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Our investigation of DCAA hotline allegations and our DCAA-wide follow- up audit document systemic weaknesses in DCAA’s management environment and structure for assuring audit quality. Last year, our investigation of hotline allegations substantiated auditor concerns made on all 14 audits we reviewed at two locations a... | In fiscal year 2008, the Department of Defense (DOD) obligated over $380 billion to federal contractors, more than doubling the amount it obligated in fiscal year 2002. With hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars at stake, the government needs strong controls to provide reasonable assurance that contract funds are no... |
We substantiated the allegations and auditor concerns made on each of the 13 cases we investigated, involving 14 audits at two locations and forward pricing audit issues at a third location. The 13 cases related to seven contractors. In the 12 cases at locations 1 and 2, we substantiated the allegations and auditor con... | The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) under the Department of Defense (DOD) Comptroller plays a critical role in contractor oversight by providing auditing, accounting, and financial advisory services in connection with DOD and other federal agency contracts and subcontracts. DCAA has elected to follow generally acc... |
On November 25, 2002, the President signed into law the Homeland Security Act, which created the new federal Department of Homeland Security, and the Maritime Transportation Security Act, which created a consistent security program specifically for the nation’s seaports. Since that time, and in keeping with the provisi... | Seaports are a critical vulnerability in the nation's defense against terrorism. They are potential entry points for bombs or other devices smuggled into cargo ships and ports' often-sprawling nature presents many potential targets for attack. To assess the response procedures that would be implemented in an attack or ... |
A paid preparer is simply anyone who is paid to prepare, assist in preparing, or review a taxpayer’s tax return. In this statement, we refer to two categories of paid preparers—tax practitioners and unenrolled preparers. CPAs, attorneys, and enrolled agents are tax practitioners. Tax practitioners differ from unenrolle... | For tax year 2011, an estimated 56 percent of about 145 million individual tax returns were completed by a paid preparer. IRS has long recognized that preparers' actions have an enormous effect on its ability to administer tax laws effectively and collect revenue that funds the government. Likewise, many taxpayers rely... |
Congress created the EIC to offset the impact of Social Security taxes and to encourage low-income workers to seek employment rather than welfare. Taxpayers earning income below a certain level may claim the credit. The amount of the EIC increases with increasing income, plateaus at a certain level of earnings, and the... | The earned income credit (EIC) is a refundable tax credit available to low-income, working taxpayers. Administering the EIC is not an easy task for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). IRS has to balance its efforts to help ensure that all qualified persons claim the credit with its efforts to protect the integrity of t... |
FFELP is the largest source of federal financial assistance to students attending postsecondary institutions. In fiscal year 1994 students received about $23 billion in FFELP loan commitments, including about $14.8 billion in subsidized Stafford loans. The Department of Education pays interest to lenders on the behalf ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how recent legislative changes have affected the availability of federally subsidized Stafford student loans, focusing on: (1) the arrangements guaranty agencies have to provide loans to eligible borrowers; and (2) Department of Education efforts to ensure continued stu... |
In the mid-1990s, Congress directed DOE to develop the Stockpile Stewardship Program to provide a single, highly integrated technical program for maintaining the continued safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile. Stockpile stewardship comprises activities associated with conducting nuclear weapons resea... | Plutoniuma man-made element produced by irradiating uranium in nuclear reactorsis vital to the nuclear weapons stockpile. Much of the nations current plutonium research capabilities are housed in aging facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. These facilities pose safety hazards. The National Nucl... |
The ARNG performs both federal and state missions and is one of two reserve components of the Department of the Army, the Army Reserve being the other reserve component. The ARNG provides trained and equipped units ready to (1) defend property and life to the 54 states and territories and (2) respond to overseas combat... | Recruiters are often referred to as the “face” of the ARNG. In the past, there have been allegations of recruiter misconduct and misuse of financial incentives, making it important for recruiters to ensure procedures are followed when working with applicants and that incentives to join the ARNG are awarded properly and... |
The DRC is a vast, mineral-rich nation with an estimated population of about 75 million people and an area that is roughly one-quarter the size of the United States, according to the UN. The map in figure 1 shows the DRC’s provinces and adjoining countries. Since its independence in 1960, the DRC has undergone politica... | Armed groups in eastern DRC continue to commit severe human rights abuses and profit from the exploitation of minerals, according to reports from the United Nations. Congress included a provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to address the trade in “conflict minerals”—tin, tanta... |
Although training for employed workers is largely the responsibility of employers and individuals, publicly funded training seeks to fill potential gaps in workers’ skills. In recent years, the federal government’s role in training employed workers has changed. In 1998, WIA replaced the Job Training Partnership Act aft... | Although training for employed workers is largely the responsibility of employers and individuals, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) allowed state and local entities to use federal funds for training employed workers. Similarly, welfare reform legislation created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block gr... |
Except for summer employees and some contractors, the scope of DEA background investigations was designed to assess whether individuals met the requirements to receive a “top-secret” clearance. DEA used the results of these background investigations to (1) help determine whether individuals were suitable for employment... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on background investigations conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), focusing on: (1) the circumstances that led DEA to consider relinquishing its authority to conduct personnel background investigations; and (2) whether the Office of Personn... |
The current model for regulation and oversight of the accounting profession involves federal and state regulators and a complex system of self-regulation by the accounting profession. The functions of the model are interrelated and their effectiveness is ultimately dependent upon each component working well. Basically,... | In the wake of the Enron collapse and the proliferation of earnings restatements and pro forma earnings assertions by other companies, questions are being raised about the soundness of private sector financial reporting, auditor independence, and corporate governance. In addressing these issues, the government's role c... |
