Federal Reports

During our unannounced inspection of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Nye CountyDetention Center (Nye) in Pahrump, Nevada, we found that Nye’s staff complied with National Detention Standards 2019 (NDS 2019) for classification, access to law library and legal services, segregation, and use of force. However, facility and ICE staff did not fully comply with standards related to medicalcare, grievances, staff-detainee communication, facility conditions, and telephone access.

The American public depends on the U.S. Postal Service to deliver its mail timely. The Postal Service has service standards against which it measures its performance — such as for First‑Class and Priority Mail, as examined in this report — so it can track how timely it is delivering for the American public. While the Postal Service has strived for service excellence, financial challenges since 2006 have made this more difficult. The Postal Service attributes its difficulties and financial strains to a combination of factors, including declining mail volume, inefficient operational practices, unattainable service standards, and delivering six days a week at uniform and affordable rates. In response, the Postal Service developed its Delivering for America plan, which involved making major changes to its network and lowering service standards to support cost cutting initiatives with the intent to balance service with being financially self-sustaining. 

Our objective was to assess the Postal Service’s First‑Class Mail and Priority Mail service performance since fiscal year (FY) 2022. The review looked broadly at service performance changes, trends, failure points, and causes.

Challenges implementing major changes to the Postal Service network over the last few years has negatively impacted service performance. Despite lowering standards, the amount of First‑Class Mail and Priority Mail delivered on time decreased since FY 2022, respectively. The Postal Service is operating in a transitional state, with many additional changes still to be implemented. It is likely service will continue to be suppressed during this time, even with the Postal Service reducing its target for First‑Class Mail delivered on time by 4.5 percent in FY 2025. We identified opportunities to enhance operational performance, decrease cost, and improve service.

The Office of Inspector General determined risks to Tennessee Valley Authority resulting from lower-than-expected demand by a manufacturer was not considered and actions to address cost overruns were not fully implemented.  Specifically, the manufacturer’s monthly demand averaged approximately 10 megawatts (MWs) of the planned 160 MWs, which could impact TVA’s ability to recover the costs incurred to support the manufacturer.  In addition, analyses conducted by TVA identified causes for cost overruns and action plans were developed to mitigate the risk of cost overruns on future transmission projects.  However, we determined seven of eleven actions had not been implemented through process changes and actions.

We found that Pennsylvania started reclamation work and restoration projects; however, we identified four areas Pennsylvania and OSMRE should address.

Why We Did This Report

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General conducted an audit of the EPA’s reporting of fiscal year 2022 financial and award data in USAspending.gov. During that audit, we identified grant information that was inexplicably changed in the EPA’s grants management system—called the Next Generation Grants System, or NGGS—raising concerns about the overall integrity of the system.

Summary of Findings

During our audit follow-up, we could not determine a valid reason for the changes. EPA grant staff were also not able to explain why the changes were made. The NGGS does not have adequate controls, such as requiring justifications or approval for changes, to prevent or detect improper changes to grant information. If the EPA cannot rely on the information in the NGGS, its ability to effectively administer and oversee its grants portfolio—which, as of the fall of 2024, totaled 8,713 grants with a value of more than $73 billion—is hampered. Furthermore, inadequate controls within the NGGS increase the EPA’s susceptibility to fraud. Improper changes could also impact the other EPA systems that the NGGS connects with.