Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) efforts to implement the mutual recognition agreement (MRA) between the United States and the European Union."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on three selected research and development initiatives using the plasma arc technology to treat waste, focusing on comparing the characteristics of the largest of the Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives and both Navy shore and ship initiatives."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on: (1) the Department of Justice's (DOJ) implementation of its False Claims Act guidance; and (2) DOJ's U.S. Attorneys' Offices' involvement in DOJ's national health care initiatives."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the fiscal year (FY) 2000 performance plan for the Department of Education, focusing on: (1) assessing the usefulness of the agency's plan for decisionmaking; and (2) identifying the degree of improvement the agency's FY 2000 performance plan represents over its FY 1999 plan."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) relief efforts in Central America in the wake of Hurricane Mitch."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federally funded fishery buyback programs, focusing on the: (1) number, objectives, and key features of federally funded buyback programs since 1976; (2) costs, sources of funds, and results of these programs; and (3) key features and estimated costs of proposed federally funded buyback programs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the funding requirements for the technical assistance that the Natural Resources Conservation Service provides to the Conservation Reserve Program, focusing on: (1) the nature and costs of the Conservation Service's technical assistance; (2) the reasons the Conservation Service suspended its technical assistance for the program; (3) budgetary authorities and other statutory requirements that constrain the Conservation Service's performance of technical assistance for the program; and (4) the potential to use contractors to provide this assistance in lieu of the Conservation Service."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) decision to lower the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program's administrative fee from 3 percent to 2.5 percent, focusing on how the: (1) FMS program recovers its costs, as required by the Arms Export Control Act; and (2) projected sales levels made through the program will affect cost recovery in the future."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined the source of information states used to derive both the fiscal year (FY) 1998 and the base numbers of finalized foster care adoptions, and identified factors that contributed to the increases in foster care adoptions in 5 states--Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, and Texas."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (BLDTF) for the fiscal year (FY) ended September 30, 1998, is supported by the underlying records."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by AIMD-00-21.3.1, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, November 1999. GAO published a guide on internal control standards for executive agency managers as required by the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act. The standards apply equally to program implementation and administration as well as financial operations, and they are intended to help both program and financial managers."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO investigated the allegations that Adolfo Franco, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), violated contracting regulations and personnel policies in his attempts to hire Carlos Urquidi for the auditor position at IAF, focusing on if IAF violated: (1) Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) in procuring the services of Mr. Urquidi; and (2) Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations or personnel policies in its attempts to fill the auditor position."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) new rule on the effective date of application for Supplemental Security Income benefits. GAO noted that: (1) the rule implements section 204 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which changes the date a social security application is effective so that the earliest month for which benefits can be paid is the month following the month in which the application is filed; (2) previously, benefits were prorated for the month in which the application was filed; (3) the rule makes changes concerning emergency advance payments, interim assistance reimbursements, and in the definition of eligible spouse; and (4) SSA complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Transportation's (DOT) new rule on credit assistance for surface transportation projects. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule would implement the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998 to provide credit assistance to surface transportation projects; (2) the Act authorizes DOT to provide secured loans, lines of credit, and loan guarantees to public and private project sponsors of eligible surface transportation projects; and (3) DOT complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new rule on the implementation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would: (a) establish a minimum set of system security and integrity requirements that all telecommunications carriers must follow to ensure compliance with section 105 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and section 229(b) and (c) of the Communications Act; and (b) require that telecommunications carriers ensure that any interception of communications or access to call-identifying information effected within its switching premises can be activated only in accordance with a court order or other lawful authorization and with the affirmative intervention of an individual officer or employee of the carrier, designated as a 24-hour a day point of contact available to law enforcement officials; and (2) FCC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the net federal unemployment taxes (FUTA) collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1998, are supported by the underlying records."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federally funded drug abuse treatment programs and activities for the federal judiciary, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) fiscal year (FY) 2000 performance plan, focusing on: (1) assessing the usefulness of the agency's plan for decisionmaking; and (2) identifying the degree of improvement the agency's FY 2000 performance plan represents over the FY 1999 plan."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information regarding work done on the Union Station Redevelopment Project by Park Woodworking, Inc., focusing on the: (1) extent of the government's liability, if any, for costs incurred for which Park was not compensated; (2) extent to which Park was not compensated for the work it did; and (3) actions taken by the Secretary of Transportation and the Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General (IG) in response to complaints received from Park."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO compared the actual fiscal year (FY) 1998 obligations for the Department of Energy's (DOE) Fossil Energy Research and Development (R&D) Program and the Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program with the estimated obligations that were previously reported."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Women's Business Center Program, focusing on: (1) a description of the women's business centers, including their funding status, their experiences in raising matching funds, the types of services offered in a women's business center's first and last year of grant funding, and the differences between parent and satellite centers; (2) the extent to which SBA's award criteria predict long-term success or failure of women's business centers; and (3) the Office of Women's Business Ownership's compliance with legislative reporting requirements and the inherent difficulties with obtaining the required data from the women's business centers."

Guidance issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO published a guide to help federal agencies develop a Day One strategy to be executed during the last days of 1999 and the first days of 2000. The guide addresses four phases supported by executive oversight: (1) initiation; (2) rollover risk assessment, planning, and preparation; (3) rehearsal; and (4) execution, monitoring, responding, and reporting."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on its recommendations to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for completing key actions necessary to ensure continued delivery of benefits and health care services to veterans beyond January 1, 2000."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO investigated: (1) the Indian Health Service (IHS) award of Indian Health Professions Scholarships (graduate scholarships) pursuant to 25 U.S.C. section 1613a of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act."