseeing and monitoring OSM's collection of civil monetary penalties debt."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. defense industry and some foreign government purchasers have expressed concern that the U.S. export control process is unnecessarily burdensome. Defense industry officials contend that extended reviews of export license applications by the State Department have resulted in lost sales and are harming the nation's defense industry. The State Department's Office of Defense Trade Controls is responsible for licensing the export and temporary import of defense articles and services. Many license applications take a long time to review because of their complexity and the need to consider different points of view. However, several conditions make the application review process less efficient and cause delays. The State Department has not established formal guidelines for determining the agencies and offices that need to review license applications. As a result, the licensing office refers more license applications to other agencies and offices than may be necessary. Furthermore, many license application reviewers in State Department reviewing offices consider license reviews a low priority. The State Department lacks procedures to monitor the flow of license applications through the review process. The State Department has hired new licensing officers which license …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report identifies long-term structural or operational issues that may affect the U. S. Postal Services's (USPS) ability to provide affordable universal postal service on a break-even basis. One key issue is the Service's retirement costs and future liabilities. USPS had a net loss of $199 million in fiscal year 2000 and recently announced a $1.7 billion net loss for fiscal year 2001. The impact of September 11 and the subsequent anthrax mailings on the volume and the cost of future mail service is unclear. USPS' annual retirement plan costs are projected to rise significantly in the next 10 years--from $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2000 to $14 billion in fiscal year 2010. USPS also faces mounting debt because of pay increases resulting from new labor contracts and annual cost-of-living adjustments for retirees. USPS reported an outstanding liability for future retirement benefits of $32.2 billion as of September 2000, and anticipates paying another $16.5 billion in interest on this liability over 30 years. The Post-Retirement Health Benefit Program--an additional benefit available to USPS retirees--cost $744 million in fiscal year 2000. When this benefit is added to …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In September 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau told Congress that it had at least $305 million in budget savings out of its $4.5 billion fiscal year 2000 no-year appropriations for the 2000 decennial census. Of the $4.5 billion appropriated to the U.S. Census Bureau in fiscal year 2000, lower-than-expected expenditures and obligations resulted in available balances of at least $415 million. A lower-than-expected support staff workload reduced salary and benefit costs by about $348 million. Enumerator workload is largely determined by the initial mail response rate for returned census questionnaires. The initial mail response of 64 percent meant that Census enumerators did not have to visit more than three million American households. However, the available balances from the higher mail response rate and the lower support staff workload were partially offset by about $100 million of higher salary and benefit costs for enumerators, including a higher workload for unanticipated recounts. According to Bureau data, enumerator productivity did not significantly affect budget variances for the 2000 decennial census. The Bureau reported the national average time to visit a household and complete a census questionnaire was about the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act requires agencies to publish compliance guides for each rule or group of related rules for which the agency is required to prepare a final regulatory flexibility analysis. GAO found that Section 212 has had little impact, and its implementation has varied across and sometimes within the agencies. None of the agencies in GAO's review provided GAO with guidance documents that met all of the statutory requirements for all of their 1999 and 2000 final rules. The agencies indicated that they tried to put their compliance guides in plain language--just as they have for all their regulatory materials. The guidance documents that the agencies gave GAO were often published on the agencies' web sites. Direct mail, electronic list servers, agency/regional offices, and workshops were also used for distribution."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Twenty-one percent of grant-eligible applicants who did not use the District of Columbia's tuition assistance grant (TAG) funding to attend a participating college or university may have encountered such barriers as college entrance requirements and the absence of minority outreach programs. Whether enrollment caps at colleges posed a barrier for applicants is unclear. In the program's first year, 516 of the nearly 2,500 eligible applicants did not use the grants. About 21 percent of the institutions in which applicants expressed interest restrict the number of out-of-state students that they will accept, although the extent to which this played a role in limiting access to these institutions is unclear. Enrollment at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) changed little during the TAG program's first year. The TAG program and UDC appeared to serve different freshmen populations, which may account for the TAG program's minimal impact on UDC enrollment. Although concerns about TAG program administration