Report Type
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State/Local Agency
State (State and Local Reports)
Fraud Type
Agency Reviewed
- (-) Architect of the Capitol (0)
- (-) Department of Defense (18)
- (-) Department of Housing and Urban Development (1)
- (-) Department of State (0)
- (-) National Science Foundation (11)
- (-) Railroad Retirement Board (5)
- (-) Social Security Administration (3)
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1)
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- Department of Homeland Security (28)
- Department of Justice (6)
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- Department of the Interior (8)
- Department of the Treasury (37)
- Department of Transportation (5)
- Department of Veterans Affairs (27)
- Election Assistance Commission (13)
- Environmental Protection Agency (4)
- Farm Credit Administration (1)
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (1)
- General Services Administration (4)
- Internal Revenue Service (27)
- Multiple Agencies (1)
- National Security Agency (1)
- Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (1)
- Securities and Exchange Commission (1)
- Small Business Administration (30)
- Tennessee Valley Authority (3)
- U.S. Agency for International Development (1)
- U.S. Postal Service (11)
Related Organizations
Management Challenges
- Agency Operations (2)
- Data Transparency and Completeness (1)
- Federal Workforce Safety (3)
- Financial Management of Relief Funding (3)
- Grants and Guaranteed Loan Management (10)
- Informing and Protecting the Public from Pandemic-Related Fraud (1)
- IT Management and Security (2)
- Protecting the Health and Safety of the Public (3)
Any Recommendations
Any Open Recommendations
Reports
Audit of Entitlements for Activated Army National Guard and Air National Guard Members Supporting the Coronavirus Disease–2019 Mission
Rec. 1.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, update the DoD Financial Management Regulation, volume 7A, "Military Pay Policy - Active Duty and Reserve Pay," chapter 27, "Family Separation Allowance" to clearly state that the permanent duty station of a Reserve Component member on temporary duty status is the member's primary residence for the purpose of determining Family Separation Allowance entitlement.
Rec. 1.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, in coordination with the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, update the DoD Financial Management Regulation, volume 7A, "Military Pay Policy - Active Duty and Reserve Pay," chapter 27, "Family Separation Allowance" to clarify that Family Separation Allowance entitlement determination is based on the commuting distance between the member's primary residence and their temporary duty location.
Rec. 2.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Chief, National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Army National Guard and the Director of the Air National Guard, develop and implement policies and procedures to require the Army National Guard and Air National Guard to complete a review of proof of residency documentation when the member's primary residency is established or changed for the Basic Allowance for Housing entitlement to ensure consistency throughout all Army National Guard and Air National Guard units and organizations within every state, territory, and the District. The policies and procedures should also include requirements that: * document a member's primary residence address; * require members to provide proof of their primary residence address; * certify the primary address of members and review supporting documentation; and * provide oversight to ensure primary residence address information is complete and accurate.
Rec. 2.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Chief, National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Army National Guard and the Director of the Air National Guard, develop and implement policies and procedures to outline the process and frequency of recertification for Basic Allowance for Housing entitlement that Army National Guard and Air National Guard officials will use to verify and fully document the dependency status of members to provide clarification to the DoD Financial Management Regulation, volume 7A, chapter 26. These procedures should include: * how recertifications will be completed; * which members will complete a recertification; and * how Army National Guard and Air National Guard officials will provide oversight to ensure that information is complete and accurate.
Rec. 2.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Chief, National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Army National Guard and the Director of the Air National Guard, develop and implement policies and procedures to require Army National Guard and Air National Guard officials to review and document the status of a military member married to another military member regardless of which Military Service, Reserve or Active Component, or Army National Guard or Air National Guard unit the member's spouse belongs to, and identify which member will claim any applicable dependents.
