A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2004, both houses of Congress approved separate legislation to reauthorize the federal-aid highway program to help meet the Nation's surface transportation needs, enhance mobility, and promote economic growth. Both bills also recognized that the Nation faces significant transportation challenges in the future, and each established a National Commission to assess future revenue sources for the Highway Trust Fund and to consider the roles of the various levels of government and the private sector in meeting future surface transportation financing needs. This report (1) updates information on trends in federal, state, and local capital investment in highways; (2) assesses the influence that federal-aid highway grants have had on state and local highway spending; (3) discusses the implications of these trends for the federal-aid highway program; and (4) discusses options for the federal-aid highway program."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Conference Report on the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, directed GAO to monitor AOC's progress in implementing recommendations contained in GAO's management review of AOC's operations, issued in January 2003. This is the second status report in which GAO examines the actions taken by AOC to implement selected GAO recommendations. Additionally, the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, mandated GAO to assess AOC's Chief Operating Officer's (COO) action plan. This report provides that assessment."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration (SBA) approved about $8.6 billion in loan guarantees through its 7(a) loan program in fiscal year 2003. SBA must estimate the subsidy cost of this program. Since fiscal year 2003, SBA has been using econometric modeling to estimate the subsidy. This report reviews SBA's estimation methodology and equations, assesses the default and recovery rates the model produced, identifies ways to enhance the estimates' reliability, describes the process for developing the model, and analyzes SBA's data."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "As a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has committed to a transformation to increase its focus on national security. The FBI has shifted agent resources to its top priorities of counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and cyber crime. Some of these agent resources were shifted away from drug, white-collar, and violent crime enforcement programs. The FBI's drug program has sustained, by far, the largest reduction in FBI agent workforce--about 550 positions, or more than 80 percent of the nonsupervisory field agents who were permanently reprogrammed. In addition, the FBI has had a continuing need to temporarily redirect agents from drug, white-collar, and violent crime enforcement to address counterterrorism-related workload demands. While GAO and other organizations have focused considerable attention on the progress of the FBI's transformation, this report addresses questions about the extent to which the shift in resources has affected federal efforts to combat drug, white-collar, and violent crime and whether other agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the drug enforcement area, are filling gaps created by FBI resource shifts."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Small Business Administration (SBA) played a key role in assisting small businesses affected by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by providing over $1 billion in disaster loans to businesses that sustained physical damage or economic injury. Small businesses in the immediate areas of the attacks and others nationwide that suffered related economic injury were eligible to apply for disaster loans. SBA declined or withdrew about half of these loan applications. SBA's disaster loans are direct federal government loans provided at a subsidized interest rate. In response to concerns that more small businesses impacted by September 11 could have benefited from SBA's disaster loans, GAO conducted a review of its Disaster Loan Program. Specifically, GAO addressed the following questions: (1) Are the disaster program policies consistent with the law and the overall mission of SBA's Disaster Loan Program? (2) What were SBA's underwriting policies and criteria for September 11 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and how did they compare with those applied by nonprofit lenders that were active in New York City after September 11? (3) Did SBA correctly apply its policies and procedures in …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Inaccurate social security numbers (SSN) on wage statements contribute to growth in the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Earnings Suspense File, increase the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) workload to ensure that wages are properly identified for those earning them, and burden individuals who must work with SSA and IRS to resolve disputes that may affect their social security benefits and tax obligations. IRS's ability to penalize employers for submitting inaccurate SSNs on wage statements is intended to promote SSN accuracy. Items GAO was asked to describe included: (1) the statutory provisions authorizing IRS to penalize employers who file wage statements with inaccurate SSNs; (2) IRS's program to penalize such employers; and (3) the extent IRS's program meets legislative requirements, the likelihood of any penalties, and any program changes being considered."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Terrorist attacks, both before and after September 11, 2001, have increased congressional concerns regarding the complexity, funding, and oversight of federal programs designed to combat terrorism and ensure homeland security. Hundreds of recommendations have been made by nationally chartered commissions and GAO to further improve our nation's strategic planning and program development in homeland security. GAO was asked to review the reports of selected congressionally chartered commissions and previously issued GAO reports and testimonies in order to identify the strategic recommendations made and organize them both by critical mission area and topic area."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Flood maps identify areas at greatest risk of flooding and provide the foundation for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The maps are used by (1) communities to establish minimum building standards designed to reduce the impact of flooding, (2) FEMA to set insurance rates, and (3) lenders to identify property owners who are required to purchase flood insurance. Nearly 70 percent of all flood maps are more than 10 years old, according to FEMA. In an effort to update its flood maps, FEMA is implementing a $1 billion, 5-year map modernization program. GAO was asked to review the progress of FEMA's map modernization program."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents the results of our audit of the financial statements of the Senate Health Promotion Revolving Fund (the Fund) as of and for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2002. This report also contains our opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund's related internal control as of September 30, 2002, and our evaluation of its compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations we tested. We performed this audit at the request of the former Senate Sergeant at Arms."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although the weapons that the Department of Defense (DOD) develops have no rival in superiority, there still remain ways in which they can be improved. GAO's reviews over the past 20 years have found consistent problems with weapon acquisitions--cost increases, schedule delays, and performance shortfalls--along with underlying causes, such as pressure on managers to promise more than they can deliver. DOD can resolve these problems by using a knowledge-based approach derived from the best practices of successful product developments. GAO's goal for this report is to provide congressional and DOD decision makers with an independent, knowledge-based assessment of selected defense programs that identifies potential risks and offers an opportunity for action when a program's projected attainment of knowledge diverges from the best practice. It can also highlight those programs that employ practices worthy of emulation by other programs. GAO plans to update and issue this report annually."