were largely resolved with the revision of program regulations in December 2000, other administrative issues may hinder program operations, including the determination of applicant eligibility and the distribution of information on …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE) manages the nation's nuclear weapons production complex, cleans up the environmental legacy from the production of nuclear weapons, and conducts research and development into both energy and basic science. DOE launched several reforms in the 1990s to realign its organizational structure, reduce its workforce, strengthen contracting procedures by competitive awards practices, streamline oversight of activities, and delegate some responsibilities to the private sector. Despite these reforms, GAO found that management weaknesses persist because DOE's reforms were piecemeal solutions whose effect has been muted by three impediments to fundamental improvement: the department's diverse missions, dysfunctional organizational structure, and weak control of accountability. Management weaknesses and performance problems will likely continue unless DOE addresses these impediments in a comprehensive fashion."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Despite the recent success of casino gaming and other business ventures undertaken by some Native Americans and Alaska Natives, unemployment and poverty remain widespread in these communities. Many federal programs are available to help Native Americans with economic development, and some tribes are using these programs. Although agencies reported that their programs helped to create and retain jobs, little is known about the effectiveness of these programs. The preparation of performance plans and reports, the designation of agency points of contact, and the establishment of a single office to coordinate federal programs relating to Indian economic development could improve Native Americans' access to federal programs and provide federal decisionmakers with valuable performance information."

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

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The General Services Administration's (GSA) two online procurement systems--GSA Advantage! and information Technology Solutions Shop--lack basic management controls to ensure the systems produce reliable data, can not be inappropriately modified, and provide continuous service. These controls are increasingly important because government agencies are expected to increase their use of these systems and GSA relies heavily on contractors for systems operations and maintenance. Moreover, Congress and other oversight entities need to be able to rely on these systems to assess the effectiveness of government contracting programs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 1997 peer review of the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General (IG) done by the Environmental Protection Agency IG resulted in a qualified opinion. The peer review report questioned the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG and said that the reviewed audits did not fully comply with Government Auditing Standards. The 2000 peer review done by the Department of the Treasury IG for Tax Administration (TIGTA) also resulted in a unqualified opinion. Although TIGTA cited several problems, the peer review report concluded that the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG reasonably ensured compliance with auditing standards. However, after the peer review had been completed, a letter was sent to Congress, the press, and others questioning the integrity of the documentation that the DOD IG provided to the TIGTA peer review staff. A DOD IG internal investigation later confirmed that the work papers for one of the audits chosen for peer review had been altered and destroyed. The report concluded that these actions violated Government Auditing Standards, internal DOD IG audit policies, and the expectations of the external peer review staff. TIGTA then withdrew …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to allegations of improper conduct by senior Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) personnel in connection with an October 1997 retirement dinner for former FBI Assistant Director Larry Potts. The allegations asserted that a conference was scheduled at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia, to provide a reason for senior FBI personnel to travel to Mr. Potts' retirement dinner in Arlington, Virginia, at government expense. GAO determined that the October 1997 FBI investigation of the alleged improper scheduling of a training conference was thorough. FBI and Justice Department investigators reviewed the actions of eight FBI Senior Executive Service (SES) employees. The FBI's Deputy Director issued letters of censure to three of the eight. Two individuals retired before receiving proposed letters of censure. The three remaining individuals were not disciplined because they either had attended both the training conference and the retirement dinner or had some other explanation for traveling to Washington, D.C. The FBI's Law Enforcement Ethics Unit did a study in September 1999 that concluded that a perception existed of a double standard in disciplining SES and non-SES employees. The travel cost to the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allowed Mexican commercial trucks to travel throughout the United States. Because of concerns about the safety of these vehicles, the United States has limited Mexican truck operations to commercial zones near the border. Relatively few Mexican carriers are expected to operate beyond these commercial zones once the United States fully opens its highways to Mexican carriers. Specific regulatory and economic factors that may limit the number of Mexican carriers operating beyond the commercial zones include (1) the lack of established business relationships beyond the U.S. commercial zones that permit drivers to return to Mexico carrying cargo, (2) difficulties obtaining competitively priced insurance, (3) congestion and delays in crossing the U.S.