General Accounting Office Reports & Testimony back issues from Tuesday, August 1:
International Financial Crime: Treasury's Roles and Responsibilities Relating to Selected Provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-483 May 12, 2006 Money laundering and terrorist financing can severely affect the nation's economy and also result in loss of lives. To combat these transnational crimes, the Treasury Department (Treasury) and its component bureau, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ...
Mass Transit: Issues Related to Providing Dedicated Funding for the Washington Metropolitain Area Transit Authority.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-516 May 15, 2006 A regional panel estimated that the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)--Washington, D.C.'s, transit system--will have total budgetary shortfalls of $2.4 billion over 10 years. The panel and others have noted that WMATA's lack of a ...
Puerto Rico: Fiscal Relations with the Federal Government and Economic Trends during the Phaseout of the Possessions Tax Credit.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-541 May 19, 2006 The federal possessions tax credit, which was designed to encourage U.S. corporate investment in Puerto Rico and other insular areas, expires this year. Proponents of continued federal economic assistance to Puerto Rico have presented a variety of ...
Commercial Aviation: Costs and Major Factors Influencing Infrastructure Changes at U.S. Airports to Accomodate the New A380 Aircraft.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-571 May 19, 2006 Airbus S.A.S (Airbus), a European aircraft manufacturer, introduced a new aircraft, the A380 that will be the largest passenger aircraft in the world with expected delivery to its first customers in late 2006. The A380 has a double deck and is expected to ...
Renewable Energy: Increased Geothermal Development Will Depend on Overcoming Many Challenges.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-629 May 24, 2006 The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Act) contains provisions that address a variety of challenges that face the geothermal industry, including the high risk and uncertainty of developing geothermal power plants, lack of sufficient transmission capacity, and ...
VA Health Care: Steps Taken to Improve Practitioner Screening, but Facility Compliance with Screening Requirements Is Poor.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-544 May 25, 2006 In March 2004, GAO reported on gaps in VA's requirements for screening the professional credentials and personal backgrounds of health care practitioners (GAO-04-566). GAO found that VA's requirements did not ensure thorough screening of VA practitioners ....
VA Health Care: Selected Credentialing Requirements at Seven Medical Facilities Met, but an Aspect of Privileging Process Needs Improvement.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-648 May 25, 2006 The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is responsible for determining that over 36,000 physicians working in its facilities have the appropriate professional credentials and qualifications to deliver health care to veterans. To do this, VA credentials ...
Aviation Security: Further Study of Safety and Effectiveness and Better Management Controls Needed If Air Carriers Resume Interest in Deploying Less-than-Lethal Weapons.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-475 May 26, 2006 The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has authority to approve air carrier requests to deploy less-than-lethal weapons, including electric stun devices, onboard commercial aircraft to thwart an attack. Since the terrorist attacks of 2001, one ...
Wildland Fire Suppression: Lack of Clear Guidance Raises Concerns about Cost Sharing between Federal and Nonfederal Entities.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-570 May 30, 2006 Wildland fires burn millions of acres each year, requiring substantial investments of firefighting assets. Since 2000, federal suppression costs alone have averaged more than $1 billion annually. Wildland fires can burn or threaten both federal and ...
Department of Energy, Office of Worker Advocacy: Deficient Controls Led to Millions of Dollars in Improper and Questionable Payments to Contractors.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-547 May 31, 2006 The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (EEOICPA) authorized the Department of Energy (Energy) to help its former contractor employees file state workers' compensation claims for illnesses that could be linked to ...
Human Health Risk Assessment: EPA Has Taken Steps to Strengthen Its Process, but Improvements Needed in Planning, Data Development, and Training.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-595 May 31, 2006 Over 100,000 chemicals, pollutants, and toxic substances are used in the United States and regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA uses risk assessment to determine the health risk from exposure to these substances, collectively ...
