Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "CDC has administered and provided oversight of the CPPW program, which includes the monitoring of award recipients. CDC required recipients to use their CPPW funds to support efforts to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, or reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, CDC suggested possible strategies for achieving these results, such as working to establish smoke-free zones or to implement zoning changes that promote physical activity. CDC policy prohibited CPPW award recipients from using funds for specific types of activities, including lobbying, which generally meant certain activities designed to influence action in regard to a particular piece of pending legislation."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Because data were not readily available to identify how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) uses consulting services and what is known about their costs, this report discusses the limitations on data concerning consulting services and provides information on some of the uses of consultant contracts. Two primary factors limited GAO's ability to identify a list of consulting contracts that was sufficiently accurate and complete for identifying the types and costs of consulting services used by VA. First, there is no consistently used definition for consultant or consulting services across VA that GAO could apply for our intended purposes. Second, there are data limitations associated with identifying consulting services at VA. Since there is no means for contracting officers to track obligations for consulting services in the Federal Procurement Data System-New Generation, GAO used North American Industrial Classification Codes (NAICS) to identify contracts that could be for consulting. However, GAO could not use the NAICS codes to consistently identify consulting contracts because a single NAICS code can be used to classify both consulting and nonconsulting services and VA contracting officers sometimes reported that they had applied the wrong …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2010, GAO reported that industry stakeholders and experts believed that the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) certification and approval processes contribute positively to the safety of the national airspace system. However, stakeholders and experts also noted that negative certification and approval experiences--such as duplication of approvals--although infrequent, can result in delays that industry says are costly. GAO made two recommendations requiring, among other things, that FAA develop a continuous evaluative process and a method to track submission approvals. FAA addressed one recommendation and partially addressed the other. An FAA-industry committee established in response to the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (the Act) made six recommendations to improve the certification and approval processes, including establishing a performance measurement process. In response to recommendations from the certification process committee, FAA developed an implementation plan with 14 initiatives, but the initiatives do not contain some elements essential to a performance measurement process, such as performance measures. Without performance measures, FAA will be unable to evaluate current and future programs."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) completed most of the key activities outlined in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill), which authorized a new meat and poultry inspection program to support interstate shipment of meat and poultry products from establishments with 25 or fewer employees, inspected by state agencies. Specifically, FSIS issued program regulations in May 2011for the new inspection program, called the Cooperative Interstate Shipment (CIS) program,and it provided additional guidance in October 2011 instructing states on what they needed to demonstrate to be approved for the CIS program.As of January 31, 2013, three states—Ohio, North Dakota, and Wisconsin—and eight establishments in two of those states had been selected to participate in the program. However, although FSIS established a technical assistance division, that division has not coordinated with other USDA agencies on initiatives to provide outreach, education, and training to establishments and grants to states for those initiatives and also for technical assistance to small establishments,as required by the 2008 Farm Bill. Also, FSIS gave funds to four states to assess the changes they would have to make to their inspection …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Protective Service (FPS) faces challenges ensuring that contract guards have been properly trained and certified before being deployed to federal facilities around the country. In a September 2013 report, GAO found that providing active-shooter-response and screener training is a challenge for FPS. For example, according to officials at five guard companies, their contract guards have not received training on how to respond during incidents involving an active-shooter. Without ensuring that all guards receive this training, FPS has limited assurance that its guards are prepared for such a threat. Similarly, officials from one of FPS's contract guard companies stated that 133 (about 38 percent) of its approximately 350 guards have never received screener training. As a result, those guards may be using x-ray and magnetometer equipment at federal facilities that they are not qualified to use, raising questions about their ability to properly screen access control points at federal facilities--one of their primary responsibilities. We were unable to determine the extent to which FPS's guards have received active-shooter-response and screener training. FPS agreed with GAO's 2013 recommendation that they take steps to identify guards that have not …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Several air force-related services are exchanged through the Air Transport, Air-to-Air Refueling and Other Exchange of Services (ATARES) program, including air transport, air-to-air refueling, maritime patrol, search and air rescue, and strategic air medical evacuation. Since 2001, air transport and air-to-air refueling have comprised more than 80 percent of the services exchanged within the program. ATARES services are exchanged when a request made by one member nation is accepted and executed by another."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As of September 30, 2011, of the $350 million that U.S. agencies had allocated to support CARSI activities, the Department of State (State) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had disbursed over $75 million of INCLE, ESF, and NADR funds. In addition, State had committed almost $22 million of FMF funds to support CARSI activities. The two principal accounts for CARSI are the INCLE and ESF accounts. U.S. agencies also allocated funds for Central America from the NADR and FMF accounts. From fiscal years 2008 through 2011, State and USAID disbursed about $44.4 million in INCLE funds, $25.9 million in ESF funds, and almost $5 million in NADR funds to support CARSI activities in partner countries. The agencies used the funds to support programs in Central American countries that strengthen law enforcement and maritime interdiction capabilities, support capacity building and training programs, and deter and detect border criminal activity."

