Federal Reports

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program (CHIP) report provides a focused evaluation of Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 10 and 20 facilities’ COVID-19 pandemic readiness and response. This evaluation focused on emergency preparedness; supplies, equipment, and infrastructure; staffing; access to care; community living center patient care and operations; and facility staff feedback.The OIG has aggregated findings on COVID-19 preparedness and responsiveness from routine inspections to ensure prompt dissemination of information given the quickly changing landscape as infection rates and demands on facilities continually shift. Findings of inspected medical facilities are grouped by VISN, which are regional offices that provide oversight of medical centers in their area.This report, the first in a series, describes findings on COVID-19 practices from healthcare inspections performed within VISNs 10 and 20 from July 1 through September 30, 2020. It also provides a more recent snapshot of the pandemic’s demands on these facilities’ operations based on data compiled as of December 31, 2020. Interviews and survey results provide additional context on lessons learned and perceptions of both preparedness and response. This report also provides data that illustrates the tremendous COVID-19-related demands on VA healthcare services. It describes leader and staff experiences, assessments, shared sentiments, and best practices to help improve operations and clinical care during public health crises.At the time of the inspections, the Veterans Health Administration and the VISNs had not yet experienced the full force of the pandemic peaks in November and December 2020 but had valuable information to share about their experiences to date.

The Holiday City Station is in the Tennessee District of the Southern Area. This audit was designed to provide U.S. Postal Service management with timely information on potential scanning and mail delivery risks at the Holiday City Station. The delivery unit had 19 city routes and two rural routes delivered by 23 full-time city carriers, two full-time rural carriers, and one rural carrier associate. The unit also had four clerks including three full-time and one postal support employee (PSE). We chose the Holiday City Station based on the number of customer inquiries recorded for the delivery unit. Specifically, there were 662 inquiries recorded in the Customer 360 (C360) system from September to November 2020.

We investigated an allegation that a senior USGS manager retaliated against a subordinate employee because the employee had participated in another investigation against him.We determined that the employee’s role in the other investigation against the senior manager constituted protected activity, but the evidence did not show that the senior manager knew of the employee’s involvement in that investigation. Accordingly, the evidence did not support a finding that the senior manager retaliated against the employee in violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act.

The OIG investigated allegations that a salable mineral known as caliche was improperly removed from the construction site of a school built on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land that was conveyed to the school district through a recreation and public purposes lease. The U.S. Government retains the mineral rights in this type of lease and must be compensated if salable minerals are removed.We found that the BLM was aware of the alleged theft for more than 4 years but failed to resolve the complainant’s allegations. Furthermore, we believe the BLM may have violated the National Environmental Policy Act because we found no evidence the BLM completed a required mineral potential report as part of an environmental assessment. This step should have identified caliche as a salable mineral and alerted the BLM to the need to review its proposed disposition before the lease was signed.Our investigation also confirmed that a subcontractor retained by the school removed caliche from the construction site. The BLM, however, did not receive payment, and the Government incurred an estimated loss of $195,976. As a result of our investigation, and more than 4 years after the original complaint was made, the BLM issued a trespass notice to the subcontractor to resolve the unauthorized removal of caliche.Finally, we determined the BLM may have violated Federal regulations when it conveyed 41.24 acres of Federal land to the school district, even though the school intended to use only about 10 acres and had no plans to expand.We presented our investigative findings to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, which declined to prosecute the matter.

SBA OIG reviewed PPP regulations and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, in addition to guidance published in SBA’s PPP Interim Final Rules and PPP Frequently Asked Questions.We determined SBA did not always have sufficient controls in place to detect and prevent duplicate PPP loans. As a result, lenders made more than one PPP loan disbursement to 4,260 borrowers with the same tax identification number and borrowers with the same business name and address. These disbursements totaled about $692 million for PPP loans approved from April 3 through August 9, 2020.We recommended in part that SBA:1. Review identified potential duplicate disbursements for eligibility and take action to recover any improper payments2. Review controls related to all PPP loan reviews to ensure that duplicate loans are not forgiven and not subject to an SBA guaranty, as appropriate3. Strengthen E-Tran controls for future PPP-type programs to ensure the controls align with program requirements and are active at all times4. Strengthen controls and guidance for lenders to ensure lenders meet program requirements for future PPP type programs