Since December 5, 1989, DOE has not produced War Reserve pits for the nuclear stockpile. On that date, the production of pits at Rocky Flats, which was DOE’s only large-scale pit-manufacturing facility, was suspended because of environmental and regulatory concerns. At that time, it was envisioned that production opera... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Energy's (DOE) efforts to manufacture war reserve nuclear weapon triggers, or pits, at its Los Alamos National Laboratory, focusing on: (1) DOE's plans and schedules for reestablishing the manufacturing of pits at Los Alamos; (2) the cos... |
With over 54,000 engines to support its 17,400 aircraft, the Department of Defense (DOD) is the world’s largest owner of aircraft and aircraft engines. During fiscal years 1992 and 1993, the total cost for maintaining these engines was about $1.1 billion of the $13 billion depot maintenance program. Depot repair of eng... | GAO examined the Department of Defense's (DOD) depot maintenance program, focusing on whether the: (1) DOD depots should retain their engine repair capabilities; (2) opportunities exist to privatize additional engine repair workloads; and (3) excess capacity within the DOD depot system adversely affects privatization d... |
Congress established the trade advisory committee system in Section 135 of the Trade Act of 1974 as a way to institutionalize domestic input into U.S. trade negotiations from interested parties outside the federal government. This system was considered necessary because of complaints from some in the business community... | This testimony provides a summary of key findings from the comprehensive report on the trade advisory system that we provided to the Congress in 2002, as well as from our more recent report in 2007 on the Congressional and private sector consultations under Trade Promotion Authority. In particular, this testimony highl... |
Low-power television stations, as indicated by their name, operate at lower power levels and transmit over a smaller area than full-power television stations. Low-power television station licensees can include municipalities, universities, nonprofit groups, and small businesses. The development of low-power television ... | Television stations that broadcast at lower power levels were not required to meet the 2009 digital transition deadline for full-power stations. These low-power television stations transmit over a smaller area, and most are less regulated than full-power stations. Low-power television stations use valuable radio freque... |
The federal government’s framework for preventing, detecting, and prosecuting money laundering has expanded over the course of more than 30 years. With the passage of the Bank Secrecy Act in 1970, for the first time financial institutions were required to maintain records and reports determined to be useful to financia... | The legislative framework for combating money laundering began with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) in 1970 and most recently expanded in 2001with the USA PATRIOT Act. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) administers BSA and relies on multiple federal and state agencies to ensure financial institution complianc... |
Congress has assigned to Treasury the responsibility of borrowing the funds necessary to finance the gap between the money that the government receives, primarily tax revenues, and the money that the government spends. Government expenditures include regular withdrawals for programs such as Medicare and Social Security... | This report is part of GAO's requirement, under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, to monitor the Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and submit special reports as warranted from oversight findings. It evaluates Treasury's borrowing actions since th... |
Military enlistees must meet basic DOD and military service entrance qualification standards on age, citizenship, education, aptitude, physical fitness, dependency status, and moral character. Screening to determine whether applicants meet these standards or merit being granted a waiver begins with a recruiter’s initia... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) processes for investigating military enlistees' criminal history, focusing on: (1) the extent to which relevant criminal history information on potential enlistees is available to the military services; and (2) federal government initia... |
Congress passed DAWIA in 1990 to ensure effective and uniform education, training, and career development of members of the acquisition workforce. Accordingly, the act established DAU to provide training for the DOD acquisition workforce and charged DOD officials with designating acquisition positions, setting qualific... | The President has announced his intention to improve the acquisition process, particularly given the half a trillion dollars the federal government spent in fiscal year 2009 on acquiring goods and services. The Department of Defense (DOD) spent $384 billion in fiscal year 2009 on goods and services--double what it spen... |
Medicare beneficiaries receive a wide range of services in hospital outpatient departments, such as emergency room and clinic visits, diagnostic services such as x-rays, and surgical procedures. To receive Medicare payment, hospitals report the services they provided to a beneficiary on a claim form they submit to CMS ... | Under the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS), hospitals receive a temporary additional payment for certain new drugs and devices while data on their costs are collected. In 2003, these payments expired for the first time for many drugs and devices. To incorporate these items into OPPS, the C... |
The Park Service is the caretaker of many of the nation’s most precious natural and cultural resources. Today, more than 130 years after the first national park was created, the National Park System has grown to include 390 units covering over 84 million acres. These units include a diverse mix of sites—now in more tha... | In recent years, some reports prepared by advocacy groups have raised issues concerning the adequacy of the Park Service's financial resources needed to effectively operate the park units. This statement addresses (1) funding trends for park service operations and visitor fees for fiscal years 2001-2005; (2) specific f... |
According to DOD’s Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support, dated June 2005, without the important contributions of the private sector, DOD cannot effectively execute its core defense missions. Private industry manufacturers provide the majority of equipment, materials, services, and weapons for the U.S. armed ... | The U.S. military relies on the defense industrial base (DIB) to meet requirements to fulfill the National Military Strategy. The potential destruction, incapacitation, or exploitation of critical DIB assets by attack, crime, technological failure, natural disaster, or man-made catastrophe could jeopardize the success ... |
Modernizing financial management systems so they can produce reliable, useful, and timely data needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-to-day operations of the federal government has been a high priority for Congress for many years. In recognition of this need, and in an effort to improve overall financial... | In 2004, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched the financial management line of business (FMLOB) initiative, in part, to reduce the cost and improve the quality and performance of federal financial management systems by leveraging shared services available from external providers. In response to a request ... |
Medicaid was established in 1965 by Title XIX of the Social Security Act as a joint federal–state program to finance health care for certain low- income, aged, or disabled individuals. Medicaid is an entitlement program, under which the federal government pays its share of expenditures for any necessary, covered servic... | Medicaid is a significant expenditure for the federal government and the states, with total federal outlays of $310 billion in fiscal year 2014. CMS reported an estimated $17.5 billion in potentially improper payments for the Medicaid program in 2014. GAO was asked to review beneficiary and provider enrollment-integrit... |
