Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the validity of the results of a 1998 study of the Canadian lynx. The Forest Service contracted with Dr. John Weaver of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City to help survey the Canadian lynx in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon. In a March 1999 interim report, Dr. Weaver concluded that the Canadian lynx lives in some forests in Washington and Oregon. In March 2000, the Fish and Wildlife Service placed the lynx on its list of threatened species in the forested portions of 13 states, including Washington and Oregon. Issues have since been raised about whether the study's results were falsified. GAO found no evidence that the study was deliberately falsified."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To assist the Committee on International Relations evaluate the extent to which five House Interparliamentary Groups' schedules of receipts, disbursements, and fund balance for 2000 and 1999 appropriately reflected the cash receipts and disbursements and fund balance for those years, GAO reviewed documentation supporting each group's recorded receipt and disbursement transactions and related fund balances for evidence that the transactions were properly authorized and recorded. The schedules, prepared by the treasurer of each group, present for 2000 and 1999 the opening fund balance, total receipts, and disbursements by category, and ending fund balance, on a cash basis, for each of the five groups. GAO also recalculated and compared the recalculated amounts to the reported amounts in each group's 2000 and 1999 schedule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Children diagnosed with attention deficit disorders are often treated with stimulant medications, such as Ritalin or Adderall. These drugs are controlled substances under federal law because of their high potential for abuse. Many of these stimulant drugs must be taken several times a day to be effective, so children need medication during the school day. Concern has arisen that the increasing use of these medications in school might provide additional opportunities for drug abuse. No data exists on the extent to which attention disorder drugs have been diverted or abused at school, or the extent to which state laws or regulations guide local school officials in safely administering these drugs. Middle and high school principals reported little diversion or abuse of attention disorder drugs. For the first seven to nine months of school year 2000-2001, about eight percent of principals in public middle and high schools reported that attention disorder drugs had been diverted or abused at their school. Most of the principals reported that school officials administer attention disorder medications, with about two percent of the school's students on average being administered attention disorder drugs …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The increasing numbers of regional jets (RJ) in operation have provided U.S. air carriers with opportunities to serve new and existing markets. With predominantly 50-seat aircraft, the carriers have initiated service to many large and medium-large communities but have provided less service to smaller communities. Service to small communities--to which the airlines now mostly operate turboprop aircraft--continues to be an important concern, because of the uncertainty about whether those markets may generate enough passenger traffic and revenue to be financially viable to sustain RJ operations. Eventually, smaller RJs may let carriers serve those smaller communities economically. Other questions also emerge about the impact of how the carriers will use their RJs. For example, the airlines could restrict capacity in a market by reducing service with larger mainline jets but increasing the number of RJ flights in a way that may inhibit entry by new competitors, allowing the airlines to charge fares higher than might exist in a more competitive market. Additionally, the growth in RJs has clearly contributed to an increasing problem with congestion, particularly in some locations like New York's LaGuardia Airport. But how the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The informal and formal networks used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the military services to exchange critical aviation safety information have proven useful. However, because recent and expected retirements threaten to erode informal networks, additional formal channels of communication are needed to ensure that common safety risks are identified and addressed in a systematic and timely manner. This includes the exchange of information on how FAA and the military services have addressed particular aviation safety concerns. Existing gaps in the formal processes used by FAA and the military services to exchange information could allow for communication lapses and delays in getting critical safety information to the right parties in a timely manner, potentially resulting in the loss of lives and aircraft."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2000, the federal government funded four bilingual education programs--Program Development and Implementation Grants, Program Enhancement Projects, Comprehensive School Grants, and Systemwide Improvement Grants--that award grants to school districts to serve children with limited English proficiency. This report reviews (1) how similar the performance goals and measures, eligibility criteria, and allowable services are among the four bilingual education programs; (2) to what extent the different kinds of grants were made to the same types of schools or school districts and were used to provide the same services; (3) what is known about these programs' effectiveness; and (4) whether these programs can be better coordinated or if opportunities exist for program coordination and cost savings. GAO found that all four federal bilingual education programs share the same performance goals and measures, use similar eligibility criteria, and allow for similar uses of program funds. In fiscal year 2000, the four bilingual programs made grants to school districts that shared some characteristics and provided similar services; however, individual schools typically did not receive funding from more than one program. The services provided with program funds are