-Mexico border that make long-haul operations less profitable, and (4) high registration fees. Over time, improvements in trucking and border operations may increase the number of Mexican commercial vehicles traveling beyond the commercial zones. GAO found that the Department of Transportation (DOT) lacks a fully developed or approved plan to ensure that Mexican-domiciled carriers comply with U.S. safety standards. DOT has not secured permanent space at any of the 25 …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The administration's energy policy reflects renewed interest in expanding nuclear power as a source of electricity. However, the nation lacks a facility to permanently dispose of spent fuel from commercial power plants. The Department of Energy (DOE) has been studying Yucca Mountain, Nevada, as a possible repository for these highly radioactive wastes. GAO believes that it may be premature for the Secretary of Energy to recommend Yucca Mountain as a suitable site. Once the President considers the site qualified for a license application and recommends the site to Congress, the Nuclear Waste Policy act requires DOE to submit a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) within five to eight months. DOE will be unable to submit an acceptable application to NRC within the statutory time frames for several years because of unresolved technical issues. DOE is unlikely to achieve its goal of opening a repository at Yucca Mountain by 2010, and it does not have a reliable estimate of when, and at what cost, such a repository can be opened."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of their plan to form an international alliance, American Airlines (AA) and British Airways (BA) have sought immunity from antitrust laws in the United States and Europe. The extent to which the alliance might come to dominate the routes between major U.S. cities and London will depend on whether other airlines are able to enter this market under an open skies agreement. Some passengers may benefit from the larger network created by an AA/BA alliance, but GAO believes that the overall benefits of such an alliance may be limited for several reasons. First, continuing constraints in slots, gates, and terminal facilities at London's Heathrow Airport and BA's corporate strategy for reducing its overall capacity would limit potential benefits. Second, several carriers are already serving many of the markets that the AA/BA alliance plans to serve. Third, neither AA nor BA claim that the alliance would generate substantial operational savings that could be passed on to stockholders, employees, and customers. A full review of the competitive effects of this and other alliances is needed because GAO's analysis suggests that a grant of antitrust immunity could enable the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO assessed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) performance in the following five key tax filing season activities: (1) processing individual tax returns and refunds, (2) increasing the extent to which individual income tax returns are filed electronically, (3) answering telephone calls and providing quality telephone service, (4) providing accurate and timely face-to-face assistance at its Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC), and (5) providing services via the Internet. GAO found that IRS' performance during the 2001 filing season varied. Although there was less information available on which to base a judgement than in past filing seasons, IRS' processing of 130 million individual income tax returns and 94 million refunds in 2001 went smoothly. IRS addressed problems quickly, with relatively minor impact on taxpayers. About 31 percent of all individual income tax returns were filed electronically in 2001--an increase of 13.7 percent compared to 2000. That rate of increase was below IRS' goal of 20 percent and the lowest percentage since 1996. IRS has identified several impediments, but it lacks enough information to determine why about 40 million individual income tax returns were prepared on computers but filed on …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Management of the U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) e-commerce program has been fragmented, and implementation of e-commerce initiatives has varied at different business units. Overall, USPS' performance in this area has fallen short of expectations. Last year, the Postmaster General announced a sweeping management restructuring that changed both the reporting structure and program managers. USPS also revised its procedures for approving and implementing new Internet initiatives, including e-commerce. However, concerns persist about whether USPS' e-commerce initiatives are being cross-subsidized by other postal products and services. USPS managers contend that e-commerce products and services must cover their incremental costs. GAO found that this goal has not been met and it is unclear when it might be achieved. Without accurate, complete, and consistent financial information, USPS cannot assess its progress toward its financial performance goals for e-commerce. USPS also lacks clear and comprehensive policies and procedures for reporting direct and indirect revenues and costs for e-commerce and other new products and services. As a result, reporting inconsistencies are likely to continue. In contrast, USPS has reportedly developed privacy policies and practices for its e-commerce customers that exceed those required …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, GAO has testified that personnel shortages, assignment priorities, and frequent