A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is dramatically changing the way it purchases goods and services--by relying more on judgment and initiative versus rigid rules to make purchasing decisions. At the same time, agencies are dealing with reductions in the civilian acquisition workforce. GAO was asked to determine what efforts federal civilian agencies are making to address their future acquisition workforce needs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "During the winter of 2000-2001, the wholesale price of natural gas peaked at a level four times greater than its usual level. Responding to the congressional interest and concern caused by these high prices, GAO undertook a study to address the (1) factors that influence natural gas price volatility and the high prices of 2000-2001; (2) federal government's role in ensuring that natural gas prices are determined in a competitive, informed marketplace; and (3) choices available to gas utility companies that want to mitigate the effects of price spikes on their residential customers. GAO surveyed a nationwide sample of gas utilities and staff of state utility regulatory agencies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerned that minimum personnel experience or education requirements in agency solicitations for information technology (IT) services were contributing to worker shortages, Congress included a provision in the fiscal year 2001 Defense authorization act requiring that the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) be amended to limit the use of such requirements. Specifically, agencies are not to include such minimum personnel requirements in solicitations for IT services that result in performance-based contracts--those with performance work statements that set forth contract requirements in clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes--unless the contracting officer determines that the needs of the agency cannot be met without them. This law also required GAO to study and report on the government's implementation of this provision. Accordingly, GAO assessed whether the FAR rule implementing this requirement conforms with the provision (section 813 of P.L. 106-398) and to what extent executive agencies have complied with the new requirement. GAO chose nine agencies to review, based on its analysis of data in FedBizOpps, a governmentwide Web site containing government business opportunities over $25,000."

This report reviews five newly-emergent constitutional areas related to environmental issues, based on Supreme Court decisions. For each area, the focus is its significance for current and future federal environmental legislation.