A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Economic Development Administration (EDA) Reauthorization Act of 2004 (P. L. 108-373) included a requirement that GAO evaluate grants made by EDA for the economic development of brownfield sites. More than 450,000 brownfield sites--properties where redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination--are scattered across the United States. This report discusses specifics of grants made by EDA at brownfields sites, including (1) the types, extent, and amount of EDA funds used for remediation activities; (2) the environmental standards and agencies involved; and (3) the economic development activities, standards, and impact."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) operations in time of war or national emergency depend on sizeable reserve force involvement and DOD expects future use of the reserve force to remain high. Operational readiness depends on healthy and fit personnel. Long-standing problems have been identified with reserve members not being in proper medical or physical condition. Drilling members in the reserve force by law are required to have a medical exam every 5 years and an annual certificate of their medical status. Also, DOD policies require an annual dental exam and an annual evaluation of physical fitness. Compliance with these routine requirements is the first step in determining who is fit for duty. Public Law 108-375 required GAO to study DOD's management of the health status of reserve members activated for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. GAO assessed DOD's (1) ability to determine reserve force compliance with routine exams, and (2) visibility over reserve members' health status after they are called to duty and the care, if any, provided to those deployed with preexisting conditions."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Secretary of Treasury, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is required to annually prepare and submit audited financial statements of the U.S. government to the President and Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. An issue meriting concern and close scrutiny that emerged during our fiscal year 2004 CFS audit was the growing number of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies that restated certain of their financial statements for fiscal year 2003 to correct errors. Errors in financial statements can result from mathematical mistakes, mistakes in the application of accounting principles, or oversight or misuse of facts that existed at the time the financial statements were prepared. Frequent restatements to correct errors can undermine public trust and confidence in both the entity and all responsible parties. Further, when restatements do occur, it is important that financial statements clearly communicate, and readers of the restated financial statements understand, that the financial statements originally issued by management in the previous year and the opinion thereon should not be used. Because …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Trade in business, professional, and technical (BPT) services associated with offshoring needs to be accurately tracked, but a gap exists between U.S. and Indian data. The extent of and reasons for this gap are important to understand in order to address questions about the magnitude of offshoring and to analyze its future development. Under the authority of the Comptroller General of the United States, and as part of a body of GAO work on the issue of offshoring of services, this report (1) describes the extent of the gap between U.S. and Indian data, (2) identifies factors that contribute to the difference between the two countries' data, and (3) examines the challenges the United States has faced in collecting services trade data. GAO has addressed this report to the congressional committees of jurisdiction."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides disability compensation to veterans disabled by injuries or diseases that were incurred or aggravated while on active military duty. Under Individual Unemployability (IU) benefit regulations, a veteran can receive increased compensation at the total disability compensation rate if VA determines that the veteran is unemployable because of service-connected disabilities. GAO has reported that numerous technological and medical advances, combined with changes in society and the nature of work, have increased the potential for people with disabilities to work. Yet VA has seen substantial growth of IU benefit awards to veterans over the last five years. In 2001 GAO reported that a growing number of private insurance companies in the United States have focused their programs on developing and implementing strategies to enable people with disabilities to return to work. Our testimony will describe how U.S. private insurers facilitate return to work in three key areas: (1) the eligibility assessment process, (2) work incentives, and (3) staffing practices. It will also compare these practices with those of VA's IU eligibility assessment process."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress asked GAO to testify on the status of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) financial management reform efforts. NASA faces major financial management challenges that, if not addressed, will weaken its ability to manage its highly complex programs. NASA has been on GAO's high-risk list since 1990 because of its failure to effectively oversee its contracts, due in part to the agency's lack of accurate and reliable information on contract spending. GAO's statement focuses on (1) NASA's key financial management challenges, (2) how NASA's financial management challenges compare with other federal agencies, (3) GAO's assessment of NASA's progress toward implementing recommendations aimed at improving its financial management system, and (4) the steps NASA must take to reform its financial management organization. In its related report, released today, GAO recommends that NASA develop an integrated enterprise master schedule and milestones--including improvement activities and plans, dates for completion, performance measures, and clear accountability."

Collection of BRAC related news articles and clippings. Produced for Commission staff review.

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of March 21,2003

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of March 27,2003

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of June 11,2003

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of July 23,2003

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of September 12,2003

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of October 2,2003

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of October 31,2003

BRAC 2005 Education & Training Joint Cross-Service Group Meeting Minutes of December 10,2003

BRAC 2005 EDUCATION AND TRAINING JOINT CROSS SERVICE GROUP(E&T JCSG) MEETING MINUTES of 27-29 JANUARY 2004

BRAC EDUCATION AND TRAINING JOIN CROSS-SERVICE GROUP MEETING MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 2004

BRAC 2005 EDUCATION Am TRAINING JOINT CROSS-SERVICE GROUP MEETING MINUTIES OF 18 MARCH 2004

BRAC 2005 EDUCATION AND TRAINING JOINT CROSS-SERVICE GROUP MEETING MINUTES OF 13 MAY 2004

BRAC 2005 EDUCATION AND TRAINING JOINT CROSS-SERVICE GROUP MEETING MINUTES OF 10 JUNE 2004

BRAC 2005 ADMINISTRATION JOINT CROSS-SERVICE GROUP MEETING MINUTES OF MARCH 19, 2003

In this final technical report, a summary of work is provided. Work toward an improved representation of frontal clouds in global climate models occurred. This involved analysis of cloud variability in ARM observations and the careful contrast of single column model solutions with ARM data. In addition, high resolution simulations of frontal clouds were employed to diagnosis processes that are important for the development of frontal clouds.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Ohio Coal Development Office (OCDO) have recently initiated a project aimed at identifying, evaluating, and qualifying the materials needed for the construction of the critical components of coal-fired boilers capable of operating at much higher efficiencies than current generation of supercritical plants. This increased efficiency is expected to be achieved principally through the use of ultrasupercritical steam conditions (USC). A limiting factor in this can be the materials of construction. The project goal is to assess/develop materials technology that will enable achieving turbine throttle steam conditions of 760 C (1400 F)/35 MPa (5000 psi). This goal seems achievable based on a preliminary assessment of material capabilities. The project is further intended to build further upon the alloy development and evaluation programs that have been carried out in Europe and Japan. Those programs have identified ferritic steels capable of meeting the strength requirements of USC plants up to approximately 620 C (1150 F) and nickel-based alloys suitable up to 700 C (1300 F). In this project, the maximum temperature capabilities of these and other available high-temperature alloys are being assessed to provide a basis for materials selection and application under a range of …

Assess the steady-state flammability level at normal and off-normal ventilation conditions. The hydrogen generation rate was calculated for 177 tanks using the rate equation model. Flammability calculations based on hydrogen, ammonia, and methane were performed for 177 tanks for various scenarios.