Federal Reports

We reviewed prior oversight reports and identified lessons to help the EPA’s administration and oversight of IIJA grant awards. With IIJA appropriations, the EPA will receive approximately $55 billion in additional funding for grants over a five-year period.

SIGTARP recommends that Treasury complete an assessment to determine the extent to which current economic conditions, particularly increased inflation and essential living costs, are impacting HAMP homeowners. SIGTARP also recommends that Treasury take action, within its authority, to address any findings from its assessment that indicate economic conditions are impacting HAMP homeowners and increasing the risk that the program will not achieve its goal of preventing avoidable foreclosures.

The objective was to determine the extent to which DHS is positioned to prevent and reduce domestic terrorism in the United States. We determined that DHS has taken steps to help the United States counter terrorism, but those efforts have not always been consistent. This occurred because the Department has not established a governance body with staff dedicated to long-term oversight and coordination of its efforts to combat domestic terrorism.

We closed this evaluation because the DOI detected and responded to our simulated attacks against bureau public-facing systems.

EAC OIG, through the independent public accounting firm of McBride, Lock & Associates, LLC, audited funds received by the State of Arizona under the Help America Vote Act, including state matching funds and interest earned, totaling $27.6 million.

EAC OIG, through the independent public accounting firm of McBride, Lock & Associates, LLC, audited funds received by the State of Ohio under the Help America Vote Act, including state matching funds and interest earned, totaling $45.2 million. This included Election Security and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act grants.

Given the importance of accurately and consistently deciding veterans’ claims for disability benefits, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) includes in its quality assurance efforts special-focused reviews that target specific topic areas, such as military sexual trauma. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed VBA’s design and implementation of its special-focused review process, including applying Government Accountability Office (GAO) standards. The OIG team assessed 10 special-focused reviews completed from January 2019 through April 2021 and identified weaknesses in all five of GAO’s internal control components. The OIG also found the VBA Compensation Service’s standard operating procedure related to these special-focused reviews does not provide sufficient guidance to fully support disability claims-processing improvement. For example, the procedure does not specify that final reports flowing from special-focused reviews must discuss the causes for errors. Without this “root cause” information, leaders are not well-positioned to reduce the risk of continued errors or deficiencies.The OIG made six recommendations to the under secretary for benefits, who submitted responsive corrective action plans to all. VBA agreed to recommendations to update the special-focused review standard operating procedure to require an analysis of why errors occurred, to establish controls for ensuring reports communicate both benefit entitlement and procedural errors, and to convey information on all errors identified at both the national and regional office levels. The OIG also recommended VBA measure the effectiveness of actions taken in response to each special focused review and determine whether a follow-up review is needed. Finally, VBA was called on to reassess special-focused review errors marked as “corrected” to determine whether sufficient actions were taken and assess whether an enhancement to the Quality Management System could help prevent claims processors from closing errors without correction and ensure corrective actions are taken on all errors.

To fulfill the Office of Inspector General’s audit responsibilities, we contracted with the independent public accounting firm of KPMG LLP (KPMG) to conduct the audit, subject to our review.The attached report presents the results of the independent certified public accountants’ audit of the Southwestern Federal Power System’s combined balance sheets, as of September 30, 2021, and 2020, and the related combined statements of revenues and expenses, changes in capitalization, and cash flows for the years then ended.KPMG is responsible for expressing an opinion on the Southwestern Federal Power System’s financial statements and reporting on applicable internal controls and compliance with laws and regulations. The Office of Inspector General monitored audit progress and reviewed the audit report and related documentation. This review disclosed no instances where KPMG did not comply, in all material respects, with generally accepted government auditing standards.KPMG concluded that the combined financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Southwestern Federal Power System as of September 30, 2021, and 2020, and the results of its operations and cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles.As part of this audit, auditors also considered the Southwestern Federal Power System’s internal controls over financial reporting and tested for compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements that could have a direct and material effect on the combined financial statements. The audit did not identify any deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting that is considered a material weakness. The results of the auditors’ review disclosed no instances of noncompliance or other matters required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards.

