Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the validity of the results of a 1998 study of the Canadian lynx. The Forest Service contracted with Dr. John Weaver of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City to help survey the Canadian lynx in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon. In a March 1999 interim report, Dr. Weaver concluded that the Canadian lynx lives in some forests in Washington and Oregon. In March 2000, the Fish and Wildlife Service placed the lynx on its list of threatened species in the forested portions of 13 states, including Washington and Oregon. Issues have since been raised about whether the study's results were falsified. GAO found no evidence that the study was deliberately falsified."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This is one in a series or reports designed to help federal agencies improve or maintain effective internal control, financial management systems, and financial reporting. GAO discusses the status of the 13 remaining standards in Title 2, "Accounting," of the GAO Policy and Procedures Manual for Guidance of Federal Agencies in light of the most recent compendium of Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) standards and guidance. GAO either (1) reprinted the standards that remain in effect, along with any updated citations to relevant guidance, or (2) provided the citation of current guidance replacing that standard."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the data, assumptions, and conclusions reached by the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) on the acquisition of about two million square feet of leased space for the consolidation of PTO activities. This build-to-suit lease, valued at approximately $1.2 billion over its 20-year term, was signed in June 2000. this report responds to allegations and questions from two public interest groups about the PTO lease acquisition. One public interest group alleged that during the procurement process for the lease (1) GSA improperly awarded the lease to an offeror who had not complied with the solicitation's stated requirements, (2) GSA failed to compete the construction of the interior finishes phase of the project as required by law, and (3) GSA used an illegal cost-plus-a-percentage-of-cost contract. The second public interest group asked (1) whether the requirements in GSA's Solicitation for Offers for the PTO lease transformed the lease from an operating lease to a capital lease under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11; (2) whether the new facility will be able to house all PTO employees and contractors throughout the …

Palm Harbor Homes (PHH), one of the nations largest producers of manufactured homes, and Building Americas Industrialized Housing Partnership have teamed together to develop air-distribution and duct-sealing strategies that reduce energy use and increase comfort.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been growing about the air quality, visibility, and respiratory illnesses around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. This testimony analyzes recent trends in and contributing factors to (1) visibility impairments, (2) ground-level ozone, and (3) respiratory illnesses. This testimony also examines the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) plans to reduce its emission of regulated pollutants. Visibility impairments and ozone are largely attributable to the following three types of emissions: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. The counties that border the park generally have slightly higher mortality rates from two types of respiratory illness. The three types of emissions interact in the atmosphere to form ozone gas and sulfate particles, which are linked to respiratory illnesses. In response to federal laws and other factors, TVA is making substantial environment-related investments and expects to reduce its annual emissions of sulfur dioxide by 36 percent and its "ozone-season" emissions of nitrogen oxides by 68 percent between 1999 and 2005. This testimony summarizes a May report, (GAO-01-658)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to modernize the nation's air traffic control (ATC) system and its relationship to other initiatives to address the escalating crises of insufficient capacity facing the aviation industry. Specifically, GAO reviews the (1) extent of the delay and congestion problems and the contribution of the ATC system to them, (2) progress and problems encountered in FAA's ATC modernization program, and (3) importance of a continued focus on delivering ATC equipment and on human capital issues as policymakers seek to address delays and congestion. GAO found that the national airspace system (NAS) is facing significant capacity problems. Last year, more than 25 percent of nationwide flights were canceled, delayed or diverted. These actions affected 163 million passengers who, on average, were delayed almost an hour. Inefficiencies in the ATC system contribute to the delays and congestion. Modernizing equipment, along with other changes in the ATC system, is expected to help increase the capacity of NAS between 5 and 15 percent. However, improvements from FAA's modernization program have fallen short so far. Although FAA has installed new equipment to provide the necessary …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2000, United Airlines proposed acquiring US Airways and divesting part of those assets to create a new airline to be called DC Air. More recently, American Airlines has proposed buying Trans World Airlines (TWA), along with certain assets from United. These proposals have raised questions about how such consolidation within the airline industry could affect competition in general and consumers in particular. Congress, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Transportation need to answer several questions in evaluating the proposed mergers. For example, questions remain about whether American's purchase of financially-strapped TWA represents the last anticompetitive means to preserve its assets. The proposals by American, TWA, United, US Airways, and DC Air constitute the most significant recent changes that have occurred in the airline industry, and the outcome of these decisions could have both positive and negative effects for consumers for years to come. This testimony summarizes a December report (GAO-01-212)."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2000, United Airlines proposed to acquire US Airways and divest part of those assets to create a new airline to be called DC Air. More recently, American Airlines has proposed buying Trans World Airlines (TWA), along with certain assets from United. These proposals have raised questions about how such consolidation in the airline industry could affect competition in general and consumers in particular. Congress, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Transportation need to answer several questions in evaluating the proposed mergers. The proposals by American, TWA, United, US Airways, and DC Air constitute the most significant recent changes that have occured in the airline industry, and the outcome of these decisions could have both positive and negative effects for consumers for years to come. This testimony summarized a December GAO report (GAO-01-212)."

