Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO developed congressional protocols for governing its work to better serve Congress, to improve the efficacy and efficiency of its work, and to ensure equitable treatment of all requesters."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the tax expenses associated with building the Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) project, focusing on whether it would be less expensive to build the project at any of the participating national laboratories."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed ways that the Department of Defense (DOD) and the services are attempting to address their recent enlistment shortfalls and to reduce the attrition rate of their first-term enlisted personnel."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Forest Service's Washington Office funding allocations to Region 4, focusing on: (1) funds allocated to Region 4 during fiscal years 1995-2000 for budget line items under the National Forest System (NFS) appropriation; (2) reasons for trends and year-to-year changes in NFS' funding allocations to Region 4; (3) how budget line item amounts in the budget requests Region 4 submitted for fiscal years 1998-2000 differed from the final allocations it received; and (4) funds allocated to all regions during fiscal years 1995-2000 for the Fire Preparedness budget line item under the Wildland Fire Management appropriation."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The determination of royalty payments for natural gas produced from outer-continental shelf (OCS) leases falls to the Minerals and Management Service (MMS). Gas royalty payments are determined by multiplying the gross sales value by a royalty rate. Disagreement over the interpretation of key values in the formula has led to several lawsuits between MMS and the gas industry. With the deregulation of the gas market, determining the sale of gas produced and sold from OCS leases has become more difficult. To help resolve these pricing issues, MMS is pilot-testing a royalty-in-kind program. Royalty-in-kind payments mean that royalty payments are paid in the form of physical gas. MMS and the industry believe that this is an appropriate solution to some pricing issues, but that it is not suitable to all transactions."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bureau of the Census' participation in a Los Angeles symposium on the challenges facing the African American community has been criticized. Concerns have been raised about whether the event was being held for political purposes and whether federal funding was inappropriately used. GAO concludes that the Bureau's participation complied with federal regulations prohibiting agencies from using appropriated funds for publicity and propaganda. According to the Bureau, its presence at the symposium was strictly for informational purposes and did not promote the agency. GAO found no evidence that the event had any political connections; the Democratic National Convention, which was held two days later, was not connected to the symposium. The Bureau's decision to partner with the organizers of the event was consistent with its policy to work with any organization that can reach traditionally hard-to-count populations, such as African Americans. The Bureau viewed the symposium as an opportunity to further the goals of its outreach program. The cost to participate in the symposium was nominal, according to Bureau officials. Posters costing about $117, promotional items from its Los Angeles office's inventory, and compensatory time for two employees …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the status of the Small Business Administration's (SBA) efforts to complete the mandated planning actions for the development of its loan monitoring system."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on funding for San Francisco under the Ryan White CARE Act, focusing on: (1) comparing San Francisco's fiscal (FY) 2000 title I grant award, which was determined using the act's hold-harmless provision, with what the award would have been had deceased acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases been included in the calculation; and (2) how funding for San Francisco that was based on the inclusion of deceased AIDS cases would have compared with the amount San Francisco would have received if the FY 2000 hold-harmless level had been reduced by 25 percent."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the effectiveness of information system general controls and computer security at the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) New Mexico VA Health Care System (NMVAHCS), focusing on the weaknesses GAO identified at NMVAHCS and the status of corrective actions."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided a status report on the Navy's initiatives to address a number of in-transit inventory problems that GAO identified in previous reports."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its recent reports concerning the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on: (1) the social and economic implications of AIDS in Africa; and (2) efforts to combat the disease by the United States and the United Nations."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the role of chief information officers (CIO) in the federal government."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) application of the Government Performance and Results Act in its Chemical and Biological Defense Program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed two leading proposals on Medicare reform: (1) the President's Plan to Modernize and Strengthen Medicare for the 21st Century; and (2) S. 1895, entitled the Medicare Preservation and Improvement Act of 1999, which is commonly referred to as the Breax-Frist proposal."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO commented on whether the: (1) Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency of the District of Columbia (CSOSA) had the legal authority to spend the interest earned on appropriated funds for fiscal years 1998 and 1999; and (2) interest that CSOSA spent violated the Antideficiency Act. GAO held that: (1) CSOSA lacked the requisite statutory authority to spend the interest earned on appropriations; and (2) CSOSA's spending of the interest constituted an unauthorized augmentation of its appropriation, which violated the Antideficiency Act."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Commodity Credit Corporation's (CCC) new rule on the Farm Storage Facility Loan Program. GAO noted that: (1) the rule implements CCC's Farm Storage Facility Loan Program utilizing authority in the CCC Charter Act; (2) the program will provide financing for producers to build or upgrade farm storage and handling facilities; and (3) CCC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) new rule on Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO). GAO noted that: (1) the rule requires that each public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce make certain filings with respect to forming and participating in a RTO; and (2) FERC complied with applicable requirements in promugating the rule."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the management of the National Park Service's concessions programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Education's financial management problems, focusing on: (1) Education's fiscal year (FY) 1999 financial audit results; (2) the relationship between the audit findings and the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse, and (3) the results of GAO's review of the Department's grantback account."

A cover page that reads, "Please cost share the following travel expense," for Pam Stephens and Nancy Walkup Reynolds. Attached is the request for approval to travel form from the University of North Texas, filled out by Stephens as Stephens and Reynolds are traveling to Los Angeles to partake in the National Art Education Association conference. There is also a bill from The Westin Bonaventure hotel and suites in Los Angels for a total of $716.80 and airline tickets that Reynolds and Stephens would like reimbursed.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Army's current accounting practices and manual procedures for calculating operating materials and supplies (OM&S) balances caused accounting errors that understated the Army's fiscal year 1999 OM&S balance by at least $1.5 billion. In addition, ammunition held at retail-level installations for training purposes was excluded from the financial reports."

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a county is authorized to pay one half of the health premiums of county retirees and their dependents for an indefinite period of time and related questions (RQ-0244-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether a person who is employed outside the service area of a local workforce development board may represent the private sector on the board, and related questions (RQ-0240-JC)

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, John Cornyn, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification; Whether the qualification and granting of a youth-development-association-use tax exemption under section 11.19 of the Tax Code constitute a "change of use" for purposes of section 23.55 of the Tax Code such that agricultural "rollback" tax is triggered (RQ-0245-JC)