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About Reports and Testimonies

What is the Scope of the Collection of Publications on GAO's Web Site?

GAO maintains archives of its reports issued since 1971 on this Web site. All published reports, testimonies, correspondence, and special publications are included, as are some products issued as far back as 1922, although that part of the collection is not comprehensive. Products that are restricted or classified are not included.

How Can I Find a Report?

If you are looking for a report, look first in the Reports and Testimony section, where you can browse by a number of specific criteria, including date, title, and topic.

To search by report number, enter the number in the search box in the upper right corner on any page. GAO reports and testimony issued prior to October 2000 begin with the GAO division or office that performed the analysis (e.g., NSIAD-00-211 or HRD-91-58). Starting in October 2000, the number begins with 'GAO' (e.g., GAO-01-103).

Searching is also available for both reports and legal products using the search box in the upper right corner on any page. Access to the full text of reports and testimonies is also possible from the Government Printing Office (GPO) Web site.

If you still are having difficulty finding what you are looking for, try our research service.

Why Does the GAO Web Site List Products Released Today with Earlier Dates in the Citations?

Congressional requesters of GAO work are allowed to restrict reports for up to 30 days before public release. This restriction can sometimes mean that the date the report is made publicly available is up to 30 days after the publication date listed in the citation. That is why you can see a report listed on the site released today that has a publication date of yesterday or 3 or 4 weeks ago. If you select a date range for your search, you should keep this difference between the publicly released date and the citation publication date in mind. For example, you may want to add 30 days to the date range just to be sure, even though you think you know the actual publication date for the product.

The Reports and Testimony section of the site always lists the most recently released products. It also contains a link to the past week's issued products, as well as giving you the opportunity to browse by date, topic, or agency.

How Quickly Are Products Posted to the GAO Web Site?

GAO posts full-text Portable Document Format (PDF) files on this site daily, usually within 24 hours of when a report, testimony, or other product is publicly released.

How Can I Keep Track of GAO's Work?

You can follow GAO work in different ways. We have daily and monthly e-mail updates, as well as different feeds. You can follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

How Do I Get a Printed Copy of a GAO Product?

Order printed copies of GAO reports.

Find out more about GAO Reports and Testimonies.


Help for Customers with Visual Impairments

We strive to make GAO's public Web site compliant with the accessibility guidelines in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (as amended). Older pages are in the process of being upgraded for compliance.

If you are a person with a disability and you have trouble using our Web site, please tell us about the problem. Send us an e-mail message at contact@gao.gov.

Starting in October 2003, reports, testimony, and other products (including correspondence and many special publications) became available here on GAO's public Web site in accessible text format as well as Portable Document Format (PDF). These text files are formatted to be accessible to users with visual impairments using a text-only browser or a screen reader. Every attempt has been made to maintain the structural and data integrity of the original printed product by including such features as alternative text descriptions for graphic images and reformatted tables. However, these may not exactly duplicate the printed version.

For the period 1996 to October 2003, only PDF versions of GAO's reports, testimony, and other products are available at the GAO public Web site. For this same period, the text files and PDFs are available at GPO Access. For products issued prior to 1996, only PDF versions are available at the GAO public Web site or at GPO Access.

Comptroller General Decisions, reports on major agency rules, and bid protests issued since 2001 are available in HTML and PDF at the GAO public Web site. For legal products issued since 1994, HTML and PDF are available at GPO Access. The HTML versions are accessible with text-only browsers and screen readers.

If you use a screen reader, or require alternate versions of Adobe Acrobat, try Adobe's Reader 9 accessibility page.

For more help, try Adobe Information for users with disabilities.


Help with Reading Portable Document Format Files

Many documents on this site are in Portable Document Format (PDF). These documents ensure that you will be able to obtain publications in their original format, regardless of what type of computer, browser, or operating system you use to access the Internet. In order to view, navigate through, and print PDF documents, you must first download the free Adobe Reader software.

Starting May 21, 2007, Portable Document Files (PDF) we post will work best with Acrobat version 5 or later. If your Adobe Reader is version 4 or earlier, you should upgrade to Adobe's most recent Reader. This will ensure that you do not experience any problems viewing and printing certain images in these PDFs. If you do not upgrade, you will see a warning message when you open a file, indicating that you can still view and print the file but may not be able to view or print some images.

