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The Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) of 1984 requires agencies to obtain full and open competition through the use of competitive procedures in their procurement activities unless otherwise authorized by law. However, Congress also recognized that in certain situations contracts may need to be awarded noncompetiti... | SBA's 8(a) program is the government's primary means of developing small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, including firms owned by Alaska Native Corporations and Indian tribes. The NDAA for Fiscal Year 2010, enacted on October 28, 2009, called for revisions to the FAR to provide ... |
At the local level, VHA’s delivery system is organized into 18 VISNs, each responsible for overseeing VAMCs within a defined geographic area. VISN directors report to the Deputy Under Secretary for Health (USH) for Operations and Management who oversees VHA’s field operations. The Deputy USH for Operations and Manageme... | GAO was asked to conduct a management review of VHA; this is the sixth report in the series. In this review of VHA's policy management, GAO examines the extent to which (1) VHA has implemented its new definitions for national policy and guidance documents; (2) VHA ensures that national policy and guidance documents are... |
Between fiscal years 2003 and 2007 the unified budget deficit declined. Certainly declining deficits are better than rising deficits. But this decline in the unified deficit is not an indicator that our challenge has eased. First, even this short-term deficit is understated: It masks the fact that the federal governmen... | GAO has for many years warned that our nation is on an imprudent and unsustainable fiscal path. During the past 3 years, the Comptroller General has traveled to 25 states as part of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour. Members of this diverse group of policy experts agree that finding solutions to the nation's long-term fiscal cha... |
The protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure against natural and man-made catastrophic events has been a concern of the federal government for over a decade. For example, in May 1998, Presidential Decision Directive 63 (PDD-63) established critical infrastructure protection as a national goal and presented a ... | As Hurricane Katrina so forcefully demonstrated, the nation's critical infrastructures--both physical and cyber--have been vulnerable to a wide variety of threats. Because about 85 percent of the nation's critical infrastructure is owned by the private sector, it is vital that the public and private sectors work togeth... |
Congress and the President first enacted a statutory limit on federal debt during World War I to eliminate the need for Congress to approve each new debt issuance and provide Treasury with greater discretion over how it finances the government’s day-to-day borrowing needs. With the Public Debt Act of 1941, Congress and... | GAO previously examined challenges associated with managing cash and debt when delays in raising the debt limit occurred, focusing on the period from 1995 through 2010. In February 2011, GAO reported that delays in raising the debt limit create debt and cash challenges for Treasury, and these challenges have been exace... |
Federal contracts involve considerable dollars, resulting in employment for many workers. GSA’s data show that federal contracts in fiscal year 1993 totaled about $182 billion. Approximately 22 percent of the labor force, 26 million workers, is employed by federal contractors and subcontractors, according to fiscal yea... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the extent to which federal contractors violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), focusing on: (1) the characteristics associated with these NLRA violators; and (2) ways to improve federal contractors' compliance with NLRA. GAO found that: (1) in 1... |
The U.S. economy has become increasingly oriented toward international trade, with exports and imports together representing about one-quarter of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 1996. As the largest regional market for U.S. products, accounting for approximately $242 billion or 40 percent of U.S. exports in 1996, ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on efforts to liberalize trade among the countries of the Western Hemisphere, focusing on: (1) the principal existing subregional trade arrangements in the Western Hemisphere; (2) the current status of Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) discussions; and ... |
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), passed in 1976 and substantially amended in 1984, establishes a national policy that hazardous waste be generated, treated, stored, and disposed of so as to minimize present and future threats to human health and the environment. RCRA, among other things, governs the m... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the ways, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and selected state program managers and industry representatives, that the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act's (RCRA) requirements, when applied to waste from cleanups (often refer... |
In general, SCHIP funds are targeted to uninsured children in families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid but are at or below 200 percent of FPL. Recognizing the variability in state Medicaid programs, federal SCHIP law allows a state to cover children in families with incomes up to 200 percent of FPL o... | In August 1997, Congress created the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with the goal of significantly reducing the number of low-income uninsured children, especially those who lived in families with incomes exceeding Medicaid eligibility requirements. Unlike Medicaid, SCHIP is not an entitlement to ser... |
The military services use portable or handheld metal detectors as one of several devices to detect and clear hazards such as landmines. As we reported last year, the detection and clearance of buried explosives like landmines is very difficult, and no ideal solution has emerged.Low-metallic content landmines—generally ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's development of a portable land mine detector, focusing on: (1) how the Army's AN/PSS-12 mine detector performed in detecting low-metallic mines in procurement tests; (2) the nature of the land mine threat in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and (3) the mine detector's pot... |
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) established TSA as the federal agency with primary responsibility for securing the nation’s civil aviation system, which includes the screening of all passenger and property transported from and within the United States by commercial passenger aircraft. In accordance ... | Within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is responsible for developing and acquiring new technologies to address homeland security needs. TSA's acquisition programs represent billions of dollars in life-cycle costs and support a wide range of aviation security m... |
As of September 30, 1996, DOD reported the value of its secondary inventory—consumable items and reparable parts—at $68.5 billion. Consumable items, such as clothing and medical supplies, are managed primarily by DLA. Reparable parts are generally expensive items that can be fixed and used again, such as hydraulic pump... | Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reported on the feasibility of adding reparable parts to the list of consumable-type supplies and equipment covered by Section 395 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1998, focusing on: (1) private-sector practices that streamline logistics operations; (2) Department ... |