The U.S. airline industry is vital to the U.S. economy. Airlines directly generate billions of dollars in revenues each year and contribute to the economic health of the nation. Large and small communities rely on airlines to help connect them to the national transportation system. To operate as an airline carrying pas... | Over 66,000 airline pilot jobs exist for larger mainline and smaller regional airlines that operate over 7,000 commercial aircraft. After a decade of turmoil that curtailed growth in the industry and resulted in fewer pilots employed at airlines since 2000, recent industry forecasts indicate that the global aviation in... |
Initially referred to as the “Next Generation Space Telescope,” JWST is a large deployable, infrared-optimized space telescope intended to be the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope. JWST is designed to be a 5-year mission to find the first stars and trace the evolution of galaxies from their beginning to the... | JWST is one of NASA's most expensive and technologically advanced science projects, intended to advance understanding of the origin of the universe. In 2011, JWST was rebaselined with a life cycle cost estimate of $8.8 billion and a launch readiness date in October 2018--almost nine times the cost and more than a decad... |
Taxpayers’ experience depends heavily on IRS’s performance during the tax filing season, roughly mid-January through mid-April. During this period, millions of taxpayers who are trying to fulfill their tax obligations contact IRS over the phone, face-to-face, and via the Internet to obtain answers to tax law questions ... | The U.S. tax system depends on taxpayers calculating their tax liability, filing their tax return, and paying what they owe on timewhat is often referred to as voluntary compliance. Voluntary compliance depends on a number of factors, including the quality of IRSs assistance to taxpayers, knowledge that its enforceme... |
The expansion of world trade and investment has led to the increasing integration of the world economy in recent decades—a process often referred to as “globalization.” Total trade in developing countries, exports and imports, rose from less than $1.5 trillion in 1990 to $3.8 trillion in 2002, while foreign direct inve... | The trend toward globalization has intensified the debate about the proper role of business and government in global "corporate social responsibility" (CSR),which involves business efforts to address the social and environmental concerns associated with business operations. The growth in global trade and the dramatic i... |
As of June 2008, there were approximately 58 million first-lien home mortgages outstanding in the United States. According to a Federal Reserve estimate, outstanding home mortgages represented over $10 trillion in mortgage debt. The primary mortgage market has several segments and offers a range of loan products: The p... | A dramatic increase in mortgage loan defaults and foreclosures is one of the key contributing factors to the current downturn in the U.S. financial markets and economy. In response, Congress passed and the President signed in July the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and in October the Emergency Economic Stabi... |
Medicare covers up to 100 days of care in a SNF after a beneficiary has been hospitalized for at least 3 days. To qualify for the benefit, the patient must need skilled nursing or therapy on a daily basis. For the first 20 days of SNF care, Medicare pays all the costs, and for the 21st through the 100th day, the benefi... | GAO discussed Medicare's skilled nursing facility (SNF) and home health care benefits and the administration's forthcoming legislative proposals related to them. GAO noted that: (1) Medicare's SNF costs have grown primarily because a larger portion of beneficiaries use SNFs than in the past and because of a large incre... |
Medicare falls within the administrative jurisdiction of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HCFA establishes regulations and guidance for the program and contracts with about 72 private companies—such as Blue Cross and Aetna—to handle claims screening a... | GAO discussed the challenges that exist in combatting fraud and abuse in the nursing facility environment. GAO noted that: (1) while most providers abide by the rules, some unscrupulous providers of supplies and services have used the nursing facility setting as a target of opportunity; (2) this has occurred for severa... |
DHS serves as the sector-specific agency for 10 of the sectors: information technology; communications; transportation systems; chemical; emergency services; nuclear reactors, material, and waste; postal and shipping; dams; government facilities; and commercial facilities. Other sector-specific agencies are the departm... | 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 privately owned, it is vital that public and private stakeholders work together to prote... |
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... | This report reviews the General Services Administration's (GSA) performance report for fiscal year 2000 and its performance plan for fiscal year 2002 to assess GSA's progress in achieving key outcomes important to its mission. GAO found that some goals were met or exceeded and others were not met. For fiscal year 2002,... |
Although there is no generally agreed upon definition of partnering, for purposes of this report, partnering arrangements include, but are not limited to (1) use of public sector facilities and employees to perform work or produce goods for the private sector; (2) private sector use of public depot equipment and facili... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the use of partnering arrangements between the Department of Defense (DOD) and private-sector contractors to use excess capacity at military service repair depots, focusing on the: (1) legal framework under which partnering can occur; and (2) types of current partnering... |
ACPVs are non-tactical vehicles, or vehicles not used in combat operations, that can be lightly or heavily armored. The level of armoring depends on the expected threat. Both light and heavy armored vehicles provide 360 degree protection of the passenger compartment against ballistic threats, with commercial light armo... | DOD uses armored military vehicles for combat and operational support, but it also uses armored commercial vehicles to transport military and civilian personnel in areas that pose a threat to their safety. These vehicles differ in many ways, including mission and appearance. The House Armed Services Committee report ac... |
State is the lead agency for the conduct of American diplomacy, and its foreign affairs activities seek to promote and protect the interests of American citizens. State requires that Foreign Service officers assigned to certain positions worldwide meet a specified level of proficiency in the language or languages of th... | Proficiency in foreign languages is a key skill for U.S. diplomats to advance U.S. interests overseas. GAO has issued several reports highlighting the Department of State's (State) persistent foreign language shortages. In 2006, GAO recommended that State evaluate the effectiveness of its efforts to improve the languag... |
Maintaining an overseas military presence that is prepared to deter threats and engage enemies remains an enduring tenet of U.S. national military strategy and priorities. For example, the National Military Strategy notes that an overseas presence supports the ability of the United States to project power against threa... | The Navy faces affordability challenges as it supports a high pace of operations and increasing ship procurement costs. The Navy has used multiple crews on some submarines and surface ships and has shown it to increase a ship's operational availability. GAO was asked to evaluate the extent to which the Navy, for ship r... |
