Department of the Interior

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). To date, the CARES Act has provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $909.7 million, which includes direct apportionments of $756 million to support the needs of DOI...

On March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which provided the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) with $756 million to support the needs of DOI programs, bureaus, Indian Country, and the Insular Areas.As part of the CARES...

In accordance with guidance from the Office of Management and Budget, we reviewed the “Payment Integrity” section in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Agency Financial Report (AFR) for fiscal year (FY) 2019. Our objective was to determine whether the Department met the requirements of the...

CARES Act Section 3610 allows Federal agencies to reimburse their contractors and subcontractors for any paid leave, including sick leave, that the contractors provide to keep their employees or subcontractors in what the section refers to as a “ready state.” Because these reimbursements present a...

In response to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the National Park Service (NPS) closed most park buildings, facilities, and restrooms, and in some cases, entire parks. With States now easing stay-at-home restrictions, and in response to the White House’s emphasis to open the national...

The DOI will award most of its CARES Act funding to Indian Country through grants to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). Of the $756 million, $522 million (69.0 percent) will be funded to Indian Country. As of June 13, 2020, $419,462,721, or 80.4 percent, had...

We investigated allegations that a senior U.S. Park Police (USPP) official asked the United States Attorney’s Office to dismiss criminal citations (tickets) issued to Presidio Trust employees and contractors at the request of Presidio Trust officials.We found that a Presidio Trust official asked a...

We investigated allegations that an Office of Service Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) forester misused his position and violated ethics regulations.We found that the OSMRE forester violated ethics regulations when he promoted the use of a private company to State and Federal officials...