A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Small Business Administration's (SBA), the Department of Education's, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD), the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA), and the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) abilities to reasonably estimate the cost of their loan programs, focusing on: (1) whether they used practices identified by the Credit Reform Task Force as being effective in making these estimates; and (2) the status of the agencies' efforts to ensure that computer systems used to estimate the cost of credit programs are year 2000 compliant."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's plan to execute simulated year 2000 exercises, focusing on: (1) the methodology to be used to simulate the year 2000; (2) the potential information that will be collected as a result of implementing the plan; (3) the adequacy of the planned tests; and (4) assessing the impact that the plan will have on military readiness."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS) new rule concerning containing pseudorabies in swine. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would establish the animal health regulations to provide for the payment of indemnity for the voluntary depopulation of herds of swine known to be infected with pseudorabies; (2) APHIS states that the payment of indemnity will encourage depopulation of infected herds and, therefore, will reduce the risk of other swine becoming infected with the disease; and (4) APHIS complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on a letter published in the Washington Times by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees and others having business with the agency alleging mismanagement by EPA and retaliation against whistleblowers, focusing on: (1) providing specific information on the allegations made by the 20 individuals and EPA's response to the allegations; and (2) whether these and other individuals sought relief under whistleblower statutory provisions and, if so, the resolution or status of the cases and whether the 20 individuals are still employed by or have business with the agency."

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 (DOD) Biennial Financial Management Improvement Plan to determine whether the: (1) concept of operations included the critical elements necessary for producing sustainable financial management improvement over the long term; (2) transition plan provided a strategic-level road map from the current environment to DOD's planned future financial management environment; and (3) implementation of the department's future financial management environment is practical, cost-effective, and feasible."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) revised actuarial model for veterans' compensation benefits, focusing on whether: (1) VA's revised actuarial model complies with Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) No. 5; and (2) future liability estimates can be improved."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Forest Service's change in accounting for roadbed costs recorded in its Timber Sales Program Information Reporting System, focusing on: (1) how federal accounting standards are developed; (2) the rationale behind the treatment of stewardship land in federal accounting standards; (3) the rationale behind the Forest Service's accounting change; and (4) whether the Forest Service appropriately implemented the Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard (SFFAS) No. 6as it relates to timber roadbed costs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the surety bond requirements for home health agencies (HHA) participating in Medicare, focusing on: (1) analyzing the key features of surety bonds that affect their costs and effect; (2) examining the Florida Medicaid program's experience with a surety bond requirements for HHAs and its relevance to the Medicare surety bond requirement; (3) reviewing the rationale for the surety bond requirements the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) selected, the cost and availability of bonds, the benefits for Medicare, and the implications of substituting a government note for a surety bond as set forth in a Department of the Treasury regulation; and (4) drawing implications from the implementation of the HHA surety bond requirement for implementing a similar surety bond provision for durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers, comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities (CORF), and rehabilitation agencies."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the American Airlines' study on air traffic congestion focusing on: (1) providing observations on its findings; and (2) reviewing other studies of air traffic congestion, assessing the limitations of these types of studies, and identifying the next steps in addressing the problem of air traffic congestion."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP performed a technology and performance audit and management review of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), focusing on: (1) the overall effectiveness of FEC in meeting its statutory responsibilities; (2) the appropriateness and effectiveness of the FEC organizational structure, systems, and performance measures for accomplishing its mission; (3) the adequacy of the human resource programs for obtaining and maintaining adequate staff expertise and organizational capacity; (4) the adequacy of the FEC strategic information resources management plan as a tool to increase FEC efficiency and effectiveness through the use of data-processing systems; (5) the adequacy and completeness of internal management needs, as well as the reliability of information provided by these systems; and (6) regulated customer satisfaction with the products and services provided by FEC."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the mandatory and value-added functional requirements for system administration and major elements of the travel process, including travel authorization, travel advances, travel voucher, local travel, non-federal sponsored travel, temporary/permanent change of station, interface requirements, and reports."