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 management of various year 2000-related end-to-end testing activities, focusing on: (1) the U.S. Space Command's management of its end-to-end test of space control systems essential to major theater war; and (2) what the results of this test show with respect to operational risks and readiness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the U.S. Transportation Command's (TRANSCOM) year 2000-related end-to-end testing activities, focusing on TRANSCOM's management of its end-to-end test of its ability to plan and execute joint major theater war (MTW) deployment operations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, health problems prevented the deployment of a significant number of Army reservists. To help correct this problem the Congress passed legislation that required reservists to undergo periodic physical and dental examinations. The National Defense Authorization Act for 2002 directed GAO to review the value and advisability of providing examinations. GAO also examined whether the Army is collecting and maintaining information on reservist health. GAO obtained expert opinion on the value of periodic examinations and visited seven Army reserve units to obtain information on the number of examinations that have been conducted."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed proposed changes and improvements to the military health system (MHS), focusing on: (1) the various proposals to expand the military health care benefit, especially those for older retirees, including describing the nature of the enhancement, the present or potential challenges in implementing these proposals, and overall cost implications; (2) the broader perspective of the appropriate size and structure of the military health system; and (3) the obstacles that impede improvements in the TRICARE program, particularly in terms of accessing appointments and claims processing."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Testifying before Congress in 2002, military beneficiary groups and civilian managed care support contractors described problems with the processing of TRICARE claims for civilian-provided care. These problems included slow payments and procedures that made claims processing inefficient. The Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act of 2003 required GAO to review improvements to TRICARE claims processing and continuing impediments to claims processing efficiency. Specifically, GAO describes (1) efforts to improve claims processing and changes in processing timeliness and (2) Department of Defense (DOD) procedures and data that continue to affect claims processing efficiency. To identify improvements to claims processing and impediments to processing efficiency, GAO analyzed 1999 and 2002 claims data for changes in processing timeliness. GAO also interviewed and analyzed claims processing documentation from DOD officials, managed care support contractors, and claims processors."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S.-South Korean Land Partnership Plan (LPP), signed in March 2002, was designed to consolidate U.S. installations, improve combat readiness, enhance public safety, and strengthen the U.S.-South Korean alliance by addressing some of the causes of periodic tension associated with the U.S. presence in South Korea. The Senate report on military construction appropriations for fiscal year 2003 directed GAO to review the LPP. GAO adjusted its review to also address the effect of ongoing reassessments of U.S. overseas presence upon the LPP and other infrastructure needs. In this report, GAO assessed (1) the scope of the LPP, (2) the implications on the LPP and other construction projects of proposals to change basing in South Korea, and (3) implementation challenges associated with the LPP that could affect future U.S. military construction projects in South Korea."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO prepared this report under its basic legislative responsibilities. Its objectives are threefold: (1) to examine the reserve forces' trends for facility maintenance and construction funding and the condition of their facilities, (2) to assess the likelihood that they will meet the Department of Defense's (DOD) objectives for improving facilities, and (3) to discuss the challenges in implementing two potential cost saving initiatives--joint construction projects and real property exchanges."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of the Secretary of Defense and the service headquarters provide overall policy guidance and negotiate agreements on the treatment of the military's historic properties. However, most decisions on historic properties are made at the installation level. The installations are responsible for identifying and evaluating properties to determine if they are eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places as well as maintaining all properties that are listed on or have been determined eligible for listing on the National Register. The military lacks complete and reliable data on the number of its historic properties. None of the services have a centralized database that comprehensively identifies all of their respective historic properties. Data is not available on the costs to to maintain or repair historic properties. Cost data GAO examined at several installations showed that, overall, the day-to-day maintenance historic properties was similar to maintenance on non-historic properties."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, the Department of Defense (DOD) ships inventory worth billions of dollars to locations around the world. DOD has had longstanding difficulty tracking this inventory from origin to destination. GAO reviewed six draft plans developed by the four military services, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the U.S. Transportation Command to overcome this problem. The six draft plans have significantly improved on DOD's original plan for tracking inventory. They are, however, inconsistent in content and do not reflect a coordinated, DOD-wide approach to correcting the lack of visibility over inventory being shipped. These draft plans also lack detailed performance measures for monitoring progress and determining the effectiveness of the actions after they are implemented. They do not address how DOD will ensure appropriate coordination among the military services and DOD commands in the implementation of the corrective actions or how DOD will monitor future progress. Lastly, the Office of the Secretary of Defense has not established a deadline for when the plans should be finalized."