Federal Reports

VA must submit an annual report to Congress documenting its capacity to provide specialized treatment comparable to that available as of October 9, 1996, for veterans with spinal cord injuries and disorders, traumatic brain injury, blindness, prosthetic and sensory aids, or mental health issues. This requirement was set by Congress to ensure that the decentralization of the Veterans Health Administration’s field management structure in the late 1990s did not adversely affect VA’s ability to care for veterans with disabilities. Each year, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) is required to report to Congress on the accuracy of VA’s special disabilities capacity report. This OIG report identified some minor errors, data omissions, inaccuracies, and inconsistencies in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 capacity report that have persisted from the OIG’s FY 2019 review. For example, VA cannot report mental health capacity data comparable to that from 1996 as required by law because of changes in how treatment outcomes of veterans with mental illness are defined and tracked. VA issued its FY 2020 report before the OIG released its FY 2019 review and therefore couldn’t correct some of the identified issues. Congress would be better served by modernizing the reporting metrics to assess VA’s capacity to provide care for these veterans. Additionally, VA continues to not report its capacity on all required data at the national, Veterans Integrated Service Network, and medical facility levels where such services are provided.

We determined that FEMA did not ensure Puerto Rico effectively implemented the STEP Pilot Program following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017.

Our objective was to determine whether U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) complied with the National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search (TEDS) standards.

Beginning in May 2019, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) piloted Rapid DNA technology to verify claimed parent-child relationships.

We present the status of identified environmental concerns related to the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation’s administration of land.

At the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Supply Chain, we examined the cost proposal submitted by a company for transmission construction services. Our examination objective was to determine if the company's cost proposal was fairly stated for a planned 5-year, $25 million contract.In our opinion, the company's cost proposal was overstated. Specifically, the proposed labor markup rates, for recovery of the company's indirect costs, were overstated compared to recent actual costs. We estimated TVA could avoid about $3.5 million over the planned $25 million contract by negotiating reduced markup rates to more accurately reflect the company's recent actual costs. In addition, we found the company's proposed (1) costs for the RFP's fixed price example projects were overstated by $417,189 and (2) equipment rates were not reflective of its actual equipment costs.(Summary Only)

At the request of the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Supply Chain, we examined the cost proposal submitted by a company for transmission construction services. Our examination objective was to determine if the company's cost proposal was fairly stated for a planned 5-year, $100 million contract.In our opinion, the company's cost proposal was overstated. Specifically, the proposed markup rates on craft wages for recovery of the company's indirect costs were overstated compared to recent actual costs. We estimated TVA could avoid about $2.2 million over the planned $100 million contract by negotiating reduced markups to more accurately reflect the company's recent actual costs.(Summary Only)