Federal Reports

An Amtrak Specialist based in Philadelphia was issued a letter of warning on May 4, 2021, for violating company policies by admittedly posting inappropriate and offensive images on her Facebook account that publicly identified her as an Amtrak employee, in violation of company policy.

EPA Did Not Conduct Agencywide Risk Assessment of CARES Act Appropriations, Increasing Risk of Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement.

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Women’s Business Center (WBC) program assists women in starting and growing small businesses and provides long-term training and counseling to women business owners, including those who are socially and economically disadvantaged.SBA did not provide effective oversight over the WBC program. SBA program officials did not detect that WBCs in our sample: (1) failed to take corrective action to remedy accounting deficiencies identified during mandated programmatic and financial reviews and examinations; (2) made improper budget transfers and maintained general ledgers that did not support expenses; (3) used federal funds for unsupported, unallowable and unallocable costs; (4) reported unsupported matching funds and program income earned, and 5) failed to submit accurate financial reports. Further, program officials detected significant noncompliance that warranted removal of two WBCs from the program but did not take action. Additionally, program officials’ methodology for evaluating applicant risk was flawed, and resulted in inadequate oversight of the sample WBCs’ use of federal funds.As a result of weaknesses in SBA’s internal controls and limited oversight of the WBCs, program officials did not detect $801,056 in unallowable, unallocable, and unsupported costs, matching funds, and program income earned.We made 10 recommendations to improve SBA’s oversight and management of the Women’s Business Center cooperative agreements. SBA management concurred with all 10 recommendations, and its planned actions resolve the recommendations.

Denali Commission Office of the Inspector General Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-2025.

This report transmits the results of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year (FY) 2020 annual review of the FEC’s compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA).

Under 40 U.S.C. § 1315, DHS had the legal authority to designate and deploy DHS law enforcement officers from CBP, ICE and United States Secret Service to help the Federal Protective Service protect Federal facilities in Portland, Oregon. However, DHS was unprepared to effectively execute cross-component activities to protect Federal facilities when component law enforcement officers first deployed on June 4, 2020. Specifically, not all officers completed required training; had the necessary equipment; or used consistent uniforms, devices, and operational tactics when responding to the events in Portland. This occurred because DHS did not have a comprehensive strategy that addressed the potential for limited state and local law enforcement assistance, and cross-designation policies, processes, equipment, and training requirements. We made two recommendations to improve DHS’ preparedness for protecting Federal property. DHS concurred with both recommendations.

During our unannounced inspection of Pulaski County Jail, we identified violations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention standards that threatened the health, safety, and rights of detainees. In addressing COVID-19, Pulaski did not consistently enforce precautions including use of facial coverings and social distancing, which may have contributed to repeated COVID-19 transmissions at the facility. Pulaski did not meet standards for classification, medical care, segregation, or detainee communication. We found that the facility was not providing a color-coded visual identification system based on the criminal history of detainees, causing inadvertent comingling of a detainee with significant criminal history with detainees who had no criminal history. The facility generally provided sufficient medical care, but did not provide emergency dental services and the medical unit did not have procedures in place for chronic care follow-up. We also found that the facility was not consistently providing required oversight for detainees in segregation by conducting routine wellness checks. Finally, we found deficiencies in staff communication practices with detainees. Specifically, ICE did not specify times for staff to visit detainees and could not provide documentation that it completed facility visits with detainees during the pandemic. We did find that Pulaski generally complied with the ICE detention standard for grievances. We made five recommendations to ICE’s Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) to ensure the Chicago ERO Field Office overseeing Pulaski addresses identified issues and ensures facility compliance with relevant detention standards. ICE concurred with all five recommendations.