Reports

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery is evaluating funds that were allocated to the Federal Reserve System’s Main Street Lending Program (MSLP), which had 319 lenders and 1,830 borrowers participating in loans totaling more than $17 billion. The objectives of the audit are to 1) assess the process used by banks to issue loans under the MSLP program; 2) evaluate the process used by the Federal Reserve’s Special Purpose Vehicle to purchase the loans;  3) determine vulnerabilities based on a risk-based analysis; and 4) identify specific areas that warrant further audit work.
 

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...

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.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery is assessing the Department of the Treasury's Direct Loan Program, which provided approximately $2.7 billion through 35 loans to passenger air carriers and related businesses, cargo air carriers, and businesses critical to maintaining national security. The objectives of the audit are to 1) determine if the processes to approve loans followed requirements under Section 4003(b) of the CARES Act and other appropriate regulations and guidance and 2) evaluate Treasury’s Direct Loan Program loan portfolio management process and determine whether it follows best practices established by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or other appropriate authority. As part of this effort, SIGPR is partnering with the Department of Defense OIG in reviewing the loans that were issued in the interest of national security. 
 

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began taking steps to keep employees and their families’ safe, while also ensuring the agency could fulfill its mission of service. Due to the ongoing pandemic and its impact on TVA’s workforce related to mandatory telework and staffing, we initiated an evaluation to assess TVA’s response to COVID-19. The objective of our evaluation was to assess TVA’s response to COVID-19. Our scope included actions taken by TVA related to staffing, employee safety...

The objective of our inspection was to assess the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) plans and procedures for returning employees to the federal office in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, including what existing guidance the Department considered when developing its plans and procedures. We found that the Department generally incorporated available guidance, which was intended to provide for a safe and gradual return to federal offices, in its Workplace Reconstitution Transition Plan (Reconstitution Plan). However, we noted that the Department’s Reconstitution Plan does not...