Federal Reports

Denali Commission Office of the Inspector General Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-2025.

This report transmits the results of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year (FY) 2020 annual review of the FEC’s compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA).

Under 40 U.S.C. § 1315, DHS had the legal authority to designate and deploy DHS law enforcement officers from CBP, ICE and United States Secret Service to help the Federal Protective Service protect Federal facilities in Portland, Oregon. However, DHS was unprepared to effectively execute cross-component activities to protect Federal facilities when component law enforcement officers first deployed on June 4, 2020. Specifically, not all officers completed required training; had the necessary equipment; or used consistent uniforms, devices, and operational tactics when responding to the events in Portland. This occurred because DHS did not have a comprehensive strategy that addressed the potential for limited state and local law enforcement assistance, and cross-designation policies, processes, equipment, and training requirements. We made two recommendations to improve DHS’ preparedness for protecting Federal property. DHS concurred with both recommendations.

During our unannounced inspection of Pulaski County Jail, we identified violations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention standards that threatened the health, safety, and rights of detainees. In addressing COVID-19, Pulaski did not consistently enforce precautions including use of facial coverings and social distancing, which may have contributed to repeated COVID-19 transmissions at the facility. Pulaski did not meet standards for classification, medical care, segregation, or detainee communication. We found that the facility was not providing a color-coded visual identification system based on the criminal history of detainees, causing inadvertent comingling of a detainee with significant criminal history with detainees who had no criminal history. The facility generally provided sufficient medical care, but did not provide emergency dental services and the medical unit did not have procedures in place for chronic care follow-up. We also found that the facility was not consistently providing required oversight for detainees in segregation by conducting routine wellness checks. Finally, we found deficiencies in staff communication practices with detainees. Specifically, ICE did not specify times for staff to visit detainees and could not provide documentation that it completed facility visits with detainees during the pandemic. We did find that Pulaski generally complied with the ICE detention standard for grievances. We made five recommendations to ICE’s Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) to ensure the Chicago ERO Field Office overseeing Pulaski addresses identified issues and ensures facility compliance with relevant detention standards. ICE concurred with all five recommendations.

For our audit of NIST’s Working Capital Fund for fiscal year ended September 30, 2019, our objective was to determine whether budgetary controls over the fund were adequate. Specifically, the audit focused on determining whether the fund was (1) recovering the full cost of reimbursable services; (2) appropriately accounting for advances and carryover balances; and (3) maintaining a reasonable fund balance, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.We contracted with Ollie Green & Company, CPAs, LLC, LLC (OG&C)—an independent firm—to perform this audit of NIST in accordance with Government Auditing Standards. Our office oversaw the progress of this audit; however, OG&C is solely responsible for the attached report and the conclusions expressed in it. We do not express any conclusions about the adequacy of the fund’s budgetary controls, including its recovery of the full cost of reimbursable services, accounting for advances and carryover balances, and reasonableness of the fund balance in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.