To provide the final planning allotments for PY 2000 basic labor exchange activities to the States, as required by Section 6(b)(5) of the W-P Act, as amended.

To provide State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) with additional information and documents to complete the project to exchange data with the Social Security Administration (SSA).

To advise State agencies of the provisions of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, P.L. 106-170, which affect the Federal-State Unemployment Compensation (UC) program.

To advise State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) that the required operational date for the new ICON-IB6, Release 2 software, which is used for processing quarterly bills for unemployment claims that combine wages from two or more states, has been changed from the billing cycle for the quarter ending March 31, 2004, to the billing cycle for the quarter ending June 30, 2004.

To notify the States of the availability of a new publication, Training and Employment Report of the Secretary of Labor.

To inform the workforce investment system of the implementation of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Labor (DOL) Strategic Alliance Memorandum.

To announce that the month of May is Older Americans Month and to encourage WIA partners to take advantage of this opportunity to continue forging partnerships that actively promote initiatives focused on securing access to employment for older workers. The focus on older Americans during the month of May can provide numerous possibilities for broadening investments in the continued hiring and employment of mature, experienced workers.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is pleased to sponsor the first annual Recognition of Excellence on behalf of the nation¿s workforce investment system. To recognize superior employment and training related programs and improve system performance, ETA has established a system to recognize high levels of success by entities managing and partnering with ETA funded programs. ETA recognizes that achieving commendable outcomes requires much more than statutory or regulatory compliance. Therefore, high levels of success should be recognized, and it is ETA¿s hope that this recognition process will facilitate the exponential replication of promising practices throughout the workforce investment system.

To provide the SGA for the Work Incentive Grant program announced in the Federal Register on Thursday, May 25, 2000, and to provide information on the Technical Assistance/Bidders' Conferences scheduled by the Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA) on this grant program.

To inform the workforce investment system of changes and edits to the ET 406 Handbook and to announce the availability of version 1.7 of the Labor Exchange Reporting System (LERS) report validation software.