Federal Reports

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intended to expand TSA PreCheck to 25 million air travelers at a rate of more than 5 million enrollments per year. We evaluated whether the current TSA PreCheck Application Program adjudication process will allow TSA to meet its enrollment goals. TSA did not allocate additional resources or staff to the TSA Adjudication Center, which had multiple vacancies and was tasked with manually processing about 26 percent of TSA PreCheck Application Program applications. To make matters worse, in June 2016, TSA PreCheck applications surged, leaving the Adjudication Center overwhelmed with applications to process. As the application queue grew, TSA brought on detailees from other Federal agencies to assist with adjudications part time, but they did not have a significant impact. Further, the Adjudication Center relies on a manual caseload assignment and reporting process, which is inefficient for the volume of TSA PreCheck applications needing adjudication.

We determined that Osceola generally complied with Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines in accounting for and expending Federal (FEMA) grant funds. However, Osceola’s procurement procedures were not adequate to meet minimum Federal standards and to address the key procurement element of ensuring no award is made to any party debarred or suspended from Federal assistance programs. Despite this, we are not questioning costs because no contracts were awarded to debarred or suspended contractors and Osceola took corrective measures to include contractor verification in all future awards for disaster-related projects. The report contains no recommendations and we did not identify issues requiring further action from FEMA. Therefore, we consider this audit closed.

We determined that the County has in place policies, procedures, and business practices to generally account for and expend FEMA Public Assistance grant funds according to Federal regulations and FEMA guidelines. The County can account for disaster-related costs on a project-by-project basis and adequately support these costs. In addition, the County’s procurement policies, procedures, and practices are consistent with Federal procurement standards. Therefore, if the County follows those policies, procedures, and business practices; FEMA has reasonable, but not absolute, assurance that the County will properly manage the FEMA Public Assistance grant funds according to Federal regulations. Because the audit did not identify any reportable issues, we are not requiring any further action from FEMA.

This is a Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (OIG) special report on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and FEMA recipient and sub recipient disaster-related procurements. FEMA is currently responding to some of the most catastrophic disasters in U.S. history — Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and the October 2017, California wildfires. Because of the massive scale of damage and the large number and high-dollar contracts that will likely be awarded, there is a significant risk that billions of taxpayer dollars may be exposed to waste, fraud, and abuse.

We determined that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) properly awarded the FCMP contracts and in most cases complied with applicable laws, regulations, and guidance during the acquisition process. Specifically, ICE promoted fair and open vendor competition during the family case management services solicitation process by publicly issuing notices and requests for proposals. In addition, ICE evaluated vendor proposals in accordance with established criteria and selected the vendor based on a comparative evaluation of proposals, which were adequately documented in the contract file. The report contained no recommendations.

His House Children's Home, Inc. (His House), an Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) grantee responsible for caring for children in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) custody, met safety standards for the care and release of children in its custody. However, some UAC case files were missing evidence of sponsor background checks and other required documentation. His House claimed only allowable expenditures. However, we identified areas in which His House lacked an efficient and effective system of internal controls when administering UAC program funds.

Pine Bluff Jefferson County Economic Opportunities Commission (Pine Bluff) did not always claim Head Start grant costs that were allowable and allocable in accordance with Federal regulations. Specifically, Pine Bluff claimed $392,094 of unsupported non-Federal share; $214,372 in costs that did not meet procurement-related requirements; and $123,158 in costs that either did not benefit the Head Start program or may not have benefited the Head Start program.