Federal Reports

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did not ensure that it closed out disaster declarations in a timely manner. We reviewed 79 disaster declarations and identified 26 programs with nearly $9.4 million in unliquidated funds that remained open beyond their approved periods of performance. These programs included public assistance, individual assistance, and hazard mitigation grant programs that were awarded in 2012 or earlier. This situation is problematic because costs incurred after the period of performance ends are not reimbursable.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) Care in the Community program evaluates selected performance elements of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Veterans Community Care Program. The resulting report describes selected care coordination activities required to initiate and process referrals for non-VA care (community care). The OIG reviewed community care processes in five VISN 9 medical facilities with a community care program from June 12 through July 13, 2023. The OIG evaluated the facilities’ processes for community care referral and care coordination in the following domains:
1. Leadership and Administration of Community Care
2. Community Care Diagnostic Imaging Results
3. Administratively Closed Community Care Consults
4. Community Care Provider Requests for Additional Services
5. Care Coordination: Scheduling and Communication with Veterans Referred for Community Care

The OIG issued 14 recommendations for improvement across all five domains as follows:
1. Leadership and Administration of Community Care
• Operating model staffing tool reassessment
• Patient safety event reporting
• Briefing the oversight council
• Document scanning
2. Community Care Diagnostic Imaging Results
• Diagnostic imaging result attachment to required note
• Significant findings alert use for abnormal results
3. Administratively Closed Community Care Consults
• Obtaining medical documentation
• Significant findings alert use when closing consults without documentation
4. Community Care Provider Requests for Additional Services
• Requests for services processing
5. Care Coordination: Scheduling and Communication with Veterans Referred for Community Care
• Level of care assignments
• Care coordination documentation
• Timely update of consult status to active
• Timely appointment scheduling
• Appointment attendance confirmation

Declining mail volume and a growing share of parcels in the mail mix have impacted the composition of the Postal Service’s workforce in recent years. Additionally, the U.S. labor market experienced dramatic swings, cratering in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, then tightening considerably as organizations struggled to recruit, hire, and retain employees.The USPS OIG found the Postal Service added 8,105 employees between FYs 2019 and 2023, a 1.3 percent increase over the 5-year period. In percentage terms, the number of mail handlers grew the most, increasing by 18.8 percent. Clerks rose by 1.9 percent, while the number of city carriers fell by less than half of one percent, rural carriers declined by 3.1 percent, and building and equipment maintenance employees fell by 6.1 percent.

This U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA OIG) report presents the results of our audit of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) oversight of the Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) program. The program provides small businesses that are located in economically distressed communities access to federal contracting opportunities to stimulate their local economies. In fiscal year (FY) 2022, SBA reported that federal agencies awarded over $16.3 billion, or 2.7 percent of prime federal contracting dollars, to 5,818 HUBZone businesses.We found SBA completed almost all 1,252 triennial program examinations timely and correctly validated 18 of the 20 firms we reviewed (90 percent) met eligibility requirements. Notwithstanding, we have identified some opportunities to further improve eligibility review practices and enhance functionality of the HUBZone information system that notifies participants of their annual recertification requirements.We made four recommendations for SBA to establish authoritative guidance for verifying that firms met eligibility requirements at the time of the triennial program examinations and improve system functionality for sending timely recertification notifications to all HUBZone firms. The agency partially agreed with three recommendations and disagreed with one.

The independent public accounting firm of Brown & Company CPAs and Management Consultants, PLLC, under contract with the Office of Inspector General, audited Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grants administered by the Michigan Department of State (MDOS), totaling $49.88 million. This included federal funds, state matching funds, and interest and program income earned on the reissued Section 101, reissued Section 251, Election Security, and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grants.