The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate that a development program based on advanced reservoir management methods can significantly improve oil recovery at the Nash Draw Pool (NDP). The plan includes developing a control area using standard reservoir management techniques and comparing its performance to an area developed using advanced reservoir management methods. Specific goals are (1) to demonstrate that an advanced development drilling and pressure maintenance program can significantly improve oil recovery compared to existing technology applications and (2) to transfer these advanced methodologies to oil and gas producers in the Permian Basin and elsewhere throughout the U.S. oil and gas industry.

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A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal employees' health insurance premiums have increased at double-digit rates for 3 consecutive years. GAO was asked to examine how the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program's (FEHBP) premium trends compared to those of other large purchasers of employer-sponsored health insurance, factors contributing to FEHBP's premium growth, and steps the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) takes to help contain premium increases compared to those of other large purchasers. GAO compared FEHBP to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), General Motors, and a large private-employer purchasing coalition in California as well as data from employee benefit surveys."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To address system problems and other long-standing management weaknesses, in 1998, the Congress created a discrete unit within the Department of Education, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA). This office subsequently adopted a new approach to systems integration using middleware (a type of software that can allow an application to access data residing in different databases) and Extensible Markup Language (XML)--a flexible, nonproprietary set of standards that is intended to make it easier to identify, integrate, and process information widely dispersed among systems and organizations. FSA's first use of this approach is the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) process for the Direct Loan, Pell Grant, and campus-based programs. GAO initiated a follow-up review to assess FSA's progress in implementing this process."

