Federal Reports

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Parkrose Station in Portland, OR (Project Number 22-029). The Parkrose Station is in the Idaho-Montana-Oregon District of the WestPac Area. The station services ZIP Codes 92720, 97230, and 97233. There are about 108,739 people living in these ZIP Codes, which are considered urban communities. We judgmentally selected the Parkrose Station based on the number of customer inquiries the unit received per route. From June 1, 2021, through August 31, 2021, the unit received about 39.96 inquiries per route, which was larger than the average of 10.62 inquiries per route for all sites serviced by the Portland Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC).

The U.S. Postal Service owns over 8,400 facilities where it provides services, which includes maintaining proper ventilation and filtration in these facilities to ensure they are clean and safe. Ventilation and filtration are often provided by heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in a facility. Industry standards recommend minimum ventilation rates and inspection and maintenance activities.Our objective was to assess Postal Service efforts to ensure proper ventilation and filtration in facilities and identify opportunities for improvement. For this audit, we statistically sampled 193 Postal Service-owned retail and delivery facilities with an interior size ranging from 1,000 to 100,000 square feet from a universe of 6,709 facilities.

Lack of consistent oversight and persistent Title V fee challenges may undermine Title V program implementation.

For our final report on the audit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) management of its Active Directories, our audit objective was to determine whether NOAA has adequately managed its Active Directories to protect mission critical systems and data. To address this objective, we utilized a specialized Active Directory assessment tool and evaluated fundamental security practices, relationships, and configurations to determine whether any deficiencies existed within each Active Directory. Overall, we found that NOAA inadequately managed its Active Directories. Specifically, we found the following: I. excessive privileges could increase the risk of a successful compromise; II. inadequately managed accounts provided more opportunities for cyberattacks; and III. end-of-life operating systems were vulnerable to security exploitation.

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report provides a focused evaluation of the quality of care delivered in the inpatient and outpatient settings of the Durham VA Health Care System in North Carolina. The inspection covered key clinical and administrative processes that are associated with promoting quality care. It focused on Leadership and Organizational Risks; COVID-19 Pandemic Readiness and Response; Quality, Safety, and Value; Registered Nurse Credentialing; Medication Management: Remdesivir Use in VHA; Mental Health: Emergency Department and Urgent Care Center Suicide Risk Screening and Evaluation; Care Coordination: Inter-facility Transfers; and High-Risk Processes: Management of Disruptive and Violent Behavior.At the time of the review, the executive team had worked together in a permanent capacity for four months; however, the Executive Director and the Chief of Staff had served in their positions for over three years. Healthcare system leaders had recently received approval and started recruiting for a second assistant director. Employee survey data revealed satisfaction with leadership, but highlighted opportunities to reduce employees’ feelings of moral distress at work. Selected patient survey results implied lower satisfaction than the VHA average and highlighted opportunities to improve inpatient and outpatient care experiences.The OIG’s review of the healthcare system’s accreditation findings, sentinel events, and disclosures of adverse patient events did not identify any substantial organizational risk factors. Executive leaders were generally knowledgeable about selected data used in Strategic Analytics for Improvement and Learning models and should continue to take actions to improve performance.The OIG issued eight recommendations for improvement in four areas:(1) Registered Nurse Credentialing• Primary source verification of licenses(2) Mental Health• Suicide prevention training(3) Care Coordination• Transfer monitoring and evaluation• Transfer form completion• Medication list transmission(4) High-Risk Processes• Disruptive behavior committee attendance• Patient notification of Orders of Behavioral Restriction• Staff training

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission Office of Inspector General reviewed the audit operations of Denali Commission OIG.

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Vancouver Main Post Office (MPO) in Vancouver, WA (Project Number 22-032). The Vancouver MPO is in the Washington District of the WestPac Area. The post office services ZIP Codes 98660, 98661, 98663, 98665, 98685, and 98686. There are about 135,114 people living in these ZIP Code areas, with about 133,721 (99 percent) living in urban communities and about 1,393 (1 percent) living in rural communities. We judgmentally selected the Vancouver MPO based on the number of customer inquiries per route the unit received. From June 1 through August 31, 2021, the unit received 12 inquiries per route, which was more than the average of 10.62 inquiries per route for all sites serviced by the Portland Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC).