Federal Reports

We assessed the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope project, a NASA observatory designed to explore dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics, to determine if NASA is managing the risks and mitigating future challenges with the Roman telescope while meeting its cost, schedule, and technological goals.

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration took corrective action to address the finding and recommendation in our September 2016 report, Numident Death Information Not Included on the Death Master File.

Objectives: To determine the validity of payments issued under cross-referred Social Security numbers and whether death information input in one Numident record was also input in cross-referred Numident record(s).

What We Looked At In 2017, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) awarded a $138 million contract to the state-owned China Railway Rolling Stock MA Corporation (CRRC MA) for 45 passenger railcars. In 2022, three then-ranking Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee asked our office to examine the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) oversight of (1) SEPTA’s certification of CRRC MA’s adherence to FTA’s Buy America requirements and (2) SEPTA’s calculation of the total value of foreign components for determining compliance with FTA’s Buy America requirements. As such, our objective was to assess FTA’s oversight of SEPTA’s compliance with Buy America standards for its rolling stock contract with CRRC MA. What We Found Weaknesses in FTA’s Buy America guidance hindered its oversight of SEPTA’s compliance with Buy America rolling stock requirements. Specifically, FTA does not require recipients to retain supporting documentation for pre-award audits or to verify suppliers’ Buy America information, nor does FTA have regulations to address domestic shipping costs. Without clear guidance, FTA could not rely on SEPTA to provide oversight of rolling stock procurements and risks that recipients miscalculate domestic content costs—raising concerns about whether FTA’s Buy America rules are being met. In December 2022, FTA initiated an enhanced compliance review of SEPTA to verify compliance with Buy America rolling stock standards, but the Agency faced challenges in obtaining sufficient data from both SEPTA and CRRC MA. Although FTA suspended funds for the CRRC MA contract, the absence of policy on when to initiate an enhanced Buy America compliance review and take corrective action limits the Agency’s ability to address delays or compliance issues on future FTA-funded projects.Our Recommendations We made eight recommendations to improve FTA’s oversight of SEPTA’s compliance with Buy America rolling stock requirements and FTA’s oversight of future rolling stock procurements. FTA concurred with recommendations 1 through 6. FTA partially concurred with recommendations 7 and 8 and provided alternative actions that meet the intent of our recommendations. We consider all recommendations resolved but open pending completion of planned actions. 

While the EPA followed six of the seven requirements to select recipients of Clean School Bus Program funds, the Agency did not have sufficient internal controls in place to ensure that it selected recipients with eligible school buses. Additionally, the EPA did not provide oversight to verify that applicants requesting funds specifically for zero-emission school buses have school districts with suitable local conditions for these types of buses.

Sean Langston, a former Amtrak supervisor based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for his role in a wide-ranging pandemic fraud scheme on July 30, 2024, in Chester County, Pennsylvania State Court. Langston was sentenced to 6 months in prison, 6 months home incarceration and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $295,418. Our investigation found that Langston fraudulently applied for and received two Economic Injury Disaster loans and a Paycheck Protection Program loan totaling $268,487.The employee was previously terminated for falsely claiming and accepting payment for regular pay, overtime pay, and compensatory time for days he did not work and for using his company-owned vehicle for unauthorized purposes during work hours, including personal business.