Federal Reports

Semiannual Report to the Congress October 1, 2022 - March 31, 2023

During this semiannual reporting period, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) completed the Congressionally mandated Financial Statement Audit of the NEA for fiscal year 2022. We also worked with the NEA on the follow-up process, required by the Office of Management and Budget, that resulted in the NEA and awardees taking corrective actions on eleven OIG recommendations – nearly a quarter of open recommendations for the semiannual period. In addition, we resolved 83 percent of the hotline complaints received during the semiannual period, and added two audits to our annual audit plan based on the remaining hotline complaints received.Finally, we continuously monitor NEA’s top management challenges and noted that the NEA continues to make progress in addressing these challenges, and is quick and strategic in responding to new challenges as they occur. In terms of new challenges, NEA has demonstrated its ability to effectively steward increased funding over the past three years. NEA also faces an enhanced role in President Biden’s Executive Order #14084, which includes a whole-of-government approach for advancing the arts, the humanities, and museum and library services. We will include a more thorough discussion of this and other challenges in our next semiannual report.I applaud the NEA and the OIG staff for continuing to press forward and effectively working together. This enabled staff to continue delivering the missions of the Agency and the OIG in a high quality and timely manner.The value-added work that the OIG accomplished this period is due to my staff’s commitment to excellence, continued growth, and dedicated work effort; along with the support of the NEA Chair and her staff. We will continue to work with the NEA Chair and staff to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness while helping to ensure integrity, excellence, and value in the delivery of NEA’s mission.

Michael Devine, a former Fire, Life and Safety Assistant Supervisor based in New York, was found guilty on March 15, 2023, of one count of Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree after a three-day bench trial in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. On April 27, 2023, Devine was sentenced to 400 hours community service and ordered to pay restitution of $2,685 to Amtrak. Devine created counterfeit Amtrak badges for himself and other employees and participated in a scheme with co-workers to use these fake badges and/or their official Amtrak badges to “swipe” each other in and out on Amtrak’s time and attendance machines. Devine resigned on December 10, 2021, and is ineligible for rehire.

Michael Ligotti, D.O., of Delray Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty on October 4, 2022, to conspiring to commit health care fraud for his participation in a $681 million years-long health care fraud scheme throughout Palm Beach County, billing for fraudulent tests and treatments for vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction. Amtrak’s health care plan was billed over $535,000 as part of the scheme. On January 9, 2023, Ligotti was sentenced to 20 years in prison. On April 27, 2023, Ligotti’s sentence was amended to include an order of $127,427,988 in restitution.

We report on longstanding health and safety issues at specific BIA detention facilities.

This Office of Inspector General Comprehensive Healthcare Inspection Program report describes the results of a focused evaluation of the inpatient and outpatient care provided at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System, which includes the Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center and multiple outpatient clinics in California. 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 three recommendations for improvement in two areas:1. Medical staff privileging• Focused professional practice evaluation criteria defined in advance• Medical Executive Council review and evaluation of licensed independent practitioners’ reprivileging request and documentation of review in meeting minutes2. Environment of care• Furniture and equipment kept safe and in good repair

This report presents the results of our evaluation of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) handling of cash contributions and gifts. The objective of the evaluation was to determine the adequacy of SBA controls over the solicitation, acceptance, holding, and use of cash contributions and gifts.To meet our objective, we reviewed various management and financial records, applicable laws, regulations, policies, and SBA documents such as financial management system reports and accounting records.We found SBA complied with the Consolidated Appropriations Acts, 2023 and 2022, and SBA regulations and policies regarding soliciting and accepting cash contributions for National Small Business Week 2023 (Business Week). SBA’s Office of Communications & Public Liaison obtained proper approval from the Office of General Counsel for the Business Week cosponsored activity. SBA certified the 10 entities that cosponsored Business Week were vetted through the program offices to ensure no business relationship existed that would cause a conflict of interest.