State is understaffed relative to its permanent positions-both in terms of the number and types of employees in its workforce. Therefore, it is difficult for the department to ensure that it has the right people in the right place at the right time. The impact of these staffing shortfalls is felt most at hardship posts, including some of strategic importance to the United States. As a result, diplomatic programs and management controls at hardship posts could be vulnerable and posts' ability to...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC HUMAN RESOURCES DIV
I am pleased to be here today to discuss the status and results to date of our ongoing work for this Committee on military and overseas citizens absentee voting. This effort is part of a broad body of work we are doing to help Congress assess the need for changes in the procedures and equipment used to administer federal elections. As you know, the 2000 presidential election brought to light concerns about a number of issues, including the reliability of voting machines, training of polling...
Topics: DTIC Archive, Walker, David M, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC
As competition among markets has increased, so have some market participants concerns about the inherent conflicts of interest that securities self-regulatory organizations (SRO) final face in their dual roles as market operators and regulators. One response to increased competition demutualization, or the conversion of SROs from memberowned organizations to shareholder-owned corporations has raised questions about potential effects on conflicts of interests, particularly in for-profit...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *COMMERCE, *REGULATIONS, ORGANIZATIONS,...
During a review of the use of air carriers for freight shipments by the Department of Defense, we observed several matters which we believe require management attention. Small shipments were not being consolidated to the maximum extent possible to obtain the most favorable transportation rates. High-cost air transportation was being used for short distances. Commercial bills of lading were not being used as extensively as possible, even though they are less costly to issue and process than...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC PROCUREMENT LOGISTICS AND READINESS DIV
Recurring problems in managing its programs and projects plagued the Department of Energy (DOE) to such a degree in the late 1980s and early 1990s that some observers, including GAO, called for a rethinking of the department's missions and structure. Responding to calls for restructuring, by 1995 DOE initiated unprecedented reforms that it said would fundamentally improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the department.
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *MANAGEMENT, *ACCOUNTABILITY, ORGANIZATIONS,...
We are pleased to be here today to participate in the Committee s hearing on the U.S. Postal Service (the Service). Overall, the Service faces major challenges that collectively call for a structural transformation if it is to remain viable in the 21st century. In my testimony, I will briefly review the Service's growing financial, operational, and human capital challenges in an increasingly competitive environment; discuss the Service's financial outlook; and make suggestions on what needs to...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *POSTAL SERVICE, CONGRESS, FINANCIAL...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC HUMAN RESOURCES DIV, *SOCIAL SECURITY
In 1973 GAO recommended that conventional ammunition management be centralized. The Department of Defense agreed and in 1975 designated the Secretary of the Army as single manager. This report discusses deficiencies in the current system, identifies managerial and organizational changes needed to fully implement GAO's previous recommendations, and makes additional recommendations.
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC HUMAN RESOURCES DIV, *LABOR, NEGOTIATIONS
GAO was requested to consider whether to undertake a comprehensive review of the Farm Credit Administration's (FCA) oversight of the safety and soundness of the Farm Credit System (FCS). To decide whether a comprehensive review is required, GAO conducted a limited review of FCA's current oversight program. This correspondence summarizes the objectives, scope, methodology, and conclusions of our limited review. The specific objectives of our limited review were to (1) determine FCA's current...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *AUDITING, POLICIES, ORGANIZATIONS,...
USDA has taken positive steps to begin improving its information security by developing its August 1999 Action Plan with recommendations to strengthen department-wide information security and hiring a new Associate Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Cyber-Security who is working to address specific vulnerabilities and other potential threats. However, since the plan was issued in August 1999, little process has been made to implement other recommendations in the plan for strengthening the...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *INFORMATION SECURITY, STRATEGY, COSTS,...
We recently reported on our audit of the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 1997 (GAO/AIMD-98-127 March 31, 1998). Our report on the U.S. government's internal controls described widespread computer control weaknesses that place enormous amounts of federal assets at risk of fraud and misuse, financial information at risk of unauthorized modification or destruction, sensitive information at risk of inappropriate disclosure, and critical operations at risk of...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC ACCOUNTING AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT DIV
The state of the federal government's use of enterprise architectures is a work in progress, with much left to be accomplished. Although about 52 percent of federal departments and agencies report that they have satisfied at least those management practices that provide the foundation for developing, completing, and leveraging architectures, only about 4 percent report that they have satisfied the management practices that, in our view, are necessary to be an effective enterprise architecture...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *MANAGEMENT, UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT,...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC HUMAN RESOURCES DIV, *SOCIAL SECURITY
GAO'S fiscal year 1999 Accountability Report takes the place of the annual report issued in previous years. The shift to an Accountability Report is part of GAO's overall effort, consistent with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), to strengthen its performance and to hold itself accountable. GAO also will soon issue a Performance Plan for fiscal year 2001 to further improve its performance measurement efforts. As the nation's principal accountability institution, GAO will lead by...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, *ACCOUNTABILITY,...