Rec. 2.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Chief, National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Army National Guard and the Director of the Air National Guard, develop and implement policies and procedures to specify the methods for confirming eligibility and paying Family Separation Allowance for Army National Guard and Air National Guard members, in accordance with the DoD Financial Management Regulation, volume 7A, chapter 27, and include the: * timeliness of payments; * determination of Family Separation Allowance eligibility for back to back orders; * members assigned to their normal duty locations; and * requirement to track members to know when they return to their primary residence.
Rec. 2.e: The DoD OIG recommended that the Chief, National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Army National Guard and the Director of the Air National Guard, develop and implement policies and procedures to establish formal dissemination and communication procedures for National Guard Bureau policies related to entitlements provided to the Army National Guard and Air National Guard, including the policies in the preceding recommendations. The procedures should require: * creation of a central location where policies and procedures will be kept for easy access by all states, territories, and the District; and * confirmation of receipt from all of the states, territories, and the District when procedures are communicated or obtained.
Rec. 3: The DoD OIG recommended that the Chief, National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Director of the Army National Guard and the Director of the Air National Guard, develop and implement additional internal control procedures for the review of transactions manually submitted by the Army National Guard and Air National Guard to the payment system prior to payment to ensure the completeness and accuracy of transactions.
Railroad Retirement Board Did Not Implement Sufficient Internal Controls in the Mobile Phones Deployed as a Result of the Pandemic
The Bureau of Information Services should update their mobile phone policies to include and implement a National Archives and Records Administration-approved records schedule and transfer procedures for electronic records associated with mobile phones.
The Bureau of Information Services should develop and implement a records management and retention system for electronic records.
The Bureau of Information Services should research the capabilities of Railroad Retirement Board's Microsoft Azure Cloud's functionality to determine feasibility of incorporating the automated records management and retention capabilities to govern the mobile phones electronic records.
The Bureau of Information Services should submit a yearly affidavit to confirm electronic records associated with mobile phones have been identified and retained until the full transition into Microsoft Azure Cloud.
The Railroad Retirement Board's Director of Administration should define and communicate 'personal usage' establishing Railroad Retirement Board's core hours of 5:00 am to 7:00 pm. Any usage outside of core hours would be considered personal usage excluding business management purposes.
The Railroad Retirement Board's Bureau of Information Services should 1) continue efforts to update the Telecommuting and Mobile Security Computing Policy with current laws and regulations and 2) develop a periodic monitoring control to assess personal usage and address it according to agency guidance.
The Bureau of Information Services should incorporate the mobile phones in an existing assessable unit and update their mobile phone policies to include documentation regarding the specific roles and responsibilities of each office overseeing the mobile phone program.
The Bureau of Information Services should enforce and execute a review and approval process for application and software download and restrict access to specified applications found in their Railroad Retirement Board G-6 Rules of Behavior.
The Bureau of Information Services should implement procedures to periodically track, log, and monitor iPhone usage and the completion of the G-6 Acknowledgement Statement.
The Bureau of Information Services should periodically review the mobile phone inventory for completeness and accuracy to include a comparison with Railroad Retirement Board's personnel position index.
The Bureau of Information Services should implement the use of unique identifiers between disparate data sets (e.g., mobile phone inventory, personnel position index) to facilitate comparisons and reconcile inconsistent information.
Management Information Report - Railroad Retirement Board's Actions in Response to Pandemic Funding
The Bureau of Fiscal Operations should reconcile the obligations as reported to USAspending.gov and the weekly outlay report to determine the correct total for Coronavirus Disease 2019 obligations charged to the $5 million technology appropriation.
The Railroad Retirement Board's Executive Committee should establish a group tasked with hiring decisions for appropriated funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. This group should use documented and reliable procedures that are based on accurate and reliable data sources to determine hiring and staffing levels using appropriated funders from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The Railroad Retirement Board's Executive Committee should reconsider and revise its plans concerning hiring based on the American Rescue Plan Act appropriation because adequate supporting documentation had not been prepared.