The Army’s current mission at Rocky Mountain Arsenal is to clean up the contaminated soils, structures, and groundwater there. The arsenal, established in 1942, occupies 17,000 acres northeast of Denver, Colorado, and is contaminated from years of chemical and weapons activities. The Army manufactured chemical weapons,... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed cleanup costs claimed by Shell Oil Company and shared by Shell and the U.S. Army at Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Colorado, focusing on: (1) selected aspects of the processes that the Army uses to review cost claims under its settlement agreement with Shell; and (2) the adequ... |
With the enactment of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 1980, the Congress created the Superfund program to clean up the nation’s most severely contaminated hazardous waste sites. The Congress extended the program in 1986 and 1990 and is now considering another reauth... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) use of incineration at Superfund sites, focusing on: (1) what safeguards EPA uses to promote the safe operation of incinerators at these sites; and (2) whether EPA has fully implemented its planned system of safeguards. GAO no... |
ATSA, signed into law on November 19, 2001, shifted certain responsibilities for aviation security from commercial airport operators and air carriers to the federal government and the newly created Transportation Security Administration. Specifically, ATSA granted TSA direct operational responsibility for the screening... | In the 2 years since passage of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has primarily focused its efforts on improving aviation security through enhanced passenger and baggage screening. The act also contained provisions directing TSA to take actions to impr... |
Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which created the Superfund program in 1980, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and places those posing the greatest risks to human health and the environment on the National Prio... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how states establish and apply environmental standards when cleaning up Superfund sites, focusing on whether states: (1) base their standards on human health risks; and (2) provide flexibility so that the level of cleanup can be adjusted according to the ... |
BJS was established by the Justice Systems Improvement Act of 1979. In 1995, OMB identified BJS as one of 10 principal statistical agencies within the federal government. As defined by OMB, the statistical activities of statistical agencies include the planning of statistical surveys and studies; and the collection, pr... | The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), a statistical agency of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, produces a recurring national Police-Public Contact Survey documenting contacts between the police and the public, including instances involving the use or threat of force by police. BJS issues public... |
The radio frequency spectrum is the resource that makes possible wireless communications and supports a vast array of government and commercial services. DOD uses spectrum to transmit and receive critical voice and data communications involving military tactical radio, air combat training, precision-guided munitions, u... | Radio frequency spectrum is the resource that makes possible wireless communications. Balancing competing industry and government demands for a limited amount of spectrum is a challenging and complex task. In 2006, FCC completed an auction of spectrum licenses in the 1710-1755 MHz band that had previously been allocate... |
Federal employees, by law, are entitled to receive fair and equitable treatment in employment without regard to their sex, among other things. In addition, any federal employee who has the authority to take, recommend, or approve any personnel action is prohibited from discriminating for or against any employees or app... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the extent and nature of sexual harassment and sex discrimination at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). GAO found that: (1) 32 percent of NIH employees surveyed reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in the past year, but 96 percent of these employee... |
We obtained the budget authority and the staffing levels at the State IG office and the budget authority of the State Department for fiscal years 2001 through 2005 by analyzing OMB budget data for those years. Additional information on staff levels and resource distribution were obtained from the State IG to identify t... | GAO was asked to review the Department of State Office of Inspector General (State IG) including its (1) organization, budget levels, and accomplishments; (2) audit and inspection coverage of the department; (3) role of inspections in the oversight of the department; (4) quality assurance process including assurance of... |
Medicare covers medically necessary ambulance services when no other means of transportation to receive health care services is appropriate, given the beneficiary’s medical condition at the time of transport. Medicare pays for both emergency and nonemergency ambulance transports that meet the established criteria. To r... | The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 required Medicare to change its payment system for ambulance services. In response, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), proposed a fee schedule to standardize payments across provider types on the basis of nati... |
The Security Agreement between the United States and the Government of Iraq clearly states the objectives for the drawdown from Iraq, and DOD has further defined the conditions necessary to achieve these objectives. Time lines for the drawdown were established by the Security Agreement and further defined by the Presid... | The drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq and the transition from a U.S. military to a civilian-led presence after December 2011 continue amid an uncertain security and political environment. This report is one in a series of reviews regarding the planning and execution of the drawdown. Specifically, this report assesses the... |
As the primary federal agency that is responsible for protecting and securing GSA facilities and federal employees and visitors across the country, FPS has the authority to enforce federal laws and regulations aimed at protecting federally owned and leased properties and the persons on such property. FPS conducts its m... | The Federal Protective Service (FPS), as part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for providing security services to about 9,000 federal facilities. In recent years, FPS downsized its workforce from 1,400 to about 1,000 full-time employees. In 2008, GAO expressed concerns about the impact that d... |
The disposal of LLRW is the end of the radioactive material lifecycle that spans production, use, processing, interim storage, and disposal. The nuclear utility industry generates the bulk of this LLRW through the normal operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants, and through the decommissioning of these plants.... | Disposal of radioactive material continues to be highly controversial. To address part of the disposal problem, in 1980, Congress made the states responsible for disposing of most low-level radioactive waste (LLRW), and allowed them to form regional compacts and to restrict access to disposal facilities from noncompact... |
