The agenda for the February 5th meeting of the Dallas Way listing both topics to be discussed, a treasury department, and contact information for members of the Dallas Way.

Agenda for the February 5, 2013 meeting of the Dallas Way listing topics of discussion for the meeting.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO identified three basic alternative methods to the current airline ticket-based method for PFC collections. These methods are not mutually exclusive and could be used by either individual airports or a group or airports:"

A list of people with stories of interest for the Dallas Way GLBT History Project.

Document explaining the regulations governing the manufacture of biodiesel in Texas.

Biography of M. K. Binodini Devi.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since fiscal year 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used changes in the number of apprehensions on the southwest border between ports of entry as an interim measure for border security as reported in its annual performance plans. In fiscal year 2011, DHS reported a decrease in apprehensions, which met its goal to secure the southwest border. Our analysis of Border Patrol data showed that apprehensions decreased within each southwest border sector from fiscal years 2006 to 2011, generally mirroring decreases in estimated known illegal entries. Border Patrol attributed these decreases in part to changes in the U.S. economy and improved enforcement efforts. In addition to apprehension data, sector management collect and use other data to assess enforcement efforts within sectors. Our analysis of these data show that the percentage of estimated known illegal entrants apprehended from fiscal years 2006 to 2011 varied across southwest border sectors; in the Tucson sector, for example, there was little change in the percentage of estimated known illegal entrants apprehended over this time period. The percentage of individuals apprehended who repeatedly crossed the border illegally declined across the border by …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO's recent work has identified key practices that would enhance the Department of Defense's (DOD) management of building partner capacity efforts. Such efforts include a range of security cooperation activities such as military exercises with partner nations and counternarcotics activities. In GAO's reviews of these activities, GAO found that DOD has demonstrated some of these key practices, but opportunities for improvement remain."

Transcript of Samik Bandyopadhyaya's Lecture on Indian Regional Cinema and Binodini at the 1st M. K. Binodini Devi Memorial Lecture in Imphal, Manipur, India.

This is a report by the USDA as climate change relates to its affect on livestock and agriculture.

This report provides an update to the Comptroller and the Legislature on the progress that each institution is making on all criteria regarding the eligibility to receive distributions of monies from the National Research University Fund (NRUF), and identifies which institutions have met the minimum requirements for this eligibility.

A roster for the Dallas Way including contact information for each of the members.

News release about a public meeting to be hosted by DART where the agency will present a transit improvements study that outline alignment options for a second light rail line through downtown Dallas.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD has taken some steps to gain efficiencies in its approach to contracting for certain types of foreign language support services and products, but its contracting approach for other types remains fragmented across multiple components, and DOD has not explored whether additional opportunities exist to gain efficiencies across this broader range of contracting activity. In 2005, DOD sought to centralize and standardize contracting efforts for foreign language support by designating the Army as an executive agent to manage contracting in this area. In performing its responsibilities, the executive agent has focused its efforts solely on arranging for contracts to acquire translation and interpretation services for contingency operations because of the rapidly increasing requirements for these services. Specifically, from fiscal year 2008 through 2012, the Army, as executive agent, obligated about $5.2 billion for contracts to provide DOD components with translation and interpretation services for contingency operations. During the same time period, we found that multiple DOD components contracted independently for foreign language support outside of the executive agent's management. Specifically, to support the needs of contingency operations, predeployment training, and day-to-day military activities, we identified 159 contracting organizations …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began operations in 2003, it has implemented key homeland security operations and achieved important goals and milestones in many areas to create and strengthen a foundation to reach its potential. As it continues to mature, however, more work remains for DHS to address gaps and weaknesses in its current operational and implementation efforts, and to strengthen the efficiency and effectiveness of those efforts. In its assessment of DHS's progress and challenges 10 years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as its more recent work, GAO reported that DHS had, among other things, developed strategic and operational plans across its range of missions; established new, or expanded existing, offices and programs; and developed and issued policies, procedures, and regulations to govern its homeland security operations. However, GAO also identified that challenges remained for DHS to address across its missions. Examples of progress made and work remaining include the following:"

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We found that DOD awarded 51 sole source 8(a) contracts over $20 million between October 2009 and September 2012. As we reported in our December 2012 government-wide review, DOD awarded eight sole-source 8(a) contracts worth over $20 million from March 16, 2011, when the requirement was implemented in the FAR, through March 31, 2012, the most recent data available at the time of our review. Of the eight, six contracts did not meet the new justification requirement because contracting officials were not aware of the requirement or because they were confused about the type of justification to complete."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DOD) have undertaken a number of patchwork efforts over the past 15 years to achieve interoperability (i.e., the ability to share data) of records between their information systems; however, these efforts have faced persistent challenges. The departments' early efforts to achieve interoperability included enabling DOD to electronically transfer service members' electronic health information to VA; allowing clinicians at both departments viewable access to records on shared patients; and developing an interface linking the departments' health data repositories. As GAO reported, however, several of these efforts were plagued by project planning and management weaknesses, inadequate accountability, and poor oversight, limiting their ability to realize full interoperability."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Of the seven foreign firms we identified in December 2012 as having been reported to have engaged in commercial activity in Iran's energy sector at some point between June 1, 2011, and September 30, 2012, we found that one--Daelim--had U.S. government contracts. Our review of open sources did not identify any foreign firms that exported technologies to the Iranian government for monitoring, filtering, or disrupting information and communications flows."

Document containing photographs from a memorial service for Chris Kyle on February 11, 2013.

Document containing an obituary and photographs from a funeral for PFC. Weldon Davis on February 6, 2013.

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2011, GAO detailed 30 high-risk areas. Sufficient progress has been made to remove the high-risk designation from two areas."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare Program: CMS has not met GAO's criteria to have the Medicare program removed from the High-Risk List. For example, although CMS has made progress in measuring and reducing improper payment rates in different parts of the program, it has yet to demonstrate sustained progress in lowering the rates. Because the size of Medicare relative to other programs leads to aggregate improper payments that are extremely large, continuing to reduce improper payments in this program should remain a priority for CMS. Further, CMS should complete some actions required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that were designed to improve the integrity of the program, such as determining which providers must post surety bonds to help in recovering payments for fraudulent billing, using fingerprint screening for high-risk providers, issuing a final regulation that requires providers to disclose additional information, and establishing core elements for provider compliance programs."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since GAO's reports in the early 1990s, the Helium Privatization Act of 1996 has caused considerable changes to the helium program and addressed or altered GAO's prior concerns. In 1992, GAO reported on various aspects of the federal helium program including the helium debt, pricing, and alternatives for meeting federal helium needs."