Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) new rule on the regulation of takeovers and security holder communications. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would revise the regulations applicable to takeover transactions (including tender offers, mergers, acquisitions, and similar extraordinary transactions) to permit significantly more communications before the time a mandated disclosure document must be publicly filed with the SEC; (2) in addition, the rule balances the treatment of cash and stock tender offers, simplifies and centralizes disclosure requirements, and eliminates existing regulatory inconsistencies in merger and tender offers; and (3) SEC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the foreign military sales program to determine the changes needed to improve the viability of the program, focusing on: (1) whether the foreign military sales program has achieved full recovery of its administrative costs; (2) the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) basis for making administrative account adjustments; and (3) the effectiveness of various foreign military sales reinvention efforts in terms of cost recovery."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the U.S. Transportation Command's (TRANSCOM) year 2000-related end-to-end testing activities, focusing on TRANSCOM's management of its end-to-end test of its ability to plan and execute joint major theater war (MTW) deployment operations."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) new rule on Medicare Program revisions to payment policies under the physician fee schedule for calendar year 2000. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would make several changes affecting Medicare Part B payment; (2) the changes include, among others, implementation of resource-based malpractice insurance relative value units (RVU), refinement of resource-based practice expense RVUs, and payment for physician pathology and independent laboratory services; and (3) HCFA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the use of pesticides in schools, focusing on: (1) what federal requirements govern the use of pesticides in schools; (2) what information exists on the use of pesticides in schools; (3) what data exist on the incidences of short- and long-term illnesses linked to the exposure to pesticides in schools, and to the extent data are available, what does this data show; and (4) what actions are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states taking, where appropriate, to reduce the use of pesticides in schools, and what are the results of their efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) progress in eliminating asset management control weaknesses, focusing on: (1) the implementation of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act's mandate to remove revenue officers from the asset sale function; and (2) other internal control weaknesses identified in GAO's 1992 testimony."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the independent living program (ILP), focusing on: (1) the extent of services provided under ILPs; and (2) what is known about the effect of these services on youths' ability to live on their own."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Air Force's best practices implementation schedule for the acquisition and distribution of secondary inventory items, focusing on: (1) the extent to which the schedule responds to the provisions of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999; and (2) specific elements of a management framework needed for effective implementation and oversight of the Air Force's best practice initiatives."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on interjurisdictional adoption issues, focusing on the: (1) number of foster children who are available and waiting for an adoptive home to be identified; (2) actions taken by state and county child welfare agencies and nonprofit organizations to improve the adoption process when prospective adoptive families and foster children live in different jurisdictions; and (3) actions taken by the federal government to improve the adoption process when prospective adoptive families and foster children live in different jurisdictions."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This document is a supplement to GAO's May 1998 executive guide on information security management. It is intended to help federal managers implement an ongoing information security risk assessment process by providing examples, or case studies, of practical risk assessment procedures that have been successfully adopted by four organizations known for their efforts to implement good risk assessment practices."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effects of the marketing assistance loan program on cash payments to farm producers, focusing on: (1) which producers received cash payments through the program, by type of crop and state; (2) why some producers did not participate in the program; and (3) what types of concerns have been raised about the program's effect on cash payments and potential forfeitures."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed inventory the Air Force had on contract that was excess to current operating requirements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed large bank holding company mergers and regulatory enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, focusing on the: (1) fair lending issues raid by consumer and community groups during the application process for six large bank holding company mergers; and (2) Federal Reserve Board's (FRB) consideration of those issues."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) study on whether to set a flammability standard for sofas, chairs, and other upholstered furniture, focusing on the: (1) methodology CPSC used to estimate the magnitude of the fire hazard that the standard would address; and (2) reliability of this methodology for producing sound estimates of the hazard that the standard would address."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new rule on the lowering of reporting thresholds for certain persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would lower the reporting thresholds for certain PBTs that are subject to reporting under section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990; (2) among other actions, the final rule adds other chemicals to the EPCRA section 313 list of toxic chemicals; and (3) EPA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) controls over seized drugs and weapons, focusing on whether DEA: (1) put in place physical safeguards to control access to and use of drug and weapon evidence; and (2) maintained adequate accountability over such evidence."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) implementation of federal export control regulations for International Space Station technology transfers, focusing on: (1) the licenses granted to NASA to export space station-related technology and commodities and plans to export encryption technology; (2) the results of internal and external assessments of NASA's export control program; and (3) NASA's actions to implement audit recommendations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Postal Service's acceptance controls for business mail, focusing on whether the Service had made the changes GAO recommended previously and whether those changes were working."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) new rule on cross-border tender and exchange offers, business combinations, and rights offerings. GAO noted that: (1) the rule contains tender offer and Securities Act registration exemptive rules for cross-border tender and exchange offers, business combinations, and rights offerings relating to the securities of foreign companies; (2) the purpose of the exemptions is to facilitate U.S. investor participation in these types of transactions; and (3) SEC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federal child care funding, focusing on: (1) programs and services funded at the federal and state levels that directly provide early childhood care and education for the general population of low-income children up to age 5; (2) state and local assessments of the relative difficulty low-income parents face in obtaining care for their children; and (3) the collaborative efforts among child care officials and early childhood education officials to address these parents' difficulties."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Access to Jobs and Reverse Commute program, which provides grants to improve transportation to employment for welfare recipients, focusing on the: (1) Department of Transportation's (DOT) implementation of the Job Access program, particularly its approach for selecting awards in fiscal year (FY) 1999; (2) FY 1999 grantees and their planned approaches for providing transportation services to low-income workers; and (3) changes DOT is making to the program in response to GAO's prior recommendations, including the establishment of specific objectives, performance criteria, and measurable goals for evaluating the program's success."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) procedures for the disposal and destruction of excess firearms, items with national security implications, and pharmaceuticals."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) use of seizure authority, focusing on whether: (1) IRS targeted the most noncompliant taxpayers; (2) IRS brought affected taxpayers into compliance; (3) IRS exercised appropriate discretion in conducting seizures; and (4) IRS' implementation of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 would address any weaknesses found in the pre-Restructuring Act seizure process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's management of various year 2000-related end-to-end testing activities, focusing on: (1) the U.S. Space Command's management of its end-to-end test of space control systems essential to major theater war; and (2) what the results of this test show with respect to operational risks and readiness."