Federal Reports

The objective of this statutory audit was to review the U.S. Department of Education (Department) compliance with the requirements outlined under section 759(a) of the Geospatial Data Act. Specifically, we sought to determine whether the Department implemented the 13 covered agency responsibilities listed in section 759(a) of the Geospatial Data Act. We found that the Department is in compliance with the applicable responsibilities outlined under section 759(a) of the Geospatial Data Act. Specifically, we found that the Department implemented all 12 of the 13 covered agency responsibilities listed in section 759(a) of the Geospatial Data Act that we reviewed. We were unable to evaluate compliance with one covered agency responsibility as the applicable data standards related to this responsibility have not yet been defined by the Federal Geographic Data Committee and the Office of Management and Budget. Although the Department has continued to meet the requirements of the Geospatial Data Act thus far, we noted concerns regarding the allocation of resources that could negatively impact the Department’s ability to remain compliant going forward.

Our Objective(s) To assess the Department of Transportation's (DOT) progress implementing its responsibilities under the Geospatial Data Act (GDA) as a (1) lead covered agency and (2) covered agency.Why This Audit Federal agencies and State governments rely on geospatial data to accomplish their missions. Geospatial data can also be critical to monitoring and responding to transportation safety issues. The GDA requires inspectors general of covered agencies to report to Congress at least every 2 years on their agencies' collection, production, acquisition, maintenance, distribution, use, and preservation of geospatial data. This is our third audit under the act, which revisits the objectives of our first two audits conducted in 2020 and 2022.What We FoundDOT fully complies with the GDA's requirements for lead covered agencies.DOT has fully implemented the five responsibilities related to the maintenance and dissemination of its transportation theme data.The Department has developed a plan to implement standards for transportation theme data, which includes creating an online document repository and procedures for standards adjudication and adoption.DOT complies with the GDA’s general and reporting requirements for covered agencies but partially complies with the inventory requirement.DOT meets all 12 of the Act's applicable covered agency requirements for advancing geospatial data through implementation of its strategy, record schedules, and use of geospatial information.The Department provided timely annual reports to the Federal Geographic Data Committee and Congress; however, it did not maintain an accurate geospatial system inventory.Recommendations We made two recommendations to improve DOT’s geospatial data assets inventory and reduce geospatial systems’ risks.

As of January 2024, 85 percent of HUD employees had approved telework agreements, and 9 percent had approved remote work agreements. HUD estimated that 31 percent of remote employees were remote as a reasonable accommodation. Most of HUD’s remote workers served in a limited number of occupations. We evaluated the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer’s (OCHCO) controls over the quality of data related to remote work and telework, including employees’ assignments to locality pay areas. OCHCO implemented controls over telework and remote work agreements and locality pay for remote workers. OCHCO established centralized oversight of the Flexiplace program and conducted periodic reviews of all Flexiplace agreements to verify that agreements complied with policy. Before our evaluation, OCHCO reviewed the locality pay of 700 remote workers and identified 6 with incorrect locality pay. Additional controls over Flexiplace telework agreements would reduce the risk of incorrect locality payments to teleworkers and of out-of-date telework agreements. Locality payments for teleworkers are not impacted by their telework location, so OCHCO chose not to specifically review locality payments to teleworkers or telework agreement location data. We identified 2 percent of teleworkers with discrepancies between their official duty stations and Flexiplace agreements, but these employees had a low risk of receiving incorrect locality payments. Discrepancies may also include telework agreements that were out of date or incorrect official duty stations but correct locality payments. In response to our evaluation, OCHCO modified its review process for remote work agreements to track whether employees approved for remote work as a reasonable accommodation submitted remote work agreements.In addition, 9 percent of teleworkers (626 employees) had official duty stations that matched the self-reported duty stations listed on their telework agreements but had telework worksites that were more than HUD’s defined commuting distance of a 50-mile radius from their agency worksite. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s policy allows teleworkers to live outside an agency’s defined official station radius. Given that HUD’s data indicated that 9 percent of HUD employees had commutes longer than 50 miles, some of these 626 HUD employees may have received incorrect locality pay or had official duty stations or telework worksites that needed to be corrected. HUD employees’ supervisors are typically responsible for enforcing the telework and remote work policy and the terms of their agreements and for ensuring that employees reflected their telework or remote schedules on their timesheets. OCHCO offered a variety of training courses designed to support supervisors in overseeing telework and remote work programs. The training included 27 courses for supervisors related to telework and remote work and 30 courses addressing managing employee performance, including employees who participate in telework or remote work programs.We recommend that the Chief Human Capital Officer implement a process to identify teleworkers most at risk of receiving incorrect locality payments, verify that their official duty stations are correct and they are reporting to their official duty stations as required, and if necessary, correct their locality payments.

This report presents the results of our audit of the status of the Postal Service’s acquisition of newdelivery vehicles.

This plan identifies and prioritizes issues, workload management and resources for FY 2025. It identifies our mandated and discretionaryengagements for FY 2025 as well as our continuing projects from FY 2024. Successful execution of this plan will enable the OIG toprovide high quality work products to its stakeholders and assist the CFTC to ensure its resources are expended in a responsible andreasonable manner.

FISMA requires each Inspector General to conduct an annual independent evaluation of their agency’s information security program, practices, and controls for select systems. The Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) FY 2023–2024 Inspector General Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) Reporting Metrics directs Inspectors General to evaluate the maturity level (from a low of 1 to a high of 5) of their agency’s information security program for FY 2024.