Federal Reports

In March 2021, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) began transitioning to a Digital GI Bill platform designed to improve education benefits delivery. The original plan called for implementing the new platform through a contractor for 10 years at a projected cost of $453 million. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit to assess VBA’s progress in implementing the platform.The OIG found VBA encountered delays due to unclear contract requirements and unrealistic expectations. The original contract required VA to provide three test environments by October 2022, but resource and infrastructure limitations resulted in only one test environment, which was undergoing testing in January 2024. Further, the platform relies on the decommissioning of older systems such as the Benefits Delivery Network (BDN); however, BDN’s decommissioning has been pushed back from September 2023 to as late as spring 2025, which will delay platform completion and may increase costs.The OIG found VBA did not follow the Government Accountability Office’s best practices for a project’s integrated master schedule, which plots a project’s entire scope. Until February 2023, the platform project had no overall master schedule, and once one was established, it was not consistently shared with the contractor. The OIG also found that poor communication contributed to failures in the critical path—a schedule’s continuous sequence of activities—that resulted in delays and increased costs.VBA has renegotiated the original contract, further delaying implementation and increasing project costs by $479 million, more than doubling the original contract to $932 million.The OIG made three recommendations to the under secretary for benefits to increase the chances of successful implementation under the new contract through better monitoring, stronger communication with the platform contractor, a consistent and updated master schedule, strategies to address critical path failures, and a clear timeline.

2024 Peer Review Results of the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Audits & Evaluations Division

The U.S. Postal Service is redesigning its processing network with the goal of creating a best-in-class mail and package processing network as part of its 10-year strategic Delivering for America plan. The Postal Service plans to create a modernized network based around Regional Processing and Distribution Centers (RPDC), local processing centers, and sorting and delivery centers. The Atlanta RPDC is a new, one million square foot facility and one of the first RPDCs in the network.

What We Looked AtWe queried and downloaded 39 single audit reports prepared by non-Federal auditors and submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse between April 1, 2024, and June 30, 2024, to identify significant findings related to programs directly funded by the Department of Transportation (DOT).What We FoundWe found that reports contained a range of findings that impacted DOT programs. The auditors reported 20 incidents of significant noncompliance with Federal guidelines related to 12 grantees that require prompt action from DOT’s Operating Administrations. Of the 20 significant findings, 9 were repeat findings related to 5 grantees. The auditors also identified questioned costs totaling $1,035,753 for seven grantees. Of this amount, $216,491 was related to the Indianapolis Airport Authority, Indianapolis, IN, and $590,403 was related to the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Houston, TX. Additionally, we identified a nonmonetary repeat finding that caused a disclaimer of opinion for the Joint Programs of the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Reservation, Fort Washakie, WY.RecommendationsWe recommend that DOT coordinate with the impacted Operating Administrations to develop a corrective action plan to resolve and close the findings identified in this report. We also recommend that DOT determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $919,266, if applicable. Furthermore, we recommend that OST work with the Federal Transit Authority to determine the allowability of questioned tribal transactions and recover $116,487, if applicable