Reports

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Small Business Administration OIG

COVID-19: Data Sharing Project Finds Billions Paid to Same Likely Fraudsters Under Both the Unemployment Insurance and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Programs

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this inspection report to determine whether data sharing between the Employment and Training Administration and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) could mitigate the risk of fraudulent unemployment insurance benefit payments and SBA disaster program disbursements. In 2020, soon after Congress expanded the Unemployment Insurance and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Programs in response to the adverse economic effects caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Labor OIG and SBA OIG respectively began reporting...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Inspection / Evaluation | 12/05/2024

Department of Education OIG

Linn-Mar Community School District’s Use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Grant Funds (Iowa)

We performed this review to determine whether Linn-Mar Community School District (Iowa) expended Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant funds for allowable purposes in accordance with applicable requirements. We determined that all 20 (100 percent) ESSER expenditures that we reviewed for Linn-Mar were allowable. However, we found that Linn-Mar did not comply with key competitive procurement process or documentation requirements when procuring the goods or services associated with 6 (40 percent) of the 15 non-personnel expenditures, totaling $228,510 (49 percent) of the...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Other | 9/27/2024

Department of Education OIG

Washington’s Oversight of Local Educational Agency ARP ESSER Plans and Spending

The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (Washington) had an adequate oversight process in place to ensure that (1) local educational agencies’ (LEA) American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) plans met applicable requirements and (2) LEAs use ARP ESSER funds in accordance with applicable requirements and their approved LEA ARP ESSER plans. We found that Washington did not have an adequate review and approval process to ensure that LEA ARP ESSER plans met all applicable...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/20/2023

Department of the Treasury OIG

Desk Review of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s Use of Coronavirus Relief Fund Proceeds

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Other | 8/08/2023

Department of the Treasury OIG

Desk Review of the State of Utah’s Use of Coronavirus Relief Fund Proceeds

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Other | 12/17/2024

1-1 - Open

Treasury OIG follow-up with Utah's management to confirm if the $40,308,738 noted as unsupported expenditures within the Contracts greater than or equal to $50,000, Grants greater than or equal to $50,000, Transfers greater than or equal to $50,000, Aggregate Reporting less than $50,000, and Aggregate Payments to Individuals payment types can be supported. If support is not provided, Treasury OIG should recoup the funds or request Utah management to provide support for replacement expenses, not previously charged, that were eligible during the CRF period of performance$50,000, Transfers greater than or equal to $50,000, Aggregate Reporting less than $50,000, and Aggregate Payments to Individuals payment types can be supported. If support is not provided, Treasury OIG should recoup the funds or request Utah management to provide support for replacement expenses, not previously charged, that were eligible during the CRF period of performance.

1-2 - Open

Treasury OIG request Utah management to provide support for replacement expenses, not previously charged, that were eligible during the CRF period of performance for the $6,852,799 of ineligible costs charged to the Contracts greater than or equal to $50,000, Grants greater than or equal to $50,000, Transfers greater than or equal to $50,000, and Aggregate Payments to Individuals payment types. If support is not provided, Treasury OIG should recoup the funds. Further, based on Utah's responsiveness to Treasury OIG's requests and its ability to provide sufficient documentation and/or replace unsupported and ineligible transactions charged to CRF with valid expenditures, Castro recommends Treasury OIG determine the feasibility of conducting an audit for the Contracts greater than or equal to $50,000, Grants greater than or equal to $50,000, Transfers greater than or equal to $50,000, Aggregate Reporting less than $50,000, and Aggregate Payments to Individuals payment types.

2-1 - Open

Treasury's Office of Capital Access should follow-up on any CRF specific questioned costs reported in the fiscal year 2020, 2021, and 2022 Single Audit reports.

3-1 - Open

Treasury OIG follow-up with Utah's management to determine the feasibility of performing additional follow-up with Utah to determine if there were other instances of unsupported costs within the $8,471,021 remaining, untested balance.

4-1 - Open

Treasury OIG follow-up with Utah's management to determine the feasibility of performing additional follow-up with Utah to determine if there were other instances of unsupported balances within the advertising campaigns created through a third-party vendor.

5-1 - Open

Treasury OIG follow-up with Utah and request Utah to perform an analysis over all of their GrantSolutions portal reported balances to determine if there were other instances of subscription costs included in the CRF reported expenditures and review those expenditures to determine if there were other instances of subscription costs that extended past September 30, 2022.

6-1 - Open

Treasury OIG determine the feasibility of performing additional follow-up with Utah to determine if there were other instances of unsupported costs within the other two awards issued under the Thrive 125 program.

7-1 - Open

Treasury OIG determine the feasibility of performing additional follow-up with Utah to determine if there were other instances of unsupported grants within the amount of $1,790,107 not tested by Castro.

8-1 - Open

Treasury OIG determine the feasibility of performing additional follow-up to determine if there were other instances of unsupported costs and ineligible bonuses within the remainder of the amount categorized as non-substantially dedicated payroll.