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Grants and contracts constitute over two-thirds of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) budget. In fiscal year 2003, EPA awarded $3.6 billion in grants directed by Congress, $656 million in grants awarded at its own discretion, and $934 million in contracts. Under the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act of 1977, whether EPA should award a grant or a contract depends upon the principal purpose of the award. In this context, GAO was asked to determine (1) the trends over the last 11 years on EPA's expenditures on discretionary grants and contracts and the types of goods and services obtained by each and (2) the extent to which EPA has and follows procedures for deciding when to use grants or contracts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report presents the results of our audit of the financial statements of the Daniel Webster Senate Page Residence Revolving Fund (the Fund) for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2002. This report also contains our opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund's related internal control as of September 30, 2002, and our evaluation of its compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations we tested. We performed this audit at the request of the former Senate Sergeant at Arms."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since 1975, the District of Columbia has operated its mental health system under a series of court orders aimed at developing a community-based system of care for District residents with mental illnesses. Placed in receivership from 1997 to 2002, the District regained full control of its mental health system in 2002 but has been ordered to implement a courtapproved plan for developing and implementing a community-based mental health system. Additionally, the District must comply with exit criteria, which must be met in order to end the lawsuit. The court expects that it will take the District 3 to 5 years to implement the courtordered plan and begin measuring performance against the exit criteria, with year 1 beginning in July 2001. GAO was asked to report on the current status of the District's efforts to develop and implement (1) a mental health department with the authority to oversee and deliver services, (2) a comprehensive enrollment and billing system that accesses available funds for federal programs such as Medicaid, (3) a consumer-centered approach to services, and (4) methods to measure the District's performance as required by the court's …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) bans chemical weapons and requires their destruction by 2007, with possible extensions to 2012. The CWC also seeks to reduce the proliferation of these weapons by requiring member states to adopt comprehensive national laws to criminalize CWC-prohibited activities. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) monitors the destruction of chemical weapons and inspects declared commercial facilities in member states. GAO was asked to review (1) member states' efforts to meet key convention requirements, (2) OPCW's efforts in conducting inspections to ensure compliance with the convention, and (3) Russia's efforts to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO audited the expenditures of two offices of independent counsel for the 6 months ended September 30, 2003."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. government has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in developing the most sophisticated weapon systems and technologies in the world. Yet, U.S. weapons and technologies are vulnerable to exploitation, which can weaken U.S. military advantage, shorten the expected combat life of a system, and erode the U.S. industrial base's technological competitiveness. In an effort to protect U.S. technologies from exploitation, the Department of Defense (DOD) established in 1999 a policy directing each military service to implement anti-tamper techniques, which include software and hardware protective devices. This report reviews DOD's implementation of the anti-tamper policy as required by the Senate report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Ineffective oversight and management of the Department of Defense's (DOD) travel card program, which GAO previously reported on, have led to concerns about airline tickets DOD purchased but did not use and for which it did not claim refunds. GAO was asked to (1) determine whether, and to what extent, airline tickets purchased through the centrally billed accounts were unused and not refunded and (2) determine whether DOD's internal controls provided reasonable assurance that all unused tickets were identified and submitted for refunds."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Information about the financial condition of defined benefit pension plans is provided in two sources: regulatory reports to the government and corporate financial statements. The two sources can often appear to provide contradictory information. For example, when pension asset values declined for most large companies between 2000 and 2002, these companies all continued to report positive returns on pension assets in their financial statement calculations of pension expense. This apparent inconsistency, coupled with disclosures about corporate accounting scandals and news of failing pension plans, has raised questions about the accuracy and transparency of available information about pension plans. GAO was asked to explain and describe (1) key differences between the two publicly available sources of information; (2) the limitations of information about the financial condition of defined benefit plans from these two sources; and (3) recent or proposed changes to pension reporting, including selected approaches to pension reporting used in other countries."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over 50 million low-income adults and children receive health insurance coverage through Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Federal law allows states to require beneficiary contributions, such as premiums and cost sharing (coinsurance, copayments, and deductibles), for at least some Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries. GAO was asked to (1) identify and compare states' Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiary contribution requirements for children, (2) identify states' Medicaid beneficiary contribution requirements for adults, and (3) determine the extent to which states' Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiary contribution requirements have changed since 2001. GAO surveyed Medicaid and SCHIP program offices in the 50 states and the District of Columbia about their beneficiary contribution requirements as of August 2003, including their requirements for specific population groups and for six selected services, such as inpatient hospital, physician services, and prescription drugs. For each population group covered, states were asked to indicate the portion of the group charged beneficiary contributions by selecting "all," "most," "some," or "none." GAO also interviewed officials of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Medicaid and SCHIP statutory requirements for beneficiary contributions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Cases of practitioners causing intentional harm to patients have raised concerns about the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) screening of practitioners' professional credentials and personal backgrounds. GAO was asked to (1) identify key VA screening requirements, (2) evaluate their adequacy, and (3) assess compliance with these screening requirements. GAO reviewed VA's policies and identified key VA screening requirements for 43 health care occupations; interviewed officials from VA, licensing boards, and certifying organizations; and randomly sampled about 100 practitioners' personnel files at each of four VA facilities we visited."

