Federal Reports

The OIG audited the costs claimed by the State of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. The audit included claims totaling approximately $121 million on 100 grants that were open during the State fiscal years that ended June 30, 2015, and June 30, 2016. The audit also covered the Commission’s compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and FWS guidelines, including those related to the collection and use of hunting and fishing license revenues and the reporting of program income.We found that the Commission complied, in general, with applicable grant accounting and regulatory requirements. We determined, however, that the Commission (1) submitted its Federal Financial Reports late on multiple occasions, and (2) appeared to receive $203,589 in excess Federal reimbursement across four grants (but the Commission provided additional documentation to show it did not exceed allowable costs).Both the FWS and the Commission agreed with the one recommendation we made, and they will work together to implement corrective actions.

The Postal Service’s goal is for 95 percent of city letter carriers to return from street operations before 5 p.m. and 100 percent by 6 p.m. Carriers returning to their units on time helps the Postal Service meet its operational goals. In FY 2017, South Florida District city carriers and CCAs delivered about 2.8 billion mail pieces and 62 million packages to over 2.5 million delivery points on 3,876 routes. City carriers and CCAs returning after 6 p.m. in the South Florida District increased by 133 percent in FY 2017. Our objective was to evaluate city carriers returning to the office after 6 p.m. in the South Florida District.

The Postal Service defines undistributed labor as mechanic and garagemen work order hours that are less than the actual paid hours. The target variance between these metrics is +/- 3 percent of work hours. Time above 3 percent indicates mechanics’ work hours were not captured or identified on work orders. Time below 3 percent indicates mechanics are recording work order hours which exceed timecard hours, indicating mechanics are assigning excess work hours to work orders. Our objective was to assess the controls over the management of mechanic undistributed labor in the Capital Metro and Great Lakes Areas.

Strong consumer demand for goods purchased over the Internet has driven growth in the package market despite otherwise declining mail volume. This growing package segment provides the U.S. Postal Service an opportunity to expand services and increase revenue. With this growth, city carriers and non-career city carrier assistants (CCAs) are now delivering more packages and fewer letters to more addresses each year. To accommodate these changes, the Postal Service must adapt to this changing mail mix while maintaining service and efficiency. This audit responds to concerns raised about mail service in selected post offices in Atlanta, GA.

The OIG investigated allegations that a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employee violated conflict of interest laws by steering BLM contracts to a business that he owned.The employee admitted to the conflict of interest and that his actions were wrong. We found that the employee’s wife owned a business and that between April 2016 and August 2017, the employee steered 11 contracts, totaling $27,409.60, to his wife’s business. We also learned that in December 2017, the employee submitted an altered purchase approval form to facilitate payment to his wife’s business, but the BLM did not pay that claim. We did not find that the business failed to provide any of the services for which it was paid.Finally, we determined that the employee failed to list his wife’s business as a source of reportable income for his wife on his annual Confidential Financial Disclosure Reports that he filed with the BLM in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The employee agreed that he should have disclosed the information but denied that he intentionally omitted it as an effort to conceal that his wife owned the business.The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana declined prosecution. This is a summary of a report we provided to the BLM Director.