Our analysis of Army and DFAS data through the end of fiscal year 2005 identified nearly 1,300 separated battle-injured soldiers and soldiers who were killed in combat who had military debts totaling $1.5 million that were reported to DFAS for debt collection action. Of the nearly 1,300 soldiers, almost 900 separated b... | As part of the Committee on Government Reform's continuing focus on pay and financial issues affecting Army soldiers deployed in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), the requesters were concerned that battle-injured soldiers were not only battling the broken military pay system, but faced blemishes on their credit repor... |
Since 1996, Congress has taken important steps to increase Medicare program integrity funding and oversight, including the establishment of the Medicare Integrity Program. Table 1 summarizes several key congressional actions. CMS has made progress in strengthening provider and supplier enrollment provisions, but needs ... | GAO has designated Medicare as a high-risk program, in part because the program's size and complexity make it vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse. In 2013, Medicare financed health care services for approximately 51 million individuals at a cost of about $604 billion. The deceptive nature of fraud makes its extent in... |
Technological advances continue to transform the U.S. workforce, and workers must improve their skills to meet employers’ changing needs. Many employers report difficulties in finding qualified workers, and many unemployed workers lack the skills they need to find jobs. Training programs can help workers gain the skill... | As technological and other advances transform the U.S. economy, many of the nation's six million employers may have trouble finding employees with the skills to do their jobs well. Some experts indicate that such a skill gap already affects many employers. To help close this skill gap, both federal- and state-funded pr... |
The federal adoption tax credit was first authorized in the Small Business and Job Protection Act of 1996, which provided for a nonrefundable credit for adoption expenses, not to exceed $5,000, or $6,000 for children with special needs. Special needs children are defined as those children who a state determined cannot ... | The federal adoption tax credit, established in 1996, was amended in 2010. These amendments included making the credit refundable (meaning taxpayers could receive payments in excess of their tax liability) and increasing the maximum allowable credit to $13,170 of qualified adoption expenses for tax year 2010. As of Aug... |
For 16 years, DOD’s supply chain management processes, previously identified as DOD inventory management, have been on our list of high- risk areas needing urgent attention because of long-standing systemic weaknesses that we have identified in our reports. We initiated our high- risk program in 1990 to report on gover... | The Department of Defense (DOD) maintains a military force with unparalleled logistics capabilities, but it continues to confront decades-old supply chain management problems. The supply chain can be the critical link in determining whether our frontline military forces win or lose on the battlefield, and the investmen... |
The federal financial regulators are responsible for examining and monitoring the safety and soundness of approximately 22,000 financial institutions, which, together, manage more than $13 trillion in assets and hold over $7 trillion in deposits. Specifically: The Federal Reserve System is responsible for overseeing th... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 risks facing financial institutions and the federal regulators, focusing on the: (1) actions taken to date to mitigate these risks; and (2) challenges that lay ahead as institutions and regulators face the more complex and difficult activities of their ye... |
Traditionally, real estate brokers have offered a full, “bundled” package of services to sellers and buyers, including marketing the seller’s home or assisting in the buyer’s search, holding open houses and showing homes, preparing offers and assisting in negotiations, and coordinating the steps to close the transactio... | Consumers paid an estimated $65.7 billion in residential real estate brokerage fees in 2005. Observing that commission rates have remained relatively uniform--regardless of market conditions, home prices, or the effort required to sell a home--some economists have questioned the extent of price competition in the resid... |
The concept of the single audit was created to replace multiple grant audits with one audit of an entity as a whole. The single audit is an organizationwide audit that focuses on internal control and the recipient’s compliance with laws and regulations governing the federal financial assistance received. The objectives... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the status of efforts to implement the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996, focusing on: (1) the importance of the 1996 amendments; (2) the actions taken to implement them; and (3) ways in which the refinements will continue to evolve and benefit future single audit ef... |
Federal banking regulators supervise the activities of banks and require the banks to take corrective action when the banks’ activities and overall performance present supervisory concerns or could result in financial losses to the DIF or violations of law or regulation. See table 1 for an overview of their functions. ... | Weakness in federal oversight was one of many factors that contributed to the size of federal losses and the number of bank failures in banking-related crises over the past 35 years—including the 1980s thrift and commercial bank crises and the 2007–2009 financial crisis. Resolving the failures of banks and thrifts due ... |
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) emphasizes lowering cholesterol as an important aspect of preventing coronary heart disease. In 1985, NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) initiated the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), which has undertaken a major effort to encourage individuals ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), focusing on the: (1) different techniques for measuring cholesterol in laboratory settings; (2) accuracy of these measurement techniques; (3) factors that influence individual... |
DHS’s National Protection and Programs Directorate leads the country’s effort to protect and enhance the resilience of the nation’s physical and cyber infrastructure. The directorate includes the Office of Infrastructure Protection, which leads the coordinated national effort to reduce risk to U.S. critical infrastruct... | Facilities that produce, use, or store hazardous chemicals could be of interest to terrorists intent on using them to inflict mass casualties in the United States. DHS established the CFATS program to, among other things, identify and assess the security risk posed by chemical facilities. DHS places high-risk facilitie... |
The FEHBP is the largest employer-sponsored health insurance program in the country, providing health insurance coverage for about 8 million federal employees, retirees, and their dependents through contracts with private insurance plans. All currently employed and retired federal employees and their dependents are eli... | Average health insurance premiums for plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) have risen each year since 1997. These growing premiums result in higher costs to the federal government and plan enrollees. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) oversees FEHBP, negotiating benefits an... |
The media industry has its own terminology, and the following glossary provides the definition of terms used throughout this report: Typically, the general public views television programming through broadcast or subscription video service. Broadcast television provides free over-the-air programming to the public throu... | The media industry plays a vital role in informing and entertaining the public. Media ownership and the availability of diverse programming have been a long-standing concern of Congress. Despite numerous programming choices in television and radio available to the public, some studies have reported that independently p... |
