Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed two competitive sourcing initiatives to determine whether they are consistent with the sourcing principles recommended by the Commercial Activities Panel. GAO found that, based on their current design, the administration's "performance target" and the fiscal year 2003 Treasury and General Government Appropriations bill, are not fully consistent with the sourcing principles adopted by the Panel. The most relevant recommended principle concerning these initiatives is that sourcing policy should "avoid arbitrary full-time equivalent (FTE) or other arbitrary numerical goals." The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum in March 2001, setting goals for a percentage of agencies' FTE positions that are to be subjected to public-private competition or directly converted to contractor performance. This OMB initiative is not consistent with the Panel's recommended principles. There is no evidence to indicate that its numerical FTE goals were based on considered research and sound analysis. Any related goals should be based on a review of historical data on sourcing activity in the public and private sectors combined with an analysis of current and emerging market trends."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the economic state of the airline industry. Many, but not all, major U.S. passenger airlines are experiencing their second consecutive year of record financial losses. In 2001, the U.S. commercial passenger airline industry reported losses in excess of $6 billion. For 2002, some Wall Street analysts recently projected that U.S. airline industry losses will approach $7 billion, and noted that the prospects for recovery during 2003 are diminishing. Carriers have taken many actions to lower their costs and restructure their operations. Since September 2001, carriers have furloughed 100,000 staff, renegotiated labor contracts, and streamlined their fleets by retiring older, costlier aircraft. Carriers have reduced capacity by operating fewer flights or smaller aircraft. In some cases, carriers eliminated all service to communities. As the aviation industry continues its attempts to recover, Congress will be confronted with a need for increased oversight of a number of public policy issues. First, airlines' reactions to financial pressures will affect the domestic industry's competitive landscape. Second, airlines' reductions in service will likely place additional pressure on federal programs supporting air service to small communities, where travel options are already limited. …

This publication looks at human communities and their interactions with the environment.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, entitlement communities--also called grantees--receive funds that they can spend to support specific community development activities, such as rehabilitating housing, improving public facilities, and providing public services. Most grantees are prohibited by statute from spending more than 15 percent of their CDBG funding on public service activities, such as child care, health care, and crime prevention. However, in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles civil unrest, Congress gave an exemption from this statutory cap to two grantees--the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles--allowing them to spend up to 25 percent of their funds on public services. In December 2001, the exemption was extended through 2003. Between 1993 and 2001, the City of Los Angeles spent between 20 and 25 percent of its CDBG funding to support public service activities, while the County of Los Angeles spent between 9 and 20 percent. According to HUD data for 1999 through 2001, the city and county used a majority of their public service funding to support general public services and either youth …

News release about public meetings to be conducted following the release of a draft environmental study concerning a planned extension of a DART light rail line.

A guide to the affects of Superfund sites on nearby properties.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States entered into the Compact of Free Association with the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) In 1986. The Compact has provided U.S. assistance to the FSM and the RMI in the form of direct funding as well as federal services and programs. The Compact allows for migration from both countries to the United States and established U.S. defense rights and obligations in the region. Provisions of the Compact that deal with economic assistance were scheduled to expire in 2001; however, they will remain in effect for up to 2 additional years while the affected provisions are renegotiated. Current U.S. proposals to the FSM and the RMI to renew expiring assistance would require Congress to approve $3.4 billion in new authorizations. The proposals would provide decreasing levels of annual grant assistance over a 20-year term. Simultaneously, the proposals would require building up a trust fund for each country with earnings that would replace grants once those grants expire. The U.S. proposals include strengthened accountability measures, though details of some key measures remain unknown. The proposals have addressed many, but …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has been at the forefront of federal agencies in using the OMB Circular A-76 process. In 1995, DOD made it a priority to reduce operating costs and free funds for other needs. DOD has also augmented the A-76 program with what it terms strategic sourcing--a broader array of reinvention and reengineering options that may not necessarily involve A-76 competitions. The number of positions--at one point 229,000--that DOD planned to study and the time frames for the studies have varied. Current plans are to study about 183,000 positions between fiscal years 1997 and 2007. Changes in the inventory of commercial activities and the current administration's sourcing initiatives could change the number of positions studied in the future. However, GAO has not evaluated the extent to which these changes might occur. DOD's A-76 program has faced several challenges that may provide valuable lessons learned for other federal agencies. These lessons include the following: (1) studies took longer than initially projected, (2) costs and resources required for the studies were underestimated, (3) selecting and grouping functions to compete can be difficult, and (4) determining and maintaining …

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act -- otherwise known as CERCLA or Superfund -- provides a Federal "Superfund" to clean up uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous-waste sites as well as accidents, spills, and other emergency releases of pollutants and contaminants into the environment. Through CERCLA, EPA was given power to seek out those parties responsible for any release and assure their cooperation in the cleanup.

Case study describing a project which configured a printing machine so that it consumes less compressed air and required lower pressure to operate effectively. Project replicated throughout the company, leading to energy cost savings of $200,000 per year, or 2.9 million kilowatt-hours.

