Federal Reports

EAC OIG, through the independent public accounting firm of McBride, Lock & Associates, LLC, audited funds received by the State of Arizona under the Help America Vote Act, including state matching funds and interest earned, totaling $27.6 million.

EAC OIG, through the independent public accounting firm of McBride, Lock & Associates, LLC, audited funds received by the State of Ohio under the Help America Vote Act, including state matching funds and interest earned, totaling $45.2 million. This included Election Security and Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act grants.

Given the importance of accurately and consistently deciding veterans’ claims for disability benefits, the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) includes in its quality assurance efforts special-focused reviews that target specific topic areas, such as military sexual trauma. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed VBA’s design and implementation of its special-focused review process, including applying Government Accountability Office (GAO) standards. The OIG team assessed 10 special-focused reviews completed from January 2019 through April 2021 and identified weaknesses in all five of GAO’s internal control components. The OIG also found the VBA Compensation Service’s standard operating procedure related to these special-focused reviews does not provide sufficient guidance to fully support disability claims-processing improvement. For example, the procedure does not specify that final reports flowing from special-focused reviews must discuss the causes for errors. Without this “root cause” information, leaders are not well-positioned to reduce the risk of continued errors or deficiencies.The OIG made six recommendations to the under secretary for benefits, who submitted responsive corrective action plans to all. VBA agreed to recommendations to update the special-focused review standard operating procedure to require an analysis of why errors occurred, to establish controls for ensuring reports communicate both benefit entitlement and procedural errors, and to convey information on all errors identified at both the national and regional office levels. The OIG also recommended VBA measure the effectiveness of actions taken in response to each special focused review and determine whether a follow-up review is needed. Finally, VBA was called on to reassess special-focused review errors marked as “corrected” to determine whether sufficient actions were taken and assess whether an enhancement to the Quality Management System could help prevent claims processors from closing errors without correction and ensure corrective actions are taken on all errors.

To fulfill the Office of Inspector General’s audit responsibilities, we contracted with the independent public accounting firm of KPMG LLP (KPMG) to conduct the audit, subject to our review.The attached report presents the results of the independent certified public accountants’ audit of the Southwestern Federal Power System’s combined balance sheets, as of September 30, 2021, and 2020, and the related combined statements of revenues and expenses, changes in capitalization, and cash flows for the years then ended.KPMG is responsible for expressing an opinion on the Southwestern Federal Power System’s financial statements and reporting on applicable internal controls and compliance with laws and regulations. The Office of Inspector General monitored audit progress and reviewed the audit report and related documentation. This review disclosed no instances where KPMG did not comply, in all material respects, with generally accepted government auditing standards.KPMG concluded that the combined financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Southwestern Federal Power System as of September 30, 2021, and 2020, and the results of its operations and cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles.As part of this audit, auditors also considered the Southwestern Federal Power System’s internal controls over financial reporting and tested for compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements that could have a direct and material effect on the combined financial statements. The audit did not identify any deficiency in internal controls over financial reporting that is considered a material weakness. The results of the auditors’ review disclosed no instances of noncompliance or other matters required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards.

The U.S. Postal Service needs effective and productive operations to fulfill its mission of providing prompt, reliable, and affordable mail service. In recent years, service performance and Postal Service efficiency has trended downward. In response, the Postal Service established strategies in its 10-year Delivering for America plan to improve service performance and mail processing efficiencies.

We reviewed prior oversight reports and identified lessons to help the EPA administer the IIJA’s $1.85 billion for its 12 geographic programs and National Estuary Program.