Since FPS was created in 1971, as part of GSA, it has been responsible for providing law enforcement and related security services to all federal facilities held or leased by GSA. Specifically, FPS is responsible for, among other things, (1) hiring security guard contractors and overseeing contract guards deployed at f... | FPS's primary mission is to protect the almost 9,000 federal facilities that are held or leased by the General Services Administration. FPS also manages the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) delegations of authority (delegations) program, which involves, among other things, reviewing requests by agencies to prote... |
On April 17, 1995, the President signed the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995, P.L. 104-8, which established the Authority to repair the District’s failing financial condition and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its various agencies. The Act also permits ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the procurement practices of the District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority, focusing on whether: (1) applicable procurement regulations and procedures were followed in awarding and administering selected contracts on behalf of the... |
Oversight of federally insured state-chartered banks is provided by state bank regulators and either the Federal Reserve System—for banks that are members of the Federal Reserve—or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)—for other state-chartered banks. National bank oversight is provided by the Office of the ... | Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed how the interstate branching provisions of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 are likely to affect the usefulness of the deposit and loan data collected and reported to federal regulators by the banking industry under statutory and... |
Colombia is the world’s leading producer and distributor of cocaine and a major source of heroin consumed in the United States. For the past two decades, the United States has supported Colombia’s efforts to reduce drug-trafficking activities and to stem the flow of illegal drugs to the United States. Various U.S. agen... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of drug control efforts in Colombia and the impact of the 1996 and 1997 U.S. decisions to decertify Colombia as a drug-fighting ally, focusing on: (1) the nature of the drug-trafficking threat from Colombia; (2) the political, economic, and operational implic... |
Funds that support terrorist activity may come from illicit activities, such as counterfeit goods, contraband cigarettes, and illicit drugs, but are also generated through means such as fundraising by legal non-profit entities. According to State, it is the terrorists’ use of social and religious organizations and, to ... | Terrorist groups need significant amounts of money to organize, recruit, train, and equip adherents. U.S. disruption of terrorist financing can raise the costs and risks and impede their success. This report (1) provides an overview of U.S. government efforts to combat terrorist financing abroad and (2) examines U.S. g... |
GAO is a key source of professional and objective information and analysis and, as such, plays a crucial role in supporting congressional decision making. For example, in fiscal year 2003, as in other years, the challenges that most urgently engaged the attention of the Congress helped define our priorities. Our work o... | GAO exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government for the benefit of the American people. In the years ahead, its support to the Congress will likely prove even more critical because of the pressu... |
Under the BHC Act, a bank holding company must obtain FRB’s approval before merging with or acquiring another bank holding company. In reviewing an application filed by a bank holding company, FRB is required to consider several factors, including the financial and managerial resources of the applicant, the future pros... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed large bank holding company mergers and the impact of such mergers on low- and moderate-income (LMI) areas, focusing on: (1) the Federal Reserve Board's (FRB) legal responsibilities in assessing Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (BHC) mergers for Community Reinvestment Ac... |
The Military Sealift Command (MSC) provides ships for fleet support; special missions; and strategic sealift of equipment, supplies, and ammunition to sustain U.S. forces worldwide. While MSC uses a combination of government and privately owned ships to carry out this mission, all these ships have civilian crews who wo... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Military Sealift Command's (MSC) management of its contractor-operated ships, focusing on whether MSC has: (1) adequate management controls to oversee contractors and prevent abuses; and (2) sufficient oversight to ensure that contractual requirements are being met.... |
In January 1968, oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope—an 88,000 square-mile frozen landmass extending from the foothills of the Brooks Mountain Range to the Arctic Ocean, as shown in figure 1.1. The Prudhoe Bay area, located about 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle and about 1,200 miles south of ... | Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed Alaska and California energy production, focusing on the effects of lifting the export ban on: (1) Alaskan North Slope and California crude oil prices and production; and (2) refiners, consumers, and the oil shipping industry on the West Coast. GAO noted that: (1) lif... |
WHTI implements Section 7209 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, as amended, which requires DHS, in consultation with State, to develop and implement a plan to require U.S. citizens and other individuals for whom documentation had previously been waived to show a passport or other document,... | In July 2008, the Department of State (State) began issuing passport cards as a lower-cost alternative to passports for U.S. citizens to meet Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requirements. In October 2008, State began issuing the second generation border crossing card (BCC) based on the architecture of the passport... |
For over 35 years, Medicaid has operated as a joint federal-state entitlement program to finance health care coverage for certain categories of low-income individuals. Medicaid eligibility is based in part on a family’s income in relation to the federal poverty level. Federal law requires states to extend Medicaid elig... | States provide health care coverage to low-income uninsured children largely through two federal-state programs--Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Medicaid was established in 1965 to provide health care coverage to low-income adults and children. Medicaid expenditures for health servic... |
In 2009, the Federal Reserve centralized coin management across the 12 Reserve Banks and established national inventory targets. Previously, each Reserve Bank office set and managed its own inventory levels, resulting in varying levels of inventory held relative to demand. Under the centralized approach, the Federal Re... | Efficiently managing the nation's inventory of circulating coins helps to ensure that the coin supply meets the public's demand while avoiding unnecessary production and storage costs. This testimony is based on GAO's October 2013 report on the Federal Reserve's management of the circulating-coin inventory. It addresse... |
Through rules known as capital requirements, financial regulators set minimum levels for capital that banks and bank holding companies,securities broker-dealers, futures commission merchants (FCM), and life insurance companies hold as a cushion against unexpected losses that can result from risks faced by these firms i... | GAO reviewed: (1) the regulatory views on the purpose of capital and current regulatory requirements; (2) the approaches of some large financial firms to risk measurement and capital allocation; and (3) issues in capital regulation and initiatives being considered for changes to regulatory capital requirements. GAO not... |
