Federal Reports

The OIG examines individual nonpharmaceutical proposals submitted by commercial contractors for Federal Supply Schedule contracts with an anticipated annual value of $3 million or more, with an anticipated annual value of $500,000 or more for dealers or resellers without significant sales to the general public, and where VA has requested a review. The OIG’s oversight work helps VA contracting officers negotiate fair and reasonable prices for the government and taxpayers. The OIG’s reports on individual proposals are not published because they contain sensitive commercial information protected from release under federal law. To promote transparency, this report summarizes the 22 preaward reports provided to VA contracting officers in fiscal year 2024.

The 22 nonpharmaceutical proposals had a cumulative estimated contract value of approximately $1.8 billion and included a total of 44,802 offered items. The OIG found that commercial sales practice disclosures were accurate, complete, and current for four proposals. The remaining 18 proposals could not be reliably used by VA for negotiations until noted deficiencies were corrected. The OIG also determined that proposed tracking customers for two proposals covering 56 of the offered items were not suitable for the price reductions clause and recommended different tracking customers. Tracking customers serve as a benchmark for potential price reductions during the life of a contract; if tracking customers receive a price reduction, the government’s price should also be reduced. Of the 22 proposals reviewed, no tracking customer recommendations could be made for five proposals covering 28,077 of the 44,802 items. Contract negotiations for 21 proposals had been completed as of May 8, 2025, and the OIG recommended lower prices than offered for 15 of the proposals, assisting contracting officers in obtaining approximately $17.4 million in savings for VA over the life of the contracts.

Audit of the Railroad Retirement Board's Compliance with Annuity Eligibility Requirements – Abstract

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has conducted almost no familial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing to verify biological parent-child relationships, potentially missing opportunities to protect vulnerable migrant children from human smuggling fraud schemes. From September 2021 to September 2024, CBP conducted 314 familial DNA tests on about 0.01 percent of the 2.7 million aliens who crossed the border claiming to be part of a family unit. CBP did not increase familial DNA testing even after limited testing revealed more than 14 percent of administered tests indicated no biological relationship.

Each year, increased mail volume during the U.S. Postal Service’s peak season —Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve — significantly strains its processing and distribution network. In our prior reports, we discussed how Postal Service management developed a preparedness plan to address the strain with the right amount of personnel, resources, and capacity throughout its network.