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 size and cost of its headquarters activities, focusing on DOD's: (1) efforts to reduce headquarters positions and associated costs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and Washington Headquarters Services, as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997; (2) efforts to reduce headquarters positions across DOD as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998; and (3) reporting of personnel on temporary assignment to OSD from other DOD components."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed reports of erroneous Department of Education payments to schools participating in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP) during the conversion to a new computerized payment system, focusing on: (1) the transition from the old payment system to the new payment system; and (2) whether the Department erroneously disbursed $400 million to schools participating in the direct loan program during the conversion."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to improve joint operations, focusing on: (1) the U.S. Atlantic Command's (USACOM) actions to establish itself as the joint force trainer, provider, and integrator of most continental U.S.-based forces; (2) views on the value of the Command's contributions to joint military capabilities; and (3) recent expansion of the Command's responsibilities and its possible effects on the command."

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) expanded programs concerning recovery auditing."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) crop insurance program, focusing on whether USDA: (1) has set adequate insurance rates to achieve the legislative requirement of actuarial soundness; (2) appropriately reimburses participating crop insurance companies for their administrative costs; and (3) has established methodologies in the revenue insurance plans that set sound premium rates."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the best practices that can improve the way the Department of Defense (DOD) buys major weapon systems."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Air Force's F-22 and the Navy's F/A-18E/F engineering and manufacturing (EMD) programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO studied the peer review and other quality assurance processes that federal agencies use in conducting scientific research and development, focusing on: (1) defining what is meant by peer review; (2) describing the federal government's peer review policy; (3) describing the peer review practices of 12 federal agencies that conduct scientific research; (4) describing other agencies' quality assurance reviews; and (5) identifying which research is not subject to review."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the implementation and impact of the Medicare provisions in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA), focusing on: (1) the Medicare Choice program, particularly the payment method and consumer information efforts; and (2) prospective payment systems (PPS) for skilled nursing facilities (SNF) and home health agencies (HHA) in Medicare's traditional fee-for-service program."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) new rule on federal motor vehicle safety standards for child restraint systems. GAO noted that: (1) the rule establishes a new federal standard that requires motor vehicle manufacturers to provide motorists with a new way of installing child restraints; (2) vehicles will be equipped with child restraint anchorage systems that are standardized and independent of the vehicle's seat belts; and (3) NHTSA complied with the applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the National Park Service's employee housing program, focusing on: (1) what the Park Service's efforts to implement the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996--one purpose of which was to move the agency to eliminate unnecessary government housing and rely more on the private sector to supply housing for employees; and (2) what impact the action is likely to have."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Convention on Nuclear Safety, focusing on the: (1) Convention's scope and objectives; (2) process for reviewing compliance with the Convention; (3) dissemination of information related to the Convention's proceedings; and (4) costs to implement the Convention."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the principal methodological similarities and differences of three reports on bankruptcy debtors' ability to pay their debts. The three reports were issued by the Credit Research Center, Ernst & Young, and Creighton University/American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the safety of large commercial trucks on the nation's highways, focusing on: (1) recent increases in the number of crashes involving large trucks; (2) the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety's (OMCHS) need to better understand the factors that contribute to such crashes; and (3) OMCHS' need for better data and quicker action on implementing improvements to truck safety to be more effective."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the effectiveness of the Financial Management Service's (FMS) internal controls, focusing on the processes for: (1) recording adjusting journal entries (adjustments) needed to accurately reflect FMS' records of agencies' cash receipts and disbursements; (2) opening, amending, or closing agency location codes (ALC) which identify agencies and individual reporting locations within agencies on monthly reports of cash receipts and disbursements; and (3) assigning or discontinuing account symbols, which are used to identify individual appropriations or spending authorizations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) progress in integrating and improving its satellite control capabilities and in fostering integrated and interoperable satellite control within the government, as directed by the 1996 national space policy; and (2) determined whether opportunities exist for DOD to standardize its satellite control capabilities by using commercial products and practices."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) management of its multipurpose tributary projects, focusing on: (1) the purposes served by TVA's multipurpose tributary projects and how TVA operates these projects within its integrated system; (2) the operational changes TVA made to these projects as a result of its December 1990 review of its project operations and the major factors influencing these changes; (3) the actions TVA has taken since the 1990 review to address requests for changes in the way it operates these projects; and (4) TVA's plans for any future changes in the way it operates these projects. GAO is also providing information on a selected update by TVA of its analysis performed in the 1990 review."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the results of its review of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, focusing on: (1) the distribution of awards by company and geographic area, with special emphasis on the share of awards received by the 25 most frequent winners; (2) the extent to which federal agencies are considering commercial potential and the program's other goals in making their awards; and (3) previous evaluations of the SBIR program to identify an opportunity to improve measurements of the program's outcomes."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Forest Service's evolving mission, focusing on the: (1) priorities that Congress set in enacting the National Forest Management Act of 1976, which guides the development of plans for managing national forests; (2) Forest Service's mission and funding priorities and how they have evolved over the past 2 decades; and (3) effect of these priorities on the availability of timber and on the costs of and receipts from timber sales."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the rise in claims for administrative costs associated with school-based health services, focusing on: (1) trends in Medicaid's spending for administrative costs; (2) the distribution of Medicaid payments for administrative claims to schools and other entities; and (3) the adequacy of federal oversight in approving school districts' claims for reimbursement."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO provided information on the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) appropriation for fiscal year (FY) 1999 and its budget request for FY 2000 for selected programs and initiatives."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Rural Utilities Service's (RUS) generation and transmission (G&T) borrowers and assessed the likelihood of the federal government incurring losses in the future on loans to G&T borrowers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of Russian involvement in the International Space Station (ISS) program, focusing on: (1) the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) progress in developing contingency plans to mitigate the possibility of Russian nonperformance and the loss or delay of other critical components; (2) NASA's efforts to ensure that Russian quality assurance processes meet the station's safety requirements; and (3) the effectiveness of cost control efforts regarding the prime contract and nonprime activities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the progress being made in addressing the year 2000 computing challenge, focusing on: (1) the federal government's progress and the challenges that remain in correcting its systems; (2) state and local government year 2000 issues; and (3) the readiness of key public infrastructure and economic sectors."