Federal Reports

What We Looked AtThe Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) requires the establishment of governmentwide data standards for financial data. These standards are intended to make it easier for taxpayers and policy makers to review and track Federal spending activity with accessible, consistent, reliable and searchable data. The act also requires inspectors general to assess the completeness, accuracy, timeliness and quality of the data submitted by agencies and their implementation and use of the data standards. We contracted with the independent public accounting firm KPMG LLP to audit the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) compliance with the DATA Act during the first quarter of fiscal year 2021.KPMG’s audit objectives were to assess (1) the completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and quality of DOT’s first-quarter fiscal year 2021 financial and award data submitted for publication on USASpending.gov and (2) the Department’s implementation and use of the governmentwide financial data standards established by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Treasury. We conducted a quality control review (QCR) of KPMG’s independent auditor’s report. What We FoundOur QCR disclosed no instances in which KPMG did not comply, in all material respects, with U.S. generally accepted Government auditing standards. RecommendationsDOT concurs with KPMG’s four recommendations.

Performance Audit: CFTC’s Compliance with the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) of 2014 (FY 2021 Quarter II)

The Fiscal Years 2022 to 2024 OIG Strategic Plan includes the long-range goals and objectives designed to enhance OIG oversight in support of the Peace Corps and its three goals.

A contractor employee received temporary living allowances of $80,857.70 to which he was not entitled. Contrary to what the contract employee claimed on his TLA applications, he did not have a qualifying dependent living at the claimed residence and did not incur substantially all of the expenses for the property. Moreover, he presented a false lease in support of his application.

A TVA contractor’s employee improperly received $146,359 in Temporary Living Allowance payments by claiming a house as his personal residence in which he did not actually live. Rather, he lived in a different dwelling, in a different state, and rented-out the house he claimed as his personal residence during his absence.

The objective was to determine whether DHS’ information security program and practices adequately and effectively protected data and information systems supporting DHS’ operations and assets for fiscal year 2020. In May 2020, the Deputy Under Secretary for Management formally documented the Department’s risk acceptance to allow the Coast Guard to meet FISMA requirements according to Department of Defense, rather than DHS’ reporting requirements.

What We Looked AtThe Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) requires agencies to implement information security programs. FISMA also requires agencies to have annual independent evaluations performed to determine the effectiveness of their programs and report the results of these reviews to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). To meet this requirement, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) requested that we perform its fiscal year 2021 FISMA review. We contracted with Williams Adley & Company-DC LLP (Williams Adley), an independent public accounting firm, to conduct this audit subject to our oversight. The audit objective was to determine the effectiveness of STB’s information security program and practices in five function areas—Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover. What We FoundWe performed a quality control review (QCR) of Williams Adley’s report and related documentation. Our QCR disclosed no instances in which Williams Adley did not comply, in all material respects, with generally accepted Government auditing standards. RecommendationsSTB concurs with Williams Adley’s 27 recommendations.