Federal Reports

In November 2024, we conducted onsite, unannounced inspections at four U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in Southern Arizona and California:  • Two U.S. Border Patrol (Border Patrol) facilities — Yuma soft- sided facility (SSF) and Wellton station — housed 510 detainees  at the time of our inspection.   • Two Office of Field Operations (OFO) ports of entry (POE) —  Calexico West and San Luis — housed 21 detainees at the time of  our inspection.   

The VA Nebraska–Western Iowa Health Care System has a graduate medical education affiliation agreement with a local university. Under the agreement, the university provides the services of health professions trainees (residents) to the Omaha VA Medical Center, and VA reimburses the university for the residents’ services. Reimbursement is based on daily rates and fringe benefits provided by the medical center, which must document and certify VA-approved educational activities in educational activity records.

The medical center received a complaint alleging that a university official falsified records to inflate the time worked and signed the records as the VA site director, an act that would constitute a conflict of interest. The VA Office of Academic Affiliations asked the OIG to review six years of potential overbillings of residents’ time totaling about $1.9 million and examine the potential conflict of interest.

The OIG found the medical center did not have educational activity records for July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2020, as required. The OIG attempted to verify the progress notes the medical center used in the place of educational activity records but found them unreliable. Without reliable records, the audit team could not verify the attendance of the residents and could not determine whether the invoices were supported as required. Therefore, VA has no assurance that the residents participated in clinical and educational activities from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2020, and may have overpaid for resident services.

For the period when the medical center did keep educational activity records, beginning July 1, 2020, the OIG was able to verify residents’ attendance and found no overbillings. Further, the OIG team did not find any conflicts of interest. Because educational activity records were implemented in July 2020, the OIG did not have any recommendations for the medical center.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Healthcare Facility Inspection program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Healthcare System in Harlingen. 

This evaluation focused on five key content domains:
     •    Culture
     •    Environment of care
     •    Patient safety
     •    Primary care
     •    Veteran-centered safety net

The OIG issued three recommendations for VA to correct identified deficiencies in two domains:
   1.    Environment of care
     •    Toxic exposure screenings
   2.    Patient safety
     •    Service-level workflows for test result communication
     •    Peer Review Committee meeting attendance

Our Objective(s)
To evaluate single audit reports uploaded to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse between April 1, 2025 and June 30, 2025, and identify findings that affect directly awarded Department of Transportation (DOT) programs.
Why This AuditOIG performs oversight of independent, non-Federal auditors' single audit reports. Over the past 3 fiscal years, on average over 250 single audit reports were issued that included findings related to programs directly funded by DOT. We issue memoranda that summarize the single audit reports' significant findings and recommendations that require priority action by DOT. When warranted, we also recommend that DOT recover funds that were inappropriately expended by non-Federal entities.

What We Found
Auditors reported 20 findings related to 11 grantees that included significant noncompliance with Federal guidelines that require prompt actions from DOT's Operating Administrations.
Of the 20 findings, 8 were repeat findings related to 4 grantees.
Auditors identified questioned costs totaling $27,114 for 1 of the 11 grantees.
We identified nonmonetary repeat findings that caused a disclaimer of opinion for one entity and a qualified opinion for another.

Recommendations
We made 2 recommendations to OST to resolve and close the findings and recover questioned costs, if applicable.

The OIG conducted an administrative investigation into allegations of misconduct by Judith Dawson, former Chancellor of the VA Acquisition Academy, in connection with an August 2023 acquisition training symposium held at a conference center hotel in Aurora, Colorado, and attended by over 1,200 contracting personnel.

The OIG found that Ms. Dawson knowingly accepted multiple impermissible gifts from the conference center and violated VA policy by improperly directing staff to solicit and accept gifts of sponsored social events at the symposium, purportedly on behalf of VA. The OIG also found that Ms. Dawson at times discouraged her executive assistant from raising questions or seeking guidance regarding potential ethical violations in connection with the symposium, which was contrary to legislative direction that supervisors are to foster an environment in which VA employees could express concerns. Further, the investigation revealed that Ms. Dawson did not report the spa services she received from the conference center as gifts on her annual public financial disclosure report for 2023, even though the value of the gifts exceeded the reporting threshold. Instead, Ms. Dawson indicated that she had no reportable gifts.

Due to Ms. Dawson’s retirement from VA, the OIG made no recommendations with respect to possible administrative action against her. However, the OIG recommended that VA determine whether any additional steps need to be taken regarding Ms. Dawson’s 2023 public financial disclosure based on the findings in this report. The OIG also recommended VA consider additional training on sponsorships for VA events and acceptance of free meals. VA concurred with the OIG’s recommendations and noted that it plans to issue a memorandum regarding whistleblower protections, direct the relevant senior executives to complete conference policy training and report their oversight activities within ten days following a conference, and amend Ms. Dawson’s 2023 financial disclosure report.