Federal Reports

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the inpatient and outpatient care provided at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, which includes the John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans’ Hospital (Little Rock), Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center (North Little Rock), and multiple outpatient clinics in Arkansas. This evaluation focused on five key operational areas:• Leadership and organizational risks• Quality, safety, and value• Medical staff privileging• Environment of care• Mental health (emergency department and urgent care center suicide prevention initiatives)The OIG issued five recommendations for improvement in three areas:1. Quality, Safety, and Value• Root cause analysis2. Medical Staff Privileging• Defined time frames for Focused Professional Practice Evaluations3. Mental Health• Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluations• Suicide safety plans• Follow-up for patients at risk for suicide

This Office of Inspector General (OIG) Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the inpatient and outpatient care provided at the Alexandria VA Health Care System, which includes the Alexandria VA Medical Center and associated outpatient clinics in Louisiana. This evaluation focused on five key operational areas:• Leadership and organizational risks• Quality, safety, and value• Medical staff privileging• Environment of care• Mental health (focusing on emergency department and urgent care center suicide prevention initiatives)The OIG issued four recommendations for improvement in two areas:1. Medical Staff Privileging• Completing Focused Professional Practice Evaluations• Reviewing Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation data• Providers with equivalent specialized training and similar privileges completing Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluations2. Mental Health• Completing Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluations

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated this Special Inquiry following a radioactive release to the environment from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) test reactor located in Gaithersburg, Maryland on February 3, 2021. After the release, the NIST test reactor was shut down for more than two years before receiving authorization to restart from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This NIST event was one of eight unscheduled incidents or events in fiscal year 2021 that the NRC determined to be significant to public health or safety.This Special Inquiry’s focus broadened from the 2021 NIST event to include consideration of the NRC’s oversight of other Research and Test Reactor (RTR) facilities to assess potential systemic issues. However, this report primarily discusses the NRC’s oversight of the NIST test reactor prior to the February 2021 event because the event highlights areas in which the agency’s oversight could be improved as it relates to other smaller nuclear facilities.

We reviewed the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) oversight of Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) recipients. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 authorized SBA to administer the RRF and provided $28.6 billion to assist eligible small businesses adversely affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.We determined program officials developed a plan for monitoring RRF award recipients use of funds and recovering unused or improperly awarded funds. However, program implementation was not executed in accordance with the plan.We made six recommendations for SBA to develop processes and procedures to improve oversight of RRF program recipients and recover unused or improperly awarded funds.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General conducted this evaluation to determine whether the EPA adhered to its tribal consultation policies during the development of:- The 2014 EPA Plan for the Federal Certification of Applicators of Restricted Use Pesticides within Indian Country.- The 2017 Certification of Pesticide Applicators rule revision.- The 2020 proposed revisions to the 2014 EPA Plan for the Federal Certification of Applicators of Restricted Use Pesticides within Indian Country.

To assist the Office of Personnel Management in assessing the reasonableness of retirement, health benefits, and life insurance withholdings and contributions, as well as enrollment information, we reviewed information submitted from multiple government agencies.

The Peace Corps employs more than 3,400 staff who help execute the agency mission and serve on the front lines of the Volunteer experience. Approximately 92 percent of staff at overseas posts are personal services contractors (PSCs), who also make up 70 percent of all Peace Corps staff. A significant part of the agency’s success depends on how well it manages its human resources operations to hire, train, and retain quality PSC staff. Our evaluation assesses the agency’s human resources management for overseas PSCs, focusing on the posts’ operations and the support they receive from agency offices and staff. We did not measure PSC satisfaction with human resources services or address the human resources management of the agency’s direct hire staff.

The Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory to bring attention to concerns regarding SBA’s decision to end active collections on delinquent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) with an outstanding balance of $100,000 or less.First, SBA’s decision to cease collections risks violating the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, which prohibits ending collections on fraudulent, false, or misrepresented claims, because SBA OIG and other oversight agencies are continuing to work on identifying COVID-19 EIDL fraud that may not have been identified by the agency. It is also unclear whether SBA plans to end active collections on loans for borrowers who received multiple COVID-19 EIDLs of $100,000 or less that, when combined, exceed $100,000.Second, SBA based its decision to end active collections on a cost-benefit analysis that used a dissimilar loan program and a private-sector loan servicing model to estimate proceeds from collections and collection costs. The cost-benefit analysis did not include periodic comparisons of costs incurred and amounts collected as federal regulations require.Finally, SBA does not appear to have fully evaluated its consultant’s recommendation to sell a portion of the COVID-19 EIDL portfolio to maximize the return to taxpayers.SBA management agreed with recommendations 3, contingently agreed to recommendation 2 based on the outcome of recommendation 1, partially agreed with recommendations 1 and 4, and disagreed with recommendation 5.