Federal Reports

The Office of the Inspector General previously conducted an evaluation of Materials and Transportation Management (M&TM) (Evaluation 2016-15586 issued July 27, 2017) to identify strengths and risks that could affect M&TM’s organizational effectiveness. Our report identified several strengths and risks along with recommendations for addressing those risks. The objective of this follow-up evaluation was to assess management’s actions to address risks included in our initial organizational effectiveness evaluation. In summary, we determined management has taken actions to address most of the risks outlined in our initial organizational effectiveness evaluation, and management actions appear reasonable to address the remaining risks. However, three recommendations remain unresolved, including (1) one manager’s behavior and teamwork at one location, (2) instances where goals were not SMART, and (3) cross functional risks related to business units.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, Office of Inspector General (CNCS-OIG) issued a Management Alert to express our concerns over the following proposed regulatory changes to the Senior Corps Program, which do not appear to have undergone adequate risk assessment prior to the proposed rule-making: (1) Reducing the minimum number of volunteer service hours per week from 15 to 5; and (2) Eliminating the Direct Benefit Ratio or 80/20 Rule, which requires that at least 80 percent of the Federal grant award be expended for volunteer benefits.CNCS-OIG’s analysis suggests that these two changes may increase certain per-volunteer costs, and simultaneously decrease significantly the service hours delivered to the served communities. CNCS has not considered these potential financial and programmatic effects, nor has it undertaken a pilot program to identify any other unintended consequences.We made three recommendations to CNCS, focused on additional analysis and research into potential increased costs and reduction in community service hours. CNCS’s response did not address the concerns substantively, but said that it would do so as part of the rulemaking process.