Federal Reports

What We Looked AtWe queried and downloaded 94 single audit reports prepared by non-Federal auditors and submitted to the Federal Audit Clearinghouse between January 1, 2020, and March 31, 2020, to identify significant findings related to programs directly funded by the Department of Transportation (DOT). What We FoundWe found that the reports contained a range of findings that affected DOT programs. The auditors reported significant noncompliance with Federal guidelines related to 17 grantees that require prompt action from DOT’s Operating Administrations (OA). The auditors also identified questioned costs totaling $2,227,535 for seven grantees. RecommendationsWe recommend that DOT coordinate with the impacted OAs to develop a corrective action plan to resolve and close the findings identified in this report. We also recommend that DOT determine the allowability of the questioned transactions and recover $2,227,535, if applicable.

Prior OIG audits identified significant overpayments to hospital outpatient providers for nonphysician services furnished shortly before or during inpatient stays. In those audits, we recommended that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recover overpayments, ensure that edits to prevent such overpayments were in place and working properly, and educate providers on the proper billing of nonphysician outpatient services. CMS generally concurred with our recommendations and implemented them. However, our analysis of recent claim data indicated that overpayments for nonphysician outpatient services might still be occurring. We performed this audit as a followup to our previous work.

Two senior-level employees in Washington, D.C., were counseled about misuse of company email as a result of an OIG investigation. The investigation found that the employees violated company policy by inappropriately using company e-mail to make political statements and to sending politically biased content to each other and to co-workers. The employees were counseled that personal political opinions should be kept separate and should not be associated with their Amtrak employment.

As part of our annual audit plan, we performed an audit of costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by National Emergency Assistance Inc., (NEA) under Contract <br> No. 11992. NEA provided assistance to state and local governments under the authority of the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Our audit included approximately <br> $27.5 million in costs paid by TVA from October 25, 2016, to September 24, 2019. Our audit objective was to determine if the costs were billed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract. In summary, we determined NEA overbilled TVA $417,327, including (1) $224,420 in labor costs not provided in the contract and (2) $197,907 for ineligible travel expenses. In addition, we noted the contract language needs clarification regarding how TVA intends to reimburse NEA for holiday pay.(Summary Only)

The OIG investigated allegations that Bronco Utah Operations, LLC (Bronco), a coal mining company based in Utah, improperly removed Federal coal without a lease.We determined that Bronco trespassed into unleased Federal coal deposits that resulted in a loss of public revenues. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) granted Bronco a right-of-way that allowed the company to tunnel through Federal land to continue the company’s coal operations designated by its mining plan. As the company tunneled through the right-of-way, it removed Federal coal deposits from areas outside the boundaries of the right-of-way, resulting in the removal of unleased deposits. As a result of the trespass, Bronco paid the Federal Government $92,099.44, a value based on an estimated bid for the coal removed and the mineral royalties owed if a Federal lease had been issued.