Reports

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.

This review is a culmination of the OIG's work on FISMA as well as additional cybersecurity and technology work performed by the OIG throughout the year.  The review this fiscal year includes additional work to address questions raised by members of Congress related to information technology and cybersecurity during the Department of Energy's maximum telework posture.
 

The review will determine: (a) how the Department is administering, recording, and reporting contractor paid leave reimbursements, (b) who is responsible for selecting the labor categories/positions that qualify and under what circumstances, and (c) the amount of contractor paid leave reimbursements under the CARES Act for the period examined.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act designated $10 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support continuing operations at U.S. airports following the sharp decline in passenger traffic and other airport business due to the COVID-19 public health emergency. By the end of fiscal year 2020, FAA had obligated approximately $9.4 billion in formula grants to airports for such purposes as capital expenditures, operating expenses (including payroll and utilities), and debt payments. We are initiating this audit because the act also provided $5 million to OIG for conducting oversight of DOT projects and activities supported by CARES Act funds. Our objective is to assess whether FAA’s policies and procedures for awarding and overseeing CARES Act grants are sufficient to protect taxpayer interests.

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. 

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

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has initiated a review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) use of home confinement as a tool to mitigate the effect of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the federal prison population.  The review will assess the BOP’s process for implementing the use of home confinement as authorized under the CARES Act, the process for its consideration of the eligibility criteria outlined in the Attorney General’s March 26 and April 3, 2020 memoranda, and the process by which BOP headquarters evaluated wardens’ recommendations that inmates who did not meet the Attorney General’s criteria be placed in home confinement.  The review will also select particular cases for examination to determine whether there were irregularities in the BOP’s processes.  If circumstances warrant, the OIG will consider including other issues that may arise during the course of the review.  The OIG is undertaking this review in response to requests from Members of Congress, and issues the OIG identified during the series of remote inspections it has conducted regarding the BOP’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.