Federal Reports

We audited the City of Houston’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) 2015 program. Under this program, the Consolidated Appropriations Acts of 2016 and 2017 made funds available for necessary expenses related to disaster relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, and economic revitalization. We audited this program based upon the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General’s (HUD OIG) 2019 audit plan priority to review disaster assistance programs. Our objective was to determine whether the City ensured that it maintained adequate supporting documentation for disbursements and its program complied with procurement requirements.We found that the City generally ensured that it maintained adequate supporting documentation for disbursements; however, it did not always ensure that its program complied with procurement requirements. Specifically, the City did not always ensure that (1) it procured its master contractor agreements in accordance with competition and other procurement requirements for its home repair program; (2) it and its subrecipients maintained documentation to support that it performed independent cost estimates and cost analyses for its home repair and housing buyout programs; or (3) it and its subrecipients included all contract provisions in awarded contracts for its home repair, housing buyout, and infrastructure programs. This condition occurred because the City did not always understand procurement requirements and ensure that its subrecipients understood and followed requirements and had adequate controls and procedures. As a result, the City could not (1) show that it awarded 12 contracts worth more than $10 million in a manner that allowed for unrestricted competition and provided the most advantage to it and HUD, (2) support the cost reasonableness of more than $1.2 million in contract disbursements, and (3) provide reasonable assurance to HUD that it had adequate procurement control systems to ensure the proper administration and expenditure of disaster funds.We recommend that HUD require the City to (1) support that it awarded contracts without restriction and in a manner advantageous to it and HUD or put the more than $9.7 million in contract awards to better use, (2) support or repay more than $1.2 million in contract disbursements, and (3) develop and implement written procedures and take actions to better ensure that it and its subrecipients meet all program procurement requirements.

Quality Review of FLRA OIG Audit Operations For The Period April 1, 2020 Through March 31, 2021

An Amtrak sheet metal worker/mechanic based in Chicago, Illinois, was terminated from employment on June 18, 2021, following his administrative hearing. Our investigation found that the former employee violated company policy by failing to disclose a conviction to the company during his employment and by using sick leave while serving time in jail and while confined to his home on electronic monitoring.

An Amtrak Foreman was terminated from employment on June 18, 2021, for misusing a General Services Administration (GSA) fuel card in violation of Amtrak policy. The employee admitted to using the fuel card from July 2019 to June 2021 to make over $7,400 in fuel purchases for his personal vehicle and vehicles belonging to other family members. The investigation was conducted with the GSA OIG.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated whether VA’s community care staff accurately uploaded records for non-VA medical care to veterans’ electronic health records. Veterans receive non-VA care based on certain criteria, such as the distance from the veteran to the nearest VA facility or the wait time for a VA facility appointment. Records for non-VA care enable continuity of care by Veterans Health Administration (VHA) providers and inform treatment decisions.The audit team found that staff at six of the seven VA medical facilities reviewed did not always index, or categorize, these records accurately. Inaccurate indexing of medical records poses a risk to veteran care and increases the burden on the VHA staff who locate and correct the errors, reducing their time for other tasks. The team reviewed 209 veterans’ mental health medical records that VHA community care staff indexed between April 1, 2019, and September 30, 2019, and found 108 indexing errors for 92 veterans. (Some veterans’ records had more than one error.) Errors included using ambiguous or incorrect document titles, indexing records for non-VA care to the wrong referral or veteran, and entering duplicate records. These errors occurred, in part, due to inadequate procedures, training, quality checks, and quality assurance monitoring, and a lack of local facility-level policies.The OIG recommended the under secretary for health improve non VA medical records scanning and indexing by ensuring VHA facilities create and fully implement standard operating procedures. These procedures should clearly define responsibilities for Health Information Management and community care staff and the procedures for accurately scanning, importing, and indexing non-VA medical records. The OIG also recommended the under secretary ensure that Health Information Management leaders provide or formally delegate training, quality checks, and quality assurance monitoring for facility community care staff responsible for medical record management.

The Cochituate, Winchester, and John F. Kennedy Post Offices are in the Massachusetts-Rhode Island District. The Postal Service is required to maintain a safe and healthy environment for both employees and customers in accordance with its internal policies and procedures and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety laws. Our objective was to determine if Postal Service management is adhering to building maintenance, safety and security standards, and employee working condition requirements at post offices.