Federal Reports

Our objective for this report was to assess the extent to which the company planned effectively for the Unified Operations Center (UOC) program, including developing a business case that demonstrated the expected financial and operational benefits compared to the estimated costs.The company began planning for the UOC program in December 2018. It is a multi-year effort to relocate several vital customer care functions—including train-dispatching personnel who are currently spread across five cities—into a centralized location. Mitigating flooding risks at the current Consolidated National Operations Center, located on the Christina River in Wilmington, Delaware, was another reason the company planned to move personnel to the new building. In May 2020, the company purchased a building in Wilmington for $41.1 million to house the UOC program.We found that the company experienced challenges associated with its building purchase, which have led to questions about how the company will use the property. Specifically, the purchase was largely premised on two significant yet faulty assumptions: (1) that the company could centralize and collocate its train control and dispatch personnel, a specialized Amtrak Police Unit, social media staff, and relocate IT personnel from leased office space; and (2) that the program would yield cost savings. Neither assumption materialized because the company did not effectively verify the feasibility of centralizing these personnel and functions—including retrofitting the building to accommodate significant IT requirements—before purchasing the building in May 2020. The company is in the early stages of design work to retrofit the building to accommodate the UOC program at an estimated cost of $37 million, and it is updating its business case for the program’s future.To help the company make more informed decisions about the future of the UOC program, the building it purchased, and the best use of resources, we recommended that it verify the assumptions in its revised business case about the UOC program’s functions and staff relocations, as well as develop the most accurate estimates possible of the associated costs and benefits so that decisionmakers can determine whether and how to proceed. The company agreed with our recommendation and plans on taking corrective action.

This report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of the Efficiency of Operations at the Indianapolis Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) in Indianapolis, IN (Project Number 22-080). We conducted this audit to provide U.S. Postal Service management with timely information on operational risks at this P&DC. We judgmentally selected the Indianapolis P&DC based on a review of overtime, penalty overtime, late, extra, and cancelled trips by Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) and Highway Contract Route (HCR) drivers, and overall scanning performance. The Indianapolis P&DC is in the Westshores Division and processes letters and flats; and it services multiple 3-digit ZIP Codes in urban and rural communities.

To see our report, click on the link below

Semiannual report summarizing the activities of the OIG

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Emergency Management issued the initial COVID-19 Response Plan on March 23, 2020, and then an updated version on August 7, 2020. The National Center for Organization Development created a COVID-19 rapid response consultation process for VHA leaders in a supervisory role. The Organizational Health Council developed a team that coordinated with multiple VHA program offices to create a COVID-19 Employee Support Toolkit and other resources. Additionally, several program offices independently created and disseminated employee well-being resources specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, including National Center for Organization Development, Patient Centered Care & Cultural Transformation, Chaplain Service, and the Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) identified a generally diminishing awareness of employee emotional well-being supports in relation to organizational hierarchy, low utilization of support resources by leadership and frontline employees, as well as employee perception of inadequate support and responsiveness from leadership.The OIG conducted a review to assess how the VHA addressed the emotional well-being of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The OIG also conducted an overview of VHA programs, including what specialized programs were developed and deployed in response to the unique psychological challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic for VHA’s staff. The OIG interviewed VA and VHA leaders in multiple offices. The OIG developed and deployed a survey about VHA guidance regarding employees’ emotional well-being during the pandemic, available resources, monitoring of available support programs, and employee engagement with available support programs.The OIG made one recommendation to the Under Secretary for Health related to increasing leadership and staff awareness of COVID-19 emotional well-being resources for VHA employees and awareness of resources about potential risks and signs of burnout.