Department of War OIG

Management Advisory Regarding Results from Research for Future Audits and Evaluations Related to the Effects of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus on DoD Operations

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Other | 1/19/2022

Department of Education OIG

Illinois’ Oversight of Local Educational Agency ARP ESSER Plans and Spending

The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Illinois State Board of Education (Illinois) had an adequate oversight process in place to ensure that (1) local educational agencies’ (LEA) American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) plans met applicable requirements and (2) LEAs use ARP ESSER funds in accordance with applicable requirements and their approved LEA ARP ESSER plans.We found that Illinois generally had adequate processes to ensure that LEA ARP ESSER plans met applicable requirements. However, it did not communicate accurate...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 3/27/2024

Department of Labor OIG

ETA Did Not Ensure ARPA Grants Demonstrated Improvements in Access to Unemployment Benefits

DOL OIG was concerned about ETA’s ability to deploy ARPA grant funding. Therefore, DOL OIG performed an audit to determine: To what extent did ETA administer these grants in accordance with ARPA and DOL’s objectives for UI access, and are grant recipients on target to achieve performance outcomes? OIG found ETA did not ensure the grants demonstrated improvements in access to UI benefits nor were they awarded in a way that would maximize impact of the funding. ETA did not ensure states reported complete and accurate outcome metrics and status updates in quarterly progress reports. Finally, ETA...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 8/28/2025

Department of Labor OIG

COVID-19: ETA Needs a Plan to Reconcile and Return to the U.S. Treasury Nearly $5 Billion Unused by States for a Temporary Unemployment Insurance Program

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/28/2023

1 - Open

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training work with Oregon, Louisiana, Delaware, and Mississippi to ensure the appropriate return of approximately $105.1 million in TFFF reimbursements for first-week regular UI compensation paid that were associated with ineligible weeks.

2 - Open

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training establish a deadline by which states are required to perform a timely review of past drawdowns and provide evidence that drawdowns were for reimbursement of eligible first-week regular UI compensation paid by the state for claim weeks that fell within the TFFF program period.

3 - Open

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training reassess the eligibility of all states with waiting week provisions according to their state laws to ensure that the waiting week was not in effect when states accessed TFFF funds prior to December 31, 2020.

4 - Open

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training ensure that any state drawdowns of the remaining almost $5 billion ($4,948,811,006) in TFFF funds are only for the reimbursement of first-week regular UI compensation paid by the state that fall within the TFFF program period (March 27, 2020, through September 6, 2021).

5 - Closed

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training establish a deadline for states to reconcile and close out TFFF accounts so ETA can facilitate deobligation of the funding.

6 - Open

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training establish written procedures and deadlines for the timely return of funding for TFFF and future similar programs and consult with OMB and Treasury officials to execute the proper return of unused funds that remain within states’ accounts.

7 - Open

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training capture lessons learned from the TFFF program and use the information to develop effective internal control procedures to ensure states meet program requirements, including eligibility, and have sufficient infrastructure in place to pay claimants’ UI benefits without delay for similar temporary emergency UI programs that may be established in the future.

8 - Open

We recommend the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training capture lessons learned from the TFFF program and use the information to develop and implement controls to ensure the methodology and procedures are documented and maintained for estimating allotments and subsequent adjustments for similar temporary emergency UI programs that may be established in the future.

Small Business Administration OIG

Ending Active Collections on Delinquent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans

The Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory to bring attention to concerns regarding SBA’s decision to end active collections on delinquent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) with an outstanding balance of $100,000 or less.First, SBA’s decision to cease collections risks violating the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, which prohibits ending collections on fraudulent, false, or misrepresented claims, because SBA OIG and other oversight agencies are continuing to work on identifying COVID-19 EIDL fraud that...

Full Details: Oversight.gov Report Page

Audit | 9/29/2023

1 - Open

To address concerns in the COVID-19 EIDL program, we recommend the Administrator direct the Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access to perform a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis, consistent with federal regulations, to include periodic comparisons of costs incurred and amounts collected on the portfolio of COVID-19 EIDLs of $100,000 or less to assess whether collection costs exceed recovery amounts.

2 - Open

To address concerns in the COVID-19 EIDL program, we recommend the Administrator direct the Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access to reevaluate and amend as appropriate the April 27, 2022 decision to end active collections contingent on the outcome of the more comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.

3 - Closed

To address concerns in the COVID-19 EIDL program, we recommend the Administrator direct the Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access to ensure SBA does not end active collections pursuant to the April 27, 2022 decision on any COVID-19 EIDL of $100,000 or less made to borrowers who received multiple COVID-19 EIDLs that, when combined, exceed $100,000.

4 - Open

To address concerns in the COVID-19 EIDL program, we recommend the Administrator direct the Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access to ensure SBA does not end active collections on any COVID-19 EIDL that appears to be fraudulent, false, or misrepresented, including loans identified as such by OIG or other federal oversight entities, without 1) reviewing the loan application for fraud and 2) attempting active collection, at a minimum, regardless of the outcome of a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.

5 - Closed

To maximize the return to taxpayers, we recommend the Administrator direct the Associate Administrator for the Office of Capital Access to evaluate the COVID-19 EIDL portfolio, in collaboration with Treasury, to determine if selling the portfolio, including delinquent loans of $100,000 or less, is in the best interest of the government.

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Reports

COVID-19: Data Sharing Project Finds Billions Paid to Same Likely Fraudsters Under Both the Unemployment Insurance and Economic Injury Disaster Loan Programs

Linn-Mar Community School District’s Use of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Grant Funds (Iowa)

Washington’s Oversight of Local Educational Agency ARP ESSER Plans and Spending

Desk Review of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s Use of Coronavirus Relief Fund Proceeds

Desk Review of the State of Utah’s Use of Coronavirus Relief Fund Proceeds

Management Advisory Regarding Results from Research for Future Audits and Evaluations Related to the Effects of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus on DoD Operations

Illinois’ Oversight of Local Educational Agency ARP ESSER Plans and Spending

ETA Did Not Ensure ARPA Grants Demonstrated Improvements in Access to Unemployment Benefits

COVID-19: ETA Needs a Plan to Reconcile and Return to the U.S. Treasury Nearly $5 Billion Unused by States for a Temporary Unemployment Insurance Program

Ending Active Collections on Delinquent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans

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