Federal Reports

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimburses contractors for a portion of their postretirement benefit (PRB) costs, which are funded by the contributions that contractors make to their dedicated trust fund.At CMS's request, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Audit Services, Region VII pension audit team reviews the cost elements related to qualified defined-benefit, PRB, and any other pension-related cost elements claimed by Medicare contractors through Incurred Cost Proposals (ICPs).Previous OIG reviews found that Medicare contractors did not always correctly identify and claim PRB costs.Our objective was to determine whether the calendar years (CYs) 2009 through 2013 PRB costs that Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC (NHS), claimed for Medicare reimbursement, and reported on its ICPs, were allowable and correctly claimed.

EAC OIG audited EAC's compliance with the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 covering the first fiscal quarter of 2019.

Medicare contractors are required to separately account for the Medicare segment pension plan assets based on the requirements of their Medicare contracts and Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) 412 and 413.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Office of Audit Services, Region VII pension audit team reviews the Medicare segment pension assets to ensure compliance with Federal regulations.

We contracted with Williams, Adley & Company-DC, LLC, an independent certified public accounting firm (CPA firm), to audit the National Endowment for the Arts’ (Arts Endowment’s) compliance with the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2019. The objectives of the audit were to assess (1) the completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and quality of the first quarter Fiscal Year 2019 financial and award data submitted by the Arts Endowment for publication on USASpending.gov and (2) the Arts Endowment’s implementation and use of the Government-wide financial data standards established by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of the Treasury. The audit was conducted in accordance with applicable Government Auditing Standards, 2011 Revision, issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. The audit concluded that the information submitted for inclusion in USASpending.gov for FY 2019, Quarter 1, was accurate, timely, complete, and in accordance with data standards. However, we did note an issue related to accurate implementation and use of the data standards in File D2.

OIG audited the financial statements of FCIC/RMA for fiscal years 2019 and 2018.

OIG audited the consolidated financial statements of Rural Development for fiscal years 2019 and 2018.

The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) requires Federal agencies to submit quarterly financial and award data for publication on USASpending.gov. The Office of Management and Budget and Department of Treasury established standards for Federal agencies to use 57 data elements in reporting its financial and award information. The DATA Act also requires the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of each Federal agency to audit a statistically valid sample of the data elements that support the data submitted by its Federal agency. Lastly, the OIG is required to submit a publicly available report to Congress assessing the completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and quality of the data elements sampled; and the implementation and use of the Government‐wide financial data standards by the Federal agency. The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) was not in compliance with the DATA Act requirements. Its submission of the CNCS’s Fiscal Year 2019 quarter 1 financial and award data to USASpending.gov was not complete as it relates to financial and grant award data elements supporting the submission. CNCS’s financial data records contained errors in certain data elements, as some were incomplete, inaccurate or did not meet required reporting schedules. We also continued to observe internal control issues and errors that CNCS needs to address to improve the quality of its data and comply with DATA Act requirements. CNCS management concurred with our recommendations to improve those internal control deficiencies.