U.S. Department of Education’s Compliance with the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 for Fiscal Year 2013

We found that the Department complied with IPERA for FY 2013; however, improvements were needed in its improper payment rate estimation methodologies for the Federal Pell Grant and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan programs, specifically with regard to ensuring the methodologies’ completeness. We also found that the Department calculated and reported an improper payment rate estimate for the Direct Loan program using an alternative methodology that relied heavily on the use of program reviews; however, many of those reviews were not included in the improper payment rate estimation calculation because the reports from these reviews had not yet been issued or the reviews did not test for improper payment transactions. Further, we also found that although the Department had shown progress in reducing and recapturing improper payments, it could still improve its efforts by establishing meaningful improper payment reduction targets, as we found that it did not actually set a target that, if met but not exceeded, would result in a reduction in improper payments.