This report analyzes the possible scenarios under which the resumption of a draft might be militarily necessary, describes some of the social rationales for and against resuming the draft that have been cited (independent of military requirements), and itemizes the current status of the draft and action required for its reinstatement.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report addresses (1) the relationship between Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) payments and the costs of treating Medicare patients in freestanding SNFs, as well as the effect of Medicare SNF payments on the financial condition of these facilities, and (2) the relationship between Medicare SNF payments and the costs of treating patients in hospital-based SNFs, as well as the factors that may account for cost differences between hospital-based and freestanding SNFs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "To assess the quality of the population data collected in the 2000 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau conducted the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) program, which focused on a survey of housing units designed to estimate the number of people missed, counted more than once, or otherwise improperly counted in the census. GAO reviewed the life cycle costs of the A.C.E. program and its predecessor, the Integrated Coverage Measurement (ICM) program. GAO found that the original estimated cycle costs of conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs were $400 million. The first evidence for the original $400 million estimate is in the original budget justifications for fiscal year 2000. The bureau based its estimates of ICM/A.C.E. costs on assumptions about the needs for personnel and benefits, contractual services, travel, office space, equipment, and other costs necessary to conduct and support operations of the programs. The budgeted amounts that GAO identified from bureau records for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs are $277 million through fiscal year 2003. The obligated costs that GAO identified from bureau records for conducting the ICM/A.C.E. programs are $207 million through fiscal year 2001. $58 million of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the funding of 2000 Census planning and development efforts and the impact it had on census operations. Total funding for the 2000 Census, referred to as the life cycle cost, covers a 13-year period from fiscal year 1991 through fiscal year 2003 and is expected to total $6.5 billion adjusted to 2000 year dollars. This amount was almost double the reported life cycle cost of the 1990 Census of $3.3 billion adjusted to 2000 year dollars. Considering these escalating costs, the experience of the U.S. Census Bureau in preparing for the 2000 Census offers valuable insights for the planning and development efforts now occurring for the 2010 Census. Thorough and comprehensive planning and development efforts are crucial to the ultimate efficiency and success of any large, long-term project, particularly one with the scope, magnitude, and the deadlines of the U.S. decennial census. For fiscal years 1991 through 1997, $269 million was requested in the President's Budgets for 2000 Census planning and development and the program received funding of $224 million by Congress, or 83 percent of the amount requested. According to U.S. Census Bureau …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spent more than $15 million to move air traffic controllers and their managers to new permanent duty locations. FAA classifies the funds that it spends for these moves as permanent change of station (PCS) benefits. In 1998, as part of a broader effort to reform its personnel policies, FAA changed its policies on PCS benefits. Instead of fully reimbursing the costs of all PCS moves and prohibiting unfunded PCS moves, as it once did, FAA now determines the amount of PCS benefits to be offered on a position-by-position basis and allows employees and managers to move at their own expense. Under its new polices, FAA can fully reimburse the costs of a move if it determines that he move is in the interest of the government, or it can offer partial fixed relocation benefits if it determines that the agency will derive some benefit from the move. FAA's policies on eligibility for PCS benefits are the same for air traffic controllers and their managers, but the amounts of the benefits vary. According to these policies, eligibility depends …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a Congressional request for information regarding critical infrastructure protection within the federal government. In May 1998, Presidential Decision Directive 63 was issued with the intent to eliminate any significant vulnerability to both physical and cyber attacks on the nation's critical infrastructure. It makes every department and agency of the federal government responsible for protecting its own critical physical infrastructure. The Interagency Security Committee (ISC) and all 22 of the agencies GAO reviewed have some role in providing security for office space, although the degree of involvement varied from agency to agency. Other types of security responsibilities include performing security assessments, providing security funding, providing security forces and security technology, and coordination of security efforts among and within agencies. Eleven of the 22 agencies stated that they had completed security assessments on all their facilities since 1995. Nine agencies reported that they were still doing security assessments on their buildings. Two agencies are located in General Service Administration (GSA) space only and GSA is responsible for the security assessments. The agencies provide security using a combination of security forces and security technologies. Security …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Section 1085 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 authorized the military department secretaries to (1) charge fees to persons requesting information from the primary military archives and (2) retain collected fees to help defray costs associated with providing the information. The military archives also have authority under the User Charge Statute and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to charge for general information provided to the public. The Conference Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 directs the Comptroller General to provide a report 1 year after implementation of the act on the fees collected and the associated costs of providing historical information. GAO found that Section 1085 authorizes but does not require action by the four primary military archives. Because of this, only the Army Military History Institute has implemented a fee schedule. Officials of the other three archives stated that the archives have no plans to implement a fee schedule under Section 1085. The Army Military History Institute first implemented a Section 1085 fee schedule in October 2001 and modified it in April 2002 to simplify some of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal ombudsmen help their agencies be more responsive to the public through the impartial investigation of citizens' complaints. Professional standards for ombudsmen incorporate certain core principles, such as independence and impartiality. In July 2001, GAO reported that key aspects of EPA's hazardous waste ombudsman were not consistent with professional standards, particularly with regard to independence. (See GAO-01-813.) Partly in response to GAO's recommendations, EPA reorganized its ombudsman function and removed the national ombudsman from the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. GAO made preliminary observations on these changes in testimony in June and July 2002. (See GAO-02-859T and GAO-02-947T). This report provides information on (1) the current status of EPA's reorganization of the ombudsman function and (2) issues identified in our prior report and testimonies that have not yet been addressed."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) contract, the Department of the Navy is obtaining information technology (IT) services that are to allow it to replace thousands of independent networks, applications, hardware, and software with one secure network. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2002 directed GAO to review the impact on IT costs of NMCI at Navy shipyards and air depots, which are predominantly working capital funded activities. Because this funding model requires these activities to recover all costs through charges to customers, GAO also reviewed NMCI's impact on shipyard and depot rates."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government is a primary sponsor of research conducted in the United States, expending during fiscal year 2001 $19.4 billion for research performed by federal employees and $62.2 billion for research conducted under contracts and grants. Some of this research leads to the development of technology that can be patented, licensed, and made available to the public through the introduction of new products and processes. In the past, however, there have been concerns that new technologies developed under federal research projects were not being properly translated into practical use. In response, Congress has made attempts through legislation over the past two decades to ensure that federally sponsored inventions were being transferred to the private sector where they could be commercialized. Federal agencies are identifying, patenting, and licensing inventions created in their own facilities through technology transfer programs that vary in design, approach, and measurable output. With respect to design, some agencies have centralized technology transfer programs, while others have decentralized programs, and still others have components of both. From an approach stand point, the agencies differ on what they will patent and the types of …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since the early 1980s, health maintenance organizations (HMO) have entered into risk-based contracts with Medicare and offered beneficiaries an alternative to the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) program. By 1997, 5.2 million Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in an HMO. Although Medicare HMOs were available in most urban areas, they were often unavailable in rural areas. Medicare+Choice (M+C) has HMO requirements pertaining to benefit package proposals, the beneficiary enrollment process, marketing and enrollee communication materials, and quality improvement, among other areas. An HMO must annually submit a benefit package proposal to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for each M+C health plan that the HMO intends to offer. M+C requirements for the beneficiary enrollment process specify the information that an HMO must include in its enrollment application and the checks that it must perform to ensure that beneficiaries who submit applications are eligible to enroll in the HMO's health plan. M+C marketing requirements prohibit HMOs from using inaccurate or misleading language in advertisements or materials distributed to enrollees. M+C requirements for quality improvements specify that HMOs must undertake multiyear projects intended to improve the quality of health …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare provided health care coverage to 40 million people age 65 and over and to qualifying disabled persons at a cost of $240 billion in fiscal year 2001. In 1990, GAO designated the program as "high risk" for fraud and abuse because of its vast size, complex structure, and program management weaknesses. GAO issued two reports in 2000 that discussed weaknesses in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) oversight of Medicare contractors' financial operations and the guidance it provides contractors in carrying out Medicare financial activities. GAO also cited CMS for deficiencies in its accounting procedures and improper payment measurement projects. GAO determined that CMS implemented corrective actions to substantially address four of the eight recommendations included in the 2000 reports and has made good progress in addressing the remaining four. Actions taken by CMS include the implementation of more in-depth internal control reviews at Medicare contractors as well as the development of an accounting procedures manual to guide its financial management staff in consistent accounting and reporting for Medicare. CMS has also tested several innovative analysis techniques for identifying improper payments. These actions have helped …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was asked to review the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative to publicly report additional information on its "Nursing Home Compare" Web site intended to help consumers choose a nursing home. GAO examined CMS's development of the new nursing home quality indicators and efforts to verify the underlying data used to calculate them. GAO also reviewed the assistance CMS offered the public in interpreting and comparing indicators available in its six-state pilot program, launched in April 2002, and its own evaluation of the pilot. The new indicators are scheduled to be used nationally beginning in November 2002."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report is in response to a request that we examine the actions and plans agencies reported in addressing the high-risk areas and major management challenges that were previously identified by GAO in its January 2001 Performance and Accountability and High-Risk Series. In fulfilling the request, except as otherwise noted, we reviewed the fiscal year 2001 performance report and fiscal year 2003 performance plan required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) for 23 of the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act (CFO) agencies. The Department of Defense was not included in this review since it had not issued its combined performance report and performance plan."

