Federal Reports

The Office of Inspector General examined the SETI Institute’s use of NASA funds to support the Agency’s science goals.

This report presents the results of our audit to assess mail delivery on selected routes at the Barrington Station, Los Angeles, CA. The Barrington Station is in Los Angeles, CA in the Los Angeles District of the Pacific Area. We conducted the audit to provide U.S. Postal Service management with timely information on potential operational risks at the Barrington Station.

What We Looked AtRising demands on the transportation system and constraints on public resources have led to greater private sector involvement in constructing highway infrastructure through public-private partnerships (P3s). The use of P3s marks a shift away from traditional ways of procuring and financing highway projects solely with Government funding. However, P3s must conform to the same Federal requirements as other Federal-aid projects. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is responsible for stewardship and oversight of Federal-aid highway, bridge, and tunnel projects where P3s are being considered or implemented. We initiated this audit to determine whether FHWA is providing adequate oversight of P3 highway projects. Our specific objectives were to assess FHWA's (1) approval process for P3 highway and bridge projects that include Federal investments and (2) monitoring of P3s once approved.What We FoundFHWA has not followed its procedures for ensuring compliance with a P3-related requirement. Specifically, FHWA has not followed its procedures to ensure project financial plans assess the appropriateness of a P3 for project delivery, as required by law. In addition, FHWA is not following its current guidance for approving P3 projects, which notes that P3 projects warrant additional stewardship considerations to address unique risks. Once P3 projects have been approved, FHWA enhances monitoring of P3 projects during construction when the project has been designated as a Major Project. However, FHWA has not established processes for providing additional monitoring of P3s that are not Major Projects, even though they may also pose risks. In addition, although FHWA's guidance states that P3s that remain funded by Federal loans warrant additional oversight during the Operations and Maintenance phase, we found that the Agency is not fully carrying out this guidance and has not clearly defined roles and responsibilities for this oversight.Our RecommendationsFHWA concurred with all five of our recommendations to improve its processes for approving P3 projects and monitoring projects once approved. We consider all five recommendations resolved but open pending completion of planned actions.

The Missouri Department of Social Services (State agency) claimed Federal Medicaid reimbursement of at least $6 million (almost $3.8 million Federal share) for unallowable targeted case management (TCM) payments during Federal fiscal years 2014 and 2015. The State agency paid TCM providers and claimed unallowable Federal Medicaid reimbursement because its policies and procedures did not ensure that those providers complied with Federal and State requirements for documenting case managers' qualifications and for documenting and claiming TCM services. In addition, the State agency did not have policies and procedures to ensure that it correctly reported, in its claims for Federal Medicaid reimbursement, TCM paid claims it had recouped from a TCM provider.

We reviewed the oversight of opioid prescribing and the monitoring of opioid use in West Virginia. This factsheet shows West Virginia's responses to our questionnaire covering five categories related to its approach to addressing the opioid epidemic: policies and procedures, data analytics, programs, outreach, and other efforts. The information in this factsheet, along with information from seven additional States, will be summarized in a report to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The OIG investigated complaints that Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) Superintendent Christine Lehnertz, proposed a disciplinary action against a GRCA senior official for an improper purpose; created a hostile work environment; and engaged in bullying and retaliatory behavior against senior leaders, particularly male leaders, at the GRCA. The complainant also alleged that Lehnertz authorized unnecessary renovations to a park housing unit resulting in a waste of almost $180,000.We found that Lehnertz’ proposal of disciplinary action for the senior official was supported by the evidence. The senior official failed to complete several required tasks relating to a high-priority park initiative and, despite Lehnertz’ multiple requests to the official over several days to provide specific performance management information to her, the official elected not to do so and misrepresented the status of the information to Lehnertz. We found no evidence that Lehnertz created a hostile work environment at the GRCA or that she authorized unnecessary renovations to a park residence.We provided this report to the National Park Service Deputy Director Exercising the Authority of Director.