Federal Reports

VA spends millions of taxpayer dollars annually on healthcare resources procured without competition from affiliated institutions. This report is a summary of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) 27 healthcare resource proposal reviews completed before VA awarded the contracts (preaward reviews) during fiscal year 2019 in order to help VA obtain the best pricing. OIG preaward reviews of healthcare resource proposals are internal reports for VA contracting officers. These reports are unpublished due to protected sensitive commercial pricing information. The OIG is publishing this summary to provide more information on the impact of these reviews. Preaward reviews provide VA with pricing recommendations based on the offeror’s actual expenses of providing the services. Preaward reports are used by contracting officers to negotiate fair and reasonable prices for the government and taxpayers. The OIG’s healthcare resources lower pricing recommendations collectively reflected approximately $198 million in estimated cost savings to VA. More than $26 million has been sustained by VA. The 27 proposals included 77,701 annual hours of physician services and services priced per procedure and ordered as needed.

The DOI will award most of its CARES Act funding to Indian Country through grants to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). Of the $756 million, $522 million (69.0 percent) will be funded to Indian Country. As of June 13, 2020, $419,462,721, or 80.4 percent, had been obligated.These emergency response awards from the DOI–together with more than $8.7 billion in awards to Indian Country from other Federal departments—present a higher risk because they must be spent in a short period of time. In addition, we have identified Indian Country as a high-risk area in our recent Top Management Challenges reports because in the past, the BIA, the BIE, and tribes have faced many challenges with handling grant funds. This further increases the risk that Federal tax dollars will be misused, abused, and vulnerable to fraud. In addition, emergency situations could grow rapidly in size, scope, or complexity, thereby elevating the risk even higher.In this report we present lessons learned in our prior work that the DOI, the BIA, and the BIE should consider as they make awards, promote safety, and provide oversight under the CARES Act. In our previous reports, we found that the following areas are important for improved safety and successful oversight:• Ensuring Indian school safety and health while providing educational services• Providing oversight to help prevent mismanagement of financial awards• Minimizing the spread of the virus while maintaining safety within tribal detention centersThe BIA, the BIE, tribes, and tribal organizations will have specific challenges in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We know there are risks and complexities surrounding emergency funds that can be difficult to manage. As such, we plan to help provide oversight and ensure the CARES Act moneys are spent appropriately.

In response to the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the National Park Service (NPS) closed most park buildings, facilities, and restrooms, and in some cases, entire parks. With States now easing stay-at-home restrictions, and in response to the White House’s emphasis to open the national parks, some parks have already increased access by implementing a phased reopening. To facilitate a safe reopening, the NPS issued the National Park Service COVID-19 Adaptive Operations Recovery Plan to the parks on May 28, 2020. We contacted each of the 62 national park superintendents to report on each national park’s current operating status, anticipated reopening date, and whether the park had begun developing a COVID-19 response operating plan.During our review, we learned that as of May 12, 2020, most of the national parks were entirely closed or still partially closed. Of the 62 national parks, we noted that 32 did not yet have an anticipated date to increase recreational access, visitor services, or use of some facilities, while 30 parks, including Everglades National Park, Yellowstone National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park, had either already began a phased reopening or anticipated an opening date between May 2020 and July 2020. Twenty of those 30 parks had developed or had begun developing a phased reopening plan with COVID-19 considerations, while 10 parks had not started developing such a plan.We acknowledge the challenge the NPS has had in this ever-changing and unprecedented situation. We also recognize that the NPS cannot take a one-size-fits all approach to reopening its locations, as each national park must consider guidance from Federal, State, and local officials. Considering the risks associated with COVID-19 and the phased reopening of the national parks, it is imperative that all NPS locations have a park-specific plan to operate in a way that provides public access while protecting visitors and staff from further transmission of the virus.

Our objective was to gather information on the Social Security Administration's (SSA) reconsideration level of appeal.

OIG reviewed the proposed Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection rule to determine whether FSIS’ worker safety analysis complied with applicable rulemaking requirements.