Reports

The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges for VETS in its mission to: (1) prepare America’s veterans and transitioning service members for meaningful careers, (2) provide them with employment resources and expertise, (3) protect their employment rights, and (4) promote their employment opportunities. VETS’s JVSG program provides individualized career services to veterans with significant barriers to employment, especially veterans who are economically or educationally disadvantaged. The program also aims to increase employment opportunities for veterans and encourage the hiring of disabled veterans. To this end, it conducts outreach to employers and business associations and engages in advocacy efforts with hiring executives. The audit will focus on how the pandemic impacted the JVSG program as well as the effectiveness of the program during a health crisis.

The American Rescue Plan Act, as amended by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, provided $1 billion in funding to DOL to prevent and detect fraud, promote equitable access, ensure timely payment of benefits, and reduce backlogs. Of these funds, DOL provided approximately $219 million in grants to improve UI claimant outreach and customer service processes, implement strategies to reduce backlog, and improve access for workers in communities that may historically experience barriers. These grants will provide funding for states to improve public awareness and service delivery. This audit will focus on determining if ETA administered these grants in accordance with ARPA and DOL’s objectives for UI access and if recipients are on target to achieve performance outcomes.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused many of ETA’s job training programs to cease operation. This interrupted participants’ job training, potentially preventing them from completing their training and getting a job in the areas in which they were trained. This series of audits will focus on how effectively ETA ensured workforce development grant funds were used as intended in the State of New York during the pandemic.

On February 7, 2022, DOL issued Unemployment Insurance Program Letter 20-21, Change 1, regarding states’ ability to waive the recovery of certain UI overpayments under the CARES Act program. There are concerns these waivers could adversely impact the pursuit of fraud in the UI program. Also, the waivers could potentially allow for fraudulent CARES Act UI payments to go unrecovered. This audit will determine the impact of waivers on UI overpayments, fraud investigations, and recoveries.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused many of ETA’s job training programs to cease operation. This interrupted participants’ job training, potentially preventing them from completing their training and getting a job in the areas in which they were trained. This series of audits will focus on how effectively ETA ensured workforce development grant funds were used as intended in the State of Texas during the pandemic.

In September 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) alerted U.S. Department of Labor to over $45 billion in potential fraud paid in four high-risk areas. One high-risk area was Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants filing with Social Security numbers (SSN) of deceased persons. Through Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the OIG provided states with underlying methodology as well as specific claimant information for follow-up action. This audit will examine the extent to which ETA and states have taken action to follow up on potentially fraudulent CARES Act UI claims filed with SSNs of deceased persons identified and referred by the OIG.

In September 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) alerted U.S. Department of Labor to over $45 billion in potential fraud paid in four high-risk areas. One high-risk area was UI claimants filing with Social Security numbers (SSNs) of federal prisoners. Through Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the OIG provided states with underlying methodology as well as specific claimant information for follow-up action. This audit will examine the extent to which ETA and states have taken action to follow up on potentially fraudulent CARES Act Unemployment Insurance (UI)claims filed with SSNs of federal prisoners identified and referred by the OIG. 

In September 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) alerted the U.S. Department of Labor to over $45 billion in potential fraud paid in four high-risk areas. Multistate claimants were the largest high-risk area. Through Employment and Training Administration (ETA) the OIG provided states with underlying methodology as well as specific claimant information for follow-up action. This audit will examine the extent to which ETA and states have taken action to follow up on potentially fraudulent CARES Act Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims identified and referred by the OIG.

In September 2022, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) alerted U.S. Department of Labor to over $45 billion in potential fraud paid in four high-risk areas. One high-risk area was Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants filing with suspicious email accounts. Through Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the OIG provided states with underlying methodology as well as specific claimant information for follow-up action. This audit will examine the extent to which ETA and states have taken action to follow up on potentially fraudulent CARES Act UI claims filed with suspicious email accounts identified and referred by the OIG.

The Defense Intelligence Agency Office of the Inspector General initiated an evaluation of the Agency's use of Reserve military intelligence capabilities across the Defense Intelligence Enterprise.  Our objective is to assess the effectiveness of Agency’s use of Reserve military intelligence forces for the delivery and integration of Reserve capabilities across the Defense Intelligence Enterprise in peacetime and during crisis and contingency operations.  Through this evaluation effort, we will examine the use of Reserve military intelligence capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security's initiative to professionalize the analysis workforce within the Department of Defense (DoD), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Office of the Inspector General initiated an evaluation to assess the Agency's effectiveness in serving as the All-Source Analyst Professional Certification Program management lead.  We will assess the effectiveness of the DIA’s efforts to administer, implement, and oversee the program in accordance with DoD, Intelligence Community, Agency, and national accreditation policies and standards. As a part of this evaluation effort, we will also examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on DIA's ability to provide the DoD analysis workforce with continuous opportunities to attain the Certified Defense All-Source Analyst-I professional credential.

In accordance with the CARES Act, Section 3610, “Federal Contractor Authority,” March 27, 2020 we will evaluate DIA’s implementation of Section 3610. Our objective is to determine whether DIA’s contractor reimbursements were appropriate and governed by policies and procedures that met the Act’s requirements.