A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) pays billions of dollars in Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income to people with disabilities. The Ticket to Work program, established in 1999, provides eligible beneficiaries (ticket holder) with a ticket they may assign to approved service providers, called employment networks (EN). ENs are to provide services to help ticket holders obtain and retain employment and reduce dependence on SSA benefits. ENs receive payments from SSA once a ticket holder has earnings exceeding a set threshold. Due to low participation, SSA changed program regulations in 2008 to provide ENs and ticket holders with more incentives to participate. GAO examined (1) changes in ticket holder and EN participation over time, (2) the range of service approaches used by ENs, and (3) SSA's efforts to evaluate ticket holders and ENs to ensure program integrity and effectiveness. GAO analyzed SSA data, policies, and procedures, and interviewed representatives of 25 ENs, disability advocacy organizations, and SSA."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for promoting environmental justice--that is, the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in developing, implementing, and enforcing environmental laws, regulations, and policies. In January 2010, the EPA Administrator cited environmental justice as a top priority for the agency. GAO was asked to examine (1) how EPA is implementing its environmental justice efforts, and (2) the extent that EPA has followed leading federal strategic planning practices in establishing a framework for these efforts. To conduct this work, GAO reviewed EPA strategy documents and interviewed agency officials and key stakeholders."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "VA has policies to ensure that physicians have appropriate qualifications and clinical abilities through the processes of credentialing, privileging, and continuous monitoring of performance. Results of a VA investigatory report in 2008 cited deficiencies in the Marion, Illinois, VA medical center's (VAMC) credentialing and privileging processes and oversight of its surgical program. This report examines VA's policies and guidance to help ensure that information about physician qualifications and performance is accurate and complete, VAMCs' compliance with selected VA credentialing and privileging policies, and their implementation of VA policies to continuously monitor performance. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed VA's policies, interviewed VA officials, and reviewed a judgmental sample of 30 credentialing and privileging files at each of six VAMCs that GAO visited. GAO selected the files to ensure inclusion of highly paid specialties, newly hired physicians, and other physician characteristics. GAO selected the judgmental sample of six VAMCs based on geographic balance and other factors."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Publishers included in GAO's study have disclosed textbook information required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA), such as pricing and format options, and made components of bundled materials available individually, but stakeholders GAO interviewed said these practices have had little effect on faculty decisions. While most publishers in GAO's study provided all relevant textbook information, two smaller publishers did not provide copyright dates of prior editions, and one did not provide certain pricing information. Publishers communicated information to faculty online and in other marketing materials, and in most cases the information was available to students and the public. In addition, publishers said they began making bundled materials available for sale individually before HEOA was passed. Faculty GAO interviewed said they typically prioritize selecting the most appropriate materials for their courses over pricing and format considerations, although they said they are more aware of affordability issues than they used to be. Changes in the availability of options in the college textbook market that are not related to HEOA, such as the increase in digital products, have also shaped faculty decisions about course materials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over $81 billion has been committed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to improve the domestic auto industry's competitiveness and long-term viability. The bulk of this assistance has gone to General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, who sponsor some of the largest defined benefit pension plans insured by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). As part of GAO's statutorily mandated oversight of TARP, this report examines: (1) the impact of restructuring on GM's and Chrysler's pension plans; (2) the impact of restructuring on auto supply sector pension plans; (3) the impacts on PBGC and plan participants should auto industry pension plans be terminated; and (4) how the federal government is dealing with the potential tensions of its multiple roles as pension regulator, shareholder, and creditor. To conduct this study, GAO interviewed officials at GM, Chrysler, a labor union, a supplier association, the Departments of the Treasury and Labor, and PBGC; and reviewed relevant statutes, reports, and documents concerning the automakers' restructuring and pension plan funding. Treasury and PBGC generally agreed with the report's findings. Their technical comments and the technical comments provided by GM, Chrysler, …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO determined that the Department of Defense’s (DOD) March and June 2013 submissions on establishing a Defense Health Agency (DHA) to reform the governance of the Military Health System (MHS) met three statutory requirements to include information on goals, performance measures, and staffing; partially met one requirement to include information on timelines; and was not required to include information on shared services because the reporting time frame was not applicable. GAO also assessed the submissions to determine the extent to which DOD incorporated key management practices from GAO’s prior work on business-process reengineering. DOD’s submissions provided some useful information but did not fully incorporate some key management practices as explained below."