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Army Industrial Operations: Budgeting and Management of Carryover Could Be Improved

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "From fiscal years 2006 through 2012, Army's Industrial Operations' actual carryover was under the allowable amounts in 5 of the 7 fiscal years. However, carryover more than doubled during that period, reaching a high of $5.8 billion in fiscal year 2011. Army officials stated that fiscal year 2011 was an abnormal year because Industrial Operations (1) received more orders than it had ever received--$7.5 billion in new orders--and (2) implemented a system called the Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) that changed the business rules for recognizing revenue and therefore resulted in carryover being higher than it would have been under the prior system. Army officials anticipate carryover decreasing in fiscal year 2013. According to the Army fiscal year 2014 budget, the Army expects carryover to be under $4 billion at the end of fiscal year 2013."
Date: June 27, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Bee Health: Background and Issues for Congress

Description: This report provides an overview of selected bee species, and discusses importance of bee pollination, changes in bee populations, factors affecting bee health, and identifies future needs.
Date: August 27, 2013
Creator: Johnson, Renée & Corn, M. L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Brief History of Comprehensive Immigration Reform Efforts in the 109th and 110th Congresses to Inform Policy Discussions in the 113th Congress

Description: This report opens with brief legislative histories of "comprehensive immigration reform" (CIR) in the 109th and 110th Congresses. A comparative overview of key CIR provisions in the three bills that received floor action in the 109th and 110th Congresses follows. In addition to a narrative discussion of how the bills addressed the main provisions of CIR, the report provides a table that presents a comparative summary of the key features of the bills. The report concludes with observations contrasting the 2006-2007 period with the context of today's CIR debate. The report also provides an appendix that summarizes the three major CIR bills.
Date: February 27, 2013
Creator: Wasem, Ruth Ellen
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Calculating Confidence, Uncertainty, and Numbers of Samples When Using Statistical Sampling Approaches to Characterize and Clear Contaminated Areas

Description: This report discusses the methodology, formulas, and inputs needed to make characterization and clearance decisions for Bacillus anthracis-contaminated and uncontaminated (or decontaminated) areas using a statistical sampling approach. Specifically, the report includes the methods and formulas for calculating the • number of samples required to achieve a specified confidence in characterization and clearance decisions • confidence in making characterization and clearance decisions for a specified number of samples for two common statistically based environmental sampling approaches. In particular, the report addresses an issue raised by the Government Accountability Office by providing methods and formulas to calculate the confidence that a decision area is uncontaminated (or successfully decontaminated) if all samples collected according to a statistical sampling approach have negative results. Key to addressing this topic is the probability that an individual sample result is a false negative, which is commonly referred to as the false negative rate (FNR). The two statistical sampling approaches currently discussed in this report are 1) hotspot sampling to detect small isolated contaminated locations during the characterization phase, and 2) combined judgment and random (CJR) sampling during the clearance phase. Typically if contamination is widely distributed in a decision area, it will be detectable via judgment sampling during the characterization phrase. Hotspot sampling is appropriate for characterization situations where contamination is not widely distributed and may not be detected by judgment sampling. CJR sampling is appropriate during the clearance phase when it is desired to augment judgment samples with statistical (random) samples. The hotspot and CJR statistical sampling approaches are discussed in the report for four situations: 1. qualitative data (detect and non-detect) when the FNR = 0 or when using statistical sampling methods that account for FNR > 0 2. qualitative data when the FNR > 0 but statistical sampling methods are used that assume …
Date: April 27, 2013
Creator: Piepel, Gregory F.; Matzke, Brett D.; Sego, Landon H. & Amidan, Brett G.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Child Welfare: FY2013 Budget Request of the President and FY2013 Funding

Description: This report begins with an overview of the purpose for which child welfare funds are appropriated. The report discusses FY2013 appropriations for those programs, including the effect of the automatic spending cuts, know as sequestration.
Date: June 27, 2013
Creator: Stoltzfus, Emilie
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Combating Autism Act: HHS Agencies Responded with New and Continuing Activities, Including Oversight

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies responded to the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (CAA) by establishing some new autism activities and continuing others. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) created a new initiative to address specific directives in the CAA. Through this initiative, HRSA expanded its existing training programs by requiring grantees to include training specific to autism. It also established new autism research grants and funded new state grants to improve services for children with autism. HRSA awards its autism grants under the authority of the CAA. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continued their autism activities--some of which were undertaken in response to the Children's Health Act of 2000--but did not create new programs as a direct result of the CAA. NIH continued to fund, expand, and coordinate autism research through its Autism Centers of Excellence and autism-specific grants and contracts. CDC continued to fund its regional centers of excellence for autism epidemiology and other activities, such as an awareness campaign. HHS's Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)--reauthorized by the CAA--assumed additional responsibilities to coordinate autism efforts within HHS and restructured its membership to include more nonfederal members. NIH created the Office of Autism Research Coordination to coordinate and manage the IACC. The CAA did not appropriate funds to any HHS agency. Nevertheless, overall spending on HRSA, NIH, CDC, and IACC autism activities increased from approximately $143.6 million in fiscal year 2006 to approximately $240.4 million in fiscal year 2011."
Date: February 27, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Contractor Performance: DOD Actions to Improve the Reporting of Past Performance Information

