Reports and Testimony: December 1994 (Other Written Prod., 12/94,
GAO/OPA-95-3).
GAO published its monthly digest of reports and testimonies issued in
December 1994.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: OPA-95-3
TITLE: Reports and Testimony: December 1994
DATE: 12/01/94
SUBJECT: Aid for training or employment
Defense operations
Budget administration
Natural resources
Financial management
Energy
Deficit reduction
Health care programs
Information resources management
Foreign governments
IDENTIFIER: Bibliographies
Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program
JOBS Program
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REPORTS AND TESTIMONY: DECEMBER
1994
GAO/OPA-95-3
Highlights
Welfare to Work
The Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program is designed
to train welfare recipients and help them find work. Although the
program has made progress in recruiting participants, it is not well
focused on employment as a goal and the number of participants who
find work and leave welfare is unknown. Page 32.
Deficit Reduction Abroad
The United States is not alone in running budget deficits. A GAO
review shows that other nations have found it possible to curb
deficit spending and reach fiscal balance by using a variety of
measures, some of them painful. Page 3.
Chemical Weapons
An Army assessment that its stockpile of chemical weapons can be
safely stored until 2004, when incinerators needed to burn chemical
agents are scheduled for completion, is questionable because of
out-of-date information and hazards associated with leaking
munitions. Page 21.
GAO/OPA-95-3
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
AFDC - x
AIDS - x
BLM - x
CRADA - x
DOD - x
DOE - x
EPA - x
FAA - x
FBI - x
FCB - x
FDA - x
FERC - x
FmHA - x
FWS - x
INS - x
IRM - x
IRS - x
JOBS - x
NAFTA - x
NASA - x
NASD - x
NCU - x
NOAA - x
NPR - x
NTF - x
NWS - x
VA - x
REPORTS AND TESTIMONY: DECEMBER
1994
=========================================================== Appendix 0
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:1
Farm Credit System:
Potential Impacts of FCB Mergers on Farmer and
Rancher Borrowers
GAO/GGD-95-19, Dec. 2 (118 pages).
The Farm Credit System is a congressionally chartered nationwide
network of cooperatively owned banks and their related associations
that extends billions of dollars of credit and services to farmers,
ranchers, producers, and cooperatives in rural America. As a result
of unprecedented consolidation during the past 20 years, the total
number of institutions in the system fell by more than 1,000 to fewer
than 250, with 97 percent of the decrease resulting from association
mergers. As of April 1994, more than half of the Farm Credit Banks
(FCB) had merged since 1992. GAO studied the potential benefits to
borrowers as a result of merging the existing FCBs to form fewer
regional banks. This report discusses the potential effects of such
bank mergers, including (1) economies of scale, (2) the level of
services offered by associations, (3) the system's operation as a
cooperative, and (4) the
bank-association relationship.
Wheat Pricing:
Information on Transition to New Tests for Protein
GAO/RCED-95-28, Dec. 8 (39 pages).
Protein levels are an important factor in setting prices for hard red
spring wheat, particularly that grown in Minnesota, Montana, North
Dakota, and South Dakota. Because higher protein commands higher
prices in the market, the accuracy and reliability of protein testing
is of great importance to these states and to those who buy and sell
high-protein wheat. In 1993, concerns were raised that a new
technology for estimating wheat protein levels--the Near Infrared
Transmittance technology--was producing estimates that were lower
than those generated by an older technology. This new technology was
introduced by the Agriculture Department's Federal Grain Inspection
Service. This report (1) describes the pricing situation for wheat
in 1993, (2) evaluates the Federal Grain Inspection Service's
introduction of the new technology, (3) analyzes the economic impact
of the new technology on segments of the industry, and (4) describes
recent efforts to standardize unofficial protein testing
of wheat.
BUDGET AND SPENDING
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:2
Deficit Reduction:
Experiences of Other Nations
GAO/AIMD-95-30, Dec. 13 (216 pages).
This report reviews the deficit reduction experiences of six
nations--Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United
Kingdom. GAO identifies the situations prompting these governments
to adopt fiscal austerity policies, what budget actions they took,
and how they achieved political agreement on these actions. All six
countries took steps to control spending, although few programs were
eliminated. Revenue growth also contributed significantly, but was
generally attributable to tax systems' response to economic growth
and inflation. Through these measures, five of the six countries
reached fiscal balance or surplus; Canada reduced its deficit but did
not eliminate it. Despite such progress, all but Mexico reported
deficits in 1993. These experiences show that significant structural
improvement in fiscal policy is possible in modern democracies,
although such progress is difficult to sustain.
Impoundments:
Proposed Deferrals of Fiscal Year 1995 Funds for Security Assistance,
Refugee Programs, and Social Security
Administrative Costs
GAO/OGC-95-2, Dec. 15 (three pages).
On October 18, 1994, the President submitted to Congress his first
special impoundment message for fiscal year 1995. The message
reports seven deferrals of budget authority affecting international
security assistance programs, social security administrative
expenses, and State Department refugee programs. GAO reviewed the
deferrals and found them to be in accordance with the Impoundment
Control Act.
EDUCATION
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:3
Women's Educational Equity Act:
A Review of Program Goals and Strategies Needed
GAO/PEMD-95-6, Dec. 27 (41 pages).
The Women's Educational Equity Act Program--administered by the
Department of Education--awards grants and contracts to (1) provide
educational equity for women; (2) help educational institutions
comply with the law's requirements prohibiting sex discrimination in
educational institutions receiving federal funds; and (3) provide
educational equity for women and girls suffering multiple
discrimination due to sex, race, ethnic origin, disability, or age.
This report answers the following four questions: What interventions
were implemented, by whom, for what audiences, and at what costs, and
did these activities continue beyond the grant period? Did these
activities hold promise of promoting educational equity for women,
and did they reflect the requirements of the legislation? How was
information about the interventions disseminated, and what lessons do
these activities hold for future efforts to spread information widely
in this field? How did changes in administration affect the
program's ability to achieve its goals?
EMPLOYMENT
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:4
Dislocated Workers:
An Early Look at the NAFTA Transitional Adjustment
Assistance Program
GAO/HEHS-95-31, Nov. 28 (14 pages).
The Labor Department has addressed several shortcomings affecting the
North American Free Trade Agreement's (NAFTA) Traditional Adjustment
Assistance Program. This program, which was begun in January 1994,
provides benefits to workers who have lost their jobs because of
increased imports from or production shifts to Mexico and Canada. By
shortening its worker certification time frame, Labor was able to
make almost all decisions on benefit eligibility within 40 days or
less. Also, the state's added role in the certification program
ensured rapid response services for workers who filed a petition.
Labor broadened the program's eligibility requirements to include
secondary workers (those indirectly affected by NAFTA), but limited
guidance, unclear authority, and a slow and cumbersome funding
mechanism may make it hard for these workers to obtain benefits. In
addition, although the program more closely tied cash benefits to
training by eliminating waivers and requiring workers to enroll in
training, these restrictions have caused some workers to receive
incomplete assessments and remedial assistance, along with a limited
mix of services. Labor has not addressed some program shortcomings,
such as the lack of ongoing support, follow-up, and performance
monitoring. Labor has encouraged closer coordination among federal
dislocated worker programs but has not formally required states to
track participants.
ENERGY
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:5
Nuclear Waste:
Further Improvement Needed in the Hanford Tank Farm Maintenance
Program
GAO/RCED-95-29, Nov. 8 (16 pages).
At the Energy Department's (DOE) Hanford facility in Washington
state, a backlog in routine maintenance increases the risk of a
significant leak or accident involving underground storage tanks that
hold 61 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste. Some
progress has been made in strengthening the tank farm maintenance
program. Westinghouse, a contractor at Hanford, believes that a new
maintenance approach has helped to reduce the number of uncompleted
maintenance projects from 1,969 to 1,517. However, the remaining
backlog of projects is still too great to guarantee that needed
maintenance will be done in a timely manner. Tank farm maintenance
personnel estimate that to respond promptly to maintenance needs, the
number of projects awaiting completion should not exceed three
months' work--about 300 projects, or less than one-fifth of the
current backlog. Westinghouse can further improve its maintenance
program by reducing the time spent preparing and closing out
maintenance projects. Westinghouse has started to experiment with
procedures that other DOE sites use to reduce delays, and these
experiments show promise. Westinghouse can also improve its program
by gathering and analyzing more information about how it processes
maintenance projects.
Managing DOE:
The Department of Energy Is Making Efforts to Control
Litigation Costs
GAO/RCED-95-36, Nov. 22 (27 pages).
The Energy Department (DOE) has not kept centralized data on the
costs it reimburses contractors for outside litigation; however,
available data indicate that DOE spent about $40 million in fiscal
year 1992 on costs linked to the legal defense of current and former
contractors. Most costs were for legal fees, travel and
administrative expenses, and consultant fees incurred by outside law
firms hired by the contractors. These costs, however, were poorly
controlled because DOE lacked effective criteria spelling out what
costs it would reimburse. As a result, DOE was being billed at
higher rates that other federal agencies for professional legal fees,
travel, work processing, and photocopying. Furthermore, legal bills
were being reimbursed with little or no departmental oversight. DOE
has begun to strengthen its control over these costs. In particular,
it issued specific cost guidelines and instituted procedures for
periodically reporting all litigation costs. DOE is also
establishing an audit function to enable it to conduct a detailed
review of the bills it receives for legal services. Finally, DOE is
trying to consolidate cases involving multiple contractors and law
firms to improve case management and cut costs.
