Federal Reports

An Amtrak passenger conductor based in Sacramento, California, resigned from his position on February 5, 2025, while under investigation. Our investigation found that the former employee violated company policies by engaging in outside employment while on a personal leave of absence from Amtrak.

Our Objective(s)To (1) evaluate surface transportation Operating Administrations' processes for identifying positions needed to implement new and expanded Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) programs and (2) report on those Operating Administrations' progress toward addressing identified IIJA staffing needs. Why This AuditIn 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) established a goal to hire more than 1,400 employees in its surface transportation Operating Administrations and the Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST) to respond to identified IIJA-related surface transportation workforce needs between fiscal years 2022 and 2026. Successful IIJA program implementation relies in part on DOT maintaining the needed, appropriately skilled workforce. Accordingly, we initiated this audit to assess DOT's estimation of its workforce needs. What We FoundSurface transportation Operating Administrations and OST can improve planning processes and better incorporate data-analytic methods for estimating IIJA workforce needs. Despite a requirement to plan for and manage workforce needs and update hiring goals, most Operating Administrations and OST did not document policies and procedures for estimating IIJA workforce needs or for updating ongoing hiring estimates. Further, Federal regulations require Federal agencies to use comprehensive data-analytic methods for workforce planning. However, two Operating Administrations and OST did not employ such methods. Surface transportation Operating Administrations and OST reported filling most IIJA target positions, but DOT's hiring metrics do not accurately reflect onboard workforce capability. As of May 2024, DOT reported filling 1,204 new IIJA positions. Surface transportation Operating Administrations and OST initially set a goal to hire 1,403 employees by the end of fiscal year 2026. As of September 2024, several Operating Administrations and OST had adjusted their targets, bringing the total new-hire target to 1,638. DOT tracks and reports to the Office of Personnel Management the number of selections it has made for those positions. However, these data may not accurately reflect whether new positions are currently filled or whether DOT has advanced its progress in meeting its IIJA workforce capacity goals because the number of reported selections includes all individuals who received an employment offer-even if those individuals are not yet working, subsequently leave the Agency after starting employment, or transfer internally from a non-IIJA position. RecommendationsWe made 2 recommendations to improve DOT's processes for estimating its workforce needs.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a healthcare inspection to assess allegations related to surgical services, information security, and facility leaders’ response to patient safety concerns.

The OIG substantiated the facility lacked services required to support the assigned inpatient invasive procedure complexity designation. Waivers for these services were approved; however, the OIG found delays with waiver requests and a concern with failing to monitor timeliness of patient transfers. The OIG did not substantiate a failure to meet blood bank or surgical coverage requirements but identified concerns with surgical service leaders’ engagement with the blood utilization committee and facility leaders’ failure to consider an institutional disclosure.

The OIG was unable to determine if facility leaders failed to ensure on-site supervision of postgraduate year one (PGY-1) surgery residents. The OIG found inconsistencies with interpretation of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) policy and is concerned that the Office of Academic Affiliations guidance given to Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 10 leaders regarding PGY-1 surgery resident supervision does not meet the policy’s intent.

The OIG substantiated facility leaders failed to ensure information security when physicians provided unauthorized VA computer access to residents.

The OIG did not substantiate surgeons failed to meet standards for postoperative documentation or that facility leaders were unresponsive to patient safety concerns. However, the OIG found concerns with the monitoring and sustainment of related action plans.

The OIG made three recommendations to the Under Secretary for Health regarding invasive procedure complexity infrastructure, supervision of PGY-1 surgery residents, and processes related to health profession trainee computer access; three recommendations to the VISN Director regarding invasive procedure waiver requests and resolution of patient safety concerns; and six recommendations to the Facility Director regarding facility surgical infrastructure and waiver requirements, blood utilization committee participation, institutional disclosure, operative documentation compliance, and information security.

The Office of the Inspector General contracted with Sikich CPA LLC to conduct this audit.  Its objective was to assess the effectiveness of the information security policies, procedures, and practices of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV facility.  The findings and conclusions presented in this report are the responsibility of Sikich.  The OIG’s responsibility is to provide oversight of the contractor’s work in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Based on its assessment period from April 2024 through October 2024, Sikich found that although the NRC generally implemented effective information security policies, procedures, and practices for Region IV, the agency’s implementation of a subset of selected controls was not fully effective.  There were weaknesses in Region IV’s information security program and practices.  As a result, two recommendations were made to assist Region IV in strengthening its information security program.