If you use a screen reader, or require alternate versions of Adobe Acrobat, try Adobe's Reader 9 accessibility page.

For more help, try Adobe Information for users with disabilities.


Difficulty Viewing PDF Files

Once in a while people report difficulty viewing a PDF (Portable Document Format) file in its entirety. While it appears that pages are missing from the file, they actually are not. We have found the following solutions to be helpful:

Upgrade to the most recent version of the Acrobat Reader

For Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later - Download file and then read it.

    • Right-click on the link to the desired PDF file and then choose Save Target As from the pop-up menu.
    • In the dialog box, specify a name and location for the PDF file, and then click Save.
    • Open and click Browse.
    • Choose All Files from the 'Files Of Type' pop-up menu.
    • Select the PDF file you saved and click Open. The Acrobat Reader should open the PDF file inside the browser window;

OR

For Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later - Modify Browser Settings.

    • Open Acrobat Reader.
    • Click the Edit menu option
      • .
    • Click Preferences.
    • Click Options (Reader 5) or Internet (Reader 6) on the left.
    • Under Web Browser Options, uncheck Display PDF in browser and Allow fast web view.
    • Click OK.
    • Close Acrobat Reader.

For Netscape Navigator - Download file and then read it.

    • Right-click on the link to the PDF file, then choose Save Link As from the pop-up menu. In the Save As dialog box, specify a name and location for the PDF file, and then click Save. Choose one of the following options to open the PDF file:
      * In Navigator 3.x for Windows Open File.
      * In Navigator 4.x for Windows, choose File > Open Page, and then click Choose File.
    • Choose either All Files or Acrobat files from the Files Of Type pop-up menu. Select the PDF file you saved and click Open;

OR

For Netscape Navigator - Modify Browser Settings.

    • Open Netscape.
    • Click the Edit menu option.
    • Click Preferences.
    • Click Applications (Netscape 4.x) or Helper Applications (Netscape 6.x and 7.x) under the Navigator heading.
    • Click the New Type button.
    • Enter the following information:
      Description of type: Portable Document Format
      File extension: pdf
      MIME type: application/pdf
      Application to use: (This depends on the version of Reader you are using but it should be something like c:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\AcroRd32.exe.)
    • Click OK twice.
    • Close Netscape.

Tips for Those Using a Slower Dial-up Connection

Many documents on this site are in Portable Document Format (PDF). While these documents ensure that you will be able to obtain publications in their original format, they can sometimes be quite large, and so take a while to download, particularly if you are using a slower dial-up Internet connection. Here are a few quick ways to find out more about the product before deciding if you want to download the whole thing: review (1) the Highlights page, (2) the accessible text version, or (3) the abstract. You will see links to these various options for particular products throughout the site.

Highlights

Most GAO reports and testimonies issued after October 1, 2002, include Highlights, a one-page PDF document providing the product's key findings and recommendations. You can use the Highlights to decide whether you wish to view the full report or testimony.

The Accessible Text Format

Most reports, testimony and other products (including correspondence and many special publications) issued since October 2003 are available here on GAO's public Web site in accessible text format. These files are plain text and do not contain the graphics or formatting included in the PDF format. Consequently, they open much more quickly. While these files are formatted to be accessible to users with visual impairments using a text-only browser or a screen reader, they are a quick way to read the text of a product. You can then decide if you want to view the full product.

The Summary

The Summary is an HTML page that does just what it sounds like--summarizes the product. The page includes links to existing related files, including the Highlights PDF, the full product PDF, the full product in HTML, the Accessible Text file, and the Recommendations.


Customer Satisfaction Survey

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GAO welcomes questions, comments, and suggestions about this site and the customer satisfaction survey. Please address them to contact@gao.gov.


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For tips on how to protect yourself from Internet fraud, please visit Onguardonline.gov or consult with your internet provider. OnGuardOnline.gov is maintained by the Federal Trade Commission. It provides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.

Scams similar to this are being prosecuted. See, for example, a Department of Justice press release for more information about a recent conviction.


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