Federal Reports

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration ensured the representative payee information in its Electronic Representative Payee System was accurate.

During the week of May 13, 2024, we performed audits at the Kansas City Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) and three delivery units serviced by the P&DC in the Kansas City, MO, area. The delivery units included the Hickman Mills Station, Kansas City, MO; the Robert L. Roberts Station, Kansas City, KS; and the Shawnee Mission Post Office, Mission, KS.We issued individual reports for the three delivery units and the P&DC. We issued another report summarizing the results of our audits at all three delivery units with specific recommendations for management to address.

The Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Program is VA’s largest program for transitional housing. It awards grants to community partners that provide veterans experiencing homelessness with temporary housing and supportive services, such as mental health and substance use disorder treatment and assistance in obtaining permanent housing. With a budget of over $275 million, the GPD program served almost 24,000 veterans in fiscal year 2022. Given the importance of the GPD program and VA’s reliance on data from the program’s Homeless Operations, Management, and Evaluation System (HOMES), the OIG conducted this review to determine whether VHA has reliable data to monitor grantee performance, veteran outcomes, and progress in preventing the recurrence of veteran homelessness.The review team estimated that HOMES outcome data were unreliable for about 888 (21 percent) of the 4,151 veterans recorded as having exited the program for permanent housing. In these cases, HOMES data did not match VA medical records, did not match the grantee’s files, or lacked supporting documentation. Additionally, HOMES data did not accurately capture all negative exits—case outcomes where veterans are discharged from the GPD program under negative circumstances. Reasons for the inaccuracies included GPD liaisons not verifying grantee-reported information, liaisons not following the HOMES data definitions guide when they recorded veterans’ housing arrangements, and medical facilities not validating data that the liaisons entered.Although VHA took steps to improve data reliability, additional controls would improve leaders’ ability to make informed decisions on the services unhoused veterans need and allow VA to hold grantees accountable for improving their services for veterans.The OIG recommended policies and procedures for GPD liaisons to obtain reliable discharge information from grantees, controls to ensure HOMES data are consistent with grantee files and VA medical records, and quality reviews to check for accuracy.

The United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard) has begun to expend Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds for the procurement, construction, and improvements projects identified in its fiscal year 2022 IIJA Spend Plan. At the time of our review, Coast Guard had only spent approximately 1 percent ($5.76 million) and committed and obligated an additional 10.9 percent ($46.8 million) of the $429 million in IIJA funds, limiting our ability to assess whether IIJA funding was used in accordance with Federal requirements. This occurred because Coast Guard did not implement effective planning for its IIJA efforts. For example, it did not complete planning documentation before including projects on its unfunded priorities list; did not promptly finalize its program management plan for IIJA projects; and did not conduct the necessary staffing assessment to execute IIJA projects in a timely manner.

We determined that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations used overtime in accordance with policies and procedures. The Customs Officer Pay Reform Act provides guidance on the use of overtime and premium pay for CBP officers and sets a statutory fiscal year maximum on overtime and premium pay earnings (pay cap). Per the Act, an officer may not exceed the pay cap unless the pay cap is waived.