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is pursuing a new initiative involving a core competency approach for making sourcing decisions--that is, sourcing decisions based on whether the function is core to the agency's warfighting mission. In determining how to best perform non-core functions, DOD's position is that its components should look beyond just the use of public-private competitions under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 in making sourcing decisions, and consider other alternatives such as partnering or employee stock ownership. GAO was asked to assess (1) the department's progress in assessing its core functions as a basis for sourcing decisions, (2) the plans and progress DOD has made in identifying and implementing alternatives to A-76, and (3) the current status of DOD's A-76 program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) planned to spend $7.9 billion on acquiring munitions in fiscal year 2002. Ongoing military operations associated with the global war on terrorism have heightened concerns about the unified combatant commands having sufficient quantities of munitions. Since 1994, the DOD Inspector General and GAO have issued numerous reports identifying weaknesses and expressing concerns about the accuracy of the process used by the department to determine munitions requirements. DOD has improved its munitions requirements process by eliminating most of the systematic problems--correcting questionable and inconsistently applied data, completing target templates, and resolving issues involving the level of detail that should be included in planning guidance. However, a fundamental problem remains unaddressed--inadequate linkage between the near-term munitions needs of the combatant commands and the purchases made by the military services based on computations derived from the department's munitions requirement determination process. The department's munitions requirements process provides varied answers for current munitions acquisitions questions because of the aforementioned disjunction. As a result, the services, in the short term, are purchasing some critically needed munitions based on available funding and contractors' production capacity. Although this …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) report on its efforts to adopt management best practices for software development and acquisition, focusing on whether: (1) it satisfied the Senate Committee on Armed Service's directive; and (2) the information included was accurate and complete."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Defense offsets are the full range of industrial and commercial benefits that firms provide to foreign governments as inducements or conditions for the purchase of military goods and services. The U.S. government has maintained a "hands off" policy toward defense offsets, viewing them as part of the transaction between the contracting parties. However, offsets are one of the many factors contributing to the globalization of the U.S. industrial base. This testimony presents GAO's observations on (1) the impact of offsets, (2) trends in defense offsets, and (3) the quality and extent of information currently available concerning offsets. Views on the effects of offsets are divided between those who believe that they are both positive and an unavoidable part of doing business overseas and those who believe that they harm the U.S. industrial base. Recently, countries buying U.S. defense items have become increasingly sophisticated in their offset demands. Finally, identifying the effect of offsets on industrial sectors or the U.S. economy as a whole is difficult."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) personal property programs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Military Traffic Management Command's (MTMC) first interim progress report on the Department of Defense's demonstration program (MTMC pilot) to improve personal property shipments of the armed forces, focusing on MTMC's plan for evaluating the: (1) pilot results; and (2) proposed industry alternative called the Commercial-Like Activities for Superior Quality (CLASS) proposal."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) new rule on the threatened status for two chinook salmon evolutionarily significant units (ESU) in California. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would list two additional ESUs as a threatened species; and (2) NOAA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Commerce's fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act to assess Commerce's progress on achieving selected key outcomes. Commerce's combined performance report and performance plan is a significant improvement over its fiscal year 1999 performance report and fiscal year 2001 performance plan and addresses the recommendations made in GAO's June 2000 report. Furthermore, the report indicates that Commerce has made progress toward achieving two of the selected key outcomes. However, progress toward achieving the remaining two outcomes is unclear largely because of weaknesses related to measuring performance. Specifically, some of the measures are output-oriented, rather than outcome oriented; some measures have known limitations, which Commerce acknowledges; many of the measures used to assess performance in the past are being discontinued for the future; and Commerce plans to rely on one, narrowly focused measure to demonstrate progress for each performance goal related to these key outcomes. Furthermore, other data exist within the International Trade Administration (ITA) that could support additional measures related to these performance goals."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (DOE), which carries out its national security, environmental cleanup, and research missions through extensive use of contractors, faces significant costs for postretirement health and pension benefits for contractor employees. Given DOE's long history of using contractors and the rising cost of postretirement benefits, the Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, asked GAO to (1) analyze DOE's estimated financial obligation for postretirement health and pension benefits for contractor employees at the end of fiscal year 2003, (2) determine how DOE evaluates its contractor postretirement health and pension benefit programs and assesses the comparative levels of benefits offered by contractors, and (3) assess how DOE's oversight of these benefits could be enhanced."