The U.S. Postal Service needs effective and productive operations to fulfill its mission of providing prompt, reliable, and affordable mail service. In recent years, service performance and Postal Service efficiency has trended downward. In response, the Postal Service established strategies in its 10-year Delivering for America plan to improve service performance and mail processing efficiencies.

We reviewed prior oversight reports and identified lessons to help the EPA administer the IIJA’s $1.85 billion for its 12 geographic programs and National Estuary Program.

DOI bureaus did not widely use FAR part 18 contracting flexibilities, and DOI policy provided bureaus with limited time to use these flexibilities.

A former NPS employee claimed to be teleworking full time for the NPS while they were a full-time employee for a State.

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Santa Fe Main Post Office (MPO) in Santa Fe, NM (Project Number 22-132-3). The Santa Fe MPO is in the Arizona-New Mexico District of the WestPac Area and services ZIP Codes 87501, 87504, and 87506.1 These ZIP Codes serve about 28,861 people and are considered to be urban communities.2 We judgmentally selected the Santa Fe MPO based on the number of stop-the-clock3 (STC) scans occurring at the delivery unit, rather than at the customer’s point of delivery.

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Rio Rancho Branch, Rio Rancho, NM (Project Number 22-132-1). The Rio Rancho Branch is in the Arizona-New Mexico District of the WestPac Area and services ZIP Codes 87124 and 87144. These ZIP Codes serve about 89,081 people and are considered to be urban communities. We judgmentally selected the Rio Rancho Branch based on the number of customer inquiries the unit received related to package tracking and mail delivery delays.

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Richard J. Pino Station in Albuquerque, NM (Project Number 22-132-2). The Richard J. Pino Station is in the Arizona-New Mexico District of the Westpac Area and services ZIP Codes 87114 and 87120.1 These ZIP Codes serve about 119,707 people and are considered to be urban communities.2 We judgmentally selected the Richard J. Pino Station based on the number of customer inquiries the unit received related to package tracking and mail delivery delays. From January through March 2022, the station received 17.15 inquiries per route, which was more than the average of 9.76 inquiries per route for all sites serviced by the Albuquerque Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC).

This interim report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at the Coronado Station, Santa Fe, NM (Project Number 22-132-4). The Coronado Station is in the Arizona- New Mexico District of the WestPac Area and services ZIP Codes 87505, 87507, 87508, and 87540.1 These ZIP Codes serve about 95,454 people and are considered to be urban communities.2 We judgmentally selected the Coronado Station based on the number of stop-the-clock3 (STC) scans occurring at the delivery unit.

This report presents the results of our self-initiated audit of efficiency of operations at the Albuquerque Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC) in Albuquerque, NM (Project Number 22-134). We conducted this audit to provide U.S. Postal Service management with timely information on operational risks at this P&DC. We judgmentally selected the Albuquerque P&DC based on a review of processing indicators and in coordination with delivery performance indicators during fiscal years (FY) 2021 and 2022. The Albuquerque P&DC is in the Western Region Processing Operations and processes letters and flats.1 The Albuquerque P&DC services multiple 3-digit ZIP Codes in urban and rural communities (see Table 1).

NASA’s Ames Research Center—located in California’s Silicon Valley—is utilizing leases in an attempt to transform the Center into a shared-use research and development campus by collaborating with private industry, academia, government, and nonprofit organizations. In this audit, we assessed the effectiveness of Ames’ lease management practices.