OPM and agencies are continuing to address the problems with the key parts of the hiring process we identified in our May 2003 report. Significant issues and actions being taken include the following. Reforming the classification system. In our May 2003 report on hiring, we noted that many regard the standards and proc... | The executive branch hired nearly 95,000 new employees during fiscal year 2003. Improving the federal hiring process is critical given the increasing number of new hires expected in the next few years. In May 2003, GAO issued a report highlighting several key problems in the federal hiring process. That report conclude... |
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) was enacted in November 2001 and required TSA to work with airport operators to strengthen access controls to secure areas, and to consider using biometric access control systems, or similar technologies, to verif... | Within DHS, TSA and USCG manage the TWIC program, which requires maritime workers to complete background checks and obtain biometric identification cards to gain unescorted access to secure areas of Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA)-regulated entities. TSA conducted a pilot program to test the use of TWICs wi... |
Amtrak was established by the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970. Amtrak operates a 22,000-mile network, primarily over freight railroad tracks, providing service to 46 states and the District of Columbia. (See fig. 2.) In fiscal year 2001, Amtrak served about 23.5 million intercity rail passengers over 43 routes. In a... | The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), the nation's intercity passenger rail operator, was created by Congress in 1970 after the nation's railroads found passenger service to be unprofitable. It is a private corporation. Its financial situation has never been strong, and it has been on the edge of bankru... |
A U.S. government–funded enterprise fund is an organization that is designed to promote the expansion of the private sector in developing and transitioning countries by providing financing and technical assistance to locally owned small and medium-sized enterprises. The U.S. government provides initial capital to an en... | In the wake of the economic and political transitions associated with the “Arab Spring,” Congress authorized the creation of enterprise funds for Egypt and Tunisia in 2011. EAEF and TAEF aim to develop the private sectors in these countries, particularly SMEs, through instruments such as loans, equity investments, and ... |
According to the 2000 Census, approximately 588,000 Native Americans were residing on tribal lands. Tribal lands vary dramatically in size, demographics, and location. They range in size from the Navajo Nation, which consists of about 24,000 square miles, to some tribal land areas in California comprising less than 1 s... | An important goal of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, is to ensure access to telecommunications services for all Americans. The Federal Communications Commission has made efforts to improve the historically low subscribership rates of Native Americans on tribal lands. In addition, Congress is considering leg... |
User fees or user charges are defined by OMB as assessments levied on a class of individuals or businesses directly benefiting from, or subject to regulation by, a government program or activity. Examples of user fees are trademark registration fees, park entrance fees, and food inspection fees. User fees represent the... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed agencies' adherence to the user fee review and reporting requirements in the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-25, focusing on whether the agencies: (1) reviewed their user fee rates biennially during fiscal ... |
It would be useful at this point to describe several differences between multiemployer and single-employer plans. Multiemployer plans are established pursuant to collectively bargained agreements negotiated between labor unions representing employees and two or more employers and are generally jointly administered by t... | Multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, which are created by collective bargaining agreements covering more than one employer and generally operated under the joint trusteeship of labor and management, provide coverage to over 9.7 million of the 44 million participants insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corpo... |
OGAC establishes overall PEPFAR policy and program strategies and coordinates PEPFAR program activities. In addition, OGAC allocates PEPFAR resources from the Global Health and Child Survival account to PEPFAR implementing agencies, primarily CDC and USAID. The agencies execute PEPFAR program activities through agency ... | PEPFAR, reauthorized by Congress in fiscal year 2008, supports HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care overseas. The reauthorizing legislation, as well as other U.S. law and government policy, stresses the importance of evaluation for improving program performance, strengthening accountability, and informing decision ... |
Securing transportation systems and facilities is complicated, requiring balancing security to address potential threats while facilitating the flow of people and goods. These systems and facilities are critical components of the U.S. economy and are necessary for supplying goods throughout the country and supporting i... | The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is developing the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) to ensure that only workers that do not pose a terrorist threat are allowed to enter secure areas of the nation's transportation facilities. This testimony is based primarily on GAO's December 2004 ... |
Part of the Mariana Islands Archipelago, the CNMI is a chain of 14 islands in the western Pacific Ocean—just north of Guam and about 3,200 miles west of Hawaii. The CNMI has a total population of 53,890, according to preliminary results of the CNMI’s 2016 Household, Income, and Expenditures Survey. Almost 90 percent of... | In 2008, Public Law 110-229 established federal control of CNMI immigration. It required DHS to create a transitional work permit program for foreign workers in the CNMI and to decrease the number of permits issued annually; it presently requires that DHS reduce them to zero by December 31, 2019. To implement this aspe... |
DOE’s contractors operate a number of facilities that are used to produce nuclear materials and design, test, assemble, and disassemble nuclear weapons. In the operation of these facilities, contractor employees may handle materials, documents, and information that are classified. An employee working in such an environ... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) security clearance program, focusing on: (1) whether racial or ethnic disparities existed among those employees who had their security clearances suspended; and (2) actions DOE needs to take to respond to these disparities. GAO found tha... |
Mexico is the primary transit country for cocaine entering the United States from South America as well as a major source country for heroin, marijuana and, more recently, methamphetamine. U.S. law enforcement efforts in the southeastern United States and the Caribbean during the mid-1980s caused cocaine traffickers to... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed counternarcotics activities in Mexico, focusing on: (1) the nature of the drug-trafficking threat from Mexico; (2) Mexican government efforts to counter drug-trafficking activities; (3) the U.S. strategy and programs intended to stem the flow of illegal drugs through Me... |
SEC’s financial statements, including the accompanying notes, present fairly, in all material respects, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, SEC’s assets, liabilities, net position, net costs, changes in net position, budgetary resources, and custodial activity as of, and for the fiscal yea... | Established in 1934 to enforce the securities laws and protect investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plays an important role in maintaining the integrity of the U.S. securities markets. Pursuant to the Accountability of Tax Dollars Act of 2002, SEC is required to prepare and submit to Congress and the... |
