Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report is to bring the Office of Federal Procurement Policy's attention to two GAO recommendations concerning the acquisition of information technology services under the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS). In GAO's view, implementation of these recommendations has been delayed because of unnecessary coupling with other FSS issues."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In our December 2001 report, "United States Postal Service: Information on Retirement Plans" (GAO-02-170), we raised the question of whether the United States Postal Service (USPS) was paying more or less than appropriate to cover benefit payments for the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for which it is responsible. In May 2002, we asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to calculate a hypothetical "Postal Fund" balance and projected funding status by estimating the present value (PV) of the future benefits USPS is required to fund for CSRS retirees and survivors under current law and extent to which prior and projected future contributions required by current law would fund these benefits. OPM released its analysis in November 2002, indicating that, based on current contributions, USPS's CSRS obligations would be significantly overfunded in the future. The Administration has proposed legislation that addresses this overfunding. In this correspondence we will (1) review OPM's analysis for reasonableness and (2) analyze the legislative proposal to identify any issues needing further consideration."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Accurate credit reports are critical to the credit process--for consumers attempting to obtain credit and to lending institutions making decisions about extending credit. In today's sophisticated and highly calibrated credit markets, credit report errors can have significant monetary implications to consumers and credit granters. In recognition of the importance of this issue, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs asked GAO to (1) provide information on the frequency, type, and cause of credit report errors, and (2) describe the impact of the 1996 amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) on credit report accuracy and potential implications of reporting errors for consumers."

A staff study issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In this time of emphasis on performance and results, federal agencies and congressional committees can benefit from knowing the full range of social science methods that can help them improve the programs they oversee. Among the methods they might consider are those of ethnography, derived from anthropology. However, information about the past and present uses of ethnography to improve federal programs has not been systematically gathered or analyzed. Therefore, the potential for program improvement may be overlooked. Ethnography can fill gaps in what we know about the community whose beliefs and behavior affect how federal programs operate. This can be especially useful when such beliefs or behavior present barriers to a program's objectives. Ethnography helps build knowledge of a community by observing its members and by interviewing them in their natural setting. Although many people associate ethnography with lengthy anthropological research aimed at cultures remote from our own, it can be used to inform public programs and has a long history of application in the federal government."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Centennial of Flight Commission (Commission) was created on November 13, 1998, by the Centennial of Flight Commemoration Act (Public Law 105-389, as amended by Public Law 106-68). The purpose of the Commission is to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, on December 17, 1903. The Commission is to provide recommendations and advice to the President, the Congress, and federal agencies on the most effective ways to encourage and promote national and international participation and sponsorships in commemoration of the centennial of powered flight. We are required by the act to audit the financial transactions of the Commission. This report presents the results of our audit of the Commission's fiscal year 2002 financial transactions, with cumulative information since the Commission's inception. We previously reported the results of our audits on Commission financial transactions for fiscal years 1999 and 2000, and 2001."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) management of its business systems modernization program has been an area of longstanding concern to Congress and one that GAO has designated as high risk since 1995. Because of this concern, GAO was requested to testify on (1) DOD's current inventory of existing and new business systems and the amount of funding devoted to this inventory; (2) DOD's modernization management capabilities, including weaknesses and DOD's efforts to address them; and (3) GAO's collective recommendations for correcting these weaknesses and minimizing DOD's exposure to risk until they are corrected. In developing this testimony, GAO drew from its previously issued reports on DOD's business systems modernization efforts, including one released today on four key Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) projects."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Presented is GAO's performance and accountability report for fiscal 2002. In the spirit of the Government Performance and Results Act, this annual report informs the Congress and the American people about what we have achieved on their behalf. Importantly, GAO received a clean opinion from independent auditors on our financial statements for the 16th consecutive year. The financial information and the data measuring GAO's performance contained in this report are complete and reliable."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government spent more than $230 billion through contracts with private industry in fiscal year 2001. Ten Executive Branch agencies account for almost 95 percent of this spending. Past reviews by Executive Branch agency inspectors general, military-department audit agencies, and the General Accounting Office (GAO) have created an extensive body of reports on the procedures and practices that federal agencies use to plan, award, and administer contracts. These reviews identified weaknesses in the contracting processes of individual agencies and contracting challenges these agencies have in common. Consequently, to facilitate literate searches of the reports concerning federal contracting matters, we compiled a catalogue of information from reports and testimonies by the 10 agencies' inspectors general, military department audit agencies, and GAO. Such a catalogue could be useful to the oversight community and others in determing (1) common contracting issues identified across multiple agencies and (2) the potential contracting-risk areas and gaps in contracting oversight across these agencies."

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether section 550.065(d) of the Transportation Code requires a governmental body to use the guidelines established by the Texas Building and Procurement Commission when calculating the "actual cost" of making a noncertified copy of an accident report.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Auditing of certain accounts held by a criminal district attorney.

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether, "in the case of emergency and imperative public necessity and with a four-fifths vote of the total membership of each House," the legislature may, pursuant to article III, section 49a of the Texas Constitution, authorize expenditures in excess of the amount of cash and anticipated revenues certified by the Comptroller of Public Accounts.

