Federal Reports

Follow-Up and Close-Out of the Review of the FLRA's Contract File Management System

This report presents the results of our verification inspection of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) corrective actions for the six recommendations from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit report SBA’s State Trade Expansion Program (Report 18-11).We initiated this verification inspection to follow up on the six recommendations and determine whether SBA’s corrective actions are still in place and effective. Accordingly, our objective was to determine the effectiveness of SBA’s corrective actions for 1) establishing performance measurements using the recipients’ reported data, 2) developing policies and implementing a process to ensure recipients report accurate and complete information, 3) clearly defining essential measurement criteria, 4) requiring State Trade Expansion Program applicants to include reimbursement and activity thresholds in their proposals, 5) enhancing the quarterly review process, and 6) increasing oversight of cooperative agreement recipients. We determined that recommendations 1, 2, and 3 were fully implemented; however, SBA management only partially addressed recommendations 4, 5, and 6. We will track management’s execution by reopening these three recommendations and will work with SBA to establish a target date for implementing corrective actions through the audit follow-up process.The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (the Act) directed the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to establish the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP). In FY 2023, STEP grant awards totaled $19.92 million.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requires its medical facilities to use the Medical/Surgical Prime Vendor (MSPV) program’s distribution contracts for cost effective ordering and distribution of healthcare supplies. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this audit to assess the extent to which VHA medical facilities use the MSPV program.The OIG found that medical facilities did not always purchase through the program because items were often unavailable on the MSPV product list. Sometimes staff did not use the program before ordering from the open market, often from their own prime vendor, because the ordering system defaults to the previous supplier rather than the MSPV product list. Staff do not always report issues with the prime vendor or unavailable or back-ordered products, which some attribute to an ineffective reporting tool and quicker results through local workarounds. The OIG also found the program office and medical center leaders have not provided effective oversight, which may affect training and local leaders’ motivation to enforce the program’s use. In 2022, facilities spent about $865 million on supplies available through the MSPV program, but $353 million went for open market purchases instead of through MSPV. Had facilities purchased these through MSPV, VHA could have saved approximately $35.5 million. Finally, the MSPV product list did not include the majority of medical and surgical supplies facilities purchase; the OIG determined that medical facilities spent about $1.5 billion on items not available through MSPV.The OIG made nine recommendations to the under secretary for health, including to identify a VA owned system where staff can check product availability and price, review open market purchases, improve training on MSPV usage and tools, ensure staff report unavailable items, and increase items available through the program.

The Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Releases Its Semiannual Report (Oct 2023 – Mar 2024) to Congress

Why We Did This ReportThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General initiated this audit based on a request from the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The objective of the audit is to assess the EPA’s preparation to implement the public notification requirements under section 2106 of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. Summary of FindingsAt the time of our audit, the EPA was not ready to comply with the public notification requirements under section 2106 of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. Although the Office of Water reported that it was in the process of developing a strategy, it had not developed a plan or milestones or provided guidance to help EPA regions, states, and water systems to be ready to comply with the notification requirements by the compliance date of October 16, 2024. The Office of Water also does not receive data in a timely manner to monitor lead ALE, oversee water systems’ compliance with the notification requirements, and provide the notices if water systems and states have not done so. Based on tap water samples reported in the EPA’s tracking system from January 2021 through March 2023, we identified 498 water systems with lead ALE, serving about 2.3 million people. With millions of people potentially affected by lead ALE, water systems, states, and the EPA must be ready to comply by October 2024.