Gasohol:
Federal Agencies' Use of Gasohol Limited by High Prices and
Other Factors
GAO/RCED-95-41, Dec. 13 (24 pages).
The total amount of gasohol used by the federal government remains
unknown because agencies do not keep information on purchases by
individual drivers, which account for about 54 percent of all motor
fuel use. The remaining motor fuel is bought in bulk, and the
percentage represented by gasohol has not increased significantly
since 1981. GAO found that gasohol consumption by the federal fleet
was 269 million gallons in fiscal year 1993. This amount would
represent the upper limit of potential gasohol consumption if all
vehicles used by federal agencies were refueled with gasohol during
that year. If, instead, federal agencies bought gasohol at the same
rate as the general public--7.1 percent of gasoline consumption--they
would potentially use about 19 million gallons. Although federal
agencies have tried to encourage the use of gasohol since 1991,
several barriers still exist that limit purchases. The main
impediment is that the price of gasohol is not competitive with the
price of gasoline. Gasohol is also sometimes unavailable because of
the small number of ethanol and gasohol suppliers in some locations.
In addition, environmental regulations mandating the use of
clean-burning fuels to reduce emissions may limit the use of gasohol
in some areas or affect its supply and price in others.
Natural Gas Regulation:
Little Opposition to FERC's Recent Policies on Transportation-Related
Services
GAO/RCED-95-39, Dec. 21 (19 pages).
During the past decade, Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) have taken several steps to lessen federal
regulation of the production and interstate transportation of natural
gas. Industry attention has now focused on regulatory changes in
transportation services. This report reviews recent regulatory
changes affecting three aspects of the industry--the collection of
gas from wells for delivery to a processing plant or pipeline; the
holding of gas, normally in underground reservoirs, for later use;
and the interconnection points among several pipelines where gas and
transportation services can be obtained easily. GAO discusses how
producers, pipeline companies, and end-users view these changes. GAO
also reviews the Energy Department's (DOE) plans to intervene in
energy-related regulatory proceedings in the states and the extent to
which DOE plans to work with FERC in such interventions.
Nuclear Cleanup:
Difficulties in Coordinating Activities Under Two
Environmental Laws
GAO/RCED-95-66, Dec. 22 (12 pages).
In cleaning up waste sites within its nuclear weapons facilities, the
Energy Department (DOE) must comply with two major environmental
laws--the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 and the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
of 1980. The first law regulates the management of facilities that
treat, store, or dispose of hazardous wastes and the cleanup of
hazardous wastes released from such facilities. The second governs
the cleanup of inactive waste sites--that is, sites where disposal is
no longer occurring. This report discusses (1) what DOE has done to
coordinate its cleanup activities under the two acts, (2) what
problems with coordination continue and how cleanup activities have
been affected, and (3) how DOE plans to improve the coordination of
cleanup activities in the future.
TESTIMONY
------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:5.1
Health and Safety: Status of Federal Efforts to Disclose Cold War
Radiation Experiments Involving Humans, by Victor S. Rezendes,
Director of Energy and Science Issues, before the Senate Committee on
Governmental Affairs. GAO/T-RCED-95-40, Dec. 1 (15 pages).
The federal agencies and an independent advisory committee have been
working diligently to disclose the details of U.S. government
experiments that exposed human beings to radiation during the Cold
War era. Although the federal effort is still evolving and thousands
of experiments have been identified, it now appears that the full
extent of these radiation experiments may never be known because of
difficulty locating and analyzing all pertinent documents describing
experiments that occurred 30 to 50 years ago. Furthermore, agencies
have used inconsistent definitions for their searches and, for the
most part, have not verified the accuracy of these searches. As a
result, federal agencies are having trouble identifying persons
involved in the radiation experiments. Thus, it may prove impossible
to achieve one of the major objectives of this effort--to contact the
subjects of the experiments or their relatives. Moreover, concern is
growing that the advisory committee will not be able to complete its
work within the current one-year time frame. The committee is having
problems satisfying its original charters and has done little of the
ethical and scientific analysis of Cold War experiments called for in
its charter. Despite these difficulties, the committee has decided
to expand the overall scope of its work.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:6
Air Pollution:
Allowance Trading Offers an Opportunity to Reduce Emissions at Less
Cost
GAO/RCED-95-30, Dec. 16 (77 pages).
In 1990, Congress adopted a new regulatory approach to reduce acid
rain, allowing electric utilities to trade allowances to emit sulfur
dioxide, a major cause of acid rain. Utilities that reduce their
emissions below their required levels can sell their extra allowances
to other utilities to help them meet their requirements. The
Environmental Protection Agency estimates that this flexible approach
to curbing acid rain could reduce costs significantly because trading
allowances can be less costly than other methods of controlling
pollution. This report discusses the (1) extent to which trading is
expected to cut sulfur dioxide emissions and compliance costs, and
the status of the allowance trading market; (2) impediments to
increased trading of allowances; and (3) implications of designing a
similar approach to curb carbon dioxide emissions.
Pesticides:
Reducing Exposure to Residues of Canceled Pesticides
GAO/RCED-95-23, Dec. 28 (42 pages).
Because the residues of most pesticides do not linger in the
environment, officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
believe that most marketed foods do not contain unsafe levels of
residues from canceled pesticides. However, the residues of a few
long-canceled chlorinated pesticides continue to appear, especially
in fish. An EPA study shows that for five canceled chlorinated
pesticides, consumers of some fish may be exposed, over a lifetime,
to health risks that exceed the agency's standard of negligible
risk--under which the risk of an additional case of cancer does not
exceed one in one million. EPA proposed lower action levels in 1991
for residues of the five canceled pesticides, but the Food and Drug
Administration believed that EPA had not given enough weight to the
residues' unavoidability. Although both agencies believe that the
existing action levels should be lowered, neither has taken further
steps to do so. EPA does not revoke a pesticide's tolerances at the
same time it cancels the pesticide's registrations for food use. On
average, the agency has taken more than six years to revoke the
tolerances for canceled pesticides. The establishment of procedures
linking revocation to cancellation would provide for more efficient
revocation actions and would reduce the possibility that consumers
might eat imported foods containing residues of pesticides that EPA
no longer considers acceptable for use on food crops.
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:7
Interstate Banking:
Experiences in Three Western States
GAO/GGD-95-35, Dec. 30 (115 pages).
Supporters of a nationwide interstate banking law argue that
geographic restrictions no longer make sense in today's integrated
financial and credit markets and actually undermine the ability of
U.S. banks to compete domestically and internationally. Opponents,
however, fear that relaxing geographic restrictions could concentrate
economic power among a relatively small number of banks. This report
provides Congress and regulators with information on the potential
impact on states of lifting geographic restrictions. GAO discusses
the experiences of three western states--California, Washington, and
Arizona--that have operated in an environment permitting interstate
banking and in-state branching. GAO evaluates their experiences to
determine whether these geographic laws have had any effect on the
(1) market share and number of large banks, (2) viability of smaller
banks, and (3) availability of credit to
small businesses.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:8
Financial Audit:
Federal Financing Bank's 1993 and 1992 Financial Statements
GAO/AIMD-95-4, Dec. 6 (58 pages).
This report presents the results of GAO's review of the independent
certified public accountants' audits of the Federal Financing Bank's
financial statements for fiscal years 1993 and 1992. In the
auditors' opinions, the Bank's statements are presented fairly in
accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The
independent auditors' reports on the Bank's internal accounting and
administrative controls and on its compliance with laws and
regulations are also provided. The Bank's fiscal year 1993 financial
statements reflect an accumulated deficit of more than $2 billion.
When it last audited the Bank in 1988, GAO reported material
weaknesses in the Bank's internal control structure. Because of
these long-standing weaknesses, GAO supports the independent
certified public accountants' recommendation that the Treasury
Department appoint an individual to oversee both the credit
accounting and administrative functions of the Bank. Because the
Bank will not be able to repay its liability to Treasury associated
with loan prepayments under its current operating scenario, Treasury
should consider eliminating this liability as well as the related
account receivable on its books, including, if necessary, requesting
legislation.
Financial Audit:
Senate Photographic Studio Revolving Fund Financial Statements for
the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 1992
GAO/AIMD-95-25, Dec. 20 (10 pages).
GAO audited the balance sheet of the Senate Photographic Studio
Revolving Fund as of March 31, 1992, and the related statements of
operations and cash flows for the year then ended. GAO found that
the financial statements were reliable in all material respects;
internal controls reasonably ensured that losses, nonconformance with
laws and regulations, and misstatements affecting the financial
statements would be prevented or detected; and there was no material
noncompliance with laws and regulations.