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since implementation of the Screening Partnership Program (SPP) in 2004, 29 airports have applied to the program, citing various advantages and relatively few disadvantages. Of the 25 approved, 16 are participating in the program, 6 are currently in the contractor procurement process, and the remainder withdrew from participation because their commercial airline services were discontinued. In 2011, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) denied applications for 6 airports because, according to TSA officials, the airports did not demonstrate that participation in the program would "provide a clear and substantial advantage to TSA security operations." After enactment of the Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FAA Modernization Act) in February 2012, TSA revised its SPP application, removing the "clear and substantial advantage" question. Four of the 6 airports that had been denied in 2011 later reapplied and were approved. In GAO's survey and in interviews with airport operators (of SPP and non-SPP airports) and aviation stakeholders, improved customer service and increased staffing flexibilities were most commonly cited as advantages or potential advantages of the SPP. Individual Federal Security Directors we interviewed cited reduced involvement in …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "States recovered $9.8 million in Medicaid overpayments, but they did not clearly report the overpayments and the return of the federal share to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Federal audits initially identified about $20.4 million in potential Medicaid overpayments across the 19 states with identified overpayments from June 2007 through February 2012. Of the $13.3 million in net overpayments shown below, states recovered $9.8 million and were in the process of recovering the remaining $3.5 million. States should have reported the return of the federal share for $13.3 million on the line designated for overpayments identified by national audit program contractors on the CMS-64--the form that states fill out quarterly to obtain federal reimbursement for Medicaid services. However, states made multiple reporting errors. Specifically:"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2007, the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) have been testing a new disability evaluation system designed to integrate their separate processes and thereby expedite veterans' benefits for wounded, ill, and injured servicemembers. Having piloted the integrated disability evaluation system (IDES) at 27 military facilities, they are now planning for its expansion military-wide. Part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 required GAO to report on DOD and VA's implementation of policies on disability evaluations. This report examines: (1) the results of the agencies' evaluation of the IDES pilot, (2) challenges in implementing the IDES pilot to date, and (3) whether DOD and VA's plans to expand the IDES adequately address potential future challenges. GAO analyzed data from DOD and VA, conducted site visits at 10 military facilities, and interviewed DOD and VA officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In response to the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), among other things, deployed Grants.gov as the central grant identification and application portal for federal grant programs in 2003 and named the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) its managing partner. As a result of funding and governance challenges-- such as untimely contributions, a lack of performance metrics, unclear lines of authority, and confusion over roles and responsibilities among Grants.gov's governance bodies-- that have adversely affected operations, GAO is required to examine (1) key factors HHS should consider when proposing a funding model for Grants.gov, and (2) how the Grants.gov governance bodies could address Grants.gov's previously identified governance challenges. To do this, GAO analyzed agency documents and interviewed officials at HHS, OMB, the Grants Executive Board (GEB), three case study agencies that manage similar E-Gov initiatives and three Grants.gov partner agencies."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) made a number of changes to improve the utility of the fiscal year 2010 inventory, such as centrally preparing contract data to provide greater consistency among DOD components and increasing the level of detail on the services provided. DOD, however, continued to rely primarily on the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG) for the inventory for most defense components other than the Army. As such, DOD acknowledged a number of factors that limited the utility, accuracy, and completeness of the inventory data. For example, FPDS-NG does not identify more than one type of service purchased for each contract action, provide the number of contractor full-time equivalent personnel, or identify the requiring activity. As before, the Army used its Contractor Manpower Reporting Application to compile its fiscal year 2010 inventory. This system collects data reported by contractors on services performed at the contract line item level, including information on labor hours and the function and