Federal Reports

Our annual plan identifies the audits, inspections, and other activities that the OIG intends to undertake to assist the U.S. Department of Education in fulfilling its responsibilities to America’s citizens and students.

The Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 requires Executive Branch Inspectors General to identify and report annually on the top management challenges facing their agencies. We also adopt this requirement as a best practice. These top management challenges provide a forward-looking assessment for the coming fiscal year to aid GPO in focusing attention on the most serious management and performance issues.

This report identifies our views of the top management and performance challenges facing the company. This year, the challenge of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic supersedes and permeates the company’s ability to address all other challenges. We believe the company will need to account for and adapt to these challenges and develop a strategy to position itself to become a transportation mode of choice in what appears to be a rapidly evolving national economy.

Despite the urgent pressures of this operating environment, there are also opportunities for the company to reimagine its future by taking a fresh, holistic view of its circumstances and the forces that affect it. We identified several longstanding challenges, summarized below, where the company has made progress, but significant work remains. Addressing these challenges will help ensure Amtrak emerges from the pandemic as a more efficient and effective company.

• Safety and Security: Assessing New Risks and Addressing Longstanding Challenges

• Financial Management and Stewardship: Using Resources Wisely and Being Good Stewards of Federal Funds

• Governance: Institutionalizing More Effective Management, Accountability, and Data-driven Decision-making

• Information Technology: Advancing the Company’s Capabilities and Addressing Cybersecurity Risks

The objective of the performance audit was to determine whether SSA's overall information security program and practices were effective and consistent with Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) requirements, as defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

We audited the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) travel expenses reimbursed within 50 miles of an official station to determine if they complied with Federal Travel Regulation and TVA policies and procedures. Our audit scope included approximately $500,000 of travel expenses within 50 miles of a TVA employee's official duty station occurring from October 1, 2018, through March 26, 2020.We found that (1) TVA’s approval process did not ensure expenses for travel within 50 miles of an official station complied with TVA’s travel policy, (2) TVA does not have documented procedures to ensure flat-rate-travel reimbursements are being verified appropriately or reimbursed properly, (3) TVA’s human resources system had incorrect official stations shown for 25 of 74 employees included in our samples, and (4) TVA’s travel policy provides limited guidance addressing the assignment and review of official stations. We made four recommendations to TVA management to strengthen controls around travel expenses reimbursed within 50 miles of an official station. TVA management provided actions they plan to take to address each of our recommendations.

Several interested parties requested that we investigate whether U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) officials disclosed sensitive or confidential tribal information to entities outside the U.S. Government. Some of these individuals also alleged that DOI or U.S. Department of the Treasury employees intentionally released confidential tribal information to Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs). We investigated these allegations in collaboration with the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General.We found that the Treasury emailed the DOI a spreadsheet of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) tribal registration data the Treasury had requested and collected from tribes. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) requested this information from the Treasury to confirm whether the tribes had registered to receive CARES Act funding. When the Treasury emailed the information to the DOI as requested, it did not mark the data as confidential.We also found that four BIA regional employees forwarded the spreadsheet containing tribal registration data to officers of tribes (not ANCs) outside the Government. The evidence showed that the BIA employees did this in an effort to remind these tribes that, according to the spreadsheet, they had not yet registered for CARES Act funding. We found that forwarding the entire spreadsheet was inconsistent with DOI guidance.We did not find evidence that any DOI or Treasury employees intentionally released this data to ANCs.This management advisory provides a recommendation to help the DOI ensure proper identification and handling of potentially confidential tribal information and prevent future improper disclosures of this information.