Reports
Search for reports and investigative results.
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Department of Education OIG
Federal Student Aid’s Use of Pandemic Assistance Student Aid Administration Funds
We found that as of November 30, 2022, FSA obligated nearly 100 percent of the $161.1 million in appropriations it received for pandemic assistance student aid administration funds. Nine FSA business units obligated approximately $157.8 million (98 percent) of the total pandemic assistance student aid administration funds, with one business unit, the Next Gen FSA Program Office, accounting for 78 percent of the obligations. The pandemic assistance student aid administration funds were used for personnel compensation and benefits, information technology systems and services contracts, and...
Small Business Administration OIG
Report on the Most Serious Management and Performance Challenges By Office of Inspector General FY2022
This report represents our current assessment of the U.S. Small Business Administration's programs and activities that pose significant risks, including those that are particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, error, mismanagement, or inefficiencies. The Challenges are not presented in order of priority, except for the COVID 19 challenge, which we address first in this report. We also view the other challenges as critically important to SBA operations.
Department of Education OIG
The Department’s Use of Pandemic Assistance Program Administration Funds
The objective of our review was to determine the Department’s progress on spending program administration funds authorized by coronavirus response and relief laws, including how those funds have been used to date, and the Department’s plans for using remaining funds.We found that the Department has allocated nearly 100 percent2 of its pandemic assistance program administration funds and that the Department is on track to obligate all of its program administration funds prior to the dates the funds are set to expire. The Department allocated the funds to 11 principal offices and as of February...
Department of Education OIG
U.S. Department of Education’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Audit Resolution Activities
The report presents information on independent audits with findings pertaining to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) and audit resolution activities conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. Our review focused on independent audits of HEERF recipients from April 2020 through June 2023. We found that the number of independent audits with findings pertaining to HEERF and requiring resolution by the Office of Finance and Operations (OFO) increased significantly over the past few years, as did the number of audits with complex findings as determined by OFO staff. However, the...
Small Business Administration OIG
SBA’s Handling of Returned COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan Funds and De-obligations of Approved Loans
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory to present the results of our review of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) processing of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds that were returned to the agency by borrowers, banks, or other sources.We found significant delays in the decision process related to returned COVID-19 EIDL funds. The majority of these COVID-19 EIDLs were eventually made available to small business owners, including the original borrowers. However, SBA canceled $3.1 billion of these loans...
Small Business Administration OIG
SBA's Internal Controls to Prevent Shuttered Venue Operators Grants to Ineligible Applicants
This report presents the results of our inspection to assess the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) controls to prevent disbursements to ineligible entities. Specifically, our review focused on general eligibility requirements applicable to all SVOG applicants and venue-specific requirements applicable to live venue operators.SBA delayed launching the SVOG application portal for over 2 weeks in April 2021 because of technical issues. In June 2021, SBA officials made program changes, which SBA called a “program refresh,” to accelerate application...
Small Business Administration OIG
Approved Disaster Assistance Loans Matching COVID‐19 EIDLs and PPP Loans with Fraud Hold Codes
The Office of Inspector General is issuing this evaluation report to determine whether the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) approved disaster loan applications with related Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) or Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans with fraud hold codes.In October 2022, SBA established an informal review process to match disaster assistance loan applications to pandemic loans that had fraud hold codes based on taxpayer identification numbers. In August 2023, the agency began transitioning to a new system that uses fraud...
Small Business Administration OIG
SBA's Guaranty Purchases for Paycheck Protection Program Loans
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory to express concerns regarding the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) decision to end collections on purchased Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans with an outstanding balance of $100,000 or less.In anticipation of a significant number of delinquent PPP loans that lenders will submit for guaranty purchase, we began reviewing SBA’s process for approving PPP guaranty purchases. During our review, we identified concerns with SBA’s decision to end collections on these loans and found that expedited management...
Department of Education OIG
Michigan’s Administration of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund
The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the State of Michigan (Michigan) designed and implemented awarding processes that ensured that the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER grant) was used to support local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) that were most significantly impacted by the coronavirus or LEAs, IHEs, or other education-related entities within the State that were deemed essential for carrying out emergency educational services; and monitoring processes to ensure that subgrantees used GEER grant funds in accordance with...
Department of Education OIG
State and Local Educational Agencies’ Use of Digital Wallet-Related Technologies and Services
We performed this review to determine the extent to which State Education Agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) use digital wallets to facilitate the administration of U.S. Department of Education (Department) grant funds. Our review covered the period from October 1, 2022, through December 31, 2024. Forty-five SEAs responded to our survey regarding the use of digital wallets to facilitate the administration of Department grant funds. Twelve of those SEAs reported using digital wallets to help administer some of their Department grants during our review period, and three of...