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GPRAMA specifies that APGs are to have ambitious targets that can be achieved within a 2-year period; a clearly identified agency official, known as a goal leader, who is responsible for achieving the goal; clearly defined quarterly milestones; and interim quarterly targets for performance measures, if more frequent up... | GAOs work has repeatedly shown that federal agencies must coordinate better to achieve common outcomes. The act established a more crosscutting and integrated approach to achieving results and improving performance, including a requirement that agencies identified by OMB establish APGs. The act directs GAO to review i... |
The legal requirements of CPFA, particularly the required level of CPFA shipped on U.S.-flag vessels, have changed over time. Figure 1 shows key legislation related to CPFA. USAID, USDA, and MARAD are the primary agencies involved in CPFA. USAID administers Title II of the Food for Peace Act, which responds to emergenc... | Cargo preference laws require that a percentage of U.S. government cargo, including international food aid, be transported on U.S.-flag vessels according to geographic area of destination and vessel type. One intention is to ensure a merchant marine—both vessels and mariners—capable of providing sealift capacity in tim... |
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: I am pleased to be here today to assist the Committee in its review of the draft strategic plans of the five federal regulators of depository institutions. These consultations are a step in implementing the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA or Results Act) w... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the draft strategic plans of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and the National Credit Union Administration. GAO noted that: (1) on the b... |
To help fulfill its role as the nation’s health protection agency, HHS’s CDC conducts and supports research, including prevention research. Prevention research includes applied public health research that develops and evaluates health promotion and disease prevention and control strategies that are community- and popul... | CDC, an agency within HHS, created the SIP program in 1993 as a supplemental funding mechanism to support health promotion and disease-prevention research being done at its PRCs. Currently, there are 26 PRCs. In fiscal years 2014 through 2016, CDC awarded more than $40 million for SIPs. SIP topics vary from year to yea... |
Defense’s civilian personnel community provides Defense managers with the personnel management services and support needed to accomplish their missions, including recruitment, job classification, position management, training, career development, and benefits administration. Traditionally, the military services and Def... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to reduce the costs associated with civilian personnel management, focusing on: (1) how DOD determines the number and locations for civilian personnel regional service centers and why is there a wide disparity in the number of r... |
The CMIA is critically important to the federal government’s efforts to promote accountability in the use of federal grant funds. Currently administered by Treasury’s Financial Management Service (FMS), the CMIA is the cornerstone of cash management policy for federal grants to the states. Specifically, the CMIA requir... | A key provision of the Cash Management Improvement Act (CMIA) of 1990 (P.L. 101-453), as amended, requires the federal government and the states to minimize the time between transfer of federal funds and payments made by states for federal grant program purposes. Concerns were expressed by representatives of local gove... |
In March 2012, OMB launched the PortfolioStat initiative which required agencies to conduct an annual review of their commodity IT portfolio to, among other things, achieve savings by identifying opportunities to consolidate investments or move to shared services. For PortfolioStat, OMB defined broad categories of comm... | The federal government is expected to spend more than $90 billion on IT in fiscal year 2017. This includes a variety of software applications supporting agencies' enterprise needs. Since 2013, OMB has advocated the use of application rationalization. This is a process by which an agency streamlines its portfolio of sof... |
Each of the four major federal land management agencies manages its lands and the resources they contain on the basis of its legislatively mandated responsibilities. In general, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service manage their lands primarily for noncommodity uses. The Fish and Wildlife Service ... | GAO discussed ways to improve the management of federal lands. GAO noted that: (1) the responsibilities of the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Forest Service have become increasingly similar; (2) federal land management has become increasingly complex due to the differen... |
American Samoa lies 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii and consists of seven islands, covering a land area of 76 square miles (see fig. 1). In 2003, it had a population of 57,844. The main island of Tutuila has very little level land and is mostly rugged, with four high peaks, the tallest rising over 2,000 feet. Agricultu... | American Samoa, a U.S. territory, relies on federal funding to support government operations and deliver critical services. The Secretary of the Interior has administrative responsibility for coordinating federal policy in the territory. Under the Single Audit Act of 1996, American Samoa is required to perform a yearly... |
Section 619 restrictions on engaging in proprietary trading or investing in or sponsoring hedge funds or private equity funds apply to banking entities, which the section defines to include any insured depository institution, company that controls an insured depository institution, company treated as a bank holding com... | In addition to trading on behalf of customers, banks and their affiliates have conducted proprietary trading, using their own funds to profit from short-term price changes in asset markets. To restrain risk-taking and reduce the potential for federal support for banking entities, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and C... |
The Social Security Act of 1935 authorized the SSA to establish a recordkeeping system to help manage the Social Security program, and resulted in the creation of the SSN. Through a process known as “enumeration,” unique numbers are created for every person as a work and retirement benefit record for the Social Securit... | In 1936, the Social Security Administration (SSA) established the Social Security Number (SSN) to track worker's earnings for social security benefit purposes. However, the SSN is also used for a myriad of non-Social Security purposes. Today, the SSN is used, in part, as a verification tool for services such as child s... |
Lebanon is a small, religiously diverse country on the Mediterranean Sea that borders Israel and Syria. (See fig. 1.) Religious tensions among Lebanon’s Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Shiite Muslims, among others, along with an influx of Palestinian refugees into Lebanon, have fueled Lebanon’s internal strife ... | Following Syrias withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005 and war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, U.S. agencies increased their allocations of security assistance for Lebanon from $3 million in 2005 to about $28 million in 2006. This assistance included training and equipment funded and implemented by State or DOD for th... |
Most federal student financial aid programs are authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Federal student financial assistance exceeded $30 billion in academic year 1993-94, and most assistance came from two programs—the Pell grant and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) programs. The Pell grant program, whic... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how student financial aid affects low-income students' dropout rates, focusing on whether: (1) the timing of loan and grant aid influences students' dropout rates; and (2) restructuring federal grant programs could improve low-income students' dropout rates. GAO found t... |
