A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the federal costs and risks of a proposed program for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to guarantee small business loans to veterans, focusing on: (1) the federal credit costs and risks of the proposed program; (2) the cost impact of alternative borrower requirements in the implementation of the proposed program; and (3) the administrative issues resulting from VA's implementation of the proposed program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The failure by the District of Columbia's Commission on Mental Health Services to provide community-based mental health services, as required by a 1974 court ruling, prompted a judge to appoint a receiver to carry out the court's order. Control of mental health services is scheduled to be returned to the Commission in April 2001. Although the transitional receiver is developing a plan to enhance the Commission's ability to comply with the court ruling, many challenges must be overcome. For example, the District must change its hospital-based system of care to one that considers the needs of the individual within a framework of a community-based provider responsible for all aspects of mental health and supportive services needs. Many interested mental health providers and patient care advocacy groups believe that a solid foundation is being laid for community-based mental health services. However, success will depend on the Commission's ability to improve management processes and coordinate with other agencies that provide care to the mentally ill."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) radiation standards, focusing on: (1) whether the U.S. radiation protection standards have a well-verified scientific basis; (2) whether federal agencies have come closer to agreeing on standards since GAO reported on this issue in 1994; and (3) how implementing these standards may affect the costs of nuclear waste cleanup and disposal activities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans Health Administration, the Department of Transportation, and the Office of Student Financial Assistance have begun to use results- oriented performance agreements to align agency expectations with organizational goals. Each agency developed and implemented agreements that reflected their specific organizational priorities, structures, and cultures. GAO identified the following five common emerging benefits: (1) better alignment of results-oriented goals with daily operations, (2) collaboration across organizational boundaries, (3) opportunities to use performance information to improve federal programs, (4) results-oriented basis for individual accountability, and (5) continuity of program goals during leadership transitions. The three agencies' experiences show that effective implementation of performance agreements can encourage communication about progress towards agency goals. Their experiences also indicate that performance information should be provided to executives and managers in a timely fashion and in a useful format."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Education's redesigned discretionary grants process, focusing on: (1) Education's progress in implementing the redesigned awards process; (2) the management controls used to help ensure a fair peer review process and the costs of peer review; and (3) the extent to which grant awards are consistent with the results of peer review and the legislation governing individual grant programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed hydropower relicensing, focusing on the status of efforts to recover the costs incurred by federal agencies to administer the hydropower program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the National Technical Information Service's (NTIS) financial position, focusing on whether: (1) NTIS can continue to be self-sufficient and, if not, what issues need to be addressed; and (2) NTIS' World News Connection's (WNC) online foreign news service exceeds NTIS' statutory authority to the detriment of private firms offering similar news services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Eight federal agencies now have teams that can respond to a terrorist attack involving chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons. Each team varies in size, structure, geographical scope, and task. The teams do not duplicate one another. They have unique capabilities and functions, and many have experience dealing with different types of agents and weapons. The type of terrorist incident would determine which team would be most appropriate to respond. GAO found that federal agencies lack a coherent framework to develop and evaluate budget requirements for their response teams because there is no national strategy with clearly defined outcomes. To improve interagency cooperation, federal agencies have participated in several group activities. For example, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Interagency Steering Group, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is identifying federal response teams that could respond to different terrorist scenarios. Federal, state, and local agencies have also participated in major field exercises that simulated urban terrorist acts. These efforts could go a long way toward improving the operational coordination of federal response teams."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) administration of transit grants, focusing on: (1) the timeliness and consistency of FTA's processing of grant applications; (2) the number of applications for labor protection certifications for which the Department of Labor's (DOL) processing time extended beyond 60 days and the factors contributing to any processing delays; and (3) the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in connection with DOL's certification process."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) power marketing administrations (PMA), focusing on: (1) how the PMAs set their rates to recover costs; (2) how the PMAs' ratesetting practices compare to those of investor-owned and publicly owned utilities; and (3) the impact of the PMAs' ability to defer repayment of portions of their debt on their future competitiveness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959, focusing on: (1) the Department of Labor's organizational structure and use of fiscal year (FY) 1999 resources to implement LMRDA; and (2) how the Department of Labor administers and enforces each title of the act for which it is responsible."

