A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The August 1, 2007, collapse of a Minnesota bridge raised nationwide questions about bridge safety and the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) ability to prioritize resources for bridges. The Highway Bridge Program (HBP), the primary source of federal funding for bridges, provided over $4 billion to states in fiscal year 2007. This requested study examines (1) how the HBP addresses bridge conditions, (2) how states use HBP funds and select bridge projects for funding, (3) what data indicate about bridge conditions and the HBP's impact, and (4) the extent to which the HBP aligns with principles GAO developed, based on prior work and federal laws and regulations, for re-examining surface transportation programs. GAO reviewed program documents; analyzed bridge data; and met with transportation officials in states that have high levels of HBP funding and large bridge inventories, including California, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because of the significance of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collections to overall federal receipts and, in turn, to the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government, which GAO is required to audit, and Congress's interest in financial management at IRS, GAO audits IRS's financial statements annually to determine whether (1) the financial statements are fairly stated, and (2) IRS management maintained effective internal control. GAO also tests IRS's compliance with selected provisions of significant laws and regulations and its financial systems' compliance with the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The increasing need for warfighters for the Global War on Terrorism has meant longer and multiple deployments for soldiers. Medical readiness is essential to their performing needed duties, and an impairment that limits a soldier's capacities represents risk to the soldier, the unit, and the mission. Asked to review the Army's compliance with its guidance, GAO examined the extent to which the Army is (1) adhering to its medical and deployment requirements regarding decisions to send soldiers with medical conditions to Iraq and Afghanistan, and (2) deploying soldiers with medical conditions requiring duty limitations, and assigning them to duties suitable for their limitations. GAO reviewed Army guidance, and medical records for those preparing to deploy between April 2006 and March 2007; interviewed Army officials and commanders at Forts Benning, Stewart, and Drum, selected for their high deployment rates; and surveyed deployed soldiers with medical limitations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The President announced the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) in 2003 to enhance U.S. efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. In a 2006 classified report, GAO recommended that agencies establish clear PSI policies and procedures and performance indicators. In 2007, Congress enacted a law calling for the administration to expand and strengthen PSI and address GAO's prior recommendations. This report assesses (1) the extent to which the administration issued a PSI directive and submitted required PSI-related reports to Congress; (2) steps U.S. agencies have taken to establish clear PSI policies and procedures, structures, budgets, and performance indicators; and (3) U.S. agencies' efforts to increase cooperation and coordination with PSI countries and develop a strategy to resolve interdiction issues. GAO reviewed and analyzed agency documents and interviewed officials from the Departments of State (State), Defense (DOD), and other agencies with PSI responsibilitie"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Compact of Free Association between the Republic of Palau and the United States entered into force on October 1, 1994, with the U.S. interest of promoting Palau's self-sufficiency and economic advancement. The compact and its related subsidiary agreements provide for a 15-year term of economic assistance. In fiscal year 2009, the two governments must review the terms of the compact and related agreements and agree on any modifications. The Department of the Interior (DOI) has primary responsibility for oversight of Palau's use of compact funds. GAO was requested to report on (1) the provision of compact and other U.S. assistance to Palau in fiscal years 1995-2009; (2) Palau's and U.S. agencies' efforts to provide accountability over Palau's use of federal funds in 1995-2006; and (3) Palau's prospects for achieving economic self-sufficiency. GAO reviewed Palau's compact annual reports, financial statements and internal control reports for fiscal years 1995-2006, as well as other compact-related documentation. GAO interviewed officials from the U.S. and Palau governments and conducted fieldwork in Palau."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates one of the largest healthcare-related real estate portfolios in the nation. However, many VA facilities are older and no longer well suited to providing care, leaving VA with millions of square feet of property it does not use to capacity (underutilized) or at all (vacant). VA has various legal authorities that allow it to dispose of such property. GAO was asked to identify (1) VA's progress in reducing underutilized or vacant property and how much VA spends operating the underutilized or vacant property it retains; (2) VA's use of its various legal authorities to reduce underutilized and vacant property and the extent to which VA tracks how these authorities contribute to reductions; and (3) the challenges VA faces in minimizing underutilized and vacant space and the strategies VA is using to address these challenges. To accomplish these objectives, GAO reviewed VA property data, and visited eight VA locations based on space utilization, use of authorities, and other factors. GAO also interviewed officials from various VA offices and stakeholders."