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) strategy for improving the reporting of contractor past performance information consists of providing additional training to its acquisition workforce and developing tools and metrics to improve oversight. The number of personnel trained more than doubled since 2010 to more than 7,000, and DOD oversight officials now have the ability to track compliance with reporting requirements down to the level of individual contracting offices. DOD continues to utilize existing past performance guidance, which generally aligns with requirements specified in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012."
Date: June 27, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Crisis in South Sudan

Description: This report provides an overview of the recent humanitarian situation in South Sudan. The United States is the largest provider of bilateral foreign assistance to South Sudan and a major financial contributor to international peacekeeping efforts there.
Date: December 27, 2013
Creator: Ploch Blanchard, Lauren
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases

Description: This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, provides an historical overview of debt limits, and explains how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, also discusses the legislation related to these increases.
Date: August 27, 2013
Creator: Austin, D. Andrew & Levit, Mindy R.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Defense Acquisitions: Goals and Associated Metrics Needed to Assess Progress in Improving Service Acquisition

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Over the last decade, the Department of Defense (DOD) has taken several actions to address legislative requirements to improve the acquisition and management of services. In 2001, as amended in 2006, Congress required DOD to implement a management structure for the acquisition of services. In response, DOD implemented such a structure and service acquisition review and approval process. Recently, DOD also established new positions within its management structure, including senior managers within the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (USD(AT&L)) and the military departments, to oversee and coordinate service acquisition. With a management structure and review process in place, USD(AT&L) is focusing on efforts to improve the process for how requirements for individual service acquisitions are developed and enhancing training to respond to several legislative directives. USD(AT&L) also created its Acquisition of Services Functional Integrated Product Team, in part, to determine how to address legislative requirements to provide training for personnel acquiring services. USD(AT&L) did not develop a plan to implement the Defense Science Board recommendations to improve service acquisition but identified 23 different actions, including its Better Buying Power Initiative, it has planned or taken that officials regard as addressing what the plan was to include. For example, USD(AT&L) is updating its guidance on using incentives to improve contractor performance, which addresses one of the elements that was to be in the plan."
Date: June 27, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Defense Forensics: Additional Planning and Oversight Needed to Establish an Enduring Expeditionary Forensic Capability

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has taken some important steps to establish an enduring expeditionary forensic capability by issuing a concept of operations in 2008, followed by a directive in 2011 to establish policy and assign responsibilities. As required by the directive, DOD has drafted a strategic plan to guide the activities of the Defense Forensic Enterprise, including expeditionary forensics. Although the plan includes a mission statement, and goals and objectives--two of the five key elements identified by GAO as integral to a well-developed strategic plan--it does not identify approaches for how goals and objectives will be achieved, milestones and metrics to gauge progress, and resources needed to achieve goals and objectives. GAO's prior work has shown that organizations need a well-developed strategic plan to identify and achieve their goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. Officials in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics (OUSD(AT&L)) said that they decided to create a concise, high-level strategic plan and that they plan to issue guidance tasking the DOD components to develop individual implementation plans that include milestones. However, approaches, metrics, and resources needed to accomplish its goals and objectives were absent from the draft guidance. GAO discussed this omission with OUSD(AT&L), and in response, this office plans to revise its draft guidance. Also, the forensic strategic plan has been in draft for 2 years having undergone multiple revisions, and is still undergoing DOD internal review with no publication date set, and by extension, a publication date has not been set for the proposed DOD component implementation plans. The lack of an approved strategic plan and associated implementation plans limits DOD's ability to prioritize its efforts to develop an enduring expeditionary forensic capability …
Date: June 27, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Department of Homeland Security Appropriations: FY2014 Overview and Summary

Description: This report provides an overview of appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The first portion of this report provides an overview and historical context for reviewing DHS appropriations, highlighting various aspects including the comparative size of DHS components, the amount of non-appropriated funding the department receives, and trends in the timing and size of the department's appropriations legislation.
Date: August 27, 2013
Creator: Painter, William L.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Department of Homeland Security: Opportunities Exist to Enhance Visibility over Collaborative Field Mechanisms

