Hearings

PURPOSE: To examine when it is appropriate for the federal government to contract with the private sector for goods and services and when it is appropriate for the government to provide goods and services in-house with an emphasis on promoting public-private competition to generate efficiencies and reduce costs. BACKGROUND: Until 2009, the federal government’s long-standing policy preference was to rely on the ...

PURPOSE: To examine agency compliance with improper payment laws and the role of Treasury’s Do Not Pay Center in reducing improper payments. BACKGROUND: The Improper Payments Information Act requires federal executive branch agencies to review all programs and identify those that may be susceptible to significant improper payments. Improper payment estimates across the federal government for FY 2015 totaled $136.7 ...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) recommendation not to prosecute former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for maintaining a private server, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) announced that FBI Director James Comey will testify before the Oversight Committee on Thursday, July 7, 2016. “The FBI’s recommendation is ...

  TAKEAWAYS: DHS and BOP are not adequately securing their firearms inventory. o   DHS lost 500 firearms during the last seven years and in 2015, only 56 out of 72 lost firearms were recovered. BOP has implemented only three out of 14 recommendations to ...

PURPOSE: To examine the proposed rule and how it impacts states, federal agencies, and the in-situ recovery industry. To examine how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can best move forward with the rule, including ways it can work with impacted groups. BACKGROUND: On January 26, 2015, EPA issued a proposed rule entitled “Health and Environmental Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill ...

PURPOSE: To hear private sector views on cyber threats, priority issues for cybersecurity strategy, implementation of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015, and issues the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity should consider. BACKGROUND: On December 18, 2015, Congress enacted the Cybersecurity Act to achieve three key goals: (1) create a framework for private companies to share cybersecurity threat ...

TAKEAWAYS: More than 20 claims of sexual harassment and misconduct were reported at offices in the Grand Canyon River District and Canaveral National Seashore during the past 15 years. ...

PURPOSE: To examine the roles of 18F and US Digital Service (USDS) in providing IT services to federal agencies and to evaluate how closely they adhere to their original purpose. To explore how they protect against overlap and duplication, measure results, and interact with agency CIOs. BACKGROUND: In March 2014, General Services Administration announced the creation of a new digital government program ...

PURPOSE: To examine federal and state efforts to combat fraud and trafficking in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program. BACKGROUND: In FY 2015, SNAP provided 46 million low-income individuals and/or households with $69 billion in benefits to help provide for a more nutritious diet. The Office of Management and Budget designated SNAP as a high-error program due to an estimated $2.6 ...

TAKEAWAYS: Significant changes are needed at the Census Bureau to prevent massive cost overruns with Census 2020. Mismanagement is a problem at the Bureau. As the 2018 end-to-end test deadline draws closer, there are still 178 decisions for management to make to ensure readiness of the modernized system. The Bureau must narrowly focus and hasten IT modernization efforts in order prevent cost overruns and meet Census 2020's immutable time ...