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 new Washington Convention Center project, focusing on: (1) changes in the Washington Convention Center Authority's (WCCA) estimated project costs and financing plan since GAO's last report; and (2) actual expenditures and collection of dedicated taxes."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) Military Housing Privatization Initiative, focusing on the: (1) status of the housing privatization initiative; (2) accuracy of the services' life-cycle cost analyses comparing the cost of proposed privatization projects to comparable projects financed through military construction funds; and (3) progress DOD is making in coordinating and integrating the initiative with other family housing programs."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Safer Skies Initiative, focusing on: (1) to what extent addressing the safety problems to be addressed by the initiative will help reduce the fatal accident rate; (2) what progress the initiative has made in identifying and implementing interventions to address each of these safety problems; (3) what progress has been made in assessing the effectiveness of those interventions; and (4) how FAA is coordinating the Safer Skies initiative with other safety activities conducted throughout the agency, in partnership with the aviation industry, and by other federal agencies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the representation of women and minorities in the U.S. Postal Service's Career Executive Service (PCES), focusing on: (1) the overall extent that women and minorities have been represented in the PCES, fiscal years (FY) 1995 through 1999, and have been selected for positions in the PCES, particularly executive positions, in FY 1999; and (2) efforts under way by the Service to promote diversity within the PCES."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on land acquired by federal agencies from January 1994 through April 2000 in California for such purposes as restoring ecosystems and protecting wildlife habitat, focusing on: (1) lands acquired through the CALFED program since its inception in 1995 by federal agencies or by nonfederal entities using federal funds; and (2) lands acquired outside the CALFED program by federal agencies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) inventory management, focusing on the: (1) extent to which orders exceeded requirements when the orders were placed; and (2) processes for cancelling orders that exceeded requirements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed a partnership between the federal government and three domestic automobile manufacturers called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV), focusing on: (1) the progress made to date toward achieving the partnership goals; (2) the historical federal funding levels; (3) the technologies being developed under PNGV; and (4) a comparison of the overall research and development activities of the automobile manufacturer participants with research sponsored by the partnership."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the: (1) key concerns and challenges associated with airports' current operations and future growth--particularly concerns about aircraft noise, water quality, and air pollutant emissions--and the actions being taken by the nation's busiest airports to balance environmental concerns with such operations and growth; and (2) actions taken by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other federal agencies to address environmental concerns associated with airports' current operations and future growth."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) runs 67 laundries that serve patients in its hospitals, nursing homes, and domiciliaries. Most of the operating costs for these laundries are for labor. VA could reduce these costs by closing 13 of its 67 facilities and moving those workloads to its underused laundries. VA could make more efficient use of its existing facilities and save money by closing costly laundries that require expensive renovations and new equipment. In addition, VA could make greater use of competitive sourcing to keep costs down. GAO's review of current VA laundry contracts showed that labor costs were significantly reduced. Furthermore, competing VA in-house services with the private sector would ensure that VA would receive the most efficient and lowest-cost laundry service."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the status of contingent workers, focusing on the: (1) nature and size of the contingent workforce; (2) extent to which contingent workers have access to health insurance and pensions; (3) protections afforded these workers under laws regarding family and medical leave, retirement income, hourly wages, labor relations, civil rights, and health and safety; and (4) options available for providing contingent workers increased access to employee benefits and increased coverage under laws designed to protect workers."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the representation of women and minorities in the Postal Service's (USPS) Executive and Administrative Schedule (EAS) management-level positions, focusing on: (1) statistical information on the representation of women and minorities in EAS levels 16 through 26 in USPS nationwide for fiscal year (FY) 1999; (2) the Chicago, IL, and Akron, OH, postal districts: (a) representation of women and minorities in EAS levels 16 through 26; (b) initiatives implemented to promote diversity; and (c) lessons identified by district officials that relate to increasing diversity; and (3) equal employment opportunity (EEO) concerns at the Youngstown, OH, postal site."

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