Description: A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Opportunities exist for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to enhance its visibility over collaborative field mechanisms (i.e., multiagency groups such as task forces, committees, and teams that enhance stakeholder collaboration to more effectively and efficiently achieve their missions) established by component agencies. DHS, at the departmental level, has limited visibility over the universe and operation of these mechanisms and does not identify information from them that could further enhance collaboration across DHS and inform future DHS decisions. In the absence of a single DHS regional/field structure, DHS components have created collaborative mechanisms to better integrate field operations by better coordinating their missions and sharing information. However, when GAO sought to identify these mechanisms, in conjunction with DHS, senior DHS officials stated that while they maintain regular visibility over component activities--which may involve these collaborative mechanisms--DHS does not collect information on the types of mechanisms and collaborative practices these mechanisms employ because the mechanisms operate under the components, and thus this information was not readily available at the departmental level. DHS officials stated that primary oversight over the mechanisms is the responsibility of the operational components or mechanism participants. However, DHS's own strategic goals emphasize the importance of cross-departmental integration and coordination to enhance DHS's mission, and DHS could benefit--on a strategic level--from greater awareness of these mechanisms and the collaborative practices they employ. DHS is ultimately accountable for the resources that support these mechanisms, and is responsible for decision making about its overall field structure and for moving the department closer to its goal of greater component unification and integration. By collecting additional information on collaborative mechanisms, DHS could achieve better visibility over the universe of existing mechanisms, and thus be better positioned to analyze …
Date: September 27, 2013
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Determining Remaining Useful Life of Aging Cables in Nuclear Power Plants – Interim Study FY13

Description: The most important criterion for cable performance is its ability to withstand a design-basis accident. With nearly 1000 km of power, control, instrumentation, and other cables typically found in an NPP, it would be a significant undertaking to inspect all of the cables. Degradation of the cable jacket, electrical insulation, and other cable components is a key issue that is likely to affect the ability of the currently installed cables to operate safely and reliably for another 20 to 40 years beyond the initial operating life. The development of one or more nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques and supporting models that could assist in determining the remaining life expectancy of cables or their current degradation state would be of significant interest. The ability to nondestructively determine material and electrical properties of cable jackets and insulation without disturbing the cables or connections has been deemed essential. Currently, the only technique accepted by industry to measure cable elasticity (the gold standard for determining cable insulation degradation) is the indentation measurement. All other NDE techniques are used to find flaws in the cable and do not provide information to determine the current health or life expectancy. There is no single NDE technique that can satisfy all of the requirements needed for making a life-expectancy determination, but a wide range of methods have been evaluated for use in NPPs as part of a continuous evaluation program. The commonly used methods are indentation and visual inspection, but these are only suitable for easily accessible cables. Several NDE methodologies using electrical techniques are in use today for flaw detection but there are none that can predict the life of a cable. There are, however, several physical and chemical ptoperty changes in cable insulation as a result of thermal and radiation damage. In principle, these properties may be …
Date: September 27, 2013
Creator: Simmons, Kevin L.; Fifield, Leonard S.; Westman, Matthew P.; Ramuhalli, Pradeep; Pardini, Allan F.; Tedeschi, Jonathan R. et al.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

DOE_EE0003592_HEL-SR-PR-0027 Rev 1 20130227 Final Report_Public Release

Description: To develop a high temperature Thermal Storage System (TES) based on graphite and able to provide both economical and technical advantages with respect to existing solutions contributing to increase the share of Concentrated Solar Plants (CSP).
Date: February 27, 2013
Creator: Eduardo Villarroel, Carlos Fernandez-Pello, Jeff Lenartz, Karen Parysek
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Expiring Unemployment Insurance Provisions

Description: Several key provisions related to extended federal unemployment benefits are temporary and, therefore, scheduled to expire.This report describes the consequences of these expirations for the financing and availability of unemployment benefits in states.The report also summarizes current legislative proposals to extend these expiring provision.
Date: December 27, 2013
Creator: Isaacs, Katelin P.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Farm-to-Food Price Dynamics

Description: This report discusses heightened commodity price volatility. It also discusses an array of cost that is layered on top of the price of a raw agricultural commodity at each stage of the marketing chain as it moves to the customer.
Date: September 27, 2013
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Federal Financial Reporting: An Overview

Description: This report discusses the federal financial reporting -- defined here as the process of recording retrospective executive department-level financial and performance information -- may provide both a snapshot of the government's financial health at a given moment in time, as well as an accounting of its financial performance over a given time frame.
Date: February 27, 2013
Creator: Levine, Meredith A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

Final Report for "Infrared Fixed Points in Multiflavor Lattice Gauge Theory"

Description: The goal of the grant was to apply methods that we have developed with spin and pure gauge models to models with dynamical fermions which are considered as candidates for an alternative to the Higgs mechanism. The work on SU(3) with fundamental quarks and with sextet quarks is described.
Date: September 27, 2013
Creator: Meurice, Yannick & Sinclair, Donald K.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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