The U.S. manufacturing sector comprises businesses that are engaged in the mechanical, physical, or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products, including sectors such as machinery, textiles, apparel, food production, and chemicals. However, U.S. policy makers have become focused o... | Over the last decade, the United States lost about one-third of its manufacturing jobs, raising concerns about U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. There may be insights to glean from government policies of similarly-situated countries, which are facing some of the same challenges of increased competition in manufacturi... |
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity, including intercollegiate athletics, at colleges receiving federal financial assistance. The Department’s OCR is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws as they relate to schools, including title IX. In fiscal year 1... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Department of Education and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) efforts to promote gender equity in intercollegiate athletics by implementing title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, focusing on: (1) steps taken by states to promote gender equity in col... |
From fiscal years 2001 through 2007, the Employment Litigation Section initiated more than 3,200 matters and filed 60 cases as plaintiff under federal statutes prohibiting employment discrimination. About 90 percent of the matters initiated (2,846 of 3,212) and more than half of the cases filed (33 of 60) alleged viola... | The Civil Rights Division (Division) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is the primary federal entity charged with enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin (i.e., protected classes). The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to... |
The MIG has taken three different approaches since establishing the NMAP—test audits, Medicaid Statistical Information System (MSIS) audits, and collaborative audits. In each approach, contractors conducted post payment audits, that is, they reviewed medical documentation and other information related to Medicaid claim... | Medicaid, the joint federal-state health care financing program for certain low-income individuals, has the second-highest estimated improper payments of any federal program. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 expanded the federal role in Medicaid program integrity, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)... |
Although our high-risk designation covers only DOD’s program, our reports have also documented clearance-related problems affecting other agencies. For example, our October 2007 report on state and local information fusion centers cited two clearance-related challenges: (1) the length of time needed for state and local... | In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act to reform security clearance processes. Much of GAO's experience in evaluating personnel security clearance processes over the decades has consisted of examining the Department of Defense's (DOD) program, which maintains about 2.5 million cle... |
IHS, an operating division of HHS, is responsible for providing health services to federally recognized tribes of American Indians and Alaska natives. In 2007, IHS provided health services to approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska natives from more than 562 federally recognized tribes. As an operating di... | In June 2007, GAO received information from a whistleblower through GAO's FraudNET hotline alleging millions of dollars in lost and stolen property and gross mismanagement of property at Indian Health Service (IHS), an operating division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). GAO was asked to conduct a f... |
Essentially, HCFA’s calculation of its per-enrollee (capitation) rate in each county can be expressed as follows: Medicare pays risk HMOs a fixed amount per enrollee—a capitation rate—regardless of what each enrollee’s care actually costs. Medicare law stipulates that the capitation rate be set at 95 percent of the cos... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Medicare's rate-setting method for paying risk contract health maintenance organizations (HMO), focusing on: (1) the conditions under which Medicare's method can yield payment rates that are too high; and (2) a practical improvement to Medicare's method d... |
CMS administers 1-800-MEDICARE through a single contractor that operates the telephone help line 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CMS initially designed 1-800-MEDICARE to assist beneficiaries in obtaining information about Medicare programs, including Medicare’s managed care program, and has since expanded the telephone ... | The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for providing beneficiaries timely and accurate information about Medicare. Receiving nearly 30 million calls in 2007, 1-800-MEDICARE, operated by a contractor, is the most common way members of the public get program information. The help line provides ... |
The WIC program was created in 1972 in response to growing evidence of poor nutrition and related health problems among low-income infants, children, and pregnant women. It is intended to serve as an adjunct to good health care during critical times of growth and development. In addition, WIC was designed to supplement... | The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) serves almost half of all infants and about one-quarter of all children between one and four years of age in the United States. The WIC program faces the following challenges: (1) coordinating its nutrition services with health and welfar... |
Since the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 established the principle of full disclosure—requiring public companies to provide full and accurate information to the investing public—public accounting firms have played a critical role in companies’ financial reporting and disclosure. While of... | The largest accounting firms, known as the "Big 4," currently audit over 78 percent of U.S. public companies and 99 percent of public company annual sales. To address concerns raised by this concentration and as mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, on July 30, 2003, GAO issued a report entitled Public Accounting... |
Both the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs were formed in Los Angeles, California. MS-13 was founded by Salvadoran immigrants, many of whom came to the United States to escape the civil war in their native country in the 1980s. The 18th Street gang was founded primarily by Mexican immigrants in the 1960s, though it currently... | Thousands of gang members in the United States belong to gangs such as MS-13 and 18th Street that are also active in Central American countries. Federal entities with responsibilities for addressing Central American gangs include the National Security Council (NSC); the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Justice (... |
In the United States, the national inventory of commercial spent nuclear fuel amounts to nearly 70,000 metric tons, which is stored at 75 sites in 33 states (see fig. 1). Fuel for commercial nuclear power reactors is typically made from low- enriched uranium fashioned into thumbnail-size ceramic pellets of uranium diox... | Spent nuclear fuel, the used fuel removed from nuclear reactors, is one of the most hazardous substances created by humans. Commercial spent fuel is stored at reactor sites; about 74 percent of it is stored in pools of water, and 26 percent has been transferred to dry storage casks. The United States has no permanent d... |
