Federal Reports

Our objective was to identify any challenges with company systems and processes that could impede the Capital Delivery department’s ability to effectively track and manage costs for capital projects.Amtrak’s Capital Delivery department is strengthening its ability to track and manage costs. For example, the company is developing a single project management system that it anticipates will replace or integrate at least 12 systems to address the challenge project teams currently have tracking costs across multiple systems. We identified additional challenges, however, with the systems and processes that the department uses for project cost management. Specifically, detailed and standardized cost data are not readily available to project teams, and project cost management guidance is outdated. These challenges hinder project teams and company executives from obtaining consistent, detailed cost data to manage the company’s portfolio of capital work—foundational capabilities that are critical to effectively managing costs on billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded projects.We recommended Amtrak study how it can develop and use more detailed and standardized costs for effective project cost management and then create a plan specifying the people, processes, and systems it needs to do so. While that study is ongoing, we recommended Amtrak develop and implement rules in the short term that define how project teams should categorize costs using existing systems and processes. Finally, we recommended that Amtrak update and implement project cost management procedures to reflect current processes and requirements.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements.

The OIG inspection team examined how the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) addressed violations identified during the 2016 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the 2014 DC Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE) inspections.

This required external peer review was conducted in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) Inspection and Evaluation Committee guidance as contained in the CIGIE Guide for Conducting External Peer Reviews of Inspection and Evaluation Organizations of Federal Offices of Inspector General (December 2021). The peer review was conducted from April 5, 2023, through July 14, 2023.The Reviewing OIG assessed the extent to which the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) complied with the CIGIE Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation, December 2020 (Blue Book). This assessment included a review of SIGTARP’s internal policies and procedures, Evaluations Policies and Procedures Manual, January 1, 2022, implementing the Blue Book standards. It also included a review of selected inspection and evaluation reports issued between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2023, to determine whether the reports complied with the Blue Book standards and the SIGTARP’s internal policies and procedures.

We conducted this work as part of our ongoing inspection of the funding provided to the Forest Service's Restoration Projects on Federal and Non-Federal Land from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).