A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) identified practices that are both used in selected state programs at sites that may be contaminated enough to qualify for long-term cleanup under the Superfund program and that are believed by state officials to reduce the time and expense of cleanups; and (2) obtained the views of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), environmentalists, and other stakeholders about whether the states' practices may be applicable to the Superfund program."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the auctions federal agencies currently use to award rights or sell assets and the way in which they differ."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the significant differences in two Department of Defense training programs, focusing on the: (1) training categories and military services with the most significant funding changes from the 1998 to the 1999 Future Years Defense Program (FYDP); (2) bases for the changes; and (3) potential impact of the changes on the services' future training budgets."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the: (1) status of the National Weather Service (NWS) systems modernization; and (2) most cost-effective alternatives for acquiring the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) marine data."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the counternarcotics efforts of the United States and Mexico, focusing on: (1) Mexico's efforts in addressing the drug threat; and (2) the status of U.S. counternarcotics assistance provided to Mexico."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) year 2000 efforts and the remaining challenges IRS faces in making its information systems year 2000 compliant, focusing on: (1) the extent to which IRS monitors the year 2000 status of its mission-critical systems in their entirety; (2) whether IRS met the January 31, 1999, completion goal for the areas that it monitors--application software, systems software, hardware, and telecommunications networks; (3) the status of two remaining, critical year 2000 tasks--conducting year 2000 testing and completing 36 contingency plans; and (4) the fact that other business initiatives are creating competing demands on staff needed for year 2000 efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the types of health research conducted outside the Common Rule and Federal Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, focusing on: (1) examining how medical information is used for research and the need for personally identifiable information; (2) identifying research that is and is not subject to current federal oversight requirements; (3) examining how institutional review boards (IRB) ensure the confidentiality of health information used in research; and (4) identifying the safeguards health care organizations have put in place to protect the confidentiality of health information used in research."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the privacy of medical records used for health research, focusing on: (1) to what extent medical information used for research depends on personally identifiable information; (2) research that is and is not subject to current federal oversight requirements; (3) how the institutional review board (IRB) ensures the confidentiality of health information used in research; and (4) what steps organizations have taken to safeguard information."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) ongoing efforts to develop resource-based practice expense relative value units (RVUs), focusing on: (1) whether the new methodology is an acceptable approach for revising Medicare's fee schedule; (2) questions about the data, assumptions, and adjustments underlying the new methodology that need to be addressed during the 3-year phase-in period; and (3) the need for future updates to the practice expense RVUs to reflect changes in health care delivery and for ongoing assessments of the fee schedule's effect on Medicare beneficiaries' access to physicians' care."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed recruiting and attrition in the military services, focusing on: (1) recruiter selection and incentive systems and their effects on recruiter performance; (2) the screening of incoming recruits for criminal history information to ensure that only qualified persons are allowed to enlist; (3) reasons for attrition during the first 6 months of an enlistee's term; and (4) reasons for premature attrition after first-term enlistees have completed 6 months of service."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's declining ship maintenance workload, focusing on: (1) the Navy's policies and procedures for allocating ship maintenance work to public and private facilities in the Norfolk area; (2) ship maintenance and modernization funding obligated to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and private ship repair companies during the fiscal years (FY) 1994 through 1998; and (3) the extent to which the Atlantic Fleet's ship maintenance program has been affected by the movement of funds out of the ship depot maintenance program since FY 1994."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Customs Service's progress in addressing the year 2000 computing problem, focusing on Customs': (1) progress to date; (2) program management; and (3) future challenges."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the readiness of automated systems that support the nation's delivery of health benefits and services to function reliably without interruption throughout the turn of the century, focusing on: (1) Medicare's ability to provide accurate benefits and services to millions of Americans; and (2) the overall readiness of the health care sector."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 status of states' automated systems that support federal human services programs, such as Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Food Stamps."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the readiness of Social Security Administration's (SSA) computer systems that support key benefits programs to function reliably in the next century, focusing on GAO's previous report and recommendations."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Energy's (DOE) annual performance plan for fiscal year (FY) 2000 which is required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on: (1) the guidance the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used to ensure that the recipients of grants and cooperative agreements for scientific research provide management controls over the equipment they acquire with federal funds; and (2) whether four NSF recipients from the Washington, D.C., area had acquired equipment under 14 awards of varying dollar amounts."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the fiscal year (FY) 2000 budget request for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), focusing on: (1) INS' overall fiscal condition in FY 1999; and (2) how factors such as overhiring and a decline in Examinations Fee applications have affected INS' fiscal situation."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on: (1) the level of Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) accountability and control over its Housing Credit Assistance (HCA) program direct loan and loan sale activities: and (2) actions needed to improve VA's internal control environment and financial and budgetary reporting for these activities."

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) barracks program in the United States, focusing on: (1) the status of the services' implementation of the 1 plus 1 barracks design standard, which calls for more space and increased privacy in new barracks; (2) DOD's rationale for adopting the standard; (3) the costs of alternatives for the 1 plus 1 standard; and (4) service views of the impact of the standard from a team-building, individual isolation, or similar perspective."

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 operations other than war (OOTW) on the military services, focusing on the: (1) impact of OOTW on the warfighting capability of each of the services, including the time to recover warfighting skills; (2) extent to which reporting systems fully capture the impacts; (3) available information on the effect of OOTW on morale and retention; (4) ability of U.S. forces to respond to a major theater war while engaged in OOTW; (5) Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to alleviate any adverse impacts; and (6) funding provided by Congress for OOTW."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on alleged misconduct by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees in their treatment of other IRS employees and taxpayers, focusing on: (1) the specific allegations made at the Senate Committee on Finance hearings; and (2) any underlying systemic or programmatic problems that need to be resolved to protect the rights of taxpayers and IRS employees."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO responded to congressional concerns regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) efforts to address the year 2000 computer problem, focusing on: (1) VA's ability to achieve year 2000 compliance; (2) VA's work to date on the year 2000 challenge; (3) what areas VA should concentrate on over the next six months to ensure that its highest risks areas are addressed prior to January 1, 2000; (4) identifying any areas where VA has misdirected its efforts; and (5) VA's greatest strengths in the effort to surmount the year 2000 challenge."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) year 2000 business continuity and contingency planning activities, focusing on OPM's efforts to: (1) develop an overall planning strategy for ensuring the continuity of agency operations; (2) assess the risk and impact of system failures on the agency's core business processes; (3) prepare contingency plans that include procedures and timetables for continuing agency operations in the event that critical systems fail; and (4) test the contingency plans to determine their effectiveness."