Federal Reports

On May 4, 2020, the OIG was informed that First-Class Mail, including but not limited to political mail and mail-in ballots, was misdelivered and left near cluster boxes at numerous apartment buildings in Paterson, NJ, on May 1, 2020. The investigation revealed through video surveillance, interviews and USPS database searches that on May 1, 2020, mail was improperly delivered to numerous apartment buildings. On May 19, 2020, a Notice of Removal (NOR) was issued. pursuant to the OIG investigation with the charge of Incomplete Disposition of Mail. No further investigative findings anticipated. This case is closed.

The theme of our Semiannual Report is “Invested in Success.” In the Semiannual Report, we address the pandemic effects; our completed work, including the Office of Inspector General (OIG) work with the Department of Defense (DOD) 898 Panel; the Top Management Challenges; our audit activities; educational visits to non-profit agencies (NPA); and reports issued. Our completed work relates to the future of the program and the focus on convergence of innovation and sustainability for the largest employment program in the country for blind and severely disabled workers. This Semiannual Report builds on our last one, “Steps to Start Up,” in which we described the compendium of tasks we completed to stand up the OIG. We report on the robust body of oversight work performed by the OIG, the most to date. We discuss the two performance audits of the program conducted by OIG: (1) an audit of the AbilityOne Program Fee; and (2) an audit of the Cooperative Agreements between Central Non-Profits and the Commission. We report on our goal of educational visits to the NPAs during the reporting period. In particular we highlight the visit to Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. in Seattle, where we learned about its deaf-blind program. OIG worked with DOJ OIG, Postal OIG and Oversight.gov to build a new website for OIGs hosted at Oversight.gov. Our OIG helped to pioneer this site as a representative of small OIGs, while DOJ served as the representative of larger OIGs. The new webpage capabilities will be available on line for the community this fall. In achieving the results reported this period, OIG is leveraging its momentum that includes important factors such as success with OIG outreach; the OIG webpage and populating its content; revolutionizing our presence across the government; our partnership with the oversight.gov initiative - an innovative, government-wide project across the IG community; the innovations and use of our knowledge-based center; and streamlining the OIG hotline center and portal for receiving complaints.

This report summarizes the oversight work performed by EAC OIG during the 6-month period ended March 31, 2020.

We rendered an unmodified opinion on the EPA’s FY 2018 FIFRA Fund financial statements and a qualified opinion on the EPA’s FY 2017 FIFRA Fund financial statements.

This memorandum report summarizes survey and interview results on the impact mandatory telework is having on U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) operations. The HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted surveys and interviews to evaluate HUD’s use of agency-wide telework in response to the novel coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study was designed to provide insights into the types of obstacles that impeded HUD operations and how HUD responded to identified limitations. HUD demonstrated a capacity to sustain mission essential operations during a period of mandatory telework, but some processes were severely impacted.

The Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019, P.L. No. 115-245, directed OIG to examine the efforts of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to ensure the integrity of its grant application evaluation and recipient selection processes. This audit is part of OIG's response to this directive. Our objective was to determine whether the National Cancer Institute (NCI) had adequate policies and procedures in its pre-award process for assessing risk when awarding grant funds.

New Jersey pays managed care organizations (MCOs) to make managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) available to Medicaid beneficiaries in home and community-based settings. Recent OIG audits of Medicaid home and community-based and managed long-term-care services identified significant vulnerabilities. Therefore, we decided to audit payments in New Jersey for the provision of similar Medicaid services.