Federal Reports

The Office of Inspector General is issuing an inspection report to determine whether the New Jersey Small Business Development Center met financial, programmatic, and performance requirements. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is authorized to make grants to states, institutions of higher education, and Women’s Business Centers to establish Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs). Since 1978, Rutgers University has been a recipient and hosts the New Jersey SBDC to administer the program.

For program year (PY) 2023, SBA awarded the New Jersey SBDC $3,620,094 in federal funds and the center contributed $4,303,349 in matching funds, for a total budget of $7,923,443. The period of performance for PY 2023 is from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024.

We identified operational improvements to protect program integrity and performance, such as maintaining counselors certified to assist small businesses with exporting, publicizing operating hours, informing SBDC personnel of whistleblower protections, and improving coordination with SBA so the center’s progress towards performance goals can be accurately tracked and monitored.

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Healthcare Facility Inspection program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the care provided at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Washington. 

This evaluation focused on five key content domains:
     •    Culture
     •    Environment of care
     •    Patient safety
     •    Primary care
     •    Veteran-centered safety net

The OIG issued two recommendations for improvement in one domain:
  1.    Veteran-centered safety net
     •    Staff access to government vehicles and cell phones

Why We Did This Report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General conducted this evaluation to determine whether the EPA and its contractors followed Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology flight equipment deployment procedures during the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment emergency.

Summary of Findings

During its response to the train derailment, the EPA and its contractors followed existing practices for deploying the ASPECT aircraft. Although the EPA followed existing practices for deploying ASPECT, the documented procedures that were in place remain largely unknown to all involved stakeholders and lack the clarity needed to avoid negatively affecting decision-making related to an emergency response.

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

Market Dominant mail classes, including First-Class Mail, Marketing Mail, and Periodicals, are some of the primary services the American public associates with the Postal Service. These classes contain well-known products like letters, postcards, advertising mail, bills, magazines, and newspapers. 

While mail has been declining since 2006, mail still accounts for about half of the Postal Service’s revenue and the United States remains the world’s largest market for mail. The Postal Service plays a key role in ensuring the American public receives essential communications and products regardless of their location. However, the decline in mail volume in the last 10 years has been steep; First-Class Mail has declined 30 percent and Marketing Mail has declined 20 percent. This decline has been primarily caused by “electronic diversion,” the replacement of physical mail with electronic alternatives, including the internet, email, and text messages.