Other written product 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) new rule on Medicare payments and consolidated billing for skilled nursing facilities. GAO noted that: (1) the rule sets forth the updates required in section 1888(e) of the Social Security Act, as amended by the Medicare, Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999, related to Medicare payments and consolidated billing for skilled nursing facilities; and (2) HCFA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of Labor's fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act. GAO found that Labor appears to be making progress in achieving the key outcomes in its strategic plan. Labor has increased its target levels for some goals for fiscal year 2002 and generally provided sound strategies for achieving these new targets. GAO continues to have concerns about some of the measures Labor uses. GAO is most concerned about the way in which Labor addresses two of its management challenges--information technology and strategic human capital management. Given the breadth of these goals, goal achievement cannot be fully assessed with the performance indicators Labor proposes. Without better indicators that more accurately and comprehensively measure performance toward the goal, Labor will be unable to fully assess its progress in these areas."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of the Interior's fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance report plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act. Specifically, GAO discusses Interior's progress in achieving the following four outcomes: (1) maintaining the health of federally managed land, water, and renewable resources; (2) ensuring visitors' satisfaction with the availability, accessibility, diversity, and quality of national parks; (3) meeting the federal government's responsibility to preserve and protect Indian trust lands and resources; and (4) ensuring the safe and environmentally sound development of mineral resources. GAO could not judge the agency's progress in promoting the health of federally managed land, water, and renewable resources because the goals Interior has reported do not foster a broad or departmentwide approach to measuring progress. Although the Park Service's strategies for continuing to meet and exceed its visitor satisfaction and visitor education goals appear clear and reasonable, the agency's fiscal year 2002 performance plan lacks information on the strategic human capital management strategies to achieve this outcome. GAO cannot judge the Bureau of Indian Affairs' progress in protecting Indian trust lands and resources …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Department of the Treasury's fiscal year 2000 performance report and fiscal year 2002 performance report plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act. Specifically, GAO discusses Treasury's progress in addressing several key outcomes that are important to Treasury's mission. In general, GAO could not adequately determine Treasury's progress on five key outcomes because the fiscal year 2000 performance report lacked at least some measures needed to directly assess each of the outcomes. However, other information that GAO reviewed and GAO's past work suggest that Treasury may be at risk of not achieving these outcomes. In assessing Treasury's strategies, GAO identified shortcomings in its plans for each of the outcomes it reviewed. Chief among the limitations common to both the Treasury's fiscal year 1999 and 2000 performance reports was that the performance goals and measures of Treasury's agencies were not always directly reflected in the broader departmental goals, limiting the reports' usefulness in determining whether these agencies are making progress in meeting their strategic goals in general and the outcomes GAO reviewed in particular. Treasury improved the fiscal year 2000 report by …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's report on the proliferation of depot maintenance-type activities at non-depot facilities for completeness and adequacy, focusing on the: (1) the total amount of depot maintenance-type work conducted at local maintenance facilities and the cost efficiency of such work in view of the Army's overall requirements; and (2) plans for consolidating fragmented maintenance operations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under 10 U.S.C. 2466, not more than 50 percent of each military department's annual depot maintenance funding can be used for work done by private-sector contractors. The Department of Defense (DOD) also must submit two reports to the Congress annually on the division of depot maintenance funding between the public and private sectors--one about the percentage of funds spent in the previous 2 fiscal years (prior-years report) and one about the current and 4 succeeding fiscal years (future-years report). As required, GAO reviewed the two DOD reports submitted in early 2003 and is, with this report, submitting its views to the Congress on whether (1) the military services met the so-called "50-50 requirement" for fiscal years 2001-2 and (2) the projections for fiscal years 2003-7 are reasonable estimates. GAO also identified opportunities to improve the reporting process."