Reports
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Department of Housing and Urban Development OIG
Limited Review of HUD’s Office of Chief Procurement Officer Pandemic-Related Procurement Accommodations and Challenges
We conducted a limited review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of the Chief Procurement Officer’s (OCPO) administration of five procurement activities under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The CARES Act and related Office of Management and Budget memorandums gave HUD flexibility in modifying existing contracts and required rapid delivery of CARES Act funds. Our objective was to determine what HUD had done to accommodate contractors’ pandemic-related issues while ensuring that HUD met its business objectives. In addition...
Department of Education OIG
Federal Student Aid’s Suspension of Involuntary Collection in Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
The objective of our review was to evaluate the results of Federal Student Aid’s (FSA) process for suspending involuntary collection and refunding payments involuntarily collected on defaulted Department-held loans in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. We found that FSA suspended administrative wage garnishments and the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) offsets for over 96 percent of the borrowers that FSA collected payments for within 90 days of March 13, 2020, the start of the suspension period. However, as of October 23, 2020, we found that FSA continued to receive administrative...
Department of Education OIG
Risk of Closed Institutions of Higher Education Receiving Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Grants
The purpose of this report is to share with the U.S. Department of Education (Department) observations made by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concerning institutions of higher education (IHE) that ceased to provide educational instruction in all programs of study (closed) and received or had access to coronavirus response and relief aid through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). We found that 17 IHEs that closed on or before December 31, 2020, applied for and were awarded a total of $4,912,675 of HEERF grants by OPE. Of these 17 IHEs, 14 drew down HEERF funds and 3 did...
Department of Homeland Security OIG
Violations of Detention Standards at Pulaski County Jail
During our unannounced inspection of Pulaski County Jail, we identified violations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention standards that threatened the health, safety, and rights of detainees. In addressing COVID-19, Pulaski did not consistently enforce precautions including use of facial coverings and social distancing, which may have contributed to repeated COVID-19 transmissions at the facility. Pulaski did not meet standards for classification, medical care, segregation, or detainee communication. We found that the facility was not providing a color-coded visual...
Department of Housing and Urban Development OIG
HUD’s Use of, Accounting for, and Reporting on CARES Act Funding
As of March 31, 2021, HUD had disbursed $3.4 billion and obligated $7.4 billion of its $12.4 billion in CARES Act funds. Meanwhile, HUD has more than $1.6 billion in CARES Act funds unobligated. These funds have various expiration dates. For example, HUD has until September 30, 2021, to obligate $28 million of the remaining management and administration CARES Act funds and until September 30, 2022, to obligate more than $1.3 billion of the remaining Office of Community Planning and Development’s CARES Act funds. If HUD is unable to obligate funds properly before its appropriations expire, it...
Department of Homeland Security OIG
Violations of Detention Standards Amidst COVID-19 Outbreak at La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, AZ
We identified violations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention standards that threatened the health, safety, and rights of detainees. La Palma Correctional Center (LPCC) complied with the ICE detention standard regarding classification. However, detainee reports and grievances allege an environment of mistreatment and verbal abuse, including in response to peaceful detainee protests of the facility’s handling of the pandemic. In addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), LPCC did not enforce ICE’s precautions including facial coverings and social distancing...
Department of Housing and Urban Development OIG
HUD and its CDBG-DR grantees have experienced challenges related to the COVID-19 Pandemic
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), has completed a survey of the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grantees. Our objective was to determine the challenges that HUD and its CDBG-DR grantees are experiencing related to the COVID-19 pandemic and to help inform the Office of Community Planning and Development and Congress on the issues faced in responding to the pandemic. HUD’s CDBG-DR grantees across the country reported facing similar...
Department of Housing and Urban Development OIG
Key Considerations From Prior Audits of the Single Family Default Monitoring System and the Partial Claim Loss Mitigation Option
We prepared this memorandum to provide the Office of Housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with key considerations from prior audits of the HUD Single Family Default Monitoring System (SFDMS) and the partial claim loss mitigation option. These audits identified HUD’s lack of effective controls to ensure that lenders reported default information accurately and in a timely manner, lenders promptly filed and reported partial claims, and partial claims fully reinstated delinquent loans. Prior audits also identified that the current design of partial claims results...
Department of Education OIG
Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting Requirements
The objective of our inspection was to determine (1) whether selected institutions receiving funds under the Institutional Portion of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) met public reporting requirements and (2) the reported usage of the Institutional Portion of HEERF by selected institutions. We determined that 81 of the 100 institutions included in our sample complied with Institutional Portion reporting requirements. We were unable to locate Institutional Portion reports anywhere on the websites associated with 19 of the 100 (19 percent) institutions included in our sample.
Department of Homeland Security OIG
Ineffective Implementation of Corrective Actions Diminishes DHS' Oversight of Its Pandemic Planning
DHS OIG issued a series of three reports between August 2014 and October 2016 examining DHS’ pandemic activities, including 28 recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of DHS planning and response activities. We conducted this verification review to determine the adequacy and effectiveness of DHS’ corrective actions. We focused our review on 11 of 28 key recommendations that dealt with DHS-wide pandemic planning and response activities. We determined that DHS provided the OIG with adequate documentation of its initial plans and actions to address the recommendations to...