Federal Reports

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an administrative investigation in response to a referral from VA officials about the potential for a conflict of interest involving VA employees’ establishment of a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) between VA and a private company in 2016. The CRADA contemplated VA sharing with the private company the health data of all veterans who had ever received health care from VA. The CRADA was canceled prior to the release of any health data. The OIG did not substantiate the existence of any conflict of interest; however, investigators found that two VA employees involved in creating the CRADA made false representations to and concealed material information from VA’s approving official for the agreement. Before the CRADA was executed, VA privacy experts informed the two VA employees that the terms of the proposed CRADA raised regulatory concerns that needed to be addressed before approval. Despite the privacy experts’ objections, the two VA employees intentionally failed to disclose the unresolved privacy issues to the approving official. They also falsely represented that all reviews, including privacy, information security, and legal, had been completed—implying that any identified issues had been addressed and resolved. The OIG concluded that the approving official relied on the information received from the two VA employees and was led to approve the CRADA under false pretenses. As a result of the two VA employees’ actions, the health data of tens of millions of veterans would have been placed at risk of disclosure if VA officials had not detected a problem and cancelled the CRADA before information was shared with the private company. The matter was declined for prosecution. The OIG made two recommendations related to determining what administrative action, if any, VA should take with respect to the two employees’ conduct.

What We Looked AtThis report presents the results of our quality control review (QCR) of KPMG LLP's management letter related to the audit it conducted, under contract with us, of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) consolidated financial statements for fiscal years 2020 and 2019. In addition to its audit report on FAA's financial statements, KPMG issued a management letter that discusses 17 internal control matters that it was not required to include in its audit report.What We FoundOur QCR of KPMG's management letter disclosed no instances in which KPMG did not comply, in all material respects, with generally accepted Government auditing standards.RecommendationsKPMG made 20 recommendations in its management letter. FAA concurred with all 20 recommendations.

What We Looked AtThis report presents the results of our quality control review (QCR) of KPMG LLP’s management letter related to the audit it conducted, under contract with us, of the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) consolidated financial statements for fiscal years 2020 and 2019. In addition to its audit report on DOT’s financial statements, KPMG issued a management letter that discusses 12 internal control matters that it was not required to include in its audit report. What We FoundOur QCR of KPMG’s management letter disclosed no instances in which KPMG did not comply, in all material respects, with generally accepted Government auditing standards. RecommendationsKPMG made 14 recommendations in its management letter. DOT concurred with all 14 recommendations.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act gave States the option to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income adults without dependent children. It also mandated changes to Medicaid eligibility rules and established a higher Federal reimbursement rate for services provided to these beneficiaries, which led us to audit whether States were correctly determining eligibility for these newly eligible beneficiaries. States operate and fund Medicaid in partnership with the Federal Government through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Louisiana was one of 36 States, along with the District of Columbia, that chose to expand Medicaid coverage.