A quarterly magazine with articles on alternative fuel school buses, the market growth of biodiesel fuel, National AFV Day 2002, model year 2002 alternative fuel passenger cars and light trucks, the Michelin Challenge Bibendum road rally, and advanced technology vehicles at Robins Air Force Base, the Top Ten Clean Cities coalitions for 2000, and AFVs on college campuses.

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reflects the results of a collaborative effort between GAO and representatives of the Secretary of Education. As required by the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, GAO formed a study group to identify and evaluate a means of establishing a market mechanism for the delivery of student loans. This study group consisted of representatives of the Department of the Treasury, Office of Management and Budget, Congressional Budget Office, entities making Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans and other entities in the financial services community, and other participants in the student loan market. The group met as a whole four times before the public release of a draft of this report, and various group members corresponded with GAO and Education between group meetings as well. The mandate called for the evaluation of at least three different market mechanisms relative to 13 criteria. In consultation with the study group, GAO selected five general models for further evaluation--adjustments to the current system and four additional market mechanism models. Adjustments to the current system, in which information would be collected from current market transactions for use in determining …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony focuses on the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), its interaction with the regular tax system, and its projected growth in coverage. GAO found that (1) AMT was designed to ensure that high-income individuals do not avoid significant income tax liabilities--for tax year 1997, about 14,000 taxpayers would not have paid any income taxes absent AMT, (2) AMT operates as a separate tax system that parallels the regular individual income tax system but with different rules for determining taxable income, different tax rates for computing tax liability, and different rules for allowing the use of tax credits, (3) AMT affected about one percent of taxpayers in 2000 and accounted for about $5.8 billion in additional tax revenue; by 2010, it is expected to increase the tax liabilities of about one out of six taxpayers and account for about $189 billion in tax revenues over the period, (4) the projected increase in AMT coverage is, for the most part, attributable to inflation and to the scheduled expiration of legislation temporarily excluding some tax credits from AMT rules, and (5) AMT's impacts include increased taxpayer compliance burden; increased Internal Revenue …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The transportation sector accounts for roughly two thirds of the nation's petroleum consumption and one quarter of the total U.S. energy use. Several steps have been taken during the last 25 years either to reduce petroleum consumption or to increase fuel diversity in the transportation sector, including tax incentives, mandates for alternative fuel vehicles, and laws to promote automobile fuel efficiency. This testimony discusses the extent of alternative fuel vehicle acquisition and fuel use, some of the barriers inhibiting greater use of alternative fuels and vehicles, and the federal tax incentives used to promote the use of alternative motor fuels and vehicles. So far, alternative fuels and vehicles have not made much of a dent in the conventional fuel and vehicle dominance of the U.S. vehicle fleet, primarily because of fundamental economic obstacles, such as the relatively low price of oil, insufficient availability of alternative fuel refueling infrastructure, and the relatively high cost of some alternative fuel vehicles. As GAO reported in February 2000 (RCED-00-59), any significant increase in the use of alternative motor fuels and vehicles by the general public will depend on the following two factors: …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 required Medicare to change its payment system for ambulance services. In response, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now called the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), proposed a fee schedule to standardize payments across provider types on the basis of national rates for particular services. Under the act, the fee schedule was to have applied to ambulance services furnished on or after January 1, 2000. HCFA published a proposed rule in September 2000 and has received public comment, but it has not yet issued a final rule. This testimony discusses the unique concerns of rural ambulance providers and the likely effects of the proposed fee schedule on these providers. Many rural ambulance providers face a set of unique challenges in implementing an appropriate payment policy. Rural providers--particularly those serving large geographic areas with low population density--tend to have high per-trip costs compared with urban and suburban providers. The proposed Medicare fee schedule does not sufficiently distinguish the providers serving beneficiaries in the most isolated rural areas and may not appropriately account for the higher costs of low-volume providers."

"This report presents information on the number and characteristics of individuals with disabilities and is based on data collected in wave 5 of the 1996 Panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)."

