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400 | sider a standard, in April 2007 EPA again decided not to regulate perchlorate—citing the need for additional research—and kept perchlorate on its Contaminant Candidate List. Several human studies have shown that thyroid changes occur in human adults at significantly higher concentrations than the amounts typically observed in water supplies. However, more recent studies have since provided new knowledge and raised concerns about potential health risks of low-level exposures, particularly for infants and fet |
401 | uses. Specifically, in October 2006, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the results of the first large study to examine the relationship between low-level perchlorate exposure and thyroid function in women with lower iodine levels. About 36 percent of U.S. women have these lower iodine levels. The study found decreases in a thyroid hormone that helps regulate the body’s metabolism and is needed for proper fetal neural development. Moreover, in May 2007, FDA relea |
402 | sed a preliminary exposure assessment because of significant public interest in the issue of perchlorate exposure from food. FDA sampled and tested foods such as tomatoes, carrots, spinach, and cantaloupe; and other high water content foods such as apple and orange juices; vegetables such as cucumbers, green beans, and greens; and seafood such as fish and shrimp for perchlorate and found widespread low-level perchlorate levels in these items. FDA is also planning to publish, in late 2007, an assessment of e |
403 | xposure to perchlorate from foods, based on results from its fiscal year 2005-2006 Total Diet Study—a market basket study that is representative of the U.S. diet. Some federal funding has been directed to perchlorate studies and cleanup activities. For example, committee reports related to the DOD and EPA appropriations acts of fiscal year 2006 directed some funding for perchlorate cleanup. In the Senate committee report for the Department of Health and Human Services fiscal year 2006 appropriations act, th |
404 | e committee encouraged support for studies on the long-term effects of perchlorate exposure. The Senate committee report for FDA’s fiscal year 2006 appropriations act directed FDA to continue conducting surveys of perchlorate in food and bottled water and to report the findings to Congress. In the current Congress, legislation has been introduced that would require EPA to establish a health advisory for perchlorate, as well as requiring public water systems serving more than 10,000 people to test for perchl |
405 | orate and disclose its presence in annual consumer confidence reports. Other pending legislation would require EPA to establish a national primary drinking water standard for perchlorate. DOD has certain responsibilities with regard to emerging contaminants such as TCE that are regulated by EPA or state governments, but its responsibilities and cleanup goals are less definite for emerging contaminants such as perchlorate that lack federal regulatory standards. As we have previously reported, DOD must comply |
406 | with any cleanup standards and processes under all applicable environmental laws, regulations, and executive orders, including the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), and the SDWA. DOD’s designation of perchlorate as an emerging contaminant reflects the department’s recognition that the chemical has a significant potential i |
407 | mpact on people or the Department’s mission. DOD’s recognition of a substance as an emerging contaminant can lead DOD to decide to take to certain cleanup efforts even in the absence of a federal regulatory standard. In addition, federal laws enacted in fiscal years 2004 and 2005 required DOD to conduct health studies and evaluate perchlorate found at military sites. For example, the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2005 stated that the Secretary of Defense should develop |
408 | a plan for cleaning up perchlorate resulting from DOD activities when the perchlorate poses a health hazard and continue evaluating identified sites. As we reported in our 2005 perchlorate report, DOD has sometimes responded at the request of EPA and state environmental authorities— which have used a patchwork of statutes, regulations, and general oversight authorities—to act (or require others, including DOD, to act) when perchlorate was deemed to pose a threat to human health and the environment. For exam |
409 | ple, pursuant to its authority under the Clean Water Act’s NPDES program, Texas required the Navy to reduce perchlorate levels in wastewater discharges at the McGregor Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant to 4 parts per billion, the lowest level at which perchlorate could be detected. Similarly, after sampling required as part of a RCRA permit detected perchlorate, Utah officials required ATK Thiokol, an explosives and rocket fuel manufacturer, to install a monitoring well to determine the extent of perch |
410 | lorate contamination at their facility and take steps to prevent additional releases of perchlorate. In addition, EPA and state officials also told us during our 2005 review that they have sometimes used their general oversight responsibilities to protect water quality and human health to investigate and sample groundwater and surface water areas for perchlorate. For example, EPA asked Patrick Air Force Base and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, to sample groundwater for perchlorate near rocket |
411 | launch sites. Previously, both installations had inventoried areas where perchlorate was suspected and conducted limited sampling. DOD officials did not find perchlorate at Patrick Air Force Base and, according to an EPA official, the Department of the Air Force said it would not conduct additional sampling at either installation until there was a federal standard for perchlorate. Finally, according to EPA, in the absence of a federal perchlorate standard, at least eight states have established nonregulato |
