Federal Reports

This document discusses EAC OIG’s planned oversight activities for fiscal year 2015.

Our audit sought to determine whether OPE’s internal controls were adequate for evaluating grantees for duplication of effort; whether the Talent Search, Upward Bound, and Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) programs resulted in duplication of services provided by selected grantees; and whether selected grantees experienced administrative burdens or inefficiencies as a result of administering multiple programs with similar objectives. Based on our review of student records, we did not identify any duplication of services provided under the three programs, nor did we identify any duplication of services at the two schools reviewed, Berea College and Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell, for FY 2011. In addition, officials at both schools stated that they did not experience burdens or inefficiencies. We did, however, determine that OPE had not implemented adequate internal controls to provide assurance that grantees minimized the duplication of services, and we could not determine whether duplication of services occurred at Eastern New Mexico during FY 2009 and FY 2010 because the school did not maintain documentation that would have enabled us to do so. Also, regarding Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell, for FY 2009 and FY 2010, the school’s GEAR UP records did not support the services provided, the number of students served, or certification of its annual performance reports. As a result, the Department may have awarded grant funds to the school in excess of what it should have received. Based on our findings, we recommended that OPE ensure that grantees provide information that would enable it to assess their efforts to coordinate, collaborate, and minimize duplication with other similar programs, and that it review Eastern New Mexico-Roswell’s GEAR UP data for FY 2009 and FY 2010 to determine whether funds should be recovered.

We found that the Department did not adequately address the risks that schools offering direct assessment programs pose to the Federal student aid programs and did not establish sufficient processes to ensure that only programs meeting Federal regulatory requirements are approved as eligible. We also identified weaknesses related to the Department’s direct assessment application review processes: the Department was not documenting the basis for approval or denial of an application, and FSA School Participation Division managers were not fully informed of issues raised during the application review process. Further, we found that the Department’s communication with accrediting agencies involved in the application process was not adequate to make well-informed decisions. Although we agreed with the Department that few schools offering direct assessment programs have applied to have their programs deemed eligible to participate in the Federal student aid programs, and the amount of Federal aid currently at risk is relatively low, the program eligibility decisions that the Department is making for these early-implementing schools could set a precedent for future direct assessment programs and have a lasting, negative impact on the Federal student aid programs.

There continues to be open old HUD administered grants for which de-obligations

ARC has continued emphasis on follow-up on ARC administered grants with limited disbursement of ARC funds

Recognizes that construction grants are administered by other agencies and these grants often involve factors, such as environmental, land rights or funding issues, that delay start up or completion actions

A review of the current Memorandums of Understanding or Agreements (MOU) between ARC and Federal agencies administering ARC construction grants disclosed a need to update the MOUs to better address or clarify several issues

This review was initiated as part of the Office of the Inspector General's commitment to provide oversight of coal combustion product (CCP) management. The objective of our review was to determine if TVA was meeting its commitments for CCP management.We found TVA was meeting its commitments for CCP management. Specifically, we found TVA has implemented programmatic improvements, stabilized its coal ash storage facilities, and improved oversight of CCP management. Additionally, we found TVA was taking steps to become an industry leader in CCP management. The report did not include any recommendations.

Presentation

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In the last six months, we issued reports on the Open World Leadership Center’s FY13 financial statements audit and physical security at the Library’s Landover Warehouse facility. We also continued a facilities planning review; oversaw an audit of information technology system certification and accreditation efforts; worked with the United States Attorney’s Office on an investigation of a former Library contractor; and on July 28th, 2014, the Librarian appointed me as the new Inspector General.

We conducted extensive research and employed scenario planning to understand what the needs and expectations of future customers of the U.S. Postal Service might be, and how the Postal Service could effectively meet those changing needs. The project involved studying projections for more than 80 social, technological, and industrial trends; reviewing hundreds of articles; and interviewing numerous experts. Results include key insights related to future customer needs and potential Postal Service opportunities. This white paper notes that the Postal Service is uniquely positioned to strategically grow in both core and adjunct products and services.