mission performed. DOD officials noted that the Army’s current process complies with legislative requirements. In January 2011, GAO recommended that DOD develop a plan with time frames …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To address pervasive computer-based (cyber) attacks against the United States that posed potentially devastating impacts to systems and operations, the federal government has developed policies and strategies intended to combat these threats. A recent key development was in February 2009, when President Obama initiated a review of the government's overall strategy and supporting activities with the aim of assessing U.S. policies and structures for cybersecurity. The resulting policy review report--issued by the President in May 2009--provided 24 near- and mid-term recommendations to address these threats. GAO was asked to assess the implementation status of the 24 recommendations. In doing so, GAO, among other things, analyzed the policy review report and assessed agency documentation and interviewed agency officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Economic Development Administration (EDA) implemented a new procedure in fiscal year 2012 that requires its regional offices to complete a standard template to document the results of committee meetings in which proposed projects are discussed and potentially recommended for funding. However, GAO found that for the Public Works and Economic Development (Public Works) program and the Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) program—EDA's two largest grant assistance programs—EDA regional offices had not completed the template consistently. GAO estimated that only 46 percent of all projects recommended for funding in fiscal year 2012 under these programs were documented using the complete template. EDA has a history of inconsistent documentation: for example, in 2000 the Department of Commerce's Inspector General reported inconsistencies in how EDA's regional offices documented the project review process. Standards for internal control in the federal government require all transactions and significant events to be clearly documented and available for examination. Until EDA takes steps to ensure that all of its regional offices consistently and fully complete the standard template for all proposed projects considered for funding, EDA will not have adequate assurance that its funding …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Education (Education) relies on collection agencies to assist borrowers in rehabilitating defaulted student loans, which allows borrowers who make nine on-time monthly payments within 10 months to have the default removed from their credit reports. Education works with 22 collection agencies to locate borrowers and explain repayment options, including rehabilitation. From fiscal years 2011 to 2013, Education collected about $9 billion on over 1.5 million loans through rehabilitation, most of which was recovered by collection agencies."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "For several decades, Congress and the Department of Defense (DOD) have explored ways to improve the acquisition of major weapon systems, yet program outcomes and their underlying causes have proven resistant to change. Last year, we reported that the cumulative cost growth in DOD's portfolio of major programs was $296 billion. The opportunity to achieve meaningful improvements may now be at hand with the recent introduction of major reforms to the acquisition process. In response to a mandate from this Committee, GAO has issued several reports about DOD's budget and requirements processes to support weapon program stability. This follow-on report focuses on (1) identifying weapon programs that are achieving good outcomes, (2) the factors that enable some programs to succeed, and (3) lessons to be learned from these programs to guide implementation of recent reforms. GAO analyzed DOD's portfolio of major defense programs and conducted case study reviews of five programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Overall, trends in dental coverage show little change from 1996 to 2010--around 62 percent of individuals had coverage. The percentage of the population with private dental coverage decreased from 53 to 50 percent. Dental coverage through Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which was established in 1997, rose from 9 to 13 percent. The increase was due primarily to an increase in the number of children covered by these federal-state health programs with mandated pediatric dental coverage. Individuals with no dental coverage decreased from 28 to 25 percent, and coverage for 10 to 12 percent of the population was unknown. Use of dental services--the percentage of individuals who had at least one dental visit--also remained relatively unchanged at around 40 percent from 1996 to 2010. Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries, children in particular, showed increases in the use of dental services (from 28 to 37 percent), but still visited the dentist less often than privately insured children (58 percent in 2010)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Representatives from all 10 selected companies--auto manufacturers, portable navigation device (PND) companies, and developers of map and navigation applications for mobile devices--said they collect location data to provide consumers with location-based services. For example, companies collect location data to provide turn-by-turn directions. Nine companies share location data with third-party companies, such as traffic information providers, to provide services to consumers. Representatives from two companies said they share data where personally identifiable information has been removed (de-identified data) for purposes beyond providing services (e.g., for research), although such purposes are not always disclosed to consumers. All company representatives said that they do not share personally identifiable location data with or sell such data to marketing companies or data brokers."