Federal Reports

The National Work Queue (NWQ) division generally uses the NWQ tool and ranking rules to prioritize and distribute claims across VBA’s regional offices for processing. The OIG conducted this review after discovering some claims at the NWQ division had been awaiting decisions for one year or longer. The team identified 10,541 claims aged 365 days or older that, on August 1, 2022, were at the NWQ division awaiting decision and were not distributed to a regional office. Most of these claims had been at the NWQ division for at least six months, and over 99 percent required routing to specialized teams that process special mission herbicide-related claims. Office of Field Operations (OFO) leaders limited staffing for these teams to control quality for these complex claims and balance workloads, and they generally expected the delays. However, the OIG team reviewed VBA’s oldest pending claims and identified instances in which the NWQ division’s ranking rules unintentionally contributed to delays. Additionally, by comparing the ranking scores that the NWQ tool assigned with the NWQ division’s ranking rules, the OIG team found instances in which the NWQ tool incorrectly ranked some claims, which may have affected whether those claims were distributed to regional offices. Stronger monitoring could have allowed the NWQ division to identify these issues earlier and make adjustments to ensure claims were appropriately prioritized. The team also found that OFO’s FY 2022 internal controls assessment did not evaluate claims prioritization and distribution and did not mention the NWQ division or tool. To reduce delays in claims processing, the OIG recommended strengthening the NWQ division’s monitoring of claims awaiting decision to ensure its rules are operating as intended and ensuring OFO includes the NWQ division’s functioning in its annual internal controls assessment. The recommendations have been closed based on documentation provided.

What We Looked AtWe queried and downloaded 16 single audit reports prepared by non-Federal auditors and submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse between October 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, 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 seven incidents of significant noncompliance with Federal guidelines related to four grantees that require prompt action from DOT’s Operating Administrations. Of these seven significant findings, five were repeat findings related to two grantees. The auditors also identified questioned costs totaling $10,240,600 for three grantees. Of this amount, $29,997 was related to the Gary Public Transportation Corporation, Gary, IN; $8,570,742 was related to the Navajo Nation, Window Rock, AZ; and $1,639,861 was related to the Pit River Tribe, Burney, CA. Additionally, we identified a nonmonetary repeat finding that caused a qualified opinion for the Navajo Nation.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. Additionally, we recommend that DOT determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $29,997, if applicable. Furthermore, we recommend that OST works with FHWA to determine the allowability of the questioned tribal transactions and recover $10,210,603, if applicable.  

As of December 2023, the EPA had issued 11 Build America, Buy America Act waivers. We found that the EPA did not track the use of ten of these waivers across EPA-funded infrastructure projects. Build America, Buy America Act waivers can be categorized into two types: project-specific waivers and general applicability waivers. The Agency was unable to provide the number of award recipients that fall under either type of waiver and does not have a method in place to track this information. With approximately $60.3 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act projects potentially subject to Build America, Buy America Act requirements, the EPA needs to develop and implement a method to track all waiver use. Without tracking the use of such waivers, the EPA may not be able to maximize use of U.S. goods, products, and materials in EPA-funded infrastructure projects.

Three Department of Homeland Security components—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—have separate but interconnected processes for identifying and resolving derogatory information for individuals evacuated from Afghanistan and paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome (OAW).

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