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:9
Management Reform:
Implementation of the National Performance Review's Recommendations
GAO/OCG-95-1, Dec. 5 (539 pages).
Issued in September 1993, the National Performance Review (NPR)--the
administration's attempt to "reinvent government"--contains 384 major
recommendations covering 27 federal agencies and 14 government
systems, such as procurement, personnel, and budgeting. Some
progress has been made in implementing many of the NPR
recommendations since September 1993, but few have been fully
implemented and a number of measures will take years. GAO generally
agrees with the thrust of most of the recommendations and supports
their continued implementation. However, several steps must be taken
to achieve budgetary savings and improve government management. GAO
still believes that NPR's success hinges on a legislative-executive
partnership for action, attention to agencies' capacities, and
sustained political and career leadership. GAO also believes that
government "reinvention" requires the executive branch and Congress
to shift the focus of government management and accountability from
an emphasis on inputs, outputs, and processes to an emphasis on
outcomes and results.
Managing for Results:
State Experiences Provide Insights for Federal
Management Reforms
GAO/GGD-95-22, Dec. 21 (28 pages).
This report identifies experiences other governments have had with
management reforms that have been reported as successful and could
potentially help federal agencies as they implement the Government
Performance and Results Act of 1993. Management reforms in Florida,
Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia reflect a
common objective shared by the states to make their governments more
results oriented. Although each state introduced different reforms
in response to its particular needs and political situation, the
reforms included requirements similar to those of the act, such as
strategic planning and performance measurement, and the alignment of
management systems. State officials GAO interviewed concluded that
the management reforms similar to those found in the act required a
long-term effort but could help to improve agencies' effectiveness
and efficiency. For example, the states' experiences suggest that
strategic planning and performance measurement could be an important
means for stakeholders to reach agreements on common goals and
measure progress toward achieving those goals. The states'
experiences suggest that, if successful, the act could serve as a
powerful tool for developing and communicating agreement
governmentwide on program goals and for measuring progress in
achieving those goals.
U.S. Postal Service:
Drug Investigation Data
GAO/GGD-95-29FS, Dec. 6 (14 pages).
This fact sheet provides information on the Postal Inspection
Service's investigation of possible employee drug-related crimes.
GAO discusses the race, the gender, the age, and the occupation of
the Postal Service employees investigated. GAO also discusses
whether confidential informants were involved and what administrative
and court actions were taken as a result of the investigations.
Federal Personnel:
Federal/Private Sector Pay Comparisons
GAO/OCE-95-1, Dec. 14 (81 pages).
Although official estimates consistently find that federal pay is low
compared with private sector compensation, academic studies have
found the opposite. Individuals in both the media and academia have
criticized official estimates of the pay gap, arguing that the
methodology used to compare pay is defective. They claim that data
from sources other than the official surveys, when analyzed using
different methodologies, lead to a different conclusion: that
federal pay levels are higher than those for employees in the private
sector with comparable characteristics, such as education and work
experience. GAO examined this contradiction and identified factors
that may account for the differing conclusions.
Federal Motor Vehicles:
Private and State Practices Can Improve Fleet Management
GAO/GGD-95-18, Dec. 29 (36 pages).
With responsibility for 375,000 passenger vehicles and light trucks
and total expenditures for vehicle acquisition, operations,
maintenance, and disposal pegged at more than $1 billion annually,
the federal government runs one of the largest motor vehicle fleets
in the United States. The vehicles need to be well managed to
provide reliable transportation at the least cost. However, in 1992
a federal task force highlighted many obstacles to cost-efficient
fleet management. This report (1) summarizes the obstacles
confronting federal agencies in achieving cost-efficient fleet
management that the task force identified and (2) identifies
practices that managers of public and private fleets consider to be
essential to cost-efficient fleet management and that may be
applicable to the
federal fleet.
Security Protection:
Costs of Services Provided for Selected Cabinet Officials
GAO/GGD-95-50, Dec. 30 (20 pages).
From October 1991 through June 1994, security protection was provided
on at least one occasion to each of the cabinet-level secretaries of
the 10 departments GAO reviewed. The extent and frequency of
protection varied significantly from department to department but
generally included protecting the secretaries while they worked in
their offices, attended public events, and traveled on official
business; the secretaries of two departments received protection
during personal business on five occasions. In addition, two
departments sometimes provided protection for their deputy
secretaries, and another department once provided temporary
protection to another high-level official in the department who had
been threatened. The 10 departments reported spending a total of
$1.5 million to protect officials in fiscal year 1992, $1.6 million
in fiscal year 1993, and $2 million for the first nine months of
fiscal year 1994. Although some security personnel said that the
secretaries of their departments were recognized by the general
public, they justified the need for providing security protection to
the officials mainly because of threats from persons who were
affected by the policies and issues handled by the department or who
were suffering from mental problems. Security officials at all 10
departments said that their agents had attended or were scheduled to
attend executive protection training courses offered by law
enforcement agencies such as the U.S. secret service. Although some
agents said that they sometimes carried baggage or checked officials
through hotels, the agents said they did so because they were the
only staff traveling with officials or because they considered these
duties to be security related.
HEALTH
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:10
German Health Reforms:
Changes Result in Lower Health Costs in 1993
GAO/HEHS-95-27, Dec. 16 (25 pages).
Compared with the United States, Germany has successfully controlled
the growth rate of health care costs. Since 1980, it has kept its
percentage of national wealth spent on health care between eight and
nine percent of gross domestic product while covering a broad range
of health care services for virtually the entire population. Despite
these successes, the German government became concerned about growth
in health care premium costs in the Statutory Health Insurance
System, which covers the great majority of Germans. In 1992, Germany
enacted health care reform legislation that imposed strict
nonnegotiable budgets lasting up to three years on major sectors of
the system, including hospitals, ambulatory care physicians,
prescription drugs, and dentists. A series of structural reforms
intended to control outlays over the longer term are expected to be
worked out over the remainder of the decade. A July 1993 GAO report
(GAO/HRD-93-103) discussed the nature and extent of these changes.
This report covers the effects of the first year of strict budgets on
cost and access to care and briefly discusses the status of the
structural changes intended to allow the Statutory System to contain
costs over the
longer term.
Medicare Part B:
Regional Variation in Denial Rates for Medical Necessity
GAO/PEMD-95-10, Dec. 19 (58 pages).
To determine whether Medicare carriers in various parts of the
country differed significantly in denying coverage for medical
treatment they consider unnecessary, GAO analyzed Medicare Part B
data on claims processed by six Medicare carriers for 74 services
that were either expensive or heavily used. The carriers GAO studied
included California Blue Shield, Transamerica Occidental Life
Insurance, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Blue Shield of
South Carolina, Illinois Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Wisconsin
Physicians' Service. GAO found that the magnitude of carrier denial
rates for Medicare Part B claims was generally low and persistent for
two consecutive years, although rates for some services shifted.
Medical necessity denial rates for 74 services across six carriers
varied substantially. The main reason was that some carriers used
computerized screening criteria for specific services while others
did not. Further, a small proportion of the providers accounted for
half of the denied claims. To a lesser degree, the varying
interpretation of national coverage standards across carriers,
differences in the way carriers treated claims with missing
information, and reporting inconsistencies also explained the
variation in carrier denial rates. GAO summarized this report in
testimony before Congress; see:
Medicare Part B: Factors That Contribute to Variation in Denial
Rates for Medical Necessity Across Six Carriers, by Terry E.
Hedrick, Assistant Comptroller General for Program Evaluation and
Methodology, before the Subcommittee on Regulation, Business
Opportunities, and Technology, House Committee on Small Business.
GAO/T-PEMD-95-11, Dec. 19 (17 pages).
Health Care:
School-Based Health Centers Can Expand Access for Children
GAO/HEHS-95-35, Dec. 22 (51 pages).
American children face increasing physical and mental health risks,
such as infection with the AIDS virus, alcohol abuse, and suicide.
Yet many children lack access to regular health care needed to
prevent disease, disability, and unnecessary hospitalization. A
small but growing number of communities have turned to an innovative
approach to reach children with limited access to health services.
School-based health centers afford children easier access to needed
health services by bringing providers to the children, furnishing
free or low-cost services, and supplying the atmosphere of trust and
confidentiality adolescents need. The centers do not, however,
provide all the health services required by students and cannot reach
adolescents who have dropped out of school. A lack of stable
financing is a major concern for the centers, with some centers
reporting insufficient funds to meet all children's needs. Centers
have also had difficulty recruiting and keeping appropriately trained
nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who are their key
primary care providers. Community debates over the appropriateness
of providing reproductive health services in the centers have limited
the centers' ability to meet some adolescents' health needs.
Communities lack access to information on establishing new centers
and solving problems at existing ones. Furthermore, research
measuring the impact of the centers on health and education outcomes
is sparse. Coordination of school health programs within the federal
government has begun, but the Department of Health and Human Services
lacks a focal point to answer outside inquiries, provide technical
assistance, or develop a research agenda.
