Federal Reports

We found that the California Department of Education's (CDE) system of internal control did not provide reasonable assurance that reported graduation rates were accurate and complete. Specifically, CDE did not oversee or monitor the local entities’ internal controls over the reliability of Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR) data. Based on our testing, we determined that CDE’s reported ACGR for school year (SY) 2013–14 was not accurate and complete. Consequently, both CDE and the Department risk using inaccurate and incomplete data when describing and reporting on (1) CDE’s progress toward raising graduation rates; and (2) CDE’s graduation rate accountability as an academic indicator to measure student achievement and school performance.We also found that CDE did not calculate its ACGR in accordance with Federal requirements. Specifically, we found that CDE removed students from the cohort who transferred to programs that did not lead to a regular high school diploma and included students as graduates who did not earn a regular high school diploma. We concluded that correcting for these errors would have decreased CDE’s SY 2013–14 ACGR by about 2 percentage points. Additionally, CDE did not ensure that students in the SY 2013–14 cohort were first-time ninth graders in SY 2010–11, the first year of the SY 2013–14 cohort.

Quarterly Summary Memorandum for the Lead Inspector General, Department of Defense

In March 2016, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a Chilled Work Environment Letter to Watts Bar Nuclear Plant as a result of an investigation that concluded that a chilled work environment existed in the Operations Department because of a perception that operators were not free to raise safety concerns using all available avenues without a fear of retaliation. In response to the Chilled Work Environment Letter, TVA assessed the actions taken in response to a Confirmatory Order (CO) issued in 2009 and determined that not all of the actions had been implemented effectively. As a result of the ineffective implementation, we initiated a review of the process TVA used to address the 2009 CO.We concluded there was a weakness in the approach that TVA followed for addressing the 2009 CO. TVA did not have a formal process or procedure directly related to how a CO issued by the NRC should be addressed. TVA’s approach did not assign accountability or provide oversight to govern the implementation and continued execution for on-going actions. A potential contributing cause was TVA’s intent to address the underlying issue only and not to prevent recurrence.

We conducted this investigation in response to allegations filed with the Department of Defense (DoD) Hotline by a sub-contractor who claimed that Leidos, Inc., non-selected the Complainant for inclusion on a bridge contract in reprisal for her making protected disclosures to company and Government officials.

We completed the survey phase of our evaluation of the United States Bureau of Reclamation’s (USBR’s) hydroelectric facility management. Our objective was to examine USBR’s strategy for maintaining and increasing hydroelectric power generation. We found that USBR pursues a varied strategy to accomplish this, including a robust maintenance program, technological improvements to existing facilities, and hydrologic studies to identify locations for new facilities.Our work revealed that USBR relies on replacing older generation components with technologically superior ones as the older components reach the end of their effective lifespans. These newer components can either increase overall capacity or are more efficient than the components that they replace. The USBR is focusing on enhancing efficient generation of hydroelectric power at its facilities, as opposed to trying to increase capacity. To accomplish this, it is augmenting systems to deliver consistent power supplies with variable water availability.The USBR has also performed various studies to determine areas for increased hydroelectric power generation, as well as new areas for hydroelectric power development. This has led to increasing hydroelectric power capacity at USBR facilities and leasing USBR facilities for new hydroelectric power development.

In May 2016, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiated an investigation into an allegation that a high-level political appointee (Political Appointee) at an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce (Agency) was using the Agency’s account with a local taxicab company (Cab Company) for personal trips that were notauthorized under Agency policy. OIG found that from September 2014 to May 2016, Political Appointee misused the Agency’s account with Cab Company by charging it for the cost of approximately 130 cab rides prohibited by Agency policy.

This Newsletter provides a bimonthly summary of selected investigative accomplishments.