412 | ry action levels or advisories for perchlorate ranging from 1 part per billion to 51 parts per billion. (See table 1.) Massachusetts is the only state to have established a drinking water standard—set at 2 ppb. The California Department of Health Services reports that California will complete the rulemaking for its proposed standard of 6 ppb later this year. States have used these thresholds to identify the level at which some specified action must be taken by DOD and other facilities in their state, in the |
413 | absence of a federal standard. For example, Oregon initiated in-depth site studies to determine the cause and extent of perchlorate contamination when concentrations of 18 ppb or greater are found. Nevada required the Kerr-McGee Chemical site in Henderson to treat groundwater and reduce perchlorate concentration releases to 18 ppb, which is Nevada’s action level for perchlorate. Utah officials told us that while the state did not have a written action level for perchlorate, it may require the responsible p |
414 | arty to undertake cleanup activities if perchlorate concentrations exceed 18 ppb. DOD is undertaking a number of activities to address emerging contaminants in general, including the creation of the Materials of Evolving Regulatory Interest Team (MERIT) to systematically address the health, environmental, and safety concerns associated with emerging contaminants. As noted above, DOD is required to follow EPA regulations for monitoring and cleanup of TCE. In addition, DOD is working with ATSDR, which has pro |
415 | jected a December 2007 completion date for its current study of TCE’s health effects on pregnant women and their children. In the absence of a federal standard, DOD has adopted its own perchlorate policies for sampling and cleanup activities or is working under applicable state guidelines. DOD created MERIT to help address the health, environmental, and safety concerns associated with emerging contaminants. According to DOD, MERIT has focused on materials that have been or are used by DOD, or are under deve |
416 | lopment for use, such as perchlorate, TCE, RDX, DNT and new explosives, naphthalene, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), hexavalent chromium (i.e., chromium VI), beryllium, and nanomaterials. MERIT’s initiatives include pollution prevention, detection/analytical methods, human health studies, treatment technologies, lifecycle cost analysis, risk assessment and risk management, and public outreach. Another of MERIT’s activities was to create an Emerging Contaminant Action List of materials that DOD has assessed a |
417 | nd judged to have a significant potential impact on people or DOD’s mission. The current list includes five contaminants—perchlorate, TCE, RDX, naphthalene, and hexavalent chromium. To be placed on the action list, the contaminant will generally have been assessed by MERIT for its impacts on (1) environment, safety, and health (including occupational and public health), (2) cleanup efforts, (3) readiness and training, (4) acquisition, and (5) operation and maintenance activities. In 1979, EPA issued nonenfo |
418 | rceable guidance establishing “suggested no adverse response levels” for TCE in drinking water. These levels provided EPA’s estimate of the short- and long-term exposure to TCE in drinking water for which no adverse response would be observed and described the known information about possible health risks for these chemicals. However, the guidance for TCE did not suggest actions that public water systems should take if TCE concentrations exceeded those values. Subsequently, in 1989, EPA set an enforceable M |
419 | CL for TCE of 5 micrograms per liter, equivalent to 5 ppb in drinking water. The new standard served as a regulatory basis for many facilities to take concrete action to measure and control TCE. According to EPA’s Region 4 Superfund Director, for example, 46 sites on Camp Lejeune have since been identified for TCE cleanup. The Navy and EPA have selected remedies for 30 of those sites, and the remaining 16 are under active investigation. The first Record of Decision was signed in September 1992 and addressed |
420 | contamination of groundwater in the Hadnot Point Area, one of Camp Lejeune’s water systems. Remedies to address groundwater contamination include groundwater “pump and treat” systems, in-situ chemical oxidation, and monitored natural attenuation. DOD contends that it is aggressively treating TCE as part of its current cleanup program. It notes that the department uses much less TCE than in the past and requires strict handling procedures and pollution prevention measures to prevent exposure to TCE and the |
421 | release of TCE into the environment. Specifically, DOD has replaced products containing TCE with other types of cleaning agents such as citrus-based agents, mineral oils and other non-toxic solutions. In the absence of a federal perchlorate standard, DOD has adopted its own policies with regard to sampling and cleanup. The 2003 Interim Policy on Perchlorate Sampling required the military services—Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines—to sample on active installations (1) where a reasonable basis existed to sus |
422 | pect that a perchlorate release occurred as a result of DOD activities, and (2) a complete human exposure pathway likely existed or (3) where a particular installation must do so under state laws or applicable federal regulations such as the NPDES permit program. However, DOD’s interim policy on perchlorate did not address cleanup responsibilities nor did it address contamination at closed installations. As we detailed in our previous work, DOD only sampled for perchlorate on closed installations when reque |
423 | sted by EPA or a state agency, and only cleaned up active and closed installations when required by a specific environmental law, regulation, or program such as the environmental restoration program at formerly used defense sites. For example, at EPA’s request, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) installed monitoring wells and sampled for perchlorate at Camp Bonneville, a closed installation near Vancouver, Washington. Utah state officials also reported to us that DOD removed soil containing perchlorat |
424 | e at the former Wendover Air Force Base in Utah, where the Corps found perchlorate in 2004. However, as we previously reported, DOD cited reluctance to sample on or near active installations because of the lack of a federal regulatory standard for perchlorate. In the absence of a federal standard, DOD has also worked with individual states on perchlorate sampling and cleanup. For example, in October 2004, DOD and California agreed to prioritize perchlorate sampling at DOD facilities in California, including |
