Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed inventory issues as they related to the Department of Defense's (DOD) operations and readiness, focusing on: (1) the status of DOD's secondary inventory; (2) difficulties one military service continues to have in obtaining repair parts to keep its combat aircraft mission capable; (3) the adequacy of DOD's controls over inventory items in transit; (4) implementation of DOD's efforts to have greater visibility over its logistical assets through its Total Asset Visibility Program; and (5) the continuing need to apply best private sector management practices to Defense inventory management."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) efforts to initiate and complete removal proceedings for criminal aliens in state and federal prisons through its Institutional Hearing Program (IHP)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 compliance status of biomedical equipment, focusing on: (1) the status of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Federal Year 2000 Biomedical Equipment Clearinghouse; (2) the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) positions on GAO's recommendation to obtain and review the test results supporting manufacturers' compliance certifications for critical care/life support medical devices; and (3) information on the biomedical equipment compliance status of health care providers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed military retirement, focusing on: (1) changes being proposed by the Department of Defense (DOD); (2) areas where GAO believes more information is needed; and (3) the opportunity to take a long-term strategic view of the military compensation system."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the long-standing challenges facing the Department of Veterans Affairs in administering programs that provide financial and other benefits to veterans, their dependents, and survivors, focusing on: (1) recent progress the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has made; (2) areas in which progress is lacking; and (3) changes in program design that could hold potential for greater gains."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the adjustment of Medicare's payments to managed care plans in the Medicare Choice program, focusing on the: (1) importance of improving the current risk adjustment method; (2) implications of rate-setting changes implemented in 1998; and (3) the advantages and drawbacks of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) proposed new interim risk adjuster."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO: (1) provided information on the usefulness of publicly available environmental information to competitive intelligence professionals; and (2) assessed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to address industries' concerns about providing the public with access to sensitive business information."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the activities of the U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEAC) network, focusing on: (1) the nature of coordination among the federal agencies participating in the USEAC network and between these agencies and nonfederal export-service providers; and (2) USEAC assistance to firms that export services and to firms that are not ready to export but show potential and interest in doing so. The three federal agencies participating in the USEAC network include the Department of Commerce, the Export-Import Bank, and the Small Business Administration (SBA)."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the progress of the Air Force's depot maintenance reform initiatives to improve the efficiency and responsiveness of its industrial operations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the corrective actions taken by the Army following the deaths of four Ranger students in a 1995 training accident, focusing on the status of: (1) Army Ranger training manning levels required by the fiscal year 1996 National Defense Authorization Act; (2) establishing safety cell organizations required by the act; (3) corrective safety actions instituted after the accident; and (4) inspections of identified safety controls."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to implement the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996, focusing on: (1) the status of FAA's efforts to implement the requirement of section 301 of the act mandating that FAA conduct a study and report to Congress on whether aviation security responsibilities should be transferred from the airline carriers to airports or the federal government; (2) the status of FAA's efforts to implement section 302 mandating that FAA certify security screening companies and improve the training and testing of security screeners through the development of performance standards; and (3) issues that could impede FAA's implementation of section 302."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the reasons for the losses being incurred by the Guaranteed Business and Industry Loan Program, focusing on the Rural Business-Cooperative Service's experience with business and industry guaranteed loans made during fiscal year (FY) 1994 through FY 1998 on which the Service paid losses."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) Future Years Defense Program (FYDP), focusing on: (1) whether savings in DOD's fiscal year (FY) 1999-2003 FYDP were the result of DOD's Defense Reform Initiatives (DRI); (2) the extent to which savings and personnel reductions from competitive sourcing in the 1999-2003 FYDP were based on ongoing or planned studies of functions specifically identified under the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76, and what percentage of the current costs of performing those functions were included from the projected savings from these studies; and (3) whether DOD components outsourced activities that included inherently governmental functions, without allowing civilian employees to compete under Circular A-76 procedures, or without following the study and notification requirements of 10 U.S.C. 2461."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the semiannual reporting requirements contained in the Inspector General (IG) Act of 1978, focusing on the: (1) composition of the semiannual reports; and (2) views of a range of individuals--IGs, agency managers, and congressional staff--on the usefulness of the reports and what modifications, if any, should be made to the semiannual reporting requirements."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided a historical analysis of the Navy's decisions to lease Sealift tankers, Maritime Prepositioning Ships, T-5 replacement tankers, and Chouest specialized support vessels, focusing on: (1) the basis and support for the Navy's lease decisions; (2) past concerns regarding those decisions; and (3) legislative and regulatory changes that affect current and future leasing decisions."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the U.S. Capitol Police's administrative operations, focusing on: (1) the U.S. Capitol Police's existing organizational strategies, structures, systems and processes; (2) the evaluation of the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of systems, processes, controls, and information for each administrative operation; and (3) opportunities for improving the operational efficiency and effectiveness of each administrative operation. GAO selected Booz-Allen and Hamilton to conduct the evaluation."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the major management challenges and program risks confronting the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of State, and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), focusing on: (1) the management challenges DOD, State, and VA must address to improve the efficiency of their support functions; and (2) whether these departments are meeting performance and accountability goals and measurements that are required under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the critical management challenges facing the Department of Transportation (DOT), focusing on DOT's ability to: (1) achieve its goals of ensuring safe and efficient movement of people and goods; and (2) make cost-effective investments in the nation's transportation infrastructure."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) efforts to implement the Clinger-Cohen Act and strengthen its information technology (IT) management processes."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Education Flexibility Partnership Demonstration Program (Ed-Flex), which authorizes 12 states to grant waivers (temporary exceptions from certain federal requirements) to their local school districts, focusing on: (1) the scope and limitations of the current Ed-Flex waiver authority; (2) opportunities for expansion to more states under current eligibility requirements; and (3) the challenges posed for the Ed-Flex program of balancing the two objectives of achieving federal program oversight and offering flexibility to state and local school districts."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed how Congress can use the Government Performance and Results Act to facilitate agency performance plans to oversee early childhood programs, focusing on: (1) how the Results Act can assist in management and congressional oversight, especially in areas where there are multiple programs; (2) how the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services (HHS)--which together administer more than half of the federal early childhood program funds--addressed early childhood programs in their strategic and fiscal year 1999 and 2000 performance plans and the extent to which recent plans show progress in coordinating early childhood programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed how best to ensure the long-term viability of the Social Security Program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed Internet-related cramming, which is the inclusion of unauthorized, misleading, or deceptive charges on a consumer's telephone bill, focusing on: (1) the extent of cramming complaints; (2) state and federal regulatory initiatives to protect consumers from cramming; and (3) state and federal enforcement actions against companies engaged in cramming."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the financial condition of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Flood Insurance Program, focusing on the: (1) financial results of the program's operations since fiscal year 1993; (2) major factors contributing to the financial difficulties faced by the program; and (3) actions taken by and plans of the Federal Insurance Administration that may affect the program's financial health."