DOE has numerous contractor-operated facilities that carry out the programs and missions of the Department. Much of the work conducted at these facilities is unclassified and nonsensitive and can be, and is, openly discussed and shared with researchers and others throughout the world. However, DOE’s facilities also con... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its past work involving security at Department of Energy's (DOE) facilities. GAO noted that: (1) GAO's work has identified security-related problems with controlling foreign visitors, protecting classified and sensitive information, maintaining physical security over f... |
VA’s process for deciding veterans’ eligibility for disability compensation begins when a veteran submits a claim to VA. The claim is reviewed at one of VBA’s 56 regional offices where staff members assist the veteran by gathering any additional evidence, such as military and medical records, needed to evaluate the cla... | VA compensates veterans for disabling conditions incurred in or aggravated by military service. Veterans can appeal VBA's decisions on their compensation claims, first to VBA and then to the Board, a separate agency within VA. In fiscal year 2015, more than 427,000 appeals were pending and veterans waited over 3 years ... |
BLM is responsible for managing approximately 261 million acres of public land, over 99 percent of which is located in 12 western states, including Alaska. Approximately 90 percent of this land is open to the public for hardrock mineral exploration and mining. Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of BLM land is affected by... | Since the General Mining Act of 1872, billions of dollars in hardrock minerals, such as gold, have been extracted from federal land now managed by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM). For years, some mining operators did not reclaim land, creating environmental, health, and safety risks. Be... |
technical excellence: furnishing the care in the correct way, for example, performing open-heart surgery skillfully; accessibility: patients being able to get care when needed, for example, getting an appointment with a heart specialist when symptoms first occur; and acceptability: patients’ views of their care, such a... | GAO discussed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) efforts to provide health care quality information to Medicare beneficiaries joining health maintenance organizations (HMO). GAO noted that: (1) corporate purchasers use accreditation and performance measurement monitoring to ensure that HMO furnish qualit... |
According to the IFCAP database, in fiscal year 2007 nearly 132,000 miscellaneous obligations, with a total value of nearly $9.8 billion, were created (see table 1). While VA’s Central Office had $2.9 billion in miscellaneous obligations during fiscal year 2007, our review focused on the $6.9 billion in miscellaneous o... | The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has been using miscellaneous obligations for over 60 years to record estimates of obligations to be incurred at a later time. The large percentage of procurements recorded as miscellaneous obligations in fiscal year 2007 raised questions about whether proper controls were in pla... |
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) significantly changed federal welfare policy for low- income families with children, from a program that entitled eligible families to monthly cash payments to a capped block grant that emphasizes employment and work supports for most ... | The TANF block grant program provides federal grants to states for various benefits and activities, including cash welfare for needy families with children. TANF is overseen at the federal level by HHS, and administered by states. Most states disburse TANF cash assistance through electronic benefit cards, which can be ... |
An inherent right of sovereignty, eminent domain is a government’s power to take private property for a public use while compensating the property owner. Eminent domain is also referred to as “appropriation,” “condemnation,” and “taking.” The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution expressly restricts the fed... | In the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006, Congress mandated that GAO conduct a nationwide study on the use of eminent domain by state and local governments. This report provides information on (1) the purpo... |
On June 21, 1995, we testified that the District’s financial records were inadequate and that the City did not have the most basic financial data, including the status of its expenditures against budgeted amounts, the amount of bills owed, or the balance of cash available. As a result, District managers did not have fu... | The District of Columbia is acquiring a new financial management system to improve its accountability over government expenditures. This report assesses the status of the District of Columbia's implementation of important components of this system, including its new core general ledger System of Accounting and Reportin... |
In 2005, we reported on key practices to enhance and sustain interagency collaboration. In our report, we broadly defined collaboration as any joint activity that is intended to produce more public value than could be produced when the agencies act alone. We also described how agencies can enhance and sustain their col... | Many of the meaningful results that the federal government seeks to achievesuch as those related to protecting food and agriculture, providing homeland security, and ensuring a well-trained and educated workforcerequire the coordinated efforts of more than one federal agency and often more than one sector and level o... |
Congress enacted the Coastal Zone Management Act in 1972 to balance the often competing demands for economic growth and development with the need to protect coastal resources. To accomplish the goals of the act, Congress established a framework for a voluntary federal and state coastal management partnership, the CZMP.... | The U.S. coast is home to more than half the U.S. population and integral to the nation's economy. Under the Coastal Zone Management Act, NOAA administers the CZMP, a federal-state partnership that encourages states to balance development with protection of coastal zones in exchange for federal financial assistance and... |
The National Guard, with its dual federal and state roles, has been in demand to meet both overseas operations and homeland security requirements. Over the last decade the National Guard has experienced the largest activation of its forces since World War II. At the same time, the Guard’s domestic activities have expan... | DHS reports that the southwest border continues to be vulnerable to cross-border illegal activity, including the smuggling of humans and illegal narcotics. Several federal agencies are involved in border security efforts, including DHS, DOD, Justice, and State. In recent years, the National Guard has played a role in h... |
Virtually all federal operations are supported by automated systems and electronic data, and agencies would find it difficult, if not impossible, to carry out their missions and account for their resources without these information assets. Therefore, it is important for agencies to safeguard their systems against risks... | Information security is especially important for federal agencies, where the public's trust is essential and poor information security can have devastating consequences. Since 1997, GAO has identified information security as a governmentwide high-risk issue in each of its biennial reports to the Congress. Concerned by ... |
The Service has a long history of contracting for mail transportation dating back to the beginning of the Post Office in 1775. Since then, the Service has contracted for mail to be carried by steamship, stagecoach, horse, rail, airplane, motor vehicle, boat, snowmobile, and even mule train into the Grand Canyon. In 184... | The U.S. Postal Service (the Service) has a long history of contracting out postal functions, such as mail transportation, mail delivery in rural areas, vehicle and equipment maintenance, and retail postal services. However, postal employees also perform many of these same functions and unions representing these employ... |