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has begun implementing the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), its new human capital system for managing civilian personnel performance. As of May 2008, about 182,000 civilian employees were under NSPS. DOD's implementation of NSPS will have far-reaching implications for DOD and civil service reform across the federal government. Based on our prior work looking at performance management in the public sector and DOD's challenges in implementing NSPS, GAO developed an initial list of safeguards that NSPS should include to ensure it is fair, effective, and credible. Congress required GAO to determine (1) the extent to which DOD has implemented internal safeguards to ensure the fairness, effectiveness, and credibility of NSPS; and (2) how DOD civilian personnel perceive NSPS and what actions DOD has taken to address these perceptions. To conduct this work, GAO analyzed relevant documents and employee survey results; interviewed appropriate officials; and conducted discussion groups with employees and supervisors at 12 selected installations."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insures the pension benefits of 44 million private sector workers and retirees in over 30,000 employer-sponsored pension plans. In July 2007, GAO reported that PBGC's governance structure needed improvements, and asked Congress to consider expanding the board of directors to include additional members. GAO also recommended that the board develop policies and mechanisms consistent with corporate governance practices, and develop formal guidelines to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the board chair, members, their representatives, and the director. On the basis of that work, this report addresses (1) the steps PBGC has taken to improve policy direction and oversight and (2) how Congress applies oversight to PBGC and what other oversight mechanisms exist for government corporations. GAO reviewed PBGC's new corporate bylaws and the structure and reporting requirements of selected government corporations. GAO also interviewed PBGC and Department of Labor officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) pay for performance (PFP) program for managers includes quantitative performance indicators. PFP ratings are the basis for salary increases and lump sum awards for nearly 750 Postal Career Executive Service (PCES) executives and about 71,700 other participants, mostly Executive and Administrative Schedule (EAS) employees. GAO was requested to provide information about USPS's PFP system. This report (1) describes the key features of USPS's PFP system, (2) provides information on the weight of its performance indicators in determining PFP ratings, and (3) identifies opportunities for USPS to incorporate delivery performance indicators into its PFP system. GAO obtained USPS documents and data, interviewed USPS officials, and primarily based its assessment on laws related to timely delivery and interviews with senior USPS officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO previously reported that continuing problems in billing and collection processes at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) impaired VA's ability to maximize revenue from private (third-party) insurance companies. VA has undertaken several initiatives to address these weaknesses. GAO was asked to perform a follow-up audit to (1) evaluate VA billing controls, (2) assess VA-wide controls for collections, (3) determine the effectiveness of VA-wide oversight, and (4) provide information on the status of key VA improvement initiatives. GAO performed case study analyses of the third-party billing function, statistically tested controls over collections, and reviewed current oversight policies and procedures. GAO also reviewed and summarized VA information on the status of key management initiatives to enhance third-party revenue."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Like other nations, the United States faces growing food safety challenges resulting from at least three major trends. First, imported food makes up a growing share of the food supply. Second, consumers are increasingly eating foods that are raw or have had minimal processing and that are often associated with foodborne illness. Third, changing demographic patterns mean that more of the U.S. population is, and increasingly will be, susceptible to foodborne illness. In 2005, GAO reported on the approaches and challenges seven countries faced in reorganizing and consolidating food safety functions. Since then, the European Union (EU) has taken on a larger role in overseeing food safety within its 27 member states. GAO was asked to describe how Canada, the EU, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom (UK) (1) ensure the safety of imported food, (2) respond to outbreaks of foodborne illness, and (3) measure the effectiveness of their reorganized food safety systems. GAO also asked experts in these countries and the EU to identify emerging food safety challenges that they expect to face over the next decade. In doing this work, GAO …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq, a process the Department of Defense (DOD) refers to as "reposturing," will be a massive and expensive effort. As of March 2008, for example, there were about 173,000 pieces of equipment in Iraq, worth about $16.5 billion, that will need to be returned to the United States. The redeployment process following Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a much shorter war, lasted at least 14 months. DOD guidance emphasizes the importance of early planning for this redeployment process. GAO performed this work under the Comptroller General's Authority. GAO examined the (1) status of logistical planning for reposturing U.S. forces from Iraq and associated assumptions and (2) extent to which DOD established roles and responsibilities for managing and executing retrograde from Iraq. GAO also identified issues that DOD will need to consider in its reposture planning. GAO reviewed documents and interviewed officials from over 20 DOD organizations in the United States and Kuwait."