Audit of DoD Implementation of the DoD Coronavirus Disease–2019 Vaccine Distribution Plan
Rec. 1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Defense Health Agency Director, with input from the Military Departments, the National Guard Bureau, and other stakeholders, review challenges and difficulties encountered during the distribution and administration of the coronavirus disease-2019 vaccine, compile a report detailing the issues, and determine if corrective actions are necessary to support future pandemic response planning. At a minimum, the review should include the following challenges and difficulties: * Determining the vaccine-eligible population at each military treatment facility; * Reporting vaccine administration data; * Communicating vaccination tier eligibility; * Coordinating tier movement between military treatment facilities; * Allocating vaccine to overseas locations; and * Vaccinating local nationals who work alongside U.S. personnel at overseas locations.
Rec. 2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs form and lead a working group consisting of DoD Components and address the issues identified by the Defense Health Agency.
Remote Versus In-Person Merit Review Panels
Develop a methodology to track the cost of convening merit review panels to evaluate proposals for NSF funding.
Identify and implement solutions to improve merit review panelist demographic data.
Study multiple factors, including cost of merit review panelists’ travel and compensation, to inform a decision on how to conduct future merit review panels to evaluate proposals and modify guidance accordingly.
Management Advisory Regarding Results from Research for Future Audits and Evaluations Related to the Effects of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus on DoD Operations
Rec. 1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD work with DoD Components to implement procedures to ensure award amounts funded under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act are appropriately recorded and reported with the accurate Disaster Emergency Fund Codes through the respective reporting systems.
Rec. 2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD work with the Navy and the Marine Corps to ensure that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act obligation and disbursement transactions processed through their accounting systems and journal vouchers are properly reported in USASpending.gov.
Rec. 3.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD develop procedures to confirm that DoD Components have appropriately implemented the policies DoD prescribed for coding Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act fund transactions.
Rec. 3.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD issue funding authorization documents that include a Disaster Emergency Fund Code value to ensure all DoD budget and accounting systems have a consistent basis to record and report funding and execution by Disaster Emergency Fund Code, in accordance with Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-18-08.
Performance Audit of the Implementation of OMB COVID-19 Flexibilities – University of Michigan
Direct UM to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $11,499 of questioned participant support costs for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.
Direct UM to establish clear guidance regarding the rebudgeting of participant support cost funding. This guidance should address when and how to request approval to rebudget participant support cost funding, as well as how to document the approval.
Direct UM to update its current award set-up practices to require that, when setting up accounts established for NSF awards and/or funding supplements, personnel ensure that the accounts apply indirect costs using the rate(s) that were established in the Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement in effect as of the date of the NSF award, rather than using the rate(s) included in the original Notice of Award.
Audit of the Reimbursement for Department of Defense Mission Assignments for Coronavirus Disease–2019 Pandemic Response in the U.S. Northern Command Area of Responsibility
Rec. 1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy Comptroller (Program/Budget), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer, DoD, in coordination with DoD Component comptrollers, initiate a review of all COVID-19 pandemic response mission assignments to ensure reimbursement requests for costs incurred are submitted in accordance with DoD policy.
Rec. 2.a: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Army Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller), immediately require tasked units to review costs incurred for mission assignments 4480DR-NY-DOD-10, 4480DR-NY-DOD-11, 4480DR-NY-DOD-12, and 4481DR-WA-DOD-02 as of July 31, 2020, for completeness and accuracy, and submit reimbursement requests for those costs with required documentation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in accordance with DoD policy.
Rec. 2.b: The DoD OIG recommended that the Assistant Director of the Office of Budget Fiscal Management, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller), immediately require tasked units to review costs incurred for mission assignments 4482DR-CA-DOD-01, 4482DR-CA-DOD-02, and 4488DR-NJ-DOD-04 as of July 31, 2020, for completeness and accuracy, and submit reimbursement requests for those costs with required documentation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in accordance with DoD policy.
Rec. 2.c: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy for Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller), immediately require tasked units to review costs incurred for mission assignment 4480DR-NY-DOD-10 as of July 31, 2020, for completeness and accuracy, and submit reimbursement requests for those costs with required documentation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in accordance with DoD policy.
