Federal Reports

The OIG investigated allegations that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) official intimidated and verbally abused a subordinate employee and that the official twice directed the employee to provide false information—once about an FWS event and once about an FWS investigation. The employee also alleged that the official took three retaliatory personnel actions against him after the official learned that the employee complained to the OIG about the abuse. We found that the official knew the employee had filed a complaint against him and subsequently took two personnel actions—a written counseling and a lowered performance evaluation—against the employee within 2 months after the employee submitted the OIG complaint. The official also directed an internal investigation into the employee’s conduct within the same time period; adjudication of that investigation was still pending at the time of this report, and no personnel action had been taken against the employee as a result. The official denied that he took these actions as retaliation for the employee filing a complaint against him and stated that he lowered the employee’s performance evaluation because the employee mishandled Equal Employment Opportunity complaints within the employee’s office.We found insufficient evidence that the official’s behavior created an abusive work environment for his staff, or that he directed the employee to provide false information.

What We Looked AtWe reviewed the Wyoming Department of Transportation's single audit report for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, in order to identify findings that affect directly awarded Department of Transportation programs. An independent auditor prepared the single audit report, dated March 7, 2018.What We FoundWe found that the report contained a reporting finding that needs prompt action from the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) management.RecommendationsWe recommend that FHWA ensures that Wyoming DOT complies with the reporting requirements.

What We Looked AtWe reviewed the State of Indiana's single audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, in order to identify findings that affect directly awarded Department of Transportation programs. An independent auditor prepared the single audit report, dated March 28, 2018.What We FoundWe found that the report contained a special tests and provisions finding that needs prompt action from the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) management.RecommendationsWe recommend that FHWA ensures that the State complies with the special tests and provisions requirements.

What We Looked AtWe reviewed the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's single audit report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, in order to identify findings that affect directly awarded Department of Transportation programs. An independent auditor prepared the single audit report, dated December 13, 2017.What We FoundWe found that the report contained a subrecipient monitoring finding that needs prompt action from the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) management.RecommendationsWe recommend that FHWA ensures that the Commonwealth complies with the subrecipient monitoring requirements.

We determined that the Agricultural Marketing Service provided sufficient documentation to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to close the 12 recommendations we made in our February 2016 audit report on AMS' procurement and inspection of fruits and vegetables.

The OIG investigated allegations that a former Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) official had targeted, bullied, and physically threatened U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) employees while at the DOI and that the official spoke in an unprofessional or threatening manner to senior DOI staff. As part of our investigation, we reviewed historical complaints against the official, and attempted to determine what his superiors knew about the history of complaints concerning his behavior and how they responded to those complaints.We identified examples of the official behaving unprofessionally and demonstrating questionable leadership when communicating with other employees. We ended our investigation after the official resigned.During our investigation, we found that a senior DOI official spoke with the BIA official regarding his behavior before our investigation, but the senior DOI official did not document any corrective action.