A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the importance of land acquisition to the success of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Initiative, focusing on: (1) what the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force did to identify and acquire lands needed to accomplish the goals of the initiative from 1996 through 1999; and (2) what the Department of the Interior did to help ensure that it maximized the acreage purchased--that is, bought as much land as possible, with $200 million in Farm Bill grants."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the implementation of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) New Starts program's evaluation process and fiscal year (FY) 2001 funding proposals, focusing on the: (1) refinements made to FTA's evaluation and rating process since 1999; (2) means by which New Starts projects were selected for FTA's FY 2001 New Starts report and budget request; and (3) impact of FTA's recommendations on its New Starts commitment authority."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) changes in medical residency slots, focusing on: (1) VA's goals in realigning its residency program and the goals accomplished so far; (2) the reasons for changes in the number of graduate medical education residency slots; and (3) the views of VA facility and medical school officials on the effect of the changes on resident training and on the potential to train residents at VA community-based outpatient clinics."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Tongass National Forest's revised forest plan, focusing on the: (1) process used by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to modify the management direction in the 1997 plan and decide the appeals on the basis of the modified plan; (2) reasons the administration chose to use the process; and (3) reactions to the modifications and the 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 (DOD) authority, which was established under Section 845 of the Fiscal Year 1994 National Defense Authorization Act, to use nonstandard contracting approaches to procure research and development services, focusing on: (1) the extent to which DOD has used Section 845 agreements; (2) the benefits reported from their use; (3) how DOD tailored these agreements to address issues normally governed by standard contract provisions; and (4) recent DOD efforts to provide additional guidance on their use."

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) Restructuring and Reform Act's personnel flexibility provisions, focusing on: (1) IRS' implementation of these provisions; and (2) any tax administration concerns that may have arisen in relation to implementation."

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Balkans security issues, focusing on: (1) the current security situation in the Balkans, particularly in Kosovo and Bosnia; (2) the projected security in the region over the next 5 years; (3) factors in the decision to withdraw Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo; and (4) how the executive branch has defined U.S. interests in the region in the National Security Strategy and public statements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO updated its 1994 report federally funded programs that provide or support education or child care for children under age 5, focusing on: (1) what portion of the budget authority for these programs was used for education and care for children under age 5 and how many children in this age group participated in the programs; (2) what types of children these programs target and what services are provided to these children; and (3) what information is needed to assess whether the current array of federal programs is duplicative and what issues should be considered to improve overall efficiency of early childhood education and care programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed issues related to the closing of the Lorton correctional facilities that house felon inmates from the District of Columbia and the transfer of these inmates to the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), focusing on: (1) the D.C. Department of Corrections' response to the Office of the Corrections Trustee's 1999 recommendations on the Youngstown prison facility; (2) BOP's efforts to comply with the privatization requirements of the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997; and (3) any challenges concerning the closing of Lorton faced by the District of Columbia and BOP as December 31, 2001, the statutory date for closing all of Lorton, nears."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the: (1) dental health status of Medicaid beneficiaries and other vulnerable populations; and (2) extent to which these groups have dental coverage and use dental services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Gambling Impact Study Commission's (NGISC) case study on gambling, focusing on: (1) the economic effects of gambling, particularly on employment, bankruptcy, and tax revenues and community investment; (2) the social effects of gambling; (3) the prevalence of pathological gambling; and (4) whether communities offer incentives to attract gambling establishments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the financial statements of the Senate Restaurants Revolving Fund for the period ended September 30, 1999 and 1998. GAO contracted with the independent public accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP to conduct the audit."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on airport-related noise, focusing on the: (1) types of projects that are eligible for federally authorized funding to reduce airport-related noise or mitigate its effects; (2) differences in the major methods for measuring the impact of airport-related noise; (3) Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) noise standards for civil subsonic turbojets and the reasons some of those aircraft are not required to comply with these or earlier standards; and (4) status of FAA's Land Use Planning Initiative and the major issues the initiative has raised about how best to address airport-related noise."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the process used by the Public Buildings Service (PBS) to procure leased space for federal agencies, focusing on the: (1) approaches 3 of the General Services Administration's 11 regional offices use to lease space, including how each region determines an agency's space requirements, identifies and assesses potential space, and communicates with actual offerors; and (2) effect of solicitation practices on competition."

A letter report 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) research on a home health prospective payment system (PPS), focusing on: (1) the objectives, findings, and costs of the research and demonstration projects HCFA has funded that were related to the design of the PPS; and (2) how these projects contributed to the proposed PPS design and which design decisions were based on incomplete information."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project's status and potential uncertainties with regard to: (1) successfully treating mixed waste; (2) meeting the project's deadlines; and (3) minimizing increases in the contract price."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) performance goals and measures, focusing on: (1) the extent to which EPA's fiscal year (FY) 2000 performance goals and measures focus on end outcomes, intermediate outcomes, or outputs; (2) any challenges the agency faces in developing additional performance goals and measures that focus on end outcomes; and (3) the initiatives the agency is taking to address any identified challenges."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Brady Act's phase I (interim Brady) and phase II (permanent Brady) provisions in preventing the sale of firearms to prohibited individuals, focusing on: (1) how the permanent Brady compares with the interim Brady; (2) under permanent Brady, the advantages and disadvantages of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System's (NICS) background checks conducted by a designated state agency versus by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); (3) under permanent Brady, the extent to which default proceeds resulted in firearms being sold to prohibited individuals; and (4) the options policymakers have in preventing or minimizing such transfers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) efforts to improve its accountability, focusing on the: (1) agency's new approach and the status of its implementation; and (2) extent to which the approach will improve accountability."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on states' practices regarding Medicaid reimbursement of school-based administrative activities, focusing on: (1) the extent to which school districts and states claim Medicaid reimbursement for school-based health services and administrative activities; (2) the appropriateness of methods states use to establish bundled rates for school-based health services and to assess the costs of administrative activities that their schools may claim as reimbursable; (3) states' retention of federal Medicaid reimbursement for services provided by schools and schools' practice of paying contingency fees to private firms; and (4) the adequacy of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) oversight of state practices regarding school-based claims, including safeguards employed to ensure appropriate billing for health services and administrative activities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's report to Congress on its contractor support, focusing on the extent to which the report: (1) identified programs or systems using or planning to use contractor support arrangements; (2) supported the Air Force's view that the contractor support provides equal or superior warfighting capabilities; (3) identified the impact of such support arrangements on the government's logistics depots and core government logistics management skills; and (4) identified processes and criteria followed in determining whether government employees or the private sector can perform logistics management functions more cost-effectively."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) management and disposal of its low-level radioactive wastes, focusing on: (1) the factors that influence DOE's decisions about the treatment, storage, and disposal of the wastes; and (2) DOE's costs to treat, store, and dispose of these wastes and the cost-effectiveness of DOE's disposal decisions."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors, focusing on: (1) how much money has been spent by the United States and other countries for assistance to improve the safety of Soviet-designed nuclear power reactors--and the types of assistance being provided--as well as planned U.S. expenditures; (2) experts' views on the impact of the assistance; (3) the status of efforts to close high-risk Soviet-designed reactors; and (4) the management of the Department of Energy's (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) safety assistance activities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed efforts to reduce the threat of biological weapons proliferation from the former Soviet Union, focusing on: (1) the potential threats that the former Soviet biological weapons institutes could pose to the United States; (2) current and future U.S. efforts to address these threats; and (3) risks associated with the expanded U.S. effort and executive branch plans to mitigate them."