Federal Reports

The objective of this report is to provide insight into the top management challenges facing federal agencies that received pandemic relatedfunding as identified by Offices of Inspector General.

This report presents the findings of an audit that examined whether VA’s police information systems provided program leaders and the workforce with adequate information to manage operations and in turn support effective governance. It builds on a December 2018 Office of Inspector General (OIG) publication that recommended improvements to VA’s national governance of its police program. The OIG found that VA lacked an effective strategy or action plan to update its police information system. In September 2015, the VA Law Enforcement Training Center (LETC) acquired Report Exec, a replacement records management system, for police officers at all medical facilities. Inadequate planning and contract administration mismanagement caused the system implementation to stall for more than two years. LETC spent approximately $2.8 million on the system by fiscal year 2019, but police officers experienced frequent performance issues and had to use different systems that did not share information. As of April 2019, only 63 percent of medical facility police units were reportedly using the Report Exec system, while 37 percent were still using an incompatible legacy system. As a result, administrators and law enforcement personnel at multiple levels could not adequately track and oversee facility incidents involving VA police or make informed decisions on risks and resource allocations. The audit also revealed that information security controls were not in place for the Report Exec system that put individuals’ sensitive personal information at risk. The OIG made seven recommendations that included evaluating which entity should oversee the records management systems for VA police, establishing a working group to assess whether the Report Exec system meets the needs of VA police, and developing a strategy to fully implement the system or its replacement. The OIG also recommended that an information security officer be consistently responsible for the Report Exec system.

We conducted a performance audit of the North Carolina Arts Council (NCAC) for the period of October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2019. Based on our performance audit, we concluded that NCAC generally complied with financial management system and recordkeeping requirements established by the Office of Management and Budget and the National Endowment for the Arts. However, we identified the following areas requiring improvement. NCAC: reported unallowable subaward costs on its Federal Financial Report; did not maintain current policies and procedures for subawards; did not have debarment and suspension policies and procedures; and did not have policies and procedures for the management of Federal awards.

For our audit of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) Patent Capture and Application Processing System (PCAPS), our objective was to determine whether USPTO has adequate data recovery and contingency plans in place to ensure operational availability of PCAPS.We found that (1) USPTO has no assurance that it can restore critical applications in the event of system failure and (2) USPTO’s continued delay in updating legacy systems rendered a $4 million-per-year alternate processing site inadequate and impractical.

KPMG found FEMA did not always ensure that the Virgin Islands Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA), and Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (VIWAPA) established and implemented policies, procedures, and practices to account for and expend PA disaster grant funds in accordance with Federal regulations and FEMA guidance. Specifically: 1) VITEMA did not have policies and procedures to ensure the timely submission of management costs for reimbursement; 2) VIWAPA did not fully ensure contract costs were reasonable and allowable; and 3) Neither VITEMA nor VIWAPA had fully implemented FEMA’s Grants Manager and Grants Portal system. This occurred because FEMA did not consistently provide adequate oversight. Because of these deficiencies, there is increased risk the PA program may be mismanaged and funds may be used for unallowable activities. We made three recommendations that, when implemented, should improve FEMA’s, VITEMA’s, and VIWAPA’s management of FEMA PA funds. FEMA concurred with all three recommendations.