Federal Reports

We analyzed U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) transaction data for the first 6 months of fiscal year 2017 to determine whether (1) the DOI or its bureaus made transactions that were illegal, improper, or erroneous and (2) the existing internal controls detected and prevented illegal, improper, or erroneous transactions. We conducted this audit as part of a Governmentwide initiative by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to examine risks associated with U.S. Government purchase card transactions.During the timeframe audited, 20,293 DOI employees had a purchase card, and they made 488,504 transactions that totaled approximately $166 million. We reviewed a sample of 100 high-risk transactions (for example, those with third-party vendors, sales tax, or split purchases), totaling $41,557 and identified the following weaknesses in internal controls:• Required documentation and reviews/approvals were missing.• Separation of duties was not ensured.• There is no DOI policy for purchases made through third-party vendors.• Cardholder accounts had missing or incorrect purchase limits.• State and local tax exemptions were not enforced.While our assessment involved a small sample of the total universe of DOI purchase card transactions, our findings highlight issues that may be applicable across the DOI’s purchase card policies and practices.We made five recommendations to help the DOI and its bureaus improve the oversight of its purchase card program. Based on the Office of Acquisition and Property Management’s response to our draft report, we consider four recommendations unresolved and one recommendation resolved but not implemented.

The Office of Inspector General reviewed the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) management of its fleet of roughly 34,000 vehicles to determine whether DOI is maintaining accurate data to optimize it—by ensuring that vehicles’ size and composition meet the agency’s mission—and managing its fleet in accordance with established guidance.We found inaccurate data Departmentwide and an absence of specific guidance from the DOI Office of Acquisition and Property Management (PAM) to bureaus, which are two issues that undermine the DOI’s ability to accomplish its fleet management goals. We also found that neither PAM nor Office of Financial Management officials could provide records of home-to-work income information being collected and reported to the Internal Revenue Service. This report provides the findings of our review and offers four recommendations to monitor and improve the management of the DOI’s fleet.

We audited the costs claimed by the State of South Dakota’s Department of Game, Fish and Parks under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) through the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program. The audit included claims totaling approximately $52 million on 62 grants that were open during the State fiscal years that ended June 30, 2016, and June 30, 2017. The audit also covered the Department’s compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and FWS guidelines, including those related to the collection and use of hunting and fishing license revenues and the reporting of program income. We found that the Department generally complied with applicable grant accounting and regulatory requirements. The South Dakota single audit report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2016, however, reported a noncompliance finding for license revenue being used for purposes other than administering the State fish and wildlife agency. We therefore identified a potential diversion of license revenue from an inequitable allocation of the State’s radio communications costs to the Department. In addition, we found that the Department had insufficient oversight of subawards. We also observed that the Department had not completed the prior audit recommendation for its land inventory reconciliation. Both the Department and the FWS concurred with the three recommendations we made, and they will work together to implement corrective actions.

We audited the costs claimed by the District of Columbia, Department of Energy and Environment (Department), under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The FWS provided the grants to the District under the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program (Program). The audit included claims totaling approximately $5.3 million on eight grants that were open during the District’s fiscal years that ended September 30, 2016, and September 30, 2017. The audit also covered the Department’s compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and FWS guidelines, including those related to the collection and use of hunting and fishing license revenues and the reporting of program income.We found that the Department complied, in general, with applicable grant accounting and regulatory requirements, but that it overstated its annual license certifications and did not maintain adequate inventory controls. We also questioned costs totaling $51,045 including drawdowns on three grants that exceeded the Federal share of expenditures.The FWS concurred with four of our eight recommendations, and it will work with the Department to implement corrective actions.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements

To see our report, click on the link below

The Office of the Inspector General audited TVA’s documentation related to vendor selection in TVA’s project to replace the current human resource system with a cloud-based human capital management solution. We found TVA had not identified project risks related to ongoing changes in the federal government’s strategy for the use of cloud services. In addition, we were unable to verify whether sufficient security architecture reviews were completed to mitigate one of the identified project risks due to the lack of documentation. TVA management agreed with the audit findings and recommendations.