Federal Reports

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this self-initiated audit to assess the NCUA’s examination and oversight authority of credit union service organizations (CUSOs) and third party vendors. The objectives of our audit were to determine whether: 1) the NCUA complied with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and procedures for CUSO and other (non-CUSO) third-party vendor reviews; and 2) the NCUA’s vendor review process effectively helps to assess the adequacy of credit union management’s due diligence reviews, and identify and reduce the risks vendor relationships pose to credit unions. The scope of our audit covered the period of January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2019.

To view the report, please click on the link below

Tuesday, September 1, 2020We investigated allegations that a building management employee working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs misused their official position and engaged in unethical or illegal behavior.We found that the building management employee misused their Government charge card, participated in bid rigging, took a Government laptop for personal use, and failed to properly follow the DOI parking pass process policy, in violation of U.S. Department of the Interior policy and Federal regulations.The U.S. Department of Justice declined prosecution. The building management employee was removed from Federal service. We provided this final report to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) took measures to protect patients and employees from COVID-19 by canceling face-to-face appointments that were not urgent and converting some of them to virtual appointments. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) assessed VHA’s appointment management strategies and the status of canceled appointments. The review team found that about five million appointments (68 percent) canceled from March 15 through May 1, 2020, had evidence of follow up or other tracking. Patients completed appointments predominantly by telephone and some by video. Other appointments were tracked for future follow-up in VA’s scheduling system. However, about 2.3 million cancellations (32 percent) had no indication of follow up or tracking at the time of review. The review team also examined whether medical facilities followed VHA’s guidance on annotating the appointment cancellations. Doing so consistently would have allowed facilities to better determine which appointments needed to be rescheduled. However, VHA’s guidance changed over time, and facilities applied it inconsistently. Facilities also did not consistently follow guidance on leaving consults open so that medical providers could reschedule them. In addition, the team noted that canceling appointments in batches could mask the instances where patients were not contacted about the cancellations. The OIG’s ongoing surveillance of VHA data shows that overall, from March 15 through June 15, 2020, VHA has canceled nearly 11.2 million appointments and needs to follow up on about 3.3 million of those cancellations. The OIG recommended that VHA coordinate a well defined rescheduling strategy with all facilities and provide oversight to facilities that have a significant rate of appointments with no evidence of follow up or tracking. The OIG also recommended VHA ensure facilities do not solely rely on appointment annotations when rescheduling. Finally, the OIG recommended that facilities take appropriate action on canceled or discontinued consults.

In accordance with our Annual Performance Plan Fiscal Year 2020, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a performance audit of the United States Capitol Police's (USCP or the Department) Transit Incentive Program (TIP). OIG objectives were to determine whether the Department (1) established adequate internal controls and processes for ensuring compliance with Department policies, and (2) complied with applicable policies and procedures, as well as applicable laws, regulations, and best practices. Our scope included controls, processes, and operations during FY 2019.

We audited Vineville Christian Towers’ (project) Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion in accordance with our annual audit plan. Our audit objective was to determine whether the project’s RAD conversion to the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher Program was completed in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements; specifically, whether the Macon-Bibb County Housing Authority properly executed the housing assistance payments contract for the project’s RAD conversion. The Authority improperly executed a Section 8 Project-Based Voucher Program housing assistance payments (HAP) contract for 90 units. Specifically, the Authority did not ensure that (1) the tenant protection assistance was in place for all 90 tenants, and (2) only the units occupied at the time of contract execution were included on the contract. In addition, the Authority did not obtain information from HUD for properly issuing tenant protection assistance. This condition occurred because the Authority (1) lacked an understanding of retroactive RAD conversion type and was not familiar with the requirements for tenant protection assistance and (2) did not establish written procedures related to the RAD conversion and tenant protection assistance. As a result, the Authority improperly received more than $138,000 in administrative fees. Unless the Authority cancels the contract, we estimate that it will improperly provide nearly $257,000 over the next year for units improperly converted under RAD.We recommend that the Acting Director of HUD’s Atlanta, GA, Office of Public and Indian Housing require the Authority to (1) cancel the contract resulting from the RAD conversion, thereby putting nearly $257,000 to better use; (2) reimburse its Section 8 program more than $138,000 in associated administrative fees from non-Federal funds; (3) develop and implement procedures; and (4) provide training to its staff to help ensure compliance with program requirements.