Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Representative Edolphus Towns requested information on several issues related to the use of toy guns. Specifically, he asked that GAO (1) examine crime statistics showing the prevalence of crimes that involved toy guns in some capacity; (2) gather any available information on incidents involving toy guns that have resulted in injuries or deaths, whether or not related to criminal activity; and (3) determine from available literature whether there are any studies examining the long-term impacts that can be attributed to toy gun play by children."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The largest accounting firms, known as the "Big 4," currently audit over 78 percent of U.S. public companies and 99 percent of public company annual sales. To address concerns raised by this concentration and as mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, on July 30, 2003, GAO issued a report entitled Public Accounting Firms: Mandated Study on Consolidation and Competition, GAO-03-864. As part of that study, GAO surveyed a random sample of 250 public companies from the Fortune 1000 list; preliminary findings were included in the July report. This supplemental report details more comprehensively the 159 responses we received through August 11, 2003, focusing on (1) the relationship of their company with their auditor of record in terms of satisfaction, tenure relationship, and services provided; (2) the effects of consolidation on audit fees, quality, and independence; and (3) the potential implications of consolidation for competition and auditor choice."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Humanitarian and economic development assistance has long been an important component of U.S. global security strategy. Since 1962, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has managed more than $273 billion in such assistance. In fiscal year 2003, USAID estimates that it will obligate about $13 billion for assistance programs in almost 160 countries. In recent years, demands on USAID's budget and workforce have increased as the agency strives to meet emerging requirements, such as reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq and increased funding for health programs. However, USAID officials have expressed concern that funds provided for its administrative or operating expenses have not kept pace with the agency's requirements. Since 1976, Congress has included a separate appropriation to consolidate USAID's operating expenses into a single budget item. Congress intended that USAID pay for the administrative costs of delivering foreign assistance (its "cost of doing business") from an operating expense account separate from its humanitarian and development assistance program funds. These operating expenses are costs incurred primarily for the benefit of the United States rather than the foreign assistance recipient. In accordance with congressional guidance, USAID reports all …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Earned Income Credit (EIC), a tax credit available to the working poor, has experienced high rates of noncompliance. Unlike many benefit programs, EIC recipients generally receive payments without advance, formal determinations of eligibility; the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) checks some taxpayers' eligibility later. IRS estimated that tax year 1999 EIC overclaim rates, the most recent data available, to be between 27 and 32 percent of dollars claimed or between $8.5 billion and $9.9 billion. To address overclaims, IRS plans to test a new certification program. Because IRS's plans have garnered much attention, Congress asked us to (1) describe the design and basis for the EIC qualifying child certification program, (2) describe the current status of the program, including significant changes, and (3) assess whether the program is adequately developed to prevent unreasonable burden on EIC taxpayers and improve compliance so that the test should proceed."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The ability to produce the data needed to efficiently and effectively manage the day-to-day operations of the federal government and provide accountability to taxpayers has been a long-standing challenge to most federal agencies. To help address this challenge, the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal financial management systems requirements, (2) federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL). FFMIA also requires GAO to report annually on the implementation of the act."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Consumers of insurance depend on state regulators to ensure that insurance companies are behaving fairly and in accordance with the law. This report evaluates the states' use of market analysis (information gathering to determine issues and identify companies that may need attention) and on-site examinations in market regulation and the progress the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has made in creating more uniformity in the regulation of market conduct."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, the federal government has introduced new ways to streamline the acquisition process. One of those vehicles is the simplified acquisition procedures test program, which removes some of the procedural requirements for buying commercial goods and services. Using the test program, federal procurement officials can make purchases faster than they have in the past for procurements not exceeding $5 million. Congress mandated that GAO determine the extent to which federal executive agencies--at a minimum, the Department of Defense (DOD)--have taken advantage of the test program and any benefits realized. One way to measure use is to examine test program data from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). It is the central repository of contracting information. In addition to examining FPDS data, GAO looked at data from DOD's data system."