Enemy sea mines were responsible for 14 of the 18 Navy ships destroyed or damaged since 1950, and producing countries have developed and proliferated mines that are even more difficult to detect and neutralize. After the Gulf War, during which two Navy ships were severely damaged by sea mines, the Navy began several ac... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's mine countermeasures efforts, focusing on the: (1) Navy's plans for improving mine countermeasures (MCM) capabilities; (2) status of current research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) programs; and (3) process the Department of Defense (DOD) used to ... |
The use of computer technology in schools has grown dramatically in the past several years. Surveys conducted by one marketing research firmestimated that in 1983 schools had 1 computer for every 125 students; in 1997, the ratio had increased to 1 computer for every 9 students. Meanwhile, many education technology expe... | GAO discussed how school districts obtain funds for the acquisition of education technology, focusing on: (1) sources of funding school districts have used to develop and fund their technology programs; (2) barriers districts have faced in funding the technology goals they set, and how they attempted to deal with these... |
According to EPA, perchlorate can interfere with the normal functioning of the thyroid gland by competitively inhibiting the transport of iodide into the thyroid, which can then affect production of thyroid hormones. The fetus depends on an adequate supply of maternal thyroid hormone for its central nervous system deve... | Perchlorate has been used for decades by the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the defense industry in manufacturing, testing, and firing missiles and rockets. Other uses include fireworks, fertilizers, and explosives. Perchlorate is readily dissolved and transported in water... |
Human factors is a discipline concerned with, among other things, designing products that are efficient for people to use. As such, human factors combines features of many disciplines, including psychology, engineering, anthropology, sociology, and linguistics. Human factors R&D focuses on people as they interact with ... | To address challenges to the aviation industry's economic health and safety, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is collaborating with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other federal partners to plan and implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). NextGen will tra... |
In fiscal year 2005, the Social Security Administration (SSA) paid approximately $128 billion in cash benefits to about 12.8 million beneficiaries through the two largest federal programs available to persons with disabilities and their families: the Disability Insurance (DI) program and the Supplemental Security Incom... | The Social Security Administration's (SSA) Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs provided around $128 billion to about 12.8 million persons with disabilities and their families in fiscal year 2005. Claimants who are denied benefits by SSA may appeal to federal courts. Through current initiative... |
In the last several decades, Congress has passed various legislation to increase federal agencies’ abilities to identify and address the health and environmental risks associated with toxic chemicals and to address such risks. Some of these laws, such as the Clean Air Act; the Clean Water Act; the Federal Food, Drug an... | Chemicals play an important role in everyday life. However, some chemicals are highly toxic and need to be regulated. In 1976, the Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk to human health or the env... |
The statutory and regulatory framework for improving access to services for LEP persons stems from Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an executive order, DOJ regulations and guidance, and DOT regulations and guidance. Section 601 of Title VI provides that no person shall “on the ground of race, color, or nationa... | More than 10 million people in the United States are of limited English proficiency (LEP), in that they do not speak English at all or do not speak English well. These persons tend to rely on public transit more than English speakers. Executive Order 13166 directs federal agencies to develop guidance for their grantees... |
Private, public, and nonprofit employers can use information from criminal history records for non-criminal-justice purposes, such as screening an individual’s suitability for working with children, the elderly, or other vulnerable populations. States primarily create and maintain criminal history records, but the FBI ... | Authorized employers use information from FBI criminal history record checks to assess a person's suitability for employment or to obtain a license. States create criminal records and the FBI facilitates access to these records by other states for nationwide checks. GAO was asked to assess efforts to address concerns a... |
The Commission on Civil Rights is a fact-finding federal agency required to report on civil rights issues. Established by the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the Commission is currently directed by eight part-time commissioners and employs approximately 70 staff members in fiscal year 2003. The Commission’s annual appropriat... | Over the past 10 years, GAO, the Congress, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and others have raised numerous concerns about the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. GAO was asked to assess (1) the adequacy of the Commission's project management procedures, (2) whether the Commission's controls over contracting serv... |
Traditionally, a drug is compounded, through the process of mixing, combining, or altering ingredients, to create a customized drug tailored to the medical needs of an individual patient upon receipt of a prescription. For example, a pharmacist may tailor a drug for a patient who is allergic to an ingredient in a manuf... | Drug compounding is the process by which a pharmacist combines, mixes, or alters ingredients to create a drug tailored to the medical needs of an individual. An outbreak of fungal meningitis in 2012 linked to contaminated compounded drugs has raised concerns about state and federal oversight of drug compounding. GAO wa... |
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 covers about 40 million individuals 65 years old and older, as well as some disabled individuals. Eligible individuals enroll to re... | In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), became concerned that some suppliers were improperly billing Medicare for items that attach to wheelchairs and other equipment. Some suppliers were billing for such items ... |
Detecting illicit trafficking in nuclear material is complicated because one of the materials of greatest concern—highly enriched uranium—has a relatively low level of radioactivity and is, therefore, among the most difficult to detect. In contrast, medical and industrial radioactive sources, which could be used to con... | GAO is releasing two reports today on U.S. efforts to combat nuclear smuggling in foreign countries and in the United States. Together with the March 2005 report on the Department of Energy's Megaports Initiative, these reports represent GAO's analysis of the U.S. effort to deploy radiation detection equipment worldwid... |
This section discusses DOE’s missions and spending, contract types, contract oversight, IPERA risk assessment and IG requirements, and the roles and responsibilities of organizations involved in DOE’s IPERA activities. DOE’s missions include developing, maintaining, and securing the nation’s nuclear weapons capability;... | Improper payments are a significant problem in the federal government. To address this problem, IPERA requires that federal agencies review their programs and identify those that are susceptible to significant improper payments—a process known as a risk assessment. DOE's history of inadequate management and oversight o... |
