Reports

The OIG is conducting an audit of the Office on Violence Against Women’s Grant Administration due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.  The preliminary objectives are to assess: (1) the grant administration and monitoring during the pandemic and (2) the guidance and assistance provided to grant recipients for addressing any increased risks to effective program implementation and to violence against women.

Determine whether Michigan designed and implemented (1) awarding processes that ensured that the GEER grant was used to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that were most significantly impacted by the coronavirus or LEAs, IHEs, or other education-related entities within the State that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services, and (2) monitoring processes to ensure that subgrantees used GEER grant funds in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other applicable Federal requirements.

The review will cover selected LEAs’ experience with purchasing technology to continue students’ instruction as schools closed and reopened in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The review will include a survey to obtain information regarding the types of technology purchased, the impact the technology had on student learning, and the challenges LEAs faced related to the purchase and maintenance of that technology.

The purpose of the audit is to determine whether the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) has an adequate process in place to ensure that grantees use Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) grant funds appropriately and performance goals are met.

The objectives of our review are to (1) review states’ initial 45-day GEER Fund reports to determine how states plan to allocate funds to entities within the three authorized categories: (a) local educational agencies, (b) institutions of higher education, and (c) education-related entities, and the criteria upon which these decisions were based; and (2) review GEER Fund annual reports to identify changes to and progress made from the initial plans in the 45-day reports.

The Office of the Inspector General initiated an audit to examine the Criminal Division's and the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorneys' management and coordination of pandemic-related fraud allegations and referrals.

Determine whether Missouri designed and implemented (1) awarding processes that ensured that the GEER Fund grant was used to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that were most significantly impacted by the coronavirus or LEAs, IHEs, or other education-related entities within the State that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services, and (2) monitoring processes to ensure that subgrantees used GEER Fund grant funds in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other applicable Federal requirements.

Determine whether Oklahoma designed and implemented (1) awarding processes that ensured that the GEER Fund grant was used to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that were most significantly impacted by the coronavirus or LEAs, IHEs, or other education-related entities within the State that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services, and (2) monitoring processes to ensure that subgrantees used GEER Fund grant funds in accordance with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other applicable Federal requirements.

The OIG is conducting a survey of inmates in BOP-managed federal prisons regarding BOP's COVID-19 pandemic response.