Developing Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures, often called performance-based navigation procedures, with significant benefits is one way to leverage existing technology in the near term and provide immediate benefits to industry, but developing these procedures expeditiously wi... | On September 9, 2009, the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Midterm Implementation Task Force (Task Force) issued its final report and recommendations. The Task Force was to reach a consensus on the operational improvements to the air transportation system that should be implemented between now and 20... |
The JSF is a joint, multinational acquisition to develop and field an affordable, highly common family of next generation strike fighter aircraft for the United States Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and eight international partners. The JSF is a single-seat, single engine aircraft incorporating low-observable (stealth)... | The F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), is the Department of Defenses (DOD) most costly and ambitious aircraft acquisition, seeking to simultaneously develop and field three aircraft variants for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and eight international partners. The JSF is critical to DO... |
MIPPA defines ADI services to include diagnostic CT, MRI, and NM, including positron emission tomography (PET). CT is an imaging modality that uses ionizing radiation and computers to produce cross- sectional images of internal organs and body structures. MRI is an imaging modality that uses powerful magnets, radio wav... | MIPPA required that beginning January 1, 2012, suppliers that produce the images for ADI services, such as physician offices and independent diagnostic testing facilities, be accredited by an organization approved by CMS. MIPPA directed GAO to conduct a preliminary report on the accreditation requirement in 2013 and a ... |
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act established TSA as the federal agency with primary responsibility for securing the nation’s civil aviation system, which includes the screening of all passengers and property transported by commercial passenger aircraft. At the more than 450 TSA-regulated airports in the Uni... | TSA began deploying the SPOT program in fiscal year 2007--and has since spent about $900 million--to identify persons who may pose a risk to aviation security through the observation of behavioral indicators. In May 2010, GAO concluded, among other things, that TSA deployed SPOT without validating its scientific basis ... |
Recognizing the critical need to address the issue of nuclear waste disposal, the Congress enacted the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 to establish a comprehensive policy and program for the safe, permanent disposal of commercial spent fuel and other highly radioactive wastes in one or more mined geologic repositories... | As required by law, the Department of Energy (DOE) has been investigating a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, to determine its suitability for disposing of highly radioactive wastes in a mined geologic repository. If the site is approved, DOE must apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for authorization to cons... |
Investments in IT can enrich people’s lives and improve organizational performance. For example, during the last two decades the Internet has matured from being a means for academics and scientists to communicate with each other to a national resource where citizens can interact with their government in many ways, such... | Planned federal information technology (IT) spending has now risen to at least $81 billion for fiscal year 2012. As GAO has previously reported, although a variety of best practices exists to guide their successful acquisition, federal IT projects too frequently incur cost overruns and schedule slippages while contribu... |
MDA’s mission is to develop and field an integrated and layered Ballistic Missile Defense System to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies, and friends against all ranges of enemy ballistic missiles in all phases of flight. This is challenging, requiring a complex combination of defensive components—spac... | Over the next 5 years, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) expects to invest $49 billion in the BMD system's development and fielding. MDA's strategy is to field new capabilities in 2-year blocks. In January 2006, MDA initiated its second block--Block 2006--to protect against attacks from North Korea and the Middle East. ... |
According to AAR, hazardous materials comprise about 8 percent of commodities shipped by rail in North America—about 2.35 million out of 29.4 million annual carloads shipped in 2015. According to the most recent Bureau of Transportation Statistics data available (2012), railroads ship about 4 percent of the hazardous m... | In November 2012, a train derailed in Paulsboro, New Jersey, releasing about 20,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, a hazardous material. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found, among other issues, that the supplemental information in the train's documents on responding to emergencies involving vinyl chloride... |
The United States is currently undergoing a transition from analog to digital broadcast television, often referred to as the DTV transition. The transition will enable the government to allocate valuable spectrum from analog broadcast to public safety and other purposes. Further, digital transmission of television sign... | On February 17, 2009, federal law requires all full-power television stations in the United States to cease analog broadcasting and broadcast digital-only transmissions, often referred to as the digital television (DTV) transition. Federal law also requires the National Telecommunications and Information Administration... |
In carrying out LSC’s mission, local legal-service providers (the grant recipients) employ staff attorneys to assist eligible clients in resolving their civil legal problems, often through advice and referral. According to LSC, in a typical year the largest portion of total cases (38 percent) concern family matters, fo... | The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) was created as a private nonprofit to support legal assistance for low-income people to resolve their civil legal matters and relies heavily on federal appropriations. In 2006, LSC distributed most of its $327 million in grants to support such assistance. Effective internal controls... |
US-VISIT is a governmentwide program intended to enhance the security of U.S. citizens and visitors, facilitate legitimate travel and trade, ensure the integrity of the U.S. immigration system, and protect the privacy of our visitors. The scope of the program includes the pre-entry, entry, status, and exit of hundreds ... | The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has established a program--the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)--to collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, on selected foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States. US-VISIT uses these biometric iden... |
GPRA is intended to shift the focus of government decisionmaking, management, and accountability from activities and processes to the results and outcomes achieved by federal programs. New and valuable information on the plans, goals, and strategies of federal agencies has been provided since federal agencies began imp... | The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan have the potential for focusing the department's missions, but these efforts are compromised in several areas. USDA's goals and measures are too general to give insight into what USDA is actually trying to a... |
