Federal Reports

The objective of the audit is to express an opinion on whether the Commission’s financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles

This is a performance audit that the OIG conducted to determine whether the FTC’s Bureau of Competition expert witness contracts are administered in accordance with federal requirements.

This Semiannual Report to Congress reflects how the EPA OIG is achieving its mission of preventing and detecting fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct related to the programs and operations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board during the reporting period, October 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted an evaluation to determine if hazardous chemicals at Power Operations’ sites were (1) adequately identified and communicated and (2) properly handled and stored. We determined hazardous chemicals at most Power Operations’ sites we visited were not adequately identified or communicated. Specifically, most sites had incomplete hazardous chemical lists or unmarked containers. In addition, we selected items from a storage location at each site and determined hazardous chemicals selected were properly stored according to their safety data sheet instructions. We were unable to determine if hazardous chemicals were being handled properly because we did not observe any chemical use. However, we did find that 10 of 33 individuals interviewed could not retrieve a safety data sheet, which could increase the risk that hazardous chemicals may not be properly handled and stored. Additionally, our testing identified two sites with best practices.

This update expands on our January 2023 Fraud Alert that identified 69,000 questionable Social Security Numbers (SSNs) used to obtain $5.4 billion in potentially fraudulent loans made in the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). As detailed in that Fraud Alert, PRAC data scientists, using our Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence, identified the questionable SSNs after determining that the names, SSNs, and/or dates of birth used in connection with COVID-19 EIDL/PPP applications did not match Social Security Administration’s (SSAs) records. SSAs verification results identified an additional 20,404 SSNs associated with deceased individuals. The PRAC worked with the Department of the Treasury’s Do Not Pay (DNP) system to obtain the dates of death for these individuals and identified dates of death for 15,307 of the 20,404 SSNs associated with 3,222 COVID-19 EIDL/PPP disbursed and undisbursed applications. This discrepancy is likely the result of Treasury’s DNP system not having access to the SSA’s full Death Master File.