peacekeeping deployments were undermining the combat readiness of the Army's five later-deploying divisions. In 2001, GAO reported on the Army Chief of Staff's manning initiative of October 1999, which seeks to ensure that all active Army units are assigned the numbers, grades, and skills needed to carry out wartime missions. Since then, terrorists have attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the Bush administration has formulated a new military strategy. These developments may change how, when, and where these divisions will be used--as seen in the deployment of soldiers from the 40th Infantry Division in Operation Enduring Freedom. As of June 2001 the five divisions reported they were ready and able to perform all or most of their combat missions. Enlisted personnel levels were at or near 100 percent of their authorization compared with 93 percent in March 1998. However, staffing imbalances persist for some combat support skills. Each division met its training requirements for combat missions. The amount of equipment on hand and the serviceability of that equipment indicated that …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With the recent anthrax attacks on Congress and the media, the U.S. Postal Service faces a new and more immediate challenge of responding and developing a plan to safeguard the mail system from future attacks. GAO held a conference, on December 10, 2001, with representatives from Congress, the Postal Service, and many of the Service's key stakeholders to discuss possible options to enhance mail security and postal operations. The conference participants agreed that there is no single or simple solution for ensuring the safety of mail. Nevertheless, they agreed that the Service, the mailing industry, and other stakeholders should work closely together to assess current risks, develop a framework for responding to potential threats, and take immediate steps to secure the safety of the mail to restore public confidence.Participants also agreed that detection technology is essential for securing the mail and they emphasized the need for enhanced efficiency of postal operations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The 1997 peer review of the Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General (IG) done by the Environmental Protection Agency IG resulted in a qualified opinion. The peer review report questioned the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG and said that the reviewed audits did not fully comply with Government Auditing Standards. The 2000 peer review done by the Department of the Treasury IG for Tax Administration (TIGTA) also resulted in a unqualified opinion. Although TIGTA cited several problems, the peer review report concluded that the quality assurance system used by the DOD IG reasonably ensured compliance with auditing standards. However, after the peer review had been completed, a letter was sent to Congress, the press, and others questioning the integrity of the documentation that the DOD IG provided to the TIGTA peer review staff. A DOD IG internal investigation later confirmed that the work papers for one of the audits chosen for peer review had been altered and destroyed. The report concluded that these actions violated Government Auditing Standards, internal DOD IG audit policies, and the expectations of the external peer review staff. TIGTA then withdrew …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reflects the results of a collaborative effort between GAO and representatives of the Secretary of Education. As required by the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, GAO formed a study group to identify and evaluate a means of establishing a market mechanism for the delivery of student loans. This study group consisted of representatives of the Department of the Treasury, Office of Management and Budget, Congressional Budget Office, entities making Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans and other entities in the financial services community, and other participants in the student loan market. The group met as a whole four times before the public release of a draft of this report, and various group members corresponded with GAO and Education between group meetings as well. The mandate called for the evaluation of at least three different market mechanisms relative to 13 criteria. In consultation with the study group, GAO selected five general models for further evaluation--adjustments to the current system and four additional market mechanism models. Adjustments to the current system, in which information would be collected from current market transactions for use in determining …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in 1997 that it would modify its meat and poultry slaughter inspection program to make industry more responsible for identifying carcass defects. Before making the change permanent, USDA developed a model to test whether a prevention-oriented inspection system that uses plant personnel to examine each carcass and USDA inspectors to verify that quality standards are met would continue to ensure the safety of meat and poultry products. USDA's pilot project for chickens had several design and methodology problems that compromised the overall validity and reliability of its results. First, the chicken pilot that USDA designed lacked a control group--a critical design flaw that precluded a comparison between the performance of the inspection systems at those plants that volunteered to participate in the pilot and that of plants that did not participate. Second, the chicken plants that volunteered to participate in the baseline measurement phase of the pilot were not randomly selected, and they did not include plants from all chicken-producing areas or plants of all sizes. Third, the pilot project's methodology did not take into account such variables as seasonal …