similar, …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "U.S. dairy farmers produced 167.7 billion pounds of unprocessed, raw milk in 2000. Federal and state dairy programs influence the minimum prices paid to farmers for raw milk. These prices are based on how the raw milk is to be used. Minimum prices set for raw milk to be used for making drinking milk (fluid milk) are higher than those for milk used for manufacturing cheese, butter, and other dairy products. About 70 percent of the raw milk produced in the United States is regulated under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) federal milk marketing order program. The 1996 farm bill established another pricing program -- the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (NEDC) -- which is run by a commission that sets a minimum price for raw milk sold as fluid milk in six New England states. The NEDC works in conjunction with federal and state dairy programs to establish an alternative minimum price for raw milk in the Compact states. When the monthly NEDC minimum price exceeds the federal marketing order or state minimum price, the NEDC price becomes the minimum price. Congress is now considering …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Andean region continues to cultivate, produce, and export almost all of the world's cocaine as well as an increasing amount of heroin, according to the State Department. Colombia is the source of 90 percent of the cocaine entering the United States and about two-thirds of the heroin found on the East Coast. Although coca cultivation estimates have fallen by about two-thirds in Bolivia and Peru since 1996, increases in coca cultivation in Colombia have offset much of these successes. Under State's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the Office of Aviation, through a contract with DynCorp Aerospace Technology, supports foreign governments' efforts to locate and eradicate illicit drug crops in the Andean region. In recent years, DynCorp has maintained and operated aircraft to locate and eradicate drug crops in Colombia, trained pilots and mechanics for the Colombian Army Aviation Brigade, and provided logistical and training support for the aerial eradication programs of the Colombian National Police and manual eradication programs in Bolivia and Peru. The Office of Aviation met both State's overall contracting oversight requirements and more specific oversight and evaluation requirements in …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC), which is expected to provide more than $20 billion in refundable tax credits in fiscal year 2002, is intended to offset the burden of the Social Security payroll tax on low-income workers and encourage low-income individuals to work. About 75 percent of the 17.2 million eligible households have claimed the credit. GAO found that the participation rate varied by the number of qualifying children in the household. Participation rates for households with one or two qualifying children were 96 percent and 93 percent respectively. In contrast, the participation rate for households with three or more qualifying children was 62.5 percent. The participation rate for households with no qualifying children was 44.7 percent. Although qualifying households were eligible to claim $22.3 billion in EICs in 1999, the Internal Revenue Service estimates that participating households actually claimed $20.9 billion."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO examined the environmental cleanup costs of ongoing operations of the Department of Defense (DOD). These include general property, plant, and equipment facilities or other assets that are being operated or are in use at DOD installations. GAO found that DOD has not developed policies, procedures, and methodologies to ensure that cleanup costs required for all of its ongoing and inactive or closed operations are identified, consistently estimated, and appropriately reported. As a result, DOD's financial statements and environmental reports continue to underreport environmental liabilities and related long-term budgetary needs. The military installations GAO visited had a total of 221 sites with estimated cleanup costs of $259 million. Of these, only 45 sites with estimated cleanup costs of $61 million were being reported for the Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report to Congress, and only that amount was likely included in DOD's financial statements. GAO found DOD was not reporting 149 sites related to ongoing operations with estimated cleanup costs of $91 million and 27 inactive and closed operations with estimated cleanup costs of $107 million. The environmental offices at the six installations GAO visited had …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the procedural and analytical rulemaking requirements applicable to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other federal regulatory agencies. GAO found that the rulemaking requirements that have been placed on OSHA and other agencies are voluminous and require a wide range of procedural, consultative, and analytical actions on the part of the agencies. Federal agencies sometimes take years to develop final rules, and the requirements are not as effective as expected or as they could be. This lack of effectiveness can be traced to how the requirements have been implemented and the requirements themselves."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses fluid milk prices and the factors that impact them. GAO found that although the farm price of milk has some influence on the retail price, other factors may ultimately have a greater impact on the retail price. Given that farm prices account only for about 40 percent of the retail price, other factors, such as wholesale processing costs and retail pricing strategies, can significantly influence the retail price. This testimony summarized an October 1998 report (GAO/RCED-99-4)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Maintaining a capable, appropriately sized submarine force is an integral part of the United States' military strategy. Since the end of the Cold War, significant changes in the strategic environment have led the Department of Defense (DOD) to reduce the size of its submarine force. DOD developed the following four options to a carry out the reduction: (1) refueling four SSN-688 attack submarines; (2) refueling four SSN-688 attack submarines