Human Health Risk Assessment: GAO Survey of EPA Risk Assessment Practices.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-637SP May 31, 2006 This document presents selected results of GAO's Web-based Survey of EPA Risk Assessment Practices. The purpose of this survey was to collect information on the how EPA's efforts since 1994 to improve the risk assessment process have affected the ...
Homeland Security: Guidance and Standards Are Needed for Measuring the Effectiveness of Agencies' Facility Protection Efforts.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-612 May 31, 2006 The need to better protect federal facilities, coupled with federal budget constraints and the increased scrutiny of homeland security funding and programs, has prompted the need for U.S. agencies to measure the performance of their facility protection ...
Homeland Defense: National Guard Bureau Needs to Clarify Civil Support Teams' Mission and Address Management Challenges.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-498 May 31, 2006 To prepare for potential attacks in the United States involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Congress approved the development of National Guard Civil Support Teams (CST) tasked to identify chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield ...
Financial Services Industry: Overall Trends in Management-Level Diversity and Diversity Initiatives, 1993-2004.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-617 June 1, 2006 During a hearing in 2004 on the financial services industry, congressional members and witnesses expressed concern about the industry's lack of workforce diversity, particularly in key management-level positions. Witnesses stated that financial services ...
Defense Acquisitions: Space System Acquisition Risks and Keys to Addressing Them.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-776R June 1, 2006 On April 6, 2006, we testified before Congress on the Department of Defense's (DOD) space acquisitions. In fiscal year 2007, DOD expects to spend nearly $7 billion to acquire space-based capabilities to support current military and other government ...
Government Auditing Standards: 2006 Revision (Exposure Draft).
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-729G June 1, 2006 This is the Exposure Draft of the Government Auditing Standards 2006 revision. This document ...
Clean Water: How States Allocate Revolving Loan Funds and Measure Their Benefits.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-579 June 5, 2006 Communities will need hundreds of billions of dollars in coming years to construct and upgrade wastewater treatment facilities, sewer systems, and other water infrastructure. To finance these efforts, they will rely heavily on low-interest loans from the ...
U.S. Tsunami Preparedness: Federal and State Partners Collaborate to Help Communities Reduce Potential Impacts, but Significant Challenges Remain.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-519 June 5, 2006 The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami raised questions about U.S. preparedness for such an event. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leads U.S. detection and warning efforts and partners with federal and state agencies in the National ...
Elections: The Nation's Evolving Election System as Reflected in the November 2004 General Election.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-450 June 6, 2006 The 2004 general election was the first presidential election that tested substantial changes states made to their election systems since the 2000 election, including some changes required by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). HAVA required some ...
Elections: 2005 Survey of State Election Officials.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-451SP June 6, 2006 This document presents the results of GAO's 2005 Survey of State Election Officials. The purpose of the survey was to collect nationwide information on a range of election topics that included statewide voter registration lists and general voter ...
Elections: 2005 Survey of Local Election Jurisdictions.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-452SP June 6, 2006 This document presents the results of GAO's 2005 Survey of Local Election Jurisdictions. The purpose of the survey was to collect nationwide information on a range of election topics that included voter registration, absentee voting, early voting, poll ...
Telecommunications: Full Adoption of Sound Transition Planning Practices by GSA and Selected Agencies Could Improve Planning Efforts.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-476 June 6, 2006 With the current governmentwide telecommunications contracts set to expire, the General Services Administration's (GSA) Federal Technology Service (FTS) and its customer agencies must prepare to transition their services to a new contract vehicle. The ...
2010 Census: Costs and Risks Must be Closely Monitored and Evaluated with Mitigation Plans in Place.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-822T June 6, 2006 The decennial census is a constitutionally mandated activity, with immutable deadlines. It produces data used to allocate about $200 billion yearly in federal financial assistance, reapportion the seats of the House of Representatives, and provide a ...
Internal Revenue Service: Status of Recommendations from Financial Audits and Related Financial Management Reports.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-560 June 6, 2006 In its role as the nation's tax collector, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a demanding responsibility in annually collecting over $2 trillion in taxes, processing hundreds of millions of tax and information returns, and enforcing the nation's tax ...