In August 2020, the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) Office of Connected Care introduced a “digital divide” consult process where patients can receive a video-capable device (iPad) after obtaining a referral and a socioeconomic assessment. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the efficiency and effectiveness of the process.The review found the program successfully distributed devices to patients but identified gaps in oversight and guidance. VHA issued devices to about 41,000 patients during the first three quarters of fiscal year 2021. The OIG found 51 percent did not use the devices to complete a video appointment.The OIG reviewed VHA’s data and found that 3,119 patients received multiple devices. A November 2021 assessment of the data also showed nearly 8,300 unused devices still did not have VA Video Connect activity and were not retrieved to make them available to other patients. The value of the 8,300 devices was about $6.3 million, and they cost VHA about $78,000 in additional cellular data fees.Moreover, as of December 2021, VHA paid about $8.1 million for the purchase of 9,720 devices, although a backlog of about 14,800 returned devices was pending refurbishment to be available for redistribution. Overall, the OIG determined VHA could have made better use of about $14.5 million in program funds with better device monitoring, retrieval controls, and oversight.The OIG made 10 recommendations to the under secretary for health, including alerting the requesting clinic that a patient can be scheduled, adding procedures on duplicate devices, designating responsible officials to monitor for appointment activity and connected device use, clearly defining lead oversight responsibilities, and establishing an automated report of devices not being used for video appointments. Lastly, VHA should enhance tracking of device packages, implement more detailed refurbishment reporting, and use such data in new device purchases.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) assessed an allegation at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (facility) that community living center (CLC) staff delayed life-sustaining treatment for a patient (Patient A) who experienced cardiac arrest and died. The OIG also reviewed an allegation regarding a second patient (Patient B) who had resuscitation initiated, despite a do not resuscitate (DNR) order in the electronic health record (EHR).The OIG substantiated that a CLC nurse delayed initiation of resuscitation efforts for Patient A. The OIG found that the CLC nurse identified Patient’s A’s code status as DNR after checking a report sheet and seeing a DNR armband. However, Patient A was a full code status, as reflected in the EHR. The nurse did not review the EHR, causing delayed resuscitation efforts. The OIG substantiated that facility inpatient nursing staff attempted to resuscitate Patient B who had a DNR order. Inpatient nursing staff relied on the absence of a DNR armband to indicate Patient B’s code status and relayed the incorrect code status to the code blue team during the patient’s cardiac arrest. The code blue team performed resuscitative efforts until a medical resident reviewed the EHR and identified Patient B’s status as DNR. The OIG identified concerns related to the use of DNR armbands and the suspension of DNR orders in the operating room.The OIG made one recommendation to the Under Secretary for Health regarding reviewing DNR processes and five recommendations to the Facility Director related to staff’s EHR verification of life-sustaining treatment orders and patients’ code statuses, evaluation of corrective actions from management reviews, location of life-sustaining treatment orders within the EHR, modifications to patients’ life-sustaining treatment orders during surgical procedures, and staff’s review of patients’ code statuses upon patients’ return to facility units from surgical procedures.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is responsible for ensuring the safety and security of postal employees, postal facilities, and the mail. The Postal Inspection Service has contracted with Prosegur Services Group Inc. to provide personnel, such as dispatchers, at the National Law Enforcement Communication Centers (NLECC) and security guards at postal facilities in approximately 57 locations nationwide.Our objective was to assess the compliance of the Postal Inspection Service’s Prosegur contract with applicable policies and procedures during fiscal year 2021. We reviewed contract documentation and policies, sampled personnel and invoices from the two NLECC facilities and six sites with security guards, and interviewed Postal Service and Prosegur officials.

Objective: To determine whether the Social Security Administration (SSA) took appropriate follow-up actions when spouses and widow(er)s reported they would be entitled to a non-covered pension in the future.

Alain Galette, a resident of Miami, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, to one count of wire fraud on August 4, 2022, in relation to his application for a Payroll Program Protection (PPP) loan and in obtaining an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) in the amount of $149,900. The PPP loan was in the amount of $163,577 but was denied. Our investigation found that Galette used an invalid social security number and included other false information on the PPP and EIDL applications. Upon receipt of the EIDL funds, Galette did not use the money for authorized purposes.

