Federal Reports

Our audit objectives were to determine whether the U.S. Postal Service 1) fairly stated selected accounting transactions in the general ledger and whether selected key controls surrounding those transactions were operating effectively, and 2) properly tested, documented, and reported its examination of selected key controls related to Headquarters and Accounting Services. The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors contracted with an independent public accounting (IPA) firm to express opinions on the Postal Service’s financial statements and internal controls over financial reporting. The IPA firm maintains overall responsibility for testing and reviewing significant Postal Service accounts, processes, and internal controls. The OIG coordinates audit work with the IPA firm to ensure adequate coverage.

We determined that DHS’ internal controls over its Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act processes were not sufficient to support the submission of accurate, complete and timely spending data for FY 2017/Q2. Although DHS met the mandated deadline for submitting its quarterly spending data to the Department of Treasury, we identified issues concerning the completeness and accuracy of its first data submission that hinders the quality and usefulness of the information. We recommended that DHS strengthens its existing controls and applies additional controls over its DATA Act processes. We made six recommendations that will help strengthen DHS’ controls to ensure accurate, complete, and timely spending data. DHS concurred with 5 of the recommendations.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (State agency) did not always calculate supplemental payments made to the Texas Tech University (TTU) health institutions in accordance with Federal and State requirements. Specifically, the supplemental payment calculations included overstated Medicare equivalent fees for claims that included payment modifiers and diagnostic test modifiers, Medicaid services that were performed by ineligible providers, and Medicaid services that did not have Medicare equivalent fees. As a result, the TTU health institutions received $9.9 million (Federal share) in unallowable supplemental payments for the period May 1, 2004, through September 30, 2007.

This is the publicly released report.

Our objectives were to determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) (1) took timely and appropriate actions in response to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deportation alerts; (2) paid Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits to individuals DHS reported as deported from the United States and were not lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the country; and (3) paid OASDI benefits to individuals DHS reported to SSA as deported from the United States after July 31, 2010 and who did not meet criteria for continued benefit eligibility.