Clean Water: Better Information and Targeted Prevention Efforts Could Enhance Spill Management in the St. Clair-Detroit River Corridor.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-639 June 7, 2006 Spills of oil and hazardous substances in the St. Clair-Detroit River corridor have degraded this border area between the United States and Canada and are a potential threat to local drinking water supplies. Within the United States such spills are ...
NOAA: Next Steps to Strengthen Its Acquisition Function.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-594 June 7, 2006 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) accounts for about half of the Department of Commerce's (Commerce) acquisition spending, over $851 million in fiscal year 2005 alone. In recent years however, NOAA has experienced instances of ...
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Coordination between FEMA and the Red Cross Should Be Improved for the 2006 Hurricane Season.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-712 June 8, 2006 The Red Cross played a key role in providing relief to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, mounting its largest ever disaster response. Under the National Response Plan, and its emergency support function-6 (ESF-6), the Red Cross and FEMA are tasked ...
Privacy: Preventing and Responding to Improper Disclosures of Personal Information.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-833T June 8, 2006 The recent security breach at the Department of Veterans Affairs, in which personal data on millions of veterans were compromised, has highlighted the importance of the federal government's processes for protecting personal information. As the federal ...
Homeland Security: Contract Management and Oversight for Visitor and Immigrant Status Program Need to Be Strengthened.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-404 June 9, 2006 The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a multibillion-dollar program--U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to control and monitor the pre-entry, entry, visa status, and exit of foreign visitors. To deliver ...
FBI Trilogy: Responses to Posthearing Questions.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-853R June 9, 2006 This report responds to a Congressional request for additional information related to the May 2, 2006 Congressional hearing entitled FBI Oversight. Our responses are based largely on information contained in our published report, entitled Federal Bureau ...
Airline Deregulation: Reregulating the Airline Industry Would Likely Reverse Consumer Benefits and Not Save Airline Pensions.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-630 June 9, 2006 The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 phased out the government's control over fares and service and allowed market forces to determine the price and level of domestic airline service in the United States. The intent was to increase competition and thereby ...
Information on Immigration Enforcement and Supervisory Promotions in the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-751R June 13, 2006 After the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in March 2003, two legacy enforcement agencies--the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the U.S. Customs Service (USCS)--were among the 22 federal agencies brought ...
Rebuilding Iraq: Actions Still Needed to Improve the Use of Private Security Providers.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-865T June 13, 2006 GAO was asked to address (1) the extent to which coordination between the U.S. military and private security providers has improved since GAO's 2005 report, (2) the ability of private security providers and the Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct ...
Capital Gains Tax Gap: Requiring Brokers to Report Securities Cost Basis Would Improve Compliance if Related Challenges Are Addressed.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-603 June 13, 2006 For tax year 2001, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated a tax gap of at least $11 billion from individual taxpayers misreporting income from capital assets (generally those owned for investment or personal purposes). IRS did not estimate the ...
Tax Compliance: Challenges to Corporate Tax Enforcement and Options to Improve Securities Basis Reporting.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-851T June 13, 2006 Corporate income taxes are expected to bring in about $277 billion in 2006 to help fund the activities of the federal government. Besides raising revenue, the tax alters investment decisions and raises concerns about competitiveness in an environment of ...
Environmental Liabilities: Hardrock Mining Cleanup Obligations.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-884T June 14, 2006 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 ...
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Disaster Relief: Improper and Potentially Fraudulent Individual Assistance Payments Estimated to Be Between $600 Million and $1.4 Billion.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-844T June 14, 2006 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed homes and displaced millions of individuals. In the wake of these natural disasters, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) responded to the need to provide aid quickly through the Individuals and Households ...