In 1993, President Clinton modified the military policy on providing abortions at military medical facilities. Under the change directed by the President, military medical facilities were allowed to perform abortions if paid for entirely with non-Department of Defense (DOD) funds (i.e., privately funded). Over the last three decades, the availability of abortion services at military medical facilities has been subjected to numerous changes and interpretations.

The purpose of this report is to describe and discuss the provisions for providing abortion services to military personnel, their dependents, and other military health care beneficiaries at military medical facilities. The report describes the history of these provisions, with particular emphasis on legislative actions. Finally, this report discusses a number of proposals to modify the law, as well as other related legislative and administrative actions.

This report discusses the constitutional status of child pornography and summarizes federal statutes banning and regulating child pornography as well as selected court cases that have ruled on their constitutionality or interpreted them.

The objectives for this workshop were to bring together those with different viewpoints on the implementation of energy efficient ventilation in homes to share their perspectives. The primary benefit of the workshop is to allow the participants to get a broader understanding of the issues involved and thereby make themselves more able to achieve their own goals in this area. In order to achieve this objective each participant was asked to address four objectives from their point of view: (1) Drivers for energy efficient residential ventilation: Why is this an important issue? Who cares about it? Where is the demand: occupants, utilities, regulation, programs, etc? What does sustainability mean in this context? (2) Markets & Technologies: What products, services and systems are out there? What kinds of things are in the pipeline? What is being installed now? Are there regional or other trends? What are the technology interactions with other equipment and the envelope? (3) Barriers to Implementation: What is stopping decision makers from implementing energy-efficient residential ventilation systems? What kind of barriers are there: technological, cost, informational, structural, etc. What is the critical path? (4) Solutions: What can be done to overcome the barriers and how can/should we do …

Uranium metal, which is present in sludge held in the Hanford Site K West Basin, can create hazardous hydrogen atmospheres during sludge handling, immobilization, or subsequent transport and storage operations by its oxidation/corrosion in water. A thorough knowledge of the uranium metal concentration in sludge therefore is essential to successful sludge management and waste process design. The goal of this work was to establish a rapid routine analytical method to determine uranium metal concentrations as low as 0.03 wt% in sludge even in the presence of up to 1000-fold higher total uranium concentrations (i.e., up to 30 wt% and more uranium) for samples to be taken during the upcoming sludge characterization campaign and in future analyses for sludge handling and processing. This report describes the experiments and results obtained in developing the selective dissolution technique to determine uranium metal concentration in K Basin sludge.

We have performed a quick analysis of the Mt. Meron seismic array to monitor regional seismic events in the Middle East. The Meron array is the only current array in the Levant and Arabian Peninsula and, as such, might be useful in contributing to event location, identification, and other analysis. Here, we provide a brief description of the array and a review of the travel time and array analysis done to assess its performance.