425 | identifying and prioritizing the investigation of areas on active installations and military sites (1) where the presence of perchlorate is likely based on previous and current defense-related activities and (2) near drinking water sources where perchlorate was found. In January 2006, DOD updated its policy with the issuance of its Policy on DOD Required Actions Related to Perchlorate. The new policy applies broadly to DOD’s active and closed installations and formerly used defense sites within the United |
426 | States, its territories and possessions. It directs DOD to test for perchlorate and take certain cleanup actions. The policy also acknowledges the importance of EPA direction in driving DOD’s response to emerging contaminants. It stated, for example, that its adoption of 24 ppb as the current level of concern for managing perchlorate was in response to EPA’s adoption of an oral reference dose that translates to a Drinking Water Equivalent Level of 24.5 ppb. The policy also states that when EPA or the states |
427 | adopt standards for perchlorate, “DOD will comply with applicable state or federal promulgated standards whichever is more stringent.” The 2006 policy directs DOD to test for perchlorate when it is reasonably expected that a release has occurred. If perchlorate levels exceed 24 ppb, a site-specific risk assessment must be conducted. When an assessment indicates that the perchlorate contamination could result in adverse health effects, the site must be prioritized for risk management. DOD uses a relative-ri |
428 | sk site evaluation framework across DOD to evaluate the risks posed by one site relative to other sites and to help prioritize environmental restoration work and to allocate resources among sites. The policy also directs DOD’s service components to program resources to address perchlorate contamination under four DOD programs— environmental restoration, operational ranges, DOD-owned drinking water systems, and DOD wastewater effluent discharges. Under the 2006 perchlorate policy, DOD has sampled drinking wa |
429 | ter, groundwater, and soil where the release of perchlorate may result in human exposure and responded where it has deemed appropriate to protect public health. As we have reported, DOD is responsible for a large number of identified sites with perchlorate contamination, and the department has allotted significant resources to address the problem. According to DOD, sampling for perchlorate has occurred at 258 active DOD installations or facilities. Through fiscal year 2006, DOD reported spending approximate |
430 | ly $88 million on perchlorate-related research activities, including $60 million for perchlorate treatment technologies, $9.5 million on health and toxicity studies, and $11.6 million on pollution prevention. Additional funds have been spent on testing technology and cleanup. DOD also claims credit for other efforts, including strict handling procedures to prevent the release of perchlorate into the environment and providing information about perchlorate at DOD facilities and DOD’s responses. For example, D |
431 | OD posts the results of its perchlorate sampling, by state, on MERIT’s Web site. As we have previously reported, DOD must comply with cleanup standards and processes under applicable laws, regulations and executive orders, including EPA drinking water standards and state-level standards. In the absence of a federal perchlorate standard, DOD has also initiated perchlorate response actions to clean up perchlorate contamination at several active and formerly used defense sites under its current perchlorate pol |
432 | icy. For example, at Edwards Air Force Base in California, DOD has treated 32 million gallons of ground water under a pilot project for contaminants that include perchlorate. In addition, DOD has removed soil and treated groundwater at the Massachusetts Military Reservation and Camp Bonneville in Washington State. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, DOD faces significant challenges, and potentially large costs, in addressing emerging contaminants, particularly in light of the scientific developments and regulatory |
433 | uncertainties surrounding these chemicals and materials. To help address them, DOD recently identified five emerging contaminants for which it is developing risk management options. As in the case of TCE, DOD took action to address contamination after EPA established an MCL in 1989. DOD has stated that further efforts to address perchlorate would require a regulatory standard from EPA and/or the states. The fact that some states have moved to create such standards complicates the issue for DOD by presentin |
434 | g it with varying cleanup standards across the country. As the debate over a federal perchlorate standard continues, the recently- issued health studies from CDC and FDA may provide additional weight to the view that the time for such a standard may be approaching. Until one is adopted, DOD will continue to face the challenges of differing regulatory requirements in different states and continuing questions about whether its efforts to control perchlorate contamination are necessary or sufficient to protect |
435 | human health. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to respond to any questions that you or Members of the Subcommittee may have at this time. For further information about this testimony, please contact John Stephenson at (202) 512-3841 or [email protected]. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this statement. Contributors to this testimony include Steven Elstein, Assistant Director and Terrance Horne |
436 | r, Senior Analyst. Marc Castellano, Richard Johnson, and Alison O’Neill also made key contributions. Defense Health Care: Issues Related To Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, GAO-07-933T (June 12, 2007). Defense Health Care: Activities Related To Past Drinking Water Contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, GAO-07-276 (May 11, 2007). Perchlorate: EPA Does Not Systematically Track Incidents of Contamination, GAO-07-797T (April 25, 2007). Environmental Information: EPA |
