Federal Reports

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino’s Continuum of Care grant funds received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We audited the Authority because it is among the top 15 percent of competitive grantees in HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development’s risk analysis. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its Continuum of Care grants in accordance with HUD requirements.The Authority did not have adequate support for the administrative fees charged to its Continuum of Care grants. This condition occurred because the Authority lacked a detailed written administrative fee cost allocation methodology in its policies and procedures. As a result, HUD had no assurance that administrative fees of $663,070 charged to the Continuum of Care grants were appropriate. We recommend that the Director of HUD’s Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development require the Authority to (1) adequately support the administrative fees or repay its Continuum of Care grants $663,070 from non-Federal funds, (2) submit an indirect cost rate schedule for its Continuum of Care grants to HUD for approval, and (3) develop and implement written policies and procedures for its administrative fee charges.

What Office of Inspector General Evaluated

We conducted an audit of the Library of Congress gift shop. Our objectives were to determine whether the design and documentation of the systems of internal control were adequate to ensure the accuracy and reliability of accounting data and to protect Gift Shop assets, and assessing whether compliance with the systems of internal control was adequate to rely on those controls Office of Inspector General conducted the Audit  from February 2018 through December 2018.

What Office of Inspector General Found

The Audit report highlights key considerations for the Library’s Gift Shop as it prepares for increased customer traffic and sales following the introduction of the new Visitor Experience. To meet these demands, management must address higher inventory levels, increased point-of-sale activity, and improve merchandising data for informed investment decisions. As a revolving fund, the Gift Shop relies entirely on its  ability to operate profit ably, without appropriations, necessitating strong business expertise from its  management team. 

We found:

• The gift shop must implement an improved accounting system for its financial management and reporting.
• Annual merchandise plans and inventory planning require enhanced documentation.
• Integrating online sales into DAX will reduce exposure to error.
• Management should address other internal control issues found including point-of-sale transactions and segregation of duties.

What Office of Inspector General Recommends

We made 22 recommendations related to improving gift shop operations in the area of financial management and accounting.

The Office of the Inspector General audited TVA’s information systems categorization process to determine if TVA’s information systems categorization process was effective and in compliance with Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 199 and National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication (NIST SP) 800-60. We determined that portions of TVA’s process were effective. However, we found gaps with implementing NIST SP 800-60 guidance. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations.

The Office of Inspector General conducted a follow‐up audit evaluating NASA’s process for transferring Agency‐developed technology to the commercial sector.

We identified actions that Washington has taken, using Federal funds for improving prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), to achieve program goals toward improving safe prescribing practices and preventing prescription drug abuse and misuse. As of July 2018, Washington had completed some of the activities it proposed for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant to enhance and maximize its PDMP. Specifically, of the 11 activities proposed for the audit period (March 1, 2016, through August 31, 2017), 6 were completed, and the remaining 5 were partially completed.