Primarily through its telephone, website, and, to a much lesser extent, face-to-face operations, IRS provides tax law and account assistance, limited tax return preparation assistance, tax forms and publications, and outreach and education. Taxpayers can call IRS to speak directly with a customer service representative... | The tax filing season is an enormous undertaking in which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) processes millions of tax returns, issues billions of dollars in refunds to taxpayers, corrects taxpayers' errors, and provides service to millions of taxpayers through telephones, website, and face-to-face assistance. Among ot... |
Under tax law, married couples who file joint tax returns are treated as a single unit, which means that each spouse becomes individually responsible for paying the entire amount of the tax associated with his or her joint return. Accordingly, an “innocent spouse” can be held liable for tax deficiencies assessed after ... | By law, married persons who file joint tax returns are each fully responsible for the accuracy of the tax return and for the full tax liability. This is true even though only one taxpayer may have earned the wages or income shown on the tax return. Under the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Innocent Spousal Program, IR... |
To assess IRS’ methodology, we discussed the methodology with officials in the Financial Analysis Division of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, which was the division responsible for preparing the Compliance Initiatives Report; determined the extent to which IRS’ methodology addressed the concerns we had raise... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Fiscal Year (FY) 1995 Compliance Initiatives Report, focusing on: (1) the methodology IRS used to allocate staff years and revenues between the base enforcement programs and the compliance initiatives; and (2) certain caveats to cons... |
Pursuant to Homeland Security Presidential Directive 6, the Attorney General established TSC in September 2003 to consolidate the government’s approach to terrorism screening and provide for the appropriate and lawful use of terrorist information in screening processes. TSC’s consolidated watch list is the U.S. governm... | The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) maintains a consolidated watch list of known or appropriately suspected terrorists and sends records from the list to agencies to support terrorism-related screening. This testimony discusses (1) standards for including individuals on the list... |
Payments to MA organizations are based on the MA organization’s bid and benchmark and are adjusted for differences in projected and actual enrollment, beneficiary residence, and health status. PPACA changed how the benchmark and rebate are calculated. Payments to MA organizations and the additional benefits that MA org... | MA organizations are entities that contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer one or more private plans as an alternative to the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) program. These MA plans are generally available to all Medicare beneficiaries, although certain types of plans, such as employer ... |
To access the Internet, most residential users dial in to an ISP over a telephone line, although other physical means of access to the Internet— such as through a cable television line—are becoming increasingly common. For a residential customer, the ISP sends the user’s Internet traffic on to the backbone network. To ... | Although most Americans are familiar with Internet service providers that give consumers a pathway, or "on-ramp," to the Internet, few are familiar with Internet backbone providers and backbone networks. At the Internet's core are many high-capacity, long-haul "backbone" networks that route data traffic over long dista... |
St. Elizabeths Hospital is located approximately 2 miles south of the Capitol building and is divided by Martin Luther King, Jr., Ave. into what are known as the west and east campuses. St. Elizabeths began operations in 1855 as the “Government Hospital for the Insane.” During the Civil War, St. Elizabeths was used to ... | The west campus of St. Elizabeths hospital is a unique property that is generally acknowledged to be in poor condition. GAO concludes that a significant sum of money and much work would be needed to prepare the west campus for reuse. This work would include stabilizing and mothballing the buildings for the period of ti... |
VA has departmentwide policy and procedures for convening and conducting AIB investigations. According to VA Handbook 0700, the department’s procedures are intended “to promote effectiveness and uniformity in the conduct and reporting of AIB investigations,” among other things. The procedures outlined in the handbook a... | VA may use an AIB to determine the facts surrounding alleged employee misconduct or potential systemic deficiencies related to VA policies or procedures. AIBs do not determine corrective actions, such as individual disciplinary actions or procedural changes, but AIB investigation results, including evidence, may be use... |
Thorough and comprehensive planning and preparation are crucial to the ultimate cost-effectiveness of any large, long-term project, particularly one with the scope, magnitude, and immutable deadlines of the decennial census. Indeed, the Bureau’s past experience has shown that the lack of proper planning can increase th... | The key to a successful census is meticulous planning as it helps ensure greater cost-effectiveness. However, the 2000 and previous censuses have been marked by poor planning, which unnecessarily raised the costs and risks of those efforts. GAO was asked to (1) review the U.S. Census Bureau's (Bureau) current plans for... |
Individuals diagnosed with ESRD may be influenced by a variety of factors when choosing the type of dialysis to receive. One factor that may influence the individual’s choice of dialysis is the individual’s awareness about the different types of dialysis available. For example, some individuals may not be aware that pe... | Medicare covers dialysis--a process that removes excess fluids and toxins from the bloodstream--for most individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), a condition of permanent kidney failure. Most patients with ESRD receive dialysis in a facility, while some patients with ESRD are trained to self-perform dialysis in... |
DOE’s business model relies on contractors to carry out the bulk of the department’s mission activities through management and operating contracts and other site contracts for operations at DOE-owned facilities, while employing federal officials to set mission objectives and provide contract oversight. This business mo... | The Department of Energy (DOE) relies on contractors to conduct its mission activities. DOE reimburses these contractors for allowable costs, including the costs of providing pension and other postretirement benefits, such as retiree health care plans. Since the economic downturn, DOE has had to devote significantly mo... |
The Census Bureau counts the U.S. population once every decade through its decennial census. For the years in between, the Bureau estimates states’ populations from annual data on changes in births, deaths, and net migration (including net movements of military personnel). These annual population estimates are called p... | In fiscal year 2000, about $283 billion in federal grant money was distributed to state and local governments by formula, about half of it through four formula grant programs--Medicaid, Foster Care Title IV-E, Adoption Assistance, and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). States receive money based in part on factors... |
