Federal Reports

I am pleased to submit the Amtrak Office of Inspector General (OIG) Semiannual Report to the United States Congress for the six months ending March 31, 2024, which summarizes our independent and objective reviews and investigations related to Amtrak’s programs and operations.With historic levels of investment from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Amtrak remains at an important juncture in its 53-year history. Not only is it responsible for safely delivering thousands of passengers each day to more than 500 locations across the country and Canada, it is also charged with implementing or partnering on generational infrastructure and acquisition programs that will impact passenger train travel far into the future. With several multi-billion dollar infrastructure projects already underway, Amtrak is both a passenger railroad and now, a major construction company.The opportunities afforded by the IIJA will rightly draw upon Amtrak’s attention and resources, but it must also stay focused on upholding its non-negotiable pact with the American public to ensure its passengers, employees, and train operations are safe. That said, Amtrak appears to fully recognize the complex portfolio of challenges it faces at this historic moment, which includes an unprecedented influx of funds, the addition of thousands of new workers, the speed at which it plans to execute these programs and acquisitions, and the inherent risks. Consequently, management attention and collective oversight of Amtrak’s programs and operations has never been more important.Effective oversight not only includes the important work of our auditors and investigators, the Department of Transportation, and that of Congress, but it also requires the attention of Amtrak’s Board of Directors to scrutinize and approve the planning and expenditures of the company’s capital programs. The recent confirmation of three Directors for Amtrak’s Board has helped to ensure continued Board oversight, but the Board is operating with only six of eight seats filled, and three directors are selflessly serving well beyond their five-year terms. In addition, the IIJA requires that one director is an individual with a disability who is experienced with accessibility, mobility, and inclusive transportation in passenger or commuter rail—a requirement that is currently unfilled. A director with this experience would be invaluable as Amtrak brings it stations into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and updates its fleet. Understanding that there are multiple competing national priorities, the continued nomination and confirmation of new Board members will help give Amtrak, the Administration, Congress, and the American taxpayers additional assurance that Amtrak has the necessary oversight as it implements historic levels of federal investments.In the following report, we provide a complete review of Amtrak OIG’s oversight work during the reporting period. For example, our investigative work helped achieve more than $545 million in recoveries, restitution, and forfeitures, while our auditors identified $14.4 million in funds that could have been put to better use. Some highlights of our work include an investigation that resulted in a guilty plea by a New York acupuncturist who participated in a health care fraud scheme to bill Amtrak’s health care plan for services that weren’t provided and were medically unnecessary. Notably, the acupuncturist conspired with dozens of Amtrak employees, providing them with cash in return for allowing her to use their personal and insurance information to submit false and fraudulent insurance claims. This case is ongoing but has so far resulted in more than $9 million in forfeitures, five guilty pleas, and five pending sentencings.

This report details the Office of Inspector General's Spring 2024 Semiannual Report to Congress. The following topics are included: • Overview of the SBA and the OIG • Pandemic Response Oversight • Small Business Access to Capital • Disaster Loan Program • Procurement Assistance • Agency Management • Other Significant OIG Activities • Statistical Highlights • Appendices

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

The VA OIG conducted this review to determine whether VA complied with the requirements of the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) for FY 2023. PIIA requires federal agencies to identify and review all programs and activities they administer that may be susceptible to significant improper payments based on OMB guidance. PIIA also requires each OIG to review its agency’s improper payment reports and issue an annual report. In FY 2023, VA reported improper and unknown payment estimates totaling $3.2 billion for seven programs. Of that amount, about $1.8 billion (about 57 percent) represented a monetary loss, and about $1.4 billion (about 43 percent) was considered either a nonmonetary loss that cannot be recovered or an unknown payment. These results represent a reduction of $334 million (10 percent) from FY 2022 results. VA satisfied nine of the 10 requirements under PIIA. VA did not meet requirement 6 because VA failed to report an improper and unknown payment rate of less than 10 percent for two VA programs that had estimates in the materials accompanying their financial statements. VA satisfied the additional reporting requirements for two high priority programs with prior-year monetary losses from improper payments of more than $100 million reported in FY 2023. The OIG recommended the under secretary for benefits reduce improper and unknown payments to below 10 percent for the Pension Program and the under secretary for health reduce improper and unknown payments to below 10 percent for the Purchased Long-Term Services and Supports Program. Both are repeat recommendations that have not been implemented from the FY 2022 report.

The objective of our audit was to determine whether the Department complied with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) for FY 2023. We found that the Department complied with the PIIA for the FY 2023 reporting period because it met all six compliance requirements; however, it could improve its processes for implementing its methodologies for computing improper payments and unknown payments. Specifically, the Department’s improper payment and unknown payment estimates for the Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies and Education Stabilization Fund programs were produced from incomplete Stage 1 sampling populations. An incomplete Stage 1 sampling population of drawdowns could affect the accuracy of the confidence intervals for the improper payment and unknown payment estimate. Further, although we found the point estimates reflect the annual improper payment and unknown payments, the Department’s improper payment and unknown payment estimates for five programs were not reliable because of issues in the calculation of the confidence intervals. We made five recommendations to address the issues identified, including that the Department develop and implement procedures to ensure the sampling populations of drawdowns are complete, and ensure changes made for the query design are implemented in subsequent years for programs that are required to produce an improper payment estimate.