From fiscal years 1997 through 2000,the number of individual business tax returns filed electronically increased from almost 23 to almost 41 million. At the same time, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) actual expenditures for submission processing (which funds for processing returns filed on paper and electronically) grew about $795 million in 1997 to about $924 million in 2000, an increase 16 percent, or 11 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. Because it less, on average, to process an...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *COMPUTER FILES, *TAXES, COMMERCE, COSTS
This report responds to a mandate in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 for us to study the potential conflicts of interest faced by the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve) in its role as a central bank, payment services provider, and regulator of the banking system. The payments system is the system of mechanisms, both paper-based and electronic, for moving funds among financial institutions throughout the nation. In this report, we discuss the Federal Reserve's role in providing check...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *BANKING, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, MONEY,...
Comptroller General of the United States David M. Walker has appointed three new members and re-appointed two members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). The official announcement will be published in the Federal Register.
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *ADVISORY ACTIVITIES, *MEDICARE, UNITED...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIV, *ECONOMICS, *PUBLIC...
When computing their federal taxes, taxpayers either claim a standard deduction or itemize deductions. These deductions are subtracted from adjusted gross income in determining taxable income. Taxpayers in general claim the type of deduction that is larger because that minimizes their taxable income. In recent years, approximately 70 percent of taxpayers have claimed the standard deduction, while the remaining 30 percent have itemized.
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *TAXES, COMPUTATIONS, UNITED STATES...
As you know, the Metropolitan Area Acquisition (MAA) program provides local telecommunications services to federal agencies in selected metropolitan areas. The MAA program manager, the General Services Administration (GSA), initiated the program in 1997 to achieve immediate, substantial, and sustained price reductions for local telecommunications for agencies, to expand their choices of high-quality services, and to encourage cross-agency sharing of resources. Further, service providers that...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *TELECOMMUNICATIONS, *CONTRACTED SERVICES,...
This report responds to your request that we (1) update the information provided in our May 1,1991, testimony on the total cost of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) space station program; (2) update our analysis concerning the share of NASA'S future years' budgets that the space station and related activities would likely require under the current design; and (3) report on the current and prospective status of financial reserves for the space station program.
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC NATIONAL SECURITY AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS...
We are pleased to be here to discuss a bill introduced by Representative Gilchrest of the full committee the Preparedness Against Domestic Terrorism Act of 2001 (H.R. 525). The bill would create a new President's Council on Domestic Terrorism Preparedness to coordinate and increase the effectiveness of federal efforts to assist state and local emergency response personnel in preparation for domestic terrorist attacks. We view this hearing as a positive step in the ongoing debate about the...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *DOMESTIC TERRORISM, EMERGENCIES,...
With an enormous real estate portfolio of almost 450,000 buildings, 3 billion square feet of space, and 650 million acres of land worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the United States Government is one of the world's largest property owners. The government leases another 200 million square feet of building space and 900,000 acres of land. This real estate is under the custody and control of at least 30 federal agencies and overseen by numerous congressional committees and subcommittees....
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIV, *ACQUISITION,...
The Medicare program is the nation's largest health insurer with almost 40 million beneficiaries and outlays of over $219 billion annually. Because of the susceptibility of the program to fraud and abuse, the Congress enacted the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control (HCFAC) Program as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Public Law 104-91. HCFAC, which is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *INSURANCE, *DECEPTION, *MEDICARE, MEDICAL...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIV, *CONTRACTS,...
A growing backlog of cases and longer processing times have prompted concern on the part of taxpayers, Congress, and other stakeholders about the management of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Offer in Compromise (OIC) Program. An offer in compromise is an agreement between a taxpayer and the IRS to settle or compromise the taxpayer's tax liability for less than the full amount owed. Generally, IRS considers offers in cases in which taxpayers cannot afford to pay the full tax liability. In...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *TAXES, *PAYMENT, CONGRESS, UNITED STATES...
