FHFA’s Controls Over Legal Service Payments Were Generally Effective But Did Not Ensure Compliance With All Contractual Requirements

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Date Issued

Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Submitting OIG

Federal Housing Finance Agency OIG

Agencies Reviewed/Investigated

Federal Housing Finance Agency

Report Number

AUD-2026-001

Report Type

Audit

Agency Wide

Yes

Number of Recommendations

Questioned Costs

$5,208

Funds for Better Use

Report updated under NDAA 5274

Open Recommendations

This report has 6 open recommendations.

Recommendation Number	Significant Recommendation	Recommended Questioned Costs	Recommended Funds for Better Use
AUD-2026-001-1	No	$5,208	$0
FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should seek recovery of $5,208 in overpayments questioned in this report, as appropriate.
AUD-2026-001-2	No	$0	$0
FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should update FHFA’s invoice review policies and procedures to require CORs and Invoice Approvers to perform a documented review of invoice billing rates (e.g., confirmation against contract or task order tables) prior to payment approval.
AUD-2026-001-3	No	$0	$0
FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should update FHFA’s invoice review training materials for CORs and Invoice Approvers to include clear step-by-step instructions on how to verify billing rates against contract terms and document verification.
AUD-2026-001-4	No	$0	$0
FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should ensure that all staff with invoice approval authority complete the updated training.
AUD-2026-001-5	No	$0	$0
FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should update procedures to set timeframes for OCFO personnel to request (a) a written statement on why an invoice was paid late; and (b) written corrective actions to be taken to prevent any future late payment issues.
AUD-2026-001-6	No	$0	$0
FHFA's Chief Financial Officer should assign back-ups for OCFO personnel on leave to ensure that the control procedure to obtain written statements explaining why late payments occurred and corrective actions to be taken to prevent any future late payments is performed timely.