State’s Foreign Service promotion process is governed by the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), the Foreign Service Act, and the Procedural Precepts for the Foreign Service Selection Boards—referred to as the procedural precepts. The procedural precepts are negotiated each year between State and the American Foreign Service... | States Foreign Service promotion process follows an up-or-out principle, under which failure to gain promotion to higher rank within a specified time leads to mandatory retirement for personnel in certain occupational categories. States OIG and the Foreign Service Grievance Board identified procedural concerns relati... |
In managing federal lands, the Forest Service and BLM often contract for services such as road maintenance, forest thinning, and other activities. They also frequently contract to sell forest resources such as timber or firewood. Traditionally, these contracts have been executed separately— service contracts have gener... | The Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have stewardship contracting authority, which allows the agencies to trade goods--such as timber--for services (e.g., thinning forests or rangelands) that the agencies would otherwise pay for with appropr... |
From its inception, the process for selecting Medicare claims administration contractors was stipulated by Congress and differed from the process for awarding most other federal contracts in that, among other things, the Medicare contractors were not selected through a competitive process. Before Medicare was enacted i... | Since the enactment of Medicare in 1965, contractors have played a vital role in the administration of the program. The original FFS program was designed so that the federal government contracted with health insurers or similar private organizations experienced in handling physician and hospital claims to process and p... |
Inhalation therapy consists of drugs, including bronchodialators such as albuterol sulfate, taken through a nebulizer to alleviate severe respiratory problems. In the Medicare population, this therapy is primarily used to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which includes diseases such as asthma, emphysema, an... | The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) revised the payment formula for most of the outpatient drugs, including inhalation therapy drugs, covered under Medicare part B. Under the revised formula, effective 2005, Medicare's payment is intended to be closer to acquisition costs. T... |
As of July 2000, about 6.2 million people—or approximately 16 percent of Medicare's 39 million beneficiaries—were enrolled in Medicare+Choice plans. These plans receive a fixed monthly payment for each beneficiary, regardless of what an individual enrollee's care actually costs. Higher costs reduce a plan's profits or ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed health care plans' withdrawal from the Medicare Choice program, focusing on the: (1) geographic distribution and the distribution among plans of enrollees affected by the recent plan withdrawals; (2) factors associated with plans that terminated or reduced their partici... |
SPOT-ES comprises five systems: unclassified and classified versions of the SPOT database, unclassified and classified versions of the Total Operational Picture Support System (TOPSS) analytic and reporting tool, and the JAMMS personnel-location tracking tool. Figure 1 illustrates the five systems. DOD guidance provide... | SPOT-ES contains data on almost 1 million contractor personnel who have supported DOD, State, and USAID in contingency operations. Also, USAID's GLAAS provides data, such as award value, for reports to Congress on contract support. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 mandated that GAO review the... |
In 1995, VA began transforming its delivery and management of health care to expand access to care and increase efficiency. As part of this transformation VA decentralized decision-making and budgeting authority to 22 Veterans Integrated Service Networks, which became responsible for managing all VA health care. The ne... | The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) could save millions of dollars by systematically consolidating food production, employing Veterans Canteen Service workers to provide inpatient food services, and using competitive sourcing. VA already has experience in implementing these options at several locations, although VA... |
In our April 2013 report, we found that costs increased and schedules were delayed for all four of VA’s largest medical-facility construction projects, when comparing November 2012 construction project data with the cost and schedule estimates first submitted to Congress. Since our 2013 report, these projects have expe... | The VA operates one of the nation's largest health care delivery systems. In April 2013, GAO reported that VA was managing the construction of 50 major medical-facility projects at a cost of more than $12 billion. This statement discusses VA construction management issues, specifically, (1) the extent to which the cost... |
In May 2001, the FBI initiated a major IT upgrade project known as Trilogy. Trilogy consisted of three parts: (1) the Information Presentation Component (IPC) to upgrade FBI’s computer hardware and software, (2) the Transportation Network Component (TNC) to upgrade the FBI’s communication network, and (3) the User Appl... | The FBI has spent over $900 million on the Trilogy and Sentinel information technology (IT) projects intended to provide FBI with an upgraded IT infrastructure and an automated case management system to support FBI agents and analysts. In February 2006 and July 2008, GAO reported on significant internal control weaknes... |
Older industrial U.S. cities that have experienced steady, long-term population declines and job losses, called legacy cities, also have diminished revenues and ability to provide services, such as drinking water and wastewater services, according to recent studies. These cities are largely scattered across the Midwest... | Many midsize and large cities throughout the United States, including the Midwest and Northeast, have lost a substantial percentage of their population. These cities face the challenge of a corresponding decline in utility revenues from a loss of ratepayers, which makes it difficult to address their water infrastructur... |
VHA oversees VA’s health care system, which includes 153 VAMCs organized into 21 VISNs. Each VISN is charged with the day-to-day management of the VAMCs within its network. VA Central Office decentralized its budgetary, planning, and decision-making functions to the VISN offices in an effort to improve accountability a... | Veterans diagnosed with end-stage renal diseasea condition of permanent kidney failurerepresent one of the most resource-intensive patient populations at VA. These veterans are often prescribed dialysis, which is a life-saving and relatively expensive medical procedure that removes excess fluids and toxins from the b... |
Our updates were limited to reviewing certain publically available information, such as the most recent strategic plan released by the IACC. spectrum of adults with autism. Funding autism research on the same topic may be appropriate and necessary—for example, for purposes of replicating or corroborating results—but in... | Autism—a developmental disorder involving communication and social impairment—is an important public health concern. From fiscal years 2008 through 2012, 12 federal agencies awarded at least $1.4 billion to support autism research and other autism-related activities. The Combating Autism Act directed the IACC to coordi... |
NQF is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 that fosters agreement on national standards for measurement and public reporting of health care performance data. Its membership includes more than 400 organizations that represent multiple sectors of the health care system, including providers, consumers, and resear... | The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enter into a 4-year contract with an entity to perform five duties related to health care quality measurement and authorized $40 million from the Medicare Trust Funds for the contract. ... |
