The Small Bus. Admin. (SBA) administers the Service-Disabled Vet.-Owned Small Bus. (SDVOSB) program, reported in FY 2008 that $6.5 billion in fed. contracts were awarded to firms who self-certified themselves as SDVOSBs. Fraud and abuse in the SDVOSB program allowed ineligible firms to improperly receive millions of dollars in set-aside and sole-source SDVOSB contracts, potentially denying legitimate service-disabled vets. and their firms the benefits of this program. The auditor identified 10 case-study examples of firms that did not meet SDVOSB program eligibility requirements, which received $100 million in SDVOSB contracts, and over $300 million in additional 8(a), HUBZone, and non-SDVOSB fed. gov¿t. contracts. Illustrations.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was created in 1975 to help insulate the U.S. economy from oil supply disruptions and currently holds about 700 million barrels of crude oil. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directed the Dept. of Energy (DoE) to increase the SPR storage capacity from 727 million barrels to 1 billion barrels, which it plans to accomplish by 2018. Since 1999, oil for the SPR has generally been obtained through the royalty-in-kind program, whereby the gov¿t. receives oil instead of cash for payment of royalties on leases of fed. property. This testimony focuses on: (1) factor that DoE should consider when filling the SPR; and (2) the cost-effectiveness of using oil received through the royalty-in-kind program to fill the SPR.
Importantly, the royalty-in-kind effort to fill the SPR creates, essentially, a “blind
spot” where neither DOE nor Interior, the two agencies responsible for running
the joint program, systematically examines whether exchanges of millions of
barrels of royalty oil have been a cost-effective approach to filling the reserve.
DOE does conduct a prospective analysis to estimate whether the value of the oil
it will receive in the exchanges will be at least as valuable as the royalty oil it will
exchange.
Among the efforts of the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies, the agency provides funding to states and organizations that offer abstinence-until-marriage education. This testimony discusses efforts by: (1) HHS and the states to assess the scientific accuracy of materials used in abstinence-until-marriage education programs; and (2) HHS, the states, and researchers to asses the effectiveness of abstinence-until-marriage education programs. Also discusses a Public Health Service Act requirement regarding medically accurate information about condom effectiveness. Illustrations.
Congressional Testimony Marcia Crosse. behaviors related to abstinence and
sex.17 Like ASPE, CDC has made its own effort to assess the effectiveness of
abstinence-until-marriage education by sponsoring a study to evaluate the effectiveness of two middle school curricula—one that complies with abstinence-
until- marriage education program requirements and one that teaches a
combination of abstinence and contraceptive information and skills. The agency
expects to complete ...