437 | Actions Could Reduce the Availability Of Environmental Information To The Public, GAO-07-464T (February 6, 2007). Military Base Closures: Opportunities Exist to Improve Environmental Cleanup Cost Reporting and to Expedite Transfer of Unneeded Property, GAO-07-166 (January 30, 2007). Perchlorate: A System to Track Sampling and Cleanup Results Is Needed, GAO-05-462 (May 20, 2005). Military Base Closures: Updated Status of Prior Base Realignments and Closures, GAO-05-138 (January 13, 2005). Environmental Cont |
438 | amination: DOD Has Taken Steps To Improve Cleanup Coordination At Former Defense Sites But Clearer Guidance Is Needed To Ensure Consistency, GAO-03-146 (March 28, 2003). This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. It may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to rep |
439 | roduce this material separately. |
440 | As you know, the cost of the Decennial Census has steadily increased during the past 40 years, in part because the nation’s population has steadily grown larger, more diverse, and increasingly difficult to enumerate. For example, at about $13 billion, the 2010 Census was the costliest U.S. census in history and was 56 percent more costly than the $8.1 billion 2000 Census (in constant 2010 dollars). To help save costs, in preparing for the 2020 Census, the Bureau has been researching and testing new methods |
441 | and technologies to redesign the Census to more cost-effectively count the population while maintaining high-quality results. The Bureau’s research and testing has focused on four redesign areas: Reengineering address canvassing: This involves reengineering processes for updating the Bureau’s address list and maps of the nation to reduce the need for employing field staff to walk every street in the nation to verify addresses. Optimizing self-response: Includes efforts to maximize the self- response of hous |
442 | eholds by, among other things, offering an Internet response option. As we have previously reported, to deliver the Internet response option, the Bureau would need to, among other things, design and develop an Internet response application, develop and acquire the IT infrastructure to support a large volume of data processing and storage, and plan communication and outreach strategies to motivate households to respond via the Internet. Using administrative records: This includes expanding the use of data pr |
443 | eviously obtained by other federal and state government agencies and commercial sources to reduce the need for costly and labor-intensive follow-up work. My colleague will address the Bureau’s progress on using administrative records in his statement today. Reengineering field operations: This includes reducing the number of visits to households, automating the management of enumerator work to conduct non-response follow-up, and automating and optimizing case assignment and routing for enumerators to reduce |
444 | the staffing, infrastructure, and field offices required for the 2020 Census. The Bureau has conducted several major field tests to examine the potential for each of these redesign areas: In mid-2014 the Bureau conducted the 2014 Census Test in the Maryland and Washington, D.C., areas to test new methods for conducting self-response and non-response follow-up. In early 2015 the Bureau completed the Address Validation Test, which was used to examine new methods for updating the Bureau’s address list. In mid |
445 | -2015 the Bureau conducted the 2015 Census Test in Arizona to test, among other things, the use of a field operations management system to automate data collection operations and provide real-time data and the ability to reduce the non-response follow-up workload using data previously provided to the government, as well as enabling enumerators to use their personally owned mobile devices to collect census data. Also in mid-2015, the Bureau conducted an optimizing self-response test in Savannah, Georgia, and |
446 | the surrounding area, which was intended to further explore methods of encouraging households to respond using the Internet, such as using advertising and outreach to motivate respondents, and enabling households to respond without a Bureau-issued identification number. More recently, the Bureau began its National Content Test, which is currently ongoing and intended to, among other things, continue to test self-response modes and contact strategies and refine estimates of national self-response and Intern |
447 | et response rates. These tests were intended to inform the first version of the Bureau’s 2020 Census Operational Plan, which is intended to outline design decisions that drive how the 2020 Census will be conducted. As part of these decisions, the Bureau has committed to aspects of the 2020 Census redesign. The operational plan articulated 326 total design decision points, which vary widely in their complexity, importance, and urgency. As of October 6, 2015, the Bureau had made decisions for about 47 percent |
448 | of them related to each of the four redesign areas. For example, the Bureau has decided to conduct 100 percent of address canvassing (i.e., identifying all addresses where people could live) in the office, and target a subset of up to 25 percent for in-the-field address canvassing; offer an Internet self-response option, as well as alternative response options via telephone and paper for limited circumstances; allow people to respond without a unique census identification use mobile devices for enumerators |
449 | to conduct field data collection; use administrative records to enumerate vacant units; use enterprise solutions to support the 2020 Census, when practicable; and reduce the field footprint by half in comparison to the 2010 Census (e.g., 6 regional census centers instead of 12 and up to 250 field offices instead of nearly 500). Figure 1 provides an overview of the Bureau’s current plans and assumptions for the 2020 Census, resulting from the October 2015 operational plan. As a result of these decisions, th |
