Despite continuing work to improve its Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act (IPERA) compliance program, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) did not meet three of the six IPERA compliance criteria, unchanged from FY 2018. Specifically, CNCS was unable to reliably estimate the amount or the rate of improper payments in the AmeriCorps State and National Program, the Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), the Senior Companion Program, and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). Further, CNCS has not met its targets for reducing improper payments, nor has it achieved a rate of improper payments below the ten percent threshold required to comply with IPERA. The rate of improper payments in each of the four programs was higher than in FY 2018, with substantial increases in RSVP and FGP. CNCS has developed a vendor solution to improve grantees’ performance of required criminal history checks—the primary root cause of its improper payments—but this corrective action occurred too late to affect this year’s results. CNCS expects that use of the vendor will reduce the improper payment rates beginning in FY 2020. In summary, we recommend that CNCS fully implement planned programmatic corrective actions in the four programs; develop a detailed plan to establish realistic reduction targets and implement actions to reduce the improper payment rates below ten percent for FY 2020; and update its sampling and estimation methodology to ensure that its future improper payment estimates are complete and accurate.CNCS agreed with the majority of our recommendations to improve corrective actions, reporting mechanisms, mandatory training, and the reliability of its statistical estimate, important steps toward reducing its improper payment rates in the four grant programs. CNCS disagreed with our recommendations to improve its current treatment of unmatched reporting errors and zero-dollar transactions and a desired precision based upon its anticipated improper payment rates. We adhere to our recommendations.CNCS provided a corrective action plan to respond to the audit findings and recommendations that they concurred with, attached in Appendix D in the report.
| Report Date | Agency Reviewed / Investigated | Report Title | Type | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AmeriCorps | Performance Audit of the Corporation for National and Community Service's Compliance with the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 for Fiscal Year 2019. | Audit | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| Department of Labor | Reporting Over the U.S. Department of Labor's FY 2019 Compliance with the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act | Audit | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | NASA’s Compliance with the Improper Payments Information Act for Fiscal Year 2019 | Audit | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| General Services Administration | GSA Complied With the Improper Payments Acts in Fiscal Year 2019 | Audit | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| Election Assistance Commission | U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s Compliance with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 | Other | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| Internal Revenue Service | Undercover Travel Expenses Were Generally Supported; However, Controls Could Be Improved | Audit | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| Farm Credit Administration | IPERA Compliance Report for FY 2019 | Other | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| Department of the Treasury | FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: Audit of the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council's Compliance with IPERA for Fiscal Year 2019 | Audit | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| Railroad Retirement Board | Railroad Retirement Board's Office of Inspector General Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act Oversight Plan | Other | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
| Social Security Administration | The Social Security Administration’s Telephone Services | Audit | Agency-Wide | View Report | |
