Federal Reports

Minnesota did not comply with Federal waiver and State requirements in overseeing centers that serve vulnerable adults who receive services through the program. To protect the health and safety of vulnerable adults, Minnesota, as the licensing agency for centers, must ensure that centers follow licensing requirements in State statutes established in its application for waiver services. These licensing requirements include health and safety and administrative requirements.

Nebraska did not always verify nursing homes’ correction of deficiencies identified during surveys in calendar year (CY) 2016 in accordance with Federal requirements. We estimated that Nebraska did not obtain or maintain the nursing homes’ evidence verifying correction of deficiencies for 866 (92 percent) of the 938 deficiencies identified during surveys in CY 2016.

Semiannual Report to Congress

This semiannual report summarizes the activities of the OIG for the period of 10/1/17 - 3/31/18.

The audits, inspections, and investigations we conducted during this reporting period will improve treatment and care of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees at detention facilities; make progress toward implementing controls to regulate access to the Department of Homeland Security facilities and systems; and improve oversight and controls for identifying and processing aliens who are known or suspected terrorists. In addition, our work will increase the effectiveness of acquisition oversight over United States Coast Guard information technology investments, and ensure Federal Emergency Management Agency funds are put to better use to improve management and oversight of disaster related programs.The Department and its components have worked with us to correct hundreds of issues and improve the economy and efficiency of programs and operations. Based on the Department's actions this period, we closed 130 recommendations issued in this and prior periods. Our work in this reporting period has resulted in improved overall effectiveness and a more secure homeland as well as improved management and oversight of programs and operations to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.Moving forward, we will continue to concentrate on the areas of greatest risk to the Department and periodically review actions taken to address our prior findings. We look forward to reporting in the future on the Department's actions to address its many challenges.

The Semiannual Report to Congress summarizes the results of OIG oversight, provides statistical information, and lists all reports issued October 1, 2017–March 31, 2018. During this reporting period, OIG audits, investigations, inspections, evaluations, and other reviews identified over $1.6 billion in monetary benefits for a return of $25 for every dollar invested in OIG oversight. During this reporting period, OIG issued 155 reports and work products on VA programs and operations, made 641 recommendations, and conducted investigations that led to 157 arrests.

As part of our annual audit plan, we audited costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by Williams Plant Services, LLC (WPS) for providing indirect support services for Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 2 start-up. Our audit included $104.3 million in costs paid by TVA between January 1, 2013, and August 31, 2015. Our audit objective was to determine if the costs WPS billed to TVA were in accordance with the terms of Contract No. 5487. In summary, we found WPS overbilled TVA $4,376,936 as follows:$3,458,285 in labor costs were overbilled due to the use of labor classifications not provided for in the contract.</li> $430,322 in labor costs were overbilled, including (1) $42,921 in excessive nonmanual labor wage rates, (2) $17,417 in overbilled nonmanual labor markups, (3) $353,804 in ineligible craft labor overtime costs, and (4) $16,180 in unsupported labor costs and excessive craft labor costs due to misclassifications.</li> $435,624 for ineligible and unsupported temporary living allowances and travel costs.</li>$52,705 for ineligible material and fitness for duty costs.</li>In addition, we found WPS did not provide labor classifications for $20,458,040 in nonmanual employee labor costs when it billed TVA. Accordingly, TVA could not validate if the labor classifications were eligible for reimbursement or determine if the wage rates that were billed were within the ranges specified in the contract for each labor category.(Summary Only)