We evaluated FSA’s process for ensuring the continued protection of Federal funds at Guaranty Agencies (GA), oversight of the GAs’ ability to perform their duties, and actions necessary for the GAs’ successful participation during the phase-out of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). We found weaknesses that included (1) FSA’s methodology for calculating a GA’s Federal Fund reserve ratio did not comply with Federal requirements, which, as a result, inflated the GA’s reserve ratio and understated the level of financial stress a GA may be under; (2) Although FSA monitored the GAs’ ability to perform their duties, it did not establish criteria for GAs to use to develop required financial projections, and FSA did not document the procedures for actions it should have taken on information that identified GAs under possible financial stress; and (3) FSA’s initial methodology and then the modified methodology it used to select successor GAs for GAs ending participation in the FFELP contained deficiencies related to projected fund balances, relied on subjective factors, and did not provide a rationale for why the variables FSA selected to predict GA financial solvency were the most relevant variables.

Objective: To evaluate Title II auxiliary beneficiaries who did not have their own Social Security number and quantify incorrect payments to those who died.

This review was initiated as a follow-up to Inspection 2010-13530, Review of TVA's Fossil Fire Protection Systems, issued September 30, 2011. Fire protection systems are a combination of mechanical and electrical components and like power generation equipment, need regular attention. The objective of our review was to determine if the fire protection systems were adequately maintained and mitigating actions were taken to minimize the impact of fires at TVA fossil plants.We found TVA's maintenance of fire protection systems was improving; however, there was heightened risk of damaging fires at TVA sites due to (1) restoration times for certain priority systems exceeding TVA targets; (2) delays in addressing fire protection work orders; (3) instances of noncompliance with TVA's inspection, testing, and maintenance procedure; and (4) difficulties in maintaining aging equipment. We noted improvements were made to minimize the impact of fire, such as equipping fire trucks for each plant, replacing the fire brigade room at Kingston, and updating a portion of personal protective equipment for brigade members. However, many issues noted in the original inspection remained. For example, fire brigade members continued to have concerns about fire response preparedness and lessons learned were not shared consistently across the fleet. We also found Fire Protection Self-Assessments presented the condition of TVA's fire protection systems in a more positive manner than other sources might suggest was warranted.We recommended the Senior Vice President, Power Operations, (1) take steps, as appropriate, to restore impaired fire protection systems to service and determine if additional personnel or resources are needed to expedite repairs of fire protection systems in the future; (2) determine the equipment needs of fire brigade members and take steps to provide that equipment; (3) identify additional training needs for fire brigade members and take steps to provide that training; (4) determine whether increased staffing is warranted for fire brigades; (5) create and implement a formal process for capturing and sharing lessons learned from fire events across the fleet; (6) amend the Fire Protection Self-Assessments to include ratings of fire protection system equipment, provide a more objective means for determining whether preventive maintenance was performed, reflect prioritization of impairments and work orders outstanding, and provide a synopsis of additional drivers of fire risk at each site. TVA Management agreed with the findings and recommendations.

As a result of findings in a recent evaluation 2012-14845, Review of TVA's Nuclear Power Group Preventive Maintenance, we conducted a review of coal plant preventive maintenance (PM). The objective of our review was to determine if PM was performed in accordance with established schedules and if not, what effect the deviations were having.We found compliance with PM schedules varies by plant, and the PM compliance metric captured may not fully represent all PM activities not completed. The monthly PM compliance percentage varied from 10.5 to 100 percent. The most common reasons cited for not completing PM or adjusting the PM schedule was resource driven and/or due to emergent/sponsored work. We also found if a work order did not have the correct reconciliation code, a canceled PM task would be counted as completed, which skewed the data. Reconciliation codes are essential for accurate reporting, but they are not a required field in Maximo.We found that both uncompleted and unestablished PM contributed to equipment failures. In a review of 65 Problem Evaluation Reports (PERs), we identified six PERs linking failures to PM issues. Four of those PERs related to equipment for which no PM schedule or requirement had been established, and two PERs related to uncompleted PM tasks. We also found plants were making progress implementing the new Maintenance Basis Optimization (MBO) but had seen some delays in achieving target dates. Support of outages had impacted some sites' abilities to complete its MBO phases. Additionally, we found the absence of PM requirements could make it harder to manage equipment reliability risk.We recommended the Senior Vice President, Power Operations, (1) increase PM completion/reduce deviations from PM schedules and reinforce the importance of PM activities, (2) develop a way to more accurately capture and report PM compliance and other appropriate PM tracking metrics, (3) expedite MBO efforts, and (4) consider the potential impact of having PM governed only by guidelines and not requirements. TVA management generally agreed with the recommendations in the report.

