Les particularismes des institutions financières supérieures de contrôle au Royaume-Uni et aux États-Unis

Le Government Accountability Office (GAO) aux États-Unis et le National Audit Office (NAO) au Royaume-Uni se rapprochent du modèle de la Cour des comptes françaises par leurs missions : s’assurer, en toute indépendance, du bon emploi de l’argent public. Ils s’en éloignent en revanche parce que les deux institutions ont fait ce travail, selon les époques, au profit soit du législatif soit de l’exécutif.

CARDINAL WTRL: TECHNOLOGY MATURITY, SCHEDULE SLIPPAGE AND TREND FORECASTING.

Maturity assessments of technology is a crucial process to identify and acquire compatible technologies for a system’s development. However, being a complex and highly subjective process, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported cost overruns and schedule slippages through the years. This study provides a unique Weighted Technology Readiness Level (WTRL) framework which utilizes cardinal factors to ascertain the maturity, schedule and trend of NASA’s 7 Technologies based on their maturity time. The framework utilizes MCDM methods to determine the cardinal complexity of each TRL. It allows the assimilation of other cardinal factors using a simple, open structure to track the overall technology maturity and readiness. Furthermore, this study highlights the importance of tailored TRL frameworks to determine the accurate cardinal coefficient of the said technology and the inferences derived otherwise. It eliminates several limitations of previous frameworks and compares against their performance using a verified statistical representation of processed data.

DATA Act Dashboard: An Instructional Case Using Data Visualization

This case instructs students on how to extract, transform, and load (ETL) data from disparate sources to perform analysis on Federal Government agency spending transactions: the financial statements of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, DATA Act spending data, and Office of Management and Budget object class definitions. Students also learn to construct an interactive dashboard to allow uses to routinely discover and investigate agency spending data and to drill down to specific dimensions, such as program activity or object classification, and to specific general ledger ledger accounts used by the Federal Government. This is accomplished by using parameters created in the ETL portion of the case. This case is designed to be flexible so that it can be implemented in any undergraduate or graduate accounting course from government accounting and auditing to data analytics based on the instructor’s preference.

Access to the 340B Drug Pricing Program: is there evidence of strategic hospital behavior?

Objective The 340B Drug Pricing Program allows hospitals to purchase covered drugs at a discount and potentially generate profit if they are reimbursed at rates that exceed 340B acquisition prices. Disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) are eligible to participate in 340B if their DSH adjustment–a measure that identifies hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of low income Medicare or Medicaid patients–is above 11.75%. To assess whether hospitals behave strategically to gain access to the program, we examined data on the number of hospitals just above versus below the DSH adjustment threshold for 340B eligibility and conducted McCrary density tests to assess statistical significance. Results In 2014–2016, the number of hospitals increases by 41% just above the 340B eligibility threshold. McCrary density tests found this increase to be statistically significant across a range of bandwidths in 2014–2016 (p < 0.01). From 2011–2013, the findings are sensitive to the bandwidth around the threshold, but insignificant in 2008–2010. We found no comparable change among hospitals ineligible for the 340B program. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that some hospitals adjust their DSH to gain 340B eligibility. Our findings support recent calls from the Government Accountability Office to improve oversight of the 340B program.

Nonpartisan advice for the U.S. Congress matters

As in all democratically constituted sta- tes, scientific policy advice to the legis- lature in the U. S. is faced with the challenges of this time: What can good advice look like given the rapidly developing new technologies and their far-reaching implications for society? Despite decades of collaboration between consultants and advisors, mutual trust must be won over and over again. Against this background, it is particularly interesting to take a closer look at current developments in the U. S.: Timothy M. Persons, GAO’s Chief Scientist, gives insights into the work of the U. S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which advises the U. S. Congress. It becomes clear that balanced results of technology assessment and other GAO products arise when not only the majority but also the minority party is heard when prioritizing congressional inquiries. The research questions must be impartial and meet congressional requirements. The interview was conducted by Constanze Scherz (ITASKIT).

Delivering Capability Through Competition in Defense Contracting: Does Policy Drive Results?

Competition in Defense contracting is a vital component of the acquisition system. Competition encourages research, innovation, and the production of new products and services, while motivating a robust industrial base. Accordingly, legislation, DoD directives, and policy guidance have sought to encourage competition in DoD contracting and enhance methods of tracking competition progress. This article presents the results of a study against the background of previous U.S. Government Accountability Office competition examinations to identify trends in competition, particularly in terms of DoD agencies and purchase categories. Data retrieved from the Federal Procurement Database System–Next Generation, and a sample of Justification and Approvals, retrieved from beta.sam.gov, provide a basis to forecast trends and a foundation for recommendations.

Have You Heard? Newsworthy items from the field

High school students and recent graduates rate how well their schools are helping them learn. A UNESCO report details how migration affects schools around the world. A new study shows that as young people’s screen time goes up, their well-being goes down. The Government Accountability Office finds that schools with high levels of poverty and smaller schools offer fewer advanced math and science courses. The National Council on Teacher Quality analyzes how six school systems improved their teacher evaluation programs.