Reports

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 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 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. 
 

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.

HUD OIG is conducting a limited review of HUD's administration of supplemental operating funds under the CARES Act. The CARES Act authorized an additional $685 million in public housing operating funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19.  The review objective is to assess Public Housing Agencies' (PHA) experiences and challenges and HUD's efforts in providing guidance related to the administration of supplemental operating funds under the CARES Act.

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.

This audit will look at the quality of data reported in selected President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) programs to determine if weaknesses exist that may lead to inaccurate results reporting. The objectives of this audit are to assess the extent to which USAID has: (1) designed and implemented internal controls over collecting, verifying, and reporting PEPFAR data; and (2) identified and mitigated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its internal controls over PEPFAR data quality.  

As required by section 8L of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, the Inspectors General for the Department of Defense, Department of State, and USAID work together to report quarterly to Congress on every overseas contingency operation’s progress and corresponding oversight activities.  Starting in the second quarter of fiscal year 2020, these quarterly reports include reporting on the COVID-19 outbreaks in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and the Philippines, as well as the U.S. government response to them.

The purpose of this memorandum is to notify you that we are researching prior audits of HUD’s Single Family Default Monitoring System to provide HUD information regarding lessons learned and risks identified in these prior audits that HUD should act on now to ensure program integrity and mitigate the risk of financial loss for COVID-19 related forbearance assistance and foreclosure moratorium related to single family loans.