Federal Reports

Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of management controls over recoveries for private party damage to U.S. Postal Service vehicles.

OIG identified monitoring and reporting on the integrity of HHS programs, including responsible stewardship of HHS programs and protection of resources, as a top management and performance challenge for HHS. NIH operations are responsible for the prudent management and careful stewardship of approximately $1.8 billion in accountable personal property. The Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019, P.L. No. 115-245, provided HHS OIG with $5 million from the NIH appropriation for oversight of grant programs and operations of NIH.Our objective was to determine whether NIH had controls in place to effectively and efficiently track and monitor information technology (IT) resources and internet protocol (IP) addresses.

Our objective was to assess the cost, schedule, and technical performance of the Program’s acquisition and development effort for selected instruments. We found the following: (1) The Program exceeded contract definitization timelines and conducted late and abbreviated baseline reviews. (2) JPSS-2 Cross-track Infrared Sounder quality assurance did not adequately integrate contract risks into its surveillance activities. (3) Award-fee determinations did not motivate the contractor toward exceptional performance. We recommend that the NOAA Deputy Undersecretary for Operations do the following: (1) Require programs notify the Joint Agency Program Management Council before NOAA-funded NASA contracts exceed definitization timelines. (2) Require a Joint Agency Program Management Council assessment before an Integrated Baseline Review requirement is removed, abridged, or its timing adjusted, for NOAA-funded NASA contracts or major contract modifications requiring earned value management. We recommend that the NOAA Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services do the following: (3) Ensure the Program adequately incorporates contract risks and executes prevention-focused surveillance as part of its quality assurance activities. We recommend that the NOAA Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services coordinate with the Director of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to do the following: (4) Conduct a joint review of contractor performance evaluation practices and determine whether changes could more effectively motivate contractors to achieve desired outcomes for ongoing and future contract negotiations on NOAA-funded projects. (5) Establish a working definition of “significant” cost overrun to help inform strategies that progressively motivate contractors to improve before accumulating excessive cost and schedule performance deficits, for ongoing and future NOAA-funded NASA contracts.

This management information report provides the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) perspective on challenges the U.S. Department of Education (Department) may face as it implements and oversees the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In preparing this report, we reviewed recent audit work performed by OIG and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as well as OIG’s annual Management Challenges reports. We also reviewed challenges that the Department faced when administering education-related grant programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), to include how the challenges were addressed andwhat lessons were noted as needing to be considered in the event that legislation providing a large yet temporary funding increase for new or existing programs (like the Recovery Act) was enacted in the future.We identified challenges related to grantee oversight and monitoring, student financial assistance oversight and monitoring, and data quality and reporting that the Department should consider as it implements and oversees the CARES Act.

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of portability in the Housing Choice Voucher Program based on a congressional inquiry from Senator Grassley’s office. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate oversight of portability in the Housing Choice Voucher Program; specifically, to determine whether (1) HUD had adequate policies and procedures to identify and evaluate the impacts portability may have on public housing agencies’ Housing Choice Voucher Programs and (2) HUD’s financial information relating to portability set-aside and additional administrative fees was correctly calculated and distributed in accordance with its requirements.HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing generally had adequate oversight of portability in the Housing Choice Voucher Program; however, improvements could be made. Although HUD reviews public housing agencies’ programs, it did not specifically identify and evaluate the effects of portability. As a result, HUD could miss the opportunity to assess the impact of portability on public housing agencies’ programs and use the information to make decisions that could (1) assist public housing agencies experiencing difficulties with managing the portability component of the program and (2) result in programmatic or process improvements. In addition, HUD generally calculated portability set-aside funding for increased costs and special administrative fees for portability correctly with a few exceptions. As a result, HUD overpaid $115,335 in set-aside funding and $133,179 in special administrative fees. It also underpaid $35,189 in special administrative fees.We recommend that HUD (1) conduct an assessment of the impact of portability and determine whether technical assistance is necessary for certain public housing agencies, (2) pursue collection or recapture $248,514 for the overpayments and distribute $35,189 for the underpayments of set-aside funds and special administrative fees, and (3) review the calculations and distributions of funds for category 2b portability set-aside and special administrative fees for portability to ensure accuracy.