HOUSING
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:11
Rural Housing:
Shift to Guaranteed Program Can Benefit Borrowers and Reduce
Government's Exposure
GAO/RCED/AIMD-95-63, Dec. 21 (15 pages).
Refinancing accounted for more than half of the record trillion
dollars in new mortgages in 1993, the year that saw a 30-year low in
mortgage interest rates. Although the Farmers Home Administration
(FmHA) saw a rise in the number of borrowers who paid off their FmHA
housing loans and graduated to private credit, FmHA still has
thousands of borrowers paying interest rates significantly higher
than those available from private lenders--in part because of
regulatory and legal financing restrictions. This report (1)
describes the current status of FmHA's single-family housing loan
portfolio and (2) examines the merits of allowing borrowers with
direct loans to refinance their loans within the direct loan program
or through FmHA's guaranteed loan program for single-family housing.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:12
National Test Facility:
Civilian Agency Use of Supercomputers Not Feasible
GAO/AIMD-95-28, Dec. 9 (10 pages).
On the basis of its interviews with the civilian agencies cited in
the House Armed Services Committee report accompanying the National
Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1995, GAO concludes that
none of the agencies would be able to make effective use of the
National Test Facility's (NTF) excess supercomputing capabilities.
These agencies said that they could not use the resources mainly
because (1) NTF's supercomputers are older machines whose performance
and costs cannot match those of more advanced computers available
from other sources and (2) some agencies have not yet developed
applications requiring supercomputer capabilities or lack funding to
support such activities. In addition, future support for the
hardware and the software at NTF is uncertain, making any investment
by an outside user risky.
Weather Forecasting:
Improvements Needed in Laboratory Software
Development Processes
GAO/AIMD-95-24, Dec. 14 (18 pages).
This report reviews the software development capabilities of the
organizations responsible for producing a critical upgrade of the
National Weather Service's (NWS) Advanced Weather Interactive
Processing System. By automating functions now performed by
forecasters, this system enhancement would streamline the forecast
process and improve forecaster productivity. The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is developing the system
enhancement jointly with NWS. The plan is to define software
specifications through a series of prototype systems and then develop
production-quality software for use in the Advanced Weather
Interactive Processing System. This report discusses whether the
software development processes of NOAA and NWS are adequate to
support (1) software prototyping and (2) production-quality software
development.
Financial Markets:
Stronger System Controls and Oversight Needed to Prevent NASD
Computer Outages
GAO/AIMD-95-22, Dec. 21 (14 pages).
Outages experienced by the National Association of Securities
Dealers' (NASD) automated quotation and trading systems during July
and August 1994 were caused by unrelated software and hardware
malfunctions. These outages had little effect on individual
investors and derivatives markets but hampered the ability of
broker-dealers to perform the best and the most efficient trades.
Although NASD takes the reliability of its systems very seriously,
these recent outages and malfunctions point to areas, such as
testing, in which further improvement is needed to prevent
recurrences. In addition, although NASD has a separate backup
computer facility in case of emergencies, control weaknesses at this
facility and in NASD's contingency and disaster plan could make it
hard for NASD to recover quickly when emergencies occur. Finally,
NASD's oversight of systems is limited by the fact that its internal
audit function generally does not include the review of market
systems in the scope of its work. Compounding these problems is that
fact that although the Securities and Exchange Commission has
strengthened oversight of market automation in such areas as
contingency planning, gaps exist in its oversight program.
Department of State IRM:
Strategic Approach Needed to Better Support Agency Mission and
Business Needs
GAO/AIMD-95-20, Dec. 22 (28 pages).
Information and information technology are crucial to the State
Department's ability to meet its mission and business needs.
However, State has a poor history of managing information resources
and, as a result, continues to rely on inadequate and obsolete
information technology. This situation has led to critical
information shortfalls as well as interruption of operations. State
has several initiatives, such as automating name-checking for visa
applicants and modernizing systems departmentwide, aimed at
overcoming these problems. However, by not following the best
information resources management (IRM) practices, State has
jeopardized the success of these efforts. State must commit to
strategic information management. This approach would require State
to anchor IRM planning in mission goals and objectives and integrate
planning and budgeting functions. The approach would also require
establishing an organizational framework that includes a senior
management partner to lead and direct IRM and an investment and
oversight process that significantly involves senior managers from
regional and functional bureaus. Until such changes are made,
critical mission and business functions--such as the identification
of terrorists prior to visa issuance--will continue to be undermined
by inaccurate, untimely, and incomplete information.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:13
Agricultural Trade:
Five Countries' Foreign Market Development for High-Value Products
GAO/GGD-95-12, Dec. 14 (25 pages).
This report provides an overview of the structure, funding, and
promotional efforts of the organizations that do foreign market
development for agricultural products in five countries that are
among the world's largest exporters of high-value products. GAO
discusses the (1) organizations in France, Germany, the United
Kingdom, and the Netherlands that help develop foreign markets for
their high-value agricultural products; (2) programs of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for foreign market development of
high-value products; and (3) ways in which these five countries'
programs are evaluated to determine their effectiveness in boosting
exports.
Credit Reform:
U.S. Needs Better Method for Estimating Cost of Foreign Loans and
Guarantees
GAO/NSIAD/GGD-95-31, Dec. 19 (76 pages).
This report (1) evaluates the executive branch's method for
calculating country risk rating and cost estimates for foreign loans
and loan guarantees and provides GAO's own estimates and (2)
determines the probability of default for each country. GAO also
reviews the executive branch's authority to reschedule international
debt owed to the U.S. government and the implementation the law's
provisions for rescheduling international debt. GAO found several
weaknesses in the executive branch's method, particularly in the
method it used to calculate risk premiums for higher risk countries.
The main weakness was that the executive branch's method did not rely
on econometric tests and measurements. GAO estimated the long-run
probability of default for 170 countries. GAO's estimates of default
risk ranged from 92.1 percent for Cambodia to zero percent for the
highest rated countries, such as Japan, Switzerland, and Germany.
GAO estimated that Russia has more than two chances out of three of
defaulting on a loan, regardless of the length of the loan.
JUSTICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:14
Drug Control:
U.S. Antidrug Efforts in Peru's Upper Huallaga Valley
GAO/NSIAD-95-11, Dec. 7 (11 pages).
Nearly two-thirds of the world's coca crop is grown in Peru. Most of
that coca is processed into a cocaine base, which is flown to
Colombia to make cocaine for shipment to the United States and
Europe. Since the 1980s, the primary coca-growing and
drug-trafficking activities in Peru have been in the Upper Huallaga
Valley. The United States has supported Peruvian efforts to
eradicate coca seedbeds and conduct law enforcement operations
against drug traffickers. This report discusses (1) the rationale
for, and costs associated with, the construction, the maintenance,
and the operations of the Santa Lucia base, an antidrug base in the
Upper Huallaga Valley; (2) the subsequent rationale for discontinuing
support of the Santa Lucia base; and (3) the current status of U.S.
efforts to restructure antidrug programs in Peru.
Fugitives:
U.S. Efforts to Find Miguel Recarey
GAO/OSI-95-7, Dec. 21 (five pages).
In October 1985, Miguel G. Recarey, Jr., former President and
Chairman of the Board of International Medical Centers, Inc., failed
to appear for a hearing in U.S. District Court in Florida on charges
of bribing an officer of an employee welfare fund, bribing a
potential federal grand jury witness, and illegal wiretapping. Mr.
Recarey fled the United States in October 1987, beginning an
international fugitive investigative effort covering at least three
continents and 11 countries. This report discusses whether (1) the
Departments of Justice and State made a good-faith effort to locate
and gain custody of Mr. Recarey, (2) Justice Department officials
contacted the Venezuelan government on this matter, (3) the
Venezuelan government told the U.S. government that it had tried to
find Mr. Recarey, and (4) the U.S. government followed standard
operating procedures to locate and gain custody of Mr. Recarey.
INS Fingerprinting of Aliens:
Efforts to Ensure Authenticity of Aliens' Fingerprints
GAO/GGD-95-40, Dec. 22 (12 pages).
This report examines the Immigration and Naturalization Service's
(INS) fingerprinting procedures for aliens applying for benefits such
as permanent residency and naturalization. GAO discusses what
actions INS has taken in response to the findings of a February 1994
report by the Justice Department Office of Inspector General. GAO
evaluates (1) changes INS took or planned to take to ensure that the
fingerprints aliens submit to INS are their own, including the
options that INS considered to improve the integrity of the
fingerprint process and the future impact of automated fingerprinting
identification systems; (2) steps INS had taken to ensure prompt
mailing of fingerprint cards to the FBI and timely filing of criminal
history reports from the FBI; and (3) how INS followed up on
fingerprint cards rejected by the FBI because of illegibility or
incomplete information.
NATIONAL DEFENSE
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:15
Chemical Weapons:
Stability of the U.S. Stockpile
GAO/NSIAD-95-67, Dec. 22 (11 pages).