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Totalization agreements foster international commerce, protect benefits for persons who have worked in foreign countries, and eliminate dual social security taxes that employers and their employees pay when they operate and reside in countries with parallel social security systems. Because Mexicans are believed to represent a large share of the millions of unauthorized workers present in the United States, a totalization agreement with Mexico has raised concerns that they would become newly eligible for social security benefits. To shed light on the possible impacts, GAO was asked to (1) describe the Social Security Administration's (SSA) processes for developing the agreement with Mexico, (2) explain how the agreement might affect the payment of benefits to Mexican citizens, and (3) assess the cost estimate for such an agreement."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Law enforcement agencies' efforts to investigate the events of September 11th increased awareness that federal agencies collect and maintain personal information on individuals such as name, social security number, and date of birth that could be useful to law enforcement. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is one of the country's primary custodians of personal information. Although the Privacy Act protects much of this information, generally, federal agencies can disclose information to law enforcement. However, determining when the need for disclosure takes priority over an individual's privacy is not clear. GAO was asked to describe (1) SSA's disclosure policy for law enforcement and how it compares with the Privacy Act and those of other federal agencies, (2) SSA's experience sharing information with law enforcement, and (3) law enforcement's experience obtaining information under SSA's policy."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Most employees in the U.S. have health coverage through employers. Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, however, are less likely to offer coverage than larger businesses. Many say they cannot afford it. When they do provide coverage, small businesses typically purchase insurance policies, while larger businesses are more likely to use their own funds to pay for some of their employees' health care, a practice known as self-funding. One proposal to make health coverage more affordable for small businesses would establish Association Health Plans (AHP), which could offer coverage to small businesses subject to different federal and state requirements than currently exist. In light of this proposal, GAO was asked to summarize current federal and state requirements for health coverage offered by small businesses, including mandated benefits, premium-setting requirements, and requirements regarding availability of coverage. To identify these requirements, GAO reviewed federal and selected states' laws and literature from the Department of Labor (DOL), National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), and other sources. For further detail on some states' insurance requirements, GAO reviewed 8 states with a range in the number of mandated benefits and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The success of the transformation and implementation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is based largely on the degree to which human capital management issues are addressed. Recognizing this, the legislation creating DHS provided it with significant flexibility to design a modern human capital management system. Congressional requesters asked GAO to describe the process DHS has in place to design its human capital system and involve employees, and analyze the extent to which this process reflects elements of successful transformations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In America, breast cancer is reported as the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Given this statistic, the importance of finding a cure cannot be overemphasized. To supplement the billions of federal dollars being spent on breast cancer research, Congress passed legislation creating the Breast Cancer Research Semipostal (BCRS) to increase public awareness of the disease and allow the public to participate directly in raising funds for such research. Since the BCRS was the first semipostal issued by the Postal Service, Congress mandated, and GAO issued, a report in April 2000 on the BCRS' cost, effectiveness, and appropriateness as a fund-raiser. After the report, Congress extended the BCRS sales period through 2003. As mandated, this report updates GAO's prior work as Congress considers another extension to the BCRS sales period."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Of the 44,000 special operations forces (SOF) that perform difficult, complex, and sensitive military missions on short notice anytime and anywhere in the world, more than 12,000 (28 percent) have a foreign language requirement to operate in places where English is not spoken. In the Senate Report on the Fiscal Year 2003 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress mandated that GAO review SOF foreign language requirements and training. In this report, we (1) assess the U.S. Special Operations Command's recent actions to improve the management of the SOF foreign language program and the delivery of training, and (2) identify ways for the command to deal with ongoing challenges that limit SOF personnel's access to language-training opportunities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The President pledged a minimum of $20 billion in assistance to New York for response and recovery efforts after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. This includes tax benefits, commonly referred to as the Liberty Zone tax benefits, that the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated would reduce federal tax revenues by about $5 billion. The actual amount of benefits realized, however, will depend on the extent to which taxpayers and the city and state of New York take advantage of them. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is collecting and reporting information about the number of taxpayers using each of the seven Liberty Zone tax benefits and the revenue loss associated with those benefits and (2) if IRS is not collecting and reporting this information, what steps it would need to take and what resources would be needed to do so."