Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of The American Society of International Law for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report contains the auditor's opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American Council of Learned Societies for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The armed services have significantly reduced their procurement of new weapons systems and are keeping their existing systems longer than originally anticipated. The Department of Defense (DOD) estimates that it is spending $59 billion a year on logistics support to operate and sustain weapons systems, but DOD believes that better logistics support practices could reduce these costs by as much as 20 percent. To cut costs and improve efficiency, the military services have begun implementing logistics support strategies that rely on the private sector. DOD Regulation 5000.2-R expresses a preference for using long-term contractor logistics support but requires that an analysis be done first to determine how logistics support work is to be allocated to public or private entities. It is impossible to determine whether initial cost-effectiveness estimates for proposed contractor-logistics-support approaches are being achieved because the Army and Navy lack the required data. Consequently, the services may be adopting support approaches without knowing whether expected readiness improvements and cost-reduction goals are being met, where adjustments are needed, or the conditions under which the various support approaches are likely to achieve the most cost-effective results. Comparisons …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) awarded contracts to three companies in 1990 to develop and test exoatmospheric kill vehicles. One of the contractors--Boeing North American--subcontracted with TRW to develop software for the kill vehicle. In 1998, Boeing became the Lead System Integrator for the National Missile Defense Program and chose Raytheon as the primary kill vehicle developer. Boeing and TRW reported that the June 1997 flight test achieved its primary objectives but detected some sensor abnormalities. The project office relied on Boeing to oversee the performance of TRW. Boeing and TRW reported that deployed target objects displayed distinguishable features when being observed by an infrared sensor. After considerable debate, the program manager reduced the number of decoys planned for intercept flight tests in response to a recommendation by an independent panel. The Phase One Engineering Team, which was responsible for completing an assessment of TRW's software performance within two months using available data, found that although the software had weaknesses, it was well designed and worked properly, with only some changes needed to increase the robustness of the discrimination function. On the basis of that analysis, …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Farm Credit Administration's (FCA) oversight of the safety and soundness of the Farm Credit System (FCS). GAO found that FCA's oversight and supervision appeared to be timely, comprehensive, and effective. FCA required FCS institutions to take appropriate and timely corrective actions to address any identified weaknesses and closely monitored the institutions' compliance. FCA had special supervisory and enforcement procedures in place and used them when it found more serious weaknesses at FCS institutions. In addition, off-site monitoring efforts included timely analyses of relevant qualitative and quantitative information that allowed FCA to identify, monitor, evaluate, and proactively address risks faced by FCS institutions. FCA follows processes designed to ensure the quality and reliability of its safety and soundness examination process through periodic quality assurance reviews and the Inspector General's audits and inspection reports."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the Agricultural Hall of Fame for fiscal years 2000, and 1999. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statement of the Disabled American Veterans for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, Inc. for fiscal years 2000 and 1999. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society of the United States of America for fiscal year 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly on a modified cash basis of accounting."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) spent $21 billion in fiscal year 2001 to treat 3.8 million veterans--most of whom had service-connected disabilities or low incomes. Since 1997, VA has used the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system to allocate most of its medical care appropriation. GAO found that VERA has had a substantial impact on network resource allocations and workloads. First, VERA shifted $921 million from networks located primarily in the northeast and midwest to networks located in the south and west in fiscal year 2001. In addition, VERA, along with other VA initiatives, has provided an incentive for networks to serve more veterans. VERA's overall design is a reasonable approach to allocate resources commensurate with workloads. It provides a predetermined dollar amount per veteran served to each of VA's 22 health care networks. This amount varies depending upon the health care needs of the veteran served and local cost differences. This approach is designed to allocate resources commensurate with each network's workload in terms of veterans served and their health care needs. GAO identified weaknesses in VERA's implementation. First, VERA excludes about one fifth …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicaid program spent more than $200 billion in fiscal year 2000 to meet the health care needs of nearly 34 million poor, elderly, blind, and disabled persons. States are responsible for making proper payments to Medicaid providers, recovering misspent funds, and accurately reporting costs for federal reimbursement. At the federal level, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) oversee state financial activities and ensure the propriety of expenditures reported for federal reimbursement. GAO found that weak financial oversight by CMS leaves the program vulnerable to improper payments. The Comptroller General's Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government requires that agency managers perform risk assessment, take steps to mitigate identified risks, and monitor the effectiveness of those actions. The standards also require that authority and responsibility for internal controls be clearly defined. CMS oversight had weaknesses in each of these areas. As a result, CMS did not know if its control efforts were focused on areas of greatest risk. CMS also was not effectively implementing the controls it had in place. Furthermore, managers had not established performance standards for financial oversight activities, particularly their …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The District of Columbia Courts (DC Courts) is acquiring the Integrated Justice Information System (IJIS) to replace many nonintegrated systems. This system is expected to address current deficiencies and provide the courts with necessary information critical to its mission. DC Courts has not yet implemented the disciplined processes necessary to reduce the risks associated with acquiring and managing the IJIS acquisition effort at acceptable levels within established resources and schedule. Most of the DC Courts' requirements, developed in the draft request for proposal, lacked the specificity needed to ensure that requirements had been reduced to acceptable levels and the system would meet users' needs. DC Courts officials want to use the acquisition process to identify the cost, schedule, and performance gaps associated with their effort. DC Courts officials acknowledge that this approach increases risk; however, they believe that accelerating the implementation of a badly needed system justifies those risks. As with any effort, alternative approaches need to be analyzed."