Federal Reports

In collaboration with the American Samoa Territorial Audit Office, we audited the American Samoa Government (ASG) executive branch to determine whether it had effective internal controls to detect and prevent unauthorized use of government-owned and -leased vehicles. We determined that the executive branch did not have effective internal controls over its vehicles because the executive branch’s vehicle records were inaccurate and incomplete; the executive branch did not have a comprehensive, governmentwide policy to regulate and monitor the use of government-owned and -leased vehicles; and departments did not adhere to available guidance.We found the Office of Property Management’s vehicle records to be inaccurate and incomplete. Property management’s records for government-owned vehicles contained discrepancies and could not account for 143 out of 519 sampled government vehicles in the inventory records. Further, Property Management did not keep inventory records for government-leased vehicles.In addition, instead of developing comprehensive, governmentwide policy for vehicle control, the Governor’s Office issued GM No. 0003-13 as guidance. The memorandum directed the departments to develop their own individual policies for vehicle use, but did not did not establish timeframes, monitor progress, or impose remedial action for noncompliance.Finally, we found that the majority of departments sampled did not adhere to the general memorandum. These departments did not establish internal control policies to detect and prevent unauthorized use of vehicles, use vehicle-activity logs, follow guidance on the issuance of after-hours use permits, or monitor after-hours use of government vehicles. Only 1 of the 17 departments in our sample developed vehicle-use policies and actively used vehicle-activity logs; 2 departments either had vehicle-use policies or used vehicle-activity logs.Until the Governor’s Office addresses these issues, vehicles are at risk for being misused, misappropriated, lost, or stolen. We made 13 recommendations to address the weaknesses in the ASG’s policies and procedures to help it better account for and control inappropriate and unauthorized use of government-owned and -leased vehicles. Based on the ASG’s response and corrective action plan, we consider the recommendations resolved but not implemented and referred them to the Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Areas to track implementation.

We evaluated the policies and practices of the Office of Indian Services and the Office of Self Governance, two organizations within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs (AS-IA) that manage aspects of distributing appropriated funds to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. Our evaluation focused on whether funds from the Tiwahe Initiative, a pilot program that increases funding to all eligible tribes with the goal of funding social service and child welfare programs, was distributed accurately.The Office of Indian Services, the Office of Self Governance, and AS-IA each played a role in the process of distributing Tiwahe funds. The Office of Indian Services was tasked with selection of a funding criteria, methodology, and financial distribution to the Office of Self Governance, which is the recordkeeping entity and liaison for self-governance tribes (tribes that operate without direct Indian Affairs involvement). AS-IA oversaw the distribution and acted as a final arbiter in funding decisions.We found that many eligible tribes may not be receiving the funding they should be, and that this was due to:• The Office of Self Governance’s outdated tribal budget records, which were used in calculating the amounts of Tiwahe funding tribes would receive• The Office of Indian Services’ inconsistent application of the formula used to calculate the funding• Both offices’ failure to communicate with each other• The absence of policy at either office to manage major distributions like TiwaheWe estimate that tribes have been underfunded by at least $458,400 to date due to the use of outdated records. Because Tiwahe is a pilot program, its funding increases are supposed to be permanently added to the tribes’ budgets. Therefore, the effects of underfunding tribes may be felt long after Tiwahe ends. In addition, these inaccurate records could affect many future funding efforts, impacting the Department’s trust responsibility with the tribes.In our report, we make seven recommendations to AS-IA that will help correct issues with the Tiwahe distribution, manage the two offices, and improve the accuracy and efficiency of any future distributions affecting all eligible tribes. After reviewing a draft version of our report, AS-IA concurred with four of our recommendations, did not concur with two recommendations, and partially concurred with one.

We audited four agreements for law enforcement, tribal court, and the general assistance services, between the Blackfeet Tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to determine whether: (1) the BIA oversaw the agreements in accordance with applicable Federal laws and regulations and BIA guidelines; (2) the costs were reasonable, supported, allowable, and allocable under Federal laws, regulations, and provisions of the contract; and (3) the Blackfeet Tribe complied with contract terms, Federal laws, and BIA guidance.We found that the BIA oversaw the law enforcement, tribal court and general assistance agreements with the Blackfeet Tribe. During our audit, we tested $2,271,160 in interim costs claimed by the Blackfeet Tribe from October 1, 2014, through June 30, 2017, and determined the costs claimed were reasonable, supported, allowable and allocable.We identified payroll errors and instances where tribal employees earned overtime during pay periods where paid leave was taken. These deficiencies occurred because the Tribe does not have an automated payroll system and has not developed a comprehensive overtime policy. As a result, we identified $50,366 in funds that can be put to a better use. In addition, we found that the Blackfeet Tribe complied with the agreements for the general assistance agreement but could improve compliance with its law enforcement and tribal court agreements.We make four recommendations to help the BIA oversee the Blackfeet Tribe’s compliance with its law enforcement and tribal court agreements. In response to our draft report, the BIA concurred with three of our recommendations and did not concur with one recommendation. Based on this response, we consider three recommendations resolved but not implemented and one recommendation unresolved.

We audited the interim costs incurred by the Crow Tribe under two contracts (Contract Nos. R11AV60120 and R12AV60002) with the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to fund various improvements to tribal water systems. For this audit, we reviewed $13,835,511 of the $20,999,510 in costs the Tribe claimed between October 1, 2014, and March 31, 2017.We found that the Tribe did not track and report its use of Federal funds in accordance with contract terms, applicable Federal laws and regulations, and USBR guidelines. We also found that the USBR did not oversee the contracts in accordance with applicable Federal laws and regulations and USBR guidelines. These issues caused us to question $12,808,434 in costs claimed under the contracts.We made 12 recommendations to help the USBR resolve the questioned costs and improve its oversight of the Tribe’s contracts. In its response to our draft report, the USBR concurred or partially concurred with all of our recommendations.