Federal Reports

OIG investigated allegations that an employee at the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) lied about her cancer diagnosis, forged medical records, falsified documents, and abused her own sick leave and leave donated by coworkers.Our investigation confirmed the allegations. We found no evidence that the OST employee had been diagnosed with cancer or that she received medical care for cancer as she claimed. On 15 occasions, the employee submitted physicians’ notes to OST containing forged signatures from 5 separate medical providers. As a result of the falsified physicians’ notes, the employee was authorized 256 hours of her own sick leave and received 28 hours of donated leave from her coworkers.The employee left the Department before we issued our report.

The OIG investigated allegations that the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Wyoming State Office (WYSO) had entered into an unneeded contract for oil-and-gas-record digitization services, had improperly selected the contractor, and had improperly carried the funds for the digitization project across fiscal years. We also investigated an allegation that WYSO had not received proper compensation for record copying and other clerical services it had performed for an oil and gas company.Our investigation did not substantiate these allegations. The BLM Washington (DC) Office had encouraged WYSO and other state offices to identify high-value records, which included WYSO’s oil and gas records, and to begin digitizing them to improve record retention and reduce costs for storing physical records. WYSO used a contractor that was competitively selected by the U.S. Government Publishing Office to provide scanning and digitization services to multiple Federal agencies. We confirmed that WYSO had carried funds used for this project across fiscal years, but we learned that it had the authority to do so and used the appropriate financial mechanism. We also confirmed that WYSO was paid for the copies and the other services it provided to the oil and gas company.

The objective of this audit was to determine whether internal controls were in place and effective over the management of the Gold Tree Contract Postal Unit (CPU) by the Sarasota, FL, Main Post Office. The OIG uses data analytics to evaluate the Postal Service’s financial information. Host Administrative Offices (HAO) are required to conduct counts of the CPU stamp stock at least once a year. The data analytics identified that the HAO for the Gold Tree CPU (the Sarasota Main Post Office) did not record a stamp stock count for fiscal year (FY) 2017. The last recorded stamp count was completed in October 2015. We confirmed a stamp stock count had not been conducted in two years. The OIG conducted a count with CPU personnel during our site visit.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Circular, Accounting of Drug Control Funding and Performance Summary, requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the ONDCP Director, not later than February 1 of each year, a detailed accounting of all funds expended for National Drug Control Program activities during FY 2017. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a multi-mission bureau, and obligations are reported pursuant to an approved drug methodology. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Domestic Investigations, International Operations (IO) and Office of Intelligence uphold U.S. drug control policy delegated amid the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) initiatives, by fully supporting the overall ICE mandate to detect, disrupt, and dismantle smuggling organizations.