Reports
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Small Business Administration OIG
SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program Loan Review Processes
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this evaluation to assess the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) processes for reviewing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for eligibility and forgiveness. SBA’s online loan forgiveness platform used by lenders to submit forgiveness requests is adequate to support SBA’s loan review process. However, we found that for some loans, totaling $66.4 billion, SBA did not meet the 90-day statutory requirement to remit forgiveness payments to lenders. SBA did not meet the 90-day requirement for 98.2 percent of loans over $2 million. Not...
Environmental Protection Agency OIG
EPA Should Consistently Track Coronavirus Pandemic-Related Grant Flexibilities and Implement Plan for Electronic Grant File Storage
The EPA Office of Grants and Debarment does not know the full extent to which program offices and regions have implemented grant flexibilities and exceptions permitted by the Office of Management and Budget due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Office of Grants and Debarment tracked grants that received flexibilities through its issued class waivers and regulatory exceptions but did not track grants that received flexibilities and exceptions approved by program offices and regions. The lack of agencywide tracking of grant flexibilities and exceptions hindered the Agency’s ability to assess how...
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE ADMINISTRATION OF PANDEMIC RELATED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS PROGRAMS
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is charged with conducting oversight of pandemic-related spending to prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. In May 2021, we engaged MITRE, a not-for-profit federally funded research and development center, to conduct an independent study of lessons learned from the administration of pandemic-related emergency funding for unemployment insurance (UI) benefit programs in a sample of states. The objective of this study was to increase understanding of how states implemented pandemic UI benefit programs and how their...
Department of Labor OIG
Performance Audit of the Short-Time Compensation Program under the CARES Act, Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act and the America Rescue Plan Act
The Short-Time Compensation (STC) program acts as a work share program, with employers reducing the number of hours offered to employees and the state making up the difference in the form of benefit payments. Our focus will be to determine if Department of Labor ensured states met the STC program requirements and used the related funds in accordance with provisions under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Continued Assistance Act, and the America Rescue Plan Act for the period of March 27, 2020 to September 6, 2021.
Pandemic Response Accountability Committee
Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program Phase III Fraud Controls
The PRAC examined whether the Small Business Administration (SBA) Phase III fraud controls, which were applied to process Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in 2021, would have likely detected the earlier fraud found in PPP criminal cases. SBA designed the PPP Phase III controls to address significant fraud identified in the earlier phases of the program and some were later used by the SBA in its Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) program.
Small Business Administration OIG
SBA’s Oversight of the Grant Recipient’s Implementation of the CARES Act Resource Partners Training Portal
We evaluated the SBA’s handling of the grant to train small businesses on federal resources available in the wake of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act authorized funds up to $25 million for SBA to administer a grant to an association or associations representing resource partner centers to establish a single centralized hub for COVID-19 information. We found SBA did not ensure the grant recipient developed and implemented an effective marketing and outreach strategy to ensure the hub successfully achieved the...
Tennessee Valley Authority OIG
Remote Application and Desktop Virtualization
The Office of the Inspector General OIG audited the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) use of remote application and desktop virtualization due to the risk of increased remote users during the COVID-19 pandemic and recent publicized remote access vulnerabilities. We found several areas where TVA was consistent with cybersecurity remote access best practices. However, we identified gaps in TVA’s configuration settings, architectural design, and administrative procedures. We recommend the Vice President and Chief Information and Digital Officer, Technology & Information, review the identified...
Department of Labor OIG
Audit of COVID-19 OSHA’s Actions to Address Increasing & Severe Injuries at Warehouse Facilities of Large Online Retailers
Office of Inspector General is initiating an audit to determine what actions OSHA has taken to address the increase in severe injuries at warehouse and order fulfillment facilities of online and other retailers as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.