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) awarded contracts to three companies in 1990 to develop and test exoatmospheric kill vehicles. One of the contractors--Boeing North American--subcontracted with TRW to develop software for the kill vehicle. In 1998, Boeing became the Lead System Integrator for the National Missile Defense Program, and chose Raytheon as the primary kill vehicle developer. Boeing and TRW reported that the June 1997 flight test achieved its primary objectives, but that some sensor abnormalities were detected. The project office relied on Boeing to oversee the performance of TRW. Boeing and TRW reported that deployed target objects displayed distinguishable features when being observed by an infrared sensor. After considerable debate, the program manager reduced the number of decoys planned for intercept flight tests in response to a recommendation by an independent panel. The Phase One Engineering Team, which was responsible for completing an assessment of TRW's software performance within two months using available data, found that although the software had weaknesses, it was well designed and worked properly, with only some changes needed to increase the robustness of the discrimination function. On the basis of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To improve federal debt collection, the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 established a framework of debt collection tools, including administrative wage garnishment (AWG). This report discusses the extent to which nine agencies use or plan to use AWG to collect delinquent nontax federal debt and provides GAO's perspective on ways to make AWG more widespread and effective. GAO found that none of the nine agencies had yet implemented AWG. Although AWG is not mandatory, by failing to use this tool--more than five years after the act's enactment and more than three years after the Department of the Treasury issued implementing regulations--agencies have missed an opportunity to maximize collection of delinquent debt. Agencies identified various reasons for not yet implementing AWG or for deciding not to do so, including the need to focus their resources on implementing the act's mandatory provisions. Although some agencies or programs may have valid reasons for not implementing wage garnishment, all of the larger programs that deal with individuals and that have a demonstrated risk of financial loss resulting from unpaid debt should have AWG as a viable debt collection option. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fifth expenditure plan requesting $391 million from its Business Systems Modernization (BSM) fund. Although IRS's November 2001 expenditure plan satisfied the conditions specified in the appropriations act, IRS must still fully implement the controls and capabilities described in the plan. Since GAO's June 2001 report, IRS has made important progress in implementing modernization management controls and capabilities and addressing GAO's past recommendations. However, IRS's modernization management capacity is still not where it needs to be. Examples of modernization management controls and capabilities that are not yet fully implemented include software acquisition management, configuration management, quality assurance, risk management, enterprise architecture implementation, human capital management, integrated program scheduling, and cost and schedule estimating. The increased risk of IRS's proceeding without these controls and capabilities has contributed to project cost, schedule, and performance shortfalls. IRS acknowledges that it needs to strengthen its modernization management controls. IRS recognizes that these controls become more critical as the size and complexity of the BSM program continue to increase. Although IRS has actions underway to fully implement these controls, IRS plans to compensate for their …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Two bills before Congress would introduce a new legal basis for controls over exports of dual use goods and services. In GAO's view, a new export administration act will need to balance stakeholder interests, assess the national security risks presented by end users, and balance the needs of exporters with foreign policy and national security interests. Both bills seek to balance these interests by involving the departments of Commerce, Defense and State. However, the lack of clear provisions raises questions about the balance between U.S. foreign policy and national security interests with economic interests. The House bill places greater emphasis on protecting foreign policy and national security interests, while the Senate bill emphasizes economic interests. A series of GAO reports suggests that the new legislation alone will not ensure that regulations and practices are implemented as Congress intended. Congress will need to oversee executive branch compliance with the law."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 seeks to maximize the collection of billions of dollars of nontax delinquent debt owed to the federal government. The act requires agencies to refer eligible debts delinquent more than 180 days to the Department of the Treasury for payment offset and to Treasury or a Treasury-designated debt collection center for cross-servicing. The Treasury Offset Program, includes the offset of benefit payments, vendor payments, and tax refunds. Cross-servicing involves locating debtors, issuing demand letters, and referring debts to private collection agencies. The Rural Housing Service (RHS) has initiatives to ensure the timely referral of all delinquent debt. However, the agency's failure to make the act a priority has left key provisions of the legislation unimplemented and severely reduced collection opportunities. The agency had referred no direct single-family housing (SFH) loans to the Financial Management Service for cross-servicing. Three major factors delayed implementation. First, RHS's loan-servicing system had not incorporated key features necessary to implement the act's referral provisions. Second, RHS did not refer any debts for cross-servicing while pursuing an exemption from Treasury. Third, amounts reported as delinquent and eligible …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Five percent of adults suffer from serious mental disorders. Although health insurance carriers in a few states guarantee coverage for mental health treatment, in most states individuals with mental disorders face restrictions in purchasing private health insurance for themselves and their families. Eleven states require carriers to accept all applicants regardless of health status, but coverage options vary. Eight of these 11 states require all carriers to guarantee access to coverage sold in this market. In three states, laws apply only to some carriers, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield, or certain periods of the year. Carriers in nine of the 11 states are also required to limit the extent to which premium rates vary between healthy and unhealthy individuals. In states without guaranteed coverage in the individual market, the seven carriers GAO reviewed would likely deny coverage more frequently for applicants with mental disorders than for applicants with other chronic health conditions. Specifically, for six mental disorders of generally moderate severity, carriers said that they would likely decline applicants 52 percent of the time. State-sponsored high-risk pools are the primary coverage option available to …