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Search and rescue--one of the Coast Guard's oldest missions--involves minimizing the loss of life, injury, and property damage by aiding people and boats in distress. The Coast Guard has previously reported that its 30-year-old search and rescue communication system, called the National Distress and Response System, has several deficiencies and is difficult to maintain. Thus, the Coast Guard contracted to replace and modernize it with a new system, called Rescue 21. GAO was asked to identify the status and plans of the Coast Guard's acquisition of Rescue 21 and the technical and program risks associated with Rescue 21."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1999, the Health Care Financing Administration, now called the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), proposed terminating an exception to a payment rule that had permitted laboratories to receive direct payment from Medicare when providing technical pathology services that had been outsourced by certain hospitals. The Congress enacted provisions in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA) to delay the termination. The BIPA provisions directed GAO to report on the number of outsourcing hospitals and their service volumes and the effect of the termination of direct laboratory payments on hospitals and laboratories, as well as on access to technical pathology services by Medicare beneficiaries. GAO analyzed Medicare inpatient and outpatient hospital and laboratory claims data from 2001 to develop its estimates."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has a large inventory of claims for benefits under its compensation and pension programs. The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs has pledged to substantially reduce this inventory in order to improve timeliness. In response, VBA emphasized producing more claims decisions per year. GAO was asked to ascertain how accuracy has changed since VBA increased its emphasis on production and to report on the agency's efforts to ensure the accuracy of its decisions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress established the Protection and Advocacy system in 1975 to protect the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities, most of whom have mental retardation. Protection and Advocacy agencies (P&A) use investigative and legal activities to advocate on behalf of these individuals. Deinstitutionalization has refocused delivery of care to this population over the last several decades from large public institutions to community settings. Refocusing service delivery resulted from (1) the desire to deliver care in the most integrated setting and to control costs and (2) the outcomes of deinstitutionalization lawsuits brought by P&As and others. Some parents have raised concerns that P&As emphasize these suits over other activities, inadequately inform them of family members' inclusion in the suits, and do not adequately monitor individuals after their transfer to the community. GAO was asked to review the extent to which P&As engage in lawsuits related to deinstitutionalization of these individuals, how P&As communicate with affected parents and guardians in these suits, and the role P&As have played in monitoring the well-being of individuals transferred to the community. GAO compiled a national list of lawsuits related to deinstitutionalization involving …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Natural gas is the most costly component used in manufacturing nitrogen fertilizer. Therefore, when natural gas prices increased in 2000-2001, U.S. companies that produce nitrogen fertilizer reported adverse financial consequences resulting from much higher production costs. Concerns also arose that the nation's farmers would face much higher nitrogen fertilizer prices and that there might not be an adequate supply of nitrogen fertilizer to satisfy farmers' demands at any price. Responding to congressional concerns, GAO undertook a study to determine (1) how the price of natural gas affects the price, production, and availability of nitrogen fertilizer and (2) what role the federal government plays in mitigating the impact of natural gas prices on the U.S. fertilizer market."

The design of a unique gas turbine engine is presented. The first Rampressor Turbine engine rig will be a configuration where the Rampressor rotor is integrated into an existing industrial gas turbine engine. The Rampressor rotor compresses air which is burned in a traditional stationary combustion system in order to increase the enthalpy of the compressed air. The combustion products are then expanded through a conventional gas turbine which provides both compressor and electrical power. This in turn produces shaft torque, which drives a generator to provide electricity. The design and the associated design process of such an engine are discussed in this report.

The Delaware Basin Drilling Surveillance Program (DBDSP) is designed to monitor drilling activities in the vicinity of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). This program is based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements. The EPA environmental standards for the management and disposal of transuranic (TRU) radioactive waste are codified in 40 CFR Part 191 (EPA 1993). Subparts B and C of the standard address the disposal of radioactive waste. The standard requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the expected performance of the disposal system using a probabilistic risk assessment or performance assessment (PA). This PA must show that the expected repository performance will not release radioactive material above limits set by the EPA's standard. This assessment must include the consideration of inadvertent drilling into the repository at some future time.

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AX Division has recently installed a number of diskless Linux workstations to meet the needs of its scientific staff for classified processing. Results so far are quite positive, although problems do remain. Some unusual requirements were met using a novel, but simple, design: Each diskless client has a dedicated partition on a server disk that contains a complete Linux distribution.

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