Federal Reports

An Amtrak customer service representative based in West Palm Beach, Florida, signed a civil settlement agreement on December 6, 2024, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida. The employee agreed to pay $32,481 in restitution and a penalty of $1,500 related to the fraudulent receipt of a $42,900 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). Our investigation found that the employee applied for an EIDL loan for economic losses resulting from the pandemic related to self-employment or businesses he allegedly owned. We found that the employee submitted an application containing false statements and information to qualify for the loan. As a result, the employee received an EIDL loan in the amount of $42,900 to which he was not entitled.

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) investigated allegations that the City of Oakland, Office on Aging (City of Oakland) paid Senior Companion Program (SCP) and Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) volunteers full stipends when volunteers either did not serve or document the hours claimed following the end of AmeriCorps’ authorization for grantees to pay volunteers a temporary allowance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We performed an audit of costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by GE Vernova International, LLC (GEVI) for parts and services for the covered units at the Allen Combined Cycle Plant as part of a long-term service agreement under Contract No. 11930. Our audit objective was to determine if costs were billed in compliance with the contract’s terms. Our audit scope included about $48.5 million in costs billed from January 1, 2021, through March 31, 2024.

In summary, we determined (1) GEVI applied incorrect discounts to noncapital parts, resulting in an overbilling of $4,278 and (2) TVA was not aware GEVI provided noncapital parts from foreign countries, including one country that was not compliant with the Trade Agreements Act as required by the contract. In addition, we noted opportunities to improve contract administration by TVA. Specifically, (1) TVA did not receive detail cost breakouts for fixed price services to determine the reasonableness of the fixed price and if the contract’s time and material rates and negotiated discounts were used to build up the fixed price; (2) TVA and GEVI agreed in a letter to revise some of the terms of the long-term service agreement in accordance with the letter’s appendix; however, the appendix was not included with the contract documentation in TVA’s Maximo system; and (3) the contract contained inconsistent language.

Our audit objective was to assess the First Responder Network Authority’s Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network services in response to the devastating wildfires that broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023. We focused on AT&T’s operational response, FirstNet Authority’s oversight of AT&T from a program and contract perspective, and the extent the network was a reliable means of communicating for public safety agencies during the wildfire response.

We found that FirstNet Authority’s network services were not effective in supporting the public safety response to the Maui wildfires. Specifically, FirstNet Authority did not ensure that (I) timely, adequate network services were provided to support public safety’s response, (II) a sufficient plan for business continuity and disaster recovery was developed before the wildfires, and (III) network service response efforts were accurately reported afterward.

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