Identity, credential, and access management (ICAM) is a set of tools, policies, and systems used to ensure the right individual has access to the right resource, at the right time, for the right reason in support of federal business objectives. In February 2021, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) received a hotline complaint claiming the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness and the Office of Information and Technology have not agreed since 2016 on roles and responsibilities for VA’s ICAM program. This has contributed to VA not being able to effectively comply with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policy. The OIG reviewed to determine whether VA is effectively governing its ICAM program as required.The OIG found VA did not effectively manage and coordinate its ICAM program because it did not meet three of the four OMB governance requirements. Specifically, VA did not effectively assign roles and responsibilities, implement a single comprehensive ICAM policy, meet goals established in its technology solutions roadmap for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, or implement updated digital identity risk management requirements.These issues occurred primarily because leaders of the different offices performing VA’s ICAM functions have not agreed on how it should be governed. Without proper governance, VA risks both restricting information from users who need it to perform their job functions and leaving information vulnerable to improper use.The OIG recommended the VA deputy secretary designate roles and responsibilities for all program offices involved in the ICAM process and ensure appropriate oversight and coordination. The OIG also made recommendations to the assistant secretary for information and technology and to the assistant secretary for human resources and administration/operations, security, and preparedness.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review to determine whether the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) accurately adjusted compensation and pension benefit payments for fugitive felons as mandated by law. If VBA does not adjust payments, veterans who are fugitive felons will continue to receive benefits during periods of ineligibility.Routinely, the OIG provides VBA with a list of individuals with felony arrest warrants gathered from federal and local law enforcement agencies. After the passage of the Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, VBA interpreted the law to presume that all veterans for whom a felony arrest warrant had been issued were fugitives in a flight status.In April 2012, VBA instructed regional offices to postpone making decisions on fugitive felon cases while it prepared new guidance. During 2012 and 2013, VBA did not process fugitive felon cases. In June 2014, VBA updated its definition of a fugitive felon to include only referrals indicating escape, flight, or violation of the conditions of probation or parole. Although VBA then resumed adjusting payments, it did not review the unprocessed 2012 and 2013 cases.In addition, due to inadequate monitoring, VBA did not process about 46 percent of cases referred by the OIG in 2019 and 2020. Finally, the team found VBA’s notification letters to veterans providing notice of the proposed action and right to a hearing did not always provide the required information. Most commonly, VBA failed to include the reason for the issuance of the arrest warrant.VBA concurred with the OIG’s three recommendations to (1) improve monitoring procedures, (2) review unprocessed felony referrals, and (3) update fugitive felon letters with required information. Based on the information provided by VBA on the actions taken to address these recommendations, the OIG considers recommendation 2 closed.

Earl Kendricks, Jr., a resident of Roseville, Michigan, was sentenced on August 3, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $49,332 in restitution, of which $870 is payable to Amtrak. On April 19, 2022, he pleaded guilty to wire fraud and making a false statement involving the acquisition of a firearm. Kendricks was sentenced to 30 months in prison for each charge, to be served concurrently. Our investigation found that Kendricks used stolen credit card information to purchase Amtrak tickets and then cancelled the tickets and received Amtrak vouchers, which he then sold on eBay for his own personal gain. The scheme caused the company to issue more than $49,000 in fraudulent ticket vouchers. Our investigation also found that Kendricks made false statements to a licensed firearms dealer to purchase an assault rifle for Christian Newby, who was a wanted fugitive at the time, and a defendant in this investigation.

What We Looked AtWe queried and downloaded 90 single audit reports prepared by non-Federal auditors and submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse between April 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022, to identify significant findings related to programs directly funded by the Department of Transportation (DOT). What We FoundWe found that reports contained a range of findings that impacted DOT programs. The auditors reported 19 incidents of significant noncompliance with Federal guidelines related to 12 grantees that require prompt action from DOT’s Operating Administrations (OA). Eight of these were repeat findings related to six grantees. The auditors also identified questioned costs totaling $7,148,093 for five grantees. Of this amount, $6,568,036 was related to the Pit River Tribe. RecommendationsWe recommend that DOT coordinate with the impacted OAs to develop corrective action plans to resolve and close the current and repeat findings identified in this report. We also recommend that DOT determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $7,148,093, if applicable.

