A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "For the past 50 years, the federal government has had a metropolitan area program designed to provide a nationally consistent set of standards for collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics for geographic areas in the United States and Puerto Rico. Before each decennial census, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reviews the standards to ensure their continued usefulness and relevance and, if warranted, revises them. While designed only for statistical purposes, various federal programs use the statistical areas to determine eligibility and to allocate federal funds. OMB advises agencies to carefully review program goals to ensure that appropriate geographic entities are used in making these decisions. GAO was asked to examine the process used for developing the OMB standards issued in 2000 and their effects on certain federal programs. Specifically, GAO agreed to report on (1) the process used to develop the 2000 standards, (2) how the 2000 standards differed from the 1990 standards, (3) how the application of the standards affected the geographic distribution of counties into statistical areas, and (4) the effect of standards on the eligibility and funding allocations for four federal …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This interim report reviews the implementation of the Department of Defense (DOD) Medicare Subvention Demonstration. GAO found that the demonstration sites were successful in operating Medicare managed care plans. Officials put substantial effort into meeting Medicare managed care requirements and, according to Health Care Financing Administration reviewers, were generally as successful as other new Medicare managed care plans in this regard. Most sites reached the enrollment limits they had established for retirees already covered by Medicare. DOD officials indicated that the demonstration's effect was positive. Enrollees received a broader range of services from DOD than in the past, when they got care only when space was available in DOD facilities. Officials also noted that providing more comprehensive care to seniors helped sharpen the skills of military clinical staff, which contributed to their readiness for supporting combat or other military missions. Some challenges encountered in the demonstration reflect larger DOD managed care issues and may have implications for DOD managed care generally. Although access to care was generally good, the demonstration experienced some problems in maintaining adequate clinical staff."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the impact of electronic commerce (e-commerce) growth on state and local government sales tax collections, focusing on: (1) how taxes associated with the sale of goods and services over the Internet differ from taxes associated with sales by other remote sellers and in-store sellers; (2) the extent to which each state relies on sales and use tax revenues to fund the services they provide; (3) how much revenue state and local governments are losing this year by not being able to collect sales and use taxes on sales made by all remote sellers and, particularly, by Internet sellers; and (4) how much revenue state and local governments would likely lose in 2003 under various growth scenarios for all remote and Internet sales."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Identity theft or identity fraud generally involves "stealing" another person's personal identifying information--such as Social Security Number (SSN), date of birth, and mother's maiden name--and then using the information to fraudulently establish credit, run up debt, or take away existing financial accounts. The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 made identity theft a separate crime against the person whose identity was stolen, broadened the scope of the offense to include the misuse of information as well as documents and provided punishment--generally a fine or imprisonment or both. GAO found no comprehensive or centralized data on enforcement results under the federal Identity Theft Act. However, according to a Deputy Assistant Attorney General, federal prosecutors are using the 1998 federal law. As with the federal act, GAO found no centralized or comprehensive data on enforcement results under state identity theft statutes. However, officials in the 10 states selected for study provided examples of actual investigations or prosecutions under these statutes. Generally, the prevalence of identity theft and the frequently multi- or cross-jurisdictional nature of such a crime underscore the importance of promoting cooperation or coordination among …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 and the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 gave freight railroads increased freedom to price their services according to market conditions. A number of shippers are concerned that freight railroads have used these pricing freedoms to unreasonably exercise their market power in setting rates for shippers with fewer alternatives to rail transportation. This report updates the rate information in GAO's 1999 report (RCED-99-93) using selected commodities and with effective competitive transportation alternatives. From 1997 through 2000, rail rates generally decreased, both nationwide and for many of the specific commodities and markets that GAO examined. However, rail rates for some commodities and distance categories--such as wheat moving long distances and coal moving short distances--have stayed about the same or increased. In other instances, such as wheat moving medium distances, rail rates stayed about the same or decreased. Overall, the proportion of rail shipments above the Surface Transportation Board's statutory jurisdictional threshold for considering rate relief actions--where railroad revenues for the shipment exceed 180 percent of variable costs--stayed relatively constant at 30 percent from 1997 through 2000. However, the proportion …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Major changes in the mailing industry have reinforced the need for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to reduce costs and increase efficiency. In its 2002 Transformation Plan, USPS proposed doing so by realigning its mail processing network. The objectives of this requested report are to (1) describe the status of the initiatives USPS has developed for realignment; (2) evaluate how the planning, impacts, and results of these initiatives align with realignment goals; and (3) evaluate USPS's communication practices with stakeholders in making realignment decisions."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2008, GAO reported that 1,088 oil industry mergers occurred between 2000 and 2007. Given the potential for price effects, GAO recommended that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the agency with the authority to maintain petroleum industry competition, undertake more regular retrospective reviews of past petroleum industry mergers, and FTC said it would consider this recommendation. GAO was asked to conduct such a review of its own to determine how mergers and market concentration--a measure of the number and market shares of firms in a market--affected wholesale gasoline prices since 2000. GAO examined the effects of mergers and market concentration using an economic model that ruled out the effects of many other factors. GAO consulted with a number of experts and used both public and private data in developing the model. GAO tested the model under a variety of assumptions to address some of its limitations. GAO also interviewed petroleum market participants."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As part of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001, the Congress authorized a 3-year, $17 million per year school-based mentoring grant program. For fiscal year 2004, Congress has increased funding to about $50 million to fund additional mentoring efforts. Congress requested that GAO provide information on the student mentoring program. To do this, GAO answered the following questions: (1) What are the basic elements, policies, and procedures of successful mentoring programs? (2) What are the key characteristics of NCLBA-funded mentoring efforts, including the extent to which they have the basic elements, policies, and procedures of successful mentoring programs? (3) How does the Department of Education monitor program implementation? (4) What are Education's and grantees' plans to assess program outcomes?"