This research is on materials for anodes and cathodes in electrochemical cells. The work is a mix of electrochemical measurements and analysis of the materials by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffractometry. At present, our experimental work involves only materials for Li storage, but we have been writing papers from our previous work on hydrogen-storage materials.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The original anthrax vaccine was developed in the 1950s and was first produced on a large scale by Merck. The BioPort Corporation in Michigan is now the sole facility in the United States capable of producing the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses biological products and their production facilities. The manufacturer is required to comply with current good manufacturing practices, which regulate personnel, buildings, equipment, production controls, records, and other aspects of the vaccine manufacturing process. When there is a major change in the manufacturing process, the manufacturer must submit evidence to FDA showing that the change does not have any adverse effects. The manufacturer must also ensure that the quality of the product is maintained. In the case of the anthrax vaccine, the Michigan facility did not notify FDA of several changes to the manufacturing process in the early 1990s, and no specific studies were done to confirm that vaccine quality was not affected. FDA inspections found several deficiencies, many of which were not corrected in a timely manner."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) advertising contract for Phase III of the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. GAO found that the contractor, Ogilvy & Mather, improperly charged the government for some of its labor costs incurred under this contract. Ogivley & Mather submitted time sheets claiming hours that some employees said they did not work on the anti-drug media campaign. In addition, the company made little progress toward restructuring its accounting system to meet government requirements until nearly two years after the contract was awarded. The government poorly managed aspects of the award and administration of the contract. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should not have awarded this cost-reimbursement contract without determining whether the contractor had an adequate cost accounting system. In addition, HHS should have reviewed the appropriateness of the large amount of money that the technical representative recommended be disallowed from the contractor's invoices, or arranged for an audit of the contract. The technical representative appropriately brought allegations of improper billing to the attention of ONDCP management, but ONDCP management did not take prompt action to investigate …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO assisted the Department of Transportation determine whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for fiscal year 2000 was supported by the underlying records. GAO agreed to (1) perform detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to AATF, (2) review the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF certifications, (3) review the Department of the Treasury Financial Management Service adjustments to AATF for FY 2000, (4) review the Office of Tax Analysis process for estimating amounts to be distributed to AATF for the fourth quarter of FY 2000, (5) compare net excise tax distributions to AATF during FY 2000 and amounts reported in the financial statements prepared by the Bureau of the Public Debt for AATF and the Federal Aviation Administration's consolidated financial statements, and (6) review key reconciliations of IRS records to Treasury records."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO performed procedures to determine whether the net federal unemployment tax revenue distributed to the Unemployment Trust Fund for fiscal year 2000 is supported by the underlying records. The procedures GAO agreed to perform include (1) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the UTF and (2) a review of key reconciliations of the Internal Revenue Service records to those of the Department of the Treasury."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO assisted the Department of Transportation determine whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) for the fiscal year 2000 was supported by the underlying records. GAO agreed to (1) perform detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to HTF, (2) review the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly HTF certifications, (3) review the Financial Management Service adjustments to HTF for FY 2000, (4) review the Office of Tax Analysis process for estimating amounts to be distributed to HTF for the fourth quarter of FY 2000, (5) compare net excise tax distributions to the HTF during FY 2000 and amounts reported in the financial statements prepared by the Bureau of Public Debt for HTF and HTF's financial statements, and (6) review key reconciliations of IRS records to Treasury records."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To assist the Committee on International Relations evaluate the extent to which five House Interparliamentary Groups' schedules of receipts, disbursements, and fund balance for 2000 and 1999 appropriately reflected the cash receipts and disbursements and fund balance for those years, GAO reviewed documentation supporting each group's recorded receipt and disbursement transactions and related fund balances for evidence that the transactions were properly authorized and recorded. The schedules, prepared by the treasurer of each group, present for 2000 and 1999 the opening fund balance, total receipts, and disbursements by category, and ending fund balance, on a cash basis, for each of the five groups. GAO also recalculated and compared the recalculated amounts to the reported amounts in each group's 2000 and 1999 schedule."

A report of a study done to enhance the understanding of the relationship between Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) development and the economics, communities and households of the Gulf of Mexico region.

"This study examines historical, social, and economic changes in three coastal areas -- South Louisiana (Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes), Coastal Bend, Tex. (San Patricio County), and Mobile Bay (Baldwin and Mobile counties) -- since 1930 and the roles of the offshore oil industry in those change."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The major network carriers dominate traffic at most of their large hubs and extensive evidence exists that fares in markets where competition is absent are consistently above competitive levels. GAO believes that the oversight scheme contemplated when the industry was deregulated--with antitrust enforcement by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and oversight of unfair trade practices by the Department of Transportation (DOT)--has not been entirely successful in preserving and ensuring competition. Although the current legislative scheme grants explicit authority for DOT to regulate unfair competitive practices, the legislation does give DOT substantial leeway on the scope of its action. Thus, with the range of competitive challenges confronting the industry and directly affecting consumers, especially in the face of unprecedented industry consolidation, GAO believes there is merit in the overall intent of the proposed Aviation Competition Restoration Act to direct DOT to actively monitor the state of competition in the industry and to institute remedial actions as appropriate."