Federal Reports

OIG evaluated FSA's and the State of Florida's delivery of the CRBG Program.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an inspection at the request of Chairman Mark Takano, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, to assess allegations that facility staff failed to adequately evaluate and treat Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) for patients who served in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) at the Southeast Louisiana Health Care System in New Orleans.The OIG did not substantiate the allegations that the facility polytrauma program failed to adequately evaluate and treat TBI for patients who served in OEF/OIF/OND.The OIG reviewed data from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Support Service Center and found the facility screening rate generally met or exceeded VHA’s national benchmark.The OIG conducted an independent electronic health record (EHR) review to determine if patients who had a positive initial TBI screen conducted at the facility from October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2020, received a Comprehensive Traumatic Brain Injury Evaluation (CTBIE), and if the CTBIE was completed within 30 days.The OIG reviewed 327 EHRs and found 243 CTBIEs were completed, with 172 of them completed within 30 days. The OIG found scheduling challenges, primarily patient causal factors, contributed to why CTBIEs were not timely completed. Of the 243 CTBIEs completed, 181 patients were diagnosed as having a TBI.Clinical services were initiated for 162 of the 175 patients where services were indicated. The OIG found that the plans of care were thorough and found several areas in which facility staff exceeded VHA standards.The OIG did not identify adverse clinical outcomes for patients whose CTBIE was not timely completed or where clinical services were indicated but not initiated.The OIG found that facility leaders also oversaw two EHR reviews of the assessment and evaluation of facility TBI patients.The OIG made no recommendations.

OIG is pleased to announce our risk-based Biennial Audit Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2022–2023. The OIG Biennial Audit Plan includes eight statutorily mandated audits and eight discretionary audits of the AbilityOne Program. Throughout the 2022–2023 audit cycle, OIG will continue to focus on high-risk areas in the program and operations, as well as aspects of the Program related to the pandemic.This plan provides a detailed roadmap for independent and objective audits focused on enhancing confidence in the program, increasing economies and efficiencies, and fostering program growth, while preventing and detecting fraud, waste, and abuse.Our process to select and prioritize our planned work included assessing the top management and performance challenges, congressional interests, the results of our prior work, and key risks that Commission staff identified. OIG then used this information to inform discussions with Commission Members as well as members of the Commission’s executive leadership team about audits that will help improve Commission work and advance operations.

OIG evaluated APHIS’ controls to ensure compliance with the AWA and followed up on agency actions in response to a previous audit; OIG could not fully evaluate APHIS’ controls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

What We Looked AtThe Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) provides the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) with funds appropriated by Congress--approximately $2 billion for fiscal year 2020 and over $3.7 billion in supplemental appropriations for the response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. Congress has also authorized FRA to use a portion of the annual Amtrak appropriations for its grant administration and oversight. Given FRA's role in overseeing this large Federal investment, we initiated this audit to assess FRA's program to oversee Amtrak's use of Federal funding.What We FoundFRA has not fully adopted a grants management framework for its Amtrak oversight program. It lacks measurable goals and metrics, complete policies and procedures to assess Amtrak's adherence to requirements, and a centralized grants management system. In 2017, FRA began to develop a strategic vision and focus areas for its Amtrak agreements but has not formalized measurable goals or metrics to assess progress in meeting them. Furthermore, FRA's policies and procedures are incomplete on documenting, tracking, and taking action on Amtrak noncompliance that FRA identifies during monitoring. Finally, FRA does not fully use its centralized grant information system to document and analyze findings from its monitoring reviews of Amtrak. According to FRA officials, the program's strategic framework and policies and procedures are incomplete because FRA focused first on improving the information Amtrak provides; these improvements enhanced FRA's ability to understand Amtrak's use of Federal funding. Officials also indicated that Amtrak's unique legal status limits actions FRA can take to prompt Amtrak to remedy problems the Agency identifies and Amtrak's reporting requirements present challenges for FRA to adapt its grants management information system to help oversee Amtrak's Federal funding. These weaknesses may hinder FRA's ability to assess its program's effectiveness, improve the program, and maximize returns on investment in AmtrakRecommendationsFRA concurred with our four recommendations to help improve its oversight of Amtrak's use of Federal funding. We consider these recommendations resolved but open pending completion of planned actions.