Reports

We found that a full-time NPS employee wrongfully obtained State unemployment insurance and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

We found that a USBR employee wrongfully obtained $28,524 in combined Unemployment Insurance and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was enacted. It included $8 billion for direct payments to Indian Tribes and $522 million of direct appropriations to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) for COVID-19 response. Given this infusion of funding, we examined the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian detention system from April 1, 2020, to May 31, 2020, including the actions the BIA and the tribes have taken to respond to outbreaks of this virus, and how other longstanding challenges have affected the BIA’s response...

Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) enacted on March 27, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) received $909.7 million to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic. The Office of the Secretary (OS) received $158.4 million of the DOI’s CARES Act funding and transferred funds to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Office of Inspector General (OIG), Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), and Office of Wildland Fire (OWF). As of November 30, 2020, 5.3 percent of the funding...

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To date the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas, and a $153.7 million transfer from the U.S. Department of Education to the BIE. This report presents the DOI’s progress as of October 31, 2020, in spending CARES Act appropriations. Specifically, the DOI’s expenditures to date total $566,168,083...

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To date the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas, and a $153.7 million transfer from the U.S. Department of Education to the BIE. This report presents the DOI’s progress as of September 30, 2020, in spending CARES Act appropriations. Specifically, the DOI’s expenditures to date total $546,908...

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To date, the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas, and a $153.7 million transfer from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to the BIE. In this report, we present lessons learned from and the risks identified in our earlier audit and investigation work related to the Coastal Impact Assistance...

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To date the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas, and a $153.7 million transfer from the U.S. Department of Education to the BIE. This report presents the DOI’s progress as of August 31, 2020, in spending CARES Act appropriations. Specifically, the DOI’s expenditures to date total $526,662,366...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) continued to fulfill its mission by performing safety and environmental inspections for offshore oil and gas operations. We reviewed the actions BSEE’s three regions—the Gulf of Mexico Region, Pacific Region, and Alaska Region—have taken to protect inspectors and offshore employees from COVID-19 and evaluated any impacts the virus had on inspections BSEE conducted since March 2020. We found that BSEE: • Developed, communicated, and updated COVID-19 guidance for all personnel involved with offshore...

OIG issued this 2020 Census Alert due to our concerns—about the Census Bureau’s (Bureau’s) inconsistent implementation of safety procedures to prevent the spread of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) as it completed its 2020 Census operations—that required immediate attention. Based on the number and consistency of COVID-19-related OIG hotline complaints that we received, we were concerned that the Bureau was not fully complying with key elements of its own COVID-19 safety requirements—or operating fully in line with recommended guidance provided by the Department of Commerce (the Department), the U...