This case study highlights International Truck and Engine Corporation's optimization project on the compressed air system that serves its foundry, Indianapolis Casting Corporation. Due to the project's implementation, the system's efficiency was greatly improved, allowing the foundry to operate with less compressor capacity, which resulted in reduced energy consumption, significant maintenance savings, and more reliable production.

The H.B. Reese Company successfully completed an upgrade of this compressed air system at its facility in Hershey, PA. The plant took two compressors offline while increasing throughput and quality.

This case study highlights a compressed air improvement project implemented at the Mobil lubricating-blending plant in Vernon, California. The project reduced the plant's energy production and maintenance costs, and increased reliability due to increased efficiency of the compressed air system.

This case study highlights International Truck and Engine Corporation's optimization project on the compressed air system that serves its foundry, Indianapolis Casting Corporation. Due to the project's implementation, the system's efficiency was greatly improved, allowing the foundry to operate with less compressor capacity, which resulted in reduced energy consumption, significant maintenance savings, and more reliable production.

This case study highlights a compressed air system upgrade at BWX Technologies manufacturing plant in Lynchburg, Virginia, which replaced antiquated compressors and dryers and implemented an improved control strategy, resulting in improved energy efficiency and savings in energy and maintenance costs.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Protecting the computer systems that support our critical operations and infrastructures has never been more important because of the concern about attacks from individuals and groups with malicious intent, including terrorism. These concerns are well founded for a number of reasons, including the dramatic increases in reported computer security incidents, the ease of obtaining and using hacking tools, the steady advance in the sophistication and effectiveness of attack technology, and the dire warnings of new and more destructive attacks. As with other large organizations, federal agencies rely extensively on computerized systems and electronic data to support their missions. Accordingly, the security of these systems and data is essential to avoiding disruptions in critical operations, as well as to helping prevent data tampering, fraud, and inappropriate disclosure of sensitive information. At the subcommittee's request, GAO discussed its analysis of recent information security audits and evaluations at 24 major federal departments and agencies."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "During GAO's fiscal year 2001 audit on accounting procedures and internal controls at the Congressional Award Foundation it found several internal control weaknesses related to processing transactions, maintaining supporting documents, and required reporting. Specifically, GAO found lack of approval for payments to vendors, inaccurate classification of transactions in the general ledger, lack of supporting documents for adjusting journal entries made by the foundation's accounting firm, incomplete personnel files, and lack of congressional reports for fiscal year 2000. The leadership of the Congressional Award Foundation changed near the end of the fiscal year 2001, and this transition may have contributed to the weaknesses found during GAO's audit. Since this transition, the foundation has established the executive position of the Director of Finance and Administration to oversee daily financial and administrative operations."

In recent years, the number of solar-powered homes connected to the local utility grid has increased dramatically. These''grid-connected'' buildings have solar electric panels or''modules'' that provide some or even most of their power, while still being connected to the local utility. This fact sheet provides information on connecting your solar electric system to the utility grid, including information on net metering.

News release about the retirement of Roland Castañeda, DART's general counsel.

Steam turbines are well suited as prime movers for driving boiler feedwater pumps, forced or induced-draft fans, blowers, air compressors, and other rotating equipment. This service generally calls for a backpressure non-condensing steam turbine. The low-pressure steam turbine exhaust is available for feedwater heating, preheating of deaerator makeup water, and/or process requirements.

Augusta Newsprint Company consolidated two compressed air systems at its facility in Augusta, GA. The results are a more streamlined system, added storage capacity, backflow prevention, and the elimination of unused equipment.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "After the attacks of September 11th, 2001, concerns intensified over the vulnerability of U.S. ports to acts of terrorism. One particular concern involves the possibility that terrorists would attempt to smuggle illegal fissile material or a tactical nuclear weapon into the country through a cargo container shipped from overseas. This testimony discusses the programs already in place to counter such attempts, new initiatives now under way to enhance the nation's security against such attempts, and the key challenges faced in implementing these various efforts."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the proposed Service Acquisition Reform Act and found that additional training for the acquisition workforce is needed governmentwide. Agencies could improve the capacity of the acquisition workforce by focusing on such key areas as requirements, inventory, workforce strategies and plans, and progress evaluations. GAO did not examine how pay-for-performance and pay banding would apply to acquisition personnel. However, these practices are consistent with suggestions made in earlier GAO testimony."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the roles and responsibilities of the General Services Administration's (GSA) Federal Supply Service (FSS) and Federal Technology Service (FTS). Specifically, (1) the possible impact of the current FSS/FTS overlap on the prices paid for and quality of the services provided customer agencies by FSS and FTS, (2) whether the use of streamlined practices and procedures could result in savings and increases in service effectiveness, and (3) whether the statement of work that governs the study of the FSS and FTS that GSA has under contract will likely result in the kind of information needed to assess whether the current organization needs to be restructured."