450 | e Bureau estimates saving $5.2 billion. Specifically, the Bureau estimated that repeating the design of the 2010 Census for 2020 would cost approximately $17.8 billion (in constant 2020 dollars), while successfully implementing the four redesign areas is expected to result in an overall 2020 Census cost of $12.5 billion (in constant 2020 dollars). Table 1 illustrates the estimated cost savings associated with each redesign area. Moving forward, the Bureau plans to conduct additional research and testing and |
451 | further refine the design through 2018. By August 2017, the Bureau plans to begin preparations for end-to-end testing, which is intended to test all systems and operations to ensure readiness for the 2020 Census. Figure 2 shows the timeline for planned 2020 Census research and testing. Concurrent with redesigning the decennial census, the Bureau has also begun a significant effort to modernize and consolidate its survey data collection and processing functions. This is being undertaken through an enterpris |
452 | e-wide IT initiative called Census Enterprise Data Collection and Processing (CEDCAP). This initiative is a large and complex modernization program intended to deliver a system-of-systems for all the Bureau’s survey data collection and processing functions—rather than continuing to rely on unique, survey-specific systems with redundant capabilities. For the 2020 Census, CEDCAP is expected to deliver the systems and IT infrastructure needed to implement the Bureau’s redesign areas. For example: To reengineer |
453 | field work, CEDCAP is expected to implement a new dynamic operational control system to track and manage field work. This system is to be able to make decisions about which visits enumerators should attempt on a daily basis using real-time data, as well as provide automated route planning to make enumerator travel more efficient. CEDCAP also includes testing the use of mobile devices, either government-furnished or employee-owned, to automate data collection in the field. To maximize self-response with the |
454 | Internet response option, CEDCAP is responsible for developing and testing a web-based survey application and exploring options for establishing the IT infrastructure to support the increased volume of data processing and storage that will be needed. CEDCAP consists of 12 projects that are to deliver capabilities incrementally, over the course of at least 10 releases. The Bureau plans to roll out capabilities for the 2020 Census incrementally through 6 of these releases, while also deploying capabilities f |
455 | or other surveys such as the American Community Survey and Economic Census. The Bureau expects to reuse selected systems, make modifications to other systems, and develop or acquire additional systems and infrastructure. As of August 2015, the CEDCAP program was projected to cost about $548 million through 2020. However, the Bureau’s past efforts to implement new approaches and systems have not always gone well. As one example, during the 2010 Census, the Bureau planned to use handheld mobile devices to sup |
456 | port field data collection for the census, including following up with nonrespondents. However, due to significant problems identified during testing of the devices, cost overruns, and schedule slippages, the Bureau decided not to use the handheld devices for non-response follow-up and reverted to paper-based processing, which increased the cost of the 2010 Census by up to $3 billion and significantly increased its risk as it had to switch its operations to paper-based operations as a backup. Last month’s i |
457 | ssuance of the 2020 Census Operational Plan, which documents many key decisions about the redesign of the 2020 Census, represents progress; however, the Bureau faces critical challenges in delivering the IT systems needed to support the redesign areas. Specifically, with preparations for end-to-end testing less than 2 years away, the window to implement CEDCAP, which is intended to be the backbone of the 2020 Census, is narrow. Additionally, while the Bureau has demonstrated improvements in IT management, a |
458 | s we have previously reported, it faces critical gaps in its IT workforce planning and information security. Until it takes actions we have previously recommended to address these challenges, the Bureau is at risk of cost overruns, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls, which will likely diminish the potentially significant cost savings that it estimates will result from redesigning the census for 2020. The Bureau has not prioritized key IT-related decisions, which is a trend we have reported for the |
459 | past few years. Specifically, in April 2014, we reported the Bureau had not prioritized key IT research and testing needed for the design decisions planned for the end of 2015. In particular, the Bureau had not completed the necessary plans and schedules for research and testing efforts and had not prioritized what needed to be done in time for the 2015 design decisions—a milestone that had already been pushed back by a year (see fig. 3). We concluded that, given the current trajectory and the lack of suppo |
460 | rting schedules and plans, it was unlikely that all planned IT-related research and testing activities would be completed in time to support the 2015 design decisions—which ultimately came to fruition (as discussed later). In light of these ongoing challenges, we recommended in our April 2014 report that the Bureau prioritize its IT-related research and testing projects that need to be completed to support the design decisions and develop schedules and plans to reflect the new prioritized approach. The Bure |
461 | au agreed with our recommendations and has taken steps to address them. For example, in September 2014, the Bureau released a plan that identified inputs, such as research questions, design components, and testing, that were needed to inform the operational design decisions expected in the fall of 2015. However, as we reported in February 2015, the Bureau had not yet determined how key IT research questions that had been identified as critical inputs into the design decisions—estimating the Internet self- r |
462 | esponse rate and determining the IT infrastructure for security and scalability needed to support Internet response—were to be answered. We therefore recommended that the Bureau, among other things, develop methodologies and plans for answering key IT-related research questions in time to inform key design decisions. While the recent 2020 Census Operational Plan documents many key IT- related decisions about the redesign of the census, other critical questions, including the ones identified in our February |