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on airports' complaints concerning Federal Aviation Administration requirements, focusing on: (1) which federal laws, regulations, and administrative requirements potentially affect airports' development, operations, and financing; and (2) which federal requirements airport officials view as having a positive or negative effect on their airports and why."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to process discrimination complaints, focusing on: (1) the timeliness of USDA's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) processing and closing of program and employment discrimination complaints; and (2) the reasons for delays in the processes."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) health care program for women, focusing on: (1) the progress VA made in removing barriers that may prevent women veterans from obtaining VA health care services; and (2) the extent to which VA health care services, particularly gender-specific services, are available to and used by women veterans."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the impact of welfare reform on the Food Stamp Program, focusing on: (1) the number of states that have adopted or are planning to adopt the Simplified Food Stamp Program; (2) the concerns that may be preventing other states from adopting the simplified program; and (3) the impacts that the adoption of the simplified programs may have on households' eligibility and benefits."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of airports' efforts to prepare for the year 2000, focusing on: (1) the status of airports' efforts to help ensure that their computers and electronic equipment will function properly on and after January 1, 2000; (2) how the safety, the security, and the efficiency of the National Airspace System will be affected if airports' year 2000 preparations are not completed in time; and (3) the factors that will affect the progress of airports' preparations for the year 2000."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the potential for shortfalls in the performance of two radomes, one for the F-15 Eagle and one for the F-16 Falcon, focusing on whether replacement radomes, bought for spares and supplied by vendors other than the original manufacturer, met the Air Force's specifications for the original radomes."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the future role of the power market administrations (PMA) by providing a PMA-by-PMA analysis of the potential rate changes that would likely be experienced by preference customers who buy power from the Southeastern Power Administration, the Southwestern Power Administration, and Western Area Power Administration if the power is sold at market rates."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to reduce the costs associated with civilian personnel management, focusing on: (1) how DOD determines the number and locations for civilian personnel regional service centers and why is there a wide disparity in the number of regional centers among the services; (2) whether DOD is applying the investment principles of the Clinger-Cohen Act in overseeing, managing, and developing the Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS); (3) whether DCPDS duplicates the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Employee Express System: (4) whether DOD leadership is aware of the extent and cost of the needed modifications to the commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software applications; and (5) whether DOD identified and mitigated the risks associated with the major COTS modifications."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the use of the disaster recovery funds provided for Yosemite National Park, following the January 1997 flood, focusing on whether: (1) planned and actual expenditures are consistent with the park's planning documents; (2) the costs of the disaster recovery projects appear reasonable; and (3) there is any merit to the allegations about the misuse of some of the disaster recovery funds."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed how well the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is managing its year 2000 program, focusing on: (1) the status of the BOP's year 2000 program; and (2) recent actions it has taken to strengthen its management of the program and improve year 2000 assistance to state and local government institutions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO conducted a public opinion survey regarding a design for the face of the new dollar coin authorized by Public Law 105-124, the United States $1 Coin Act of 1997, focusing on: (1) the public's preference for either Sacagawea--a Shoshone interpreter who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition--or the Statue of Liberty as the image on the face of the new dollar coin; (2) how strongly the public felt about their preference; and (3) reasons for their choice."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) efforts to implement a National Performance Review (NPR) recommendation to reduce its management-to-staff ratio, focusing on the: (1) progress SSA has made to date in achieving the directive to reduce its management-to-staff ratio, particularly for staff graded GS-12 and above; and (2) steps SSA has taken to reduce the number of supervisory positions."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on whether interim guidance for investigating Title VI administrative complaints challenging permits issued by the Environmental Protection Agency is a rule under the Congressional Review Act portion of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Act (SBREFA). GAO held that, irrespective of whether or not in isolation the second portion of the interim guidance is properly viewed as procedural, considered as a whole, the interim guidance clearly affects the rights of non-agency parties. Thus, it constitutes a rule under SBREFA subject to congressional review."