The Army's assessment that its stockpile of chemical weapons can be
stored safely until 2004 is questionable. According to Sandia
National Laboratories, the data on which the Army based its
assessment were old and may no longer be representative of munitions
in actual field storage. Also, the assessment did not analyze
leaking munitions. Sandia recommended that the Army immediately
expand its stockpile monitoring activities to include propellant
samples from nonleaking and leaking munitions at each storage
location. The Army has established a working group to review its
assessment and has received $4.5 million in fiscal year 1995 to
expand its stockpile monitoring activities. However, the expanded
monitoring activities will not resolve all questions about the
stability of the stockpile. A contingency plan for emergency
disposal of the M55 rocket is needed because it is the only munition
in the stockpile that cannot readily be reconfigured to remove its
explosive components. However, the Army has not prepared a plan. It
is studying several courses of action, but more information on the
specific hazards is needed before a plan can
be finalized.
Chemical Weapons Disposal:
Plans for Nonstockpile Chemical Warfare Can Be Improved
GAO/NSIAD-95-55, Dec. 20 (32 pages).
The Army's plans for destroying nonstockpile chemical warfare
materiel are not final and, as a result, its $17.7-billion cost
estimate is uncertain and cannot be used for budget purposes. This
uncertainty is largely because the amount of materiel to be disposed
of has not been fully identified and the disposal methods cannot be
selected until the Army is further along in the environmental
assessment and permitting process. Although the Army has good
information about some categories of nonstockpile materiel, the
amount and condition of other materiel are unknown. For example, the
Army knows little about the agents inside recovered chemical weapons
or the nature of contaminated materiel at former production plants.
Also, the Army has little information on the nature and extent of
buried chemical agents, which are estimated to be located at 215
sites in 33 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C.
The Army will need to comply with federal, state, and local laws;
obtain the necessary environmental approvals and permits; and address
the strong public opposition to chemical weapons incineration. On
the basis of difficulties experienced in the stockpile disposal
program, GAO believes that the Army's estimated cost of the
nonstockpile program is likely to increase and its proposed schedule
to slip.
Pollution Prevention:
Status of DOD's Efforts
GAO/NSIAD-95-13, Nov. 9 (28 pages).
This report provides information on the status of the Defense
Department's (DOD) pollution prevention efforts. GAO discusses (1)
the extent to which DOD has collected and reported information on its
inventories and releases of toxic chemicals; (2) what progress DOD
has made in reducing the use of toxic chemicals; (3) the challenges
DOD faces in reducing the use of toxic chemicals, including the
progress that DOD had made in reviewing and revising military
specifications; and (4) the extent to which DOD has incorporated
pollution prevention goals in its procurement and inventory
processes.
Environmental Cleanup:
Case Studies of Six High Priority DOD Installations
GAO/NSIAD-95-8, Nov. 18 (59 pages).
In an April 1994 report (GAO/NSIAD-94-133), GAO said that despite
spending a reported $3.76 billion, the Defense Department's
environmental cleanup program for high priority military
installations has proceeded slowly during the past decade, with
relatively few hazardous waste sites actually being cleaned up. Most
of the time and money had been spent studying the problem. This
supplement focuses on six case studies--Aberdeen Proving Grounds,
Fort Wainwright, McChord Air Force Base, McClellan Air Force Base,
Pearl Harbor Naval Complex, and Schofield Barracks. GAO discusses
the status of the restoration program, the cost of cleanup to date
and projected costs, the cleanup options considered, the options
selected, expected completion, and the applicable cleanup standards.
GAO also discusses the reasons a military installation was listed on
the National Priorities List, the regulatory process, cooperation
between the installation and the regulatory agencies, staffing at the
installations and the regulatory agencies, and the process for
funding the cleanup.
Environmental Cleanup:
Defense Indemnification for Contractor Operations
GAO/NSIAD-95-27, Nov. 25 (10 pages).
Public Law 85-804 authorizes the Defense Department (DOD) and other
federal agencies to indemnify contractors against losses from
unusually hazardous or nuclear risks. Any actions taken under the
law must be reported to Congress annually. Reported actions can
include specific contractors' claims for costs already incurred or
the inclusion of indemnification clauses in contracts to protect DOD
contractors from future risks. This report provides information on
(1) how the military services used Public Law 85-804 to indemnify
contractors for environmental cleanup in selected cases and (2) how
DOD described the resulting actions in required reports to Congress.
Weapons Acquisition:
Low-Rate Initial Production Used to Buy Weapon
Systems Prematurely
GAO/NSIAD-95-18, Nov. 21 (44 pages).
The Pentagon plans to spend more than $79 billion in fiscal year 1995
for the acquisition of weapon systems. Because the Defense
Department (DOD) allows low-rate initial production to begin before
operational testing and evaluation is completed, the military has
amassed large inventories of unsatisfactory weapons requiring
modification; meanwhile, combat troops have been outfitted with
substandard equipment. Once begun, low-rate initial production
significantly limits the options available to DOD and Congress when a
system proves deficient. In GAO's view, the key decision as to
whether to proceed with production should be made at the start of
low-rate initial production because, in many cases, it is also the
de-facto full-rate production decision. Therefore, decisionmakers
need good independent information on the system's performance and
suitability at that point. In today's national security environment,
there should be very few cases in which an urgent need dictates that
DOD will start low-rate initial production without being certain that
the system will work as intended.
Army Aviation:
Modernization Strategy Needs to Be Reassessed
GAO/NSIAD-95-9, Nov. 21 (54 pages).
Of the $6.2 billion the Army plans to spend on aviation modernization
through fiscal year 1999, $4.7 billion is earmarked for two
helicopter programs--the Comanche and the Longbow Apache. GAO found
that these acquisitions are costly, face considerable technical risk,
and may not deliver the promised enhanced capabilities. Moreover,
major changes have occurred in the threat environment and in the
force structure that could substantially change the number and mix of
helicopters that the Army needs to buy. The Defense Department's
(DOD) Bottom-Up Review used different total force structure and unit
composition data than did the Army to determine the size of the
Army's attack and reconnaissance fleet. The Army's estimates of the
quantities of helicopters needed are higher than those subsequently
identified by DOD. Therefore, the validity of the Army's aviation
modernization strategy is questionable. Finally, DOD and Army
studies have not fully considered alternative helicopters and weapon
systems that could accomplish many of the planned roles and missions
of the Comanche.
Electronic Warfare:
Most Air Force ALQ-135 Jammers Procured Without
Operational Testing
GAO/NSIAD-95-47, Nov. 22 (10 pages).
The Air Force continues to procure an upgraded ALQ-135 jammer despite
serious performance problems, resulting in the deployment of a system
with limited ability to protect F-15 aircraft from enemy weapons.
The ALQ-135 is designed to transmit electronic signals that interfere
with the radars controlling threat missiles and guns. The upgraded
ALQ-135 is a two-band system, designated as Bands 1.5 and 3, for use
on newer models of the F-15. Although testing revealed that the Band
3 had serious performance flaws, the Air Force procured almost all
its total program quantity without demonstrating acceptable
operational performance. Moreover, the Air Force has deferred
further production of the Band 1.5. The poor condition of the
ALQ-135 program is a direct result of the Defense Department's
disregard of congressional expectations, its own written policy, and
GAO's recommendations.
Reengineering Organizations:
Results of a GAO Symposium
GAO/NSIAD-95-34, Dec. 13 (20 pages).
In light of the Pentagon's efforts to streamline its business
practices, GAO conducted a symposium in June 1994 on private sector
best practices in reegineering. Five principles for effective
reegineering emerged from the symposium. The principles reflect the
panelists' views, which are not necessarily those of GAO. First, top
management must be supportive of and engaged in reengineering efforts
to remove barriers and drive success. Second, an organization's
culture must be receptive to reengineering goals and principles.
Third, major improvements and savings are realized by focusing on the
business from a process rather than a functional perspective.
Fourth, reengineering processes should be chosen on the basis of a
clear notion of customer needs, anticipated benefits, and potential
for success. Fifth, process owners should manage reengineering
projects with teams that are cross-functional, maintain a proper
scope, focus on customer metrics, and enforce implementation
timeliness.
Defense Supply:
Acquisition Leadtime Requirements Can Be Significantly Reduced
GAO/NSIAD-95-2, Dec. 20 (22 pages).
Acquisition leadtime is used in inventory management to determine the
quantity of items needed to meet demand while stocks are being
replenished. Overstated leadtimes can swell inventories
unnecessarily. During the 1980s, the Defense Department's (DOD)
acquisition leadtime requirements grew by $13 billion. DOD has made
only limited progress in reducing acquisition leadtime because its
leadtime reduction initiatives have been unevenly implemented by the
military services and by the Defense Logistics Agency. GAO also
found opportunities to reduce leadtime that were overlooked by DOD.
GAO believes that DOD can cut acquisition leadtime days by at least
25 percent during a four-year period at a savings of about $1
billion. This reduction can be achieved by reemphasizing prompt
implementation of DOD's 1990 initiatives, periodically validating and
updating old leadtime data for long leadtime items, and considering
leadtime reductions in deciding whether to continue buying spare
parts from the prime contractor or from the manufacturer.
