Federal Reports

determine whether the Office of Hearing Operations’ Compassionate And REsponsive Service Plan initiatives have reduced the hearings backlog and average processing times.

OIG reviewed Rural Development’s assertions related to the Budget Formulation Compliance and Detailed Accounting reports for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022.

Saint George Consulting, Inc. determined that the FWS supported costs but noted instances of noncompliance and an internal control weakness.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is issuing this management advisory memorandum to VA in response to an allegation that VA was not adequately overseeing contractors’ progress reports before payment for work on modernizing the electronic health record system for patients. Specifically, the OIG received an allegation that Cerner Government Services, Inc. (Cerner), had submitted invoices for progress reports that were not adequately completed. The complainant reported being told the progress report was just “a cover page, there’s an agenda, there’s six empty pages, there’s an ending. That’s what they turned in to get paid for this deliverable.” Because the complainant referenced the time frame from October 2019 through March 2020 for the deliverables and indicated Cerner was behind in billing VA in January 2020, the OIG reviewed just the progress reports associated with that timeframe for the first task order under the governing contract to assess the allegation. The OIG did not substantiate the allegation as there was detailed information in progress reports, but did note VA lacked timelines for when contractors needed to provide corrections to insufficient progress reports. The delays observed for contractors’ corrections to progress reports could limit VA’s ability to promptly and accurately monitor contractors’ progress on particular tasks. This management advisory conveys the information necessary for the Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office to determine if remedial actions are warranted.

VHA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program helps veterans and their families who are experiencing homelessness and those at imminent risk of homelessness by providing outreach, case management services, assistance obtaining other public benefits, and temporary financial assistance.The SSVF program works through grantees, typically nonprofit organizations and consumer cooperatives. SSVF grantees spent about $67.1 million to place 12,490 veterans in emergency housing during the OIG review period from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022. The OIG initiated a project to assess the SSVF program’s oversight of grantees’ use of emergency housing assistance to place veterans in permanent housing, as well as the program’s efforts to place veterans in permanent housing in a timely manner.SSVF grantees are required to report information to the SSVF program office on veterans who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. All grantees are required to track information related to payments made on behalf of veterans, including emergency housing assistance payments for hotels or motels, and the dates the veterans moved into permanent housing. Grantees enter this information into their version of a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). However, not all HMIS applications have an option for entering information about veterans’ lengths of stay in emergency housing. The OIG also found that, due to grantee errors or omissions, data did not always accurately reflect the dates veterans started receiving emergency housing assistance or moved into permanent housing.The OIG encouraged VHA leaders to consider strengthening the data validation process to ensure responsible personnel have the necessary information to assist grantees and ensure compliance with the 60 day limit on emergency housing assistance for veterans.

As governments and consumers worldwide are increasingly committed to sustainability in supply chains, postal operators have started investing in greener infrastructure to reduce emissions across their processing operations. In this Research Insights report, the OIG examined postal and logistics industry trends in promoting sustainability when investing in processing operations.