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On a voice vote, the House backed the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, known as the DATA Act. The legislation would establish uniform standards for all recipients to report federal money and set up a single website where average Americans could search for information on how government agencies, departments and other recipients spend federal funds.
The Defense Department estimates its major acquisition programs are costing $1.6 trillion, slightly less than previously estimates.
The Postal Service has hired Evercore Partners, a New York-based investment bank, to evaluate proposed changes to its operations, compensation and benefits. Evercore has advised General Motors and other large, troubled companies. USPS said it needs to cut annual expenses by $20 billion by 2015.
For the first time in 20 years, audits reviewed and gave an opinion for every civilian agency. Only DoD doesn\'t have a qualified or clean audit opinion.
The Pentagon faces an uphill climb in getting ready for an audit of its consolidated financial statements by 2017, outside experts said Thursday. Nonetheless, the goal is achievable if the push is sustained by future secretaries of Defense.
The White House says federal agencies stopped nearly $18 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2011. Danny Werfel, controller at OMB, explained how agencies did it.
Most of the fiscal 2011 reductions came from the departments of Education, Agriculture and Health and Human Services. The administration also announced new steps aimed at improving how agencies use suspension and debarment to deal with unreliable contractors and grant recipients.
Gordon Adams, a professor of international relations at American University and former associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, outlines how draw downs have impacted DoD budgets since World War II.
Asif Khan, director of Financial Management and Assurance Issues at the Government Accountability Office, outlines some of the challenges the Pentagon faces in order to become auditable by 2017.
Susan Irving, director for Federal Budget Analysis at GAO, shared the findings from the GAO report, \"The Federal Government\'s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Fall 2011 Update.\"
Last month, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice said the agency spent too much money on conferences, citing $16 muffins as an example. Today, in a revised report, the IG said the muffins didn\'t actually cost that much.
The Department of Homeland Security expects an audit of its IT systems will bring relatively good news in two weeks. Last year\'s audit found 161 issues in technology systems throughout the agency. Those problems ranged from a lack of disaster recovery plans to the inability to block former employees from accessing department IT systems.
The bill builds on a series proposals on improper payments, said Linda Springer, former OMB comptroller.
FEMA has recovered just $3 million of $643 million in potentially improper disaster relief aid since Hurricane Katrina. But its attempts to recoup the money are setting off one senator and threatening to erupt into a public relations snafu.