Federal Reports

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 Bronx Healthcare System in New York.

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

The OIG issued no recommendations.

Underground storage tanks (USTs) are a critical part of the Veterans Health Administration’s healthcare facilities. The tanks store fuel for boilers and backup generators, which are essential to operations, especially during power failures. If the tanks are not properly installed and maintained, any chemicals they contain can be released into the environment, posing health and safety risks, such as cancer or adverse effects to reproductive, nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory system health. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit to determine whether VA is managing USTs according to federally established regulations to prevent corrosion, spillage and overfill, and releases of substances into the environment.

The OIG reviewed 44 regulated VA-owned and -operated USTs at eight selected medical facilities and found that seven facilities, which had 42 of the 44 USTs reviewed, failed to comply with relevant VA and federal requirements from October 1, 2022, through September 2023. Although there were no instances of chemical releases from the reviewed USTs found during the audit, the OIG identified inaccurate records of USTs or related monitoring equipment, prolonged responses to and correction of automatic tank gauge alarms, and inconsistent reporting of regulatory inspections and results. By addressing these concerns with increased oversight, VA can reduce the risk of potential releases that pose significant environmental and health risks to veterans and employees at its medical facilities.

The OIG made seven recommendations, including to provide guidance on correctly and consistently recording UST assets, as well as to ensure the oversight requirements in VHA directives and federal, state, and local codes, laws, and regulations are followed.

Why We Did This Report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General conducted this audit to assess the EPA’s compliance with the fiscal year 2024 Inspector General Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 reporting metrics. The reporting metrics outline five security function areas and nine corresponding domains to help federal agencies manage cybersecurity risks.

Summary of Findings

We assessed the EPA’s information security program effectiveness against the Office of Management and Budget’s FY 2023–2024 Inspector General Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) Reporting Metrics at the maturity level of Level 4 (Managed and Measurable). The Agency achieved Level 4 ratings for 30, or 81 percent, of the 37 fiscal year 2024 metrics. Overall, we concluded that the EPA achieved a maturity level of Level 4 for the five security functions and nine domains outlined in the IG FISMA Reporting Metrics. This means that the EPA collects quantitative and qualitative measures on the effectiveness of policies, procedures, and strategies across the organization that are used to assess and make necessary changes. We identified that the EPA had deficiencies in the following areas:

• Complete and accurate inventory of EPA information systems.
• Software asset management data. We found that the Agency’s software management asset tool lacks complete and accurate data related to its software license inventory.

Our investigation determined that an Amtrak Trackman based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, violated company policies by failing to disclose three criminal convictions for theft—including two graded as felonies—in his employment application. The employee was terminated on April 2, 2025, and is no longer eligible for rehire.

This final report provides the results of our audit of the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture’s (PR DOA’s) use of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 (CARES Act) and Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021 funds. Our objective was to determine whether PR DOA’s costs claimed through the CARES Act and CAA funds were allowable, allocable, and reasonable in accordance with federal cost principles.3 We conducted this audit as part of a response to a congressional request. This report provides answers to congressional questions related to CARES Act and CAA funds. To answer the audit objective and the congressional request, we ascertained the status of the award and funds expended and conducted limited testing of expenditures. We tested approximately $297,111 in costs claimed from the expended $2,508,354 CARES Act and CAA funds and found that PR DOA had documentation to support that costs claimed were allowable, allocable, and reasonable in accordance with federal cost principles.
For the 74 applications we reviewed, PR DOA maintained documentation that generally supported that applicants for aid were eligible to receive incentive payments of CARES Act and CAA funds. Specifically, we relied on the sworn statements provided and additional verification steps taken by PR DOA officials as support that applicants had incurred an economic loss greater than 35 percent. Based on the results of our review and the similar finding and recommendation in our report titled Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Properly Disbursed Funds but Was Slow in Expending Fishery Disaster Assistance Funds, we did not make any recommendations in this report.

This report presents the results of our audit of delivery operations and property conditions at the Avondale Goodyear Main Post Office in Goodyear, AZ.

This report presents the results of our audit of delivery operations and property conditions at the Boulder Hills Station in Phoenix, AZ.
 

This report presents the results of our audit of delivery operations and property conditions at the Scottsdale Airpark Station in Scottsdale, AZ.