Federal Reports

Colorado’s Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (Colorado) did not effectively oversee its subrecipient, Frasier Meadows, to ensure it was aware of and followed Federal procurement regulations and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines. In addition, FEMA should have ensured Colorado delivered assistance to Frasier Meadows consistent with the FEMA-State Agreement and the State Administrative Plan. We recommended the Regional Administrator, FEMA Region VIII, disallow $5.57 million for contracts and direct Colorado to work with Frasier Meadows officials to ensure they implement their updated Federal procurement policies and procedures in the event of a future disaster. FEMA officials agreed with both recommendations. Prior to final issuance of this report, FEMA took action to resolve and close both recommendations. No further action is required.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed whether Regional Procurement Office (RPO) East followed the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) procurement manual when closing out contracts. Contract closeouts provide the last opportunity to ensure taxpayers’ and veterans’ interests are protected. If proper procedures are not followed, financial and legal risks increase, and excess funds may not be made available for other—perhaps better—uses. The review team examined a random sample of 40 closed contracts worth $500,000 or more from fiscal year 2018 to determine whether closeout procedures were followed. The team also reviewed an open obligations report to identify contracts with remaining excess funds. The OIG found contracting officers did not consistently close out contracts on time and did not fully document contract closeout requirements. The review team identified about $6.8 million in unreleased excess funds that could have been put to better use. Contracting officers said a heavy workload affected their ability to comply with closeout requirements. The OIG determined that contracting officers did not give contract closeouts as much attention as awarding contracts. Incorrect internal training for contracting officers and unclear standard operating procedures also contributed to noncompliance with closeout requirements. The OIG’s review of closed contracts revealed ineffective oversight of closeout processes as well. The OIG recommended VHA Procurement’s executive director establish effective and consistent quality assurance reviews for contracts to ensure closeout meets FAR and VHA procurement manual requirements, and that all contracting officers are retrained on procedures. The OIG also recommended the executive director ensure closeout is fully documented for the 40 OIG-sampled contracts.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a healthcare inspection to assess allegations concerning delays in interpreting electrocardiograms (ECGs) and event monitor tracings, failure to schedule cardiac procedures for over one year, failure to scan pacemaker data into the electronic health record (EHR), high cardiologist turnover, and the lack of proper supervision in the Device Clinic at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center (facility). The OIG reviewed an additional allegation that Surgery Service maintained an unauthorized wait list for an electrophysiology procedure. The OIG did not substantiate that ECG or cardiac event tracings reports were not interpreted timely, patients requiring cardiac surgery procedures were not scheduled for over a year, or improper supervision of the Device Clinic. Pacemaker tracings were not scanned into the EHR; however, the facility’s practice of entering tracing information as EHR notes was acceptable according to the VA Director of the National Cardiology Program. After the OIG’s site visit, the Cardiology Department initiated a process to scan pacemaker tracings into the EHR despite the lack of a requirement. The OIG substantiated that cardiologist turnover has been high at the facility but did not find evidence of adverse clinical outcomes resulting from staff turnover. The OIG substantiated that Cardiology and Surgery Services staff did not utilize the required consult process and maintained an unauthorized wait list for the electrophysiology procedure. The OIG found electrophysiology providers were not using the Veterans Health Administration consult process for electrophysiology procedures prior to February 2019. The OIG did not find evidence of adverse clinical outcomes related to the use of wait lists or failure to use the consult process. The OIG made four recommendations related to cardiologist turnover, staff understanding of authorized and unauthorized patient wait lists, and the training of staff on consult process and wait list policies.

We conducted a limited scope audit of The Writer’s Center (Center) for the period of February 1, 2016 through January 31, 2019. Limited scope audits involve a limited review of financial and non-financial information of the National Endowment for the Arts (Arts Endowment) award recipients to ensure validity and accuracy of reported information, and compliance with Federal requirements. Based on our limited scope audit, we concluded that the Center generally complied with financial management system and recordkeeping requirements established by Office of Management and Budget and the Arts Endowment. We identified areas requiring improvement. A summary of our findings is as follows. The Center: did not meet Federal requirements for allocating employee compensation costs to Arts Endowment awards; included unallowable costs on its Federal Financial Report (FFR) for Award No. DCA 2016-02; included unallowable travel costs on its FFRs for Award Nos. DCA 2016-02 and DCA 2017-15; included excess travel costs on its FFRs for Award Nos. DCA 2015-03 and DCA 2017-15; did not verify debarment and suspension eligibility of potential recipients of Federal funds; did not maintain a Section 504 Self-Evaluation on file during the audit period; and did not fully comply with financial management award requirements.

In a previous report - the Audit of USCP Off-Site Deployments, Report Number OIG-2009-06, dated August 2009 - the Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the United States Capitol Police (USCP or the Department) needed to establish policies and procedures defining what constituted an off-site deployment, document its internal decision-making process for off-site deployments, and establish a process to collect and evaluate off-site deployment costs and benefits.  OIG conducted a follow-up analysis of the Department's implementation of recommendations contained in Report Number OIG-2009-06. Our objective was to confirm the Department took the corrective actions in implementing the recommendations. Our scope included existing controls related to implementation of recommendations as outlined in our previous report.

For fiscal year 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG) received $5 million in congressional appropriations to conduct oversight of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant programs and operations. Among the issues of interest to Congress were matters pertaining to cybersecurity protections and NIH compliance with Federal requirements.