Federal Reports

OIG administers the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU or Unit) grant awards, annually recertifies the Units, and oversees the Units' performance in accordance with the requirements of the grant. As part of this oversight, OIG conducts periodic reviews of all Units and prepares public reports based on these reviews.

An Amtrak Food Specialist in Los Angeles, California, was terminated from employment following an administrative hearing June 22, 2018, for violating company policy by fraudulently designating four individuals who were not his legal dependents as beneficiaries on his company health insurance. During the time these individuals were improperly covered under the company’s health insurance plan, the company paid approximately $744,000 in health care claims on their behalf.

New York did not ensure that selected New York City providers (operating in Brooklyn, NY) that received funding from the Child Care and Development Fund complied with applicable State and local requirements related to the health and safety of children. We found potentially hazardous physical conditions at all 11 locations operated by the 3 providers that we reviewed. Moreover, we found that the providers did not comply with requirements to obtain background checks on employees. The instances of noncompliance occurred because New York had no written procedures regarding monitoring of legally exempt providers’ compliance with physical condition and background check requirements. In addition, New York’s requirement that providers access a child abuse and maltreatment system to perform one required background check was inconsistent with current State law.

During fiscal years 2016–2017, the OIG conducted a series of facility condition reviews at 149 retail facilities nationwide. This report summarizes the results of the OIG-issued reports for each of the Postal Service’s seven geographic areas that addressed adherence to safety and security standards, building maintenance and employee working condition requirements, and assesses the Postal Service’s implementation of report recommendations. The objectives of the audit were to identify trends or systemic issues identified from previous OIG facility condition reviews (FCRs) of Postal Service retail facilities and assess the effectiveness of management’s corrective actions.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) requested that we audit costs claimed on a contract dated November 7, 2016, associated with Government to Government Agreement No. A13AP00043 that the BIA issued to the Crow Tribe. We could not perform the audit because the contractor and the BIA could not provide the necessary documentation for its contract or claim. Thus, we could not determine whether the contractors’ claimed costs of $14,492,813 were allowable under Federal laws and regulations, allocable to the contract, incurred in accordance with the contract’s terms and conditions, and reasonable and supported by the contractor’s records. We question, therefore, the entire claim of $14,492,813.We determined that the Tribe did not comply with the agreement. Specifically, we found that the Tribe did not submit timely or accurate Federal Financial Reports (SF-425s) to the BIA, or they were not submitted at all; track the expenses allocated to the agreement within its accounting system; provide supporting documentation for claimed costs of $14,492,813; or submit a completed Single Audit for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2016.These deficiencies occurred because the Tribe did not adequately manage the terms within the Agreement due mainly to turnover within the finance department. Tribal officials told us that the reason they could not support expenses claimed on the Agreement was because the Tribe had to hire a new finance department to help manage its Federal agreements and the accounting records. The old contractor did not know how to manage Federal agreements and the accounting records associated with the agreements. The Tribe did not have adequate internal controls and a sufficient accounting system to track claimed costs. As a result, the Tribe was unable to support expenses claimed on the Agreement.We provided five recommendations to help the BIA address these deficiencies.

Our audit of costs claimed by the State of Ohio, Department of Natural Resources (Department) under grants awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) included claims totaling $59.8 million on 17 grants that were open during the State fiscal years that ended June 30, 2015, and June 30, 2016. 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 revenue and the reporting of program income.Although that the Department generally complied with applicable grant accounting and regulatory requirements, we questioned costs totaling $144,419 related to unsupported and out-of-period costs with subawards. In addition, we found that the Department 1) had not provided sufficient oversight of subawards, 2) was unable to support payroll charged to license revenue, 3) potential diversion of $2.4 million of license revenue related to unsupported centralized services, and 4) potentially diverted real property acquired with license revenue.

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