This program was organized to focus on materials development issues critical to the acceleration of solid-state lighting, and was split into three major thrust areas: (1) study of dislocation density reduction for GaN grown on sapphire using 'cantilever epitaxy', and the impact of dislocation density on the performance of state-of-the-art high-power LEDs; (2) the evaluation of in situ techniques for monitoring gas phase chemistry and the properties of GaN-based layers during metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOCVD), and (3) feasibility for using semiconductor nanoparticles ('quantum dots') for the down-conversion of blue or ultraviolet light to generate white light. The program included a partnership between Lumileds Lighting (epitaxy and device fabrication for high power LEDs) and Sandia National Laboratories (cantilever epitaxy, gas phase chemistry, and quantum dot synthesis). Key findings included: (1) cantilever epitaxy can provide dislocation density reduction comparable to that of more complicated approaches, but all in one epitaxial growth step; however, further improvements are required to realize significant gains in LED performance at high drive currents, (2) in situ tools can provide detailed knowledge about gas phase chemistry, and can be used to monitor and control epitaxial layer composition and temperature to provide improved yields (e.g., a fivefold increase …

The viability of utilizing Reclaimed Limestone Residual (RLR) to remediate Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) was investigated. Physical and chemical characterization of RLR showed that it is composed of various minerals that contain significant quantities of limestone or calcium bearing compounds that can be exploited for acid neutralization. Acid Neutralization Potential (ANP) test results showed that RLR has a neutralization potential of approximately 83% as calcium carbonate (CaCO{sub 3}). Neutralization tests with most of the heavy metals associated with AMD showed removal efficiencies of over 99%. An unexpected benefit of utilizing RLR was the removal of hexavalent chromium Cr (VI) from the aqueous phase. Due to an elevation in pH by RLR most AMD heavy metals are removed from solution by precipitation as their metal hydroxides. Cr (VI) however is not removed by pH elevation and therefore subsequent ongoing tests to elucidate the mechanism responsible for this reaction were conducted.

This guide, sponsored by DOE's Federal Energy Management Program, highlights operations and maintenance (O&M) programs targeting energy efficiency that are estimated to save 5% to 20% on energy bills without a significant capital investment. The purpose of this guide is to provide the federal O&M energy manager and practitioner with useful information about O&M management, technologies, energy efficiency and cost-reduction approaches.

In October, 2000, the U.S. Department of Energy, through contractor Advanced Resources International, launched a multi-year government-industry R&D collaboration called the Coal-Seq project. The Coal-Seq project is investigating the feasibility of CO{sub 2} sequestration in deep, unmineable coalseams, by performing detailed reservoir studies of two enhanced coalbed methane recovery (ECBM) field projects in the San Juan basin. The two sites are the Allison Unit, operated by Burlington Resources, and into which CO{sub 2} is being injected, and the Tiffany Unit, operating by BP America, into which N{sub 2} is being injected (the interest in understanding the N{sub 2}-ECBM process has important implications for CO{sub 2} sequestration via flue-gas injection). The purposes of the field studies are to understand the reservoir mechanisms of CO{sub 2} and N{sub 2} injection into coalseams, demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the ECBM and sequestration processes, demonstrate an engineering capability to model them, and to evaluate sequestration economics. In support of these efforts, laboratory and theoretical studies are also being performed to understand and model multi-component isotherm behavior, and coal permeability changes due to swelling with CO{sub 2} injection. This report describes the results of an important component of the overall project, the Tiffany Unit reservoir …