Federal Reports

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act (WPEA) requires that federal agencies that have or use nondisclosure policies, forms, or agreements ensure that said policies, forms, or agreements include an explicit statement (“anti-gag provision”) notifying the signatory employees that they retain their rights to report wrongdoing to Congress, the Inspector General (IG), or the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Two of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) recent nondisclosure agreements did not fully comply with this requirement. The CPSC must act to remedy this non-compliance going forward.

When a veteran files a claim for disability benefits, a medical exam may be necessary. If the nearest VA medical center cannot conduct the exam, a contract exam vendor is utilized. Medical Disability Exam contracts require contract exam facilities to comply with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.In response to accessibility, safety, and cleanliness concerns documented in customer satisfaction surveys, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) directly inspected facilities and reviewed Medical Disability Examination Office (MDEO) oversight of vendors. The OIG identified one or more ADA and OSHA deficiencies at 114 of the 135 exam facilities visited. MDEO relied on vendors to self-certify compliance with ADA and OSHA standards; however, MDEO did not provide necessary oversight.The OIG noted four specific oversight deficits. First, MDEO lacked independent access to facilities, depending on vendors for locations to assess compliance issues. Second, MDEO relied on vendors to distribute their own exam satisfaction survey cards. Third, at the time of the review, MDEO lacked formal standardized procedures and training for inspections. Fourth, MDEO required exam vendors to inspect and self-certify facilities, yet vendors stated they relied on self-reporting or photos from subcontractors. Further, MDEO did not verify ADA and OSHA compliance despite receiving complaints from veterans.While the OIG acknowledges the improvement plans MDEO leaders shared during the review, the OIG made nine recommendations to the under secretary for benefits, including that MDEO more closely monitor inspections, visit sites, use a revised inspection checklist, maintain a facilities inventory, and have independent access. MDEO and vendors should also ensure accessibility prior to scheduling. Finally, inspection processes and training should be standardized and vendor contracts enforced. Until oversight improves, veterans are at risk of harm and benefits compensation may be delayed.

As of December 2023, the EPA had issued 11 Build America, Buy America Act waivers. We found that the EPA did not track the use of ten of these waivers across EPA-funded infrastructure projects. Build America, Buy America Act waivers can be categorized into two types: project-specific waivers and general applicability waivers. The Agency was unable to provide the number of award recipients that fall under either type of waiver and does not have a method in place to track this information. With approximately $60.3 billion in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act projects potentially subject to Build America, Buy America Act requirements, the EPA needs to develop and implement a method to track all waiver use. Without tracking the use of such waivers, the EPA may not be able to maximize use of U.S. goods, products, and materials in EPA-funded infrastructure projects.

The U.S. Census Bureau awarded the 2020 Census Integrated Communications Contract (ICC) in August 2016 as part of a campaign to raise awareness and encourage response during the 2020 census. Our audit objective was to determine whether the bureau effectively managed selected ICC task orders to ensure desired outcomes were achieved. We focused on four task orders, totaling $436.5 million, related to strategy, planning, and execution of the ICC’s paid advertising component. Overall, we found the bureau did not properly administer the contract or monitor the contractor’s performance in compliance with federal and departmental regulations and policies. I. Contracting officials did not ensure that the task orders included the required performance standards for the contractor or the methods for assessing the contractor’s performance against the standards. II. They also did not follow contract procedures for the plan used to evaluate the quality of the contractor’s performance. III. Finally, they did not maintain supporting documentation for paid media invoices totaling $363 million. As a result, the bureau could not ensure that the contractor complied with contractual requirements and could have accepted substandard performance, potentially wasting millions of taxpayer dollars. In particular, the $363 million in payments for media services represent unsupported costs. We issued six recommendations to the Census Bureau Director to improve the administration and execution of contracts and task orders, including specifying performance standards, preparing the required quality plans, and maintaining required documentation.

We conducted this review to determine whether the U.S. Department of Commerce complied with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA), which is intended to improve efforts to identify and reduce government-wide improper payments. Broadly defined, improper payments are those the federal government has made in an incorrect amount or to the wrong recipient. Improper payments can negatively impact the public’s trust in the federal government and distract from the benefits of federal programs.During fiscal year (FY) 2023, the Department reported approximately $22.5 million in overpayments identified for recapture and approximately $18.9 million in overpayments recovered.Our objective was to determine the Department’s compliance with PIIA for FY 2023. We also assessed the Department’s efforts related to preventing and reducing improper payments and unknown payments. We concluded that the Department complied with the PIIA criteria for FY 2023 based on our review. We did not identify any actions needed to further improve prevention and reduction measures within the Department.

Objective: To determine whether SSA could identify deceased beneficiaries aged 80 to 89 using its Medicare claims data.

We performed an audit of costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas LLC (GEH) for nuclear steam supply system refueling and inspection outage services at TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant under Contract No. 10354. Our audit objective was to determine if costs were billed in compliance with the contract's terms. Our audit scope included about $31 million in costs billed from January 1, 2022, through May 31, 2023.In summary, we determined GEH billed TVA:- $3,536,279 in excessive noncraft subcontract labor costs because the costs were billed at GEH's time and material (T&M) rates, rather than at actual subcontractor costs, as provided for in the contract. Due to the potential significance of the excessive noncraft subcontract labor costs billed to TVA, we expanded our scope and estimated TVA has paid an additional $10.9 million in excessive noncraft subcontract labor costs billed outside our audit scope as of January 31, 2024. We also estimated TVA could pay approximately $10.3 million in excess labor costs over the course of the remaining contract spend if GEH continues to bill noncraft subcontract labor costs at GEH's T&M rates instead of actuals.- $1,080,779 in costs that did not have a corresponding rate in the contract, including (1) $1,045,574 in equipment costs and (2) $35,205 in other costs, such as supplies, cart rentals, craft incentive bonuses, and physicals.- A net $256,155 in overbilled rates, including (1) $237,474 for overbilled per diem rates, (2) $7,306 for overbilled noncraft GEH labor rates, (3) $7,089 for overbilled craft subcontract labor rates, (4) $6,179 for overbilled equipment rates, and (5) a net underbilling of $1,893 for site security access fee rates.- $59,216 in unsupported costs, including (1) $49,212 in unsupported noncraft subcontract labor costs, (2) $7,852 in unsupported noncraft GEH labor costs, and (3) $2,152 in unsupported per diem.In addition, we determined GEH did not bill airfare and mileage costs, totaling $361,718, in accordance with the contract. Specifically, GEH billed a flat fee for airfare and mileage instead of actual costs, as provided for in the contract. However, due to lack of documentation supporting the actual costs and rates, we could not quantify the cost impact, if any.GEH did not dispute the findings totaling $28,685 related to (1) overbilled rates for noncraft GEH labor, craft subcontract labor, equipment, and site security access fees, and(2) unsupported costs for noncraft GEH labor and per diem. However, GEH disagreed with our findings related to (1) excessive noncraft subcontract labor costs, (2) costs that did not have a corresponding rate in the contract, (3) overbilled per diem rates, (4) unsupported noncraft subcontractor labor costs, and (5) airfare and mileage costs not being billed in accordance with the contract.(Summary Only)