Federal Reports

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration followed policies and used available tools to prevent, detect, and recover Supplemental Security Income overpayments.

The U.S. Postal Service is responsible for processing, transporting, and delivering the nation’s Election and Political Mail. The Postal Service is committed to fulfilling its role in the electoral process when policy makers choose to use the mail as a part of their election system. The Postal Service has specific policies and procedures on the proper acceptance, processing, delivery, and documentation of Election and Political Mail.

We audited HUD’s management of its FHA appraiser roster to determine whether the roster was accurate and reliable. We selected this review because a prior audit identified weaknesses related to roster oversight and because this topic aligns with HUD’s strategic goals related to promoting home ownership and strengthening its internal capacity, as well as increased interest in the appraisal process. HUD’s FHA appraiser roster was generally reliable. HUD’s system controls prevented ineligible appraisers from being assigned appraisals on FHA-insured properties. Though it did not affect the assignment of appraisals, HUD could improve its data management by timely removing ineligible appraisers with expired licenses or disciplinary actions within specified timeframes, and better maintain historical information and supporting documentation. Additionally, HUD’s processes, policies, procedures, and regulations for maintaining the appraiser roster did not consistently align, were not clear, or were undocumented. HUD had begun to make several system enhancements to address the concerns identified, and it should continue to improve its guidance and data management to help ensure the integrity of the roster. We recommend that HUD (1) update policies and procedures for appraiser roster management so that they align with each other and with regulations and HUD practice; (2) maintain historical appraiser roster data; and (3) improve quality assurance processes by adding steps to verify that the appraiser roster is accurate and reliable over time.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration and disability determination services conducted consultative examination (CE) oversight reviews, as required, and whether they took corrective actions based on the results of the CE oversight reviews completed.