Federal Reports

The objective of our audit was to determine whether the Department of Education (Department) is providing adequate oversight of grantee performance and funds awarded under the Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) program and is ensuring that State educational agencies (SEA) are meeting reporting requirements as established by the Every Student Succeeds Act. We found that the Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS) has provided inadequate oversight of grantee performance and funds awarded under the SSAE program. While OSSS has provided some general oversight of the SSAE program, formal monitoring activities have been limited. We also found that OSSS’ risk assessment process could benefit from consideration of additional risk factors in calculating risk scores.

The Postal Service offers up to $5,000 of insurance coverage as protection against the loss of or damage to a customer’s package. When an insured item is lost or damaged, the customer may request compensation by filing an indemnity claim online, by mail, or at a postal retail unit. If an indemnity claim is domestic and valued at [redacted] or less, it is automatically adjudicated; otherwise, it is manually adjudicated. All international indemnity claims are manually adjudicated.Our objective was to determine whether the Postal Service properly processed and paid manually adjudicated indemnity claims.

Audit report of the NLRB's submission of procurement data and compliance with the DATA Act.

An Amtrak senior manager based in Beech Grove, Indiana, was terminated from employment on August 30, 2021. Our investigation found that the former employee violated company policy by failing to formally document, investigate, and report a workplace violence incident involving an employee and by encouraging another employee to change his statement regarding the incident. Another manager at the Beech Grove facility received a letter of written warning for failure to ensure the incident was properly investigated.

Postal Service management is responsible and accountable for the prevention of accidents and responsible for controlling losses, such as ensuring quality of performance and operating within cost and budget guidelines. Management’s role is to share responsibility for the safety and health of employees.The Employee Health and Safety (EHS) application is used to enter and manage accident, injury, and claim information related to vehicle and industrial incidents. The application included information for 455,099 accidents from fiscal years (FY) 2016 to 2020, of which 144,607 (32 percent) were motor vehicle accidents and 310,492 (68 percent) were industrial accidents.Our objective was to review and assess the effectiveness of management’s controls over reporting accidents.

Our objective for this report was to identify the internal control weaknesses that allowed a potential identity theft crime to occur in Chicago and to assess the company’s processes for overseeing and safeguarding items at selected stations.We found that the company has taken steps to strengthen its Lost and Found program to include addressing issues that contributed to an employee theft of 13 state and government customer identification cards and 21 social security cards from the Chicago Union Station Lost and Found program in October 2020. Additionally, we found the company is securing sensitive and high-value items at the stations we reviewed, and, in 2018, automated inventory controls through its use of the third-party software system, Chargerback. We identified opportunities that could further improve the company’s Lost and Found program to include 1) improving program monitoring by station managers, 2) ensuring staff are well trained, 3) resuming monthly lost and found reporting to station management, and 4) provide guidance on how employees should safeguard items found at maintenance yards and on trains and how quickly the items should be transferred to the Lost and Found area. The company agreed with these observations and plans to take corrective actions.