Federal Reports

The Office of Inspector General is issuing this audit report to determine the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) efforts to collect on delinquent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) with collateral and personal guarantors.

We found that SBA did not perfect its security interest on borrower deposit accounts, conduct post-default site visits, report all delinquent obligors to credit bureaus, or refer debts to the U.S. Department of Justice for litigation.

We recommended SBA conduct a study to determine the minimum loan dollar thresholds for performing site visits, implement policies and procedures based the results of that study, and ensure post-default site visits are conducted and available collateral is liquidated on delinquent COVID-19 EIDLs; verify that all delinquent COVID-19 EIDL obligors are reported to credit bureaus in a timely manner; and confer with the U.S. Department of Justice to establish a reasonable standard for referring delinquent COVID-19 EIDLs for litigation.

SBA management agreed with one recommendation and disagreed with two. Management’s planned action resolved Recommendation 2; however, management’s response did not resolve Recommendations 1 and 3.

In 2020, the Department of Energy implemented Department Order 486.1A, Foreign Government Sponsored or Affiliated Activities (Order), which prohibits Department and Laboratory employees from participating in foreign Government-sponsored talent recruitment programs and restricts other foreign Government-sponsored activities or affiliated activities with a foreign country of risk.

We initiated this inspection to determine if the Department and its National Laboratories are complying with the Order.

We determined that the Department and its National Laboratories did not consistently comply with Department Order 486.1A requirements. Specifically, we found issues surrounding reporting disclosures, and the submission and review of quarterly disclosure reports. Additionally, we found that the Federal Oversight Advisory Body did not adhere to the Order.

If the Department and its National Laboratories are not consistently complying with the Order, then U.S. competitive and national security interests and Department program objectives may not be protected; potential conflicts of interest may arise; and the unauthorized transfers of scientific and technical information may occur.

We have made five recommendations that, if fully implemented, should help ensure that the issues identified in this report are corrected.
 

The Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act (VACAA) of 2014 and VA Choice and Quality Employment Act (VCQEA) of 2017 requires the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) to determine, annually, a minimum of five clinical and five nonclinical Veterans Health Administration (VHA) occupations with the largest staffing shortages within each VHA medical center (facility). Pursuant to this requirement, the OIG conducted a review to identify those severe staffing shortages by occupation. The OIG also compared the number of severe occupational staffing shortages against the previous seven years’ reports to assess changes.

The OIG surveyed VHA-identified facility points of contact to determine severe occupational staffing shortages at each facility. Among the most significant findings in this year’s staffing report were the following:
•    In fiscal year (FY) 2025, VHA facilities reported a total of 4,434 severe occupational staffing shortages, a 50 percent increase from FY 2024 in which facilities reported 2,959 total shortage occupations.
•    Ninety-four percent of facilities reported severe occupational staffing shortages for Medical Officer occupations, and 79 percent of facilities reported severe shortages for Nurse occupations.
•    Psychology was the most frequently reported severe clinical occupational staffing shortage and also the most frequently reported Hybrid Title 38 severe shortage occupation, with 57 percent of facilities reporting it as a shortage.
•    Police was reported as a shortage by 58 percent of facilities, making it the most frequently reported severe nonclinical occupational staffing shortage and the most frequently reported of all occupations.
•    All 139 VHA facilities identified staffing shortages.

VACAA and VCQEA established authority for the VA Secretary to grant VHA the authority to waive veterans’ preference requirements for external applicants to Hybrid Title 38 occupations, expanding the candidate pool for these occupations based on severe shortages.

The OIG made no recommendations.