Army Inventory:
Reparable Exchange Items at Divisions Can Be Reduced
GAO/NSIAD-95-36, Dec. 28 (19 pages).
Many of the reparable exchange items repaired and stocked at Army
installations are also stocked at the divisions. If the four
divisions in GAO's review relied on inventories at the installations
as their main supply source for reparable exchange items, they could
reduce their inventory investment by nearly $47 million. Because of
the close proximity of the divisions and their respective
installation support activities, supply responsiveness would not
suffer. Army officials were concerned that if the divisions
eliminated reparable items from their inventories, the divisions
would not have all of their authorized inventory items if they had to
deploy. However, GAO found that in 93 percent of the cases there was
more than enough inventory at the installation and wholesale level
depots to meet the divisions' authorized inventory, without retaining
the added inventory of such items at the division level. Officials
were also concerned about situations in which units were at training
locations away from the installation and needed a reparable exchange
item. GAO suggests that this problem could be overcome by allowing
the units to keep a minimum number of readiness-related reparable
exchange items at the
division level.
Defense Budget:
Capital Asset Projects Undergo Significant Change Between Approval
and Execution
GAO/NSIAD-95-20, Dec. 28 (40 pages).
The Defense Department (DOD) continues to experience major problems
in managing its capital asset program and carrying out its capital
budget. Capital assets include such items as equipment, minor
construction, and management information systems. The activities GAO
visited, for example, canceled 86 percent and 65 percent of the
projects in their fiscal year 1993 and 1994 capital budgets,
respectively. GAO's analysis of 56 fiscal year 1994 projects at six
defense activities showed that many cancellations were due to
weaknesses in the budget justification and preparation process. The
uncertainty caused by base closings and realignments, budget cuts,
and other DOD management initiatives also contributed to project
cancellations. DOD has developed new guidance that, if properly
implemented, will strengthen the Defense Business Operations Funds'
capital budgeting process. Developing new procedures, however, is
only the first step. These are long-standing problems that have been
highlighted repeatedly by GAO, the Inspectors General, and service
audit agencies. High-level management attention, training, and
appropriate oversight are needed to ensure that key managers fully
understand and implement the new guidance. One such mechanism would
be to include capital asset program deficiencies in the Federal
Managers' Financial Integrity
Act report.
Defense Research and Development:
Mandated Reports on Noncompetitive Awards to Colleges
and Universities
GAO/NSIAD-95-72, Dec. 30 (42 pages).
The Defense Department (DOD) awarded about $2.17 billion--$1.4
billion in contract funding and $769 million in grants--for research,
development, test, and evaluation projects to colleges, universities,
and other organizations in fiscal year 1993. DOD's data show that
about $1 billion of these contracts and about $75 million in grants
were noncompetitive. DOD has not fully complied with the law's
reporting requirements in that it submitted only the required reports
for 1989 to 1991, and not for 1992 or 1993. DOD is not required to
disclose all noncompetitive awards to colleges, universities, and
other organizations in its reports because funding under $1 million
is excluded as are awards to affiliated groups, such as research
laboratories. The law's notification and waiting period requirements
only apply under very limited circumstances. As a result, DOD has
not had to notify Congress or wait 180 days before making any of its
noncompetitive awards and, according to DOD officials, has not done
so.
NATURAL RESOURCES
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:16
National Wildlife Refuge System:
Contributions Being Made to Endangered Species Recovery
GAO/RCED-95-7, Nov. 14 (31 pages).
Of the nearly 900 species listed under the Endangered Species Act,
one quarter can be found on national wildlife refuges. These listed
species include plants, birds, and mammals. Although a significant
portion of the current habitat for 94 listed species is on 66
wildlife refuges, many other listed species use refuge lands on a
temporary basis for breeding or migratory rest stops. Refuges and
refuge staff contribute to the protection and the recovery of listed
species in several ways. First, the refuges themselves represent
about 91 million acres of secure habitat, including more than 310,000
acres that have been acquired by the Service specifically for the
protection of listed species. Second, refuge staff are taking steps
to protect and recover listed species. Third, refuge staff, by
identifying specific actions that can help a species recover, help to
develop recovery plans that the Fish and Wildlife Service requires
for listed species. Funding limitations constrain efforts to manage
wildlife refuges. Two 1993 Interior Department reports found that
available funding was not enough to meet established objectives for
refuges because the level of funding has not kept pace with the
rising costs of managing
existing refuges.
Water Resources:
Flooding on Easement Lands Within the Red Rock, Iowa, Reservoir
GAO/RCED-95-4, Dec. 23 (59 pages).
Before the Red Rock Dam and Lake Project near Des Moines, Iowa, began
operating in 1969, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers purchased
easements from landowners on 29,000 acres within the reservoir's
boundary. The easements give the Corps the right to occasionally
flood the easement lands when the dam is forced to hold back water
upstream in the reservoir to prevent flooding downstream. Because of
heavier-than-expected rainfall during the 1970s and 1980s, the
easement lands were flooded more often than the Corps had estimated.
In 1985, Congress authorized a buyout program for easement landowners
who were willing to sell their land to the Corps; however, few owners
have been interested in selling, and their complaints about flooding
have persisted. This report (1) determines whether the property
within the Red Rock reservoir's boundary has been inundated beyond
the levels permitted by the easements; (2) recommends whether
compensation for the easements should be renegotiated with
landowners; and (3) reports on actions that the Corps has taken to
implement the buyout program.
Mineral Resources:
BLM Needs to Improve Controls Over Oil and Gas Lease
Acreage Limitation
GAO/RCED-95-56, Dec. 29 (10 pages).
The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) internal controls cannot
guarantee that federal oil and gas leases are not issued to parties
who have exceeded the Mineral Leasing Act's acreage limitation. BLM
allows oil and gas lessees to self-certify that they have not
exceeded the acreage limitation, and although the agency has
procedures for auditing compliance with the requirement, BLM has not
done a compliance audit since 1993 because it considers it a low
priority. Even when audits were done, BLM's strategy for selecting
lessees was ineffective because it did not target parties for
approaching or appearing to exceed the acreage limitation. Finally,
BLM has allowed companies that share the same officers, directors, or
major stockholders to be considered separate leaseholders under the
acreage limitation. GAO discovered one lessee who had exceeded the
limitation by more than 190,000 acres in Wyoming and by nearly 27,000
acres in Nevada. Similarly, by presuming that companies are
affiliated when they share the same officers, directors, or major
stockholders, GAO identified five firms whose aggregate acreage
exceeded the limit by more than 800,000 acres in Wyoming, 435,000
acres in New Mexico, and 86,000 acres in Nevada.
Wildlife Protection:
Fish and Wildlife Service's Inspection Program
Needs Strengthening
GAO/RCED-95-8, Dec. 29 (94 pages).
Growing demand throughout the world for wildlife and wildlife parts,
ranging from rhino horns to bear gall bladders, now threatens some
wildlife populations. Although the full extent of illegal trade is
unknown, the value of such trade into and out of the United States is
estimated at up to $250 million annually. Despite recent increases
in the Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) wildlife inspection program,
the program has had difficulty in accomplishing its mission of
monitoring wildlife and intercepting wildlife trade. Given current
budget constraints and downsizing within the federal government,
increases in program funding are unlikely. GAO raises questions
about the program's efficiency and effectiveness. The passage of the
North American Free Trade Agreement is likely to increase wildlife
trade among the countries that are party to the agreement--the United
States, Canada, and Mexico. The expected rise in trade will increase
the workload of FWS inspectors, who are already stretched thin along
the U.S. borders. Wildlife inspectors, federal agency officials,
and conservation and trade groups cited advantages and disadvantages
to transferring FWS' wildlife inspection program to the Customs
Service.
SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:17
Space Station:
Plans to Expand Research Community Do Not Match
Available Resources
GAO/NSIAD-95-33, Nov. 22 (27 pages).
NASA plans to launch, assemble, and operate an earth-orbiting
microgravity and life sciences research laboratory--International
Space Station Alpha--starting in 1997. A robust research community
is needed to help carry out the proposed space station's scientific
mission of studying the effects of weightlessness on various
materials and life forms. However, burgeoning costs associated with
building the space station could stymie efforts to develop a research
program to support the space station's scientific agenda because NASA
may not have the money to pay researchers to conduct needed
experiments. This report reviews (1) what NASA is doing to assess
the required size of the research community needed for the space
station and to ensure that such a community will be available, (2)
how NASA will ensure that the research selected for the space station
will be the best possible, and (3) whether a recently canceled
shuttle research flight harmed NASA's ability to assemble a research
community for the
space station.
National Laboratories:
Are Their R&D Activities Related to Commercial Product Development?
GAO/PEMD-95-2, Nov. 25 (97 pages).
In response to congressional interest in how the national
laboratories of the Energy Department can best be focused to help
solve the problems faced by the nation during the 1990s, this report
presents an inventory of the human and capital resources housed in
the national laboratories that will provide baseline data for future
GAO reports on DOE laboratory policy issues. This report addresses
congressional interest in the current balance of the research efforts
in 10 laboratories' research programs. The 10 laboratories are as
follows: Argonne, Brookhaven, Idaho Engineering, Lawrence Livermore,
Lawrence Berkely, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, Sandia,
and the Solar Energy Research Institute. GAO also examines the
extent to which these national laboratories are now engaged in basic
and applied research or in research linked to commercial
product development.