Historically, several DOE offices—including Defense Programs and the Office of Energy Research, as well as EM—have funded projects to develop innovative technologies for cleaning up nuclear waste. Within EM, innovative technology projects have been funded by OST, the Office of Waste Management, the Office of Environmen... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined how the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) is managing its technology development program. GAO found that: (1) EM has not coordinated its technology development activities among its program offices; (2) there is no comprehensive listing... |
In 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration was created by executive order to make loans to electrify rural America. RUS was established by the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to replace this agency and now administers the electricity program. It is located i... | The Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) makes loans and provides loan guarantees to improve electric service to rural areas. Beyond guaranteeing loans, under a yet-to-be-implemented provision of the 2002 Farm Bill, RUS is also to guarantee the bonds and notes that lenders use to raise funds for makin... |
DOD annually spends about $15 billion—or about 6 percent of its $243 billion fiscal year 1996 budget—on depot maintenance work that involves the repair, overhaul, modification, and upgrading of aircraft, ships, ground vehicles, and other equipment. Over $4 billion is spent on Air Force systems and equipment. Most of th... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Air Force's plans to privatize-in-place depot maintenance workloads at the Sacramento and San Antonio air logistics centers, focusing on: (1) the impact on excess depot capacity and operating costs at the remaining defense depots; (2) the cost-effectiveness of plann... |
CMS, an agency within HHS, is responsible for much of the federal government’s multi-billion-dollar payments for health care, primarily through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Medicare—the nation’s largest health insurance program—covers about 40 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries. Medicaid is a state-admin... | Medicare has paid higher than market rates for various medical equipment and supplies and often considerably higher than provider acquisition costs for Medicare-covered outpatient drugs. Congress has enacted a series of legislative changes affecting payment methods and payment adjustment authority for medical equipment... |
Thorough and comprehensive planning is crucial to the success of any large, long-term project, especially one with the cost, complexity, and high stakes of the decennial census. Indeed, the Bureau’s past experience has shown that the lack of proper planning can increase the costs and risks of downstream operations. Pas... | Rigorous planning is key to a successful census as it helps ensure greater effectiveness and efficiency. The U.S. Census Bureau (Bureau) estimates the 2010 Census will cost around $11.3 billion, which would make it the most expensive census in our country's history, even after adjusting for inflation. GAO was asked to ... |
A primary goal of the U.S. national drug control strategy is to reduce the amount of cocaine entering the United States. In November 1993, the executive branch issued a counternarcotics policy for cocaine in the Western Hemisphere. The strategy called for, among other things, a controlled shift in emphasis from the tra... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed drug trafficking activities in the Caribbean, focusing on: (1) the activities' nature in the transit zone, particularly in the Eastern Caribbean; (2) host nation impediments to an effective regional control strategy; (3) U.S. agencies' capabilities to interdict drug tra... |
Generally, HCFA considers transportation costs to be part of physicians’ practice expense for a service under Medicare’s physician fee schedule. For example, physicians do not receive separate transportation payments when they visit Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes. However, this policy is not followed when it c... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) revised payment policies would affect Medicare beneficiaries and program costs, focusing on the: (1) Medicare recipients, places of service, and providers who might be affected most; (2) number of services that would... |
As shown in figure 1, of the four insular areas addressed in this report, three are located in the Pacific—American Samoa, CNMI, and Guam—and one is located in the Caribbean—the USVI. Each of these insular areas has its own unique culture and historical relationship with the United States. See appendices V, VI, VII, an... | American Samoa is the only populated U.S. insular area that does not have a federal court. Congress has granted the local High Court federal jurisdiction for certain federal matters, such as specific areas of maritime law. GAO was asked to conduct a study of American Samoa's system for addressing matters of federal law... |
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), an agency of the Department of the Interior, collected about $2.5 billion in royalties for gas sold from leases on federal lands and about $1.6 billion in royalties for oil sold from leases on federal lands in fiscal year 1997. There are approximately 22,000 federal oil and gas le... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Minerals Management Service's (MMS) efforts to revise its regulations for valuing oil from federal leases, focusing on: (1) the information used by MMS to justify the need for revising its oil valuation regulations; (2) how MMS has addressed concerns expressed by th... |
Conditions in Cuba—a hard-line Communist state that restricts nearly all political dissent—pose substantial challenges to implementing, monitoring, and evaluating democracy assistance. USAID does not work cooperatively or collaboratively with the Cuban government, as it does in most countries receiving U.S. democracy a... | U.S. law authorizes aid for nonviolent democratic change in Cuba. From 1996-2005, the Department of State (State) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded grants totaling $74 million to support such change. A presidential commission recently recommended increasing funding for these efforts. Thi... |
As we noted in GAO’s strategic plan, the United States and other nations face increasingly diffuse threats. In the future, potential adversaries are more likely to strike vulnerable civilian or military targets in nontraditional ways to avoid direct confrontation with our military forces on the battlefield. The Preside... | The United States now faces increasingly diverse threats that put great destructive power into the hands of small states, groups, and individuals. These threats range from cyber attacks on critical infrastructure to terrorist incidents involving weapons of mass destruction or infectious diseases. Efforts to combat this... |
Greenhouse gases can affect the climate by trapping energy from the sun that would otherwise escape the earth’s atmosphere. Various human and natural activities emit greenhouse gases, with the production and burning of fossil fuels for energy contributing around two-thirds of man-made global emissions in 2005 (see fig.... | Nations that are Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change periodically submit inventories estimating their greenhouse gas emissions. The Convention Secretariat runs a review process to evaluate inventories from 41 "Annex I" nations, which are mostly economically developed nations. The 153 "n... |
The Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service manages about 192 million acres of land—nearly 9 percent of the nation’s total surface area (about the size of California, Oregon, and Washington State combined) and about 30 percent of all federal lands. In fiscal year 1996, revenue generated from the sale or use of resou... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) the efforts by nonfederal land managers to generate revenue or become financially self-sufficient from the sale or use of natural resources on their lands; and (2) legal and other barriers that may preclude the Forest Service from implementing similar efforts on it... |
Historically, before the invention of automated fingerprint identification systems, paper fingerprint cards were used by law enforcement agencies to report arrest information to state repositories and to the FBI. The process was time-consuming, given that the local arresting agency mailed the fingerprint cards to the s... | By positively confirming identifications and linking relevant records of arrests and prosecutions, fingerprint analysis provides a basis for making fundamental criminal justice decisions regarding detention, charging, bail, and sentencing. In 1999, the FBI implemented the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification... |
The radio frequency spectrum is the part of the natural spectrum of electromagnetic radiation lying between the frequency limits of 3 kilohertz (kHz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). Not all spectrum has equal value. The spectrum most highly valued generally consists of frequencies between 225 MHz and 3700 MHz, as these freque... | Demand for spectrum is increasing rapidly with the widespread use of wireless broadband devices and services. However, nearly all usable spectrum has been allocated either by NTIA for federal use or by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for commercial and nonfederal use. Federal initiatives are under way to id... |
As a DHS component, TSA follows the department’s policies and procedures for managing its acquisition programs. DHS has established policies and procedures for acquisition management, test and evaluation, and resource allocation. The department uses these policies and procedures to deliver systems that are intended to ... | Within DHS, TSA is the federal agency with primary responsibility for preventing and defending against terrorist and other threats to domestic transportation systems. From fiscal years 2002 through August 2015, TSA obligated $13.4 billion to acquire security-related technologies such as through the Electronic Baggage S... |
In 1996, only 66 percent of U.S. children younger than 18—47 million— were covered by private health insurance. Most private insurance for children is acquired through a parent’s employer. However, in 1993, almost one-fourth of the workforce worked for an employer that did not cover dependents. In addition, even if emp... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reported on the relationship between health insurance and health care access, focusing on: (1) what effect health insurance has on children's access to health care; (2) whether expanding publicly funded insurance improves their access; and (3) barriers besides lack of insurance ... |
During the 1990s, employers—including small businesses—reported increasing difficulty finding, hiring, training, and retaining employees with the appropriate sets of skills. This problem is due in part to that decade’s unprecedented economic growth and the resulting record low unemployment levels and has been compounde... | Small businesses often have serious difficulty finding skilled employees, upgrading the skills of their existing employees, and identifying strategies to meet future workforce needs. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 seeks to address these workforce development issues and give federal training programs a greater emp... |
Ginnie Mae operates as a unit of HUD and its administrative, staffing, and budgetary decisions are coordinated with HUD. Ginnie Mae is organized into five offices and relies on contractors for many aspects of its work. Contracted functions include certifying new MBS, administering payments to investors, data collection... | The Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) has increased its role in the secondary mortgage market significantly. Ginnie Mae is a wholly owned government corporation in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest of mortgage-backed sec... |
Vanuatu consists of 83 islands spread over hundreds of miles of ocean in the South Pacific, 1,300 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia. About 39 percent of the population is concentrated on the islands of Santo and Efate. Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, is on Efate, and Vanuatu’s only other urban center, Luganville, is o... | In January 2004, Congress established the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) for foreign assistance. Congress has appropriated almost $6 billion to MCC. As of March 2007, MCC had signed almost $3 billion in compacts with 11 countries, including a 5-year, $65.7 million compact with Vanuatu. MCC states that the Vanua... |
Product support refers to the support functions required to field and maintain the readiness and operational capability of major weapon systems, subsystems, and components, including all functions related to a weapon system’s readiness. O&S costs historically account for approximately 70 percent of a weapon system’s to... | DOD spends billions of dollars annually to sustain weapon systems. With the prospect of tighter defense budgets, DOD has placed more attention on controlling total life-cycle costs with initiatives aimed at ensuring that weapon systems are more affordable over the long term. Section 2337 of Title 10, U.S. Code, require... |
Pipelines transport the bulk of natural gas and hazardous liquids in the United States. Specifically, pipelines carry nearly all of the natural gas and about two-thirds of the crude oil and refined oil products. Three primary types of pipelines form a 2.4-million-mile network across the United States. Natural gas trans... | While pipelines are inherently safer to the public than other modes of freight transportation, pipeline accidents involving natural gas and hazardous liquids (such as gasoline) can have serious consequences. For example, a natural gas pipeline ruptured near Carlsbad, New Mexico, in 2000, killed 12 people, and resulted ... |
In its July 1999 Morton decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims ruled that the VA did not have a duty to assist in developing claims unless they were “well-grounded” as required by federal statute. Prior to this court decision, VA policy was to assist claimants in developing a well- grounded claim. This... | The Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 was passed in response to concerns expressed by veterans, veterans service organizations, and Congress over a 1999 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims that held that the VA did not have a duty to assist veterans in developing their claims unless they were... |
Americans rely on wastewater systems to protect public health and the environment. These systems are composed of a network of pipes and pumps that collect wastewater from homes, businesses, and industries and transport it to treatment facilities where it is treated prior to being discharged to surface waters. Historica... | Communities will need hundreds of billions of dollars in coming years to construct and upgrade wastewater infrastructure. Policymakers have proposed a variety of approaches to finance this infrastructure, including the creation of a national infrastructure bank (NIB) and the increased use of privately financed public-p... |
DHS acquisitions support a wide range of missions and investments including ships and aircraft, border surveillance and screening equipment, nuclear detection equipment, and systems to track the department’s financial and human resources. In support of these investments, DHS, in 2003, established an investment review p... | In recent years, GAO has reported on challenges the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has faced in effectively managing major acquisitions, including programs which were deployed before appropriate testing and evaluation (T&E) was completed. In 2009 and 2010 respectively, DHS issued new T&E and acquisition directiv... |
