Federal Reports

This report offers our perspective relative to issues the company could face as it prepares to receive funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which could begin later in fiscal year 2022. While the OIG recognizes the company has made significant progress in the past decade, this report focuses on specific challenges relative to receiving IIJA funds.Safe operations and a safe workplace will remain the cornerstone of the company’s success. Taken as a whole, however, the sheer size of the IIJA’s funding and requirements could strain the company’s ability to manage its current operations while concurrently planning and managing a long-term multibillion-dollar infrastructure portfolio. Therefore, as the company prepares for its expanded role, we highlighted four challenges for consideration.• Demonstrating fiscal responsibility, including transparently and accurately accounting for IIJA funds.• Building a skilled workforce to plan and execute IIJA projects.• Working collaboratively with partners to achieve common IIJA goals.• Improving program and project management for IIJA endeavors.

Our objective was to determine to what extent the establishment of CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise (Centers) has improved the assessment, collection, and protection of revenue. The absence of performance standards made it difficult to determine to what extent the establishment of the Centers improve these, but we identified several areas in which CBP could improve its compliance with the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA), and its procedural guidance for the Centers. Without established performance standards, CBP cannot determine if the Centers are achieving established goals, operating as intended, collecting and protecting trade revenue, or meeting the legislated mission set forth in the TFTEA. We made five recommendations to strengthen CBP’s procedures for assessing, collecting, and protecting trade revenue. CBP concurred with our recommendations.

Our objective was to determine the extent to which FEMA coordinated shelter and supplies to unaccompanied minors along the southwest border. We determined FEMA accomplished its operational goals to help U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provide shelter and supplies to unaccompanied children from the U.S. southwest border. Specifically, FEMA worked closely with HHS to establish 14 emergency intake sites in high priority locations in Texas, California, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. FEMA also assisted HHS to build out 23,253 beds and provide other critical supplies, such as food, water, beds, blankets, and medical supplies to emergency intake sites. We did not make any recommendations as a result of this audit. FEMA chose not to submit management comments to the draft report.