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To improve aviation safety, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) plans to have in place the initial capabilities of a risk-based approach to safety oversight, known as a safety management system (SMS), by the end of fiscal year 2010. FAA is also implementing new procedures and technologies to enhance the safety, capacity, and efficiency of the national airspace system. Data are central to SMS and FAA's ability to test the impact of these changes on safety. This congressionally requested report addresses FAA's (1) current and planned use of data to oversee aviation safety, (2) access to data for monitoring aviation safety and the safety performance of various industry sectors, and (3) efforts to help ensure data quality. To perform this work, GAO reviewed 13 databases that contain data on key aviation safety events, assessed data quality controls for the databases, and interviewed agency and industry officials, as well as 10 experts in aviation safety and data."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To address challenges to the aviation industry's economic health and safety, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other federal partners to plan and implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). NextGen will transform the current radar-based air traffic control system into a satellite-based system. Pilot and air traffic controller roles and responsibilities are expected to become more automated, thereby requiring an understanding of human factors, which studies how humans' abilities, characteristics, and limitations interact with the design of the equipment they use, environments in which they function, and jobs they perform. FAA and NASA are tasked with incorporating human factors issues into NextGen. As requested, this report discusses the extent to which FAA's and NASA's human factors research (1) is coordinated and (2) supports NextGen. To address these issues, GAO reviewed coordination mechanisms and planning documents and synthesized the views of nine aviation human factors experts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Fiscal year 2013 sequestration reduced or delayed some public services and disrupted some operations in the 23 federal agencies GAO reviewed, even though agencies took actions to minimize the effects. For example, agencies reported that sequestration reduced assistance for education, housing, and nutrition, as well as health and science research and development grants. Agencies also reported delaying investments such as information technology and facilities projects. Some federal services also experienced backlogs and delays as a result of personnel actions including limiting hiring and furloughing employees. However, many of the effects of sequestration could not be quantified or will not be known until future years, if at all, for a number of reasons including the timing of when funds are disbursed (such as grant cycles that start late in the fiscal year), challenges in isolating the effects from other factors, and the lack of currently available performance data for some programs. Moreover, congressional and agency actions mitigated some potential effects by shifting funds to higher priorities while deferring or reducing funding for lower priorities."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) requires Performance.gov to provide program and performance information accessible to the public and members and committees of Congress. GAO used leading practices from HowTo.gov, a key source of guidance for federal website development and management, to assess the website and found that although Performance.gov incorporates some leading practices, opportunities exist to further incorporate them through continued development. For example, consistent with leading practices, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), working with the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Performance Improvement Council (PIC), provided information about the purposes and audiences for the website, but they have made limited efforts to clarify how audiences can use the information provided. If the specific uses of Performance.gov are not clarified, while taking into consideration what the law requires, it could lead to varying ideas and expectations for how Performance.gov should be developed."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration (SBA) has established lending standards to protect against default and has measured program performance, but lacks guidance on determining the number of jobs supported by 504 program-funded projects. SBA's guidance for certified development companies (CDC)—nonprofits that provide funding to small businesses to promote local economic development in their communities and are certified by SBA—includes credit underwriting standards for determining ability to repay. SBA also has established performance indicators—such as the number of small businesses assisted and jobs supported—for the 504 loan program. However, SBA does not describe how CDCs should calculate jobs created and retained by 504 projects, a key program requirement. Federal internal control standards require control activities that help participants report information accurately. Without specific guidance, SBA cannot ensure that CDCs are calculating this information consistently or accurately. GAO's analysis of SBA data showed that 504 loans approved in fiscal years 2006 through 2008 had the highest 18-month default rates, which correlated with trends in the private sector for commercial real estate loans."