Federal Reports

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) continued to fulfill its mission by performing safety and environmental inspections for offshore oil and gas operations. We reviewed the actions BSEE’s three regions—the Gulf of Mexico Region, Pacific Region, and Alaska Region—have taken to protect inspectors and offshore employees from COVID-19 and evaluated any impacts the virus had on inspections BSEE conducted since March 2020. We found that BSEE:• Developed, communicated, and updated COVID-19 guidance for all personnel involved with offshore inspections• Continued to complete its required inspections• Adapted its practices and remotely witnessed operators’ blowout preventer (BOP) tests by accessing the operators’ software systemsWe learned that BSEE did not provide the inspectors with guidance on how to witness the BOP remotely. As of July 15, 2020, BSEE officials informed us that they were developing this guidance.Considering the COVID-19 exposure risks for personnel conducting offshore inspections and the potential impact on safety, it is imperative that BSEE continue to update its COVID-19 guidance, work with operators to limit the risks to its inspectors, and finalize its guidance on conducting remote witnessing of operators’ BOP tests.

Our objective was to determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) completed follow-up actions to resolve issues for Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) beneficiaries whose benefits it withheld using the miscellaneous suspense code.

Our objective was to assess the Social Security Administration's (SSA) rejection of State-submitted Electronic Death Registration (EDR) reports and determine whether these rejections resulted in the Agency (1) improperly paying deceased beneficiaries and representative payees and (2) not posting death information to the Numidents of deceased non-beneficiaries.

The Internal Security Division needs to improve standardized guidance for investigative operations, requirements for evidence and firearms, accountability for law enforcement sensitive equipment, case file management, reports, and documentation, and compliance with the Department of Homeland Security’s Management Directive 0810.1. We recommended the Office of the Chief Security Officer, Internal Security Division develop policies and procedures applicable to current mission standards, improve processes and procedures for documenting and storing evidence, enforce policies and procedures for weapons, and establish protocols for documenting investigative activities. We made 20 recommendations that will improve the Internal Security Division’s operations. OCSO concurred with all 20 recommendations.

As part of our oversight activities, we are conducting audits of Medicaid school-based services claimed by States. Prior OIG and State audits found that Connecticut did not monitor the School Based Child Health (SBCH) program to ensure that Medicaid-eligible children received services in accordance with their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), that written parental consent forms were obtained or maintained, or that services did not exceed those authorized in a child’s Individual Education Plan. We selected Hartford Public Schools (HPS) for review because it is one of the largest school districts in the State.Our objective was to determine whether Connecticut claimed Federal Medicaid reimbursement for school-based child health services submitted by HPS in accordance with Federal and State requirements.We reviewed Medicaid school-based health services that were provided by HPS and claimed by the State Department of Social Services (DSS) for Federal reimbursement. We selected a random sample of 100 student-months for which DSS claimed Medicaid services during State fiscal year 2018. We reviewed IEP documentation and provider notes to determine whether prescribed services were properly delivered, documented, and billed.

Our review confirmed that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took sufficient action to implement Recommendation 1.