ARC approval of a J-1 visa request from a state ARC submits a request to the Department of State (DOS) to request the DOS request the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) to waiver the physicians foreign residency requirement based on at least three years of service at the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA), as designated by the U.S. Public Health Services (USPHS)

Based on several complaints and at the request of then-Inspector of the Hazardous Incident Response Division (HIRD), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a performance audit of the Hazardous Materials Response Team (HMRT) program. The objectives of this audit were to determine if HMRT (1) established adequate internal controls and processes for ensuring the integrity of its program, (2) complied with applicable laws, regulations, and guidance pertaining to management and operation of its program, and (3) took corrective actions related to the previous recommendations OIG made in Report Number OIG-2010-02, Review of Hazardous Materials Response Team Procurement Process, issued in March 20 I 0. Our scope for the audit included HMRT controls, processes, and operations during Fiscal Years (FYs) 2011, 2012, and 2013. OIG contracted with Cotton & Company LLP to assist with the performance of this audit.

Based on the findings of a previous review, we evaluated the TVA Nuclear Power Group (NPG) Groundwater Protection Program (GWPP). The objectives of our review were to determine if NPG's GWPP performed required monitoring and reporting and completed required corrective actions based on monitoring results.While NPG's GWPP performed required reporting, we could not verify the monitoring requirements in TVA's NPG standard programs and processes were followed. Our review also found corrective actions were taken to address the leaks and spills at TVA's nuclear plants reported to the NRC for the time frame of our review. However, we found opportunities for programmatic improvements. There were instances where programmatic weaknesses were identified several times over the last five years and were not remediated. External assessments also noted deficiencies in the program that were downgraded or excluded when NPG performed its fleet self-assessment. In addition, there was not a formal process in place to ensure recommendations made by external consultants were addressed. We made recommendations to management, accordingly, to address the findings in the report.

This report contains classified information that is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. To obtain further information, please contact the OIG Office of Counsel at OIGCounsel@oig.treas.gov, (202) 927-0650, or by mail at Office of Treasury Inspector General, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC 20220.

We issued a report which drew on our experience in performing more than 50 Recovery Act-related audits, conducting more than 200 criminal investigations, and reviewing nearly 145 allegations of reprisals of people seeking whistleblower protection under the Recovery Act. This “lessons learned” report provides our perspective on challenges the Department, its funding recipients and subrecipients, and the OIG faced and what lessons should be considered in the event that other legislation providing a large yet temporary funding increase (like the Recovery Act) is enacted in the future.

To give consumers of all ages advertising messages that are relevant, interesting, and dynamic, mailers can incorporate a number of innovations into their mail pieces. These innovations can help bolster the strength of message by, for example, providing additional content easily accessed digitally, incorporating handy electronics into the mailpiece, or using unique materials and designs to capture and hold attention. This white paper provides an overview of ten mail innovations that range from commonly used and well-known tools to some that are still emerging, and even one that is still in development.

The purpose of our audit was to review borrower complaints against private collection agencies (PCAs) to evaluate how effectively FSA monitored the complaints and ensured that corrective action was taken, ensured that PCAs were abiding by Federal debt collection laws and the related terms of their contracts, and considered borrower complaints in its evaluation and compensation of PCAs. We found that FSA did not effectively do so. Because FSA senior managers considered the number of complaints to be immaterial, they placed insufficient emphasis on the importance of identifying, tracking, and resolving borrower complaints. We also found that FSA did not effectively ensure that the PCAs were abiding by the Federal debt collection laws and the related terms of their agreements with FSA.

We found that for both FY 2012 and FY 2013, the Department complied with Executive Order 13520, adequately addressed improper payment risks, and described an adequate level of oversight to reduce and recapture improper Pell Grant payments. However, we found that the Department still had not addressed monitoring and oversight of the most significant root cause of potential improper payments in the Pell Grant program—inaccurate self-reported income for Pell Grant applicants who (1) do not use the Internal Revenue Service Data Retrieval Tool when completing their FAFSA and (2) are not selected for verification of self-reported income.

Peer Review of FLRA OIG 2014

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements