Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) added a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program, to become effective January 1, 2006. To assist Medicare beneficiaries with their prescription drug costs until the new benefit becomes available, the MMA also required the establishment of a temporary program, the Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card and Transitional Assistance Program, which began in June 2004. The drug card program is designed to offer Medicare beneficiaries access to discounts off the retail price of prescription drugs. All Medicare beneficiaries, except those receiving Medicaid drug coverage, are eligible to enroll in the drug card program. Certain low-income beneficiaries without other drug coverage qualify for an additional benefit, a transitional assistance (TA) subsidy, that can be applied toward the cost of drugs covered under the drug card program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--the agency within the Department of Health and Human Services that administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs--administers and oversees the drug card program. The drug cards themselves are offered and managed by private organizations, known as drug card sponsors. There are different types of drug …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2004, the Department of Energy (DOE) disposed of more than 378,000 cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW)--contaminated building rubble, soil, and debris. In 2002, DOE directed its sites to use life-cycle cost analysis to manage LLRW. Life-cycle cost analysis examines the total cost of various options to manage LLRW over its life, including its packaging, treatment, transport, and disposal, to identify the lowest-cost alternative. GAO determined whether (1) DOE sites use life-cycle cost analysis to evaluate LLRW management alternatives and (2) DOE has a strategy for cost-effectively managing LLRW departmentwide, including state actions that may affect this strategy."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Government National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Ginnie Mae, is a wholly owned government corporation that guarantees mortgage-backed securities (MBS) backed by pools of federally insured or guaranteed mortgage loans. The agency supports federal housing programs by facilitating the securitization of loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Rural Housing Service, and the Office of Public and Indian Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Concerned that Ginnie Mae's share of the overall MBS market has declined significantly, Congress asked us to address (1) the state of Ginnie Mae's market share and guarantee volume, (2) the potential implications of changes in its share and volume, and (3) the challenges Ginnie Mae faces and steps it is taking and could take to address these challenges."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "On July 25, 2005, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) entitled "Medicare Program; Proposed Changes to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Calendar Year 2006 Payment Rates." As part of these changes, CMS is proposing Medicare payment rates for certain hospital outpatient drugs classified for payment purposes as specified covered outpatient drugs (SCOD). The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) defined a SCOD as a drug or radiopharmaceutical used in hospital outpatient departments, covered by Medicare, and paid for individually rather than as part of a payment group with other services. With regard to SCODs, the MMA directed CMS to set 2006 payment rates equal to hospitals' average acquisition costs--the cost to hospitals of acquiring a product, net of rebates. In several related requirements, the MMA directed us to provide information on SCOD costs and CMS's proposed rates. First, we were required to conduct a survey of hospitals to obtain data on their acquisition costs of SCODs and provide information based on these data to …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Spending on outpatient prescription drug coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries has accounted for a substantial and growing share of Medicaid program expenditures. All states and the District of Columbia have elected to include outpatient prescription drug coverage as a benefit of their Medicaid programs. Total Medicaid expenditures on outpatient prescription drugs grew from $4.6 billion (nearly 7 percent of Medicaid's total medical care expenditures) in fiscal year 1990 to $33.8 billion (13 percent of Medicaid's total medical care expenditures) in fiscal year 2003. This represented more than twice the rate of increase in total Medicaid spending from fiscal year 1990 through fiscal year 2003. Amid concerns about increasing Medicaid drug spending, focus has been drawn to the ways states pay for prescription drugs. State Medicaid programs pay pharmacies for covered outpatient prescription drugs dispensed to Medicaid beneficiaries. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--the agency of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that oversees states' Medicaid programs--sets maximum payment limits for certain drugs--federal upper limits (FUL)--and provides guidelines regarding drug payment, as defined by regulation. Within these parameters, states may determine their own drug payment methodologies. …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Clean Water, Safe Drinking Water, and Clean Air Acts authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to treat eligible Indian tribes in the same manner as a state (referred to as TAS) for implementing and managing environmental programs on Indian lands. Some states are concerned that tribes receiving authority to manage these programs may set standards that exceed the state standards and hinder states' economic development. GAO was asked to report on the (1) extent to which EPA has followed its processes for reviewing and approving tribal applications for TAS and program authorization under the three acts, (2) programs EPA uses to fund tribal environmental activities and the amount of funds provided to tribes between fiscal years 2002 and 2004, and (3) types of disagreements between parties over EPA's approval of TAS status and program authorization and methods used to address these disagreements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Each year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) and related state and local Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) agencies receive and investigate several thousand complaints of housing discrimination. These activities, including required conciliation attempts, are directed by HUD's standards, which are based on law, regulation, and best practices. GAO's 2004 report examining trends in case outcomes raised questions about the quality and consistency of the intake (the receipt of initial inquiries) and investigation processes. This follow-up report assesses the thoroughness of fair housing intake and investigation (including conciliation) processes, and complainant satisfaction with the process."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A recent GAO report assessed the thoroughness of the process used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to resolve complaints of housing discrimination (GAO-06-79). As part of that study, GAO did a telephone survey, which is reproduced here, of a sample of complainants in housing discrimination cases that were investigated and closed by HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) and state and local Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) agencies from July 1 through December 31, 2004. A survey research firm under contract to GAO interviewed a random sample of 575 complainants to determine their levels of satisfaction with the thoroughness, fairness, timeliness, and outcomes of the complaint intake and investigation process. Using HUD records, GAO mailed advance letters to and subsequently called the complainants of record in 1,517 eligible cases. The response rate was 38 percent, resulting in the 575 complete interviews. The sample was allocated proportionally across three types of case closures (administrative, conciliation without determination of cause, or a determination of no cause) and responsible agency (FHEO or FHAP). Results were weighted, or statistically adjusted, to make them …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "More than 5.5 billion pounds of explosives are used each year in the United States by private sector companies and government entities. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has authority to regulate explosives and to license privately owned explosives storage facilities. After the July 2004 theft of several hundred pounds of explosives from a local government storage facility, concerns arose about vulnerability to theft. This testimony provides information about (1) the extent of explosives thefts from state and local government facilities, (2) ATF's authority to regulate and oversee state and local government storage facilities, and (3) security measures in place at selected state and local government storage facilities. This information is based on a report GAO is releasing today on these issues."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses internal oversight and procurement in the United Nations (UN). The findings of the Independent Inquiry Committee into the UN's Oil for Food Program have rekindled long-standing concerns about internal oversight and procurement at the United Nations. In addition, the UN's 2005 World Summit called for a host of reforms, from human rights, terrorism, and peace-building to economic development and management reform. Specifically, this testimony conveys our preliminary observations on the UN's budgeting processes as it relates to the ability of the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to perform independent and effective oversight. We will also discuss some of the UN's efforts to address problems affecting the openness and professionalism of its procurement system. We would like to emphasize that our comments reflect the preliminary results of two ongoing GAO engagements examining the UN's internal oversight and procurement services. We will issue reports covering a wide range of issues in both areas early next year."

