Federal Reports

Semiannual Report to Congress of the Denali Commission Office of Inspector General for the period October 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021.

The April 2021 Semiannual Report to Congress summarizes the Office of Inspector General’s successful work completed from October 1, 2020, through March 31, 2021, to promote excellence, integrity, and accountability within the programs, operations, and management of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Our audit-related activities resulted in total monetary impacts of $2,174,176 with 246 recommendations made and 107 recommendations closed. Our investigative activities resulted in 3 indictments, 16 criminal and civil referrals, and $7,462,808 in civil settlements or recoveries.

During our review of the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, takeover of the United States Capitol, we became aware of a contractor, utilized by the Containment Emergency Response Team (CERT), who had questionable content on their website.

To promote compatibility with the Department of Defense’s electronic health record system, VA is replacing its aging record system. This requires VA medical facilities to upgrade their physical infrastructure, including electrical and cabling. The OIG determined from its audit that the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) cost estimates for these upgrades were not reliable. VHA’s estimates did not fully meet VA standards for being comprehensive, well-documented, accurate, and credible. The audit team projected that VHA’s June and November 2019 cost estimates were potentially underestimated by as much as $1 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively. This was due in part to facility needs not being well-defined early on. The estimates also omitted escalation and cabling upgrade costs and were based on low estimates at the initial operating sites. Because cost estimates support funding requests, there is risk that funds intended for other medical facility improvements would need to be diverted to cover program shortfalls.

This report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of Mail Delivery and Customer Service Operations at the East Stroudsburg Post Office, in East Stroudsburg, PA. The East Stroudsburg Post Office is in the Delaware-Pennsylvania 2 District of the Atlantic Area. This audit was designed to provide U.S. Postal Service management with timely information on potential scanning, mail delivery, and customer service operations risks at the East Stroudsburg Post Office.

Administrative review of a former employee's purchase of a government issued cell phone.

For our final report on the evaluation of NOAA OMAO’s Ship Fleet Recapitalization Program, our overall objective was to determine the extent to which NOAA OMAO’s acquisition fleet lifecycle processes were followed throughout the development, operation, maintenance, and sustainment of the program to meet mission requirements, with a focus on OMAO’s requirements management processes.We contracted with The MITRE Corporation (MITRE)—an independent firm—to perform this evaluation of NOAA. Our office oversaw the progress of this evaluation to ensure that MITRE performed the evaluation in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation (January 2012) and contract terms. However, MITRE is solely responsible for the attached report and conclusions expressed in it.