The Coast Guard is a multimission, maritime military service within DHS. The Coast Guard’s responsibilities fall into two general categories—those related to homeland security missions, such as port security and vessel escorts, and those related to non-homeland security missions, such as search and rescue and polar ice... | GAO has a large body of work examining government agencies' approaches to managing their large acquisition projects. GAO has noted that without sufficient knowledge about system requirements, technology, and design maturity, programs are subject to cost overruns, schedule delays, and performance that does not meet expe... |
In 1989, the Pacific Area Office, then called the Western Regional Office, identified several deficiencies in the 935 ZIP Code area and proposed relocating the distribution operations for five post offices in the area into a new facility. The key deficiencies identified by postal officials included the following: space... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the project approval process the Postal Service used in proposing to relocate postal operations for the Antelope Valley, California, area from the Main Post Office in Mojave, California, to a new facility in Lancaster, California. GAO noted that: (1) the Service followe... |
The Department of State’s primary mission is to advise the President in the formulation and execution of foreign policy and to ensure the advancement and protection of U.S. interests abroad. The Department is also responsible for conducting consular operations, including visa services for foreign nationals; managing em... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of State's information resources management (IRM) program and ongoing IRM improvement efforts. GAO found that: (1) State has poorly managed its information resources and continues to use inadequate and obsolete information technology, which has resulted i... |
CBP’s SBI program is to leverage technology, tactical infrastructure, and people to allow CBP agents to gain control of the nation’s borders. Within SBI, SBInet is the program for acquiring, developing, integrating, and deploying an appropriate mix of surveillance technologies and command, control, communications, and ... | The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Secure Border Initiative (SBI) is a multiyear, multibillion-dollar program to secure the nation's borders through, among other things, new technology, increased staffing, and new fencing and barriers. The technology component of SBI, which is known as SBInet, involves the acq... |
Medical imaging services, grouped into six major modalities, use different types of imaging equipment and media for creating an image. Physicians bill for providing these services under the Medicare physician fee schedule, which, for payment purposes, divides an imaging service into two components: the technical compon... | The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)--and the Congress, through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), recently acted to constrain spending on imaging services, one of the fastest growing set of services under Medicare Part B, which cov... |
The Clean Air Act gives EPA authority to set national standards to protect human health and the environment from emissions that pollute ambient (outdoor) air. The act assigns primary responsibility for ensuring adequate air quality to the states. The pollutants regulated under the act can be grouped into two categories... | GAO reviewed selected data collection and reporting requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, focusing on whether: (1) the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) planned state emissions reporting requirements exceed its program needs; and (2) states use the EPA Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS) t... |
During the late 1960s and 1970s, Congress enacted several laws that were intended to help ensure fair and equitable access to credit for both individuals and communities. These laws included FHA in 1968, ECOA in 1974, and HMDA in 1975. ECOA and FHA constitute the federal antidiscrimination statutes applicable to lendin... | The Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)--the "fair lending laws"--prohibit discrimination in lending. Responsibility for their oversight is shared among three enforcement agencies--the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and Department of Jus... |
In modern warfare, military forces are heavily dependent upon access to the electromagnetic spectrum for successful operations. Communications with friendly forces and detection, identification, and targeting of enemy forces, among other tasks, are all reliant upon the ability to operate unhindered in the spectrum. For... | DOD has committed billions of dollars to developing, maintaining, and employing warfighting capabilities that rely on access to the electromagnetic spectrum. According to DOD, electronic warfare capabilities play a critical and potentially growing role in ensuring the U.S. militarys access to and use of the electromag... |
There are several levels of DOD organizations that are involved in ballistic missile defense operations. In general, these organizations can be categorized into “tiers” as shown in the figure below: Integrating training is training that includes live participants from more than one tier and/or multiple organizations fr... | Since 2002, the Department of Defense (DOD) has spent over $80 billion on developing and fielding a Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) comprised of various land-and sea-based elements employed by multiple combatant commands and services. Since the time available to intercept a missile is short, integrating trainin... |
Foreign nationals who wish to visit the United States, including business travelers and tourists, must generally obtain a nonimmigrant visa. The majority of travelers visiting the United States from Mexico receive an NIV Border Crossing Card, which is valid for 10 years. In order to obtain a Border Crossing Card, appli... | The U.S. Mission in Mexico is the Department of State's largest consular operation. In fiscal year 2007, it processed 1.5 million of the 8 million nonimmigrant visas (NIV) State handled worldwide. The U.S. Mission in Mexico also provided services, including passport processing and emergency assistance, to 20,000 Americ... |
California is the nation’s most populous state and the eighth-largest economy in the world. California is estimated to receive approximately $85 billion in Recovery Act funds, or about 10 percent of the funds available nationally. Nearly 80 percent of Recovery Act funding to states and localities is projected to be dis... | The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) specifies several roles for GAO, including conducting bimonthly reviews of selected states' and localities' use of funds made available under the act. This testimony is based on GAO's bimonthly work in California, where the Recovery Act provided more tha... |
The mission of the Customs Service is to ensure that all goods and persons entering and exiting the United States do so in compliance with all U.S. laws and regulations. It does this by (1) enforcing the laws governing the flow of goods and persons across the borders of the United States and (2) assessing and collectin... | Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Customs Service's software development maturity and improvement activities, focusing on: (1) the maturity of Customs' software development processes; and (2) whether Customs has an effective software process improvement program. GAO noted that: (1) because of the nu... |
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.