The OIG is publishing this compendium to analyze the open and unresolved recommendations listed in the semiannual report covering our work from October 1, 2021, through March 31, 2022.

The OIG investigated an allegation that an attorney at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) may have accessed a BVA senior executive’s government email account without permission, including email concerning a personnel matter involving the attorney. The complaint further alleged that the attorney should have known that access to the materials in the executive’s email account was not authorized. The attorney has since left VA employment.After considering the extensive evidence collected, including analyses of audit logs, mailbox content, testimonial evidence, Office of Information and Technology (OIT) service tickets, and a forensic analysis of the attorney’s government-furnished laptop, the OIG did not substantiate that the attorney ever accessed the executive’s email or that the attorney was aware that such access rights had been assigned to them. Moreover, the OIG team could not dismiss the possibility that the attorney’s unauthorized access privileges were the result of an error made by either OIT staff or the executive. Based on these findings, the OIG made no recommendations.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a performance audit to determine whether theFTC’s program used to hire and oversee unpaid consultants and experts is managed in accordancewith federal and agency requirements.

DHS’ information security program for FY 2021 was rated “not effective,” according to this year’s reporting instructions.

As the lead Federal agency for Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), the Department of Homeland Security coordinated efforts across the Federal Government to resettle individuals evacuated from Afghanistan.

As the lead Federal agency for Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), the Department of Homeland Security coordinated efforts across the Federal Government to resettle individuals evacuated from Afghanistan.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Inspections Division, reviewed the effectiveness and efficiency of the U.S. Government Publishing Office’s (GPO) Privacy Program and its management of personally identifiable information (PII).

Our objective was to assess the U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) progress at improving the maturity of its security program and practices as required by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA).We made 77 recommendations to improve the Department's cybersecurity posture in our FYs 2019, 2020, and 2021 reports. At the start of our fieldwork, there were 29 closed and 48 open recommendations. In FY 2022, we reviewed 38 open recommendations and found the Department took action to close 28 recommendations, with 10 remaining open. Additionally, there were another 10 open recommendations that were scheduled for implementation after the close of our fieldwork.At the completion of our FY 2022 inspection, out of 77 recommendations, 57 were closed and 20 remained open.To answer this objective, we rated the Department’s performance in accordance with OMB’s guidance on the 20 metric areas required for FY 2022. These metrics represent 20 of the 66 metrics that were used to assess the Department’s effectiveness for FY 2021. In September 2020, revision 5 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-53, Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations was issued. Usually, a 1-year period is allowed for implementation of the new requirements. With the removal of 46 metric questions, for FY 2022, we were not able to test if the Department implemented these new requirements for these questions.

This report presents a summary of the results of our self-initiated audits assessing mail delivery, customer service, and property conditions at four select delivery units in the Seattle, WA, region. These delivery units included the Parkland Branch in Tacoma, Kent Main Post Office (MPO) in Kent, Renton MPO in Renton, and Lacey Branch in Lacey. We judgmentally selected these delivery units based on the number of customer inquiries per route the unit received and Stop-the-Clock (STC) scans occurring at the delivery unit. We previously issued interim reports to district management for each of these units regarding the conditions we identified. In addition, we issued a report on the efficiency of operations at the Seattle Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC), which services these four delivery units.

In a March 2021 review, the VA OIG identified several cases in which Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) employees in Chicago, Illinois, improperly created debts in veterans’ accounts when reducing disability levels. The OIG conducted this review to determine the magnitude of the problem nationwide.The OIG found instances in which VBA employees retroactively reduced disability levels and erroneously created debts without always informing veterans. Based on the review of a statistical sample, the review team estimated errors incorrectly created debts totaling about $13.4 million.Errors included inappropriately reducing disability levels retroactively, creating debts when overpayments should have been eliminated because they were due to VBA’s own administrative errors, and failing to provide veterans with notice and due process for these actions.About $4.6 million of the estimated $13.4 million in erroneous debts had been collected from veterans as of February 2021. Some veterans were not given an opportunity to dispute the debts or request waivers and were likely unaware they did not receive all their benefits. Some veterans were told overpayments for administrative errors would not be collected but the debt was still created. About $6.9 million in debt was pending, and about $1.8 million was corrected before collection.Errors generally occurred because VBA’s electronic system did not show employees each time a debt was created. Consequently, they may not have been aware they had even created the debts.VA management concurred with the four recommendations, including to certify correction of OIG-identified errors. VBA should review all compensation awards completed since January 1, 2020, with debts associated with reduced disability levels and take appropriate action. VBA should also update its electronic system to alert employees to when their actions create a debt, and then assess the effectiveness of recommendation responses and the need for additional measures.

This report contains information about recommendations from the OIG's audits, evaluations, reviews, and other reports that the OIG had not closed as of the specified date because it had not determined that the Department of Justice (DOJ) or a non-DOJ federal agency had fully implemented them. The list omits information that DOJ determined to be limited official use or classified, and therefore unsuitable for public release.The status of each recommendation was accurate as of the specified date and is subject to change. Specifically, a recommendation identified as not closed as of the specified date may subsequently have been closed.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review to assess the oversight and stewardship of funds by the VA Black Hills Health Care System in South Dakota and to identify potential cost efficiencies in carrying out its functions. The review assessed the following financial activities and administrative processes to determine whether the healthcare system had appropriate oversight and controls in place: open obligations oversight. purchase card use, inventory and supply management, and pharmacy operations.The review team identified several opportunities for improvement:• The healthcare system did not properly manage open obligations as required, risking funds not being used in the year they were appropriated.• It did not always process purchase card transactions in compliance with VA policy, consider the most appropriate purchasing mechanism, or leverage its purchasing power through using competitively priced contracts. It also did not maintain an accurate, up-to-date VA Form 0242 for all cardholders.• While inventory managers provided oversight to maintain stock levels for expendable supply items, the effectiveness and efficiency of inventory management could be improved by ensuring conversion factors, stock levels, and inventory values are recorded correctly in the Generic Inventory Package.• The healthcare system could improve pharmacy efficiency by narrowing the gap between the facility’s observed drug costs and expected drug costs, bringing the turnover rates closer to the VHA recommended level, and avoiding end-of-year purchases.The OIG made seven recommendations to the healthcare system director. The recommendations address issues that, if left unattended, may eventually interfere with effective financial efficiency practices and the strong stewardship of VA resources.

An audit of the purchase and travel card programs of the Denali Commission to assess the level of risk of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments through the Commission’s charge card programs during the period reviewed.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted an audit to determine the effectiveness of endpoint protection on Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) desktops and laptops. We found several areas of TVA’s endpoint protection program to be generally effective; however, we identified two issues that should be addressed by TVA management to further increase the effectiveness. Specifically, we found (1) TVA does not require endpoint protection for all network connections and (2) gaps in TVA policy, procedures, and internal controls. TVA management agreed with our recommendations.

