Reports

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.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment in Colorado and nationwide led to an increase in claims for benefits. For example, the Department received 1,100 percent more claims in Calendar Year 2020 than it received in Calendar Year 2019.

On October 27, 2020, the Employment Security Department (ESD) notified our Office regarding a potential loss of public funds, as required by state law. Our investigation determined a misappropriation of unemployment insurance benefit funds occurred at ESD, totaling $315,282, and that ESD made an additional $121,503 in questionable payments related to this situation between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. ESD also referred the case to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for investigation.

The COVID-19 Pandemic presented the Department with many challenges and obstacles including a sharp increase in the volume of unemployment claims as well as the expansion of regular unemployment benefits by the federal government. The Department did not have the man-power or technology resources to adequately deal with this drastic increase in claim activity and the addition of new federal unemployment funding. The Department’s legacy unemployment System, Ohio Job Insurance (OJI), has been in place since 2004. Due to its age and functionality, it was unable to handle the increased volume of...

The COVID-19 pandemic drove the Office of the New York State Comptroller to move forward creatively and identify new ways to tap into and analyze data. Auditors and examiners pursued increased data analysis and used a wider variety of data sources in audit planning and risk assessment, including the Statewide Financial System, First New York data warehouse, New York Benefits Eligibility and Accounting System, CVS Health, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, as well as internal State agency data.

The OIG is conducting an audit of the Office on Violence Against Women’s Grant Administration due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.  The preliminary objectives are to assess: (1) the grant administration and monitoring during the pandemic and (2) the guidance and assistance provided to grant recipients for addressing any increased risks to effective program implementation and to violence against women.

DOL's reported Unemployment Insurance improper payment rate of 9.17 percent is compliant with Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019, it is not representative of total unemployment expenses for program year 2020. This occurred for the following reasons: (1) DOL excluded CARES Act of 2020 because these unemployment payments were not in existence for more than 12 months, and (2) DOL received direction from Office of Management and Budget to utilize the results from the first three quarters of the program year. This allowed state workforce agencies to suspend work on improper payment sampling...

Based on our audit of the State’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, we reported internal control weaknesses and instances of noncompliance over financial reporting. For example, the Department of Economic Security did not put all critical identity-verification or other anti-fraud measures in place before paying federal CARES Act unemployment insurance benefits and reported it paid over $4 billion in fraudulent identity theft unemployment insurance benefits claims through September 4, 2021, when the benefits ended.

We found that the Department failed to implement general Information Technology controls over the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance System, The Department failed to ensure Pandemic Unemployment Assistance claimants met eligibility requirements, The Department did not have sufficient internal control over the determination of accruals for payments related to both the Unemployment Insurance program and the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

As authorized by state law, our office conducted a state high risk audit of the Department of Health Care Services’ (Health Care Services) management of federal funds related to the COVID-19 public health emergency that began in 2020. Health Care Services administers the Medi-Cal program, which received a significant increase in federal support to respond to the emergency. The following report details our conclusion that Health Care Services is not doing enough—notwithstanding the emergency—to resolve eligibility questions about Medi-Cal beneficiaries and avoid federal financial penalties...