and, upon reaching the end of their operational life after 10-12 years, replacing them with four new Virginia-class attack submarines; (3) refueling and converting four Trident SSBNs to SSGNs; and (4) refueling four SSN-688 attack submarines and converting two Trident SSBNs to SSGNs. All four options seek to reverse a projected decline in attack submarine force levels below the minimum requirement of 55, but they vary considerably in terms of the number of years they allow DOD to meet this goal. Both the refueled SSN-688s and SSGNs would be capable of various peacetime and wartime missions, but they differ in the extent to which they can perform them. Converting four Trident ballistic missile submarines to SSGNs is …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Peruvian government has acted decisively to address the serious problems that affected last year's elections. President Paniagua's administration has committed itself to ensuring the neutrality of the government and the armed forces during the upcoming elections, including prohibiting the use of government resources for political purposes. Also, the government has named new leaders to two electoral agencies--those responsible for overseeing and implementing the elections--and these leaders have emphasized their full commitment to conducting free and fair elections. The Agency for International Development's election-related assistance has been timely, responsive, and coordinated with other donors, and has been responsive to Peru's needs by funding electoral observation efforts before and during the elections; supporting technical assistance efforts to the Peruvian electoral agencies; and funding the delivery of election-related information to voters, journalists, candidates, and political parties. In addition, the agency has coordinated its election-related assistance with the other international donors that are also helping Peru hold democratic elections in 2001. Although Peru appears to be on track to conduct free and fair elections in 2001, Peru faces several important challenges over the next 3-1/2 weeks before the first round of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed the state-level version of the Highway Economic Requirements System (HERS-ST) model as an investment-analysis tool for highway planning at the state level. FHWA officials believe that some state departments of transportation will find the analysis that the HERS-ST model produces useful because it demonstrates the potential results of highway investment decisions from an economic point of view. FHWA is conducting a pilot project for its prototype HERS-ST model with states that volunteered to test the model. FHWA distributed to these states HERS-ST software, technical manuals, and sets of state highway data with which to run the model. FHWA then provided an overall orientation and technical training and addressed states' questions during a workshop. Officials from a sample of the states planning to participate reported that they are primarily interested in taking advantage of the model's use of benefit-cost analysis to assess alternative highway improvements. If the pilot project shows that states view the HERS-ST model as a useful tool, FHWA expects to upgrade the model for future users. In doing so, it would consider both enhancements that have already been …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) routinely acquires new information systems and enhancements to manage and support its various programs and operations. GAO has designated HUD's major program areas as high risk, in part because the department's information and financial management systems are poorly integrated, ineffective, and generally unreliable. HUD has been trying to improve its systems to better support its missions and management reforms. HUD did not fully satisfy the requirements for any of the "repeatable" key process areas GAO reviewed. Although HUD's software acquisition process has several strengths, GAO found weaknesses in all key software process areas evaluated: requirements development and management, project management, contract tracking and oversight, and software evaluation. As a result, HUD's processes for acquiring software are immature and ad hoc, sometimes chaotic, and not repeatable across projects. HUD acknowledges these weaknesses, is committed to improving its software and system acquisition processes, and will soon begin a process improvement effort."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "People are the federal government's most valuable asset. Studies of private and public sector organizations have shown that high-performing organizations value and invest in their employees--human capital--and align their "people policies" to support organizational performance goals. In the federal government, however, strategic human capital management is a pervasive challenge. GAO has included human capital on its high-risk list. The Administration's emphasis on workforce planning and restructuring will require federal agencies to flatten their organizational hierarchy and improve their work processes. To optimize the services provided to citizens, federal employees must understand the link between their daily work and the results their organization seeks to achieve. For the initiatives GAO reviewed, agencies had to overcome organizational and cultural barriers, including a lack of trust, resistance to change and lack of buy-in from front-line employees and managers, and various implementation issues, such as workload demands. The agencies developed strategies to address these barriers, such as maintaining open communication and reassigning and hiring personnel. In implementing the practices to empower and involve employees, agencies identified a range of examples to demonstrate the performance improvements these efforts have accomplished."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Voluntary compliance with tax laws, the foundation of the U.S. tax system, could be undermined if the public perceives that federal workers and former federal workers successfully evade their tax obligations. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records indicate that federal workers and annuitants, and IRS workers in particular, appear to be more compliant in meeting their tax responsibilities than the general population. Nonetheless, IRS records indicate that some federal workers and annuitants are not fulfilling their tax responsibilities and owe the federal government about $2.5 billion in outstanding taxes. In its attempt to improve management and collection of federal taxes owed by federal workers and annuitants, IRS faces the same issues hindering its ability to manage and collect unpaid taxes of the general population. With respect to IRS' efforts to improve compliance among federal workers and annuitants, IRS must first be able to determine how effective its program for this purpose has been and what, if any, modifications are needed to ensure that the program meets its objectives."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare faces many challenges. The overarching issue is how to sustain the program for future generations. Meeting that challenge will require difficult decisions that will affect beneficiaries, providers, and taxpayers. However, the financing issue should not obscure other important challenges. Medicare's current cost-sharing arrangements do not encourage the efficient use of services without discouraging necessary care. Moreover, the lack of catastrophic coverage can leave some beneficiaries liable for substantial Medicare expenses. Finally, some aspects of Medicare's program management are inefficient and lag behind modern private sector practices. Changes in Medicare's program management could improve both the delivery of health care to beneficiaries and the program's ability to pay providers appropriately. Some view restructuring of the relationship between parts A and B as an important element of overall Medicare reform. Fundamentally, assessing the program as a whole is an important first step in addressing Medicare's challenges. Solutions to many of these challenges could be crafted without restructuring. However, restructuring may provide opportunities to implement desired reforms--with or without unifying the Hospital Insurance and Supplemental Medical Insurance trust funds--while undoubtedly raising issues that will have to be considered."

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 "The National Military Strategy calls for the Department of Defense (DOD) to maintain the transportation capability to quickly move the large amounts of personnel and equipment needed to win two nearly simultaneous major theater wars anywhere in the world. To provide this mobility, DOD relies on a transportation system--the En Route System (ERS)--that includes an airlift fleet of cargo aircraft and a critical network of overseas airfields that provide logistical support to aircraft on their way to the war zones. Although the two-war requirement and other aspects of the National Military Strategy are now under review by the new administration, the ERS remains critically important as the primary means of quickly moving U.S. soldiers and equipment to areas of conflict around the world. This report addresses (1) whether en-route airfields have the capacity to meet the requirements of the National Military Strategy, (2) the causes of any shortfalls and DOD's plans to correct them, and (3) whether DOD has the information and management structure needed to ensure that the operations of the ERS can be carried out efficiently and effectively."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Initiatives to address flight delays include adding new runways to accommodate more aircraft and better coordinating efforts to adjust to spring and summer storms. Although most of these efforts were developed separately, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has incorporated many of them into an Operational Evolution Plan (OEP), which is designed to give more focus to these initiatives. FAA acknowledges that the plan is not intended as a final solution to congestion and delay problems. The plan focuses on initiatives that can be implemented within 10 years and generally excludes approaches lacking widespread support across stakeholder groups. The current initiatives, if successful, will add substantial capacity to the nation's air transport system. Even so, these efforts are unlikely to prevent delays from becoming worse unless the reduced traffic levels resulting from the events of September 11 persist. One key reason is that most delay-prone airports have limited ability to increase their capacity, especially by adding new runways--the main capacity-building element of OEP. The air transport system has long-term needs beyond the initiatives now under way. One initiative would add new capacity--not by adding runways to existing …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses GAO's recent work on U.S. nonproliferation programs and comments on S. 673--a bill to establish an interagency committee to review and coordinate such programs. GAO found that the U.S. programs have achieved some success, but more needs to be done to keep nuclear weapons, materials, and technologies out of the hands of terrorists and countries of concern. Furthermore, questions exist about how to sustain the security improvements being made. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of State programs to employ weapons scientists face difficulty in conclusively demonstrating that they are preventing the spread of weapons-related knowledge and expertise. With respect to S. 673, there is some debate among officials about the need for more coordination of U.S. nonproliferation programs. On the basis of the findings of two independent commissions that recently examined these programs, GAO believes that more coordination would be helpful and that the legislation could serve as a vehicle to share information and best practices for addressing problems GAO identified. S. 673 could be strengthened by mandating development of an overarching strategic plan that clearly identifies overall goals, time frames for …

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO commented on whether the Fish and Wildlife Service's Record of Decision (ROD) entitled "Trinity River Mainstem Fishery Restoration" is a "rule" under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) provisions of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act. GAO held that, under CRA, a rule is an agency action that constitutes a statement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy. The Trinity ROD clearly constituted a rule since its essential purpose was to set policy for the future."