Rec. 2.d: The DoD OIG recommended that the Comptroller of the United States Marine Corps immediately require tasked units to review costs incurred for 4482DR-CA-DOD-01, 4482DR-CA-DOD-02, and 4488DR-NJ-DOD-04 as of July 31, 2020, for completeness and accuracy, and submit reimbursement requests for those costs with required documentation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in accordance with DoD policy.
Rec. 2.e: The DoD OIG recommended that the Comptroller of the National Guard Bureau immediately require tasked units to review costs incurred for mission assignments 4480DR-NY-DOD-05, 4481DR-WA-DOD-05, 4482DR-CA-DOD-07, and 4491DR-MD-DOD-01 as of July 31, 2020, for completeness and accuracy, as well as any additional costs incurred and identified after July 31, 2020, and submit reimbursement requests for those costs with required documentation to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in accordance with DoD policy.
Rec. 3.a.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Army Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller), in coordination with the Financial Management Augmentation Team, develop and provide to tasked units, an Army-specific desk manual for mission assignments that includes, at a minimum, step-by-step procedures for initial set-up, real-time cost input, cost tracking, cost reporting, and submitting partial and final billings to ensure compliance with DoD policy.
Rec. 3.a.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Director, Army Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management and Comptroller) train tasked-unit personnel on how to navigate the Army-specific desk manual and apply the procedures appropriately.
Rec. 3.b.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Assistant Director of the Office of Budget Fiscal Management, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller), in coordination with the Financial Management Augmentation Team, develop and provide to tasked units, a Navy-specific desk manual for mission assignments that includes, at a minimum, step-by-step procedures for initial set-up, real-time cost input, cost tracking, cost reporting, and submitting partial and final billings to ensure compliance with DoD policy.
Rec. 3.b.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Assistant Director of the Office of Budget Fiscal Management, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller) train tasked-unit personnel on how to navigate the Navy-specific desk manual and apply the procedures appropriately.
Rec. 3.d.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Comptroller of the United States Marine Corps, in coordination with the Financial Management Augmentation Team, develop and provide to tasked units, a Marine Corps-specific desk manual for mission assignments that includes, at a minimum, step-by-step procedures for initial set-up, real-time cost input, cost tracking, cost reporting, and submitting partial and final billings to ensure compliance with DoD policy.
Rec. 3.d.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Comptroller of the United States Marine Corps train tasked-unit personnel on how to navigate the Marine Corps-specific desk manual and apply the procedures appropriately.
Rec. 3.e.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Comptroller of the National Guard Bureau, in coordination with the Financial Management Augmentation Team, develop and provide to tasked units a National Guard-specific desk manual for mission assignments that includes, at a minimum, step-by-step procedures for initial set-up, real-time cost input, cost tracking, cost reporting, and submitting partial and final billing to ensure compliance with DoD policy.
Rec. 3.e.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Comptroller of the National Guard Bureau train tasked-unit personnel on how to navigate the National Guard-specific desk manuals and apply the procedures appropriately.
Rec. 3.c.1: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy for Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller), in coordination with the Financial Management Augmentation Team, develop and provide to tasked units, an Air Force-specific desk manual for mission assignments that includes, at a minimum, step-by-step procedures for initial set-up, real-time cost input, cost tracking, cost reporting, and submitting partial and final billings to ensure compliance with DoD policy.
Rec. 3.c.2: The DoD OIG recommended that the Deputy for Budget, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management and Comptroller) train taskeDODIG-unit personnel on how to navigate the Air Force-specific desk manual and apply the procedures appropriately.
Performance Audit of the Implementation of OMB COVID-19 Flexibilities – University of Central Florida
Direct UCF to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $134 in questioned fringe benefit costs for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.
Direct UCF to notify its Federal sponsors that its personnel have not yet certified their effort for the Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Summer 2020, and Fall 2020 semesters.