Petition in several volumes forwarded to the BRAC Commission on 06/14/05 by SC Senator Lindsey Graham in support of Fort Jackson and McEntire ANG Station. Volume II: 637 Pages

Petition in several volumes forwarded to the BRAC Commission on 06/14/05 by SC Senator Lindsey Graham in support of Fort Jackson and McEntire ANG Station. Volume III: 712 Pages

Petition in several volumes forwarded to the BRAC Commission on 06/14/05 by SC Senator Lindsey Graham in support of Fort Jackson and McEntire ANG Station. Volume IV: 849 Pages

Petition in several volumes forwarded to the BRAC Commission on 06/14/05 by SC Senator Lindsey Graham in support of Fort Jackson and McEntire ANG Station. Volume V: 692 Pages

Petition in several volumes forwarded to the BRAC Commission on 06/14/05 by SC Senator Lindsey Graham in support of Fort Jackson and McEntire ANG Station. Volume VI: 712 Pages

Petition in several volumes forwarded to the BRAC Commission on 06/14/05 by SC Senator Lindsey Graham in support of Fort Jackson and McEntire ANG Station. Volume VII: 646 Pages

Collection of BRAC related news articles and clippings. Produced for Commission staff review.

Petition in several volumes forwarded to the BRAC Commission on 06/14/05 by SC Senator Lindsey Graham in support of Fort Jackson and McEntire ANG Station. Volume I: 702 Pages

The objective of this project was to demonstrate and promote the commercialization of coal-fired atmospheric fluidized bed combustion (AFBC) systems, with limestone addition for SO2 emissions control and a baghouse for particulate emissions control. This AFBC system was targeted for small scale industrial-commercial-institutional space and process heat applications in the 4-40 MMBtu/hr size range. A cost effective and environmentally acceptable AFBC technology in this size range could displace a considerable amount of heating gas and oil with coal, while resulting in significant total cost savings to the owner/operators.

The term technology transfer refers to a broad set of processes that cover the flows of know-how, experience, and equipment for mitigating and adapting to climate change amongst different stakeholders, including governments, the private sector, and financial institutions, environmental organizations, and research/education institutions. (Metz et al. 2000). Transfer encompasses diffusion of technologies and technology cooperation across and within countries, and forms one element of the overarching goal of the Climate Convention (UNFCCC) to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Governments devote varying amounts toward sponsoring or in some manner supporting a broad array of research activities pursuing a diverse set of outcomes ranging from medicine to energy and the environment. These activities can take place within government-owned facilities, private companies, or universities or some combination thereof. Such pursuits may result in the identification of a patentable technology or process, as well as copyrightable computer programs or other publications worthy of intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection. Although the precise arrangements vary from country to country, there is a high degree of commonality in the manner in which the property rights to these publicly-sponsored results are assigned. Except in the case of 'pure research' the property rights are assigned to one …

Potential problems associated with nuclear data for neutronactivation analysis were identified, the scope of the work to beundertaken was defined together with its priorities, and tasks wereassigned to participants. Data testing and measurements refer to gammaspectrum peak evaluations, detector efficiency calibration, neutronspectrum characteristics and reference materials analysis.

We present a computational study of signal propagation and attenuation of a 200 MHz planar loop antenna in a cave environment. The cave is modeled as a straight and lossy random rough wall. To simulate a broad frequency band, the full wave Maxwell equations are solved directly in the time domain via a high order vector finite element discretization using the massively parallel CEM code EMSolve. The numerical technique is first verified against theoretical results for a planar loop antenna in a smooth lossy cave. The simulation is then performed for a series of random rough surface meshes in order to generate statistical data for the propagation and attenuation properties of the antenna in a cave environment. Results for the mean and variance of the power spectral density of the electric field are presented and discussed.

Potential problems associated with nuclear data for neutronactivation analysis were identified, the scope of the work to beundertaken was defined together with its priorities, and tasks wereassigned to participants. Data testing and measurements refer to gammaspectrum peak evaluations, detector efficiency calibration, neutronspectrum characteristics and reference materials analysis.

We present experimental results aiming to reveal the relationship between damage initiating defect populations in KDP and DKDP crystals under irradiation at different wavelengths. Our results indicate that there is more than one type of defects leading to damage initiation, each defect acting as damage initiators over a different wavelength range. Results showing disparities in the morphology of damage sites from exposure at different wavelengths provides additional evidence for the presence of multiple types of defects responsible for damage initiation.