Federal Reports

This semiannual report summarizes the GPO OIG's activities and accomplishments for October 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023.

We found an oil and gas company failed to report royalties from mineral production on an Indian Lease in Oklahoma.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviews nonpharmaceutical proposals submitted to the VA National Acquisition Center for Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts. Specifically, the OIG reviews nonpharmaceutical proposals for FSS contracts that have an anticipated annual value of $10 million or more for high-tech medical equipment, $3 million or more for all other FSS contracts, or $100,000 or more for dealers/resellers without significant sales to the public, or as requested by VA. These reviews help contracting officers negotiate fair and reasonable prices.This report summarizes the reviews of nonpharmaceutical proposals conducted during fiscal year (FY) 2021. The 26 proposals covered six FSS schedules with a cumulative estimated contract value of about $1.4 billion, with a total of 25,753 offered items. Contract negotiations for 22 of 26 nonpharmaceutical proposals had been completed as of May 17, 2022, and the OIG’s recommendations assisted contracting officers in obtaining $41 million in contract savings for VA.The OIG found that commercial sales practices disclosures were accurate, complete, and current for nine of the 26 proposals. The remaining 17 proposals could not be reliably used for negotiations until the noted deficiencies, such as identified lower prices, were corrected. The OIG also reviewed vendor commercial selling practices and made recommendations for lower prices than offered for 17 of 26 proposals (65 percent), resulting in adjusted recommended cost savings of approximately $182 million. Finally, the OIG evaluated and suggested alternative tracking customers for 10 of the 26 proposals. A vendor’s proposed tracking customer may not be suitable if the customer does not have similar buying patterns as the FSS or does not have adequate coverage of the offered items.This report does not propose any additional recommendations that necessitate any action or VA response.

What We Looked AtThe Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of Investigations and Professional Responsibility (AXI) conducts administrative investigations and special inquiries on FAA employees and contractors suspected of violating Agency orders, regulations, and policy. The Federal Aviation Administrator asked our office to conduct a review of AXI following a December 2020 Senate Committee report that detailed significant lapses in aviation safety oversight and leadership at FAA. Our audit objective was to assess AXI’s policies, procedures, and practices for conducting administrative investigations and evaluate its compliance with applicable standards or best practices. What We FoundAXI’s guidance overlaps with and contradicts FAA’s guidance, potentially leaving investigators unclear about their responsibilities. An FAA directive also currently prohibits investigators from concluding whether employees actually engaged in misconduct, which senior AXI officials believe would make their reports more effective. Per the request of the Administrator, we obtained training records to determine if investigators received the necessary indoctrination training. However, AXI’s electronic training system records are not current, making it difficult to track whether agents are fully trained on proper investigative techniques and protocols. In addition, the office lacks internal controls to ensure the appropriate official always reviews and signs investigation reports. As a result, sensitive investigation reports could be issued without management’s awareness. Field investigators also lack clear guidance on referring criminal cases to OIG, and AXI does not have internal controls to ensure that it accounts for investigative requests that it rejects or that do not fall under its authority. Without an accurate record, some cases may get overlooked. Finally, AXI’s policies, procedures, and practices do not comply with Federal or AXI standards for program reviews, which hinders its ability to ensure investigators meet program requirements, help FAA take effective corrective action against employees who engage in misconduct, and prevent errors from reoccurring. Our RecommendationsFAA concurred with all 11 of our recommendations to strengthen AXI’s policies, procedures, and practices for conducting administrative investigations.

We performed this review as part of our ongoing inspection with the objective to conduct integrated oversight of the funding provided to Forest Service's Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Alert Memorandum:Closure of Participating MainStreet Lending Program Bank

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a surge in demand for ventilators and provoked concerns about potential supply shortages across VA medical facilities. During the course of a previous broader review, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) uncovered a potential issue with the number of ventilators procured and stored at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and sought to determine whether they had been properly requested, acquired, received, and accounted for.The OIG found the facility acquired more ventilators from March 1, 2020, through November 30, 2021, than were needed for veteran care. Facility and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) officials duplicated purchase efforts, resulting in the facility obtaining 112 ventilators—56 from a local contract and 56 from a VHA national contract. This was due in part to facility officials’ concerns about the pandemic-related demand and acquisition delays from supply chain disruptions. The VHA-purchased ventilators, worth about $2.5 million, were never used for patient care at the hospital. They were placed in storage for more than 19 months during which other VA facilities reported shortages. The ventilators were quickly redistributed in 2022 after facility officials turned them in.The hospital lacked an effective methodology to determine the number of ventilators the hospital needed either before or during the pandemic. Contributing to these issues was VA’s lack of a reliable inventory system to identify excess equipment.VA concurred with the OIG’s recommendations to (1) document a methodology for determining the number of ventilators required to fulfill the facility’s mission during routine and emergency operations and (2) determine whether the remaining ventilators are all needed or can be turned in as required by VA policy. VA submitted documentation of corrective actions resulting in the OIG’s closure of the recommendations as implemented.