Reports

The objective of our review was to evaluate the results of Federal Student Aid’s (FSA) process for suspending involuntary collection and refunding payments involuntarily collected on defaulted Department-held loans in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. We found that FSA suspended administrative wage garnishments and the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) offsets for over 96 percent of the borrowers that FSA collected payments for within 90 days of March 13, 2020, the start of the suspension period. However, as of October 23, 2020, we found that FSA continued to receive administrative...

This report summarizes the results of the Survey of Employee Experiences During the Pandemic, issued by the Auditor’s Office in September 2020. Responses overall were generally positive. However, in analyzing the data and reading over 8,000 written comments, it is clear that employees have had very different experiences.

The purpose of this report is to share with the U.S. Department of Education (Department) observations made by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concerning institutions of higher education (IHE) that ceased to provide educational instruction in all programs of study (closed) and received or had access to coronavirus response and relief aid through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). We found that 17 IHEs that closed on or before December 31, 2020, applied for and were awarded a total of $4,912,675 of HEERF grants by OPE. Of these 17 IHEs, 14 drew down HEERF funds and 3 did...

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 objective of our inspection was to determine (1) whether selected institutions receiving funds under the Institutional Portion of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) met public reporting requirements and (2) the reported usage of the Institutional Portion of HEERF by selected institutions. We determined that 81 of the 100 institutions included in our sample complied with Institutional Portion reporting requirements. We were unable to locate Institutional Portion reports anywhere on the websites associated with 19 of the 100 (19 percent) institutions included in our sample.

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.

We conducted this audit to support transparent and accountable government operations during this unprecedented time. We focused our work on determining steps the county took to ensure that vital services could continue safely and equitably during the pandemic; whether those steps were in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities to reduce health risks; and what improvements can be made moving forward.

The objective of our inspection was to assess the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) plans and procedures for returning employees to the federal office in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, including what existing guidance the Department considered when developing its plans and procedures. We found that the Department generally incorporated available guidance, which was intended to provide for a safe and gradual return to federal offices, in its Workplace Reconstitution Transition Plan (Reconstitution Plan). However, we noted that the Department’s Reconstitution Plan does not...

The Federal Transit Administration has received billions in funding appropriated by the CARES Act to provide grants for transit infrastructure to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the pandemic. FTA uses several financial management systems to approve, monitor, and distribute CARES Act funds. In recent months, the number of attacks on Federal Government information systems has increased through a variety of techniques, including social engineering and spear phishing. These attacks can threaten the operations of FTA's financial management information systems by affecting system and...