Federal Reports

This report was submitted to the Comptroller General in accordance with Section 5 of the Government Accountability Office Act of 2008. The report summarizes the activities of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the second reporting period of fiscal year 2017. During this reporting period, OIG continued fieldwork on four audits and started an additional audit. We also closed five investigations and opened five new investigations. In addition, we processed 49 hotline complaints, which generally did not involve GAO’s programs and operations. We remained active in the GAO and OIG communities by briefing new GAO employees on our audit and investigative missions, and participating on Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency committees and working groups. Details of these activities and other OIG accomplishments are provided in the report.

In accordance with the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-531), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is submitting what it determined to be the top management and performance challenges facing the U.S. AbilityOne Commission (Commission), for inclusion in the Commission’s “Agency Performance and Accountability Report” for fiscal year 2017.

We determined that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) site visits provide minimal assurance that H-1B visa participants are compliant and not engaged in fraudulent activity. These shortfalls exist for various reasons. USCIS does not ensure that petitioners who previously abused the program are denied new petitions. USCIS could also do more to prevent approving petitions for recurring violations and collaborate more with external stakeholders. The agency does not provide comprehensive guidance for how USCIS personnel resolve site visit findings. USCIS does not have a process to collect and analyze key data elements to help guide the H-1B site visit program. The agency lacks performance measures to show how site visits contribute to improving the H-1B Program. We recommended that the USCIS Deputy Director: (1) develop processes to collect and analyze H-1B site visit data, (2) share appropriate site visit data with external stakeholders, (3) re-assess the H-1B ASVVP, and (4) develop policies to ensure adjudicative action prioritizes fraudulent or noncompliant results from H-1B ASVVP and targeted site visits. We made four recommendations that will help USCIS improve the H-1B site visit program. USCIS concurred with all four recommendations and has begun corrective actions to address the findings in this report.

The New York State Department of Health, Division of Nursing Homes and Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities Surveillance (State agency) did not always verify nursing homes' correction of deficiencies identified during surveys in calendar year (CY) 2014 in accordance with Federal requirements. We estimated that the State agency did not obtain the nursing homes' evidence of correction for 72 percent of the deficiencies identified during surveys in CY 2014.

The Office of Inspector General assessed NASA’s progress in improving its information technology governance and security over the past 4 years.

OIG conducted a healthcare inspection in response to allegations made by a confidential complainant in 2015 regarding the Opioid Agonist Treatment Program (OATP) at the Baltimore VA Medical Center, one of three VA Maryland Health Care System campuses, located in Baltimore, MD. The complainant alleged the OATP lacked quality controls necessary to ensure patients received treatment planning and monthly counseling as required, which resulted in patient deaths. We substantiated that the OATP lacked effective quality controls necessary to ensure patients consistently received required treatment planning and monthly counseling. We determined the failure to provide consistent treatment planning and monthly counseling was due, in part, to a lack of counseling staff supervision. We did not substantiate that OATP patients died as a result. We also determined the OATP lacked a clear policy on cardiac risk management and quality controls to ensure appropriate cardiac monitoring. We identified a concern related to the role of the OATP Medical Director. 42 CFR § 8.12 (b) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration require that the medical director be responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance with all applicable Federal, State, and local laws and regulations. However, the OATP policy describing the medical director’s duties did not include regulatory compliance responsibility or define a sufficient number of hours to ensure regulatory compliance.

An anonymous complainant alleged Center for Family Services (CFS), Camden, NJ, directed AmeriCorps members (member) to displace paid staff. In addition, members were submitting fraudulent timesheets. The CNCS-OIG investigation found that CFS violated (1) the CFS AmeriCorps grant when they assigned members to perform service outside the scope of the grant, (2) 45 CFR § 2540.100 (e) when they required members as part of their service to perform activities substantially similar to those already performed by an employee (teacher/assistant teacher), and (3) 45 CFR § 2521.45 when they failed to comply with match requirements. In addition, two former members violated 18 USC § 1001 when they knowingly submitted fraudulent timesheets.

For the 30 grants we reviewed, HRSA awarded Zika Act funds during fiscal year 2017 in compliance with applicable Federal and HHS grant policies. Accordingly, this report contains no recommendations.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act established the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to facilitate coordination and cooperation among providers and suppliers to (1) improve quality of care for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries and (2) reduce health care costs. Eligible providers and suppliers may voluntarily participate in the MSSP by creating or joining an accountable care organization (ACO). Beneficiary assignment is the basis for many key MSSP operations, such as determining an ACO's financial performance and reporting quality measures after each performance year (PY). The designated ACO is responsible for the quality and cost of care of its assigned Medicare beneficiaries during a PY. ACOs may be eligible to receive additional payments (i.e., shared savings payments) if they reduce health care costs and meet certain quality performance standards. ACOs may also be responsible for a portion of any shared losses.

