Federal Reports

We audited WSFR grants awarded by FWS to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Marine Fisheries to ensure compliance and cost allowability.

Dependency and Indemnity Compensation is a monthly benefit paid to eligible survivors of service members who died in the line of duty or as a result of a service related injury or illness. Under the PACT Act, survivors with previously denied claims may be newly eligible for Dependency and Indemnity Compensation related to toxic exposure. These survivors may reapply for benefits and might receive retroactive payments dating back to the original date of entitlement. The OIG conducted this review to assess the accuracy of VBA’s processing of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation claims reopened under the PACT Act.

The OIG team reviewed two statistical samples of claims that were reopened under the PACT Act after having previously been denied. One set were claims that, after being reprocessed, were again denied; the other set were claims that were granted after being reprocessed. Both sets involved claims completed from January 1 through July 31, 2023. The OIG found that pension management center staff generally denied these claims appropriately; however, there were some inaccuracies when claims were granted. Errors stemmed from unclear guidance on how to reevaluate claims and from a lack of information system enhancements and resulted in a projected $33.1 million in underpayments to survivors. The OIG made three recommendations to correct errors and improve the claims process.

The PACT Act significantly expanded veterans’ eligibility for disabilities that VA presumes are related to exposure to toxic substances. The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review to determine whether Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) staff processed PACT Act claims for presumptive disabilities in accordance with applicable laws and procedures before denying them.

This report highlights that claims processors sometimes requested unwarranted examinations, which delayed claims processing and burdened veterans, or the processors did not return examinations for clarification when there was insufficient or conflicting information. Claims processors also sometimes requested medical opinions to determine service connection for disabilities the PACT Act presumed to be connected to service. These errors resulted in unnecessary payments for examinations and medical opinions, as well as underpayments to veterans. Additional errors had the potential to affect veterans’ benefits, such as when claims processors prematurely based decisions on inadequate or inconsistent examination results before denying veterans’ claims.

The OIG team also identified errors in claims processing that, while correctly denying service connection, resulted in an estimated $1.4 million in unnecessary costs for unwarranted examinations and medical opinions in the six-month review period. Underpayments were also identified totaling about $56,700 for two veterans’ claims during the same period who were improperly denied service connection. The team also found an estimated minimum of 870 potential errors that could affect veterans’ benefits. The OIG acknowledges that VBA has taken steps to address these kinds of errors for examinations, but that work is ongoing.

VBA concurred with the OIG’s two recommendations to update the claims processing manual to clarify when examinations and medical opinions are needed and to continue to develop tools to aid claims processors in determining when they are needed and to evaluate their effectiveness.

According to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Standard Programs and Processes 26.003, Community Contributions, TVA helps enable a better quality of life in the communities it serves (1) through its work in energy, the environment, and economic development and (2) by supporting educational and community goals. Much of TVA’s giving activity supporting educational and community goals is administered under formally established programs, including the Community Contributions and Community Care Fund programs. In addition, individual TVA organizations may initiate giving-related expenditures outside these programs at their discretion. During calendar years 2022 and 2023, TVA had approximately $30.5 million in expenditures identified as contributions, donations, and grants in TVA’s general ledger.

Due to large dollar expenditures made during calendar years 2022 and 2023, we performed an audit of TVA’s expenditures for contributions, donations, and grants. Our audit objective was to determine if the expenditures were made in compliance with TVA policies and procedures.

We determined Community Contributions program transactions were not consistently reviewed and approved in accordance with TVA Standard Programs and Processes 26.003 requirements. We also determined there is no guidance addressing administration of the Community Care Fund program and contribution-related expenditures made by individual TVA organizations outside TVA’s formal giving programs. In addition, we found instances where unrelated general expenditures made outside of TVA’s formal giving programs were misclassified as contribution-related expenditures in the general ledger.