Federal Reports

U.S. Postal Service retail associates (RA) can use the Retail Systems Software’s No Sale administrative function to open the cash drawer, typically to exchange higher value currency for lower value currency denominations. The RA must make three selections in the system to choose the No Sale option; therefore, selection of the No Sale option is not accidental and gathers suspicion when done with frequency. Extremely high No Sale transactions may indicate dubious trends or behaviors. The objective of this audit was to identify opportunities to enhance controls used by headquarters organizations to monitor No Sale transactions.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of TVA’s Nuclear Security organization to identify operational and cultural strengths and risks that could impact organizational effectiveness. Our report identified strengths within Nuclear Security related to (1) organizational alignment, (2) teamwork, (3) ethical culture, and (4) front-line management support. However, we identified risks that could impact the effectiveness of Nuclear Security to achieve its responsibilities in support of the Nuclear vision. These included (1) alignment risks related to the achievement of the Nuclear vision and (2) risks to effective execution of responsibilities.

The objectives of our audit were to determine (1) whether Federal Student Aid (FSA) ensured completion of corrective actions in response to audit and program review findings related to satisfactory academic progress (SAP), and (2) what actions FSA has taken to assist schools with compliance with SAP requirements.We found that FSA did not always ensure schools completed corrective actions related to the SAP findings identified in compliance audits and program reviews. This occurred because FSA’s Program Compliance office did not always perform the required resolution activities or address all SAP-related findings in the final determination letters. FSA’s failure to resolve SAP-related findings could result in (1) schools with repeated SAP findings, (2) ineligible students receiving Title IV program funds, (3) noncompliant schools continuing to participate in Title IV programs, or (4) FSA not establishing liabilities payable from schools that disbursed Title IV program funds to students who did not meet SAP requirements.

Our audit objective was to determine whether the Puerto Rico Department of Education (Puerto Rico DOE) has effectively designed internal controls for the administration of Immediate Aid to Restart School Operations (Restart) program funds. We found that the Puerto Rico DOE needs to enhance its system of internal controls to ensure that Restart program funds will be properly administered. Specifically, we foundthat the Puerto Rico DOE’s procurement and monitoring processes did not provide reasonable assurance that the Puerto Rico DOE will properly administer or adequately monitor Restart program funds. We found deficiencies in five of the six procurement transactions we reviewed.