The financial analysis and summary results presented in this document represent a first cut at an economic assessment of the proposed Hull Offshore Wind Project. Wind turbine price increases have outpaced the materials and labor price pressures faced by nonrenewable power plant developers due to increased demands on a limited pool of turbine manufacturers and offshore installation companies. Moreover, given the size of the proposed offshore facility, it may be difficult to contract with turbine manufacturers and/or foundation companies given the size and scope of competing worldwide demand. The results described in this report assume that such conditions will not significantly impact the prices that will have to be received from the output of the project; rather, the project size may require as a prerequisite that Hull be able to piggyback on other offshore efforts. The financial estimates provided here necessarily feature a range due to uncertainty in a number of project assumptions as well as overall uncertainty in offshore wind costs. Nevertheless, taken together, the analysis provides a ballpark revenue requirement of approximately $157/MWh for the municipal financing option, with higher estimates possible assuming escalation in costs to levels higher than assumed here.

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, Greg Abbott, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's authority to assess insurance carriers and to use future premiums to pay prior obligations (RQ-1134-GA).

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Harvey Brush. Brush graduated from Penn State in 1942 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He was inducted into the Navy in August of 1943 as an Ensign. He attended radar school at MIT, and then was assigned to the Clinton Naval Air Station in Oklahoma, assisting in developing drones. In late 1944 he was assigned to the Hawaiian Islands. He received orders to join a destroyer escort division. He served as staff radar officer aboard the USS Goss (DE-444). He traveled to Saipan, and then was assigned to work in the CIC with radar equipment. They traveled to Iwo Jima and Okinawa to protect carriers. He traveled into Tokyo and Yokahama by electric train and provides details of what the landscape looked like after bombing. He was discharged in 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Doyle Ebel. Ebel was drafted into the Army Air Forces in March, 1943 and trained at Miami Beach before going to radio operator school in Missouri. He also attended gunnery school before becoming a crewmember on a B-24 and shipping overseas in July 1944. He was assigned to the 26th Bomb Squadron, 11th Bomb Group at Saipan in October. Ebel recalls an emergency landing on Iwo Jima. He flew 37 combat missions before the war ended and returned to the US in November, 1945.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Richard Dykstra. Dykstra joined the Navy in January of 1943, at the age of seventeen. He served as a Radarman aboard USS Lunga Point (CVE-94), and saw combat in the Pacific at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Philippines. In August of 1945, their ship conducted minesweeping operations west of Okinawa. Dykstra returned to the US in November of 1945 and was discharged.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Robert L Cook. Cook was accepted into the Naval ROTC program at Rice University. Upon his graduation with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in April of 1943, Cook was commissioned into the Navy as an ensign. He became active in major ship repairs, and assigned to Mare Island, California, Pearl Harbor and Guam. In 1944, Cook helped outfit USS Baltimore (CA-68) to accommodate President Franklin Roosevelt in his travels to Pearl Harbor and Alaska. He was discharged in June of 1946.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Frank Rancloes. Rancloes was drafted into the Marine Corps in April 1943. Upon completion of pontoon bridging school, he was sent to Camp Pendleton to train officers. His unit, the 7th Service Engineers, was typically split up to provide support where needed. Rancloes landed in the second wave on Saipan, operating heavy machinery. After the island was secured, he managed a lumberyard with an African-American crew, many of whom outranked him. Recognizing the unfairness of that arrangement, he appointed one of the crewmen as a liaison so that they would not have a white corporal giving orders. After bringing supplies to Okinawa, Rancloes stayed there in a sugarcane hut. When his unit became ill from mold toxicity, the village was condemned and burned to the ground. Rancloes suffered from respiratory problems for the rest of his life. Before returning home in 1946, Rancloes's final duty was supervising Japanese laborers in China.