This cleanup verification package documents completion of remedial action for the 118-F-1 Burial Ground on the Hanford Site. This burial ground is a combination of two locations formerly called Minor Construction Burial Ground No. 2 and Solid Waste Burial Ground No. 2. This waste site received radioactive equipment and other miscellaneous waste from 105-F Reactor operations, including dummy elements and irradiated process tubing; gun barrel tips, steel sleeves, and metal chips removed from the reactor; filter boxes containing reactor graphite chips; and miscellaneous construction solid waste.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of River Protection (ORP) manages the River Protection Project (RPP). The RPP mission is to retrieve and treat Hanford's tank waste and close the tank farms to protect the Columbia River. As a result, the ORP is responsible for the retrieval, treatment, and disposal of the approximately 57 million gallons of radioactive waste contained in the Hanford Site waste tanks and closure of all the tanks and associated facilities. The previous revision of the System Plan was issued in September 2003. ORP has approved a number of changes to the tank waste treatment strategy and plans since the last revision of this document, and additional changes are under consideration. The ORP has established contracts to implement this strategy to establish a basic capability to complete the overall mission. The current strategy for completion of the mission uses a number of interrelated activities. The ORP will reduce risk to the environment posed by tank wastes by: (1) Retrieving the waste from the single-shell tanks (SST) to double-shell tanks (DST) for treatment and disposal; (2) Constructing and operating the WTP, which will safely treat all of the high-level waste (HLW) and about half of the …

The "Minor Actinide Doppler Coefficient Measurement Assessment" was a Department of Energy (DOE) U-NERI funded project intended to assess the viability of using either the FLATTOP or the COMET critical assembly to measure high temperature Doppler coefficients. The goal of the project was to calculate using the MCNP5 code the gram amounts of Np-237, Pu-238, Pu-239, Pu-241, AM-241, AM-242m, Am-243, and CM-244 needed to produce a 1E-5 in reactivity for a change in operating temperature 800C to 1000C. After determining the viability of using the assemblies and calculating the amounts of each actinide an experiment will be designed to verify the calculated results. The calculations and any doncuted experiments are designed to support the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative in conducting safety analysis of advanced fast reactor or acceoerator-driven transmutation systems with fuel containing high minor actinide content.

The Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) is the primary provider of network connectivity for the US Department of Energy Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States of America. In support of the Office of Science programs, ESnet regularly updates and refreshes its understanding of the networking requirements of the instruments, facilities, scientists, and science programs that it serves. This focus has helped ESnet to be a highly successful enabler of scientific discovery for over 20 years. In May 2008, ESnet and the Nuclear Physics (NP) Program Office of the DOE Office of Science organized a workshop to characterize the networking requirements of the science programs funded by the NP Program Office. Most of the key DOE sites for NP related work will require significant increases in network bandwidth in the 5 year time frame. This includes roughly 40 Gbps for BNL, and 20 Gbps for NERSC. Total transatlantic requirements are on the order of 40 Gbps, and transpacific requirements are on the order of 30 Gbps. Other key sites are Vanderbilt University and MIT, which will need on the order of 20 Gbps bandwidth to support data transfers for the …

The research sponsored by this project has greatly expanded the ASSET corrosion prediction software system to produce a world-class technology to assess and predict engineering corrosion of metals and alloys corroding by exposure to hot gases. The effort included corrosion data compilation from numerous industrial sources and data generation at Shell Oak Ridge National Laboratory and several other companies for selected conditions. These data were organized into groupings representing various combinations of commercially available alloys and corrosion by various mechanisms after acceptance via a critical screening process to ensure the data were for alloys and conditions, which were adequately well defined, and of sufficient repeatability. ASSET is the largest and most capable, publicly-available technology in the field of corrosion assessment and prediction for alloys corroding by high temperature processes in chemical plants, hydrogen production, energy conversion processes, petroleum refining, power generation, fuels production and pulp/paper processes. The problems addressed by ASSET are: determination of the likely dominant corrosion mechanism based upon information available to the chemical engineers designing and/or operating various processes and prediction of engineering metal losses and lifetimes of commercial alloys used to build structural components. These assessments consider exposure conditions (metal temperatures, gas compositions and pressures), alloy …