Canada and Mexico are the United States’ first and third largest trading partners, respectively, and most freight between the United States and these countries is transported by truck and rail. Freight trains include bulk freight and intermodal freight. Bulk freight—such as grain, automobiles and component parts, coal,... | About 93 trains a day on average crossed into the continental United States from Canada and Mexico in 2014, according to DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Trains enter and leave the United States through 30 POEs—23 on the northern border and 7 on the southern border. Although international freight rail p... |
FPS was created in 1971 and located within GSA until, under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, it was transferred to DHS and placed within ICE, effective March 1, 2003. Under the act, FPS is authorized to protect the buildings, grounds, and property that are under the control and custody of GSA and the persons on the p... | There is ongoing concern about the security of federal buildings and their occupants. The Federal Protective Service (FPS) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for providing law enforcement and related security services for nearly 9,000 federal buildings under the control and custody of the G... |
Congress created the CTR program in 1991 to help the states of the former Soviet Union secure and eliminate their weapons of mass destruction and prevent their proliferation. Through the CTR program, the United States has supported activities to eliminate nuclear missiles, build a storage facility for nuclear materials... | Section 3611 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 mandates that GAO assess the Department of Defense's (DOD) internal controls for the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program and their effect on the program's execution. In addressing the mandate, we assessed DOD's management and internal co... |
The CNMI consists of 14 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, just north of Guam and 5,500 miles from the U.S. mainland. Most of the CNMI population—53,883 in 2010, according to the U.S. Census—reside on the island of Saipan, with additional residents on the islands of Tinian (3,136) and Rota (2,527). The 1976 covenant... | In November 2009, the United States applied U.S. immigration law to the CNMI, as required by CNRA. To minimize the potential for adverse effects on the CNMI economy, CNRA established a 5-year transition period scheduled to end in 2014. CNRA required DHS to establish a transitional work permit program for foreign worker... |
When MDA was given the mission to develop a global integrated Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), DOD’s intention was for MDA to develop missile defense elements, such as the proposed interceptor and radar sites in Europe, and then transfer the elements to the lead services designated to operate and support them. ... | The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) estimated in 2008 that the potential costs of fielding ballistic missile defenses in Europe would be more than $4 billion through 2015. Planned ballistic missile defenses in Europe are intended to defend the United States, its deployed forces, and its allies against ballistic missile at... |
GPRAMA requires OMB to make publicly available, on a central governmentwide website, a list of all federal programs identified by agencies. For each program, the agency is to provide to OMB for publication: an identification of how the agency defines the term “program,” consistent with OMB guidance, including program a... | GAO's reports over the past 4 years have found more than 90 areas where opportunities exist for the executive branch or Congress to better manage, reduce, or eliminate fragmentation, overlap, and duplication. GPRAMA calls for the creation of a list (inventory) of all federal programs, along with related budget and perf... |
The DATA Act requires OMB and Treasury to establish government-wide financial data standards for the specific items to be reported under the act. These specific items are generally referred to as “data elements.” The standards for these data elements consist of two distinct but related components as described in the te... | The DATA Act directs OMB and Treasury to establish government-wide data standards by May 2015. The act also requires agencies to begin reporting financial spending data using these standards by May 2017 and to post spending data in machine- readable formats by May 2018. This statement is part of a series of products th... |
IHS facilities and their associated CHS programs are located in 12 geographic areas, each overseen by an IHS area office led by an Area Director. Ten of the 12 areas include at least some IHS-operated facilities; these 10 areas oversee local CHS programs in 33 states. IHS headquarters sets CHS program policies and over... | IHS provides health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives. When services are unavailable from IHS, IHS's CHS program may pay for care from external providers. GAO previously reported on challenges regarding the timeliness of CHS payments and the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives who may gain new healt... |
Managed care and fee-for-service (FFS) are two possible models that states use to deliver benefits under their Medicaid programs. Most states provide a combination of these two delivery models, which offer different financial incentives. Nationally, more than half of Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in a managed car... | Medicaid, a federal-state health financing program for low-income and medically needy individuals, covered 65 million beneficiaries at an estimated cost of $508 billion in fiscal year 2014. More than half of Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in managed care plans, a health care delivery model where states contract wi... |
As I have stated in other testimony, Medicare as currently structured is fiscally unsustainable. While many people have focused on the improvement in the HI trust fund’s shorter-range solvency status, the real news is that we now have a more realistic view of Medicare’s long-term financial condition and the outlook is ... | Although the short-term outlook of Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund improved in the last year, Medicare's long-term prospects have worsened. The Medicare Trustee's latest projections, released in March, use more realistic assumptions about health care spending in the years ahead. These latest projections call i... |
The Base Closure Community Redevelopment and Homeless Assistance Act of 1994 (Redevelopment Act), which amended the BRAC statute, established the homeless assistance process for properties on military bases approved for closure after October 25, 1994. The key participants in the current process include DOD’s Office of ... | The 2005 BRAC round resulted in 125 closed bases with over 73,000 acres of surplus property available. The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act, as amended, requires DOD and HUD to assist communities in determining the best reuse of land and facilities, balancing needs of the local economy with those of homeless in... |
The financial statements and accompanying notes present fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, the Foundation’s financial position as of September 30, 2004, and 2003, and the results of its activities and its cash flows for the fiscal years then ended. Howeve... | This report presents our opinion on the financial statements of the Congressional Award Foundation for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2004, and 2003. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Congressional Award Foundation. This report also presents (1) our opinion on the effectiveness of the Found... |
