Federal Reports

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Transmittal to OMB

Transmittal to OMB

We determined that FEMA established the Sandy Claims Review Process (SCRP) in response to negative publicity and pressure from Members of Congress following Hurricane Sandy. In doing so, FEMA did not rely upon certain legislatively mandated internal controls designed to ensure appropriate payments for flood victims. Additionally, during the formation and operation of the SCRP, FEMA failed to establish contractor expectations or provide consistent guidance and oversight related to Hurricane Sandy claims. These omissions resulted in policyholders receiving unsupported additional payments, excessive costs to operate the SCRP, and time delays processing the claims. We made seven recommendations to FEMA, which emphasize the importance of FEMA communicating clear guidance to adjusters, and identifying and implementing better methods to inform policyholders of flood coverage limitations. FEMA concurred with all seven of our recommendations and has already begun implementing corrective actions.

The OIG investigated allegations that an Indian community councilman failed to pay the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) the required fees associated with farming and grazing leases on an Indian reservation.Our investigation determined the councilman failed to pay the required fees for his leases from 2008 to 2014, resulting in a $135,375 delinquency owed to the affected tribe. The councilman admitted to the tribal council that he had not paid his lease fees and agreed to pay the tribe $13,537 each year for 10 years. We also determined that the BIA Realty Office was aware in 2013 that the councilman had not paid the required fees and subsequently canceled the councilman’s leases for nonpayment.As the councilman had entered into a repayment plan and BIA had canceled his leases, we closed our investigation. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana declined to prosecute.

OIG investigated allegations that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) human resource employee accessed the protected personnel files of a Federal employee without authorization, and that another unknown FWS employee removed a document from the office of a senior manager.We found that the human resource employee unlawfully accessed the Electronic Official Personnel Folder and USA Staffing databases and queried records related to a Federal employee who had been selected for a position. According to the human resource employee who accessed the records, she did so at the behest of another FWS employee, who was upset that she had not been selected for the position.We also determined that the human resources employee unlawfully shared information and documents from the employee’s personnel files, which were protected under the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, to the FWS employee requesting the information and to another FWS employee. The FWS employee requesting the protected information from the human resources employee then used information from those records to facilitate FOIA requests she made to FWS and to further EEO claims she had made.We also found that another FWS employee wrongfully obtained a copy of a draft email prepared by a senior FWS manager, and provided the email to other FWS employees, including the two employees that received the protected information from the human resources employee.We referred our findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, which declined prosecution.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) allowed the U.S. Postal Service to enter into bilateral agreements with foreign posts to promote the efficient operation of international postal services. The Postal Service subsequently established bilateral agreements that developed new rates for existing letter class mailpieces and established a new letter class mailpiece designation for small lightweight packets weighing up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds). These small packets, or ePackets, offer delivery confirmation and tracking services, and are classified as market dominant products. Our objective was to assess whether all costs associated with ePackets were accurately captured and aggregated.

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