Federal Reports

In response to the terror attacks of 9/11, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) was established in 2012 as an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to oversee a national communications network dedicated to emergency responders and public safety.In March 2017, FirstNet Authority signed a 25-year contract with AT&T for the construction and operation of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN). The contract requires the NPSBN (commonly known as FirstNet) to be a resilient, secure, and highly reliable broadband service with availability 99.99 percent of the time.On February 22, 2024, AT&T customers, including FirstNet customers, experienced a nationwide outage of services. According to FirstNet Authority, the NPSBN was affected by the outage for about 3 hours. We met with 10 public safety agencies from fire, police, and emergency medical services disciplines to determine the impact of the outage. Although impacts to public safety agencies across the country varied, 9 of 10 agencies we spoke with were not contacted by AT&T or FirstNet Authority when the outage occurred. We also found that the impacted agencies had to rely on their own contingency plans to maintain communication during the approximately 3-hour NPSBN outage.Notification of an outage and transparency regarding network performance are essential to maintaining confidence in the NPSBN within the public safety community. Without a reliable communication network during the outage, the safety of our nation’s first responders was jeopardized and their ability to perform their critical mission was compromised.We proposed two actions for change to NTIA and FirstNet Authority to address the concerns presented in this management alert.

We found USGS lacks sufficient internal controls in laboratories to prevent losses associated with breaches of scientific integrity and misconduct.

We audited WSFR grants awarded by FWS to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to ensure compliance and cost allowability.

I am pleased to present the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Semiannual Report (SAR) to Congress covering the period from October 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

When a veteran is unable to secure and maintain a substantially gainful occupation because of service-connected disabilities, VA policy states that the veteran should be rated totally disabled—also referred to as total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU)—for monthly compensation. The VA OIG conducted this review to determine if claims processors were following policies and procedures and accurately deciding claims for individual unemployability. After reviewing two statistical samples of individual unemployability claims (granted and denied claims), the team found claims processors did not consistently follow policies and procedures when processing these claims, resulting in at least $100 million in improper payments (underpayments and overpayments) to veterans from May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023. The team estimated that 74 percent of granted TDIU claims and 76 percent of denied TDIU claims completed during the review period had at least one claims processing error. These errors occurred because of inadequate system controls, inconsistent interpretations of VBA’s procedures manual by VBA staff, and claims processors’ limited exposure to individual unemployability claims. The OIG made seven recommendations to the under secretary for benefits to help VBA improve the accuracy of individual unemployability claims decisions. These recommendations included updating guidance, enhancing information systems, improving training, and evaluating workload distribution.