Federal Reports

U.S. Postal Service employees who sustain a workrelated injury or occupational disease are covered by the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), which provides monetary and medical benefits and assistance in returning employees to work. These benefits include wage-loss compensation, medical and rehabilitation services, and death benefit payments to surviving dependents.

The Postal Service encourages employees to report any work-related injuries or illness to their supervisors as soon as possible. Additionally, the Postal Service manages efforts to return injured employees to work through its Injury Compensation Program by monitoring their medical status and identifying suitable work. The Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Workers’ Compensation Program (OWCP) has the exclusive authority to administer, implement, and enforce FECA, including paying claims on behalf of injured employees.

The Postal Service’s workers' compensation costs per workhour have been consistently higher when compared to the private industry. This white paper is intended to provide an update on the Postal Service’s workers’ compensation activity since the last audit report, which included a summary of trends in costs from chargeback year (CBY) 2017 through CBY 2022, and employees on the periodic rolls from fiscal year (FY) 2017 through FY 2022. Specifically, the following sections show how workers’ compensation costs for the Postal Service continued to rise over the last two years.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

Pursuant to One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a review of OIG and Government Accountability Office (GAO) engagements related to USDA programs that received funding under the act. Through this review, we identified work that may provide USDA insight when administering these programs and disbursing funds.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) contracted with Sikich CPA LLC (Sikich) to audit the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board’s (DNFSB) Implementation of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 for Fiscal Year 2025. The objective was to assess the effectiveness of the information security policies, procedures, and practices of the DNFSB.  The findings and conclusions presented in this report are Sikich’s responsibility.  The OIG’s responsibility was to oversee the contractor’s work in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Based on their review for the period of October 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, Sikich found that the DNFSB has not established an effective agency-wide information security program and practices.  There are weaknesses that impact the agency’s ability to protect the DNFSB’s systems and information adequately.

As a result of the weaknesses noted in this audit, Sikich made seven new recommendations to assist the DNFSB in strengthening its information security program and practices in addition to the six prior-year recommendations that remain open.