Federal Reports

Ernesto Ruiz of Orlando, Florida, pleaded guilty on January 29, 2025, in the Circuit Court of Orange County, State of Florida, to fraudulent use of a credit card. The same day, Ruiz was sentenced to one day incarceration and ordered to pay a special assessment of $618. Our investigation found that Ruiz and codefendant Eric Cardenas were part of a sophisticated credit card fraud ring operating throughout central Florida. They used fraudulently obtained credit cards, to include an Amtrak Wright Express Corporation (WEX) card, to purchase fuel.

Cardenas previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced in November 2024.

Our Objective(s)To perform a quality control review (QCR) of KPMG LLP's management letter related to the audit of DOT's consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2024, and September 30, 2023. We reviewed KPMG's management letter, dated November 27, 2024, and related documentation.
About This ReportWe contracted with the independent public accounting firm KPMG, LLP, to audit DOT's consolidated financial statements. KPMG also issued a management letter discussing internal control matters that KPMG was not required to include in its audit report.
What We FoundThe independent auditor, KPMG, found six internal control matters in DOT's management of operations.

Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) weaknesses within the user profile system change management process.
FHWA's weakness in accounting policies for Federal Lands Highway construction.
Enterprise Services Center's (ESC) weakness in control over Central Accounting Reporting System Classification, Transactions, and Accountability module reconciliation.
ESC's weakness in control over quarterly review of the journal voucher control log.
OST's weakness in control over management legal schedule and management legal letter.
FHWA's weaknesses in controls over the inputs to the Federal aid grant accrual.

Our QCR disclosed no instances in which KPMG did not comply, in all material respects, with U.S. generally accepted Government auditing standards.
RecommendationsWe agree with KPMG's 11 recommendations to strengthen DOT's information system and business process controls.

Our Objective(s)To perform a quality control review (QCR) of Allmond & Company, LLC's (Allmond) management letter related to the audit of NTSB's financial statements as of and for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2024, and September 30, 2023. We reviewed Allmond's management letter, dated November 6, 2024, and related documentation.
About This ReportWe contracted with the independent public accounting firm Allmond to audit NTSB's financial statements. Allmond also issued a management letter discussing internal control matters that Allmond was not required to include in its audit report.
What We FoundThe independent auditor, Allmond, found three internal control matters in NTSB's management of operations.

NTSB does not have agency-specific written policies and procedures for processing personnel actions.
NTSB does not review the Official Personnel Folders of transferred employees and employees returning to Federal service to verify the employees' payroll and benefits information is accurate and supported by appropriate documentation
NTSB does not have a procedure to validate upward and downward adjustment activity in the general ledger and to make the necessary corrections to ensure that both the upward and downward adjustment balances are accurate.

Our QCR disclosed no instances in which Allmond did not comply, in all material respects, with U.S. generally accepted Government auditing standards.
RecommendationsWe agree with Allmond's seven recommendations to help strengthen NTSB's internal controls.

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is responsible for minimizing the risk that Federal funds will be lost when an Institution of Higher Education (IHE) stops participating in the programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended. When an IHE stops participating in Title IV programs, either voluntarily or involuntarily (due to closure or other circumstances), the closeout procedures it is required to perform and the liability assessment processes Federal Student Aid (FSA) performs, identify any program funds the IHE is required to return to the Department. If the required closeout procedures are not completed, an alternative assessment is conducted by FSA to determine whether the IHE must return program funds to the Department. We performed our inspection to determine the results of the Department’s processes for assessing and recouping liabilities from IHEs that closed from October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2023. We found that the Department has processes in place for assessing and recouping liabilities from IHEs that close. Based on these processes FSA’s School Participation Divisions (SPD) determined that as of March 2024, 47 of the 161 IHEs that closed between October 1, 2020, and September 30, 2023, should repay the Department a total of $34,593,135 in Title IV program funds. These processes also led to FSA’s SPDs assessing liabilities totaling $30,507,138 during the period we reviewed for 13 of the 19 closed IHEs we selected for review. The Department’s Office of Finance and Operations recouped a total of $812,998 of those liabilities from 8 of the 13 IHEs. However, despite these efforts, we found that five of the seven sampled SPDs that oversee IHEs and that we included in our review did not always follow the established processes to timely determine whether liabilities should be assessed against IHEs that closed. These processes are necessary to timely determine closed schools’ liabilities and to make those determinations in a manner consistent with established guidance. We did not identify any issues with the Department’s actions to recoup liabilities from the IHEs we sampled in our review.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a follow-up healthcare inspection in response to a 2023 OIG report regarding mistreatment of a resident at the Miles City VA Community Living Center (CLC) and the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center (facility). The OIG did not receive new allegations but initiated the inspection to review the current state of the CLC, including corrective actions and sustainability of changes implemented by system leaders. In addition, the OIG reviewed staffing shortages affecting the quality of care for CLC residents.
The 2023 OIG report substantiated an allegation of resident mistreatment and identified issues related to reporting and oversight processes. The OIG made seven recommendations that were closed as of May 9, 2024. The OIG determined system leaders’ actions to address previously identified CLC deficiencies specific to rights of residents to refuse treatment, patient safety reporting, screening and admissions, physician care oversight and documentation, and nursing care operations were sustained; therefore, the OIG did not have recommendations related to these areas. 
The OIG, however, identified gaps in CLC physician coverage and staffing shortages for the CLC physical therapist and social worker positions, affecting quality of care for residents. The OIG found that when the CLC physician was on extended leave, medical coverage was by phone to the facility medical officer of the day located over 300 miles away. Physical therapy needs, such as timely access to durable medical equipment, were still being covered by existing system staff. A social worker, to address residents’ psychosocial needs, had been hired as of September 11, 2024. While the OIG did not find that the CLC staffing shortages resulted in resident harm, the gaps and shortages may limit access to and continuity of care for residents. The OIG made two recommendations to the Facility Director regarding staffing.