Federal Reports

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review in response to a hotline allegation related to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, VA regional office. The complaint alleged that veterans’ sensitive personal information was stored on shared network drives on the VA enterprise network and was likely accessible to unauthorized users. Sensitive personal information is protected by law and VA policy. US laws require appropriate safeguards to protect personal information and limit the uses and disclosures of that information without authorization. VA policy requires information system users who access sensitive personal information as part of their official duties to avoid its unauthorized disclosure. Policy also prohibits other users from accessing personal information without a business need. The OIG team found that veterans’ sensitive personal information was left unprotected on two shared network drives, putting them at risk of fraud or identity theft. Office of Information and Technology senior representatives told the team that authenticated network users with access to the shared drives could have accessed that information regardless of their business need. This occurred through a combination of negligence and lack of oversight. Although VA’s Data Breach Response Service determined that storing sensitive personal information on the shared network drives did not meet the criteria for a data breach and did not require notifications, it is important that VA improves its controls and oversight to mitigate future risk. The OIG recommended VA officials provide remedial training to users on the safe handling and storage of veterans’ sensitive personal information on network drives. The OIG also recommended officials establish technical controls and oversight procedures (including facility-specific measures) to ensure users cannot store veterans’ sensitive personal information on shared network drives.

The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program, administered by the Administration for Children and Families, subsidizes childcare expenditures of low-income families and families receiving temporary public assistance.

The Postal Service collected $70.6 billion in revenue in fiscal year (FY) 2018 — $56.5 billion from commercial customers and $12.6 billion from its retail operations. Over the past five years revenue has been relatively stable with an overall increase of about 4 percent from FY 2014 to FY 2018. However, the Postal Service continues to operate at a loss each year, with operational costs of $74.5 billion in FY 2018, resulting in a net loss of $3.9 billion. The objective of our audit was to identify and evaluate key performance indicators the U.S. Postal Service uses to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of its sales and marketing strategies.

Priority Mail Express, formerly known as Express Mail, is the fastest mail service the Postal Service offers. It provides guaranteed 1-day or 2-day expedited shipping service for any mailable matter and provides customers with refunds when not delivered by the guaranteed service arrival time. The Postal Service has the authority to adjust the guaranteed 1-day or 2-day delivery commitment for Priority Mail Express in the point-of-sale system upon the request of district personnel. The Caribbean District, which includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, accounted for 22 percent of Priority Mail Express refunds issued in the Northeast Area. Between March 2018 and February 2019, about 168,000 Priority Mail Express pieces originated in the Caribbean District. During this period, the district issued the highest amount of Priority Mail Express refunds of all Postal Service districts nationwide.