A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO: (1) identified and described practices that were applied in some federal agencies' 1999 performance plans that might, if consistently applied, improve the usefulness of all agencies' annual performance plans; and (2) provided examples from agencies' fiscal year 1999 performance plans that illustrate each practice."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO investigated allegations received through its FraudNET that Amtrak's Chief Engineer, Allison Conway-Smith, improperly awarded a personal services consulting contract to her neighbor, Chris Leyenberger, focusing on whether: (1) the Chief Engineer followed Amtrak procedures and policies in hiring Mr. Leyenberger; (2) the Chief Engineer had the authority to hire Mr. Leyenberger; (3) the Chief Engineer provided inaccurate information to the Amtrak Board of Directors to obtain contract approval for Mr. Leyenberger's services and, if such information was provided, whether the Board was required to verify it; (4) any problems exist at Amtrak regarding the procurement process as it relates to consultant contracts in general; and (5) the Amtrak President/Chief Executive Officer and Inspector General prefer a central purchasing department at Amtrak."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the U.S. Marshals Service's (USMS) asset forfeiture programs, focusing on: (1) controls over selected categories of seized assets--namely vehicles, vessels, real property, financial instruments, and general property--at four large USMS districts: the Central District of California, the Southern District of Florida, and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; and (2) whether selected seized assets at the test locations under USMS control were accurately accounted for and safeguarded against theft, loss, and deterioration."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed quality-of-care and consumer protection issues in assisted living facilities in California, Florida, Ohio, and Oregon, focusing on: (1) residents' needs and the services provided in assisted living facilities; (2) the extent to which facilities provide consumers with sufficient information for them to choose a facility that is appropriate for their needs; (3) the four states' approaches to oversight of assisted living; and (4) the types of quality-of-care and consumer protection problems they identify."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on whether consumers are able to make informed choices about their care and about the nature and extent of problems that may be occurring in assisted living, focusing on: (1) residents' needs and the services provided in assisted living facilities; (2) the extent to which facilities provide consumers with information sufficient to help them choose a facility that is appropriate for their needs; (3) state approaches to the oversight of assisted living; and (4) the type and frequency of quality-of-care and consumer protection problems identified by Congress."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) for the Oregon and Washington communities surrounding the Umatilla Chemical Depot, focusing on: (1) the progress communities have made since GAO's 1997 report on their CSEPP efforts; and (2) strategies for enhancing the program's implementation in Oregon."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Customs Service's management of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), focusing on whether Customs has adequately justified ACE cost-effectiveness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed certain aspects of the military assistance provided to law enforcement agencies during the Branch Davidians incident, focusing on: (1) whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) requests for support from military counterdrug programs met requirements for authorizing that support; (2) the measures ATF took to deal with any drug activity it might find during its warrant service, and whether those measures were appropriate for such operations where a methamphetamine laboratory might be encountered; and (3) the types, costs, and reimbursements of all military support, including that from counterdrug programs, provided to ATF and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO updated its previous report on the security of the Department of Defense's (DOD) information systems, focusing on DOD's efforts to: (1) address specific weaknesses identified in GAO's 1996 reports; and (2) develop a comprehensive departmentwide information security program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Forest Service's and the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) efforts to implement two ecosystem-based studies--the Northwest Forest Plan and the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project, focusing on: (1) the extent to which each effort has addressed long-standing planning deficiencies; (2) whether the agencies encountered the delays and significant costs that have been characteristic of previous planning efforts; and (3) the effect that the plans have had, or are expected to have, on the quantity and quality of timber sold from federal lands covered by the plans."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the weighted filings assigned to senior district and magistrate judges in fiscal year (FY) 1997 in 21 district courts, and the impact on nonsenior district judge workload of the FY 1997: (1) weighted filings assigned to senior district judges; and (2) weighted civil consent cases assigned to magistrate judges in each of the districts that had judgeship requests pending before Congress on March 31, 1998."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the 82nd Airborne Division Association for the year ended December 31, 1997, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the audit report covering the financial statements of the National Safety Council for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1998, focusing on whether the audit report complied with the financial reporting requirements of the law."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Bureau of Reclamation's sources and uses of funds at federal water projects, focusing on: (1) the Bureau's legal authorities and policies and procedures for obtaining, using, and accounting for funds, the types and amounts of funding obtained, and how funds were spent; (2) controls that were established to ensure that funds are properly obtained, used, and accounted for; (3) operations and maintenance (O&M) activities, expenses, and policies and procedures; and (4) other issues, such as the repayment of O&M and construction costs at the Central Valley Project (CVP)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on whether the Air Force complied with relevant policy and congressional notification requirements in reaching a decision to deactivate the 38th Engineering Installation Wing (EIW) at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma, focusing on: (1) the scope of the Air Force's planned action; (2) whether it is subject to the requirements of Office and Management Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 and 10 U.S.C. 2461; and (3) whether an analysis was completed to examine the cost-effectiveness of the planned action."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the potential effect of using adjusted population counts on the distribution of federal grant funding, focusing on: (1) 25 large formula grant programs; (2) identifying those programs that rely, at least in part, on census data to apportion funding; and (3) for selected programs, analyzing the extent to which funding would shift among states if adjusted population counts were used to apportion funds."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the labeling requirements for fresh produce, focusing on: (1) the potential costs associated with the compliance and enforcement of a mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirement at the retail level for fresh produce; (2) the potential trade issues associated with such a requirement; (3) the potential impact of such a requirement on the ability of the federal government and the public to respond to outbreaks of illness caused by contaminated fresh produce; and (4) consumers' views of country-of-origin labeling."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the: (1) Department of Defense's (DOD) progress in establishing an organization to address Gulf War illnesses issues; and (2) thoroughness of DOD's Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses' (OSAGWI) investigations into and reporting on incidents of veterans' potential exposure to chemical or biological warfare agents during the Gulf War."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the federal approach to meeting the needs of the homeless, focusing on: (1) identifying and describing characteristics of the federal programs specifically targeted, or reserved, for the homeless, and key nontargeted programs available to assist low-income people generally; (2) identifying the amounts and types of funding for these programs in fiscal year (FY) 1997; and (3) determining if federal agencies have coordinated their efforts to assist homeless people and developed outcome measures for their targeted programs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the advisory and assistance services procured by the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr, focusing on: (1) the number of such contracts entered into; (2) the expenditures made for each contract; and (3) the services provided under each contract."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the expenditures for the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr, focusing on the office's responses to 46 questions grouped into 11 categories."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) efforts to develop and implement evaluation and rating processes and procedures for evaluating new start transit projects for federal funding, focusing on: (1) the status of FTA's efforts; (2) how FTA implemented the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) requirements for evaluating, rating, and recommending projects; and (3) open issues that FTA needs to resolve to fully satisfy TEA-21 requirements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the: (1) distribution of Medicare home health agencies' (HHA) closures across urban and rural counties and the characteristics of closed agencies; and (2) effect of closures on beneficiary access to home health services."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed efforts to reform the Medicare program, focusing on: (1) a conceptual framework for considering the various possible combinations of reform options; and (2) lessons about implementing reforms learned from recent Medicare experience."