Improvements Needed for the Program Evaluation Process at the Railroad Retirement Board

Submitting OIG:

Railroad Retirement Board OIG

Short / Alternative Report Title:

Improvements Needed for the Program Evaluation Process at the RRB

Date Issued:

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Agency Reviewed / Investigated:

Railroad Retirement Board

Submitting OIG-Specific Report Number:

17-07

Location(s):

Agency-Wide

Type of Report:

Audit

Questioned Costs:

Funds for Better Use:

Number of Recommendations:

View Document:

Attachment	Size
Audit Report 17-07 RRB OIG.pdf	813.76 KB

Recommendation Number	Recommendation Status	Significant Recommendation
17-07, 1	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs increase the frequency in which data is extracted from Railroad Retirement Board systems for the universe identification of Railroad Retirement Act initial cases for the Program Evaluation Section’s quality assurance sample review to increase the completeness of initial award identification.
17-07, 2	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs revise the sample selection process for Railroad Retirement Act initial cases to ensure that the proper award actions are identified to achieve its intended purpose to assess the accuracy of the recurring payment amount at the annuity beginning date.
17-07, 3	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs revise and implement its quality assurance policies and procedures to ensure the statistical validity of sample results.
17-07, 4	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs provide training to Program Evaluation Section staff related to statistical sampling to ensure that individual case results and overall results are statistically valid.
17-07, 5	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs document the complete sampling methodology in its quality assurance reports and quality assurance policies and procedures.
17-07, 7	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs revise Program Evaluation Section’s documented policies and procedures to ensure that they are complete.
17-07, 8	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs formally develop and document Program Evaluation Sections’ internal controls needed to ensure the integrity and accuracy of its operation and related results.
17-07, 9	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs periodically test Program Evaluation Sections’ internal controls.
17-07, 10	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs design and implement an annual sample of benefit payments without recent adjudicative activity to provide a more complete payment accuracy rate and to help further protect trust funds.
17-07, 11	Open	No
We recommend that the Office of Programs revise its process for documenting benefit payment amounts used to compute its payment accuracy rates to ensure its accuracy.

Recommendation Number

Recommendation Status

Significant Recommendation

Additional Details

17-07, 1

Open

We recommend that the Office of Programs increase the frequency in which data is extracted from Railroad Retirement Board systems for the universe identification of Railroad Retirement Act initial cases for the Program Evaluation Section’s quality assurance sample review to increase the completeness of initial award identification.

17-07, 2

Open

We recommend that the Office of Programs revise the sample selection process for Railroad Retirement Act initial cases to ensure that the proper award actions are identified to achieve its intended purpose to assess the accuracy of the recurring payment amount at the annuity beginning date.

17-07, 3

Open