Our objective was to assess the accuracy and reliability of In-Office Cost System (IOCS) telephone readings. The IOCS is the primary probability sampling system used by the U.S. Postal Service to attribute the labor costs of clerks, mail handlers, city carriers, and supervisors related to the handling of mail of all classes and rate categories. While the DCTs observed by the OIG during selected site visits generally followed policies and procedures, opportunities exist to improve sampling procedures and controls to enhance the accuracy and reliability of the data.

Southeast Arkansas Community Action Corporation (Southeast) did not always operate its Head Start program in accordance with Federal regulations and did not always manage and account for Federal funds. Specifically, Southeast (1) had ineffective controls and accountability over its assets, (2) used questionable methods to allocate shared costs, (3) did not have required fiscal or legal expertise on its governing board, and (4) claimed some unallowable costs.

Our objective was to evaluate the U.S. Postal Service Greensboro District’s fiscal year (FY) 2016 Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) Priority Air/Surface continuous improvement process project. Greensboro District management did not comply with DMAIC process requirements or meet its Priority Air/Surface service goal of 96 (out of 100) percent. In the last 20 weeks of the project the achieved service score was 94.01 percent, an improvement of only .02 percent.

Audit grant Award

Information Memorandum for Secretary Mnuchin

Letter to Ben Scaggs, Acting Executive Director for the Chairperson, Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council

This is our final audit report conducted in support of OIG’s oversight role of monitoring National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grants. The objective ofour audit was to assess the effectiveness of NTIA’s oversight of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant award to the Los Angeles Regional InteroperableCommunications System Authority (LA-RICS).

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SIGTARP conducted this audit upon request by Congressman John Lewis. SIGTARP found that TARP’s Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) program has not adequately served those most in need in Georgia counties in Congressman Lewis’ district in Atlanta and surrounding areas.

United States International Trade Commission's Top Management Challenges

This report represents our current assessment of the U.S. Small Business Administration's programs and activities that pose significant risks, including those that are particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, error, mismanagement, or inefficiencies. The Challenges are not presented in order of priority, as we believe that all are critical management or performance issues.

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

Our objective was to determine if the U.S. Postal Service’s Highway Contract Route (HCR) contracting practices, including avoidance of conflicts of interest, are in compliance with Postal Service policies and procedures and in line with industry practices. We found that the Postal Service’s HCR contracting practices were not always in compliance with its policies and procedures regarding conflicts of interest or in line with industry practices.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) followed applicable Federal grant requirements. It is FEMA’s responsibility to hold Mississippi accountable for proper grant administration. MEMA did not provide proper oversight of a $29.9 million Hazard Mitigation grant, or follow Federal Regulations and FEMA guidelines when accounting for grant funds. As a result, FEMA has no assurance that MEMA properly accounted for and expended Federal funds.

We determined that DC's Homeland Security Emergency Management Agency resolved our previously identified issues and demonstrated improvements to its monitoring and oversight management of State Homeland Security Program and Urban Area Security Initiative grant sub-recipients. DC’s implementation of corrective actions addressed the recommendations and achieved the intended results of strengthening grant program management, performance, and oversight. We are not making any recommendations.

On October 10, 2017, a Train Attendant in Miami, Florida, was terminated from employment for a violation of company policies. Our investigation determined that the employee used Amtrak trains to ship personal packages without paying the proper shipping fees, in violation of the company’s Standards of Excellence and Service Standards for Train Service & On-Board Service Employees.

Top management challenges

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The Office of Inspector General assessed NASA’s management of its spare parts inventory for flight projects and its efforts to reduce project cost by leveraging available resources.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) had policies and procedures in place that were generally effective in ensuring that capitation payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations for Medicare Parts A and B services were not made on behalf of deceased beneficiaries after the individuals' dates of death. During calendar years 2012 through 2015, CMS received updated beneficiary date-of-death information and then made approximately 1.8 million adjustments to capitation payments, thereby recouping $2.96 billion from MA organizations for Parts A and B capitation payments that had been made on behalf of beneficiaries who had died.

Inquiry Re Use of Government Aircraft by Secretary Mnuchin

OIG Inquiry Regarding Use of Government Aircraft By Secretary Mnuchin

This project assessed how well Federal agencies and other designated Federal entities are able to identify, assess, and resolve security vulnerabilities on their publicly accessible web applications through a Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) cross-cutting project.

To listen to a short podcast summarizing the findings of this report, please click the link below.

The District of Columbia's (District) Day Treatment Program (DTP) began in 1984 and was repealed in January 2016. District regulations defined the the DTP as "a nonresidential program operated for the purpose of providing medically supervised day treatment services for elderly persons, children from birth through age three (3), or adults with a developmental disability, and adults with mental disorders." Other OIG reviews showed that States' Medicaid claims for day treatment services did not always comply with Federal and State requirements.

We conducted unannounced inspections of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) immigration holding facilities to determine if conditions are adequate, the quality of care provided is reasonable and standards outlined in CBP’s National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search (TEDS) are being met. During these inspections, we identified physical security issues which pose a potential threat to Border Patrol agents, assets, and operations at Border Patrol stations. We also identified security issues related to cameras and access at other Border Patrol stations. As a result, we are recommending that CBP promptly address the physical security issues, ensure cameras are operable and facility access is secure.