In 1989, almost half of the individual income tax returns filed were prepared by paid return preparers. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has experienced problems with what it calls incompetent and unscrupulous tax return preparers who understate their clients' tax liabilities. Civil penalties are a principal tool IRS can use to punish and deter noncompliant behavior by preparers. The Senate Finance Subcommittee on Private Retirement Plans and Oversight of IRS asked GAO to review whether IRS...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIV, *TAXES, BEHAVIOR,...
In March, we testified before your subcommittee on the federal governments first-year efforts to implement legislative provisions for Government Information Security Reform (the reform provisions).1 In brief, we reported that initial implementation of the reform provisions is a significant step in improving federal agencies information security programs and addressing their serious, pervasive information security weaknesses, and has resulted in agency benefits and important actions by the...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *LEGISLATION, *INFORMATION SECURITY, UNITED...
The U.S. tax system is based on taxpayers voluntarily complying with the tax laws. However, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last measured taxpayers' rate of compliance with the tax laws using 1988 tax returns. IRS uses the compliance rate to help understand the effectiveness of its programs to promote and enforce compliance. IRS also uses the information from its compliance studies as the basis for its audit selection formulas. The intent of the formulas is to target noncompliant returns for...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, *TAXES, TRACKING,...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, *AUDITING,...
An enterprise architecture (EA) provides a clear and comprehensive picture of the structure of an entity, whether an organization or a functional or mission area. It is an essential tool for effectively and efficiently engineering business processes and for implementing and evolving supporting systems. The concept of an architecture to describe an enterprise first emerged in the mid-1980s, and over the years various frameworks2 for defining the content of EAs have been published. Our work in...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *ORGANIZATIONS, *MANAGEMENT ENGINEERING,...
GAO's testimony today covers the enforcement process used by bank regulators to correct unsafe conditions or practice found in banks. GAO calls for changes aimed at achieving prompt and predictable regulatory responses to problem conditions in banks. GAO's study was conducted by reviewing the enforcement histories of a random sample of 72 banks from the universe of banks having capital difficulties as of January 1, 1988. These 72 bank cases came from three geographic areas and were equally...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIV, *BANKING,...
Events surrounding the last presidential election have led to intense national interest in voting processes and the administration of elections. As part of the broad congressional interest in this issue, we received a joint inquiry from Senator Trent Lott, Republican Leader; Senator Tom Daschle, Democratic Leader; Senator Mitch McConnell, Chairman, and Senator Christopher Dodd, Ranking Member, of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. The Senators asked that we review the current...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *ELECTIONS, CONGRESS, UNITED STATES...
In response to your request, this report discusses the mechanisms that National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has in place capture, disseminate, and apply past lessons learned towards mission success. We found that NASA's processes, procedures, systems do not effectively capture and share lessons learned therefore, NASA has no assurance that lessons are being applied future missions. We include recommendations to the NASA on ways to strengthen the agency's lessons learning...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *LESSONS LEARNED, *PROJECT MANAGEMENT,...
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Commissioner faces many challenges. The role of trying to enforce laws that are intended to prevent the annual illegal entry of millions of poverty-stricken, often repressed people naturally drawn to a richer, freer, and accessible United States is inherently difficult. In addition, INS is responsible for facilitating the legal entry of immigrants by processing millions of requests for services related to citizenship and asylum inspecting...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIV, *PUBLIC...
This report presents the results of GAO's review of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) financial management operations. It discusses a number of systems and internal control weaknesses which have resulted in unreliable data for managing and reporting on NASA's operations, as well as the status of related improvement efforts. GAO undertook this review at NASA's four largest Centers and its headquarters offices to evaluate NASA's high-risk areas that are vulnerable to...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT DIV,...
Nonstandard clauses in DOE's contracts with the University of California provide DOE with less authority to direct changes in the laboratories' procurement and propefty management systems by, among other things, requiring the laboratories to make only those changes with which they agree.2 This situation has provided the Livermore Laboratory with a basis for delaying implementation of DOE recommendations to eliminate procurement deficiencies identified by DOE and GAO, such as a require- ment...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC RESOURCES COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVE LOPMENT...
TQM is a management approach that strives to achieve continuous improvement of quality through organization wide efforts based on facts and data. Early interest and efforts in TQM in the United States occurred primarily in the private sector, where firms spurred by intense competition from Japan began to examine Japanese approaches to management. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, this enhanced competition stimulated U.S. attention to the role of TQM systems in improving quality. The increased...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIV, *MANAGEMENT...