463 | 2015 report, remain unanswered. Of greater concern, the Bureau does not intend to answer these and other questions until 2016 through 2018. Specifically, there are several significant IT decisions that are being deferred, which have implications on the CEDCAP program’s ability to have production- ready systems in place in time to conduct end-to-end testing. For example, the Bureau does not plan to decide on the projected demand that the IT infrastructure and systems would need to accommodate or whether the |
464 | Bureau will build or buy the needed systems until June 2016, at the earliest; the high-level design and description of the systems (referred to as the solutions architecture) until September 2016—leaving about a year to, among other things, build or acquire, integrate, and test the systems that are intended to serve as the backbone to the 2020 Census before preparations for end-to-end testing begins in August 2017; and the strategy for the use of mobile devices for field work until October 2017. Figure 4 il |
465 | lustrates several key IT-related decisions that have been deferred which will impact preparations for the end-to-end test and 2020 Census. Unless the Bureau makes these key decisions soon, it will likely run out of time to put CEDCAP systems in place. Institutionalizing key IT management controls, such as IT governance, system development methodology, and requirements management processes, helps establish a consistent and repeatable process for managing and overseeing IT investments and reduces the risk of |
466 | experiencing cost overruns, schedule slippages, and performance shortfalls, like those that affected the previous census. However, in September 2012, we reported that the Bureau lacked a sufficiently mature IT governance process to ensure that investments are properly controlled and monitored, did not have a comprehensive system development methodology, and continued to have long-standing challenges in requirements management. We made several recommendations to address these issues, and the Bureau took acti |
467 | ons to fully implement each of the recommendations. For example, the Bureau addressed gaps in policies and procedures related to IT governance, such as establishing guidelines on the frequency of investment review board meetings and thresholds for escalation of cost, risk, or impact issues; finalized its adoption of an enterprise system development life-cycle methodology, which included the short incremental development model, referred to as Agile, and a process for continuously improving the methodology ba |
468 | sed on lessons learned; and implemented a consistent requirements development tool that includes guidance for developing requirements at the strategic mission, business, and project levels and is integrated with its enterprise system development life-cycle methodology. As a result, the Bureau has established a consistent process for managing and overseeing its IT investments. Effective workforce planning is essential to ensure organizations have the proper skills, abilities, and capacity for effective manag |
469 | ement. While the Bureau has made progress in IT workforce planning efforts, many critical IT competency gaps remain to be filled. In September 2012 we reported, among other things, that the Bureau had not developed a Bureau-wide IT workforce plan; identified gaps in mission-critical IT occupations, skills, and competencies; or developed strategies to address gaps. Accordingly, we recommended that the Bureau establish a repeatable process for performing IT skills assessments and gap analyses and establish a |
470 | process for directorates to coordinate on IT workforce planning. In response, in 2013 the Bureau completed an enterprise-wide competency assessment and identified several mission-critical gaps in technical competencies. In 2014, the Bureau established documents to institutionalize a strategic workforce planning process, identified actions and targets to close the competency gaps by December 2015, and established a process to monitor quarterly status reports on the implementation of these actions. However, a |
471 | s we reported in February 2015, while these are positive steps in establishing strategic workforce planning capabilities, the Bureau’s workforce competency assessment identified several mission-critical gaps that would challenge its ability to deliver IT-related initiatives, such as the IT systems that are expected to be delivered by CEDCAP. For example, the Bureau found that competency gaps existed in cloud computing, security integration and engineering, enterprise/mission engineering life- cycle, require |
472 | ments development, and Internet data collection. The Bureau also found that enterprise-level competency gaps existed in program and project management, budget and cost estimation, systems development, data analytics, and shared services. The Bureau has taken steps to regularly monitor and report on the status of its efforts to close competency gaps and has completed several notable actions. For example, in August 2015, the Bureau filled the position of Decennial IT Division Chief and in September 2015 award |
473 | ed an enterprise-wide IT services contract for systems engineering and integration support. However, more work remains for the Bureau to close competency gaps critical to the implementation of its IT efforts. Most significantly, in July 2015, the Chief Information Officer resigned. As of October 2015, the Bureau was working to fill that gap and had an acting Chief Information Officer temporarily in the position. Additionally, there are other gaps in key positions, such as the Chief of the Office of Informat |
474 | ion Security and Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Big Data Center Chief, Chief Cloud Architect, and the CEDCAP Assistant Chief of Business Integration, who is responsible for overseeing the integration of schedule, risks, and budget across the 12 projects. According to Bureau officials, they are working to address these gaps. Critical to the Bureau’s ability to perform its data collection and analysis duties are its information systems and the protection of the information they contain. A data bre |