Aerospace Guidance and Metrology Center:
Cost Growth and Other Factors Affect Closure and Privatization
GAO/NSIAD-95-60, Dec. 9 (15 pages).
The justification for closing the Aerospace Guidance and Metrology
Center at Newark Air Force Base is unclear. To date, this is the
only depot closure where almost all of the work may be
privatized-in-place. GAO believes that it merits careful
consideration before implementation proceeds. Several issues
associated with this privatization are barriers to its
implementation. Also, some projected costs are rising, while others
are yet to be determined. One-time closure costs have doubled during
the past year and may still be underestimated. As a result, the
payback period may increase to more than 100 years--depending on the
assumptions used. Moreover, projected costs of post-privatization
operations could exceed the cost of current Air Force operations and
reduce or eliminate projected savings. This report also discusses
other closure and privatization matters that call into question the
viability of the Air Force's planned action.
Technology Transfers:
Benefits of Cooperative R&D Agreements
GAO/RCED-95-52, Dec. 16 (26 pages).
Technology transfer between federal laboratories and industry is
increasingly viewed as a significant factor in the economic growth
and well-being of the United States. Cooperative Research and
Development Agreements (CRADA) define the terms and the conditions of
collaboration by federal laboratories and private industry on
research and development. Although all CRADAs may not achieve the
same level of benefits, both the federal agencies and private firms
GAO reviewed benefited from the collaborations. The CRADAs offered
opportunities for federal laboratories and industry to collaborate on
research while meeting their missions. Technology from federal
laboratories was transferred to the private sector, resulting in
commercial products. Research and development programs were
advanced. The sharing of resources helped federal laboratories and
private companies accomplish the CRADA's objectives. In addition,
some CRADAs showed long-term potential to improve the U.S. economy,
health, and environment.
SOCIAL SERVICES
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:18
Welfare to Work:
Current AFDC Program Not Sufficiently Focused on Employment
GAO/HEHS-95-28, Dec. 19 (41 pages).
In spite of 1988 legislation to transform welfare into a transitional
program designed to help Aid to Families With Dependent Children
(AFDC) program recipients get jobs and avoid long-term dependence,
the current Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) training
program has not served a large portion of the AFDC caseload and is
not well focused on employment as the goal. Of the more than four
million parents receiving AFDC checks each month, JOBS served only
about 11 percent in an average month from fiscal years 1991 to 1993.
Furthermore, program administrators say that they lack the capacity
to provide current JOBS participants with the services they need.
Teen parents are especially at risk for long welfare stays because of
their low levels of education and work experience and the young age
of their children. Yet a 1992 review of 16 states found that only 24
percent of teen parents had been enrolled in JOBS. In addition, some
AFDC recipients have barriers to employment, such as learning
disabilities or emotional problems, and are difficult or more costly
to serve. GAO found that JOBS programs have generally not forged the
strong links with local employers that may be important to helping
AFDC recipients gain work experience and find jobs. Many factors
hamper the development of these ties to the workplace, including the
JOBS performance measurement system, which holds states accountable
for the number and type of AFDC recipients participating in JOBS
activities but not for the number who land jobs or earn their way off
AFDC.
Child Care:
Promoting Quality in Family Child Care
GAO/HEHS-95-36, Dec. 7 (30 pages).
Many initiatives nationwide seek to improve the quality of family
child care. These initiatives are financed both from public and
private sources, and many receive funding from more than one source.
Most of the $8 billion in federal support available in fiscal year
1993 went to subsidies to help parents pay for child care, but GAO
estimates that about $156 million was available for efforts to
improve the quality of care. Among the 195 family child care quality
initiatives GAO identified, two federal sources were used most often:
the Child Care and Development Block Grant run by the Department of
Health and Human Services and the Child and Adult Care Food Program
run by the Agriculture Department. GAO's on-site visits found that
the initiatives used the money from both private and public sources
to fund a variety of programs to enhance the quality of family child
care, including training providers; supplying them with equipment,
educational materials, financial aid, and other support; and linking
them to resources and professional associations. Many welfare reform
proposals are being discussed, most of which would require large
numbers of welfare mothers to participate in education, training, and
work programs. This will likely increase the use of family child
care, making the enhancement of the quality of care even more urgent.
GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see:
Family Child Care: Innovative Programs Promote Quality, by Leslie G.
Aronovitz, Associate Director for Income Security Issues, in a field
office hearing in Portland, Oregon, before the Subcommittee on
Regulation, Business Opportunities, and Technology, House Committee
on Small Business. GAO/T-HEHS-95-43, Dec. 9 (eight pages).
Child Care:
Child Care Subsidies Increase Likelihood That Low-Income Mothers Will
Work
GAO/HEHS-95-20, Dec. 30 (31 pages).
Since 1988, Congress has created four child care programs for
low-income families. Two of them subsidize child care for welfare
recipients who are trying to become self-sufficient through
education, training, and employment. Two others provide child care
subsidies to working poor nonwelfare families. GAO found that
reducing child care costs increases the likelihood that poor,
near-poor, and nonpoor mothers will work. This effect is strongest
for the poor and near-poor mothers. More specifically, GAO predicts
that providing a full subsidy to mothers who pay for child care could
boost the percentage of poor mothers who work from 29 to 44 percent
and that of near-poor mothers who work from 43 to 57 percent. By
comparison, the probability of nonpoor mothers working could increase
from 55 to 65 percent. GAO concludes that among the factors that
encourage low-income mothers to seek and keep jobs--factors such as
more education, training, and transportation--affordable child care
is a decisive one. Thus, any effort to move more low-income mothers
from welfare to work will need to take into account the importance of
child care subsidies to the likelihood of success.
TAX POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:19
Tax Administration:
IRS Notices Can Be Improved
GAO/GGD-95-6, Dec. 7 (62 pages).
Each year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sends millions of
notices to taxpayers about the status of their tax accounts. Notices
are often the first form of IRS contact that taxpayers receive to
alert them to a potential tax problem. In 1993, IRS sent more than
60 million notices affecting about $190 billion in taxpayer
transactions. GAO identified clarity problems with 31 of the 47 most
commonly used notices it received. GAO also believes that taxpayers
with multiple tax problems would be better served by receiving a
single, comprehensive notice summarizing the status of their
accounts, rather than the stream of multiple notices that IRS now
sends out. Through a tax systems modernization initiative that is
exploring ways to issue a single notice addressing multiple tax
matters, IRS hopes to be able to deliver comprehensive tax account
notices to taxpayers. Despite IRS' progress and commitment to
improving clarity, in some cases taxpayers continued to receive
notices that IRS' Notice Clarity Unit (NCU) deemed problematic.
Although NCU may have reviewed the notice and recommended text
changes, IRS continued to issue the inferior version, since the
revisions were not made promptly. Many of the recommended changes
were delayed or never made because of IRS' computer system, which is
antiquated and requires labor-intensive programming to make the
simplest of text changes. Improvements may result from the transfer
of notices to Correspondex, a more modern computer system that
generates other IRS correspondence.
Tax Administration:
IRS Efforts to Improve Forms and Publications
GAO/GGD-95-34, Dec. 7 (15 pages).
Providing taxpayers with easy-to-read forms and publications is a
difficult task. IRS must strike a balance between the need for these
documents to reflect a highly complex tax code and the need to make
these documents understandable and easy-to-read. Although it faces
many challenges in developing and revising forms and publications,
IRS has instituted a process for doing so that includes reasonable
components and is seeking ways to further improve it. IRS has begun
a dialogue with groups representing tax professionals, but it has had
problems in identifying and responding to the needs of individual
taxpayers who are not represented by any professional organization.
Because clear and understandable forms help to promote voluntary
compliance, readability is a continuous concern. Thus, IRS should
continue to seek ways to identify what individual taxpayers find most
difficult to understand. IRS should also explore the use of
potentially useful, but untapped, sources of information that may
reveal points of taxpayer confusion and use existing information in
new ways.
Tax Administration:
Changes Needed to Reduce Volume and Improve Processing of
Undeliverable Mail
GAO/GGD-95-44, Dec. 7 (20 pages).
This report reviews the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) processes
for handling undeliverable mail. GAO identifies the amount of
undeliverable and the reasons why some of the mail IRS sends to
taxpayers was undeliverable and the impact nondelivery of this mail
had on taxpayers and IRS. GAO focuses on notices IRS sent taxpayers
on the assessment and collection of taxes. GAO also assesses IRS'
procedures for processing undeliverable mail.
Tax Administration:
Estimates of the Tax Gap for Service Providers
GAO/GGD-95-59, Dec. 28 (35 pages).