As the Army moves toward more mobile and agile forces and continued sustainment of numerous high-cost legacy logistics management systems, the requirement for wireless connectivity and a wireless network to supporting organizations has become ever more critical. There are currently several Army communications initiatives underway to resolve this wireless connectivity issue. However, to fully appreciate and understand the value of these initiatives, a Tradeoff Analysis is needed. The present study seeks to identify and assess solutions. The analysis identified issues that impede Interim Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) communication system integration and outlined core requirements for sharing of logistics data between the field and Army battle command systems. Then, the analysis examined wireless communication alternatives as possible solutions for IBCT logistics communications problems. The current baseline system was compared with possible alternatives involving tactical radio systems, wireless/near term digital radio, cellular satellite, and third-generation (3G) wireless technologies. Cellular satellite and 3G wireless technologies offer clear advantages and should be considered for later IBCTs.

Weekly newspaper from Bogata, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly student newspaper from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas that includes campus and local news along with advertising.

This report provides information on the status of groundwater monitoring at the Hanford Site during fiscal year 2001.

We have produced single bursts of helicity from the source in the SSPX spheromak in order to study the efficiency of the simplest example of helicity injection. We find that the helicity injection rate can be written in terms of the injected current and an inductance, and that a simple circuit analogue demonstrates unambiguously the relationship of helicity to energy: helicity injection is the addition of inductive loops. While helicity balance points to the conservation of helicity, the electrical efficiency is around 15%. However, in the expulsion of the loop, electrical energy is converted to directional motion, which may be recoverable usefully as heat by collisions, thus the efficiency of the injection process is arguably quite high. Integral to this notion of helicity injection is the idea that reconnection is necessary: without disconnection from the source by a reconnection event, the spheromak fields are just proportional to the injected current. Sometimes the multiple bursts occur spontaneously and cause a step-wise increase in the field (and helicity). However, in all instances when the current remains above the ejection threshold for t > 50 {micro}s, the n=l mode initiates and builds field, although with much reduced efficiency, and to a level which …

A hoisting rail system has been designed for lifting loads from the north sidewalk of the D0 collision hall into the collision hall pit. This engineering note documents the design. The hoisting system was conceived primarily to aid in getting heavy loads into the pit during short (less than a few days) accesses. The typical use for the hoist will be to lift a BLS power supply (120 lbs) and carrier (16 lbs) from a roll around cart on the sidewalk and onto a similar cart in the collision hall pit. The hoist system will alleviate the need for two persons to carry this heavy load up and down a narrow (24-inch) staircase. The hoisting system has a designed lift rating of 150 lbs. All members and components are well within a conservative safety factor when subjected to this loading at it's worst possible configuration, that is with it's boom cantilevered out 8 feet from the base rail. See the hoisting rail assembly sketch (in the hand calculations section) and the picture inserted below to get an orientation of the device. The hoisting system is designed using BLine 'unistrut' system components. The hoist consists of a 'base' rail that is …