475 | ach could result in the public’s loss of confidence in the Bureau, thus affecting its ability to collect census data. To ensure the reliability of their computerized information, agencies should design and implement controls to prevent, limit, and detect unauthorized access to computing resources, programs, information, and facilities. Inadequate design or implementation of access controls increases the risk of unauthorized disclosure, modification, and destruction of sensitive information and disruption of |
476 | service. In January 2013, we reported on the Bureau’s implementation of information security controls to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information and systems that support its mission. We concluded that the Bureau had a number of weaknesses in controls intended to limit access to its systems and information, as well as those related to managing system configurations and unplanned events. We attributed these weaknesses to the fact that the Bureau had not fully implemented a |
477 | comprehensive information security program, and made 115 recommendations aimed at addressing these deficiencies. The Bureau expressed broad agreement with the report and said it would work to find the best ways to address our recommendations. As of October 29, 2015, the Bureau had addressed 66 of the 115 recommendations we made in January 2013. Of the remaining open recommendations, we have determined that 30 require additional actions by the Bureau, and for the other 19 we have work under way to evaluate |
478 | if they have been fully addressed. The Bureau’s progress toward addressing our security recommendations is encouraging. However, more work remains to address the recommendations. A cyber incident recently occurred at the Bureau, and while it appears to have had limited impact, it demonstrates vulnerabilities at the Bureau. Specifically, in July 2015, the Bureau reported that it had been targeted by a cyber attack aimed at gaining access to its Federal Audit Clearinghouse, which contains non-confidential inf |
479 | ormation from state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and Indian tribes to facilitate oversight of federal grant awards. According to Bureau officials, the breach was limited to this database on a segmented portion of the Bureau’s network that does not touch administrative records or sensitive respondent data protected under Title 13 of the U.S. Code, and the hackers did not obtain the personally identifiable information of census and survey respondents. Given that the Bureau is planning to bu |
480 | ild or acquire IT systems to collect the public’s personal information for the 2020 Census in ways that it has not for previous censuses (e.g., web-based surveys, cloud computing, and enabling mobile devices to collect census data), continuing to implement our recommendations and apply IT security best practices as it implements CEDCAP systems must be a high priority. As a result of the Bureau’s challenges in key IT internal controls and its looming deadline, we identified CEDCAP as an IT investment in need |
481 | of attention in our February 2015 High-Risk report. We recently initiated a review of the CEDCAP program for your subcommittees, and expect to issue a report in the spring of 2016. In conclusion, the Bureau is pursuing initiatives to significantly reform its outdated and inefficient methods of conducting decennial censuses. However, with less than 2 years remaining until the Bureau plans to have all systems and processes for the 2020 Census developed and ready for end-to-end testing, it faces challenges th |
482 | at pose significant risk to 2020 Census program. These include the magnitude of the planned changes to the design of the census, the Bureau’s prior track record in executing large-scale IT projects, and the current lack of a permanent Chief Information Officer, among others. Moreover, the Bureau’s preliminary decision deadline has come and gone, and many IT-related decisions have been deferred to 2016 through 2018. Consequently, it is running out of time to develop, acquire, and implement the production sys |
483 | tems it will need to deliver the redesign and achieve its projected $5.2 billion in cost savings. The Bureau needs to take action to address the specific challenges we have highlighted in prior reports. If these actions are not taken, cost overruns, schedules delays, and performance shortfalls may diminish the potentially significant cost savings that the Bureau estimates will result from redesigning the census for 2020. Chairmen Meadows and Hurd, Ranking Members Connolly and Kelly, and Members of the Subco |
484 | mmittees, this completes my prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to any questions that you may have. If you have any questions concerning this statement, please contact Carol Cha, Director, Information Technology Acquisition Management Issues, at (202) 512-4456 or [email protected]. Other individuals who made key contributions include Shannin O’Neill, Assistant Director; Andrew Beggs; Lee McCracken; and Jeanne Sung. This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in |
485 | the United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately. |
486 | Each military service—the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps—is responsible for assessing and making decisions regarding the ammunition in its inventory. The Army, as the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition (SMCA), is responsible for centrally managing the demilitarization of all conventional ammunition including non-SMCA- managed items, for which capability, technology, and facilities exist to complete demilitarization and disposal. The services determine if the conventional ammunit |
487 | ion in their accounts is unserviceable or above their needs, and if so, transfer the ammunition to installations as specified by the SMCA. However, before proceeding with demilitarization, any serviceable conventional ammunition that is beyond a service’s needs is to be offered to the other services through an annual cross-leveling process. The services are to screen all conventional ammunition inventories that are beyond their needs by the other military services. Once the screening is complete, the servic |