Energy oversees a nationwide network of 40 contractor-operated industrial sites and research laboratories that have historically employed more than 600,000 workers in the production and testing of nuclear weapons. In implementing EEOICPA, the President acknowledged that it had been Energy’s past policy to encourage and... | Subtitle D of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 allows the Department of Energy (Energy) to help its contractors' employees file state workers' compensation claims for illnesses determined by a panel of physicians to be caused by exposure to toxic substances while employed at an... |
Enacted in 1965 as title XIX of the Social Security Act, Medicaid is a federally aided, state-administered medical assistance program. At the federal level, the program is administered by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. Within broad federal ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed California's Medicaid managed care program, focusing on: (1) state oversight of managed care contractors; (2) state plans for expansion; and (3) key issues in implementing the expanded program. GAO found that: (1) California plans a major expansion of its Medi-Cal manag... |
PCASG fund recipients that responded to our October 2008 survey reported that they used PCASG funds to hire or retain health care providers and other staff, add primary care services, and open new sites. (See table 1.) Recipients also said that the PCASG funds helped them improve service delivery and access to care for... | The greater New Orleans area--Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes--continues to face challenges in restoring health care services disrupted by Hurricane Katrina which made landfall in August 2005. In 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the $100 million Primary Care Acce... |
IRCA provided for sanctions against employers who do not follow the employment verification (Form I-9) process. Employers who fail to properly complete, retain, or present for inspection a Form I-9 may face civil or administrative fines ranging from $110 to $1,100 for each employee for whom the form was not properly co... | The opportunity for employment is one of the most important magnets attracting illegal immigrants to the United States. Immigration experts state that strategies to deter illegal immigration require both a reliable employment eligibility verification process and a worksite enforcement capacity to ensure that employers ... |
The Department of Defense (DOD) and Congress have become increasingly concerned that U.S. and allied troops abroad may be attacked by chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons delivered by ballistic missiles. Operation Desert Storm demonstrated that the U.S. military and other allied forces have limited capability again... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) programs to develop laser weapons for missile defense, focusing on: (1) what laser weapons are being considered for missile defense and the coordination among the program offices developing the systems; (2) the status and cost of each s... |
Nearly all health care providers, such as physicians and hospitals, purchase insurance that covers expenses related to medical malpractice claims, including payments to claimants and legal expenses. The most common physician policies provide $1 million of coverage per incident and $3 million of coverage per year. Today... | Over the past several years, large increases in medical malpractice insurance premium rates have raised concerns that physicians will no longer be able to afford malpractice insurance and will be forced to curtail or discontinue providing certain services. Additionally, a lack of profitability has led some large insure... |
This section provides information on the four primary stages of hardrock mining operations, the organizational structure of BLM and the Forest Service, and the agencies’ five-step process for reviewing mine plans. Hardrock mining operations consist of four primary stages—exploration, development, production, and reclam... | The Mining Law of 1872 encouraged development of the West by opening up federal land to exploration, extraction, and development of hardrock minerals such as gold, silver, and copper. Because mining creates the potential for serious health, safety, and environmental hazards, BLM and the Forest Service have processes fo... |
The Department of State has overall responsibility for ensuring that all proposed international agreements are fully consistent with U.S. foreign policy objectives. The Department negotiates and administers government-level S&T agreements, often referred to as “umbrella” or “framework” agreements, between the U.S. gove... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the U.S. government's international science and technology (S&T) agreements that support and encourage international cooperation in research and development, focusing on the: (1) number of international S&T agreements active during fiscal year (FY) 1997; ... |
Dental care is a key component of the health care services provided by the military to active duty servicemembers, and a key benefit provided to those who are eligible to enroll for health care coverage through TRICARE. DHA’s TRICARE Dental Care Office administers and oversees the TRICARE dental care programs. The ADDP... | DOD offers comprehensive health care coverage to millions of beneficiaries through TRICARE, a system of health care that DOD purchases from private insurers to supplement the health care that DOD provides through its military and dental treatment facilities (DTF). Purchased dental services are provided through separate... |
An adequate supply of health care professionals is necessary to ensure access to needed health care services. HRSA estimated that there were approximately 780,000 physicians and 261,000 physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses engaged in patient care in 2010. Part of maintaining an adequate health c... | For over a decade, government, academic, and health professional organizations have projected national shortages of health care professionals, which could adversely affect patients' access to care. However, there is little consensus about the nature and extent of future shortages, partly because of the complexity of cr... |
Historically, electric utilities operated as regulated monopolies and were thus required to provide electricity service to all customers within their power service areas in exchange for exclusive service territories. Two key laws—the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) and the Energy Policy Act of ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed federal electricity activities, focusing on the: (1) federal government's net recurring cost from the electricity-related activities at the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS), the Department of Energy's power marketing administrations (PMA), and t... |
DOD is one of the nation’s largest employers, with more than 1.4 million active-duty personnel (as of March 2011). To fulfill its mission of maintaining national security, DOD must meet its human capital needs by recruiting, retaining, and motivating a large number of qualified individuals, though the requirement for n... | The Senate report to accompany the 2011 Defense authorization bill directed GAO to assess the Department of Defense's (DOD) use of cash incentives to recruit and retain highly qualified individuals for service in the armed forces. This report (1) identifies recent trends in DOD's use of enlistment and reenlistment bonu... |
Puerto Rico, with about 3.6 million residents, is the largest U.S. territory. As a territory, Puerto Rico is subject to congressional authority, although Congress has granted Puerto Rico authority over matters of internal governance. Puerto Rico has held 4 plebiscites intended to determine its preferred status relation... | Puerto Rico has access to many federal programs, and is subject to certain federal tax laws; however, for some programs and for some aspects of tax law, Puerto Rico is treated differently than the states. Options for Puerto Rico's political status include statehood. GAO was asked to review potential fiscal implications... |
