Federal Reports

North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Emergency Preparedness and Operations (EOP) standard 011-2, was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on August 24, 2021, with an effective date of April 1, 2023. EOP-011-2 includes a requirement to implement and maintain a cold weather preparedness plan for generating units with 7 required elements. EOP-011-2 also includes a requirement for evidence documenting the plan was implemented and maintained as well as evidence that applicable personnel completed training on the cold weather preparedness plan. Due to the risk of weather-related generation asset outages, we performed an evaluation to determine if TVA completed cold-weather plans in accordance with NERC reliability standard for Emergency Preparedness and Operations. We determined TVA generally completed cold-weather plans in accordance with the NERC reliability standard for EOP-011-2. However, we identified minor discrepancies in (1) one cold weather plan, (2) certification letters, and (3) training.

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the quality of care delivered in the inpatient and outpatient settings of the Roseburg VA Health Care System, which includes the Roseburg VA Medical Center and multiple outpatient clinics in Oregon. This evaluation focused on five key operational areas:• Leadership and organizational risks• Quality, safety, and value• Medical staff privileging• Environment of care• Mental health (suicide prevention initiatives)The OIG issued 11 recommendations for improvement in four areas:1. Leadership and organizational risks• Root cause analyses for sentinel events2. Medical staff privileging• Focused and Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation completion• Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluationso Specialty-specific datao Equivalent specialized training and similar privileges• Executive committee review of professional practice evaluation results• VISN oversight of privileging processes3. Environment of care• Panic and over-the-door alarm testing in the mental health inpatient unit4. Mental health• Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluation completion• Reporting of suicide behaviors to suicide prevention team• Suicide prevention outreach activities

This independent auditors’ report on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) improper payment reporting is required by the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019. We contracted with the independent certified public accounting firm KPMG LLP to conduct a performance audit of SBA’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 compliance with the Act. The auditor was engaged to review the payment integrity section of SBA’s Agency Financial Report Fiscal Year 2023 (AFR) and accompanying materials to determine whether the agency complied with the reporting requirements under the Act.In the report, KPMG auditors found SBA was not compliant with 8 of the 10 reporting requirements under the Act and Office of Management and Budget guidance. Specifically, SBA is not compliant with the Act because it did not:• Publish improper and unknown payment estimates in the FY 2023 agency AFR and accompanying materials for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, and payments for covered loans in the 7(a) and 504 loan guaranty programs under the Debt Relief Program.• Use appropriate sampling and estimation methodology plans for disaster assistance loans, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), and EIDL Targeted Advance programs and activities.• Did not publish effective corrective action plans for the disaster assistance loans, PPP loan forgiveness, and PPP loan guaranty purchases programs and activities.• Demonstrate improvements to payment integrity for 7(a) loan guaranty approvals, 7(a) loan guaranty purchases, 504 Certified Development Company loan approvals, disaster assistance loans, and COVID-19 EIDL programs and activities as the improper payment estimates increased between FYs 2022 and 2023.SBA indicates that it is committed to reducing the dollar amount of improper payments, ensuring program integrity, and continuing to implement effective risk management procedures in accordance with improper payment legislation.

The Railroad Retirement Board Should Strengthen Controls and Contractor Oversight of the Medical Opinion and Disability Determination Process

Summary of FindingsAs we evaluated the execution of the EPA’s 7th Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment, or DWINSA, we saw indications that a lack of internal controls may have caused the EPA to base its fiscal year 2023 allotment of $3 billion in IIJA funds for lead service line replacements on inaccurate data. As such, there is a risk that the EPA did not allot the fiscal year 2023 IIJA funds, and will not allot future IIJA funds, according to states’ lead-service-line-replacement needs.

We evaluated the Defense Intelligence Agency’s (DIA’s) compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act (PIIA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. The evaluation was conducted from January 2024 to April 2024.