Federal Reports

The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Illinois State Board of Education (Illinois) had an adequate oversight process in place to ensure that (1) local educational agencies’ (LEA) American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) plans met applicable requirements and (2) LEAs use ARP ESSER funds in accordance with applicable requirements and their approved LEA ARP ESSER plans.We found that Illinois generally had adequate processes to ensure that LEA ARP ESSER plans met applicable requirements. However, it did not communicate accurate guidance to LEAs regarding when to submit their ARP ESSER plans according to U.S. Department of Education (Department) guidance. As a result, 434 (54 percent) of 801 LEAs did not submit their ARP ESSER plans within a reasonable timeframe as provided for in Department guidance, with one LEA submitting its plan to Illinois more than 540 days after receiving its allocation. Further, six LEAs still had not submitted their ARP ESSER grant application and plan to Illinois as of January 11, 2024, more than 2.5 years after the LEAs received their ARP ESSER allocations. Thus, some LEAs may not have received critical ARP ESSER funds timely or early enough to adequately respond to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic by addressing students’ academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs, which was the purpose of the ARP ESSER program. We also found that Illinois’ process for reviewing LEA ARP ESSER reimbursement requests could be strengthened in a key area to provide additional assurance that LEAs use ARP ESSER funds for allowable purposes, and although Illinois has been consistent in how it oversees LEAs’ use of ARP ESSER funds, it does not request a listing of expenditures or review any supporting documentation from LEAs as part of its review of LEA reimbursement requests. Without supporting documentation to verify that the expenditures are allowable and properly accounted for, there is an increased risk that Illinois will not identify or become aware of significant compliance issues involving the ARP ESSER program.

System Review Report

The AmeriCorps Office of Inspector General (AmeriCorps OIG) received an allegation that a former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Corps member with the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) was sexually assaulted while on deployment. It was further alleged that NCCC failed to investigate the allegation or report the allegation to law enforcement, failed to take disciplinary action against the alleged assailant, and removed the member from the NCCC program. AmeriCorps OIG did not investigate or render any findings regarding the validity of the complainant’s sexual assault allegations because complaints of sexual assault fall under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement. However, AmeriCorps OIG conducted an assessment of NCCC’s sexual assault prevention and response program.

We completed this informational report on a review of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Reconnect Program - Rural Utilities Service consideration and balance of broadband needs, as conducted by an independent certified public accounting firm.

For the independent program evaluation of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Pandemic Relief Program, the evaluation objective was to determine whether NIST grantees and subrecipients accounted for and expended pandemic relief funds provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and subsequent funding authorizations in accordance with federal laws and regulations. We contracted with the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), an independent firm, to perform this evaluation. Our office oversaw the evaluation’s progress to ensure that IDA performed it in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation (December 2020) and contract terms. However, IDA is solely responsible for the attached report and the conclusions expressed in it.In its evaluation, IDA identified that multiple recipients spent more than the approved budgeted amounts by category or in new budget categories without receiving the required prior approval, resulting in questioned costs of approximately $2.55 million.In addition, IDA made the following observations:• NIST’s technical oversight of awards encouraged process efficiencies where possible. • NIST leveraged existing processes to expedite awards, program objectives were aligned with award activities, and NIST can improve oversight by tracking quantitative goals and progress toward goals in progress reports.

What We Looked AtThe Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) recent data show that human factors, which include fatigue, remain the leading cause of reportable non-grade crossing train accidents. In particular, the rate of human factor-caused train accidents reached a 14-year high of 1.43 per million train miles in 2022. According to FRA, overseeing railroad fatigue management and compliance with Federal Hours of Service (HOS) requirements is part of the Agency’s ongoing efforts to address the adverse impacts and underlying causes of fatigue in the railroad industry. Given these factors, we assessed FRA’s (1) oversight of HOS compliance, (2) pursuit of civil penalties for HOS violations, and (3) oversight of passenger railroad compliance with fatigue management requirements. What We Found Three FRA staff in two divisions—the HOS subject matter expert (SME) and two fatigue SMEs—oversee HOS compliance and fatigue management for the entire railroad industry. However, the oversight processes and analyses are not fully documented and there is no evidence of risk-based planning. Specifically, there are no detailed procedures documenting how FRA’s staff plan or perform oversight of HOS compliance or required analyses of passenger railroad work schedules and fatigue mitigation plans. FRA also lacks guidance for many HOS violation penalty amounts as well as procedures for producing accurate Annual Enforcement Reports. As a result, FRA does not have the procedures and accurate data necessary to effectively target its limited resources to the highest risk areas or adequately oversee different railroad types. Our Recommendations FRA concurred with all 19 of our recommendations to improve its oversight of HOS and fatigue management and provided appropriate actions and completion dates. We consider these recommendations resolved but open, pending completion of planned actions.