Federal Reports

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Congress, NIH, and Federal intelligence agencies have raised concerns about foreign threats to the integrity of U.S. medical research and intellectual property. This includes foreign programs that may unduly influence and capitalize on NIH-funded research. In August 2018, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins raised concerns that peer reviewers-who review applications for NIH extramural grants and have unique access to confidential information in those applications-were, in some cases, inappropriately sharing this information with foreign entities. Subsequently, Congress appropriated funding for OIG to conduct oversight of NIH grant programs and operations, including examining the effectiveness of NIH's efforts to protect intellectual property derived from NIH-supported research. This study describes and assesses NIH's oversight of peer reviewers' handling of confidential information.

We completed our risk assessment of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) grant closeout process as required by the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency (GONE) Act of 2016. Our objective was to determine whether an audit or review of the DOI’s grant closeout process was warranted.Our assessment revealed that the DOI’s current closeout process is at high risk of inaccurate reporting and potential violation of the GONE Act. We identified five significant risks related to the DOI’s grant closeout process and compliance with the GONE Act: the DOI had an unresolved FMFIA internal control material weakness to improve management and oversight of financial assistance and tribal awards made under PL 638 on its FY 2018 Financial Agency Report; all required award data may not have been reported; some grants and cooperative agreements may have inaccurate information within the FBMS; there are gaps in the closeout policy; and the DOI could not provide adequate support for the FY 2017 and FY 2018 GONE Act reports.Overall, we concluded that the Department’s risk of inaccurate reporting was high. As a result, we will initiate an audit of DOI’s grant closeout in FY 2020. We will use this risk assessment, which contains one resolved and implemented recommendation, to determine the scope of the audit of the DOI’s grant closeout process.

We completed our risk assessment of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI’s) grant closeout process as required by the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency (GONE) Act of 2016. Our objective was to determine whether an audit or review of the DOI’s grant closeout process was warranted.Our assessment revealed that the DOI’s current closeout process is at high risk of inaccurate reporting and potential violation of the GONE Act. We identified five significant risks related to the DOI’s grant closeout process and compliance with the GONE Act: the DOI had an unresolved FMFIA internal control material weakness to improve management and oversight of financial assistance and tribal awards made under PL 638 on its FY 2018 Financial Agency Report; all required award data may not have been reported; some grants and cooperative agreements may have inaccurate information within the FBMS; there are gaps in the closeout policy; and the DOI could not provide adequate support for the FY 2017 and FY 2018 GONE Act reports.Overall, we concluded that the Department’s risk of inaccurate reporting was high. As a result, we will initiate an audit of DOI’s grant closeout in FY 2020. We will use this risk assessment, which contains one resolved and implemented recommendation, to determine the scope of the audit of the DOI’s grant closeout process.