In July 2007, we reported on weaknesses in the Navy’s business case for the Ford-class aircraft carrier and focused mainly on the lead ship, CVN 78. We noted that costs and labor hours were underestimated and critical technologies were immature. Today, all of this has come to pass in the form of cost growth, testing de... | The Navy set ambitious goals for the Ford-class program, including an array of new technologies and design features that were intended to improve combat capability and create operational efficiencies, all while reducing acquisition and life-cycle costs. The lead ship, CVN 78, has experienced significant cost growth wit... |
Commuter demand and congestion between New Jersey and New York City across the Hudson River is projected to increase as the limited passenger rail infrastructure continues to age, highlighting the need for improvements to the trans-Hudson commuter rail system into Manhattan. Planning agencies have forecasted that, fuel... | Studies have estimated that transit travel demand between New Jersey and Manhattan will increase by 38 percent by 2030. The Access to the Regions Core commuter rail project was designed to help meet that rising demand. In October 2010, the governor of New Jersey, citing potential cost growth and the states fiscal con... |
For over 200 years, the Postal Service and its predecessor have operated with a statutorily imposed monopoly restricting the private delivery of letters. The monopoly was created by Congress as a revenue protection measure to enable the postal system to fulfill its mandate of providing uniform rates for at least one cl... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the effects of certain statutory restrictions on private letter mail delivery. GAO found that: (1) the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) believes that private express statutes are necessary to protect its mail volume and revenue base; (2) it is difficult to enforce the statute... |
There are over 3,400 state and local pension systems in the United States, according to the most recent Census Bureau Survey of State and Local Public-Employee Retirement Systems. Most large plans are state plans, and more state and local employees are covered by state- administered plans than by locally-administered p... | Over 27 million employees and beneficiaries are covered by state and local government pension plans. However, the recent economic downturn and associated budget challenges confronting state and local governments pose some questions as to the sustainability of these plans, and what changes, if any, state and local gover... |
Before 1996, Medicare program integrity activities were subsumed under Medicare’s general administrative budget and performed, along with general claims processing functions, by insurance companies under contract with CMS, which led to certain problems. The level of funding available for program integrity activities wa... | Since 1990, GAO has considered Medicare at high risk for fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The Medicare Integrity Program (MIP) provides funds to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS--the agency that administers Medicare--to safeguard over $300 billion in program payments made on behalf of its benefi... |
Under DOD’s supply chain materiel management policy, the secondary item inventory is to be sized to minimize DOD’s investment while providing the inventory needed to support both peacetime and wartime requirements. Management and oversight of Army inventory is a responsibility shared between the Offices of the Secretar... | Since 1990, GAO has designated the Department of Defense's (DOD) inventory management as a high-risk area. It is critical that the military services effectively and efficiently manage DOD's secondary inventory to ensure that the warfighter is supplied with the right items at the right time and to maintain good stewards... |
To obtain local views on the usefulness of federal assistance, we conducted structured interviews with 37 members of local law enforcement agencies that participated in the principal federal anti-violent crime task force for metropolitan Los Angeles. We interviewed 3 levels of employees within the local law enforcement... | GAO reviewed how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other federal agencies worked with local law enforcement agencies to target gangs in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. GAO found that: (1) FBI provided assistance to local law enforcement in the Los Angeles area through the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Fo... |
Each year, we issue well over 1,000 audit and evaluation products to assist the Congress in its decision making and oversight responsibilities. As one indicator of the degree to which the Congress relies on us for information and analysis, GAO officials were called to testify 151 times before committees of the Congress... | The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) is an independent, professional, nonpartisan agency in the legislative branch that is commonly referred to as the investigative arm of Congress. Congress created GAO in the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 to assist in the discharge of its core constitutional powers--t... |
Argentina President Carlos Menem came into office in 1989 with the broad goal of restructuring the economy and reducing both annual fiscal deficits and the external public debt. The public sector was extensive at that time and most public enterprises were money losers. Publicly owned enterprises had historically been o... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined privatization in Argentina, focusing on how Argentina: (1) values and prepares assets for sale; and (2) uses sales proceeds. GAO noted that: (1) Argentina's privatization process is less centrally controlled than other countries and uses special privatization committees... |
The RLA was passed in 1926, in part to establish a legal framework for avoiding disruptions in rail service and interstate commerce. The RLA was later amended to extend its provisions to the airline industry, and also to establish NMB as a federal agency to administer the law. According to NMB, the original bill was dr... | A small federal agency, NMB facilitates labor relations in two key transportation sectors--railroads and airlines-- through mediation and arbitration of labor disputes and overseeing union elections. Established under the Railway Labor Act, NMB's primary responsibility is to prevent work stoppages in these critical ind... |
Our reviews of the SBIR program between 1985 and 1999 found numerous examples of program successes such as the following: Funding high-quality research. Throughout the life of the program, awards have been based on technical merit and are generally of good quality. Encouraging widespread competition. The SBIR program s... | The Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982 established the Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR) to stimulate technological innovation, use small businesses to meet federal research and development (R&D) needs, foster and encourage participation by minority and disadvantaged persons in technologi... |
We assessed the GCSS-Army schedule that supported DOD’s December 2012 full deployment decision using the GAO Schedule Guide to determine whether it was comprehensive, well-constructed, credible, and controlled. To assess the schedule, we obtained and reviewed documentation, including the integrated master plan, work br... | DOD officials have stated that the implementation of enterprise resource planning systems, such as GCSS-Army, is critical to the department's goal of correcting financial management deficiencies and ensuring that its financial statements are validated as audit ready by September 30, 2017, as called for by the National ... |