488 | e can transfer ammunition to the demilitarization account as DOD excess, except when safety issues require immediate disposal. As shown in figure 1, once it has been determined that the conventional ammunition is unserviceable or DOD excess, the services deliver the ammunition to one of the seven demilitarization depots in the United States and the ammunition is incorporated into the CAD stockpile. Appendix III provides a map of the seven demilitarization depots and an explanation of the demilitarization me |
489 | thods used by the Army. Multiple DOD entities have responsibilities related to managing and overseeing conventional ammunition, with the Army having a prominent role. The Secretary of the Army serves as DOD’s SMCA and is responsible for centrally managing all aspects of the life cycle management of conventional ammunition, from research and development through demilitarization and disposal. The Program Executive Office for Ammunition has been designated the SMCA Executor and is responsible for executing all |
490 | the functions of the SMCA. The Program Executive Office for Ammunition works with Joint Munitions Command and the Aviation and Missile Command to manage the demilitarization of conventional ammunition at seven Army depots and several commercial firms. The Program Executive Office for Ammunition budgets and funds the demilitarization and disposal of all munitions in the CAD stockpile. In addition, for ammunition, such as Bullpup rockets, that has no demilitarization process, the Program Executive Office for |
491 | Ammunition plans, programs, budgets, and funds a joint-service research and development program to develop the necessary capability, technology, and facilities to demilitarize the ammunition. Within the Army Materiel Command, Army Aviation and Missile Command is responsible for the demilitarization of missiles and components, and the Joint Munitions Command is responsible for demilitarization of all remaining conventional ammunition. Army Aviation and Missile Command develops and implements the annual miss |
492 | ile demilitarization operating plan, and Joint Munitions Command does the same for the CAD stockpile. Furthermore, Joint Munitions Command provides logistics and sustainment support to the Program Executive Office for Ammunition and the Army Aviation and Missile Command. Joint Munitions Command also oversees the storage of the CAD stockpile, maintains the CAD stockpile database, and arranges the transportation of conventional ammunition to the demilitarization site when necessary. The military departments h |
493 | ave a process for collecting and sharing data on conventional ammunition through inventory stratification reports that they are required to prepare at least annually. They use these reports to identify inventory owned by one department that may be available to meet the needs of another department, as well as to identify both inventory deficiencies and excesses. DOD Manual 4140.01 Volumes 6 and 10 direct the military departments to assess the ability of the ammunition inventory to meet their needs by stratif |
494 | ying their inventories into various categories and requires them to prepare a report at least annually for internal purposes that lists the current inventory levels of all ammunition. The annual internal report divides the inventory into the categories of requirement-related munitions stock, economic retention munitions stock, contingency retention munitions stock, and potential reutilization and disposal stock. The manual also directs the departments to develop an external report identifying inventory in t |
495 | he same categories for each ammunition listed. The military departments are to use these reports, among other things, to identify opportunities for redistributing ammunition to meet unfilled needs in other military departments. The reports are then distributed to the other military departments to provide visibility. In addition, the Office of the Executive Director for Conventional Ammunition, which facilitates this process, compares the data in the inventory reports with data on planned procurements of amm |
496 | unition. After the departments share their annual reports on ammunition inventory, including which ammunition could be reutilized; department officials participate in the Quad Services Review and review all the other departments’ stratification reports to identify potential cross-leveling opportunities and request logistics data for items of interest. DOD guidance indicates that this cross-leveling process should be used to offset individual procurements of the military departments in coordination with the |
497 | Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. For example, the Executive Director for Conventional Ammunition reported in September 2014 that DOD avoids an average of $72 million annually in procurement costs by using the redistribution process regarding each service’s inventory holdings that exceed their needs. During the fiscal year 2014 redistribution process, the services transferred approximately 5 million items among each other, of which approximately 3 million were small-cali |
498 | ber items such as ammunition for rifles or pistols, about 2 million were for larger-caliber weapons such as mortars, and about 383,000 were a mixture of other types of ammunition. According to the Office of the Executive Director for Convention Ammunition’s Fiscal Year 2014 Cross-leveling End of Year Report, the potential acquisition cost avoidance achieved in the 2014 cross-leveling process totaled about $104.2 million. DOD guidance requires that at the end of the annual cross-leveling process, any remaini |
499 | ng unclaimed potential reutilization and disposal stock should either be claimed by another military department, recategorized, or designated for disposal, whether through the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services Account, or the CAD stockpile, as appropriate. We last reported on DOD’s management of conventional ammunition in March 2014. We found that the Army’s annual stratification report, which shows the status of ammunition inventory at a given point in time, did not include information on all u |
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