In May 2002, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) signed Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC09-02CH11109 with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to support the Environmental Biosciences Program (EBP). This funding instrument replaces DOE Assistance Instrument Number DE-FC02-98CH10902. EBP is an integrated, multidisciplinary scientific research program, employing a range of research initiatives to identify, study and resolve environmental health risks. These initiatives are consistent with the MUSC role as a comprehensive state-supported health sciences institution and with the nation's need for new and better approaches to the solution of a complex and expansive array of environment-related health problems. The intrinsic capabilities of a comprehensive health sciences institution enable MUSC to be a national resource for the scientific investigation of environmental health issues. EBPs success as a nationally prominent research program is due, in part, to its ability to task-organize scientific expertise from multiple disciplines in addressing these complex problems Current research projects have focused EBP talent and resources on providing the scientific basis for risk-based standards, risk-based decision making and the accelerated clean-up of widespread environmental hazards. These hazards include trichloroethylene (TCE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), asbestos and low-dose ionizing radiation. A project is also being conducted in the use …

The development of defect-free reticle blanks is an important challenge facing the commercialization of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL). The basis of EUVL reticles are mask blanks consisting of a substrate and a reflective Mo/Si multilayer. Defects on the substrate or defects introduced during multilayer deposition can result in critical phase and amplitude defects. Amplitude- or phase-defect repair techniques are being developed with the goal to repair many of these defects. In this report, we discuss progress in two areas of defect repair: (1) We discuss the effect of the residual reflectance variation over the repair zone after amplitude-defect repair on the process window. This allows the determination of the maximum tolerable residual damage induced by amplitude defect repair. (2) We further performed a quantitative assessment of the yield improvement due to defect repair. We found that amplitude- and phase-defect repair have the potential to significantly improve mask blank yield. Our calculations further show that yield can be maximized by increasing the number of Mo/Si bilayers.

Transcript of the first public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States held March 31, 2003 at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City.This purpose of this hearing was to engage those whose lives were changed by the events of September 11 in a public dialogue about the Commission's goals. It includes opening remarks by the commissioners and city officials, in addition to testimony from survivors, representatives of the victims, and professionals from different fields about the attackers, intelligence, and counter-terrorism policy.

There is a need to improve the energy efficiency of building envelopes as they are the primary factor governing the heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation requirements of buildings--influencing 53% of building energy use. In particular, windows contribute significantly to the overall energy performance of building envelopes, thus there is a need to develop advanced energy efficient window and glazing systems. Electrochromic (EC) windows represent the next generation of advanced glazing technology that will (1) reduce the energy consumed in buildings, (2) improve the overall comfort of the building occupants, and (3) improve the thermal performance of the building envelope. ''Switchable'' EC windows provide, on demand, dynamic control of visible light, solar heat gain, and glare without blocking the view. As exterior light levels change, the window's performance can be electronically adjusted to suit conditions. A schematic illustrating how SageGlass{reg_sign} electrochromic windows work is shown in Figure I.1. SageGlass{reg_sign} EC glazings offer the potential to save cooling and lighting costs, with the added benefit of improving thermal and visual comfort. Control over solar heat gain will also result in the use of smaller HVAC equipment. If a step change in the energy efficiency and performance of buildings is to be achieved, …

Application materials submitted to the Texas Historical Commission requesting a historic marker for the Miller-Brautigam House, in Santa Fe, Texas. The materials include the inscription text of the marker, narrative, and photographs.

Reconciliation report with an ending account balance of $2,613.57 reconciled for the period ending on August 31, 2003.

Reconciliation report with an ending account balance of $2,398.57 reconciled for the period ending on January 31, 2003.

Reconciliation report with an ending account balance of $3,247.57 reconciled for the period ending on October 31, 2003.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Henry Kolar. Kolar joined the Army in June of 1943. He served as a mechanic with the 997th Engineer Treadway Bridge Company. Beginning February of 1944, they deployed to England. They landed on Omaha Beach 2 weeks after the initial invasion. He was later transferred to the 95th Infantry Division, 379th Infantry Regiment. They traveled into France and, by November, captured the forts surrounding Metz and repulsed enemy attempts to cross the river. They traveled into Germany and participated in ongoing battles for several months, holding their position until the war ended. Kolar returned to the US and was discharged in late 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Waite Higgins. Higgins joined the Navy in late 1943. Beginning in 1944, he served with the deck force aboard a carrier. They traveled throughout the Pacific Islands, and he recalls burials at sea. Higgins recalls participating in the Battle of Okinawa. In August of 1945, they traveled to Tokyo Bay in Japan. He returned to the US and was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Dana S. Green. Green joined the Army Air Forces in March, 1943. Ha made it through pilot training before switching to radio operator/gunner. Once Green arrived in England in October, 1944, he was assigned to the 305th Bomb Group in Chelveston, England. When the war in Europe ended, Green was shipped to California to await reassignment to a B-29 crew.

Remarks by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe at the 2003 Earth Observation Summit in Washington, DC. The purpose of the summit was to promote the development of a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observation system or systems among governments and the international community to understand and address global environmental and economic challenges, and also to begin a process to develop a conceptual framework and implementation plan for building this integrated Earth observation system. When the space age dawned it was clear that the ability to propel robotic spacecraft and humans beyond the gravity of our home planet would open up untold avenues of exploration and discovery throughout the Solar System and beyond. What was not understood at the time was how comprehensive observations of the Earth system from space would lead to a significant new field of scientific inquiry.

This single page document is a declaration of the participants of the Earth Observation Summit held in Washington DC, adopted on July 31, 2003. An affirmation for the need for timely, quality, long-term, global information as a basis for sound decision making. Also establishes an ad hoc Group on Earth Observations aimed at developing a global observing strategy.