The federal government has taken a number of steps to combat threats posed by drug cartels, including potential crime and violence directed against U.S. citizens and government interests. For example, in 2008, the U.S. government began a program—known as the Mérida Initiative—to provide Mexico and the countries of Cent... | Drug-related homicides have dramatically increased in recent years in Mexico along the nearly 2,000-mile border it shares with the United States. U.S. federal, state, and local officials have stated that the prospect of crime, including violence, spilling over from Mexico into the southwestern United States is a concer... |
From an insurance standpoint, measuring and predicting terrorism risk is challenging. According to standard insurance theory, four major principles contribute to the ability of insurers to estimate and cover future losses: the law of large numbers, measurability, fortuity, and the size of the potential losses. When det... | Congress passed TRIA in 2002 to help ensure the availability and affordability of terrorism insurance for commercial property and casualty policyholders after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. TRIA was amended and extended twice and currently will expire at the end of 2014. Under TRIA, Treasury administers a p... |
Through WIA, the Congress sought to replace the fragmented training and employment system that existed under the previous workforce system. Among other things, WIA streamlined program services at one-stop centers, offered job seekers the ability to make informed choices about training, and provided for private-sector l... | A competitive national economy depends on providing individuals with marketable skills and employers with access to qualified workers. In the past, the nation's job training system was fragmented and did not serve job seekers or employers well. The Workforce Investment Act in 1998 created a system that links employment... |
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service manage most of the nation's 655 million acres of federal land. BLM is responsible for about 264 million acres of public lands, managed by 12 state offices that are responsible for supervising the operations of 175 field offices nationwide. The Forest Service is... | The Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service manage more than 41 million acres of federal lands in Oregon and Washington, including 122,000 miles of roads that use culverts--pipes or arches that allow water to flow from one side of the road to the other. Many of the streams that pass through these culverts are ... |
EPA’s enforcement program depends heavily upon inspections by regional or state enforcement staff as the primary means of detecting violations and evaluating overall facility compliance. Thus, the quality and the content of the agency’s and states’ inspections, and the number of inspections undertaken to ensure adequat... | The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces the nation's environmental laws and regulations through its Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). While OECA provides overall direction on enforcement policies and occasionally takes direct enforcement action, many enforcement responsibilities are carr... |
Most Medicare beneficiaries receive their care on an FFS basis, with providers submitting claims for payment for each service provided. In addition to the Part A/B and DME MACs that process and pay claims, CMS also employs other types of contractors to specifically address fraud and improper payments. These include: Re... | CMS has estimated improper Medicare fee-for-service payments of $29.6 billion in fiscal year 2012. To help prevent improper payments, CMS has implemented national MUEs, which limit the amount of a service that is paid when billed by a provider for a beneficiary on the same day. The limits for certain services that have... |
The tens of thousands of individuals who responded to the September 11, 2001, attack on the WTC experienced the emotional trauma of the disaster and were exposed to a noxious mixture of dust, debris, smoke, and potentially toxic contaminants, such as pulverized concrete, fibrous glass, particulate matter, and asbestos.... | Six years after the attack on the World Trade Center (WTC), concerns persist about health effects experienced by WTC responders and the availability of health care services for those affected. Several federally funded programs provide screening, monitoring, or treatment services to responders. GAO has previously report... |
Some of the statutory rulemaking requirements that Congress has enacted over the years apply to all agencies, but some of the requirements are applicable only to certain agencies. Some of these requirements have been in place for more than 50 years, but most have been implemented within the past 20 years or so. The mos... | This testimony discusses the procedural and analytical rulemaking requirements applicable to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other federal regulatory agencies. GAO found that the rulemaking requirements that have been placed on OSHA and other agencies are voluminous and require a wide range... |
In general, a quality product is one that is delivered on time, performs as expected, and can be depended on to perform when needed, at an affordable cost. This applies whether the customer is an individual purchasing a simple consumer good, such as a television, a hospital purchasing medical imaging equipment to help ... | A Senate report related to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 asked GAO to compare quality management practices used by the Department of Defense (DOD) and its contractors to those used by leading commercial companies and make suggestions for improvement. To do this, GAO (1) determined the impa... |
To determine what factors contributed to the failure of ASPR’s procurement effort with VaxGen, we interviewed officials from HHS’s components—ASPR, NIAID, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, we reviewed documents these agencies provided. We visi... | The anthrax attacks in September and October 2001 highlighted the need to develop medical countermeasures. The Project BioShield Act of 2004 authorized the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to procure countermeasures for a Strategic National Stockpile. However, in December 2006, HHS terminated the contract ... |
The five principal emissions from coal power plants are carbon dioxide, SO, particulate matter, and mercury. For the purposes of this report, we are focusing on power plants’ emissions of SO, NO, and particulate matter since they, along with ozone, are the focus of a rule currently proposed by EPA—the Transport Rule—wh... | Tall smokestacks--stacks of 500 feet or higher, which are primarily used at coal power plants--release air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) high into the atmosphere to help limit the impact of these emissions on local air quality. Tall stacks can also increase the distance these polluta... |
The mission of IRS, a bureau within the Department of the Treasury, is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying the federal tax laws with integrity and fairness to all. In carrying out its mission, IRS annually collects over $2 tri... | IRS relies extensively on IT systems to annually collect more than $2 trillion in taxes, distribute more than $300 billion in refunds, and carry out its mission of providing service to America's taxpayers in meeting their tax obligations. For fiscal year 2016, IRS planned to spend approximately $2.7 billion for IT inve... |
Aquatic invasive species can be found in all U.S. states and territories. They can enter and travel in aquatic habitats by several common pathways, including through the discharge of ships’ ballast water; hull fouling, such as barnacle growth, on commercial vessels and recreational boats; and accidental or intentional ... | Aquatic invasive species—harmful, nonnative plants, animals, and microorganisms living in aquatic habitats—damage ecosystems or threaten commercial, agricultural, and recreational activities. The Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 created the Task Force and required it to develop an aquat... |
