Federal Reports

We completed a verification review of Recommendations 2 and 3 presented in our September 2016 evaluation report titled “U.S. Department of the Interior’s Internal Controls for Purchase Cards and Fleet Cards” (2015-ER-011). Our objective was to determine whether the U.S. Department of the Interior and its bureaus had taken sufficient action to implement the recommendations as reported to the Office of Financial Management (PFM), Office of Policy, Management and Budget. The PFM reported to us that it closed the recommendations. Based on our review, we concur that Recommendations 2 and 3 have been resolved and implemented.

Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation understated Medicare’s share of the surplus of Medicare segment pension assets by $17.7 million.

The OIG investigated an allegation that a DOI grant official had a conflict of interest because she owned a consulting company that assisted people in obtaining grants.We found no evidence of a conflict of interest. The official’s consulting company had no revenue, clients, or employees; the official only intended to consult on non-Federal grants; and the official disclosed her company on her required annual financial disclosure form.

The OIG investigated allegations that Sanco Operating/Sanders Oil and Gas (Sanco) failed to report gas production and underreported gas sales from a Federal mineral lease, which resulted in a loss of royalties owed to the Government. We conducted a joint investigation with the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Special Investigations Group and found that Sanco stopped paying Federal royalties to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) in 2010 and failed to report gas production from August 2010 through December 2016. In February 2018, Sanco agreed to settle this matter and entered into an agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, in the amount of $130,752 for unpaid royalties.

Improper Payments