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: Consequences of the defeat of a ballot proposition confirming the creation of the Southeast Trinity Groundwater Conservation District, and related questions.

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 Rural Foundation created by the Seventy-seventh Texas Legislature in chapter 110 of the Health and Safety Code may finance rural programs that are not health programs.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States/Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement expired in March 2001. As part of the preparation process for renegotiating the agreement, the United States Trade Representative requested public comment on softwood lumber trade issues between the United States and Canada and on Canadian softwood lumbering practices. The comments received included allegations that Canadian lumbering and forestry practices were affecting animal species with U.S./Canadian ranges that are listed as threatened or endangered in the United States. To consider these comments as well as provide useful information to the U.S. Trade Representative in the renegotiations, the Department of the Interior, with the Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) assistance, prepared a conservation status report on selected species that may be affected by the new agreement. GAO reviewed the FWS' preliminary conclusions and found that, in compiling the information for the Department of the Interior's 2001 conservation report for the U.S. Trade Representative, FWS relied chiefly on previously published material and internal agency documents, such as individual species recovery plans, Federal Register listing information, other administrative records, and public comments received. The report underestimates the extent of cooperation between U.S. and …

The mission of the Commission is to identify, analyze, and develop recommendations that highlight the importance of housing, improve the housing delivery system, and provide affordable housing for the American people, including recommending possible legislative and regulatory initiatives.

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress changed the law governing the use of appropriation accounts in 1990 because it found that the Department of Defense (DOD) may have spent hundreds of millions of dollars for purposes that Congress had not approved. The 1990 law provided that, 5 years after the expiration of the period of availability of a fixed-term appropriation, the appropriation account be closed and all remaining balances canceled. After closing, the appropriation account could no longer be used for obligations or expenditures for any purpose. DOD has started the process of correcting the illegal or improper closed account adjustments made during fiscal year 2000. However, this will require substantial effort and, according to DOD, estimates will not be complete before the end of fiscal year 2002. DOD had upgraded its system control features by the end of fiscal year 2001 to preclude many of the wholesale adjustments that GAO had previously identified. Because its system enhancements were done in stages, including some near the end of fiscal year 2001, DOD continued to make large amounts of illegal and otherwise improper closed account adjustments during the year. However, given the …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States has become increasingly aware of the need to be prepared for emergencies, including those involving hazardous chemicals. The local emergency responders and representatives from national organizations that GAO contacted have varied views on the adequacy of (1) information in chemical inventory forms and risk management plans and (2) the manner in which that information is delivered. Most members of the emergency response community believe that the manner of delivery of federally required information could be improved. Environmental Protection Agency officials cited their efforts to ensure compliance with provisions of the Clean Air Act's risk management program. However, their sense of the extent of compliance varies across three specific provisions; that is, the extent to which (1) facilities have registered risk management plans, (2) the plans contain accurate information, and (3) local responders are receiving the plans."