Direct UCF to require its employees to certify their effort for the Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Summer 2020, and Fall 2020 semesters and then process any cost transfers needed to ensure that UCF charged NSF for salary costs that were consistent with the effort certified.
Direct UCF to review all salary earned during June 2020 to verify that its accounting system appropriately applied fringe benefits at the correct rate and, if the accounting system did not apply fringe benefits at the correct rate, process any adjustments necessary.
Direct UCF to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $160 of questioned participant support costs for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.
Direct UCF to establish policies and procedures to ensure that it obtains and documents proper approval for insurance costs before charging the costs to NSF awards.
Direct UCF to establish policies and procedures to ensure that it does not apply fringe benefit rates to participant support costs that it processes through its payroll subledger.
Performance Audit of the Implementation of OMB COVID-19 Flexibilities – California Institute of Technology
Resolve the $16,351 in questioned salary expenses for which Caltech has not agreed to reimburse NSF and direct Caltech to repay or otherwise remove the sustained questioned costs from its NSF awards.
Direct Caltech to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $418 of questioned salary expenses for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.
Direct Caltech to strengthen its policies and procedures by retroactively establishing expiration dates on its use of the Other Paid Leave Pool on Federal awards and ensuring that these expiration dates align with the expiration dates and criteria specific to Flexibility 6 of Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-20-17.
Resolve the $31,856 in questioned subaward expenses for which Caltech has not agreed to reimburse NSF and direct Caltech to repay or otherwise remove the sustained questioned costs from its NSF awards.
Direct Caltech to strengthen its internal control processes and procedures surrounding the transfer of significant portions of NSF-funded research to other organizations. Updated processes could include: a. Establishing procedures to verify whether the scope of work for a proposed subcontract on an NSF award is programmatic in nature before issuing the subcontract. If the scope of work is programmatic in nature, Caltech should obtain the NSF Grants Officer’s approval before issuing the subcontract. Caltech could obtain this approval either as part of the initial NSF grant proposal/budget or through a formal request to transfer the research or effort, submitted through NSF’s FastLane system. b. Requiring periodic training for Caltech personnel that are permitted to subaward, issue, or subcontract out research under NSF awards, to ensure that they request the appropriate approvals. c. Establishing procedures to confirm that Caltech personnel perform pass-through entity risk assessments to identify the appropriate monitoring procedures when Caltech awards NSF research to a pass-through entity. d. Establishing periodic monitoring procedures to ensure that Caltech appropriately assesses indirect costs on the first $25,000 invoiced by each subawardee.
Direct Caltech to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $1,515 of questioned indirect costs for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.
Direct Caltech to strengthen its monitoring procedures and internal control processes for applying indirect costs to Federal awards. Updated procedures could include: a. Requiring that personnel review rental expenses charged to NSF awards to assess whether the expenses included indirect costs. Specifically, Caltech should ensure the general ledger account codes it establishes to account for equipment rental charges do not apply indirect costs. b. Requiring that personnel review capitalized expenses charged to an NSF award to ensure that the capitalized amount includes all applicable costs.
Direct Caltech to quantify the total indirect costs inappropriately applied to NSF awards as a result of its rental equipment account inappropriately applying indirect costs and to reimburse NSF for the appropriate amount.
Direct Caltech to provide documentation supporting that it has repaid or otherwise credited the $581 of questioned salary and fringe costs for which it has agreed to reimburse NSF.
Direct Caltech to strengthen its administrative and management controls and processes surrounding the charging of salary to Intergovernmental Personnel Act awards. Updated processes could include requiring departmental payroll personnel to perform additional procedures to ensure that Caltech appropriately established initial salary payments, including verifying that all payments are within the Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignment dates.
Direct Caltech to update its current award set-up practices to require that, when setting up accounts established for NSF awards, personnel ensure that the accounts apply indirect costs using either the rates that were established in the Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement in effect as of the date of the NSF grant award or the rates identified in the NSF award letters, as appropriate.