Indians' Additional Compensation Claims: Calculations for the Crow Creek Sioux and Lower Brule Sioux Tribes Differ from Approach Used in Prior GAO Reports.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-849T June 14, 2006 From 1946 to 1966, the government constructed the Fort Randall and Big Bend Dams as flood control projects on the Missouri River in South Dakota. The reservoirs created behind the dams flooded about 38,000 acres of the Crow Creek and Lower Brule Indian ...
Immigration Benefits: Circumstances under Which Petitioners' Sex Offenses May Be Disclosed to Beneficiaries.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-735 June 14, 2006 In fiscal year 2005, U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents filed about 730,000 petitions with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to sponsor noncitizen family members, including spouses, fiances, and children, to immigrate to the ...
Aviation Security: Management Challenges Remain for the Transportation Security Administration's Secure Flight Program.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-864T June 14, 2006 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 ...
Commerce Information Technology Solutions Next Generation Governmentwide Acquisition Contract.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-791R June 14, 2006 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 ...
Veterans Affairs: Leadership Needed to Address Information Security Weaknesses and Privacy Issues.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-866T June 14, 2006 The recent information security breach at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), in which personal data on millions of veterans were compromised, has highlighted the importance of the department's security weaknesses, as well as the ability of federal ...
DOD Personnel Clearances: Questions and Answers for the Record Following the Second in a Series of Hearings on Fixing the Security Clearance Process.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-693R June 14, 2006 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. We will continue to assess and ...
Defense Management: Additional Measures to Reduce Corrosion of Prepositioned Military Assets Could Achieve Cost Savings.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-709 June 14, 2006 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 ...
Crop Insurance: More Needs To Be Done to Reduce Program's Vulnerability to Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-878T June 15, 2006 The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) administers the federal crop insurance program in partnership with private insurers. In 2005, the program cost $2.7 billion, including an estimated $117 million in losses from fraud, ...
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Preliminary Observations on Its Oversight to Ensure the Safe Operation of Nuclear Power Plants.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-886T June 15, 2006 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has the responsibility to provide oversight to ensure that the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants are operated safely. While the safety of these plants has always been important, since radioactive ...
Superfund: Better Financial Assurances and More Effective Implementation of Institutional Controls Are Needed to Protect the Public.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-900T June 15, 2006 Under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Superfund program, parties responsible for pollution bear the cost of cleaning it up. However, these parties sometimes no longer exist, leaving the problem for others, typically the federal government, ...
2010 Census: Census Bureau Needs to Take Prompt Actions to Resolve Long-standing and Emerging Address and Mapping Challenges.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-272 June 15, 2006 To conduct a successful census, it is important that the U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) produce the most complete and accurate address file and maps for 2010. For this review, GAO's specific objectives were to determine the extent to which (1) the Bureau's ...
Coast Guard: Observations on Agency Performance, Operations and Future Challenges.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-448T June 15, 2006 The Coast Guard's fiscal year 2007 budget request total $8.4 billion, an increase of 4 percent ($328 million) over the approved budget for fiscal year 2006 and a slowing of the agency's budget increases over the past 2 fiscal years. This testimony, ...
Social Security Administration: Agency Is Positioning Itself to Implement Its New Disability Determination Process, but Key Facets Are Still in Development.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-779T June 15, 2006 In March 2006, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published a rule that fundamentally alters the way claims for disability benefits are processed and considered. The rule establishes the Disability Service Improvement process (DSI)--intended to ...
Information Technology: Agencies and OMB Should Strengthen Processes for Identifying and Overseeing High Risk Projects.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-647 June 15, 2006 In August 2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum directing agencies to identify high risk information technology (IT) projects and provide quarterly reports on those with performance shortfalls--projects that did not meet ...
Wood Utilization: Federal Research and Product Development Activities, Support, and Technology Transfer.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-624 June 15, 2006 More wood is consumed every year in the United States than all metals, plastics, and masonry cement combined. To maximize their use of wood, forest product companies rely on research into new methods for using wood. At least 12 federal agencies have ...
