Federal Reports

To determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) overpaid widows when it applied the Social Security Act’s Retirement Insurance Benefits (RIB) limitation provision and the reduced widow(er)’s benefit policy.

Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of Terminal Handling Services (THS) operations in Denver, CO. We conducted site visits at the Denver THS facility and the Denver Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC). We selected the Denver P&DC because it accounted for about 76 percent of the total mail volume delivered to the Denver THS. Our fieldwork occurred after the President of the U.S. issued the national coronavirus emergency declaration on March 13, 2020. Our results may not reflect process and/or operational changes that occurred as a result of the pandemic.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not adequately identify and track human trafficking crimes. Specifically, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) did not accurately track dissemination and receipt of human trafficking tips, did not consistently take follow-up actions on tips, and did not maintain accurate data on human trafficking. These issues occurred because HSI did not have a cohesive approach for carrying out its responsibilities to combat human trafficking. We made one recommendation to improve ICE’s coordination and human trafficking efforts to assist victims. ICE concurred with our recommendation.

Due to concerns identified during Evaluation 2020-15743, Sequoyah Nuclear Plant Radiation Protection’s Organizational Effectiveness (report issued December 10, 2020), we performed an evaluation of TVA Nuclear’s handling of potentially contaminated liquids at its nuclear sites. The scope of our evaluation was limited to TVA Nuclear’s process for releasing liquids from Radiologically Controlled Areas (RCA) for unrestricted use. We determined potentially contaminated liquids were released from RCAs at each nuclear site. This occurred because all applicable analyses were not performed on some liquids prior to release. In addition, we identified opportunities for improvement related to (1) TVA Nuclear’s processes for tritium analysis prior to the release of liquids for unrestricted use and (2) documentation issues at each nuclear site, including the incomplete submittal of records, incomplete maintenance processes, and inaccurate logs.

The objective was to determine whether the Social Security Administration (1) transferred overpayments from terminated Supplemental Security Income records to current records for recovery and (2) took corrective action to recover the Supplemental Security Income overpayments we identified in our 2009 audit.

Semiannual Report to Congress