Reports

UI was already a strained system, but the pandemic exacerbated existing challenges and created new ones which lead to massive fraud. We sampled 45 cases and learned about the schemes and methods fraudsters used. Find out what can be done to improve UI for the future. Read our report to find out more.

The PRAC along with 10 of our member Offices of Inspectors General conducted this second phase of our review in order to provide insights on the experiences of the two cities, two rural counties, and two Tribal reservations that, during the first part of our review, received a combined $2.65 billion in pandemic relief funding across 89 pandemic programs and subprograms. We found that the six communities shared similar experiences even though their populations, demographics, locations, and contexts were unique. Specifically, we identified four themes which provide valuable insights to...

Recognizing the importance of an agile process, the PRAC, in coordination with CIGIE, hosted an Agile Oversight Forum in January 2023. This report captures the lessons learned and best practices shared by oversight experts from around the country at the Forum. The product is intended to be a starting point for offices and is not a standard for conducting oversight work.

During the pandemic, the contracts and grants workforce played a critical role in providing support to taxpayers, local governments, and other recipients through pandemic relief programs. The CARES Act directed the PRAC to review the sufficiency of contract and grant staffing and other resources from agencies across the federal government to determine if they had the resources necessary to adequately perform their duties. The PRAC conducted a survey of 29 agencies, and each provided their experiences on the impact the pandemic had on their agency’s ability to effectively perform their work...

While personnel shortages existed in the health care community before the pandemic, the pandemic exacerbated these shortages. Maintaining an appropriate level of personnel in health care facilities is essential to providing a safe work environment for health care personnel and safe care to patients. The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s (PRAC) Health Care Subgroup developed this report to share insights into personnel shortages across four select federal health care programs, or the providers they reimburse. Together, these four programs provide health care services to approximately...

Following up on our previous work which highlights the decentralized nature of identity fraud redress across the federal government, the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee commissioned the MITRE Corporation to conduct an independent study and define the elements needs for a whole-of-government approach to identity fraud victim redress. The report proposes a federal redress process that places the victim at the center and requires agencies to assist in a comprehensive manner. Framed as a single enterprise or “one-stop shop,” this process would provide an equitable experience for all...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Native American Programs’ (ONAP) coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) recovery programs. We performed this audit to provide HUD with insight and a nationwide perspective on the challenges that grantees experienced with those programs. Our audit objectives were to identify 1) the information, guidance, and training HUD provided to the grantees for the ONAP COVID-19 recovery programs and 2) the challenges that grantees faced in implementing and using program-provided funding. HUD provided information, guidance...

The PRAC along with 10 of our member Offices of Inspectors General began a case study-based review, in part, to learn more about how much pandemic relief funding went to recipients within six randomly selected communities. Using a combination of federal, state, and local data sources, we identified that 10 federal agencies provided approximately $2.65 billion in pandemic relief funds to the six communities through approximately 89 pandemic relief programs and subprograms during the first 18 months of the pandemic (March 2020 through September 2021). We also found that tracking pandemic funds...

We audited Nationstar Mortgage, LLC’s (doing business as Mr. Cooper (Nationstar)) compliance with the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) requirements for providing loss mitigation assistance to borrowers after their COVID-19 forbearance ended. We concurrently conducted a nationwide audit of servicers’ compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) COVID-19 loss mitigation requirements (HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report 2023-KC-0005). This audit complements that audit by examining how a single provider, Nationstar, provided loss mitigation for...