ACF’s Children’s Bureau administers and oversees federal funding to states for child welfare services under Titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act, and states and counties provide these child welfare services, either directly or indirectly through contracts with private agencies. Among other activities, ACF st... | In 2001, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) implemented the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) to increase states' accountability. The CFSR uses states' data profiles and statewide assessments, as well as interviews and an on-site case review, to meas... |
The BMDS is designed to counter ballistic missiles of all ranges—short, medium, intermediate, and intercontinental. Short-range ballistic missiles have a range of less than 621 miles; medium-range ballistic missiles have a range from 621 to1,864 miles; intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range from 1,864 to 3,... | Since 2002 MDA has spent approximately $90 billion to provide protection from enemy ballistic missiles by developing battle management systems, sensors that identify incoming threats, and missiles to intercept them. MDA plans to spend about $8 billion per year through 2017. For nearly a decade, we have reported on MDA'... |
contain 50,000 or more people. time in 28 years, in part, due to the downturn in the economy and high gasoline prices, before beginning to grow again in 2009. A variety of factors can affect the demand for public transit services, including: Population and demographics. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, from 2000 th... | Demand for public transportation in the United States reached record highs in 2008 and rose in the decade prior to 2008. Increased demand for public transportation can create opportunities and challenges for communities working to meet demand, improve service, and maintain transit systems, while operating within budget... |
The Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 created Amtrak to provide intercity passenger rail service because existing railroads found such service unprofitable. Amtrak operates a 22,000-mile network, primarily over freight railroad tracks, providing service to 46 states and the District of Columbia. (See fig. 1.) Amtrak o... | The Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 created Amtrak to provide intercity passenger rail service because existing railroads found such service unprofitable. Amtrak operates a 22,000-mile network, primarily over freight railroad tracks, providing service to 46 states and the District of Columbia. Most of Amtrak's passe... |
Although the sanctions curbed the Iraq regime’s ability to advance its military and weapons of mass destruction programs, the UN established a weak control environment for the Oil for Food program at its beginning due to compromises it made with the Iraq government and neighboring states. For example, the UN allowed Ir... | In 1996, the United Nations (UN) and Iraq began the Oil for Food program after sanctions were imposed in 1990. The program was intended to allow the Iraqi government to sell oil to pay for humanitarian goods and prevent it from obtaining goods for military purposes. More than $67 billion in oil revenue was obtained thr... |
Since the 1960’s, the federal government has provided resources to support the education of students with limited English proficiency. Federal funding has supported school districts, colleges and universities, and research centers to assist students in attaining English proficiency and in meeting academic standards. In... | Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA) designates federal funds to support the education of students with limited English proficiency and provides for formula-based grants to states. This report describes the data the Education Department used to distribute Title III funds and the implications of dat... |
SPAWAR is one of the Navy’s three major acquisition commands. SPAWAR provides information technology systems to naval forces on land, at sea, and in space and integrates all information products, including those developed by other systems commands and agencies outside the Navy. The SPAWAR workforce is over 7,300 person... | During its review of the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Command's fiscal year 2001 budget request, GAO found that many information technology systems were being procured and fielded in relatively large quantities--sometimes exceeding 50 percent of the total--during low-rate initial production and befor... |
In November 2002, Congress passed and the President signed the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA), which was later amended by IPERA and the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 (IPERIA). IPIA, as amended, requires federal executive branch agencies to (1) review all programs a... | IPERA calls for executive branch agencies' IGs to annually determine whether their agencies complied with six criteria related to the estimation of improper payments, including conducting risk assessments, publishing corrective action plans, and meeting annual reduction targets. In the last 2 fiscal years, total estima... |
DOD has not effectively managed important aspects of the requirements for DIMHRS (Personnel/Pay) to ensure that they are complete, correct, and unambiguous. Requirements are the foundation for designing, developing, and testing a system. Incorrect or incomplete requirements have been commonly identified as a cause of s... | The Department of Defense (DOD) has long-standing problems with its information technology (IT) systems supporting military personnel and pay. To address these problems, DOD initiated the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System (DIMHRS) program, which is to provide a joint, integrated, standardized military ... |
Most VA major construction projects are for VHA medical facilities. To determine potential new major construction projects, VHA officials identify gaps in health service during their strategic planning process, and VHA officials in field offices develop capital needs plans to fill these service gaps. These capital plan... | The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates one of the largest health care systems in the country. As of August 2009, VA's Veterans Health Administration (VHA) had 32 major ongoing construction projects with an estimated total cost of about $6.1 billion and average cost per project of about $191 million. Some of t... |
VBA’s business environment encompasses many difficult challenges. These include a backlog of disability claims, improving a number of relationships with other organizations that affect how VBA does its work, and responding to its customers who are frustrated about the long-standing need to improve the accuracy and time... | GAO discussed the Veterans Benefits Administration's (VBA) efforts to modernize and streamline its business processes. GAO noted that: (1) VBA is experiencing information technology acquisition problems and serious management and technical weaknesses; (2) VBA needs to adopt a clearly articulated business strategy to so... |
According to March 2015 CPS data, an estimated 526,000 workers were employed in the animal slaughtering and processing industry. There were about 5,350 meat and poultry plants in the United States as of September 2015, of which around 1,100 were slaughter and processing plants, according to the USDA (see fig. 1). In 20... | DOL is responsible for gathering data on workplace injuries and illnesses, including those in the meat and poultry industry, where workers may experience injuries and illnesses such as sprains, cuts, burns, amputations, repetitive motion injuries, and skin disorders. GAO was asked to examine developments since its 2005... |
Subsets and Splits
Short Government Reports Sample
Retrieves short reports or summaries from the training dataset, which helps identify potentially incomplete or truncated entries that might need data quality improvement.
Short Government Reports Filtering
Retrieves short reports from the training dataset, providing basic filtering but offering limited analytical value beyond simple length constraints.