Foster Care and Adoption Assistance: Federal Oversight Needed to Safeguard Funds and Ensure Consistent Support for States' Administrative Costs.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-649 June 15, 2006 Policymakers have expressed concern over how costs to administer the Foster Care and Adoption Assistance programs are contributing to overall increased federal expenditures for these programs, estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to rise from ...
Intermodal Transportation: Challenges to and Potential Strategies for Developing Improved Intermodal Capabilities.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-855T June 15, 2006 Mobility--that is, the movement of passengers and goods through the transportation system--is critical to the nation's economic vitality and the quality of life of its citizens. However, increasing passenger travel and freight movement has led to ...
VA Health Care: Patient Safety Could be Enhanced by Improvements in Employment Screening and Physician Privileging Practices.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-760T June 15, 2006 In its March 2004 report, "VA Health Care: Improved Screening of Practitioners Would Reduce Risk to Veterans," GAO-04-566, GAO made recommendations to improve VA's employment screening of practitioners. GAO was asked to testify today on steps VA has ...
U.S. Enrichment Corporation Privatization: USEC's Delays in Providing Data Hinder DOE's Oversight of the Uranium Decontamination Agreement.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-723 June 16, 2006 Prior to the 1998 privatization of the U.S. Enrichment Corporation (USEC), the Department of Energy (DOE) transferred about 45,000 metric tons of natural uranium to USEC to, among other things, be enriched to fulfill USEC's nuclear fuel contracts. About ...
Expedited Assistance for Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: FEMA's Control Weaknesses Exposed the Government to Significant Fraud and Abuse.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-655 June 16, 2006 In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) faced the challenge of providing assistance quickly while having sufficient controls to provide assurance that benefits were paid only to those eligible under the ...
Equal Employment Opportunity: Improved Coordination Needed between EEOC and OPM in Leading Federal Workplace EEO.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-214 June 16, 2006 In April 2005 GAO reported on the EEO policy framework in the federal workplace and the roles of EEOC and OPM. This report, in response to a congressional request, provides information on (1) federal agency EEO and human capital managers' views of the ...
Clinical Lab Quality: CMS and Survey Organization Oversight Should Be Strengthened.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-416 June 16, 2006 The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) strengthened and extended quality requirements for labs that perform tests to diagnose or treat disease. About 36,000 labs that perform certain complex tests must be surveyed biennially by ...
Internet Infrastructure: DHS Faces Challenges in Developing a Joint Public/Private Recovery Plan.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-672 June 16, 2006 Since the early 1990s, growth in the use of the Internet has revolutionized the way that our nation communicates and conducts business. While the Internet was originally developed by the Department of Defense, the vast majority of its infrastructure is ...
Immigration Enforcement: Weaknesses Hinder Employment Verification and Worksite Enforcement Efforts.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-895T June 19, 2006 The opportunity for employment is one of the most important magnets attracting illegal immigrants to the United States. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 established an employment eligibility verification process and a sanctions ...
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Preliminary Observations on Its Process to Oversee the Safe Operation of Nuclear Power Plants.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-888T June 19, 2006 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has the responsibility to provide oversight to ensure that the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants are operated safely. While the safety of these plants has always been important, since radioactive ...
Defense Management: Attention Is Needed to Improve Oversight of DLA Prime Vendor Program.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-739R June 19, 2006 In fiscal year 2005, prime vendor sales accounted for approximately $9 billion of the Defense Logistics Agency's (DLA) total sales and service of $32 billion. Under the prime vendor concept, the Department of Defense (DOD) relies on a distributor of a ...
Faith-Based and Community Initiative: Improvements in Monitoring Grantees and Measuring Performance Could Enhance Accountability.
Aug 01, 2006 ... GAO-06-616 June 19, 2006 The Administration's efforts to improve the federal government's provision of social services through its Faith-Based and Community Initiative have sparked considerable interest. GAO was asked to examine (1) the activities of the initiative-related ...