Personnel from each of the services utilize a variety of PPE based on factors such as the operational environment, job description or occupation, and commander discretion. For example, Army and Marine Corps ground combat personnel utilize soft and hard body armor designed to protect against specific small arms, fragmen... | Army and Marine Corps ground combat personnel have long worn a variety of PPE such as vests, armor, and helmets to help protect them from operational risks. The two services have documented the advanced protection capabilities of current PPE systems, but identified that the armor contributes to the total load burden—or... |
Helium is an inert element that occurs naturally in gaseous form and has a variety of uses because of its unique physical and chemical characteristics. For example, helium has the lowest melting and boiling points of any element, and as the second lightest element, gaseous helium is much lighter than air. Certain natur... | Helium is a key nonrenewable resource with a variety of uses. The federal government maintains an underground reservoir near Amarillo, Texas, for the storage of both federally owned helium and helium owned by private companies. The Helium Stewardship Act of 2013 establishes a phased process for the privatization of the... |
The growth rate of crude oil and natural gas demand in the United States has outpaced the growth rate of the country’s crude oil and natural gas production over the last 20 years. This widening gap is projected to accelerate in the future. As shown in figure 1, EIA forecasts that this trend for crude oil will continue ... | Rising oil prices, resulting from growth in energy consumption by rapidly developing Asian nations and by most industrialized nations, have increased concern about competition over oil and natural gas resources. In particular, Congress expressed interest in how the United States participates in energy cooperation throu... |
The General Schedule (GS) is the federal government’s primary pay and classification system for white-collar employees. Under this system, federal employees are paid according to governmentwide rules and procedures, and federal positions are classified according to the difficulty and responsibility of the work performe... | In 2004, the Department of Defense (DOD) began implementing the National Security Personnel System (NSPS)--a human capital system for DOD civilians. NSPS significantly redesigned the way DOD civilians are hired, compensated, and promoted. Pub. L. No. 110-181 mandated that GAO conduct reviews of the NSPS performance man... |
According to HHS, widespread use of health information technology could improve the quality of care received by patients and reduce health care costs. One such technology, electronic prescribing, can be used, for example, to electronically transmit a prescription or prescription-related information between a health car... | Prescribing medications and filling those prescriptions increasingly relies on the electronic collection of individuals health information and its exchange among health care providers, pharmacies, and other parties. While this can enhance efficiency and accuracy, it also raises privacy and security concerns. Federal l... |
DOD has traditionally approached the acquisition of services differently than the acquisition of products, focusing its attention, policies, and procedures on managing major weapon systems, which it typically does by using the cost of the weapon system as a proxy for risk. For example, DOD classifies its acquisition pr... | In fiscal year 2016, DOD obligated about $150 billion, or just over half of its total contract spending, on contracted services. In January 2016, DOD issued an instruction on services that identified three key leadership positions, and clarified their roles and responsibilities, and called for Services Requirements Rev... |
The primary mortgage market features a variety of loan products and relies, in part, on the process of securitization to provide funds for mortgage lending. Over the years, a number of federal and state laws and regulations were implemented to protect mortgage borrowers. In 2007, the bill was introduced to strengthen c... | H.R. 3915 (2007), a bill introduced, but not enacted by the 110th Congress, was intended to reform mortgage lending practices to prevent a recurrence of problems in the mortgage market, particularly in the nonprime market segment. The bill would have set minimum standards for all mortgages (e.g., reasonable ability to ... |
Before 1978, the U.S. airline industry was tightly regulated. The federal government controlled what fares airlines could charge and what cities they could serve. Legislatively mandated to promote the air transport system, the Civil Aeronautics Board believed that passengers traveling shorter distances—more typical of ... | GAO discussed changes that have occurred in domestic aviation since the deregulation of the airline industry, focusing on changes in airline fares, service quantity and quality, and safety. GAO noted that: (1) increased competition and especially the entry of new airlines has resulted in lower air fares than before der... |
MARAD is responsible for overall policy direction of the Academy. The Maritime Administrator issues Maritime Administrative Orders (MAO) and bulletins establishing policies and providing guidelines for Academy operations. Additionally, the MARAD Chief Financial Officer (CFO) issues directives to provide guidance for co... | The Academy, a component of the Department of Transportations (DOT) MARAD, was established in 1938 and built during World War II to provide undergraduate education programs for midshipmen to become shipboard officers and leaders in the maritime transportation field. DOT allocated $80 million to the Academy for fiscal ... |
In 2003, we first designated federal disability programs as a high-risk area because the programs require urgent attention and organizational transformation to ensure that they function in the most economical, We have also reported that efficient, and effective manner possible.improving work participation among people ... | Many federal programswithin the Departments of Education, Labor, and Veterans Affairs; the Social Security Administration; and other agencieshelp people with disabilities overcome barriers to employment. Section 21 of Pub. L. No. 111-139 requires GAO to identify and report annually on programs, agencies, offices, and... |
The safe, efficient, and convenient movement of people and goods depends on a vibrant transportation system. Our nation has built vast systems of roads, airways, railways, transit systems, pipelines, and waterways that facilitate commerce and improve our quality of life. However, these systems are under considerable st... | A safe, efficient, and convenient transportation system is integral to the health of our economy and quality of life. Our nation's vast transportation system of airways, railways, roads, transit systems, and waterways has served this need, yet is under considerable pressure due to increasing congestion and costs to mai... |
Ports are critical components of the freight transportation network and serve as gateways for the movement of international (imports and exports) and domestic goods between navigable waterways and landside transportation systems, such as the Interstate highway system or the national rail network. For the purposes of th... | U.S. West Coast ports are critical to the national transportation freight network and global supply chains. Changes in global shipping and disruptions at ports can create congestion and economic hardship for shippers with resulting effects throughout supply chains. The 2015 Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act p... |
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.