What We Looked AtTwo fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in 2018 and 2019 drew widespread attention to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) oversight and certification practices, including the Agency's process for establishing pilot training requirements for the aircraft. The Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its Subcommittee on Aviation requested that we review domestic and international pilot training standards related to commercial passenger aircraft. Our audit objectives were to (1) evaluate FAA's process for establishing pilot training requirements for U.S. and foreign air carriers operating U.S.-certificated large passenger aircraft and (2) review international civil aviation authorities' requirements for air carrier pilot training regarding the use of flight deck automation. We focused on FAA's role in setting training requirements as the certificating authority for Boeing aircraft and its efforts to enhance upset prevention and recovery training.What We FoundWhile each country is responsible for setting its own pilot training requirements, FAA has the opportunity to inform other countries' requirements through increased transparency and oversight. For example, FAA provides aircraft-specific guidance to air carriers and other organizations when developing training programs. However, the guidance does not clearly state the level of experience FAA assumed pilots would have--which is significant given that the skills and average experience of pilots can vary between countries. In addition, FAA has worked with international civil aviation authorities to provide guidance on air carrier pilots' use of flight deck automation. This includes conducting outreach and training internationally on specific flight scenarios and leading an ongoing international working group to develop new international standards and guidance on pilots' use of automation. Nevertheless, our survey of international civil aviation authorities found that countries' requirements regarding the use of flight deck automation varied.Our RecommendationsFAA concurred with our four recommendations to enhance the Agency's transparency and oversight to better inform international pilot training requirements and proposed appropriate planned actions and completion dates.

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

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an inspection to examine oversight of a provider who engaged in sexual misconduct toward patients and practiced acupuncture without credentials or privileges. The OIG also reviewed leaders’ awareness and response to these issues. Current and former facility leaders gave conflicting information about their responsibility for the provider’s supervision and failed to complete the provider’s professional practice evaluations.Former facility leaders did not act upon awareness of patient complaints about the provider’s sexual misconduct. A facility leader removed the provider from patient care after learning of similar complaints at the provider’s previous employer but did not summarily suspend the provider. Following the provider’s termination, former facility leaders did not timely report the provider to state licensing boards. The provider also performed sensitive exams without a chaperone and former facility leaders did not address the provider’s refusal to use chaperones.The Veterans Integrated Service Network Director (VISN) initiated an Administrative Investigation Board (AIB) to determine if facility leaders addressed patient complaints. However, not all complaints were reviewed. Following awareness that the provider performed acupuncture without credentials and privileges, former facility leaders failed to ensure quality management reviews. The OIG identified the provider performed acupuncture on at least five patients and was unable to determine how needles were accessed, raising concerns about bloodborne pathogen exposure. Reviews were not conducted to identify if the provider performed acupuncture on patients. The VISN commenced a review identifying 48 patients. As a result, the VISN initiated testing patients for bloodborne diseases and facilitated the institutional disclosure process.The OIG made one recommendation to the VISN Director to ensure closure of AIB actions.The OIG made four recommendations to the Facility Director related to oversight, quality management actions, training, and reporting providers to state licensing boards.

We reviewed the actions FSIS took relating to COVID-19 to ensure the continuation of inspection operations at meat and poultry slaughter and processing establishments, including to ensure the health and safety of FSIS inspectors and how FSIS spent the $33 million in CARES Act funding.

DHS Has Controls to Safeguard Watchlist Data

A former Amtrak train attendant based in New Orleans, Louisiana, was sentenced in the Eastern District of Louisiana on July 25, 2022, to three years’ probation and 12 months’ home confinement for theft of government funds and making false statements. In addition, he was ordered to pay restitution of $64,874.64 to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and $22,725 to the Louisiana Workforce Commission. Our investigation found that the former employee made false statements to the SBA and fraudulently obtained $89,583 in pandemic-related relief loans funded through the Paycheck Protection Program. He also fraudulently applied for, and received, unemployment benefits through the Louisiana Workforce Commission despite being fully employed by Amtrak at the time. The employee was terminated from the company on April 4, 2022.

Robert Joseph, a podiatrist based in Los Angeles, California, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Central District of California, on July 25, 2022, to two years’ probation for conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Joseph was also ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 and a money judgment forfeiture in the amount of $332,500. Our investigation found that Joseph prescribed unnecessary compounded medications to patients without their knowledge. As a result of the scheme, Amtrak’s insurance providers were fraudulently charged approximately $22,000.