Reports

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law and included a division coined the Emergency Unemployment Insurance Stabilization Access Act of (EUISSA) 2020. The EUISSA authorizes the Department of Labor (DOL) to transfer emergency administrative grants (grants0 to states’ Unemployment Trust Fund for the amount of $1 billion to administer its Unemployment Insurance (UI) program. DOL to date has provided the $1 billion in grants to states to administer the UI program. This audit will determine if DOL provided adequate oversight of states’ use of emergency administrative grant funds authorized under the EUISSA 2020.

Federal agencies were allocated more than $5 trillion in pandemic response funding to be disbursed to the public and to state and local governments, where a state or local government could have received pandemic response funds from multiple federal programs to improve the overall pandemic response in their communities. Access to information about the total amount of funds received, the purpose of those funds, and the progress made toward achieving the program goals and objectives is not always centralized and can be difficult for the public to track down or may not even be available to the public. The PRAC will conduct impact case studies at 6 different locations and seek to identify the federal pandemic response funds provided to the 6 locations and the purpose of those funds, and to determine if the federal program spending aligned with the intended goals and objectives. The 6 locations identified for this project include: Springfield, Massachusetts; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Marion County, Georgia; Sheridan County, Nebraska; White Earth Indian Nation, Minnesota; and Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico.

The CARES and Continued Assistance Acts expanded states’ ability to provide unemployment insurance for many workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including for workers who were not ordinarily eligible for unemployment benefits, non traditional claimants. Our audit will determine if non traditional claimants received Unemployment Insurance benefits as intended under the CARES Act and the Continued Assistance Act. 

Audit of ETA’s Oversight of UI Integrity for CARES Act Programs

The objective of this audit engagement is to determine if DOL ensured states had adequate controls to detect, prevent and recover UI improper payments under the Cares Act, and the Continued Assistance Act.

The PRAC and pandemic OIGs identified the possibility of recipients receiving funding from multiple federal programs for the same purpose ( multi-dipping When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping. ) as a high risk area. This project will focus on funds received by tribal governments, and result in an information brief that identifies programs where multi-dipping When a recipient receives money from multiple federal sources and uses it for the same purpose, this could be an indication of multi-dipping. has occurred in CARES Act programs allowing us to identify and scope the magnitude of the risk. 

We plan to begin this audit in May 2020. The objective of this audit is to assess DoD’s implementation of section 3610 as authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, including whether contracting officers properly authorized and reimbursed contractor costs. We may revise the objective as the audit proceeds, and will also consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.

The OIG plans to initiate a project to research and identify topics for potential audits and evaluations related to the EPA's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One objective of this audit is to evaluate elements within the System Security Plans to determine whether they provide details to allow the EPA to make decisions to secure its network during the COVID-19 pandemic.