Hurricane Hugo, which struck the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Carolinas in September 1989, and California's Loma Prieta earthquake, which occurred in October 1989, caused multibillion-dollar damages and hardship for hundreds of thousands of people. These two major disasters represented an unprecedented challenge in the extent of damage and demands for staff and other resources for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is charged with coordinating federal disaster...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC RESOURCES COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT...
This report responds to a mandate in the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act (the Act) for GAO to study the implications of converting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to a self-funded basis. Although SEC is fully funded through fees it collects, SEC's current funding structure differs from the Act's definition of self-funding. The Act defines self-funding as an authorization for SEC to deposit the receipts of its collections in the Treasury of the United States, or in a...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *MONEY, UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT, COSTS,...
Because of your interest in IRS timely intervention to help employers- particularly those with a small business--avoid the pyramiding of taxes, interest, and penalties, you asked us to review various aspects of IRS efforts to notify and intervene with employers concerning delinquent employment taxes. Accordingly, this report discusses (1) how long IRS takes to notify employers of employment tax delinquencies; (2) what types of intervention programs and initiatives IRS uses for employers with...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *EMPLOYMENT, *TAXES, REQUIREMENTS, COMMERCE,...
By law, married persons who file joint tax returns are each fully responsible for the accuracy of the tax return and for the full tax liability. This is true even though only one taxpayer may have earned the wages or income shown on the tax return. Under the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) Innocent Spouse Program, IRS can relieve taxpayers of tax debts on the basis of equity considerations, such as not knowing that their spouse failed to pay taxes due. Since passage of the IRS Restructuring and...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *MARRIAGE, *TAXES, FILES(RECORDS), UNITED...
Notwithstanding present advantages, maximizing the effectiveness of information from the TOP database as a delinquency reporting tool would call for a number of changes, including improvements in agencies delinquent debt referral practices and enhancing or supplementing information currently maintained in the TOP database. Accelerating the referrals of delinquent debt to TOP to 90 days versus waiting 180 days to refer the debt is an option already available to agencies for certain types of debt...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *INFORMATION SYSTEMS, *COLLECTION, *FINANCE,...
You asked us to assess whether the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has adequate mechanisms in place to ensure that past lessons learned from mission failures are being applied. As part of your request, you asked that we provide the results of our survey regarding the collection and sharing of lessons learned by NASA program and project managers. This letter provides the results. We plan to issue a more detailed report on the effectiveness of NASA's lessons learned process...
Topics: DTIC Archive, Rohrabacher, Dana, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *LESSONS LEARNED,...
The number of strikes in the United States during the 1980s was about one-half what it was during the 1970s. More specifically strikes declined about 53 percent in the 1980s compared with the 1970s. We estimate that, in strikes reported to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) in 1985 and 1989, employers announced they would hire permanent replacements in about one-third of the strikes in both years and hired them in about 17 percent of all strikes in each year. We generally...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC HUMAN RESOURCES DIV, *LABOR UNIONS, LABOR...
Section 212 does not appear to have had much of an impact in the agencies and years that we examined, and its implementation has varied across and sometimes within the agencies. The statute gives agencies broad discretion to decide which of their rules require compliance guides, what has to be in the guides,how they are developed, when they have to be published,and how they are distributed to affected small entities. Using that discretion,an agency could legally exclude all of its rules from...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *REQUIREMENTS, *COMMERCE, *REGULATIONS,...
As the Comptroller General of the United States, it is a pleasure to appear before you today to present the General Accounting Offices (GAO s) budget request for fiscal year 2002. I am proud to say that we served the Congress and the American people well in fiscal year 2000. Our work resulted in substantial financial savings and significant improvements to government that will benefit all Americans. I am confident that fiscal year 2001 will be just as productive. At the outset, I want to thank...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *FEDERAL BUDGETS, UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT,...
The Centennial of Flight Commission was created on November 13, 1998, by the Centennial of Flight Commemoration Act (Public Law 105-389, as amended by Public Law 106-68). The purpose of the Commission is to provide recommendations and advice to the President, the Congress, and federal agencies on the most effective ways to encourage and promote national and international participation and sponsorships in commemoration of the centennial of powered flight. We are required by the act to audit the...
Topics: DTIC Archive, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC, *FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, *AUDITING, CONGRESS,...