This report provides information on the tax gap for sole
proprietors--that is, self-employed persons. The gross income tax
gap refers to the difference between the amount of income taxes owed
and the amount voluntarily paid. GAO pegs the tax gap at $21 billion
for 9.2 million nonfarm sole proprietors who claimed no cost of goods
sold on their returns. GAO estimates the tax gap at $25.1 billion
for 10.3 million nonfarm sole proprietors whose reported cost of
goods sold, as a percentage of gross receipts, were at or below the
average reported by all sole proprietors in the same industry. GAO
estimates the tax gaps at $30.3 billion for 11.5 million nonfarm sole
proprietors who were primarily service providers. This group
includes all the sole proprietors covered in the second group. Of
this $30.3 billion tax gap, IRS also estimated that between $2
billion and $3.5 billion was associated with potentially
misclassified workers. These estimates included only service
providers who received all their self-employment income from one
business. The $3.5 billion figure included all such service
providers. The $2 billion figure included only those receiving
$20,000 or more from one payer.
Tax Administration:
Process Used to Revise the Federal Employment Tax
Deposit Regulations
GAO/GGD-95-8, Dec. 29 (35 pages).
This report reviews the development of the revised federal employment
tax deposit regulations issued by the Treasury Department and the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in September 1992. GAO discusses (1)
whether the Treasury and IRS developed the regulations by applying
principles from IRS' Compliance 2000 approach, which is designed to
improve voluntary taxpayer compliance, reduce taxpayer burden, and
increase IRS attention to the needs of those parties affected by its
actions; (2) how the process used by Treasury and IRS to develop and
revise regulations could be improved; and (3) how Treasury and IRS
officials know when their efforts to develop and revise regulations
produce regulations that are simple and easy to understand.
Tax Compliance:
Status of the Tax Year 1994 Compliance Measurement Program
GAO/GGD-95-39, Dec. 30 (26 pages).
The Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Taxpayer Compliance Measurement
Program plays an important role in tax policy and administration
decisions. IRS uses the data for measuring compliance levels,
estimating the tax gap (the difference between the amount of income
tax owed and the amount voluntarily paid), identifying compliance
issues, developing formulas for objectively selecting returns to
audit, and allocating audit resources. Congress as well as federal
and state agencies use the program's data for policy analysis,
revenue estimating, and research. This report discusses the status
of IRS' plans for carrying out the program in tax year 1994. It also
identifies the potential effects of these plans on measuring taxpayer
compliance.
TESTIMONY
------------------------------------------------------ Appendix 0:19.1
Tax System Burden: Tax Compliance Burden Faced by Business
Taxpayers, by Lynda D. Willis, Associate Director for Tax Policy and
Administration Issues, before the Subcommittee on Oversight, House
Committee on Ways and Means. GAO/T-GGD-95-42, Dec. 9 (16 pages).
Business taxpayers spend time and money--and experience
frustration--trying to comply with federal, state, and local tax
requirements. GAO refers to this as the taxpayer compliance burden.
GAO testified that the complexity of the Internal Revenue Service
Code, compounded by changes made to the Code, is the driving force
behind federal tax compliance burdens. Further, a reliable estimate
of the overall costs of tax compliance is not now available and would
be costly and in itself burdensome to obtain. Finally, reducing the
compliance burden will be a difficult undertaking because of the
various policy trade-offs, such as revenue and taxpayer equity, that
must be made.
TRANSPORTATION
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:20
Maritime Industry:
Cargo Preference Laws--Estimated Costs and Effects
GAO/RCED-95-34, Nov. 30 (58 pages).
Cargo preference laws require that some government-owned or -financed
cargo shipped internationally be carried on U.S.-flag vessels. Cargo
subject to these laws is known as preference cargo. Cargo preference
laws boosted federal agencies' transportation costs by an estimated
$578 million per year for fiscal years 1989 through 1993 because
U.S.-flag vessels generally charge more to carry cargo than their
foreign-flag vessel counterparts. The effect of cargo preference
laws on the U.S. merchant marine industry is mixed. On the one
hand, the share of international oceanborne cargo carried by
U.S.-flag ships has declined despite cargo preference laws because
most oceanborne international cargo is not subject to cargo
preference laws. On the other hand, these laws appear to have a
substantial impact on the U.S. merchant marine industry by providing
an incentive for vessels to remain in U.S. fleets. GAO estimates
that without preference cargo, up to two-thirds of the U.S.-flag
vessels engaged in international trade would leave the fleet, with
most either shutting down or reflagging to another country to save
costs. This would directly affect about 6,000 U.S. shipboard jobs.
Air Traffic Control:
Better Guidance Needed for Deciding Where to Locate Facilities and
Equipment
GAO/RCED-95-14, Dec. 1 (21 pages).
Although GAO found no evidence that Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) decisions for locating and replacing air traffic control
equipment did not meet the critical needs of the nation's aviation
system, FAA's process for selecting sites for facilities and
equipment was not consistent among the three projects GAO reviewed.
Moreover, FAA lacked documentation showing the factors that program
sponsors considered in making location decisions. Current FAA
guidance does not require a numerical ranking of locations on a
national basis, define what emphasis should be given to
location-specific benefit-cost analyses or other factors, or specify
what documentation is required when evaluating and selecting
locations. GAO believes that good business management of proposed
capital investments requires a more analytically based decision
process. Improved guidance could help FAA better assure Congress and
aviation system users that it is making the best use of available
funds in allocating facilities and equipment to high-priority
locations.
Electric Vehicles:
Likely Consequences of U.S. and Other Nations' Programs
and Policies
GAO/PEMD-95-7, Dec. 30 (137 pages).
California and several northeastern states have adopted or are
considering legislation that would require automobile
manufacturers--both foreign and domestic--to supply 70,000 electric
vehicles in 1998 and nearly a million by 2003. Uncertainties about
the readiness of electric vehicle technology led GAO to compare
electric vehicle development and commercialization programs
internationally. Reviewing programs in France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as the
United States, GAO sought to answer the following questions: (1)
What are the current barriers to the widespread introduction of
electric vehicles? (2) What are the nature and extent of other
nations' policies and programs for developing, producing, and
promoting electric vehicles? (3) What are the likely effects of
introducing electric vehicles in terms of costs to the individual,
national energy savings, and effects on
the environment?
VETERANS AFFAIRS
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:21
VA Health Care:
Inadequate Planning in the Chesapeake Network
GAO/HEHS-95-6, Dec. 22 (29 pages).
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requested $14.5 million in
its fiscal year 1994 budget request to build a 120-bed nursing home
on the site of its former Baltimore (Loch Raven) Medical Center.
Although Congress authorized VA's request, it required VA to
reconsider the location of the new nursing home in the context of the
entire Chesapeake Network and to determine whether the nursing home
at the Fort Howard, Maryland, Medical Center needed to be expanded
and modernized. VA reported to Congress that it had chosen the Loch
Raven site for construction of a new nursing home and that the Fort
Howard nursing home needed replacing. This report discusses whether
VA used sound planning criteria in its choosing Loch Raven as a new
nursing home site and in its plans to replace the Fort Howard
hospital building and its nursing home.
Veterans Health Care:
Veterans' Perceptions of VA Services and VA's Role in Health
Care Reform
GAO/HEHS-95-14, Dec. 23 (40 pages).
Focus group participants who GAO spoke with expressed diverse views
about the care provided by Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA)
facilities and the role VA should play in a reformed health care
system. The perspectives of the 127 veterans who participated are
not statistically representative of the nation's 27 million veterans.
Still, many of the views expressed are consistent with the findings
in other studies. For example, some of the concerns expressed in the
focus groups about VA health care--such as excessive waiting times
and poor customer service--have been highlighted in earlier GAO
reports. Apprehension about changes was a recurrent theme running
through the focus groups. Veterans expressed concern that changes
could diminish or eliminate veterans' health benefits, that allowing
nonveterans to use VA facilities could detract from care for
veterans, that VA would lose its individuality and its focus on the
special health care needs of veterans, and that veterans who are
dependent on VA could be hurt emotionally. Some focus groups
participants thought the VA remained the appropriate vehicle to
provide health care for veterans. Others, however, said that VA can
no longer adequately tend to these veterans and that other options
should
be explored.
SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 0:22
Aging Issues:
Related GAO Reports and Activities in Fiscal Year 1994
GAO/HEHS-95-44, Dec. 29 (68 pages).
This booklet compiles GAO's fiscal year 1994 products and ongoing
work on older Americans and their families. Because the elderly are
one of the fastest growing segments of today's society, Congress
faces a host of issues--ranging from demographic changes in the
structure and role of the family to financing and provision of health
care, Social Security, and pensions--in which the federal government
will play an important role. This booklet summarizes 30 issued
reports on policies and programs directed mainly at older Americans.
Included in this section are reviews of health, income security,
social services, and other topics. GAO also summarizes 59 reports in
which older Americans were one of several groups targeted by federal
policies. For example, Medicaid finances nursing homes and other
types of long-term care, along with medical care for poor persons of
all ages. In addition, this booklet describes testimonies delivered
during fiscal year 1994 on subjects affecting older Americans and
lists 55 ongoing jobs related to older Americans.