Reports
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Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Key Insights: Contracts and Grants Workforce Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
During the pandemic, the contracts and grants workforce played a critical role in providing support to taxpayers, local governments, and other recipients through pandemic relief programs. The CARES Act directed the PRAC to review the sufficiency of contract and grant staffing and other resources from agencies across the federal government to determine if they had the resources necessary to adequately perform their duties. The PRAC conducted a survey of 29 agencies, and each provided their experiences on the impact the pandemic had on their agency’s ability to effectively perform their work...
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Review of Personnel Shortages in Federal Health Care Programs During the COVID-19 Pandemic
While personnel shortages existed in the health care community before the pandemic, the pandemic exacerbated these shortages. Maintaining an appropriate level of personnel in health care facilities is essential to providing a safe work environment for health care personnel and safe care to patients. The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s (PRAC) Health Care Subgroup developed this report to share insights into personnel shortages across four select federal health care programs, or the providers they reimburse. Together, these four programs provide health care services to approximately...
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program Phase III Fraud Controls
The PRAC examined whether the Small Business Administration (SBA) Phase III fraud controls, which were applied to process Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in 2021, would have likely detected the earlier fraud found in PPP criminal cases. SBA designed the PPP Phase III controls to address significant fraud identified in the earlier phases of the program and some were later used by the SBA in its Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) program.
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Increasing Transparency into COVID-19 Spending
The objective of this review was to identify specific gaps in transparency in award data for federal assistance spending in response to COVID-19. We looked at 51,000 awards worth $347 billion that supported the pandemic response (as of June 15, 2021). The report includes three findings, including we found more than 15,400 awards worth $33 billion with meaningless descriptions that make it difficult to know how COVID-19 relief money was used. The report includes five recommendations to help improve the transparency into COVID-19 relief spending.
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Lessons Learned in Oversight of Pandemic Relief Funds
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) supports independent oversight of $5 trillion worth of relief funds provided by Congress to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. This is an unprecedented amount of money, and it was disbursed quickly. The PRAC has worked with dozens of Inspectors General across the federal government to examine whether it was spent correctly and reached those it was intended to help. Together, we have issued more than 275 oversight reports that reveal common challenges facing agencies across major relief programs like unemployment insurance and loans to...
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Observations: Fiscal Year 2020 COVID-19 Federal Contracting
The PRAC’s objective was to review pandemic-related federal contracts and identify first-time contractors and contracts awarded without competitive bidding. We found that first-time federal contractors received $4.4 billion worth of pandemic contracts in Fiscal Year 2020 and that $128 million was deobligated from contracts with first-time federal contractors during the same period. Additionally, we identified the four most common flexibilities identified to justify limited competition were urgency, only one source, simplified acquisition procedures, and authorized by statute. Of these, we...
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Transparency in Pandemic-Related Federal Spending: Report of Alignment and Gaps
A commissioned study that identifies gaps in federal data sources and how we can close them to improve the quality of the information we provide to the public.