Federal Reports

In March 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a summons to Twitter, Inc., regarding the @ALT_USCIS user account for the purpose of identifying the owner of the account under 19 U.S.C. 1509. During our review, we identified issues concerning CBP's policies and practices with respect to Section 1509 summonses which resulted in inconsistent and, in some cases, improper use of such summonses. We determined that CBP can and should do more to ensure that its personnel are properly informed and educated about the appropriate use of Section 1509 summonses. We made one recommendation to CBP to immediately update its internal operating procedures to reflect the guidance of the use of Section 1509 summonses, train relevant staff on the use of such summonses and review the use of such summonses across the agency to determine how the summonses are used and whether its use comports with the law and updated policy.

In August 2016, Amtrak (the company) received a federal loan1 to purchase 28 new high-speed trainsets for $1.6 billion and undertake 10 infrastructure improvements needed to operate and maintain these trains for $850 million. Collectively, these projects—called the Acela Express 2021 program—represent the company's largest single investment in its 46 years of service. The new equipment will replace the 20 Acela trainsets currently providing high-speed service on the Northeast Corridor, allowing the company to increase service frequency between Washington, D.C., and Boston, Massachusetts.

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The auditors determined that NEA substantially complied with the DATA Act for FY 2017 Q2. Quarter 2 data was submitted timely with over 95 percent of its data submitted accurately, completely, and in accordance with government-wide data standards. However, we noted six procurement awards included in File C that were not listed in File D1. These transactions were erroneously included in File C due to timing issues and a misunderstanding about what types of transactions should be included. These six files represent 2.3% of the sample tested.We recommend that NEA enforce the validations required by the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to ensure all obligations in File C correspond to the award data in File D1. Moreover, NEA should update their DATA Act SOP to reflect the type of awards that should be excluded and/or included from DATA Act reporting.

We have audited the accompanying Balance Sheet of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)as of September 30, 2017 and 2016 and the related Statements of Net Cost, Changes in NetPosition, and Budgetary Resources for the years then ended, and the related notes to thefinancial statements.In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the National Endowment for the Arts as of September 30, 2017 and 2016, and its net cost, changes in net position, and budgetary resources for the years then ended, in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.Although not considered to be material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, we noted certain other matters that were communicated to management in a separate letter. Additionally, we have provided the status of the prior year findings in Appendix I.

In our fiscal year 2017 audit, we did not identify any deficiencies in internal control over financialreporting that we consider to be material weaknesses. We noted three matters in FY 2017 thatare discussed in Appendix I and one matter from our FY 2016 audit that remains open.Additionally, we have provided the status of the prior year management letter comments inAppendix I.